Category Archives: Benjamin Netanyahu

Outrage over Jerusalem video of ultra-Orthodox Jews spitting as Christians pass

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Intimidating behaviour beside procession of worshippers seen as another sign of victimisation and was condemned by Netanyahu

A video of ultra-Orthodox Jews spitting on the ground beside a procession of foreign Christian worshippers carrying a wooden cross in the holy city of Jerusalem has ignited intense outrage and a flurry of condemnation in the Holy Land.

The spitting incident, which the city’s minority Christian community lamented as the latest in an alarming surge of religiously motivated attacks, drew rare outrage on Tuesday from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other senior figures.

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US Jews and Israelis denounce judicial overhaul as Netanyahu addresses UN

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Thousands demonstrate against what they see as attack on Israel’s institutions but New York protest lacks Palestinian presence

Thousands of Israelis and American Jews have protested outside the United Nations in New York, as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke before the UN general assembly in an address railing against Iran and making a case for Israeli-Saudi peace.

About 3,000 people attended the protest against the Netanyahu government’s efforts to overhaul Israel’s judiciary, a plan that critics say will decimate Israel’s democratic institutions. Organizers say it was the largest anti-government action held outside Israel since the start of the wave of protests that have rocked the country since Netanyahu’s government took office at the start of this year.

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Saudi Arabia ‘getting closer’ to normalising relations with Israel, crown prince says

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In a rare interview with Fox News, Mohammed bin Salman said major progress must be made in creation of a Palestinian state

A potential normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and what those negotiations could mean for the Palestinians, are top of the news agenda in the Middle East after the two countries and the US signalled progress on the matter on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York.

In a rare interview with western media, Riyadh’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, told Fox News on Wednesday that ongoing talks with Israel meant the prospect of normalised relations was “getting closer every day”.

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Zelenskiy calls for Russia to lose UN veto power; UN chief says ‘humanity has opened gates of hell’ on climate – live

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Ukrainian president says war impossible to stop while Russia vetoes all efforts at peace; Guterres condemns world leaders’ inaction on climate crisis

The Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, addressed UN ambassadors at the annual general assembly on Tuesday where he accused America of fanning the flames of violence in Ukraine, prompting protests from Israel’s representative to the UN.

Raisi claimed any Iranian-made drones hitting Ukrainian cities had been sold before the war started and said he was in favour of peace in Ukraine, on the same day that Tehran hosted a Russian defence delegation led by its defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.

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Israel’s prime minister urges Elon Musk to curb antisemitism on his platform, X

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Benjamin Netanyahu told the billionaire owner to clamp down on the hate on the site formerly known as Twitter

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, urged Elon Musk to address the proliferation of antisemitism on the billionaire’s social media platform X.

In an in-person meeting in California on Monday, Netanyahu said he hoped Musk would find ways within the confines of the first amendment to clamp down on antisemitism and other forms of hatred on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

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Joe Biden to meet Benjamin Netanyahu at UN in awkward rapprochement

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US president agrees to talks at general assembly despite deep unease over policies of Israeli PM’s hardline coalition

Nine months after returning to office, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is finally getting his long sought-after meeting with Joe Biden – but an awkward rapprochement at the UN general assembly is unlikely to improve the strained relationship between the two leaders.

The US president is scheduled to meet Netanyahu in New York on Wednesday, the White House said on Friday. The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the two leaders would “discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues focused on the shared democratic values between the United States and Israel and a vision for a more stable and prosperous and integrated region, as well as to compare notes on effectively countering and deterring Iran”.

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Protests in Israel as supreme court hears challenge to judicial curbs

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Striking down of ‘reasonableness’ clause abolishing ability to overrule government could trigger constitutional crisis

Israel’s supreme court justices have begun hearing petitions against a key part of the rightwing government’s judicial overhaul limiting the court’s powers, a development that could trigger an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

For the first time, a panel of all 15 judges convened on Tuesday to discuss eight filings aimed at striking down the “reasonableness” clause, passed by the Knesset in July, which abolished the supreme court’s ability to overrule government decisions.

