Israeli Court Sentences Man for Repeatedly Violating Anti-Organized Crime Restrictions

Good Morning, Israel · Thursday, November 12, 2026 · 8:13

Good Morning, Israel · Episode 46

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1. Israeli Court Sentences Man for Repeatedly Violating Anti-Organized Crime Restrictions
2. Car Arson and Triple Murder: Charges Filed Against Triangle Area Resident
3. Gaza Hospital Hit by Israeli Airstrike, Causing Casualties and Worsening Crisis
4. Netanyahu Bloc Delays Lieberman's Vote for Foreign Affairs Committee Chair
5. Israel Must Adapt to Shifting US Support
6. Israel Katz and Avigdor Lieberman Clash Over Military Operation Authority

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Maya

Israel's parliament has a committee meant to oversee its military, and right now nobody's chairing it.

Daniel

And the man in line for the job has already picked a fight with the Defense Minister over Iran.

Maya

This is Good Morning, Israel from baba News. It's Thursday, November twelfth. I'm Maya.

Daniel

And I'm Daniel.

Maya

Yesterday we had Gadi Eisenkot walking out of coalition talks with Likud. Today it's Avigdor Lieberman's turn in the spotlight. Set it up for me.

Daniel

Lieberman leads Yisrael Beytenu, the secular right-wing party. He's slated to chair the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Maya

Which is a big deal in Israel.

Daniel

It's arguably the most powerful committee in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. It's where lawmakers oversee the army, the intelligence services, and decisions on war.

Maya

And the vote to give him the job?

Daniel

Delayed until Monday. The bloc backing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed it back.

Maya

What does Lieberman want to do once he's in the chair?

Daniel

He plans to summon the I D F Chief of Staff and the head of the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency, for discussions on Iran.

Maya

So the delay isn't just a scheduling issue.

Daniel

Not according to Eisenkot. The National Unity Party leader criticized Netanyahu for the delay, and accused him of creating an oversight vacuum.

Maya

Wait, National Unity? Earlier this week we called his party Yashar.

Daniel

Right, he's been identified with both. Either way, it's the same Eisenkot, the former Chief of Staff who holds the mandate to form a government.

Maya

Okay. And he had something to say about Iran too.

Daniel

He did. He urged restraint on military action against Iran.

Maya

Then Defense Minister Israel Katz and Lieberman went at it in public.

Daniel

Over a basic question. Who gets to order I D F operations, especially abroad?

Maya

And Katz's answer?

Daniel

Katz says he and Prime Minister Netanyahu have full authority, even in the current transitional government.

Maya

Transitional meaning caretaker, since there's no new coalition yet.

Daniel

Exactly. Lieberman's argument is that decisions like that need parliamentary oversight.

Maya

Is there an actual rulebook here, or just two strong personalities?

Daniel

There's a rulebook. The dispute centers on Israel's Basic Law covering government decisions on war and major military action. Israel doesn't have a single written constitution, so its Basic Laws do a lot of that work.

Maya

So one side says the government decides, and the other says the Knesset needs a say.

Daniel

And with Iran in the background, that's not a seminar question.

Maya

And it lands on top of a coalition fight where Lieberman and Eisenkot are supposed to be partners.

Daniel

Partners who still disagree on relying on Raam, the United Arab List. Now Lieberman has a committee fight with the caretaker government as well.

Maya

Staying with Iran, a sharp warning from a retired general.

Daniel

Former I D F General Yisrael Ziv criticized Netanyahu's decision-making. He warned that political motives, not security needs, are driving possible action against Iran.

Maya

That's a serious charge.

Daniel

It is. Ziv said he doesn't trust Netanyahu. He suggested the Prime Minister might defy Donald Trump, and create what he called a false sense of emergency.

Maya

And he had a message for the army's top officer.

Daniel

For Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir. Ziv urged him to resist any unjustified military action, and stressed that the military leadership carries real responsibility.

Maya

That's Ziv's view, to be clear.

Daniel

His view, yes. He also said he believes Netanyahu is unconcerned with the consequences of his decisions.

