The water running through the dry hills south of Hebron is thick, pale in places and difficult to ignore. Along parts of the streambed, the odor arrives before the water is visible.For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.orgFrom Hebron, the polluted flow moves south past roads, open land and Israeli communities, reaching Meitar, Shoket Junction and eventually the Beersheba Stream system. Over roughly 43 kilometers, it carries untreated sewage and industrial waste from the stone industry across the jurisdictions established under the Oslo Accords.Most of the sewage originates in Palestinian towns around Hebron, where the Palestinian Authority is responsible for civilian services. It then reaches Area C, where Israel controls planning and security, before crossing the Green Line on its way toward the Negev. The wastewater passes through territory administered by different authorities, but the flow has not been stopped at its source.Advertisement“The problem with what we call Hebron Valley is not a problem for Har Hebron Regional Council residents only,” Eliram Azulay, head of the Har Hebron Regional Council, told The Media Line. “This problem is a huge problem for Israel.”Azulay places responsibility on the Palestinian Authority, saying sewage from Hebron-area municipalities and wastewater from stone-cutting factories are allowed to flow south without adequate treatment. By the time the pollution reaches Israeli territory, he said, Har Hebron, Meitar, Omer, Bnei Shimon and Beersheba are left to finance its collection and treatment.“You can make kayaks in this sewage,” Azulay said after touring the stream. “And you know, it smells.”He said sediment from stone factories settles along the route, blocks channels and makes nearby land difficult to use.<h3>Stone industry particles enter sewage systems without proper treatment</h3>Domestic sewage is only part of the problem. Hebron is a major center for stone cutting and processing, an industry that produces wastewater loaded with fine mineral particles. Barak Werker, chief executive of Green Now, said those particles enter municipal sewage systems without the industrial pretreatment required at regulated factories inside Israel.“The biggest problem in the Hebron Stream is the stone industry in Hebron itself,” Werker told The Media Line. “It releases water containing stone particles, making it impossible to treat the wastewater at its source.”Biological treatment plants are designed to break down organic material, but stone powder instead settles and accumulates, interfering with pumps, pipes and treatment basins. Green Now’s 2024 Cross-Border Pollution report identifies chromium from Hebron’s tanning industry as another contaminant entering the stream alongside stone dust and untreated sewage.Werker said the pollution developed over decades as Hebron’s population and stone industry expanded. He cautioned against treating it as a problem that began with the Oslo Accords or resulted solely from Palestinian neglect.Environmental infrastructure was poor across the region before the agreements, he said, and Israel itself had relatively few advanced wastewater plants in the 1980s. The Oslo period coincided with Israel modernizing its systems while responsibility for Palestinian communities shifted to the newly established Palestinian Authority.That division has worked poorly in a shared watershed. Israeli facilities downstream can reduce some of the damage, but only after the wastewater has passed through communities, agricultural land and open spaces.Green Now estimates that Israeli and Palestinian communities in the West Bank produce about 90 million cubic meters of sewage each year, approximately 80% of it from the Palestinian population. Its report estimates that 38 million cubic meters from Palestinian towns and villages receive no treatment and enter streams, soil, or absorption pits. Roughly 5 million cubic meters of sewage or inadequately treated effluent from Israeli communities also reach the environment, according to the report.Those figures are regional estimates, not measurements limited to the Hebron Stream. The report was edited by Dr. Yeshayahu Bar-Or, a former chief scientist at Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry, and environmental lawyer Shlomo Rabinowitz. It draws on field surveys, drone documentation and previously published government and academic material.The long-term concern is not that residents drink directly from the stream, but that sewage and industrial contaminants could seep through the limestone terrain into the Mountain Aquifer, which supplies water to Israelis and Palestinians. Green Now describes the Western Mountain Aquifer as Israel’s largest and highest-quality groundwater reservoir, with average annual renewable resources of about 360 million cubic meters.Azulay said professionals had warned him about groundwater contamination and the reliability of water sources serving the Negev. His prediction that some supplies could become unusable within several years was not supported by a published Water Authority assessment in the material reviewed by The Media Line. The broader danger of sewage reaching groundwater is addressed in Green Now’s report.The proposed engineering solution begins inside the stone factories.“The right solution is to separate the stone waste at its source in the Hebron area,” Werker said. “After pretreatment, the wastewater should be sent to the large Palestinian treatment plant near Yatta, treated there and reused for irrigation. There is no justification for allowing it to flow for dozens of kilometers.”Werker said a wastewater plant built with millions of euros for the Hebron area cannot operate effectively while large quantities of stone residue continue to enter the system. Israel, he argued, is considering increasingly costly downstream infrastructure while failing to stop pollution that should be addressed at the factory gate.