Israel News Weekend Recap by BNN

jewishpress.com/

The Weekend Recap

By Sammy Tisser 

IRAN / STRAIT OF HORMUZ 

President Donald Trump confirmed Saturday that he rejected Iran's proposal for a broader agreement that would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had proposed reopening the strategic waterway as part of a seven-day process that would also include an end to hostilities on multiple fronts, the lifting of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, the release of frozen Iranian funds and sanctions relief. Iranian officials have separately said Tehran is not prepared to make concessions on its nuclear program. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has told aides he expects U.S. strikes against Iran could resume following the November midterm elections, although the situation remains subject to change. Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran no longer trusts U.S.-led negotiations, while U.S. officials said talks through mediators remain constructive. 

HOUTHI ATTACKS ON SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi-led coalition forces said they intercepted two Houthi drones launched toward Riyadh and two ballistic missiles fired toward Khamis Mushait early Saturday. Civil-defense warnings were issued in parts of southwestern Saudi Arabia as authorities monitored additional threats. The attacks come amid a sharp escalation between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia, with Houthi attacks increasingly targeting Saudi cities, infrastructure and shipping. 

SAUDI ARABIA, TURKEY AND PAKISTAN 

The military chiefs of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met in Riyadh amid the Houthi escalation and discussed implementing their recently signed joint-defense agreement. Under the pact, the three countries have said an armed attack against one would be regarded as an attack against all. Separately, The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence assessments indicate Saudi Arabia has not ruled out eventually developing a nuclear weapons program. Riyadh maintains that its nuclear plans are peaceful, while the U.S. State Department says Washington will not support a Saudi nuclear weapons program. 

LEBANON 

The IDF said it struck a Hezbollah weapons-storage facility in the Sejoud area of southern Lebanon on Saturday, saying weapons stored there posed a threat to Israeli forces operating in the security zone. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, meanwhile, told the UN General Assembly that restoring Lebanese territory currently held by Israel was an "existential challenge" and called for an Israeli withdrawal. Salam also criticized Iran's attacks against Gulf states and Jordan and expressed solidarity with those countries. 

GAZA 

The IDF announced Saturday that two Hamas operatives were killed in separate strikes carried out Friday. The military identified Ibrahim Fawzi Ismail Mohsen as a member of Hamas's Nukhba Force who was killed in Nuseirat. A separate strike in Khan Younis killed Mohammed Kamel Suleiman Mohsen. According to the IDF, both had recently been involved in rebuilding Hamas infrastructure and advancing attacks against Israeli forces. The developments came after the IDF announced Friday that it had recently destroyed a roughly two-kilometer Hamas tunnel in an Israeli-controlled section of Gaza as part of operations against remaining Hamas infrastructure. 

NEW REPORTS ON WARNINGS BEFORE OCTOBER 7 

Two major reports concerning intelligence warnings before the October 7 massacre emerged over the weekend. The Atlantic reported that then-Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel flew to Israel on September 26, 2023, and warned senior Israeli officials that the situation in Gaza could erupt and that Hamas was preparing for a major confrontation. The report says Kamel did not provide precise information about when or how an attack would occur. Former national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi denied that the reported visit and warning occurred. Separately, The New York Times reported that at an Israeli security meeting six days before October 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized maintaining calm in Gaza in order not to jeopardize potential normalization with Saudi Arabia. The report said Netanyahu did not mention an alleged warning he had received from UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed regarding Hamas. Netanyahu has denied receiving such a warning. 

QATAR / GAZA DIPLOMACY 

Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani accused Netanyahu and his government of being the primary obstacle to advancing the U.S.-backed Gaza peace plan. Qatar has also continued mediating between Washington and Tehran regarding the Strait of Hormuz. Channel 12 separately reported that Netanyahu adviser Michael Eisenberg met senior Qatari official Ali al-Thawadi in New York the day before Netanyahu strongly criticized Qatar during his UN speech. According to the report, the two discussed implementing the U.S.-backed Gaza plan and humanitarian aid entering the Strip. 

ISRAEL-MAURITIUS FLIGHT CANCELED 

An Israeli tourism company said a planned flight from Tel Aviv to Mauritius was canceled after Mauritian authorities refused permission for the flight to land. The company said it was informed that "political-diplomatic" considerations were behind the decision. 

