Hamas, the terrorist group that rules Gaza, escalated its psychological warfare campaign this week by releasing an audio recording, apparently of Israeli woman Noa Argamani – an Israeli student taken hostage on Oct. 7. Argamani's horrific kidnapping on Oct. 7 was filmed by terrorists, who spread the disturbing footage showing here pleading "Don't kill me" as she was violently being held by on a motorcycle and outstretching her hand toward her boyfriend, who was also taken captive.

In the recording, the woman's voice pleads with Israelis to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, accusing it of being willing to let the captives die. "Please, don't let Netanyahu and the government kill us," the voice says. "Save us. Time is running out," referring to the 125 hostage still being held.

Video: The audio of Noa Argamani released on May 31, 2024

In the video, Argamani addresses the people of Israel "Go out into the streets, men and women, block the streets of Tel Aviv, and don't go home until we return." Argamani's voice is also heard saying, "Do you support the Netanyahu Gallant and Gantz government?" referring to the three members of the War Cabinet: Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Minister without Portfolio Benny Gantz.

While Hamas did not explicitly say the voice belonged to Argamani, officials from the forum representing families of captives said they believed it was her based on the recording. Argamani's family gave a green light to air the recording.

The release follows a video in January that showed Argaman, 24, along with two Israeli men who were already deceased at the time after being held by Hamas. In that footage, the captives made statements that were almost certainly coerced for propaganda purposes.

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Switzerland on Saturday won Eurovision 2024 in Swedish host city Malmo, beating runner-up Croatia, after having been among bookmakers' top-three to win the competition.

Billed as a feel-good celebration of European diversity, this year's contest has been thrust into the political spotlight with calls for Israel to be excluded over its military campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas' deadly attack on Oct. 7 in Israel.

Swiss rapper and singer Nemo, 24, won the contest with "The Code", a drum-and-bass, opera, rap and rock song, about Nemo's journey of self-discovery as a non-binary person.

Croatia's Baby Lasagna, real name Marko Purisic, 28, came second with "Rim Tim Tagi Dim", a song about a young man who leaves home aspiring to become a "city boy" with better opportunities. Israel's Eden Golan, 20, finished fifth in the contest despite demonstrators' calls for a boycott of the country.

https://x.com/Israel/status/1789429203374354662

The female solo artist on Thursday emerged as one of the leading contenders to win after qualifying for the final. Booing was heard during Golan's performance but also applause, a Reuters photographer in the auditorium said. The noise was partly audible in the broadcast viewed by tens of millions of people in Europe and around the world.

There was also booing when the points of the Israeli jury were presented.

Police estimated that up to 8,000 people joined the protests.

Dutch fans disappointed

In another Eurovision controversy this year, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was expelled on Saturday from the competition final after a complaint by a member of the production crew, the EBU said.

"While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him (Joost) to continue in the Contest," the EBU said in a statement. A representative for Klein did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, Klein was filmed despite clearly made agreements, just after getting off stage after his performance at Thursday's semifinal. "This wasn't respected," AVROTROS said in a post on social media platform X, adding "This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera."

Klein did not touch the camerawoman, according to AVROTROS, who said it found the artist's penalty "very heavy and disproportionate."

The evening the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Fianl (Saturday) kicked off, with 25 countries trying to be this year's champions, including, of course, the Israeli Eden Golan.

The final was supposed to include 26 participants, but earlier today the Dutch representative, Joost Klein, was disqualified from the song contest by the European Broadcasting Union after being involved yesterday in an incident where his behavior was deemed "inappropriate". Now, according to the betting odds at the time of writing, Golan has jumped to second place in the overall standings – and there are those betting that she could take the whole pot.

Phenomenal! #Israel #Eurovision2024 #eurovisiongr #Vote06 #Israel12Points #EdenGolan https://t.co/gu6rjwJLFm

— Israel Hayom English (@IsraelHayomEng) May 11, 2024

Here is the liveblog that ran during the competition:

If this drama wasn't enough, outside the venue hosting the final in Malmö, Sweden, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered to demonstrate against Israel. Months ago, many on the continent had hoped Israel would be disqualified from the competition, but the European Broadcasting Union refused to do so – and now all they have left is to protest (and even clash with police on site), hoping they don't disrupt Golan's performance beyond the expected booing, as happened in the second semifinal she participated ib Thursday, as well as in the various rehearsals.

Voting for the participating countries in the final opened with the start of the first song performance and close after the last song performance. As a reminder, Eden Golan was the fifth representative to perform her song ("Hurricane") on the final stage, but her voting number will be 06 as the union decided not to change the contestants' numbers following Klein's disqualification, who was one of the notable competitors in this year's Eurovision.

Video: Eden Golan on stage at the Eurovision Grand Final / Credit: Courtesy of Kan News

22:37 Eden is on stage. Despite boos, she is steadfast and singing without fear. There are also many cheers.

22:37: #breaking Eden Golan is about to go on stage to sing "Hurricane", join us live here: https://tinyurl.com/p3s4hd62 #Eurovision2024 #EdenGolan #vote06

22:15

The grand final of #Eurovision2024 has officially begun in Malmo, Sweden. Despite all the challenges, #EdenGolan will soon go on stage and represent Israel with the song "Hurricane". Good luck, Eden!