<h3>Appeals to High Court for stone plant regulatory enforcement</h3>The legal fight now centers on the factories. Regavim and Green Now have asked Israel’s High Court of Justice to compel enforcement against stone plants they allege are operating without permits and discharging sludge into the Hebron Stream. According to the petitioners, some of the facilities are in Area C or have expanded into it, placing them under Israeli jurisdiction.In a June 29 statement, the petitioners said Supreme Court Justice Alex Stein had ordered the state to respond within 60 days. They quoted Stein as warning that abandonment of the area posed a “serious and irreversible danger to nature.”The organizations said field documentation showed factories connected to Palestinian-administered areas expanding into territory where Israel has enforcement authority. The Media Line did not independently review the full petition.The case also directs part of the blame at Israel. If factories are operating in Area C without valid permits, their continued activity would point to a failure of Israeli enforcement. Regavim and Green Now argue that regulated stone factories in Israel must install systems to keep industrial sludge out of municipal sewers, while unregulated competitors avoid those costs and shift the damage downstream.“We don’t want chaos,” Naomi Kahn, director of Regavim’s international division, told The Media Line. “If the State of Israel has jurisdiction and has authority and has responsibility, then it should exercise those for everyone’s benefit and to protect the land itself.”Kahn said Israel could not leave Area C in administrative uncertainty while the pollution continued.“For now, you’re in charge, you’re responsible for protecting that resource, and you have to do it,” she said. “Because if you don’t, you end up with a disaster - an environmental disaster, a political disaster, a security disaster. You can’t leave a vacuum.”Green Now’s report also cites criticism by Israel’s State Comptroller, who found that the government lacked a unified system for managing cross-border pollution and had not designated a single body to coordinate ministries and agencies. Disputes involving the Hebron Stream and other waterways were repeatedly delayed by fragmented authority and the absence of government decisions, according to passages reproduced in the report.The jurisdictional division dates to the 1995 Interim Agreement. Under Oslo II, the Palestinian Authority received civil and security control in Area A and civil control in Area B, while Israel retained security control in Area B and full control in Area C. The agreement also committed both sides to preventing uncontrolled sewage discharges that could affect the other and to promoting the treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater.Azulay points to that commitment when assigning responsibility to the Palestinian Authority.“The demand is very simple,” he said. “Do what the agreement says that you have to do. If you have to treat your sewage, don’t throw it on the Israeli authorities.”He accused the Palestinian Authority of failing for more than three decades to build, regulate and maintain the systems needed to contain its wastewater.Azulay said he was willing to cooperate with Palestinian officials. “I would like to work with them. I don’t have a problem working with them,” he said. “But they really don’t want to do what they have to do.”Green Now’s reporting partly supports that criticism while documenting other constraints. The organization says Palestinian environmental services receive inadequate budgets and lack enforcement capacity. A separate Green Now report, citing the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority’s assessment, says Palestinian plans have often lacked formal government approval, skilled personnel and a clear enforcement strategy. Environmental protection accounted for 0.1% of the Palestinian government budget in the material reviewed.The Palestinian assessment argues that Israeli control over land and planning, particularly in Area C, has delayed sewage and other infrastructure projects. It also cites permit restrictions and movement limits.Although Green Now disputes parts of that argument, its report acknowledges difficult terrain, weak municipal budgets, scattered communities and the high cost of connecting them to regional treatment plants. It also records Palestinian complaints about the Joint Water Committee established under the Oslo Accords.Green Now says the committee has been largely paralyzed since 2012. It attributes the breakdown partly to Palestinian opposition to shared facilities and disputes over Israel’s use of treated Palestinian wastewater, while also noting the absence of a coordinated Israeli policy.The Palestinian Authority, the Hebron and Yatta municipalities and representatives of the stone industry did not provide responses for inclusion.For residents beside the stream, the argument is less technical. Ayala Bar On, who works with the Har Hebron Regional Council’s communications team, said the smell keeps people away from open areas near their homes.“There are some places where you cannot even breathe because the air stinks,” she said.Azulay said the complaints reaching his office are direct.“They ask a very simple question: How can we live with that smell?” he said. “It’s sewage that goes through their communities. It’s crazy. You cannot understand it.”For people living along the route, the dispute over permits, treatment plants and jurisdiction is measured more simply: by the smell outside their homes and the condition of the stream.The pending court case may clarify what Israel must enforce in Area C. It will not, by itself, resolve the larger question of who will finance and operate the cross-border infrastructure needed to stop the pollution upstream.