ISRAEL-IRELAND SOCCER MATCH 

Ireland confirmed that its Nations League match against Israel will go ahead after players held an internal vote on whether to play. The Football Association of Ireland said a "significant majority" voted in favor of fulfilling the fixture after one player indicated they planned to withdraw. 

BELGIUM / IRAN 

Belgian threat-assessment officials reportedly linked Iran to attacks earlier this year targeting Jewish or Israeli-related locations in Liège and Antwerp. The report said Belgian authorities believe the perpetrators acted on instructions connected to Tehran. 

ISRAELI NAVY 

Israel is reportedly examining the possible acquisition of Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft as the Navy looks to strengthen anti-submarine and long-range maritime capabilities.

Israeli Inventions

https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/article-909549

Nine Israeli innovations that helped shape the world, from Waze to the Iron Dome

Zionism challenged Jews to take the initiative, and almost eight decades later, Israeli innovations are improving the world and enriching lives everywhere. 

Jews have been victimized more than any other people in history, yet have remained optimistic, idealistic, and dedicated to helping build a better world. The Jews’ contribution to the world is staggering – and up to 1948, all without political power, a country, or a shared language of everyday speech.

When the State of Israel was founded, it was a barren country with no natural resources, little water, and more than half of its landmass desert. 

The only advantage the new country had going for it was the strength of will and natural creativity of its people.

Zionism challenged Jews to take the initiative, and almost eight decades later, Israeli innovations are improving the world and enriching lives everywhere. Here are nine of them:

1. Solar water heater

In the early 1950’s, Dr. Zvi (Harry) Tabor, an Israeli physicist from England, convinced that solar energy was the surest and cleanest solution to the fact that Israel has no oil of its own, invented the Tabor Selective Surface – thermal panels that could store the heat of the sun even when it didn’t shine. 

1. SOLAR WATER heaters on a Tel Aviv rooftop. (credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)

Eventually, he integrated this technology with a water boiler to create the modern solar water heater, which earned Tabor the Weizmann Prize for Exact Sciences in 1956.

Today, 95% of Israeli households have solar-heated water tanks based on the Tabor Selective Surface. With over 1.4 million units installed, Israel maintains the highest per capita use of solar-powered water heaters in the world.

Approximately 122 million solar hot water systems were in operation globally at the end of 2022.

Besides simple residential units, these systems included solar power plants in remote locations not hooked up to the grid and even the solar panels built in California’s Mojave Desert, the largest solar power installation in the world – all based on Tabor’s work.

Dr. Zvi Tabor was awarded the Israeli President’s Medal of Distinction in 2014 for “being a symbol of Israeli innovation and for inspiring generations of scientists and entrepreneurs in the field of solar energy.”

2. Drip irrigation 

In the early 1960s, Simcha Blass, the chief engineer and one of the founders of the Mekorot water company (established in 1937 and now Israel’s national water carrier), developed and patented the drip irrigation concept.

Friction and pressure loss allow water to drip slowly at regular intervals to the roots of plants, providing a sustainable solution to the challenges of water scarcity and climate uncertainty.

Increased water-use efficiency (up to 50% savings) and crop yield (up 30-50%), together with decreased fertilizer loss and soil erosion, have been instrumental in transforming barren deserts in the Middle East, North Africa, India, and parts of Australia into productive agricultural lands.

Netafim, the company that Blass established over 60 years ago, now operates in 110 countries and contributes to food security and economic growth for farmers across more than 15 million hectares worldwide.

3. Semiconductor memory

In 1971, Dov Frohman, the Israel Prize-winning founder and first general manager of Intel Israel, invented the first non-volatile semiconductor memory that was both erasable and reprogrammable.

Intel founder Gordon Moore declared this innovation “as important in the development of the microcomputer industry as the microprocessor itself.”

From its crucial role in developing the foundations of personal computing, this technology revolutionized data storage, paving the way to flash memory technology (invented by Dov Moran and perfected by Dr. Eli Hariri, the co-founder of San Disk – both Israelis), which led to the commercially feasible development of digital photography, MP3 players, USB drives, smartphones, tablets, laptops, e-books, apps, and portable game controls.

4. Cardioverter defibrillator

On Feb. 4, 1980, the first cardioverter-defibrillator, invented and developed by Michel Mirowski, a Polish-born Israeli-American physician, was implanted in a patient at John Hopkins Hospital, despite much skepticism and the lack of financial backing.

An Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD) is a small, battery-powered device placed under the skin in the upper chest to monitor and help regulate life-threatening electrical problems with the heart 24/7.

If it detects dangerously fast rhythms (tachycardia or fibrillation), it delivers an electric shock to restore a normal rhythm, preventing sudden cardiac arrest, and often also serving as a pacemaker.

It also delivers “overdrive pacing” for less severe fast rhythms, or a shock (defibrillation) for life-threatening, chaotic rhythms, often restarting a heart that stops beating during cardiac arrest.

Since then, the device – which Mirowski further improved and miniaturized (they now weigh 80-90 grams, have a volume of 30 milliliters, and measure less than a centimeter in thickness) – has been installed in over 4 million people worldwide.

5. PillCam 

After working on the idea for almost 20 years and successfully creating a prototype in 1998, Gavriel Iddan, an Israeli electro-optical engineer, received FDA approval on Aug. 3, 2001, for a disposable pill-sized camera that passes straight through the digestive tract, continuously broadcasting to an external receiver.

The resulting product, PillCam, was developed to non-invasively visualize the small bowel and gastrointestinal tract.

It takes 2-6 pictures per second for roughly 8 hours, helping doctors diagnose Crohn’s disease, obscure bleeding, and tumors by transmitting images to a wearable recorder.

Not only does it allow for imaging of areas difficult to reach via traditional endoscopy, but it is also considerably cheaper (around $500 per pill, while a colonoscopy costs an average of $4,000).

Since the technology was first approved in 2001, more than 4 million PillCam capsules have been used in patient procedures in over 80 countries, and nearly 1,000 scientific articles have been published about its clinical use.

6. Waze 

Waze, a company founded by Israeli entrepreneurs Ehud Shabtai, Amir Shinar, and Uri Levine in 2008, developed a geographical navigation application that provides turn-by-turn information, user-submitted travel times, and route details, downloading location-dependent information over a cellular telephone network.

The platform relies entirely on users to provide real-time data on traffic, accidents, and police, allowing the service to prioritize the quickest route. It truly earned its tagline: “Outsmarting Traffic, Together.”

In June 2013, Google acquired Waze for a reported $1.3 billion, while maintaining its primary research and development hub in Israel. Waze’s 100 employees each received about $1.2 million on average, the largest payout to employees in Israeli high tech.

Since then, Waze has grown to approximately 151 million active monthly users worldwide as of early 2026, operating in over 180 countries, with significant user bases in the US, Turkey, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brazil.

7. Watergen 

Watergen, a pioneering Israeli technology company and market leader in Atmospheric Water Generation, offers low-cost methods of extracting clean and safe drinking water from humidity in the air.

Founded in 2009 by entrepreneur and former military commander Arye Kohavi and a team of engineers, the initial goal was to provide freely accessible water to troops around the world.

Following its acquisition by billionaire Michael Mirilashvili in 2016, the company turned its attention to addressing worldwide water scarcity and responding to the needs of people in the aftermath of natural disasters.

According to a World Health Organization study, one-third of the world’s population (~2.8 billion people) lacks access to safe drinking water. In much of the Third World, contaminated water is the leading cause of death in children.

By producing clean, energy-efficient water at the point of use, Watergen eliminates the need for transportation, storage, and reliance on aging infrastructure and plastic bottles – reducing costs, pollution, and environmental impact.

Watergen operates in more than 90 countries, with installations for communities, enterprises, homes, industrial sites, and emergency response, producing thousands of liters of top-quality pure drinking water per day, while shaping the future of decentralized, sustainable water supplies for the world.

8. Iron Dome mobile missile defense system

On April 7, 2011, the Iron Dome mobile missile defense system successfully intercepted its first projectile: a rocket fired from Gaza toward Israel.

The decision to build a missile defense system was made by defense minister Amir Peretz in 2007, following a year in which Hezbollah fired thousands of missiles into northern Israel during the Second Lebanon War, and Hamas fired rockets indiscriminately at Israel’s southern communities.

Iron Dome batteries are seen stationed near the southern Israeli city of Sderot, August 6, 2022 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

The Iron Dome system was developed by two Israeli firms – Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries – with significant funding from the United States, to counter threats from up to 70 kilometers away (missiles, mortars, and drones).

The system is purely defensive, designed to save lives, prevent injuries, and protect property. In the 15 years after its debut, it has intercepted more than 5,000 enemy rockets, with a success rate of over 90%, in the process changing the strategic balance between Israel and its enemies.

