Anti-U.S. opinion in Arab countries grows over support for Israel, leaders tell Blinken

NEW YORK — Hundreds of protesters calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war disrupted the Monday morning rush hour in New York City by blocking major bridges and a tunnel leading into Manhattan.

Police said more than 325 people were arrested, with many facing misdemeanor charges.

Demonstrators sat in roadways and locked themselves together using zip ties and even cement-filled tires, which at times required officers to use power tools to pry the demonstrators apart.

Protest organizers included the Palestinian Youth Movement and Jewish-led groups long opposed to Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, such as Jewish Voice for Peace.

A steady stream of demonstrations have broken out in cities across the United States and in other countries during the war. The groups said they want to see a permanent cease-fire and an end to the U.S. government’s arming of the Israel, among other things.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams questioned the demonstrators’ tactics, telling reporters, “The right to protest does not give one the right to block bridges and tunnels.”

Ahmad Tibi, head of the Knesset's Hadash–Ta'al party coalition, criticized recent comments from Israel Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as "legitimizing" genocide against Gazans, according to a report from the Times of Israel.

Smotrich has made comments advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of the Gaza Strip, a concept which has been repeatedly condemned by U.S. officials. Tibi told the Times of Israel that Smotrich's remarks are part of South Africa's complaints against Israel to international courts, and lawmakers who speak this way want the war to continue.

“The finance minister said that there are two million Nazis in Gaza,” Tibi said. “This is how you legitimize genocide.”

Israeli officials have said the operation is entering a new phase of more targeted warfare, but there was no respite in the fighting on Monday.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said a “different mix of forces” was pursuing holdout Hamas fighters in the north as “intense operational activity” focused on central Gaza and around the southern city of Khan Younis.

“Handling tough battles in both the center and south,” Hagari said. “The fighting will continue through 2024.”

Israeli forces bombarded the eastern part of Khan Younis and the central Gaza Strip amid ground clashes, residents said.

President Joe Biden was interrupted by protesters calling for a cease-fire during a speech in South Carolina.

“The president’s deep and intimate knowledge of foreign affairs” and ability to “work diplomatically” contrasts with former President Trump’s actions, said state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Pa., a Biden campaign adviser.

Hezbollah commander Wissam Hassan Tawil, also known as Al-Haj Jawad, led several special operations targeting Israeli military sites and deployments near the border since Oct. 7, the organization said.

Tawil was killed by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon today, the organization said. The Israel Defense Forces told NBC News in a request for comment that it does not comment on foreign reports.

Hezbollah described Tawil as someone who "significantly contributed" to the "Islamic resistance" over the years. Tawil, 48, joined the Iran-backed group in 1989 and led a reconnaissance mission against Israeli forces in 1996, when Israel occupied southern Lebanon.

Tawil also participated in the groups 2006 operation to capture IDF soldiers in July 2006, Hezbollah said, which plunged Lebanon into war with Israel for roughly 30 days.

Hamas issued a statement of condolences to Hezbollah following news of Tawil's death.

Around 40 protesters blocked the entrance to the Israeli parliament today before being dispersed by police. The event was organized by the families of the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

It's the latest in a series of protests against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that have occurred across the country.

The U.N. is calling for accountability for the "sexual torture" committed against Israeli citizens on Oct. 7, according to a statement released today by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights.

It comes after Israeli criticism of the U.N. for what it saw as inaction on the issue of the use of sexual violence by Hamas.

The Israeli mission to the United Nations in Geneva said in a statement to Reuters: "The whole international community must fully recognize the brutal and terrorist nature of Hamas, and the responsibility of those who have been shielding them for years, including the Palestinian Authority."

Israel has appointed the former president of its Supreme Court to serve as the country's representative at the International Court of Justice when it hears South Africa’s case accusing the country of genocide, several Israeli media outlets reported today.

Aharon Barak, 87, will serve on the 15-judge panel in The Hague as it hears the accusations that stem from Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.

The ICJ’s rules say a state that does not have a judge of its nationality already on the bench can choose an ad hoc judge to sit in their case.

Barak, a champion of Supreme Court activism, was a focus of opposition for members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, whose judicial reform push last year bitterly polarized the public.

Israel has also hired a British jurist, Malcom Shaw, to represent it at the hearings, which are scheduled to happen later this week.

In a makeshift funeral service on a packed sidewalk in southern Gaza, Wael Dahdouh fought back tears as he led a communal prayer over a body draped in a white burial shroud covered with a blue press jacket.

Dahdouh’s 27-year-old son, Hamza Dahdouh, on Sunday became the latest Palestinian journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike, and the latest searing loss for the veteran reporter. Yet after joining mourners who wailed and prayed over the death of his son, the elder Dahdouh — Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief who has become a symbol for many during this war of both personal tragedy and defiant perseverance — vowed to continue his work.

“It is true that the pain of losing someone is very difficult and when it is about your eldest son after the death of the family, then it becomes even more difficult,” he told an NBC News crew in Gaza later Sunday, as he sat with grieving relatives to receive condolences.

“In the end, this does not change anything of reality, and will not change any of our decisions. We are going to proceed as long as we are alive and breathing. As long as we are able to do this duty and deliver this message,” Dahdouh said.

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