The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happen.

The threat posed by the Islamic State group around the world has grown steadily since mid-2025 and become more complex as the jihadist organization adapts to stay alive, the United Nations says.

Islamic State and groups associated with it are growing in West Africa and the Sahel region while continuing to stage attacks in Iraq and Syria, Alexandre Zouev, an official with the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, tells the Security Council.

“In Afghanistan, IS in Khorasan continues to pose one of the most serious threats to the region and beyond,” he says.

Zouev says a shooting rampage against a Jewish Hanukkah event at a beach in Australia in December that left 15 people dead was inspired by IS ideology.

Late last month, the group claimed responsibility for a rare attack on the main airport in Niger. This confirmed its rising power in the Sahel. Days earlier, it claimed an attack on a Chinese restaurant in Kabul that left seven people dead.

Israel’s security cabinet is set to convene at 4 p.m. tomorrow, according to Hebrew-language media reports.

The relatively short notice given to ministers is unusual.

According to the reports, ministers were not told the subject of the upcoming meeting.

A man has been killed in a car blast in Kiryat Yam, near Haifa.

Police are investigating the scene as a criminal incident at this time.

Two other people were injured in the blast and rushed to hospital.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appoints the head of a progressive Jewish group, Phylisa Wisdom of the New York Jewish Agenda, to head his Office to Combat Antisemitism.

The office housed in City Hall coordinates the response to antisemitism in city agencies.

Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, established the office last year, and Adams’ appointee Rabbi Moshe Davis led the body since Mamdani’s inauguration last month.

Mamdani’s potential appointee to the office has been the subject of speculation for weeks.

Wisdom confirms her appointment to The Times of Israel.

Mazal tov to our friend and colleague @phylisajoy !!! https://t.co/pfFvdJOBmt

— New Jewish Narrative (@NJNarrative) February 4, 2026

Wisdom has led the New York Jewish Agenda since 2023.

Before that, she worked for Yaffed, an organization that pushes for reforms in Hasidic yeshivas.

Iranian 2023........

© The Times of Israel