Category Archives: Israel

Five Palestinians killed amid mounting violence ahead of Israeli elections

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21 people also wounded in one of deadliest operations this year by Israeli forces in West Bank

Five Palestinians have been killed and 21 wounded in a huge raid by Israeli forces in Nablus, one of the deadliest operations so far during a year of mounting violence in the occupied West Bank.

Snipers, soldiers with shoulder-launched missiles and members of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency attacked the old city in the early hours of Tuesday, the Israeli military said, blowing up what it said was a bomb lab and killing one of the leaders of an increasingly popular Palestinian militant group in a gunfight.

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‘Bibi v no Bibi’: Israel’s voters split on comeback of scandal-hit Netanyahu

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Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of returning to office in this week’s elections depend on alliance with far-right

Everyone in the small courtroom on the second floor of Jerusalem’s district court is tired of straining their necks to look at the decade-old receipts for whiskey, cognac and cigars displayed on a screen. Even the key witness in one of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s three corruption trials, is clearly bored with answering questions about how often her boss used to send expensive presents to Israel’s long-time leader.

The 73-year-old’s absence hangs over the proceedings in much the same way his pugnacious brand of politics still haunts Israeli public life. While the panel of judges peered at slide after slide of photocopied invoices on that warm day in September, the subject of their investigation was already out on the campaign trail, executing his comeback.

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Palestinian shot dead by Israeli soldiers in West Bank

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Incident comes after a knife attack in East Jerusalem that left Israeli man serious condition

Soldiers shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, hours after a knife attack in East Jerusalem left an Israeli man in a serious condition.

The Palestinian health ministry said Rabi Arafah Rabi, 32, was hit by “a bullet to the head” at a checkpoint south-east of the city of Qalqilya.

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West Bank visitors ordered to register romances as Israel brings in strict rules

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Curbs on people falling in love with a Palestinian among measures expected to stifle economy and academia and hit aid agencies

Israel has implemented strict rules limiting the ability of foreigners to enter and stay in the occupied West Bank despite international criticism of the measures, which include the compulsory declaration of romantic relationships.

A 90-page ordinance replacing the previous four-page document came into effect on Thursday for a two-year pilot period. It is expected to stifle the Palestinian economy and academia and the work of aid agencies, and create complications for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families with dual nationality, who are already struggling to navigate a convoluted permit system.

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Penny Wong says timing of Australia’s reversal on West Jerusalem ‘regrettable’

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Foreign affairs minister admits poor timing of announcement on Jewish holiday and promises never to play politics on the issue

Penny Wong says she deeply regrets the timing of the government’s announcement that it was reversing recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision that coincided with a Jewish holiday.

In the wake of criticism from several prominent Jewish community leaders and a rebuke from the Israeli prime minister, the foreign affairs minister has written an article for Australian Jewish News promising never to play politics on the issue.

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Liz Truss’s plans to move UK embassy to Jerusalem to be fought by legal group

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International Centre of Justice for Palestinians says diplomatic move in Israel in breach of international obligations

A legal group that supports the rights of Palestinians has written to Liz Truss to tell her that it plans to launch a judicial review in an attempt to block any UK government movement of the British embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has commissioned a legal opinion in support of its argument that such a move would be in breach of the government’s international obligations.

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Jewish groups blindsided by Labor’s reversal of recognition of West Jerusalem as Israeli capital

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Prominent Jewish community leaders in Australia say Albanese government’s withdrawal of recognition ‘a gratuitous insult’ – but criticism is not universal

Several Jewish community leaders say they were blindsided by the Albanese government’s decision to reverse recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, describing the handling of the issue as “shoddy” and “a gratuitous insult”.

A Labor parliamentarian has also privately said the government “mishandled” the sensitive issue and should not be “making foreign policy on the fly” after Israel’s foreign ministry summoned the Australian ambassador to demand an explanation.

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Israel criticises Labor’s decision to drop recognition of West Jerusalem as capital

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PM Yair Lapid says he’s ‘deeply disappointed’ in the ‘hasty’ foreign policy shift and has summoned Australia’s ambassador to explain

Israeli prime minister, Yair Lapid, has criticised Labor’s decision to drop the recognition of West Jerusalem as that country’s capital and Australia’s ambassador has been summoned to explain.

Lapid has accused the Australian government of a “hasty” foreign policy shift, after it reversed the previous government’s decision.

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Netanyahu used golf metaphor to turn Trump against Palestinians, book says

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In new memoir, former Israeli PM describes efforts to turn US president against Palestinian leader Abbas

Benjamin Netanyahu used maps of Hezbollah missile sites and intelligence gained from a Mossad raid in Tehran to make sure Donald Trump backed Israel in Middle East peace talks and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, the former Israeli prime minister writes in a new memoir.

But in unconventional scenes similar to those in countless books of reportage and Trump tell-alls, Netanyahu also says that to sway Trump from his desire to pursue peace between Israel and the Palestinians and to scotch his positive first impression of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, the Israelis deployed golfing metaphors and maps of New York City.

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Israeli forces use live fire in clashes with Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem

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Killing of Israeli soldier led to closure of refugee camp and worst violence in contested city in months

Israeli forces have used live fire during confrontations with hundreds of Palestinian protesters throwing stones and firebombs in the worst violence in the contested city of Jerusalem in months, sparked by the search for a suspected Palestinian gunman.

