Category Archives: Israel

Christian Aid claims it was subject to act of ‘lawfare’ by pro-Israel group

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The charity was taken to court for its work in the Middle East by the US body, whose director justifies litigation against NGOs that ‘cross the line’

A leading NGO has broken its silence on a bruising legal battle with a pro-Israeli advocacy group, describing it as an act of “lawfare” aimed at inflicting financial and reputational damage on organisations that do charitable work with Palestinians.

Christian Aid, the UK-based charity, was forced to spend about £700,000 defending itself against accusations that it had provided “material support” to terrorists, chief executive Patrick Watt has said.

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Israeli police arrest five over settler rampage in West Bank

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Officers says they expect to make more arrests over violence described by Israeli general as ‘pogrom’

Israeli police have arrested five suspects over a Jewish settler rampage in the occupied West Bank earlier this week that an Israeli general described as a “pogrom” and which followed a deadly Palestinian gun attack.

Shops in the Palestinian village of Huwara remained closed on army orders on Wednesday amid a heavy Israeli military presence, residents said. A Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli brothers there on Sunday, prompting assaults by settlers on houses and cars during which one Palestinian was killed.

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Biden administration under pressure as Israel-Palestine violence escalates

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Advent of Israel’s most right-wing government, and spiralling violence, expose dangers of light-touch diplomacy

With an in-tray bulging with the war in Ukraine, the Chinese threat to Taiwan and the potential collapse of the Iran nuclear deal, the US state department has tried to avert its gaze from the clouds gathering over Israel and Palestine, but has now found it impossible to do so.

Since John Kerry, as secretary of state, expended diplomatic muscle trying to revive the Middle East peace process in the final year of the Obama administration, US Democrats have gently welcomed the rapprochement symbolised by the Abraham accords, but have not done much else. However, the advent of the most rightwing government in Israel’s history, and violence spiralling out of control, have shown the dangers of light-touch diplomacy.

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Israeli settlers rampage after Palestinian gunman kills two

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One man killed and four wounded in apparent worst outburst of settler violence in northern West Bank in decades

Scores of Israeli settlers have gone on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank, setting alight dozens of cars and homes after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman.

Palestinian medics said one man was killed and four other people were badly wounded in what appeared to be the worst outburst of settler violence in the area in decades.

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Israeli and Palestinian officials express ‘readiness’ to work to stop violence

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Jordan hosts first such high-level talks in years aimed at defusing tensions in region before Ramadan

Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs have met in Jordan for the first such high-level talks in years aimed at defusing tensions in the volatile region ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, which it is feared could act as the catalyst for a wider escalation.

In a joint statement released at the close of the summit in the port city of Aqaba on Sunday, which was also attended by US, Jordanian and Egyptian officials, Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) expressed “readiness and commitment to work immediately” to prevent further violence.

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Former US ambassador accuses Israel of ‘creeping annexation’ of the West Bank

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Daniel Kurtzer says legalised settlements are ‘a significant violation of a commitment the Israeli government made to the American government’

A former US ambassador to Israel has accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government of breaking a written agreement with Washington by legalising a group of hardline nationalist and religious settlements in the West Bank.

Daniel Kurtzer, who served in Tel Aviv during the George W Bush administration, also warned that some ministers in Netanyahu’s new coalition are not interested in a peace agreement with the Palestinians. He called on the Biden administration to be more proactive in stopping Israel’s “creeping annexation” of the West Bank.

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Adelaide Writers’ Week withdrawals ‘sad’ and ‘unfortunate’, director Louise Adler says

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Adler defends ‘courageous spaces to air opposing views’ as major sponsor and three Ukrainian writers pull out over comments from other invited authors

The Adelaide Writers’ Week director, Louise Adler, has vowed not to be dissuaded from creating space for “courageous” discussions of literature and opposing views, despite high-profile withdrawals and calls for her resignation.

Three Ukrainian writers and a major financial sponsor have withdrawn from next month’s Adelaide festival event in response to social media comments by two writers appearing at the event, Susan Abulhawa and Mohammed El-Kurd.

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Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza after militants fire rockets in wake of West Bank raid

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Region braced for escalation in violence as attacks from both sides follow deadliest Israeli army raid in decades in Nablus

Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip have exchanged fire just hours after the deadliest Israeli army raid in decades killed 11 Palestinians and wounded more than 100 more in the occupied West Bank, leaving the region braced for an escalation in violence.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said early on Thursday morning that it carried out airstrikes on two military sites operated by Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the strip, after the launch of six rockets from the blockaded enclave towards southern Israel.

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Israeli troops kill 11 in West Bank raid

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Palestinians decry ‘massacre’ after daytime operation in Nablus that Israel says targeted three militants

Israeli troops killed 11 Palestinians, including a teenager, and wounded dozens more, in a raid on a city in the occupied West Bank city that threatens further bloodshed.

The daytime operation targeted three militants who were near the centre of the old city of Nablus, the Israeli military said. All three wanted men were killed along with seven others, including a 72-year-old man. Palestinian officials said at least 103 people were injured, with many of them sustaining gunshot wounds.

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Benjamin Netanyahu accuses protesters of ‘trampling democracy’

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PM vows to press ahead with legislation to restrict judicial powers as upwards of 100,000 protesters take to streets

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has accused protesters of “trampling democracy”, vowing that his far-right coalition will move ahead with controversial legislation to restrict the power of the judiciary.