Video: Eden Golan enters the stage in the Grand Final, May 11, 2024 / Credit: Eran Swissa

Video: Eden Golan reacts to making it to the Grand Final / Credit: Kan News

22:31: The fourth song performed tonight is "Fighter" by Tali, the Israeli representative from Luxembourg. How do they put it? She's one of ours!

22:17: The competition officially kicked off with the performance by Norweigian nationals Marcus and Martinus, Sweden's representatives at Eurovision, who performed their song "Unforgettable".

22:05: The performers participating tonight are coming on stage with their countries' flags. When Eden Golan came on stage, there were many cheers of encouragement – but also quite a few boos.

22:03: The evening officially opened with a performance by Swedish singer Bjorn Skifs, who performed his huge hit "Hooked on a Feeling", which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

22:00: Here we go! Before the artists take the big stage, a few videos are being shown to get the viewers ready for the long evening ahead.

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US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as his nominee for ambassador to Israel, the White House said in a statement.

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Lew, if confirmed by the US Senate, will face a complicated political situation, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes through a judicial overhaul opposed by many Israelis and the Biden administration.

He would succeed Ambassador Tom Nides in the post.

Video: Biden speaks on America's commitment to Israel's security / Credit: Reuters

In addition to Treasury secretary, Lew served under former President Barack Obama as White House chief of staff and deputy secretary of state for management and resources.

Lew was director of the Office of Management and Budget, a position in President Bill Clinton's Cabinet, from 1998 to 2001. In both the Democratic Clinton and Obama administrations, Lew served on the National Security Council.

Earlier, as special assistant to Clinton, he was an architect of the national service program, Americorps.

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The Iron Dome missile defense system shot down a Hamas drone over the Mediterranean sea that had been launched from the Gaza Strip on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces announced.

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In a statement released on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed the airborne device "was tracked throughout the entire incident" by the Israeli Air Force. It appeared to be the second time the Iron Dome has had to shoot down an unmanned aerial vehicle after modifications made to its air defense system. The first such incident happened in May during the hostilities with Hamas, the terrorist group ruling the Gaza strip.

Hamas also fired various rockets toward the sea. Israel does not typically interfere with the test launches conducted by Hamas.

In May, the Iron Dome shot down three of Hamas' unmanned drones in the conflict between Israel and Gaza's militant factions during the 11-day conflict known as Operation Guardian of the Walls. Since the conflict ended, the two sides have engaged in indirect talks aimed at establishing a long-term truce.

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Iran's foreign minister apologized Sunday for recorded comments that were leaked to the public last week, creating a firestorm in Iran less than two months before presidential elections.

The recordings of Mohammad Javad Zarif included frank comments on powerful late Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US. drone strike in 2020. The attack at the time brought the US. and Iran to the brink of war. Soleimani's funeral processions in Iran drew millions of people to the streets.

In the recordings, Zarif criticizes Soleimani's separate relations with Russia and his refusal to stop using the national carrier Iran Air for Syrian operations despite Zarif's objections. Iran Air has been sanctioned by the US.

Zarif said in an Instagram post Sunday he hoped Soleimani's family would forgive him. "I hope that the great people of Iran and all the lovers of General (Soleimani) and especially the great family of Soleimani, will forgive me," he said.

Zarif's leaked comments were highly controversial in Iran, where officials mind their words amid a cut-throat political environment that includes the powerful Revolutionary Guard, ultimately overseen by the country's supreme leader.

Besides the criticism of Soleimani, a top commander in the Guard, Zarif's leaked remarks included cutting references to the limits of his power in the theocracy.

Zarif can be heard saying at various points in the seven-hour tape that it was not meant for release.

"If I had known that a sentence of it would be made public, I certainly would not have mentioned it as before," he said in his Instagram post.

Zarif has said he will not run for president in the upcoming election. Some had suggested him as a potential candidate to challenge hard-liners in the vote.

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Iran announced on Monday the arrest of an agent that had been spying for Israel. 

According the Iran's Intelligence Ministry, an "Israeli spy was detained in East Azerbaijan Province … along with several other agents that had ties with various intelligence services,"  the Young Journalists Club website quoted an Intelligence Ministry official as saying.

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The Islamic Republic refuses to recognize Israel and has accused it of being behind acts of sabotage and assassinations of scientists involved in its nuclear program.

In July 2020, the Iranian outlet Fars revealed that it had executed a man who had been convicted of spying. 

The man was accused o providing intelligence to the CIA and the Israeli Mossad that was used for assassinating the head of the Qods Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Qassem Suleimani, who led a campaign of terror for decades in the Middle East by exporting Iranian aggression to Lebanon and other areas. 

Iran has blamed Israel for last year's killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was seen by Western intelligence services as the mastermind of a covert Iranian nuclear weapons program.

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The Jewish world in the age of coronavirus – A special Israel Hayom project

Part XIII: Learning from Israel's coronavirus experience

With Brazil being one of the worst-hit nations in the coronavirus pandemic, the Jewish community has had to find ways to cope with the new reality.