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Israel imposing apartheid on Palestinians, says former Mossad chief

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Tamir Pardo comments, slammed by ruling Likud party, carry weight because of high regard for intelligence agency in Israel

A former head of the Mossad intelligence agency has said Israel is imposing a form of apartheid on the Palestinians, joining a growing number of prominent Israelis to compare the occupation of the West Bank to South Africa’s defunct system of racial oppression.

But Tamir Pardo’s views will have added impact because of the high regard for Mossad in Israel and because they come at a time when far-right members of Israel’s government are moving to kill off any prospect of an independent Palestinian state.

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Netanyahu says Eritreans involved in Tel Aviv clashes should be deported

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Israeli PM also orders plan to remove all African asylum seekers after protests by rival groups of Eritreans

The Israeli prime minister has said he wants Eritreans involved in a violent clash in Tel Aviv to be deported immediately and has ordered a plan to remove all of the country’s African asylum seekers.

The remarks on Sunday followed bloody protests by rival groups of Eritreans in south Tel Aviv the day before that left dozens of people injured. Eritreans, supporters and opponents of Eritrea’s government, faced off with construction lumber, pieces of metal and rocks, smashing shop windows and police cars. Israeli police in riot gear fired teargas, stun grenades and live rounds while officers on horseback tried to control the protesters.

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US pro-Israel groups in bitter feud over Netanyahu’s far-right government

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Hardline Aipac – condemned for unquestioning support of PM – calls liberal rival J Street ‘grave threat’ to Israel’s security

A public feud has broken out between the US’s leading pro-Israel lobby groups over who represents the true interests of the Jewish state in Washington under the most rightwing government in its history.

The hardline American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has called its smaller and more liberal rival, J Street, a “grave threat” to Israel’s security and accused it of endorsing the country’s “most virulent critics” in Congress.

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Democrat calls on Biden to stop ‘racists’ in Israeli government from ‘land grab’

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Senator Chris Van Hollen says president should reassess military aid to Israel in light of extreme rightward tilt of government

A leading Democratic senator has called on Joe Biden to “get more personally engaged” in stopping “racists” in the Israeli government from a land grab in the occupied territories and committing “gross violations” of Palestinian rights or risk damage to the US’s credibility.

After a visit to Israel and the West Bank last month, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told the Guardian in an interview that the US president should begin by reassessing the US’s huge military aid to Israel to prevent it from being used to facilitate annexation of the West Bank and oppression of the Palestinians, including the army’s complicity in escalating settler violence against the Arab civilian population.

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‘We’re angry’: Israel tensions mount as army reservists threaten to refuse duty

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Conflict over Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul judiciary is leading to new levels of civil disobedience – and potential security risks

Over his many years of service, Zur Allon, 46, a reservist lieutenant colonel in Israel’s artillery special forces, never imagined a day when he would refuse to report for duty.

“Half of my company was blown up in Lebanon. I have given many years of my life defending this country,” said Allon, one of the leaders of Brothers and Sisters in Arms, a pressure group of more than 60,000 Israel Defence Forces (IDF) reservists established earlier this year in protest against the government’s proposed overhaul of the judiciary.

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Israel protests: doctors announce strike amid mass demonstrations over judicial overhaul

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Passing of key part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to reduce power of courts is met with calls for strike action and street protests by thousands

Doctors across Israel are set to strike on Tuesday in protest against the passing of a key part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, after thousands of protesters took to the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Monday night.

The Israeli Medical Association, which says it represents about 95% of doctors, said it would hold a 24-hour protest, with exemptions for medical care in Jerusalem and emergency care across the country. It held a brief strike last week as a warning, arguing the judicial overhaul would “devastate the healthcare system”. The doctors are set to be joined in strike action on Tuesday by 73% of interns, according to the Intern Doctors Organization. Health minister Moshe Arbel is reportedly seeking an injunction to prevent the doctors’ strike going ahead.

