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Israeli military suspends battalion involved in assaulting, detaining CNN crew in West Bank

Amid the war with Iran, Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank is surging again. In one village, a Palestinian family says settlers beat a 75-year-old man inside his home. When reporting from the same village, a CNN crew is detained by Israeli soldiers who echo settler ideology and talk of revenge.

<p>Amid the war with Iran, Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank is surging again. In one village, a Palestinian family says settlers beat a 75-year-old man inside his home. When reporting from the same village, a CNN crew is detained by Israeli soldiers who echo settler ideology and talk of revenge.</p> - Clipped From Video

The Israeli military's top general suspended all operational activities of a reserve battalion involved in thedetention and assaultof a CNN team in the West Bank last week, the Israeli military said Monday.

The reserve battalion, which is comprised of hundreds of reservists who served in the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion, will be immediately withdrawn from the West Bank and reassigned to training until further notice, an Israeli military official said.

The sweeping disciplinary action by Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military chief of staff, appears to be unprecedented in speed and scope, coming about 48 hours after CNN's report about the incident first aired. It also appeared to reflect growing concerns inside the Israeli security establishment about spiraling Israeli settler violence in the West Bank.

The suspension follows an incident Thursday in the Palestinian village of Tayasir, where CNN's Jeremy Diamond and his team were covering the aftermath of a violent assault by settlers who established an illegal outpost in the village. The soldiers detained the team, after one of the soldiers placed CNN photojournalist Cyril Theophilos in a chokehold, bringing him to ground and damaging his camera.

An Israeli soldier is seen while detaining the CNN team. - Cyril Theophilos/CNN

The assault of Theophilos will be investigated by Israel's military police, a military official said.

The incident represented a "serious ethical and professional failure," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Monday, adding that the "standards of conduct and discipline demonstrated in the incident do not align with IDF values."

"Weapons are to be used solely for the purpose of carrying out the mission, and never for revenge. We will not accept such incidents within the ranks of the IDF," Zamir said in the statement.

The military said the battalion will undergo training "aimed at reinforcing its professional and ethical foundations" and that the Commander of Central Command would decide when they could resume operational activity.

Additional steps will be taken against individual soldiers involved in the incident, the military official had said earlier

The suspended battalion is the reserve component ofNetzah Yehuda, an infantry battalion originally established to integrate ultra-Orthodox Jews into the IDF while maintaining religious accommodations such as gender segregation and strict observance. In recent years, however, the battalion – primarily stationed in the West Bank – has attracted members of radical right-wing settler groups such as the "Hilltop Youth."

Israeli soldiers of the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox battalion "Netzah Yehuda" take part in their annual unit training in the Israeli annexed Golan Heights, near the Syrian border on May 19, 2014. - Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images/File

Israeli soldiers seen in a Palestinian home. - Cyril Theophilos/CNN

US President Joe Biden's administrationconsidered sanctioningNetzah Yehuda in 2024 over alleged gross human rights violations against Palestinians, citing reports of killings, beatings and other abuses. The plan was dropped after Israel provided information indicating that the IDF had taken corrective actions.

During the CNN team's detention, several of the soldiers said on camera that they believed the entire West Bank belongs to Jews and that they were avenging the alleged killing of an Israeli settler days earlier. One soldier named Meir admitted the outpost in Tayasir was illegal, but said it would "slowly, slowly" be legalized with his help.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir slammed the battalion's suspension, calling it a "grave mistake that harms our fighters and Israel's deterrence capability."

CNN's report generated significant attention in Israeli media and was covered across all major Israeli news outlets, putting a rare spotlight on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and the Israeli military's role in it.

Abdullah Daraghmeh, victim of an Israeli settler attack, seen with his son. - Cyril Theophilos/CNN

Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats party, and former deputy chief of staff of the IDF called on Zamir to "clearly state to his subordinates below and the government above: There is no 'permitted' terror. Terror is terror. And terror is dealt with an iron fist."

