US secretary of state meets Israel’s prime minister and reaffirms support for two-state solution
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has called for calm after days of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, as he visited Jerusalem for talks with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
A Palestinian man died on Monday after an altercation with Israeli troops, as violence in the region continued to spiral.
Continue reading...Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces moves after deadliest terrorist attack in Jerusalem in years
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced a series of punitive steps against Palestinians in the wake of the deadliest terrorist attack in Jerusalem in years in which a gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue.
In a statement issued after the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said that Israel’s security agency would explore “additional deterrent measures regarding the families of terrorists that express support for terrorism”, including the revocation of Jerusalem residency rights and Israeli citizenship, and legislation allowing employers to dismiss workers who have “supported terrorism” without the need for a hearing.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu announces punitive steps against Palestinians in response to attacks that killed seven Israelis
Israeli officers have sealed off the Jerusalem family home of a Palestinian gunman who killed seven people outside a synagogue on the outskirts of the city, police said, after Benjamin Netanyahu promised “a swift response”.
Netanyahu has announced a series of punitive steps against Palestinians in response to a pair of shootings in Jerusalem that killed seven Israelis and badly wounded five others.
Continue reading...A chain reaction of killings leaves Israel and the occupied territories on the brink of a new round of bloodletting
On Friday nights, quiet descends upon the holy city of Jerusalem. Many Muslim families are at home, spending time together after afternoon prayers; Jewish-owned businesses close just before sunset, buses and trams stop running and candles on dining tables announce the beginning of Shabbat.
What began as a normal, peaceful Friday evening ended in tragedy for the Mizrahi family, who live in the occupied East Jerusalem settlement of Neve Yaakov. At about 8pm, a lone Palestinian gunman opened fire on people outside a synagogue, killing seven and wounding nine.
Continue reading...Amir Yaron said to have warned PM that erasing democratic checks and balances could deter crucial foreign investment
The governor of the Bank of Israel has warned Benjamin Netanyahu that his new government’s proposals for sweeping judicial reform could damage the country’s economy, according to Israeli media reports.
Prof Amir Yaron met the Israeli prime minister on Tuesday, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, after requesting an “urgent meeting”.
Continue reading...Estimated 100,000 people took to streets in Tel Aviv in what protesters described as ‘fight for Israel’s destiny’
An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday night in what protesters described as a “fight for Israel’s destiny” over sweeping judicial changes proposed by the new far-right government.
Israel’s longtime prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, returned to office last month at the helm of a coalition of conservative and religious parties that make up the most right-wing government in the country’s history.
Continue reading...Culture minister’s attack on two documentaries set in Palestinian territories part of campaign to silence dissent, film-makers say
Israel’s culture minister is attempting to revoke state funding from two documentary films dealing with the occupation of the Palestinian territories, increasing concerns that the country’s new hard-right government will follow through on promises to crack down on dissenting voices.
The minister, Miki Zohar, of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, has pledged to “revoke funding that promotes our enemy’s narrative” and withhold grants from films that “present Israeli soldiers as murderers”. He has also said he will require film-makers to sign a declaration they will not use state funds to create content that “harms the state of Israel or IDF soldiers”.
Continue reading...Prime minister’s coalition in jeopardy after Aryeh Deri ruled ineligible for government due to tax offences
Israel’s supreme court has ruled that the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, must fire a key ally from the country’s new cabinet, presenting the Israeli leader with a potential coalition crisis and deepening a rift over the power of the courts.
Ten of 11 judges on the high court found that Aryeh Deri, the influential head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party who has served repeatedly in Netanyahu’s previous governments, is disqualified from serving as a minister after he was convicted last year for tax offences and placed on probation as part of a plea deal. Deri has pledged not to quit and met Netanyahu after the ruling.
Continue reading...Minister says ultranationalists in coalition want to dismantle body and create ‘new reality in the West Bank’
Senior allies of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, have expressed fears that Benjamin Netanyahu’s new ultranationalist coalition in Israel will seek to dismantle the Palestinian Authority (PA), established after the 1993 Oslo peace accords.
The Palestinian social development minister, Ahmad Majdalani, said members of the government intended to destroy the authority, which administers a degree of self-rule in parts of the West Bank and is considered by Abbas as the institutional building block for a future Palestinian state.
Continue reading...Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows series of punitive steps against Palestinians since Israel’s hardline government took office last month
Israel’s national security minister has ordered police to ban Palestinian flags from public places in the latest crackdown by the country’s new hardline government.
Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows a series of other punitive steps against the Palestinians since taking office late last month.
Continue reading...Ultranationalist religious rulers sworn in last week have made explicit what was previously obscured: annexation
Glancing up and staring directly into the camera, the suspect who broke into the centuries-old Jerusalem cemetery appears to spot the CCTV equipment recording his hate crime. Seemingly unfazed, he looks down again, focusing on the task at hand – pushing over a stone cross and smashing it to pieces.