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‘A dark day for Israeli democracy’: US Jewish groups denounce Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul

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But Monday’s parliamentary action limiting the Israeli supreme court only drew muted criticism from the Biden administration

Explainer: What is Israel’s judicial overhaul vote about?

Jewish groups in the US have condemned the Israeli parliament’s vote to limit the power of the judiciary as a threat to democracy and warned that it could damage relations with American Jews. But the White House limited its criticism to calling the outcome “unfortunate” in a sign that the Biden administration is unlikely to impose any real costs on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for defying the president’s calls to delay the vote and reach a compromise with his opponents.

After seven months of fierce debate, the Israeli government on Monday voted to limit the court’s ability to overturn laws and give politicians more control over judicial appointments. The changes have been denounced by critics as a transparent power grab that will erode democratic norms and aid Netanyahu’s fight against graft charges, which he denies.

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What is Israel’s judicial overhaul about and what happens next?

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Constitutional crisis on cards as supreme court justices are asked to consider curbing their own powers

Israel’s supreme court has begun hearing challenges to the first plank of the far-right and ultra-religious government’s wide-ranging changes to the judiciary passed by the Knesset in July: abolishing the court’s power to overrule government decisions.

A full-blown constitutional crisis is now on the cards as the justices weigh in on legislation curbing their own powers, while government ministers have indicated they will not comply with any ruling striking the law down.

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Israeli parliament votes in Netanyahu’s controversial supreme court changes

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Roars and cries from demonstrators as bill passes 64-0 after opposition politicians leave plenum in protest

Israel’s far-right, ultra-religious government has succeeded in passing a key part of the coalition’s judicial overhaul, seven months after introducing the legislation, in the face of widespread, sustained opposition from protesters.

The bill abolishing the “reasonableness” clause that allows Israel’s unelected supreme court to overrule government decisions was passed into law by a final vote of 64-0 in parliament on Monday. Every member of the coalition voted in favour, while opposition lawmakers abandoned the Knesset plenum in protest, shouting “Shame!” as they left.

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Netanyahu out of hospital as thousands protest in Israel over judicial vote

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PM recovering from pacemaker operation amid street protests over judicial overhaul plan and Biden call to scrap vote

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has arrived at parliament for a key vote related to his government’s bitterly contested judicial overhaul, only hours after being discharged from hospital after an emergency heart procedure.

Thousands of demonstrators who marched from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last week remained camped out outside the Knesset on Monday before two votes on the plenum floor, in which the “reasonableness” clause allowing the supreme court to overrule government decisions is expected to be abolished.

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Benjamin Netanyahu fitted with pacemaker as protests in Israel intensify

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Israel PM’s health scare comes during crisis over controversial judicial reform plans as tens of thousands protest on streets

Benjamin Netanyahu has been taken to hospital and fitted with a pacemaker, raising new questions about the Israeli prime minister’s health, while protests against his government’s judicial overhaul reached fever pitch ahead of a crucial vote in the Knesset.

The 73-year-old was admitted to the Sheba medical centre on Saturday night after a heart monitoring device implanted last week showed anomalies, and he underwent the emergency procedure early on Sunday. The operation went smoothly and he is expected to be discharged later in the day, according to doctors.

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Tens of thousands of Israelis march as vote on judicial curbs nears

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Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to free parliament from supreme court legal oversight has led to widespread protests

Tens of thousands of Israelis opposed to a judicial overhaul sought by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, marched to Jerusalem on Saturday as pressure mounts on his rightwing government to scrap a bill that would curtail the supreme court’s powers.

Carrying Israeli flags, a long column of protesters hiked up the winding highway to Jerusalem under a scorching summer sun, to the sounds of beating drums and anti-government chants and cheers.

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Progressive Democrats protest Israeli president’s address to US Congress

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib say they intend to boycott address due to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians

Democratic divisions over Israel were on stark display on Tuesday, as lawmakers prepared to welcome Isaac “Bougie” Herzog, the president of Israel, for an address to a joint session of Congress.

Several progressive House members, including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, intend to boycott Herzog’s speech on Wednesday to protest against the treatment of Palestinians under the government of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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