9. Mobileye

In 1999, Prof. Amnon Shashua evolved his academic research into a vision system that could detect vehicles by adding “intelligence” to inexpensive cameras for commercialization.

The resulting company, Mobileye, founded in Jerusalem, developed into a supplier of self-driving technologies and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), providing warnings for collision prevention and mitigation.

Mobileye went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, raised $890 million, and became the largest Israeli IPO in US history. By the end of that year, Mobileye’s technology had been implemented in dozens of vehicle models from major automakers, including GM, Ford, VW, and Nissan.

In March 2017, Intel acquired Mobileye for $15.3 billion – the biggest-ever acquisition of an Israeli tech company at the time – and went public again in 2022. By 2024, Mobileye reached over 70% market share in camera-based ADAS, with its technology used in approximately 200 million vehicles worldwide.■

https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/article-909549

Argentine President Blasts UN

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/433566

Milei calls UN 'useless' during General Assembly address

Argentine President Javier Milei blasts the UN as “useless," accusing it of hypocrisy, bureaucratic overreach and bias against Israel in a fiery speech.

Argentine President Javier Milei delivered a blistering attack on the United Nations during his address to the General Assembly in New York, describing the international body as “useless" and accusing its officials of acting as “fatally arrogant parasites."

Milei opened his speech by acknowledging the principles behind the UN’s creation, including peaceful conflict resolution and the promotion of freedom and human dignity. But he argued that the organization has abandoned those ideals.

"That’s to say, it has become a useless organization whose only purpose is to sustain a caste of fatally arrogant parasites masquerading as well-intentioned bureaucrats," he charged.

Milei accused the UN of responding to its failures by reinforcing rather than reconsidering its policies. "every time [the UN] failed, rather than reviewing the model or apologizing, they doubled down."

He also attacked the organization’s record on international security and human rights. "Those who were supposed to guarantee collective security and human rights failed in their task. They allowed chaos, violence and international terrorism to flourish," he said.

"The alleged defenders of human rights have sheltered bloodthirsty dictatorships and regimes that stone women in the streets; they have systematically voted against Israel while remaining silent in the face of Islamic terrorism and the genocide of Christians in Africa."

Milei further accused the UN of creating what he called a "bureaucratic leviathan" that seeks to dictate how people should live. "This amounts to a curious mixture of anarchy and tyranny, impotence in the face of those who break the most basic rules, such as bloodthirsty dictatorships and terrorist organizations coupled with Orwellian control and impositions on liberal democracies that abide by the rules."

The Argentine president made similar criticisms of the UN during his 2024 General Assembly address, when he focused in particular on the organization’s anti-Israel bias. He criticized the organization for "voting against the State of Israel, the only country in the Middle East to defend liberal democracy."

"We have simultaneously shown a total inability to respond to the scourge of terrorism," he added.

"In this same house, that purports to defend human rights, we have also included bloody dictatorships in the Human Rights Council, including Cuba and Venezuela without reproach," Milei said.

Following that speech, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon met with Milei and praised his remarks.

“I was moved to hear the speech of the President of Argentina at the General Assembly. President Milei, you are a true friend of the State of Israel. In this hall where we were slandered all day, you showed courage and supported Israel! Thank you."

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/433566

IDF reservist, son of Israeli envoy to US, seriously wounded in car-ramming terror attack

www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-909470

Neria Leiter underwent multi-hour brain surgery and remains in very serious condition, while his father, US Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, returned to Israel following the attack.

By MIRIAM SELA-EITAM SEPTEMBER 23, 2026 17:08 Updated: SEPTEMBER 24, 2026 19:09 

IDF reservist Neria Leiter, an American citizen and son of Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, was seriously wounded in a car-ramming terrorist attack at Bell checkpoint on Route 443 on Wednesday. 

In 2023, one of Leiter’s other sons, Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidya, was killed in Gaza. He was a company commander in the 551st Brigade’s 697th Battalion.

Neria Leiter is currently in serious condition and is being treated at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. In a Wednesday night statement, the hospital announced that Neria had undergone a multi-hour brain surgery, alongside other treatments, and that "his condition remains very serious, and his life is in danger."