The two young males who vandalised more than 30 Christian graves last weekend showed little concern about hiding their identities while carrying out a religiously motivated attack. They did not cover their faces as they systematically destroyed headstones on a bright Sunday afternoon in the heart of the holy city. Such is the confidence with which the suspects, believed to be teenage Israeli extremists arrested on Friday, now operate.
Continue reading...Grave concerns over Netanyahu coalition’s plan to invalidate supreme court decisions with simple majority
Civil liberties and human rights advocates have expressed grave concerns about a plan by Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right Israeli government to limit the power of the judiciary, saying it will encourage authoritarianism and put minority rights in imminent danger.
“If they succeed, it’s a different system, a different Israel,” said Dan Meridor, a former justice minister, stressing that in the absence of a constitution, the country’s courts serve to protect people from “being at the mercy of the governing majority”.
Continue reading...Critics warn changes will weaken supreme court and undermine country’s democracy
Benjamin Netanyahu’s justice minister has unveiled the new government’s long-promised overhaul of the judicial system that aims to weaken the supreme court. Critics say the plan will undermine Israel’s democracy by giving absolute power to the most rightwing coalition in the country’s history.
The justice minister, Yariv Levin, a confidant of Netanyahu’s and a longtime critic of the supreme court, presented his plan a day before the justices debate a new law passed by the government allowing a politician convicted of tax offences to serve as a cabinet minister. “The time has come to act,” Levin said.
Continue reading...Arab citizens and LGBTQ+ community fear return of veteran leader will damage democracy
Israel’s most rightwing cabinet ever has been sworn in, with Benjamin Netanyahu heading an administration that could open the door to fervently nationalist and religious politicians to radicalise the country and policies towards the Palestinians.
Israeli liberals fear the veteran leader’s return to power in alliance with anti-Arab, ultranationalist and ultraorthodox parties will damage democratic aspects of the country’s governance. Arab citizens and the country’s LGBTQ+ community are both alarmed at what may be in store.
Continue reading...President condemns anti-LGBTQ rhetoric after comment by Orit Strook, which she later said referred to certain procedures
A suggestion by one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming ministers that Israeli doctors should be allowed to refuse treatment to LGBTQ patients on religious grounds has heightened fears that the new government poses an unprecedented threat to gay rights.
The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, has weighed in to condemn the growing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, saying: “The racist pronouncements of recent days against the LGBTQ community and other sectors of the public make me extremely worried and concerned.” The president, whose post is largely ceremonial but who commands a degree of authority, added that such rhetoric undermined Israeli “democratic and moral values”.
Continue reading...Agreements with parties to support Likud in power could regularise illegal settlements in occupied territories
Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that an extremist anti-Arab party will join his new coalition as he prepares to return as prime minister for what would be the most rightwing government in Israel’s history.
The agreement, which further heightens the powers of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the firebrand head of the Jewish Power party and incoming national security minister, came hours after Netanyahu informed the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, that he had succeeded in forming a government. It is due to be sworn in by 2 January.
Continue reading...Weeks of negotiations conclude with what will be the most rightwing and anti-Arab government in country’s history
Benjamin Netanyahu has informed Israel’s president that he has succeeded in forming a coalition, paving the way for the swearing in of the most rightwing and anti-Arab government in the country’s history.
“I have managed [to form a government],” Netanyahu said on Twitter, minutes before a midnight deadline set by the Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog.
Continue reading...Ex-PM poised to form one of most hardline religious and nationalist governments in country’s history
The former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has struck a coalition deal with a far-right leader known for his homophobic rhetoric and disparaging remarks about non-Orthodox Jews, a sign of the prospective government’s hardline makeup.
Netanyahu’s Likud party announced on Sunday that the agreement named Avi Maoz, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Noam party, as a deputy minister, whose portfolio includes an office bolstering Jewish identity among Israelis.
Continue reading...Appointment of Itamar Ben-Gvir raises fears of further escalation in Israeli-Palestinian tensions
The far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir will be Israel’s national security minister under a coalition deal with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, in what is likely to be the most rightwing government in the country’s history.
The agreement comes after the prime minister-designate’s alliance won a comfortable victory in this month’s parliamentary election, Israel’s fifth in less than four years.
Continue reading...Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose party helped prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu back to power, praises Meir Kahane at memorial
A far-right Israeli lawmaker, whose surging popularity helped propel former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu back to power in last week’s general election, has delivered a glowing tribute at a memorial event for an extremist rabbi assassinated in 1990.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party emerged as the second biggest group in Netanyahu’s bloc and the third largest in the country, praised the late racist rabbi Meir Kahane in a speech at the memorial in Jerusalem on Thursday.
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