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Hebron’s sewage crisis flows south toward Negev

The Religious Zionist Party (RZP) on Wednesday unveiled its list of candidates for its upcoming primaries, which will determine the party’s Knesset slate ahead of the next elections.The announcement comes ahead of the primary vote on Sunday, in which over 100 party committee members will cast their ballots in Jerusalem.The far-right party is led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who will remain in the first spot on the list and will also have the ability to select candidates for certain slots.AdvertisementThe primary candidates include members of Knesset who are currently on the party’s slate, along with new figures.Candidates running who are currently members of the Knesset include National Missions Minister Orit Strock, along with MKs Michal Woldiger, Ohad Tal, Zvi Sukkot, and Simcha Rothman.<figure><img alt="Minister of Finance and Head of the Religious Zionist Party Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 22, 2026." src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/731021"></figure><h3>No requirement to hold primaries in Israel, RZP one of few</h3>New figures running for spots on the list that were announced included Deputy Mayor of Petah Tikva Tzvika Weizengrad and Deputy Mayor of Rosh HaAyin Eitan Tam.Others announced were Nathan Zauberman, leader of the Tikvah Program that works to bring young olim from France to Israel, Rabbi Shmuel Sasson, and Omer Rahamim, who is the director-general of the Yesha Council that represents &nbsp;West Bank settlements.Parties are not required to hold primaries in Israel, and only a few do so.RZP has also reserved a slot on the party’s slate for Zvika Mor, father of former hostage Eitan Mor.Mor’s son Eitan was working as a security guard at the Supernova music festival when Hamas invaded on October 7, 2023, and kidnapped him. Eitan was held captive for two years and released as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal in October 2025.Mor, 49, is the chairman of the Tikva Forum, which was founded by family members of hostages kidnapped into Gaza during the October 7 attacks. It holds a right-wing stance and, throughout the war, pushed against a partial hostage-ceasefire deal with the terror group.<h3>A 'values-based' national voice</h3>The Religious Zionist Party stated in May that Mor’s addition was intended to strengthen the list with a values-based national voice and to prevent “a return to dangerous conceptual failures that led to the October 7 attacks.”Recent polls show the party just passing the electoral threshold and receiving approximately five seats. In the 2022 elections, RZP ran with the far-right Otzma Yehudit Party, led by Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer, a current member of RZP, announced last week that he would not be running in the upcoming elections. MK Moshe Solomon from RZP also announced last week that he would not be running.Solomon has been a vocal critic within the party of legislation supported by RZP that was recently passed in the Knesset, which opponents argue encourages draft evasion even amid the IDF’s severe manpower crisis.Smotrich removed Solomon from his role in all Knesset committees last month as a disciplinary measure after Solomon voted against a separate contentious bill to enshrine Torah study in Basic Law.RZP currently holds seven seats in the Knesset. Smotrich is also the head of the Settlements Administration, a Defense Ministry body established in 2023 that manages matters in West Bank settlements and advances construction and housing in the area.The far-right minister’s statements calling for West Bank annexation often draw sharp international condemnation, as well as criticism for harming Israel’s global standing.

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Religious Zionist Party unveils Knesset primary candidates as Bezalel Smotrich leads slate

Israeli moviegoers are invited to spend time with the Dayan family when the new French movie, Just An Illusion, opens around the country today. I really hope that they do.The movie was made by the longtime directing duo, Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, best known for their movie, The Intouchables, a crowd-pleasing dramedy about a bitter wheelchair-bound older man (Francois Cluzet) and his young, sexy caregiver (Omar Sy), which has been remade around the world. It was one of the biggest successes in French film history.They have made more than a dozen other films, including the brilliant drama about people on the autism spectrum, The Specials, as well as the French adaptation of the classic Israeli series, Betipul, called En Therapie.AdvertisementThey specialize in movies that keep audiences entertained from start to finish, but are also genuinely moving, as well as very funny. Just An Illusion may be their finest film yet, and here’s the best part: It’s their first really personal work.While they can capture the souls of all different kinds of characters, with Just An Illusion they have mined their own lives to tell the story of a Jewish family in a Paris suburb in 1985.<figure><img alt="Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache attend the Paris premiere of ''Disclosure Day'' at the Grand Rex on June 02, 2026 in Paris, France." src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/731026"></figure><h3>Jewish identity trying to fit into mainstream culture</h3>The mother, Sandrine (Camille Cottin of Call My Agent!), is an Algerian immigrant, while their father, Yves (Louis Garrel, who starred in An Officer and a Spy, Godard Mon Amour, and many other films), is from Morocco.The parents have a strong Jewish identity but are trying to fit into mainstream culture, and their children are also looking for their place. While the parents are a key presence in the movie, it’s really the coming-of-age story of their 12-year-old son, Vincent (Simon Boublil, in his movie debut).At times, it brings to mind the great French coming-of-age drama, Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, and similar to that movie, it shows you the world from the adolescent’s point of view. But Vincent is lucky enough to live in a kinder, gentler, if still challenging environment than Truffaut’s hero. The movie is also funnier and more light-hearted, although the central issues and tensions of adolescence have a core commonality.Just An Illusion takes its title from the soulful, funk classic by the group Imagination, which is Vincent’s favorite song, and it’s part of a soundtrack of ’80s hits from around the world, including Eye in the Sky by the Alan Parsons Project, Inbetween Days by The Cure, I’m So Excited by the Pointer Sisters, and Getaway by Earth, Wind &amp; Fire, and is available as a Spotify playlist.The title was chosen for a reason, and the chorus of Just An Illusion resonates throughout: “Could it be that… it’s just an illusion/Putting me back in all this confusion?” and underscores Vincent’s dilemmas.We see in the early scenes that he has huge fights with his brother, Arnaud (Alexis Rosenstiehl), who is about to finish high school and who is a strong, charismatic guy, making huge amounts of money selling bootleg cassettes of rock classics to his friends. The shyer, more insecure Vincent struggles to feel at home in even a small corner of the room they share.Vincent is also dismayed at the fighting between his parents, who have all the typical struggles of any young couple, over career vs family, and much more. We see how the dejected Vincent, kicked out of his room by his brother and distressed by his parents’ screaming fight in the living room, feels he has nowhere to be himself.This sense of displacement comes just as he is trying to figure out who he is. He has a huge crush on Anne-Karine (Jeanne Lamartine), the girl he is assigned to do a school project with, and he is also busy studying for his bar mitzvah with a rabbi and trying to understand the mysteries of sex by renting porn video cassettes with his friends.There is so much in the film that is very funny, but describing the jokes would be the worst kind of spoiler. We have seen similar stories, but Toledano and Nakache are able to bring real laughs and a light, fresh touch to it. Their style is so accomplished that it all flows easily, but that effect is much harder to achieve than it seems.The movie illustrates the tagline for another quirky dramedy, Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums: “Family isn’t a word, it’s a sentence,” and shows how the people who make you the angriest can also be the ones who love you the most. The parents, who can be self-absorbed and childish themselves, are also fully realized human beings.We root for Sandrine to succeed in her word-processing course so she can move on from being a secretary. We also sympathize with Yves, whose soul-numbing corporate job is a source of pride for him, and who is ashamed when he is laid off.<h3>Every role is perfectly cast</h3>In the great tradition of the director Jean Renoir, whose classic Rules of the Game&nbsp;features the line, “The awful thing about life is this: Everybody has their reasons,” we see that these sometimes petty, sometimes unfair parents have their reasons, and we learn what they are. The cast is uniformly excellent, and Boublil manages to be convincingly charming and awkward in the lead. Every role, down to the smallest ones, is perfectly cast and each actor makes an impression.The family’s Jewish identity is at the core of much of the story, and making a movie that puts Jews front and center in a French movie in this time of rising antisemitism requires courage and should not be taken for granted. I have a son on the autism spectrum, and these directors have been my heroes since they made their film The Specials.Just An Illusion has deepened my respect for them. For decades, they have made movies about fictional characters who are very different from themselves, like the debt-ridden hustlers of their previous film, A Difficult Year.It would have been so easy for them to have taken out the Jewish elements and still told a coming-of-age story, but they stayed faithful to their own experience - Toledano’s family is from Morocco, and Nakache’s from Algeria - and the movie is dedicated to the memory of their fathers, who passed away during the filming.There were moments when it seemed the film would go a little deeper than it does. But so many coming-of-age films in fairly mundane settings are marred by the seriousness with which the heroes take their fleeting adolescent travails that I was pleased Toledano and Nakache did not take this route.By bringing us inside a family we love to spend time with, the directors lead us to empathize with them, and we feel each character’s pain and joy, particularly Vincent’s. I can’t remember the last time I felt so sorry when a film ended, and that’s probably the best compliment I can pay to any movie.

