Category Archives: Israel

Iranian hardliners urge revenge on UK after Alireza Akbari’s execution

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Newspaper editor calls for UK agents to be named, despite zero evidence British-Iranian dual national was a spy

Iranian hardliners are urging their government to exact revenge on the UK and deliver a blow to its spying network by revealing the true names of the British intelligence agents who supposedly worked with Alireza Akbari, the British-Iranian dual national who was executed on Saturday for allegedly spying for the UK.

The call – made by Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the Kayan, the newspaper closest to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – shows hardliners are intent on a confrontation with Britain over the issue.

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Palestinian shot dead by Israeli troops at West Bank checkpoint

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Israeli army said man had tried to grab a soldier’s gun during ‘scuffle’ at crowded checkpoint

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian motorist in the occupied West Bank during what a witness said was a scuffle at a crowded checkpoint, with the Israeli army saying the man had tried to grab a soldier’s gun.

Palestinian medics summoned to the scene near Silwad village on Sunday said they found 45-year-old Ahmed Kahleh with a fatal bullet wound to the neck. Kahleh’s son had been pepper-sprayed, they said. Reuters was not immediately able to reach him for comment.

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Abbas allies fear new Israeli government intends to destroy Palestinian Authority

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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.

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Biden’s response to Israel’s far-right government: avoid confrontation

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As Netanyahu takes an aggressively anti-Palestinian line, the White House will seek to avoid the humiliations heaped on Obama

The more things change in Israel, the harder Joe Biden is working to make sure they stay the same.

The new far-right government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes openly anti-Arab racists, is already causing concern in the White House with commitments to expand illegal settlements in the occupied territories and annex Palestinian land.

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Israel security minister bans Palestinian flag-flying in public

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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.

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Palestinian foreign minister says Israel has revoked his travel permit

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Riad Malki says permit rescinded, after hardline government announced series of punitive measures against Palestinians

The Palestinian foreign minister says Israel has revoked his travel permit, after the hardline Israeli government announced a series of punitive steps against the Palestinians days ago.

Riad Malki said in a statement that he was returning from the Brazilian president’s inauguration when he was informed that Israel had rescinded his travel permit, which allows top Palestinian officials to travel easily in and out of the occupied West Bank, unlike ordinary Palestinians.

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Harvard Kennedy School condemned for denying fellowship to Israel critic

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ACLU and Pen America back former Human Rights Watch chief Kenneth Roth and say decision ‘raises serious questions’

Leading civil rights organisations have condemned Harvard Kennedy School’s denial of a position to the former head of Human Rights Watch over the organisation’s criticism of Israel.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the refusal of a fellowship to Kenneth Roth “profoundly troubling”. PEN America, which advocates for freedom of expression, said the move “raises serous questions” about one of the US’s leading schools of government. Roth also received backing from other human rights activists.

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Israel’s far right hits ground running, and ripple effects are already being felt

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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.

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Harvard blocks role for former Human Rights Watch head over Israel criticism

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Kennedy School allegedly bowed to donors unhappy with organisation accusing Israel of apartheid in occupied territories

The dean of one the US’s leading schools of government blocked a position for the former head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) over his organisation’s criticism of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians.

The Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy offered Kenneth Roth a position as a senior fellow shortly after he retired as director of HRW in April after 29 years. Roth is highly regarded within the human rights community for the part his organisation played in advances such as the creation of the international criminal court and the prosecution of major human rights abusers.

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Israeli government plan to limit judicial powers sharply criticised

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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”.

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Outcry over footage of men smashing cross at Jerusalem cemetery

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Vandals’ clothing leads to claims they are Jewish extremists who have desecrated over 30 Christian graves

Security camera footage of men wearing Jewish religious clothing smashing a stone cross in a historic Jerusalem cemetery has prompted claims that Israeli extremists are responsible for the desecration of more than 30 Christian graves.

The vandalism at the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion, conducted in broad daylight on Sunday afternoon, has shocked church leaders and led to calls for Israel to crack down on racist far-right settlers.

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Israel unveils controversial plans to overhaul judicial system

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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.

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Extreme-right Israeli minister visits al-Aqsa mosque compound

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Move by Itamar Ben-Gvir angers Palestinians after Hamas warned such a step was a ‘red line’

The extreme-right Israeli firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir has visited Jerusalem’s sacred al-Aqsa mosque compound for the first time since becoming a minister, angering Palestinians who see the visit as a provocation.

“Our government will not surrender to the threats of Hamas,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement, after the Palestinian militant group had said such a move would be a “red line”.

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Israel swears in Benjamin Netanyahu amid concerns of further slide to right

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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.

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Netanyahu government makes West Bank settlement expansion its priority

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Hardline coalition vows to legalise dozens of illegally built outposts and annex the occupied territory

Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming hardline government put West Bank settlement expansion at the top of its list of priorities on Wednesday, vowing to legalise dozens of illegally built outposts and annex the occupied territory as part of its coalition deal with its ultranational allies.

The coalition agreements, released a day before the government is to be sworn into office, also included language endorsing discrimination against LGBTQ+ people on religious grounds, as well as generous stipends for ultra-Orthodox men who prefer to study instead of work.

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Israeli authorities: Jerusalem bombing suspect ‘identifies with Islamic State’

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Aslam Farouh, believed to have carried out bus stop attacks last month, acted on ‘salafi-jihadi ideology’, officials say

Israeli authorities say they have arrested a suspect in Jerusalem over twin bombings that killed two people last month and that he identifies with Islamic State.

Aslam Farouh, 26, an Arab man with an Israeli residency card, lived between Ramallah and Kafr Akab, a neighbourhood of Jerusalem, the Shin Bet domestic security agency and Israel police said in a joint statement.

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Israeli politician suggests doctors could refuse to treat gay patients

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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”.

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Israel’s LGBTQ+ community fear for future under far-right government

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Elements of Netanyahu-led coalition have been openly hostile and rolling back of some gay laws is on agenda

The prospect of the far right joining government after Israel’s recent election has left the country’s LGBTQ+ community fearing for the future.

Elements of the incoming coalition led by the prime minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu have not hidden the fact that they are hostile to Palestinians and LGBTQ+ people.

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Far-right anti-Arab party joins proposed Netanyahu coalition in Israel

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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.

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Israel moves sharply to right as Netanyahu forms new coalition

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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.

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