“Neria continued to serve in the reserves after losing his older brother, Moshe Yedidya Leiter, of blessed memory. Since October 7, he has served hundreds of days in the reserves on multiple fronts.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Neria Leiter’s family at the hospital before leaving for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). At the same time, Yechiel Leiter is returning to Israel from the United States. He will not join Netanyahu at the UNGA on Thursday.

“I am grateful to the IDF, to the medical team at Shaare Zedek who are now fighting to save the life of Neria Dov ben Chana, and for the prayers of the people of Israel,” Leiter wrote on X/Twitter on Wednesday. “I believe in the power of prayer, and I believe that when the people of Israel unite, miracles happen. Neria needs a miracle.

“Palestinian terrorism seeks to uproot the people of Israel from their land. They choose death – we choose life,” Leiter said.

In a post on X, Netanyahu said he and his wife, Sara, “together with all the people of Israel, are praying for a miracle. Yechiel, my dear, we are all with you.” US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that he is standing with Leiter and his family. "Pray for Yechiel Leiter & entire family. They lost a son in Gaza, killed by Hamas. Now a Palestinian terrorist attempts to murder IDF soldiers at a checkpoint. Standing w/ Yechiel Leiter," Huckabee wrote on X. Yechiel, my dear friend, my heart is with you, Chana, and your entire family," Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, shared on X. "All of Israel is praying for your son, Neria Dov ben Chana, who was critically wounded in today’s heinous terrorist attack. May God heal him and give your family strength."

Defense Minister Israel Katz sent his support to Leiter’s family and prayers for Neria’s speedy recovery.

“Yechiel, I stand with you and your family, and I pray alongside the entire nation of Israel for your son’s recovery,” Katz said. “I commend the heroic fighters who eliminated the terrorist. To the soldiers of the IDF and the security forces: I believe in you and trust you; we will not allow terror to rear its head.”

"Yechiel, you are a warrior, and your sons are warriors," wrote Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on X. "My heart and prayers are with you."

President Isaac Herzog also offered a "prayer for the complete and speedy recovery of Neria Leiter, a reservist soldier who was run over today in a heinous terror attack at the Maccabim checkpoint."

“Neria Leiter is the brother of Major Moshe Leiter, of blessed memory, a hero of Israel who fell at the beginning of the Swords of Iron War in Gaza," Herzog wrote in an evening statement. “We send our wishes for a complete recovery to Neria, and strength to his wife and to his parents, Hannah and Yechiel Leiter, Israel's Ambassador to the United States."

"Neria is fighting for his life at this very hour, and we will pray for his recovery. We all stand with this dear family and send them our strength.”

Police Commissioner Daniel Levi, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat, and Ofir Akunis, Israel's consul general in New York, also offered Leiter their support.

“We join all the residents of Samaria in praying for the victim’s recovery and offer our support to his family during this difficult time,” Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said. “The Council will assist the victim’s family, and together with the community, we will embrace and support them in every way possible. The entire nation of Israel is united in prayer for his recovery.”

“We must respond to murderous terrorism with a firm hand and restore deterrence. We send our support to the security forces on the front lines who are protecting the citizens of Israel.”

IDF troops kill 29-year-old terrorist 

The terrorist was killed by IDF troops who were at the scene as he attempted to flee. He has been identified as Muhammad Mahmoud Suleiman, 29, a resident of Beit Ur al-Tahta.

According to KAN News, Suleiman was very familiar with the area and carried out the attack on his own using a stolen Israeli license plate taken from a car that had been taken off the road several months ago.

He is not known for prior security-related offenses, had not applied for a work permit within Israel, and was not supposed to be inside the Green Line, KAN reported, citing security officials.

IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) have reportedly questioned Suleiman's family members as part of the ongoing investigation into the attack.

Israel Police stated that the terrorist had hit a police patrol vehicle belonging to the Judea and Samaria District. An officer and a soldier were inside the vehicle as part of a joint operation.

“United Hatzalah’s dispatch center sent us to the scene of a vehicular ramming attack near Bell checkpoint,” United Hatzalah paramedics Itzik Kara and Netanel Cohen said. “Assisted by IDF medical teams, we provided initial medical treatment at the scene, including respiratory support, the administration of life-saving medication, bandaging, and splinting to a man who was subsequently transported to the hospital in serious condition.”

Palestinian shot after reported car-ramming attack attempt near Hebron

Earlier on Wednesday, two Palestinians reportedly attempted to run over the owner of a farm in the Hebron Hills.