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French directors Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache return with coming-of-age film Just An Illusion

MK Gilad Kariv, who placed third in The Democrats Party primaries, said Israel should ultimately divide the land and establish a demilitarized Palestinian state as part of a regional agreement, while accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of building up Hamas; he told 103FM on Wednesday.Kariv discussed his party’s diplomatic vision, the continuing war, and the issue of Palestinian statehood in an interview with Ron Kofman and Prof. Aryeh Eldad on 103FM’s "Five in the Evening" program. During the interview, he sharply criticized the government’s policy toward Hamas.“Netanyahu did business with Hamas and built it up,” Kariv said. “It was the Israeli Right that built the Hamas state, as a result of unilateral steps.”AdvertisementAddressing a possible resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kariv said his party supports separation and the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state as part of a broader regional agreement.“At the end of the diplomatic process, and that will take time, the land will be divided between the two peoples, and alongside the State of Israel there will be a demilitarized Palestinian state within a regional agreement,” he said.<figure><img alt="Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a vote at the plenum hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on July 16, 2026." src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/730992"></figure>Asked whether it was appropriate to discuss a diplomatic vision while the war was still underway, Kariv said that alongside military action, Israel must also present a clear political objective.“During a war that has continued for two and a half years, the moment comes when you say, alongside the military measures, what your diplomatic vision is,” he said. “I ultimately want to reach a division of the land in order to ensure the future of the State of Israel as Jewish and democratic, and to end control over millions of Palestinians.”<h3>'I am not ignoring the polls'</h3>During the interview, Kariv was confronted with polls indicating broad support for Hamas among Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as concerns about the security risks that could be created for residents of the Gaza border communities and central Israel.“I am not ignoring those polls,” Kariv said. “But you are ignoring other polls that also show a change in the trend regarding Hamas’s conduct, and the support that still exists for a diplomatic agreement. I pursue a diplomatic agreement cautiously and wisely with those forces in Palestinian society that are not Hamas, those people with whom every IDF brigade commander conducts security coordination.”<h3>Yair Golan's criticism of Israeli settlers</h3>Kariv also addressed remarks by The Democrats Party chairman Yair Golan criticizing the settlement movement. He said Golan’s criticism had been directed at illegal outposts and centers of violence.“The remarks made by Yair Golan rightly focused on illegal outposts, with an emphasis on those outposts from which organized violence against Palestinians emerges,” Kariv said.Kariv concluded by discussing the party’s primary results and the high voter turnout.“We have held digital votes in the past, but we have never had a situation in which 100,000 Israelis voted, and that is a major celebration,” he said.

