Category Archives: Israel

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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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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‘The show must go on’: 35,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews travel to Ukraine for Rosh Hashanah

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The annual pilgrimage brings both prayers and partying to Uman. Many have been undeterred by official pleas to stay away this year

Unfazed by the bombs, undeterred by the warnings, and in the face of the raging conflict, more than 35,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews from across the world have journeyed to Uman, Ukraine, to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.

“Going to celebrate in a war zone en masse is crazy,” said Azoulay Ruben, a 22-year-old trainee dentist from Paris. “But at the same time, it’s a beautiful thing.”

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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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Palestinian teenager shot dead by Israeli forces in West Bank

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Boy, 16, was killed at entrance to Al-Arroub refugee camp near city of Hebron

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager at a refugee camp in the West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry said, the latest violent episode to rock the occupied territory.

The ministry identified the teenager as 16-year-old Milad Munther al-Raee. He was killed at the entrance to Al-Arroub refugee camp near the city of Hebron, it said. He was “shot in the back by the occupation [Israeli] bullets”, the ministry said in a statement.

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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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‘A big shock’: the Israeli startup helping ultra-Orthodox Jews enter world of hi-tech work

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Entrepreneurs want Haredi men, many of whom live in poverty, to have access to the opportunities of Tel Aviv

Entering Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood just a few kilometres away from the gleaming towers that testify to Tel Aviv’s prowess as a global hi-tech hub, feels like stepping into a different world.

Despite the startups and advanced technology initiatives on their doorstep, much of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, population still shuns modern inventions such as television and smartphones, which are viewed as a threat to their way of life.

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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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Eritrean asylum seekers and police injured in clashes in Israel

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Violence broke out as Eritreans protested at event held by the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv

A dozen Eritrean asylum seekers have been injured by Israeli police gunfire in Tel Aviv after a demonstration against an Eritrean government event turned violent, police and medical sources said.

Clashes began on Saturday outside a venue in south Tel Aviv that was to host an event organised by the Eritrean embassy in Israel.

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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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Palestinian shot dead after killing Israeli soldier with truck in West Bank

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Three more soldiers and a Palestinian also injured at checkpoint amid wave of violence

A Palestinian driver has slammed his truck into soldiers at a busy checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, killing one of them before being shot dead, Israeli authorities have said, the latest bloodshed in a relentless cycle of violence to roil the region.

The violence came a day after Israeli police shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who stabbed a man in a Jerusalem light-rail station and after Palestinian militants detonated a bomb near a convoy of Israeli troops escorting Jewish worshippers to a holy site in the West Bank, wounding four Israeli troops.

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Libyan foreign minister flees country amid outcry over meeting with Israeli counterpart

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Najla al-Mangoush had already been suspended after news of secret meeting with Eli Cohen was released

Libya’s foreign minister has fled the country after news of a secret meeting in Rome between her and her Israeli counterpart last week was released by the Israeli foreign ministry, causing a political outcry in Tripoli and two nights of street protests across the country.

Najla al-Mangoush had already been suspended by her Tripoli-based prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, on Sunday evening when news of the meeting broke. Officials initially claimed the meeting had been a chance affair and not planned.

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Israeli airstrikes force closure of Aleppo airport, Syrian state media reports

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Latest attack damages only working runway, forcing flights to be diverted to Damascus and Latakia

Israeli airstrikes on Aleppo airport in northern Syria have caused the grounding of flights, the Syrian state news agency Sana has reported, citing a military source.

During more than 12 years of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, as well as Syrian army positions.

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Libya suspends foreign minister after Israel meeting sparks protests

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Protesters in Tripoli wave Palestinian flags and block roads over what Libyan foreign ministry called a ‘chance and unofficial encounter’ with Israeli counterpart

The leader of Libya’s government has suspended his foreign minister after her Israeli counterpart announced he had held talks with her last week in Rome, despite the countries not having formal relations.

Prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said on Sunday evening that minister Najla al-Mangoush has been “temporarily suspended” and would be subject to an “administrative investigation” by a commission chaired by the justice minister.

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Supermodel Bella Hadid called an ‘Israel hater’ by far-right, pro-settler minister

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Hadid had denounced Itamar Ben-Gvir for saying Jewish settlers had more rights than Palestinians in occupied territories

The far-right Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has called the Palestinian American supermodel Bella Hadid an “Israel hater” after she joined denunciations of his claim that Jewish settlers have more rights than Arabs in the occupied territories.

Ben-Gvir told Israeli television this week that freedom of movement for settlers in the West Bank outweighs the rights of Palestinians. The remarks followed two deadly attacks on Israelis in the West Bank, the latest in a series of killings by both settlers and Palestinians in the territory, known as Judea and Samaria to Israelis.

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UK ‘seeking to block ICJ ruling’ on Israeli occupation of Palestine

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Dismay over UK statement that opposes hearing altogether and is accused of ignoring significant facts

The UK has been accused of “seeking to block the international court of justice (ICJ) from addressing important international humanitarian law matters” in a submission to the world court on the legality of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

A 43-page legal opinion, seen by the Guardian, was submitted by the UK last month as part of the ICJ’s fact-finding stage before an expected advisory opinion from the court on the legal consequences of the “occupation, settlement and annexation” of Palestinian land.

An advisory opinion would effectively settle Israel’s “bilateral dispute” without the state’s consent.

The court is not equipped to examine a “broad range of complex factual issues concerning the entire history of the parties’ dispute”.

An advisory opinion would conflict with existing agreements between the parties and negotiation frameworks endorsed by the UN.

The request is not appropriate as it asks the court to “assume unlawful conduct on the part of Israel”.

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Two Israelis killed in suspected Palestinian shooting at West Bank car wash

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Incident forms part of the worst escalation of violence in the occupied territory for nearly two decades

Two Israelis, reportedly a father and son, have been killed in a suspected Palestinian shooting attack on a car wash in a volatile stretch of the occupied West Bank, the latest outburst of violence in the region.

The Israeli military said it was searching for suspects and setting up roadblocks near the town of Hawara, a flashpoint area in the northern West Bank, which has been the scene of repeated shooting attacks and a rampage by Jewish settlers who set light to Palestinian property.

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Australian Zionist groups at odds over criticism of government’s language on Palestinian territories

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Exclusive: Four affiliate organisations complain they were not consulted before Zionist Federation of Australia criticised the change in terminology

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The Zionist Federation of Australia is facing dissent from some of its affiliate organisations after it attacked the Albanese government’s new language on Israel and the Palestinian territories.

On Tuesday the government announced its decision to harden Australia’s opposition to “illegal” Israeli settlements and to adopt the use of the term “Occupied Palestinian Territories”.

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Democratic House leader under fire for Israel trip sponsored by lobbyist group

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Hakeem Jeffries was accused of giving cover to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he tried to curtail Israeli judiciary power

A Democratic congressional delegation is under fire for a visit to Israel funded by the hardline lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), which is working to defeat other members of the party in next year’s elections.

Critics have accused the most senior Democrat on the tour, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, of giving political cover to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has faced months of huge demonstrations against his far-right government’s power grab.

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