The Israeli Journalists' Union demanded that military authorities fully prosecute the soldiers who violently assaulted the crew.

The disciplinary action came a day after Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani publicly apologized to CNN for the incident and vowed a swift investigation.

This article has been updated with additional information.

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March 30, 2026

Israeli military suspends battalion involved in assaulting, detaining CNN crew in West Bank

Amid the war with Iran, Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank is surging again. In one village, a Palestinia...

Vegas Golden Knights fire head coach Bruce Cassidy, hire John Tortorella as replacement weeks before playoffs

With less than three weeks remaining in the regular season, the Vegas Golden Knights are making a sudden coaching change. The teamannouncedSunday that they have fired head coach Bruce Cassidy, replacing him with former Lightning, Rangers, Canucks, Blue Jackets and Flyers head coach John Tortorella.

"With the stretch run of the 2025-26 regular season upon us, we believe that a change is necessary for us to return to the level of play that is expected of our club," Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said in a statement. "With John Tortorella, we bring in a Stanley Cup Champion as well as one of the most experienced and respected coaches in the NHL. His guidance will be a great asset to our team at the pivotal point in the season we currently face."

Vegas is currently 32-26-16 and solidly in playoff position, though the team has only won three of its last 10 games. The Golden Knights' last two games were both losses in added time, with an overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday and a shootout loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

Cassidy joined Vegas in 2022, and won a Stanley Cup with the team in his first year as head coach. He led the team to the postseason three seasons in a row, and was set to do the same this year.

Instead, McCrimmon will hand over the reins to Tortorella, a veteran NHL head coach who won his only Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tortorella wasfired by the Flyers last yearafter getting into "a heated verbal exchange" with one of his players and publicly said that he was "not really interested in learning how to coach" in a losing season.

Tortorella will coach the last eight games of the regular season before helping the team in the playoffs. As of Sunday, Vegas is third in the admittedly lackluster Pacific Division, making a postseason berth quite easy to lock up in the coming weeks.

The standard has been incredibly high for the Golden Knights since the beginning: Vegas has only missed the playoffs once in the team's nine-year history, failing to qualify in 2022. That failure quickly led to the firing of head coach Peter DeBoer, who was replaced by Cassidy that offseason.

Cassidy will be an attractive option for teams hoping to make a coaching change. Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Kings became the first teamto fire their head coach, but more will likely follow after the conclusion of the NHL regular season in mid-April.

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March 30, 2026

Vegas Golden Knights fire head coach Bruce Cassidy, hire John Tortorella as replacement weeks before playoffs

With less than three weeks remaining in the regular season, the Vegas Golden Knights are making a sudden coaching change....

Hyo Joo Kim tops Nelly Korda again and wins on LPGA for 2nd straight week

PHOENIX (AP) — Hyo Joo Kim beat Nelly Korda for the second straight week, pulling away around the turn Sunday and closing with a 3-under 69 for a two-shot victory in the Ford Championship.

Hyo Joo Kim, of South Korea, hits her tee shot at the third hole during the final round of the LPGA Ford Championship golf tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Chandler, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

LPGA Ford Championship Golf

Kim was poised to break the LPGA Tour's scoring record for 72 holes until one mistake led to a double bogey on the eighth hole and gave Korda hope.

Korda, who trailed by four at the start of the final round, suddenly was only one shot behind. But the American missed a short par putt on the ninth, and that was followed by a two-shot swing on the 10th — Kim hit her approach to 18 inches for birdie, and Korda failed to get up-and-down for par.

Korda never got any closer until the tournament was out of reach, finishing eagle-birdie for a 67.

Kim, who also won the Ford Championship last year, now has back-to-back wins for the first time in her career, both against Korda. Last week in the Founders Cup, the 30-year-old South Korean held off a Sunday charge by Korda.

"I wanted to ask Nelly how it feels to win back-to-back," Kim said with a laugh, referring to Korda winning five straight starts during the 2024 season.