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Israel should establish Palestinian state, MK Gilad Kariv says, accuses PM of 'building up' Hamas

The US Embassy in Jerusalem issued a security alert on Wednesday warning Americans in Israel to be cautious of organized crime activity in the country, according to a statement on the embassy's website."US Embassy Jerusalem is closely monitoring reports of a spike in violence connected to rivalries between Israeli organized crime groups," said the statement. "These attacks appear to be targeting businesses and homes associated with the groups involved, primarily in the Tel Aviv, Jaffa, and Herzliya neighborhoods."The embassy noted the use of grenades to target various homes and businesses, as well as private vehicles.Advertisement"Israeli National Police have responded to this spike in violence by conducting enforcement operations to disrupt violent criminal activity and arrest the leaders believed to be responsible for these attacks," the embassy added. It noted that both the embassy itself and its Tel Aviv branch office are still operating normally.The statement warned American citizens in Israel to "stay alert" while in central Israeli commercial districts, with an emphasis on late and overnight hours.<figure><img alt="View of the US Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv, May 7, 2024." src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/664947"></figure>Americans were further warned to avoid areas with police activity and to obey law enforcement instructions, as well as to report suspicious activities to Israel Police. In addition, the embassy advised preparing a "personal security plan" and maintaining situational awareness and communication with loved ones.Other steps encouraged by the embassy included enrollment in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) and general preparation for existing threats, such as knowing the location of the nearest protected space in case of a rocket or missile attack.<h3>What is happening in Israel's Japanika crime wave?</h3>The embassy's warning comes amid a growing organized crime wave in central Israel, with the most recent development being the arrest of a new suspect on Tuesday in connection with the grenade attack on a Japanika restaurant in Kiryat Ono on July 13.The arrest followed an additional arrest on Thursday of an 18-year-old from Bat Yam on suspicion of also being involved in the Kiryat Ono attack.<h3>More suspects, crime boss arrested</h3>On Sunday, Israel Police arrested a 28-year-old resident of Kiryat Ata over his alleged involvement in the attempted arson of a Japanika branch in Haifa.On July 14, police responded to a shooting incident at a Herzliya Japanika restaurant. That same day, Musli crime family boss Yossi Musli was arrested in connection with the series of attacks targeting the Japanika restaurant chain, according to Israeli media reports.Alon Hachmon, Hodaya Ran, Miriam Sela-Eitam, and Esther Davis contributed to this report.

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US Embassy issues security alert over Israeli organized crime amid Japanika restaurant attacks

Diamonds, which just opened in theaters around Israel, is an Italian movie that plays like Almodovar lite, about the dramatic lives of a group of female costume designers and seamstresses for movies in Rome in the 1970s.For some, this description will promise a heavenly movie-going experience, but those who enjoyed Pedro Almodovar’s signature movie, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, but disliked many of his subsequent portrayals of emotionally unstrung women won’t find it much fun.The movie, directed by Ferzan Ozpetek and a big box-office success in Italy, uses a framing device of the director (played by Ozpetek) in the present day, bringing together his favorite actresses to have them read the screenplay of his new movie.AdvertisementThis new film is about the travails of those who worked in a movie costume shop 50-60 years ago. I am not sure what this device adds, but soon the movie settles down to its period story.The script, written by the director along with Elisa Casseri and Carlotta Corradi, focuses on the two sisters who run this costume workshop: the imperious but talented Alberta (Luisa Ranieri) and her weaker sister Gabriella (Jasmine Trinca), who is struggling with the grief of losing her child.<figure><img alt="Ferzan Ozpetek attends a photocall for Sky Inclusion Days 2026 at Sky Campus on May 27, 2026 in Milan, Italy." src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/731000"></figure>They are hired by Oscar-winning costume designer Bianca Vega (Vanessa Scalera) to create elaborate designs for an 18th-century, upper-class costume drama. Alberta sees this as an opportunity to get the business out of debt, since the workshop has been floundering since the death of Gabriella’s child.Alberta insists that they can create all the costumes, not just those of the leads, and they are happy to follow Bianca’s emotion-laden directives on how each dress must mirror the inner world of the character who wears it.<h3>An abusive husband, a withdrawn son</h3>While the seamstresses and designers throw themselves into this project with everything they have, they also face personal dilemmas. One has an abusive husband who does not want his wife to work; another has a withdrawn son who may be mentally ill; still others have flings with the workmen who do repairs on the villa that houses the shop, while one has a young son she must bring to the workshop because she has no one to care for him.The relative of another employee who is wanted for participating in the political demonstrations hides out there and turns out to be skilled at creating designs that supposedly add depth by illuminating the characters’ emotions. The political turmoil outside the workshop is hinted at, but is not important to the story.While you might think this movie would be filled with beautiful costumes, we rarely get to see the finished products, and the ones shown did not look all that great. I was hoping to see gorgeous gowns like those in Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, one of the great Italian costume dramas.<h3>A 1970s fashion exposé</h3>But the fruits of the seamstresses’ labor are far less impressive and, to my mind, did not illuminate any psychological underpinnings of the character, although they were meant to. Fashionistas who want to see this movie will find even more to enjoy in the 1970s outfits worn by the seamstresses and designers.There are a few messages about how everyone has to set their ego aside and work together, and how it is important to trust their instincts. But the movie is mostly a showcase for the actresses to have their dramatic moments.The story might have worked better as a television series, where we could have gotten to know each woman more in depth as their stories unfolded gradually. But as a feature film, Diamonds introduces each character and gives her some important moments, then moves on to the next one rather abruptly.The cast is good, but in the end, it’s all a bit cliché, despite the intriguing setting.