Upwards of 100,000 people gathered outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday in protest against an initial plenum vote on bills that would give politicians control over appointments to Israel’s supreme court, and limit its ability to overturn laws. Protesters blocked major roads across the country, and prevented some politicians from leaving their homes.

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Israel votes to strip citizenship from Arabs convicted of terrorism

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New law is aimed at Israeli citizens who have received financial aid from the Palestinian Authority

Israel has passed legislation allowing the state to strip Arabs convicted of terror offences of citizenship or residency and deport them to the West Bank or Gaza Strip if they have accepted financial aid from the Palestinian Authority.

The new law, which the Knesset voted for on Wednesday, is designed to discourage what Israel calls “pay for slay” stipends, which Palestinians view as assistance for the families of those imprisoned. Israel says the longstanding practice serves as an incentive to violence.

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Pompeo says Israel has biblical claim to Palestine and is ‘not an occupying nation’

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Trump’s secretary of state makes comments on podcast to defend former administration siding more openly with Israel

Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it.

Pompeo told the One Decision podcast that his religious beliefs, US strategic interests and his view of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as a “known terrorist” underpinned his support as the Trump administration’s top diplomat for the shift in US policy away from mediating a two-state solution and toward more openly siding with Israel.

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Protests and strikes in Israel as plans for judicial overhaul move forward

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Tens of thousands gather for rally and workers in several sectors strike over rightwing government’s proposals

Israel’s new hard-right government has begun introducing sweeping legislation aimed at overhauling the judicial system, prompting the largest public demonstrations against the proposed measures to date.

In a heated meeting in which several opposition politicians had to be forcibly removed, the Knesset’s constitution, law and justice committee voted on two bills on Monday: one will give politicians greater control over the appointment of supreme court justices, and the other will allow a simple majority in the Knesset to override almost all supreme court rulings.

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Israel to authorise nine ‘wild’ West Bank settlements

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Security cabinet announces recognition of areas built without Israeli authorisation, after series of attacks in East Jerusalem

Israel’s security cabinet has announced it will authorise nine settlements in the occupied West Bank after a series of attacks in East Jerusalem, including one that killed three Israelis.

“In response to the murderous terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, the security cabinet decided unanimously to authorise nine communities in Judea and Samaria,” the office of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement on Sunday that included the name Israel uses for the West Bank.

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George Washington University accused of ‘colluding’ with rightwing pro-Israel group

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StadWithUs filed charge with US education department accusing Lara Sheehi of hate speech and discrimination against students

An Arab professor and lecturer in diversity has accused George Washington University of “colluding” with a rightwing pro-Israel group over a federal complaint accusing her of antisemitism.

The group, StandWithUs (SWU), filed a complaint with the US education department’s civil rights office claiming that Lara Sheehi, an assistant professor of clinical psychology, discriminated against Jewish students by refusing to accept their definitions of antisemitism.

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Child among two people killed in Jerusalem bus stop attack

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Palestinian driver rams car into people on outskirts of city, in incident described by PM as terrorist attack

Two people including a child have been killed and several injured after a Palestinian driver rammed his car into a group of people at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

A police spokesperson said the driver, who was shot at the scene, was dead. An Israeli security official identified him as Hussain Qraqaa, 31, a resident of Issawiya in East Jerusalem.

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Israeli forces say several armed Palestinians killed in Jericho raid

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Assault on Aqabat Jabr refugee camp comes as escalating violence raises fears of a third intifada

Israeli forces say they have killed several armed fighters during an army raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, the latest violence in a period of escalating tensions that has raised fears of a third intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

A statement from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Monday morning said “a number of armed assailants were killed after firing toward IDF soldiers who were operating in the area” overnight. The country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, later said agents from the Shin Bet domestic security agency and soldiers had killed five suspects.

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Australian universities split on decision to adopt controversial definition of antisemitism

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Push by parliamentary MPs to take up IHRA interpretation has been criticised as an ‘outright attack on academic freedom’

Australian universities are split on whether to adopt a controversial definition of antisemitism following a push from parliamentary MPs that has been criticised as an “outright attack on academic freedom”.

On 25 January, the University of Melbourne became the first institution to publicly announce it would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as part of its broader “anti-racism commitment”, leading to backlash from the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) who said they were denied repeated requests for consultation.

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Putin promised me he would not kill Zelenskiy, says former Israeli PM

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Naftali Bennett says Putin also dropped vow to seek disarmament of Ukraine and Zelenskiy agreed to give up on joining Nato

The former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has said in an interview that Vladimir Putin told him he would not try to kill Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a promise made during a trip to Moscow shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

Speaking on a podcast with the Israeli journalist Hanoch Daum, published on Sunday, Bennett said he received assurance from Putin that the Ukrainian president’s life was not at risk during a secretive visit to the Russian capital last March aimed at mediation during the war’s early days.

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Democrats’ Ilhan Omar defence weakened by party’s own attacks over Israel

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Party’s criticism of Omar’s Israel position has greased the path for Republicans to oust her from the foreign affairs committee

The resolution that set in motion the removal of the only African immigrant, Muslim and former resident of a refugee camp on the congressional committee overseeing US foreign policy paid scant attention to Ilhan Omar’s views on anything but a single issue: Israel.

“Omar has attempted to undermine the relationship between the United States and Israel,” said the author of the resolution, Republican congressman Max Miller. “She has disqualified herself from serving on the foreign affairs committee.”

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