Maya

So between Eisenkot, Lieberman and Ziv, the question of who decides on Iran is coming from three directions at once.

Daniel

Exactly. And the man answering it for now is Katz, insisting the government already has that power.

Maya

Now to crime, and a legal first.

Daniel

A man named Baha Jaber has been sentenced to twenty-one months in prison. The Hadera Magistrate's Court found him guilty of violating court orders that restricted his activities linked to organized crime.

Maya

What did he actually do?

Daniel

Three breaches, including using a car and a phone he was banned from using.

Maya

A phone and a car. That doesn't sound like twenty-one months.

Daniel

That's the point of the law. It's the first conviction under a new law passed in December twenty twenty-four to fight serious organized crime.

Maya

So the restrictions themselves are the weapon.

Daniel

Right. Courts can limit what a suspected crime figure can use and do, and breaking those limits can now bring up to four years in prison.

Maya

Which matters, because organized crime has become one of Israel's biggest domestic problems.

Daniel

Especially in Arab communities. And that brings us to a much darker case.

Maya

The triple murder from September.

Daniel

On September thirteenth, twenty twenty-six, three relatives from Jaljulia, including a minor, were shot. Their bodies were burned in a car.

Maya

Jaljulia being an Arab town in central Israel.

Daniel

Right. Now Israeli police are set to indict a suspect from the Triangle area. That's a cluster of Arab towns in central Israel, close to the line with the West Bank.

Maya

Who do police say is behind it?

Daniel

Members of the Hariri crime family, according to the police. They allegedly used what investigators are calling a Red Riding Hood tactic.

Maya

And the investigation?

Daniel

One suspect is under arrest. Police are hunting three others who are on the run.

Maya

How are the investigators describing it?

Daniel

The commander of Lahav four three three, the Israel Police's elite unit for major crime, called it one of the most brutal murders in recent years.

Maya

And the new law we just talked about is aimed at exactly these networks.

Daniel

Exactly. One conviction for a phone and a car, while three suspects in a killing like this are still out there. That's the scale of the challenge.

Maya

Quick round. Another violent incident, this time in Tayibe.

Daniel

Tayibe is another Arab city in central Israel. On Tuesday evening, Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency medical service, got a call at eight oh one.

Maya

Who was hurt?

Daniel

A twenty-seven-year-old man and a fifteen-year-old boy, both with penetrating injuries. The man was taken to Meir Hospital in serious condition, and the boy is in moderate condition.

Maya

Fifteen.

Daniel

Yes. And it's the same story of violence in Arab towns that the police are under pressure to stop.

Maya

North of the border, Lebanon's economy is in freefall.

Daniel

The World Bank projects it will shrink by six point four percent this year. There's a chronic electricity shortage, so people and businesses depend on private generators.

Maya

Expensive ones, I'm guessing.

Daniel

One business owner in Beirut pays more than sixteen hundred dollars a month just for generator power.

Maya

That's a rent payment for the lights.

Daniel

And in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon's farming heartland, labor costs for grape growers have risen fivefold.

Maya

Which is what years of Hezbollah dominance and state paralysis look like on the ground.

Daniel

Right, a country that can't keep its own lights on.

Maya

And a bigger-picture argument about Washington.

Daniel

There's a case being made that Israel's relationship with the United States is weakening, and that's a serious strategic threat. The argument is that countries like China or India can't replace it.

Maya

And the prescription?

Daniel

A proactive effort to repair the alliance, rather than what it calls Netanyahu's approach of preparing to rely less on the U S. That includes the leadership showing a clear commitment to peace.

Maya

And something for the lobby.

Daniel

A reset for AIPAC, the main pro-Israel lobby group in Washington, so it reaches beyond partisan politics.

Maya

Something Israelis will keep arguing about well past this coalition fight.

Daniel

For sure.

Maya

So, one thing to watch.

Daniel

The Jaljulia case. Police say the indictment is coming, and the question is whether any of the three suspects on the run are caught first.

Maya

Follow Good Morning, Israel so tomorrow's episode is waiting for you.

Daniel

See you tomorrow morning.