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Italian drama ‘Diamonds’ fails to sparkle - review

The Knesset told the High Court of Justice that even if Israel’s new system for appointing judges resulted in a lower professional standard among Supreme Court appointees, lawmakers could decide that the trade-off was justified by greater public trust and a more diverse judiciary.The case concerns a law changing the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee, which appoints every judge in Israel.Today, the committee includes three Supreme Court justices, two ministers, two MKs, and two representatives of the Israel Bar Association. Appointing a Supreme Court justice requires seven votes, forcing agreement between political and professional members.AdvertisementUnder the new law, the two Bar Association representatives would be replaced by two senior lawyers chosen separately by coalition and opposition MKs. Supreme Court appointments would require five votes, including support from both political blocs, but none of the three justices would have to agree.Lower-court appointments would also require five votes, but would still need the support of at least one judge, one coalition-side member and one opposition-side member. The law is scheduled to take effect only when the next Knesset begins its term.<figure><img alt="Opposition members of Israel's Knesset leave during a preliminary vote to establish a political commission of inquiry, December 24, 2025." src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/699003"></figure><h3>Worries that changes could weaken judicial independence</h3>Critics, including Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, argue that the changes would weaken judicial independence by making judges more dependent on politicians for appointment and promotion. The Knesset and government say neither the coalition nor opposition could appoint judges alone and that the changes would make the courts more representative of Israeli society.Those concerns dominated the June 21 hearing before an expanded 11-justice panel.Justice Alex Stein asked what a district court judge hoping to reach the Supreme Court would have to do under the new system, answering that the judge may need to “find favor in the eyes of politicians” and write rulings they liked.Supreme Court President Isaac Amit warned that future justices could be publicly branded as the coalition’s or opposition’s choices, while Justice Yael Willner questioned whether the law’s fallback mechanism would encourage the political blocs to avoid compromise and wait until they could advance their own candidates.The government and Knesset filings, dated Monday and Tuesday, respectively, were submitted after the court allowed the sides to supplement their arguments following the hearing. The court has issued a conditional order requiring them to explain why the law should not be struck down.The central legal question is not simply whether the new system is wise or preferable, but whether it damages Israel’s democratic character so severely that the court may invalidate part of a Basic Law.The Knesset argued that it did not.“Even if we assume that the professional level of the judges appointed will decline,” it wrote, the amendment reflects the view that “it is appropriate to pay this price in exchange for increasing public confidence in the judicial system and appointing diverse judges.”The Knesset stressed that this was a hypothetical argument, not an admission that the quality of appointments would fall.It also said professional ability was not the only relevant consideration. The committee could consider how candidates treat litigants, how efficiently they work, their judicial approach, and the need for greater social and sectoral diversity.The government similarly argued that considering a candidate’s worldview was not the same as demanding political loyalty.A judge’s worldview could include their approach to individual rights, tradition, the role of the state and how readily courts should intervene in government decisions, it said. Those views may also affect how judges interpret laws or approach criminal sentencing.The government rejected the justices’ concern that judges might tailor their rulings to improve their promotion prospects, saying that assumption was speculative and cast doubt on “the professional integrity and personal independence of Israel’s judges.”<h3>Knesset has backup plan if committee can't agree</h3>It also described the committee vote as only the “final stretch” of a longer professional process involving qualifications, writing samples, recommendations, interviews and assessments. Changing who sits on the committee would not remove those professional checks, it argued.The Knesset also defended a fallback procedure designed to fill Supreme Court vacancies if the committee remains unable to agree.It could be activated only after two Supreme Court seats became vacant, at least a year had passed from the later of the first vacancy or the beginning of the new Knesset, and the committee had met but failed to appoint replacements.The justice minister could then activate the procedure once during that Knesset’s term.The coalition-side members would submit three candidates, and the rest of the committee would select one. The opposition-side members would submit another three candidates, and the other members would select a second.If no candidate was chosen from a list within a month, however, the members who submitted that list could choose one themselves. If only one side submitted candidates, its candidate could eventually be appointed alone.The justices questioned whether that arrangement would reduce the incentive to compromise, since each political bloc could eventually expect to advance one of its own candidates.The Knesset acknowledged that the mechanism had disadvantages but said leaving Supreme Court seats empty for long periods would be worse.“The sole justification for the existence of the deadlock mechanism, despite its disadvantages, is simple: The Knesset believed that its absence was a worse alternative,” it wrote.The Knesset argued that predictions of paralysis or overtly political appointments were still unproven. Should those problems materialize, it said, the court could examine the law after seeing how it operated in practice.“A law cannot be invalidated - certainly not a Basic Law - on the basis of unsubstantiated future assumptions,” it wrote.The government separately reiterated this view. Allowing the court to place itself above the constitutional rules enacted by the Knesset would turn “the rule of law” into “the rule of judges,” it argued.The government also criticized the tone of the June hearing, saying that the justices had referred to the politicization of appointments as an established fact without providing specific examples the government could address.It said the comments reflected a “general spirit of demonization of elected officials.”Even if the High Court has the authority to review Basic Laws, the government argued that the petitions are premature because the law will not take effect until the next Knesset. The incoming Knesset could retain, change, or repeal it before the new system begins operating.Both the government and Knesset asked the court to dismiss the petitions.

