Israel Intercepts Drones That Briefly Interrupted Airport Operations

People pass by a poster reading "Bring them home now" on a beach, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 20, 2024. (Reuters)
People pass by a poster reading "Bring them home now" on a beach, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israel Intercepts Drones That Briefly Interrupted Airport Operations

People pass by a poster reading "Bring them home now" on a beach, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 20, 2024. (Reuters)
People pass by a poster reading "Bring them home now" on a beach, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 20, 2024. (Reuters)

The Israeli military says it has intercepted five drones off the coast of Israel.

The incident on Monday caused a brief interruption of flights at Israel’s main airport lasting less than ten minutes, Israeli media reported.

The military said Israel’s air force has intercepted more than 30 drones over the past week.

Israel’s military has at times struggled to intercept drones, which are smaller, fly more erratically and are harder to track and intercept.

Last week, a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and wounded 67 others, the deadliest strike by the armed group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon three weeks ago.

In July, a drone launched from Yemen traveled some 270 kilometers (160 miles) from Israel’s southern tip, all the way to Tel Aviv, slamming into a downtown building and killing one person without it having been intercepted.

Overnight Israeli strikes hit Hezbollah-run bank branches Overnight strikes by Israel hit at least 15 branches of a Hezbollah-run financial institution in Lebanon.

The strikes targeted Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches in the southern suburbs of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

Israel says the bank is used to fund attacks. But it is also where many ordinary Lebanese keep their savings.

The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes. There were no reports of casualties.

One of the strikes in the Beirut suburbs was not far from the Lebanese General Security building. Another rocket landed on a road near Lebanon's only international airport.



Thiel’s Palantir Dumped by Norwegian Investor over Work for Israel

The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
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Thiel’s Palantir Dumped by Norwegian Investor over Work for Israel

The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)

One of the Nordic region's largest investors has sold its holdings in Palantir Technologies because of concerns that the US data firm's work for Israel might put the asset manager at risk of violating international humanitarian law and human rights.

Storebrand Asset Management disclosed this week that it had "excluded Palantir Technologies Inc. from our investments due (to) its sales of products and services to Israel for use in occupied Palestinian territories."

The investor, which manages about 1 trillion crowns ($91.53 billion) in assets, held around 262 million crowns ($24 million) in Palantir, a spokesperson told Reuters. A representative for Palantir, based in Denver, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Storebrand said Palantir had not replied to any of its requests for information, first lodged in April. The data analytics firm, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, provides militaries with artificial-intelligence models. Earlier this year, it agreed to a strategic partnership to supply technology to Israel to assist in the ongoing war in Gaza.

Palantir has previously defended its work for Israel. CEO Alex Karp said he was proud to have worked with the country following the Hamas attacks in October last year and in March told CNBC that Palantir had lost employees and that he expected to lose more over his public support for Israel.

Storebrand's exit follows a recommendation from Norway's government in March warning businesses about engaging in economic or financial activity in the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, the asset manager said in its third-quarter investment review published on Wednesday. The International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest court, said in July that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories including the settlements was illegal.

Israel's foreign ministry rejected that opinion as "fundamentally wrong" and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can be reached only by negotiations.

Storebrand said its analysis indicated that Palantir provides products and services "including AI-based predictive policing systems" that support Israeli surveillance of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palantir's systems are supposed "to identify individuals who are likely to launch 'lone wolf terrorist' attacks, facilitating their arrests preemptively before the strikes that it is projected they would carry out," Storebrand said.

It added that, according to the United Nations, Israeli authorities have a history of incarcerating Palestinians without charge or trial. A UN Special Rapporteur said in a 2023 report that "the occupied Palestinian territory had been transformed as a whole into a constantly surveilled open-air prison."

Israel rejected the UN's findings. In September Reuters reported that Norway's $1.7 trillion wealth fund may have to divest shares of companies that violate the fund watchdog's tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel's operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.