The farm owner began shooting at them in accordance with the “suspect arrest procedure,” wounding one of the individuals in the leg, according to reports.

IDF troops were deployed to the area, N12 News reported, adding that the incident is under review.

Avi Ashkenazi contributed to this report.

Animal Rising Rustlers Who Stole the King's Sheep Convicted

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16157571/Animal-activists-stole-Kings-lambs-Sandringham-guilty-theft.html

Three animal rights activists who took lambs from the King’s estate in Sandringham and claimed Charles would have approved were convicted of theft today.

Rose Patterson, 37, along with Rosa Sharkey and Sarah Foy, both 26, spirited away three lambs during an early morning visit to Appleton Farm in Norfolk.

Footage of the women, who wore pink t-shirts bearing the name of pressure group Animal Rising, was released online afterwards.

They were also shown brazenly standing outside Windsor Castle with signs stating they had taken the sheep before handing themselves in to police.

Rose Patterson, 37, along with Rosa Sharkey and Sarah Foy, both 26, took three lambs during an early morning visit to Appleton Farm in Norfolk

The case follows other trials where activists have been cleared of offences, leading MPs to warn such verdicts provide a ‘green light’ for people to commit crime.

But a jury took just three hours and 48 minutes to find the defendants guilty of the charge. None showed any emotion as the verdicts were read out.

During sentencing shortly afterwards, the court heard all three women already had a range of convictions for offences including public disorder, aggravated trespass and possessing an article with intent to damage property - connected to other protests.

Sharkey's previous convictions included wilful obstruction of a highway in relation to the Grand National at Aintree in April 2023, for which she was fined £250 and a further £100 for breaching a conditional discharge. 

Judge Anthony Bate said: 'The defendants are not strangers to the criminal justice system. They are all, to varying degrees, seasoned campaigners.' 

Conservative MP Sir John Hayes, the founder of the Common Sense Group of parliamentarians, condemned the defendants’ actions, telling the Daily Mail: ‘Anyone who keeps animals needs the protection of the law.

‘The distorted understanding of the relationship between humans and animals is evident in the fact that they carelessly took these babies from their mothers.’

He also branded the claim that Charles would have supported the lambs’ ‘rescue’ as ‘impertinent’, adding: ‘It’s hard to think the King would want anyone to steal animals.’

Immediately after the theft on May 24, 2023, livestock experts and farmers condemned the stunt.

A National Sheep Association spokesman said the distressed ewes would have been ‘scouring the field for their lambs, bleating endlessly with no hope of finding them’.

The activists said they target the King because he said he was 'an environmentalist and an animal lover'

Gareth Wyn Jones, a sheep farmer for over five decades, added: ‘These people are absolutely bonkers.

‘It’s distressing for these animals to be handled wrongly by amateur strangers.’

The lambs have never been recovered as they were taken to an undisclosed sanctuary where, Norwich Crown Court was told, they had begun ‘socialising with other animals and had made friends with goats’.

During the trial, jurors were told that the King was the official owner of the lambs, which were worth £400-500, but they were in the care of head stockman Gordon Robinson.

Charles, who was then the Prince of Wales, admires sheep being judged at The Great Yorkshire Show in July 2021

The defendant was previously arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance after being flagged in the group’s plot to sabotage the Grand National.

The defendants stood outside Windsor Castle with signs admitting what they had done before handing themselves in to police

Mr Robinson said in a statement read to the court: 'We unapologetically rear forest-fed lambs to sell for consumption.'

And Mr Clark told the jury in his closing speech: ‘The views of the defendants are all controversial views.’

It might be that farming practices should change, he added, but there are ‘plenty of ways to change the law [and] plenty of ways to campaign lawfully’.

What the defendants didn’t have, he concluded, was permission to ‘take property that belongs to other people’. 

So-called Open Rescue, where activists 'rescue' animals in captivity, was first used by protesters in Victoria, Australia.

Earlier this year, four defendants took 18 beagle puppies in an ‘open rescue’ at an animal testing site in Cambridgeshire in December 2022.

Other activists include three Extinction Rebellion members who were accused of obstructing the railway after climbing onto a Docklands Light Railway train in East London in 2022.

The Sandringham Estate consists of 2,400 hectares of farmland, with an additional 4,000 hectares rented by tenant farmers. There are around 3,000 royal sheep at present.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16157571/Animal-activists-stole-Kings-lambs-Sandringham-guilty-theft.html