Kim finished at 28-under 260. With three early birdies — and a week in which she twice had posted rounds of 61 — it looked as though she could break the LPGA scoring record of 257 set by Sei Young Kim at the 2017 Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic.

Those hopes took a hit on the par-4 eighth hole, when Kim pulled her tee shot. She tried to punch a hybrid under tree branches, but it ran hot on the sunbaked fairway, through the crusty green and didn't stop rolling until it went down a slope and into the desert scrub.

That led to double bogey. Kim twice missed 5-foot birdie chances, and she also had a three-putt bogey on the 16th.

But the putting issues belonged to Korda, who missed a 2-foot par putt on the 15th — her second short miss of the round — that all but ended it.

"Where it went wrong? There's a couple shots here and there that I would like to get back, more like a couple putts throughout the week," Korda said. "I'm going to miss a bunch of those putts throughout my entire career, and I just can't get down on myself."

Korda has won and twice been runner-up in three starts on the LPGA this year. It was the lowest she has been under par (26 under) in her LPGA career. She just ran into one of the hottest players in women's golf.

"I'm done playing with her," Korda said, jokingly. This was the fifth straight time they were in the same group, and Korda has had a good view of remarkable play, particularly Kim's putting.

"Hyo Joo has been playing amazing golf," Korda said. "She a phenomenal player, and person. She definitely motivates me on the golf course."

Minami Katsu of Japan shot 65 to finish alone in third. Lydia Ko, who began the tournament with a 60, wound up in fourth, eight shots behind.

AP golf:https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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March 30, 2026

Hyo Joo Kim tops Nelly Korda again and wins on LPGA for 2nd straight week

PHOENIX (AP) — Hyo Joo Kim beat Nelly Korda for the second straight week, pulling away around the turn Sunday and closing...

Robert De Niro stands against 'fool' Trump at No Kings protest

AsNo Kings protestsswept the nation,Robert De Niroupped the ante on his criticism of PresidentDonald Trump.

Speaking with Rev. Al Sharpton, with whom he'd stepped out for a No Kings Day event in New York earlier in the day on March 28, the 82-year-old actorsaid on MS Nowthat the massive turnout gave him hope that the midterm electionswould not go in favor of the presidentand his Republican allies.

"Our democracy is at stake, period. And this fool is taking it with the fools around him. It's like a surreal dream; it's crazy," De Niro said. "We cannot let up until the midterms are resolved, and resolved for the right reasons. We cannot let up with this guy."

Accusing Trump of trying to "deflect" from theEpstein files, he added: "If I know anything, I know this guy will try anything because he's crazy. He's not well. He's a damaged person, period. You've got to stand up."

Robert De Niro speaks during a press conference for the March 28, 2026, No Kings against President Donald Trump's administration policies in New York City.

The Oscar-winning actor opened up about feeling "good now" after the third No Kings demonstration, saying, "I don't want to say the word 'hope' again that things will get even better and stronger, but it's the only way we're going to get out of this."

"My country's at stake. I'm not going to keep my mouth shut, and why should I?" he told Sharpton. "Why should I not say anything, especially when I know I'm right?"

Organizers estimated 8 million people showed up to the 3,300 events across the U.S. on Saturday, March 28, though the total has not yet been independently verified. The turnout tops the 7 million who attended demonstrations in October, and the 5 million who rallied at the inaugural protest on June 24. The loosely organized group, unified in its opposition to Trump, names a few issues inits platform, including immigration enforcement, healthcare access, environmental protections, gun control and war funding.

When reached for comment, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded: "The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them."

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen took the stage on March 28, 2026, to perform his protest song "Streets of Minneapolis" at the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul on Saturday. Springsteen performed during a "No Kings" protest — the third nationwide "No Kings" protest held against the Trump administration. Musicians Joan Baez and Maggie Rogers were also scheduled to perform at the protest.