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Knesset to High Court: Judicial-selection reform may justify professional trade-off

The Finance Ministry, the Education Ministry, and the Secondary School Teachers' Union reached an agreement on Wednesday after two months of negotiations.As a result of the agreement, the education system will continue its transition toward a five-day school week - one day less than the current six-day school week, which includes&nbsp; Friday.The parties also agreed to cancel the decree docking teachers' pay on June 8, when war broke out with Iran.&nbsp;AdvertisementWhat is more, physics teachers will receive the same 4% bonus for preparing students for the highest-level matriculation examination (Bagrut) that chemistry teachers get.&nbsp;Also, teachers who teach classes with integrated special education students will receive annual grants based on the number of children with disabilities in their classes.<figure><img alt="Group of students raising hands during a lesson in the classroom. [Illustrative]" src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/392749"></figure>The ministries and the union also increased the number of annual early retirees from 320 to 350, citing "high demand from teachers wishing to retire early due to burnout."<h3>Parents association rejects Teachers' Union threat to limit inclusion of students with disabilities</h3>In June, as this agreement was being negotiated, the National Parents' Leadership Association called on the Education Ministry to reject the Teachers' Union's ultimatum to limit the integration of children with disabilities into classrooms.While teachers are threatening strike action over staffing shortages, parents are attacking the demand and describing it as dangerous discrimination.In response to threats by Teachers' Union chairwoman Yaffa Ben-David, the National Parents' Leadership Association appealed to the Education Ministry's director-general, demanding that the move be rejected."The Parents' Leadership Association views the Teachers' Union's letter with great concern," the organization said in a statement. "This is an improper, discriminatory, and dangerous demand that cannot be accepted in an education system committed to the values of equality, inclusion, and acceptance of others. Instead of fighting for additional staffing positions, the Teachers' Union has chosen to direct the spotlight at the children themselves."Parents' Leadership Association chairman Oren Ozen stated: "The state's role is to provide teachers with the tools needed for successful integration, not to remove children from the classroom. The education system cannot afford to send a message of exclusion."Avichai Chiim contributed to this report.

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Five day school week: Teachers' Union reaches agreement with gov't after weeks of negotiations

In preparation for the holiday of Tisha B’Av, hundreds of police officers, Border Guard soldiers, and volunteers will be deployed throughout Jerusalem on Wednesday to maintain public safety and direct traffic.According to Israel Police, security preparations were focused in the Old City, at the Western Wall, and at other holy sites.Police and Border Guard will deploy both overt and covert forces, as well as special units, to ensure that law enforcement will be able to swiftly respond to any unusual incidents.Advertisement<h3>Roads to be partially closed for Tisha B'Av march, prayers</h3>Police are also preparing for the Women for Israel’s Future march, which will take place on the route from Independence Park to the Dung Gate on Wednesday evening.Gershon Agron Street, &nbsp;King Solomon Street, Paratroopers Road, Sultan Suleiman Street, Jericho Road, Ophel Road, and Ma’ale Hashalom Street will be closed when the march begins at 8:30 p.m and will reopen as it progresses.<figure><img alt="Israel Police deployed at 2025 Tisha B’Av prayers and events in Jerusalem." src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/730958"></figure>On Thursday morning between 4:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., Ophel Road and Ma’ale Hashalom Street will be closed to traffic for morning prayers.In preparation for the end of the Tisha B’Av fast, Sultan Suleiman Street, Jericho Road, Ophel Road, and Ma’ale Hashalom Street will be intermittently closed between 4:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.Public transportation to the Western Wall will operate on its normal schedule throughout Wednesday and Thursday.Israel Police urged the public to be patient, obey law enforcement instructions, and avoid engaging in any disorderly or violent conduct throughout Tisha B’Av prayers and events.

