Category Archives: Israel

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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Israel protests: thousands rally for fifth week against government’s legal reforms

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Protests were held in 20 cities across Israel, with demonstrators also decrying proposed settlement expansion in the West Bank

Thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv for the fifth consecutive week to demonstrate against controversial legal reforms touted by Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing government.

Crowds carrying blue and white Israeli flags filled the city’s central Kaplan Street on Saturday, with signs labelling the new government a “threat to world peace”.

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Netanyahu told he must not involve himself in judiciary overhaul

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Israel’s attorney general said to PM it would amount to a conflict of interest over his corruption trial, according to letter

Israel’s attorney general has told Benjamin Netanyahu that he must not be involved in an overhaul to the country’s judicial system proposed by his government because it would amount to a conflict of interest over the prime minister’s corruption trial, according to a letter made public Thursday.

Netanyahu’s new far-right government has made changing the legal system a centrepiece of its legislative agenda and despite mounting public criticism, has charged ahead with steps to weaken the supreme court and grant politicians less judicial oversight in their policymaking.

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Israel carries out airstrikes on Gaza Strip

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Israeli army confirms ‘striking in the Gaza Strip’ early on Thursday, hours after it said it intercepted a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory

Israel conducted airstrikes on the central Gaza Strip early on Thursday, according to journalists and witnesses, hours after the military said it intercepted a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory.

New rounds of rockets were fired from Gaza after these strikes, and fresh explosions could be heard from Gaza City about 3.15am local time, Agence France-Presse journalists reported.

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No 10 refuses to deny Sunak was given informal warning about Raab’s behaviour before he made him deputy PM – live

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Dominic Raab under increasing pressure as civil servants’ union calls for him to be suspended until bullying inquiry concludes

MPs have been told that paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have coerced young people with drug debts to take part in rioting, PA Media reports. PA says:

A community worker gave an example of a user’s debt being reduced by £80 for doing so.

Megan Phair, coordinator of the Journey to Empowerment Programme and member of the Stop Attacks Forum, said both loyalist and dissident republican groups use the tactic to force people on to the streets.

It’s time for the prime minister to come out of hiding and face the music. The public deserves to know the truth about what he knew and when, including the full disclosure of any advice given to him by the Cabinet Office.

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Antony Blinken ends Middle East tour with no breakthrough

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US secretary of state says it is up to Israelis and Palestinians to find way to end recent violence

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has finished his Middle East tour with no breakthrough in reducing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, saying that it was “fundamentally up to them” to end the violence after days of bloodshed.

Blinken said he had heard “deep concern about the current trajectory” during meetings in Israel and the occupied West Bank but, beyond calling for a “de-escalation”, he offered no new US initiative.

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Blinken calls for calm on Jerusalem visit amid days of Israeli-Palestinian violence

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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.

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Israel to take punitive steps against Palestinians after deadly attacks

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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.

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Grief and anger at site of synagogue attack in Jerusalem

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At vigil in Neve Yaakov there are calls for reprisals after worst attack by a Palestinian against Israelis since 2008

Sifting through construction debris on the traffic intersection in occupied East Jerusalem where seven Israelis were killed by a Palestinian gunman on Friday night, three emergency response volunteers wearing plastic gloves and hi-vis vests scraped up handfuls of blood-stained earth, placing it in a bag.

After sunset on Saturday, the end of Shabbat, they had arrived equipped with torches, trowels and putty knives. Their task was to ensure every drop of spilled blood was collected for proper Jewish burial.

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Israel moves to ‘strengthen’ Jewish settlements after shootings

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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.

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Jenin, Jerusalem … now Israelis grieve as the cycle of violence intensifies

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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.

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Fears of escalating conflict as gunman injures two Israelis in East Jerusalem

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Shooting comes hours after seven people killed outside synagogue and two days after deadliest Israeli raid in West Bank for 20 years

Two Israelis have been shot in occupied East Jerusalem hours after a gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue, as the worst violence in years across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories continues to escalate.

Israel’s ambulance service said a father and son, in their 50s and 20s, were badly hurt in the incident in a Jewish neighbourhood near the Old City on Saturday morning. Police said the assailant had been shot by an armed passerby. There were conflicting reports on his condition.

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Tense but calm after deadly Jenin raid triggers Israel-Gaza rocket fire exchange

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Palestinian Authority suspends security cooperation after nine people were killed by Israeli defence forces

Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories remained tense but calm after an exchange of rocket fire between the Gaza Strip and Israel triggered by a deadly raid in the West Bank.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) entered the Jenin refugee camp, in the north of the occupied territory at about 7am (5am GMT) on Thursday acting on intelligence suggesting a cell linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad was planning to carry out imminent attacks, the army said in a statement.

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Concerns over escalating violence after Israeli forces kill nine Palestinians during West Bank raid

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Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza on Friday morning, to which Israel responded with missile strikes

Washington has raised concern over the escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence after Israeli forces on Thursday killed nine Palestinians during a West Bank raid in the deadliest single day in the territory in decades.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said he feared the security situation could worsen after two rockets were fired from Gaza early on Friday and Israel responded with airstrikes on the territory.

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Israeli forces kill nine Palestinians during West Bank raid

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Palestinian leaders cut security ties with Israel after deadly gun battle at Jenin refugee camp

Israeli forces have killed nine Palestinians during a raid in the north of the occupied West Bank in the deadliest single day in the territory in years, prompting Palestinian leaders to cut security ties with Israel and leaving international mediators scrambling to prevent the violence from escalating.

A 61-year-old woman and a male civilian were among the dead, the Palestinian health ministry said, and about 20 more people were seriously injured in the violence on Thursday morning. Two of the casualties were claimed by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another four by Hamas, and one by the armed wing of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.

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Bank of Israel governor says judicial reform could hurt economy – reports

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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”.

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Melbourne university first in Australia to take up controversial definition of antisemitism

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International code adopted as part of ‘anti-racism commitment’ could be used to shut down genuine criticism of the state of Israel, critics warn

The University of Melbourne has become the first tertiary institution in Australia to adopt a controversial international definition of antisemitism, in a move critics say could be used to shut down legitimate criticism of the state of Israel.

On Wednesday, the university announced it would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as part of its broader “anti-racism commitment”.

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Huge protest in Israel over rightwing government’s judicial changes

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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.

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