Leaders have said that even as they have followed closely close what has been unfolding in Israel, they have also had to reinvent themselves.

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"This was also our way of coping with the new fundraising reality," President of the Jewish Confederation of Brazil and WJC Vice President Fernando Lottenberg told Israel Hayom, recalling that more than many Jews have died from the disease in the country.

Lottenberg, who has a PhD in international public law, has described the impact of the virus on the community as "super dramatic." According to Lottenberg, "During normal times it's hard to maintain contact, but now people keep approaching me and asking whether they can lend a helping hand to the community. Perhaps next year, we will be able to congregate in our synagogues once again and hold the normal meetings, but I hope that we won't forget the positive impact that has been imposed on us due to the pandemic."

He also noted that the Jewish-built hospital in São Paulo has played an important role in highlighting the community's contribution to public health. Rabbi Ezra Dayan, who oversees kashrut supervision in Brazil, says he has been doing his work through Zoom for the past five months. "The biggest challenge is to make sure the kashrut system does not collapse and thank G-d it hasn't. "We supervise hundreds of establishments, and now online supervision is just a fact of life. It's amazing how we can do all this from São Paulo, considering that Brazil is the size of a continent.

"We closed the synagogues and the schools started working from home and preparing for the lockdown psychologically. The sense of community helps strengthen us in such uncertain times."

He said that looking at how Israel has coped with the pandemic has helped the Jewish community in its own struggle. "Many members of our community have a strong Zionist fervor and have friends and family in Israel, or spent some time studying there," he said. "So as soon as the crisis started, the Jewish community began to take its cues from Israel by adopting the various social distancing measures, while the local authorities here were slow to react."

He says that "there is a great deal of interest in what happens in Israel and we feel that both sides are close,  through the Jewish Agency's aid but also in our hearts. We have to enjoy the advantages of community and make them even stronger, especially in this protracted crisis that has ups and downs."

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"The MoU is in line with Abu Dhabi Media and i24NEWS' aim to deliver innovative, audience-centric content, while enhancing and expanding the digital offering," i24NEWS said in a statement.

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Frank Melloul, CEO and founder of i24NEWS said: "As an international news network, we aspire to expand collaborations with platforms around the world. This is another step that will enable the expansion of our activities and we especially welcome it, as this is a leading partner in the Middle East, which we are covering extensively. This partnership between i24NEWS and Abu Dhabi Media illustrates the many possibilities that have opened up to us in the wake of the Abraham Accords. Such collaboration between two media outlets will benefit first and foremost our viewers around the world, who will receive comprehensive coverage and diverse voices that together optimally reflect the events in the new Middle East."

AbdulRaheem Al Bateeh Al Nuaimi, Acting General Manager at Abu Dhabi Media echoed Melloul. "Abu Dhabi Media is always keen to work with media agencies and television service providers who seek to offer diverse and quality content with the highest levels of professionalism. This agreement is a reflection of our commitment towards the UAE vision as well as its ambitions by establishing strong and solid relationships with various institutions and media organizations on a regional and global level," he said.

He added, "The media industry requires strong strategic alliances to achieve sustainability, creativity as well as to enhance the quality of output. Our collaboration with i24NEWS will enable us to strengthen our respective production capabilities and provide distinctive media content."

According to i24NEWS, "The MoU will enable both media organizations to provide shared news reporting through correspondents in UAE and Israel, with a focus on Arab language news reports and interviews. The two entities will also exchange content such as national reporting, documentaries, archival materials, in addition to technical cooperation in the field of news and television broadcasting technology."

The outlets added that this was made possible thanks to the recently announced peace deals between Israel and three Arab countries, first of which was the UAE. The agreements are known as the Abraham Accords.

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Magnus Jacobsson, a member of Sweden's Parliament for the Christian Democrats, wrote Tuesday on Twitter that he was "on my way to the stable with my daughter" when he got the call.

"We had a good conversation about peace in the Middle East and the Balkans. I wish the President good luck with the peace processes," Jacobsson wrote.

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Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed last month to a deal normalizing relations that was signed at the White House on Sept. 15.

Earlier this month, Jacobsson also nominated the governments of the United States, Kosovo and Serbia for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to secure a peace agreement between the two former Balkan war foes. Serbian President Aleksander Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti signed an economic normalization deal at the White House last week.

Nobel nominations can be made by national lawmakers, heads of state and certain international institutions. In 2020, the committee received 318 nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, of which 211 are individuals and 107 are organizations. The 2020 winner will be announced on Oct. 9.

The process of considering candidates and awarding the Nobel Peace Prize is done in Norway, in contrast to the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded in Sweden.

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President Donald Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner and other US delegates were in Israel on Sunday to prepare for the UAE mission.

Video: Reuters

Israel and the UAE announced on August 13 that they would normalize diplomatic relations in a deal brokered by Trump. The agreement reshapes the Middle East order, from the Palestinian issue to relations with Iran.

The US and Israeli delegations were due to travel together to Abu Dhabi on the plane in what will be Israel's first direct flight between Tel Aviv and the UAE capital.

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