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Police, Border Guard complete public safety preparations ahead of Tisha B’av

Two residents of Wadi Ara are suspected of possessing and carrying a variety of illegal weapons, which constitutes a threat to national security, police said on Wednesday at the conclusion of the investigation into the matter.&nbsp;The police investigation, conducted alongside the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), uncovered photographic evidence proving that the two men, brothers aged 24 and 27, possessed and had carried an M16 rifle, multiple handguns, and ammunition.&nbsp;The two brothers were detained early on in the investigation, and their detention was continuously extended as the investigation wore on. Once the police investigation concluded, a prosecutor's statement was filed against the two suspects, and the State Attorney's Office is expected to file an indictment in the near future, along with a request to extend their detention until the end of the legal process.AdvertisementOne of the photographs found in the investigation and published by police showed an infant propped up on a sofa next to an M16 rifle. Other images showed the suspects holding various weapons, while some displayed the weapons laid out on the floor alongside the ammunition. In one picture, a rifle appears to be laid out on top of a Muslim prayer mat.&nbsp;<h3>Police arrest two Wadi Ara residents after they throw gun, attempt to hide evidence</h3>In a similar incident in April, two men from the Arab-Israeli town of Wadi Ara were arrested during a police raid on an apartment as part of an effort to crack down on illegal weapons and reduce Arab sector crime.<figure><img alt="Two suspects from Wadi Ara accused of illegally possessing and carrying weapons seen alongside an image of one of those illegal weapons." src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/730931"></figure>When police entered the apartment, the two suspects threw the weapons in an attempt to hide the evidence. Consequently, obstruction of justice was added to their list of charges.Police seized a weapon that was suspected of being used for criminal purposes, along with ammunition.&nbsp;

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Baby with a gun: Bizarre photographs lead Israel Police to illegal weapons in Arab-Israeli town

Border Police rescued a donkey who was tied up in the trunk of a private vehicle on Tuesday night after pulling the car over for inspection at the Tunnels Checkpoint outside Jerusalem.&nbsp;The driver, a 28-year-old resident of Beitar Illit who was coming from Gush Etzion into Jerusalem, claimed that the donkey was unwell and that he was taking it to the Neve Yaakov farm in east Jerusalem.He was subsequently detained while authorities investigated the matter, and the donkey was taken to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for further treatment.&nbsp;Advertisement<figure><img alt="Israeli security forces rescue a donkey from the back of a private vehicle on July 21, 2026." src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/730917"></figure><h3>Donkey seen awake, alert, and walking</h3>In a video distributed by the police, the donkey is seen awake and alert as an officer unties the restraints around his two front legs; restraints are also seen tied around his two back legs.The donkey is then seen walking normally as someone leads him away from the vehicle.

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WATCH: Donkey rescued from private vehicle at Jerusalem checkpoint

The State Attorney's Office on Monday filed an indictment with the Nazareth District Court against 10 defendants, including Asaf Buskila, Adir Ben Hamo, and Meir Amar, accusing them of operating an organized criminal network that allegedly operated for years in Migdal HaEmek and the surrounding area.According to the indictment, the organization was led by Buskila, an inmate at Shita Prison, who allegedly directed the gang's activities from behind bars while instructing members operating outside the prison.The defendants include Migdal HaEmek residents Asaf Buskila, 30; Adir Ben Hamo, 23; Meir Amar, 64; Liel Malka, 23; Shani Cohen, 32; Aliza Buskila, 48; Moti Levy, 26; Elimelech Perido, 26; and Oded Davit, 25. Lian Neiman, 29, of Kiryat Haim, was also charged.AdvertisementProsecutors allege that over the course of nearly four years, the group operated a structured criminal enterprise involved in illegal gambling, loan sharking, debt collection through threats, exploitation, and money laundering. The indictment, filed by attorneys Shani Malul and Tehila Bernes of the Northern District Attorney's Office, states that the operation generated at least NIS 3 million.<h3>Gambling ring head orchestrated debt collection efforts from behind bars</h3>Despite being incarcerated, Buskila allegedly remained in daily contact with members of the organization, issuing instructions and directing debt collection efforts. Prosecutors say borrowers and gamblers who fell into financial distress were intimidated into repaying their debts through fear and threats.<figure><img alt="Israel Police car" src="https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/729321"></figure>The indictment further alleges that Buskila, together with Ben Hamo, Amar, and Davit, rigged roulette games at a gambling apartment they operated in Migdal HaEmek. According to prosecutors, the roulette table was equipped with a remotely controlled magnetic mechanism that enabled the group to manipulate the outcome of games at will in order to increase their profits.In one alleged incident, after a debtor accumulated a debt of at least NIS 100,000, members of the organization conspired to assault him to force repayment. Prosecutors say they lured him to the gambling apartment under false pretenses, where several members of the group were waiting with an attack dog. Once inside, they allegedly locked the door, beat him, and set the dog on him, causing bite wounds to his arms and legs.The indictment also describes a separate case in which the defendants allegedly provided a NIS 50,000 loan carrying monthly interest payments of NIS 3,000. After the borrower struggled to keep up with the payments and was repeatedly threatened, prosecutors say he ultimately paid the defendants at least NIS 128,700.<h3>Defendants charged with exploitation, aggravated assault</h3>The defendants are charged, each according to their alleged role, with offenses including organizing and operating illegal gambling, maintaining gambling premises, extortion by threats, extortion by force, exploitation, providing credit without a license, issuing loans at usurious interest rates in violation of the Fair Credit Law, money laundering, conspiracy to commit a felony, obtaining property by fraud, aggravated assault, and additional offenses.The State Attorney's Office has also asked the court to keep the defendants in custody until the conclusion of the legal proceedings against them.

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Indictment filed against ten defendants accused of running gambling empire from prison