The killing of an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in the neighbourhood of Shuafat on Saturday led to raids and the four-day closure of a nearby sprawling refugee camp. By Wednesday, with tensions soaring, Palestinians across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank launched a general strike in solidarity with the residents of Shuafat, and demonstrations overnight quickly turned violent, with clashes lasting into the early hours of Thursday.

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Family of man who died in Israeli detention rejects claim about deal

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Relatives of Palestinian Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad, 78, say no settlement has been reached with Israeli defence ministry

The family of an elderly Palestinian-American man who died after being forcibly detained by Israeli soldiers has disputed a claim from Israel’s defence ministry that the parties have reached a compensation settlement.

In a rare case of compensation for a Palestinian claim of wrongdoing by Israeli forces, on Sunday the defence ministry said in a statement that it had reached a settlement with the family of 78-year-old Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad.

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Israel and Lebanon reach ‘historic’ maritime border deal

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Israeli PM hails agreement that would mark significant compromise and may open way for energy exploration

Israel and Lebanon have reportedly agreed a deal in a dispute over gas fields and the two countries’ maritime border, a groundbreaking diplomatic achievement that could boost natural gas production in the Mediterranean before the European winter begins.

Yair Lapid, Israel’s prime minister, said on Tuesday that months of US-brokered negotiations had resulted in a “historic agreement” between the two nations, which have technically been at war since Israel’s creation in 1948. The deal would “strengthen Israel’s security, inject billions into Israel’s economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border”, he added.

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Russian pop star who criticised Ukraine war says she is in Israel

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Alla Pugacheva, whose husband has been declared a ‘foreign agent’, denounced invasion three weeks ago

The Russian pop singer Alla Pugacheva has said she is in Israel, three weeks after she publicly criticised Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine when Moscow declared her husband a “foreign agent”.

“I thank my multimillion army of fans for their love and support, for the ability to distinguish truth from lies,” the 73-year-old, known as the “queen of Soviet pop music”, said in an Instagram post on Monday.

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Israel says it is to compensate family of Palestinian who died after detention

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Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad was subjected to force by IDF soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint

Israel says it has reached a settlement with the family of a Palestinian-American man who died after soldiers used force to detain him, in a rare case of compensation for a Palestinian claim of wrongdoing by Israeli forces.

Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad, 78, was detained at a checkpoint in Jiljilya in the occupied West Bank in January and “apprehended after resisting a check”, according to an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) statement. He was handcuffed, gagged and blindfolded for between 20 minutes and an hour, and found by locals after the soldiers left.

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Welby voices concern over potential move of British embassy to Jerusalem

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Archbishop of Canterbury joins others worried about impact Tel Aviv switch could have on Palestinian peace talks

The archbishop of Canterbury has expressed concern about the potential for the British embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The UK prime minister, Liz Truss, told her Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid at the United Nations summit in New York last month that she was considering the relocation.

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Palestinian petitions UK for apology over alleged abuses during British rule

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Munib al-Masri has 300-page dossier of allegations including killings and torture between 1917 and 1948

A Palestinian businessman and former politician is to petition the UK government for an apology for abuses in the region during the period of British rule in the first half of the 20th century.

Munib al-Masri, 88, a close friend and supporter of the late Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat, has with two international lawyers drawn up a 300-page dossier of evidence alleging abuses by the British between 1917 and 1948, the BBC reported.

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Benjamin Netanyahu hospitalised with chest pains during Yom Kippur

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Israel’s former PM kept for overnight observation after feeling unwell during synagogue services

Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been taken to hospital after feeling unwell during the Jewish fasting day of Yom Kippur.

Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, said Netanyahu, 72, was taken to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital after feeling chest pains while attending synagogue services. Local media quoted the hospital as saying he underwent a series of tests that came out normal, but was being kept under observation overnight.

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Arab diplomats urge Liz Truss not to move British embassy to Jerusalem

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Private letter says ‘illegal’ plan could jeopardise free trade deal between UK and Gulf Cooperation Council

Arab ambassadors in London are urging Liz Truss not to go ahead with “an illegal and ill-judged” plan to move the British embassy to Jerusalem.

Some Arab diplomats have even said the plan could jeopardise talks on a highly prized free trade deal between the UK and the Gulf Cooperation Council due to be completed this year.

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Human rights lawyer in Israeli prison goes on hunger strike

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Salah Hamouri stages protest against being imprisoned without charge for the last six months

A prominent Palestinian-French human rights lawyer has gone on hunger strike in protest against his imprisonment without charge by Israeli authorities for the last six months.

Salah Hamouri, 37, a father of two from occupied East Jerusalem, has been held in administrative detention since 7 March, and his detention order has been renewed until at least early December based on undisclosed evidence.

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US senators refuse to let killing of Shireen Abu Akleh drop with Israel

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The state department seems keen to avoid questions about the Palestinian American journalist’s shooting by an Israeli soldier

Israel has declared the case closed. The US state department has done its best to duck difficult questions. But leading members of the US Congress are refusing to drop demands for a proper accounting of the death of the Palestinian American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, four months ago.

The longest-serving member of the US Senate, Patrick Leahy, recently upped the ante by warning that Israel’s failure to fully explain the Al-Jazeera reporter’s killing could jeopardize America’s huge military aid to the Jewish state under a law he sponsored 25 years ago cutting weapons supplies to countries that abuse human rights.

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