Category Archives: Israel

CIA unable to corroborate Israel’s ‘terror’ label for Palestinian rights groups

Posted on by

Exclusive: sources say report shows CIA unable to find evidence to support Israeli claim, but finding does not prompt US rebuttal

A classified CIA report shows the agency was unable to find any evidence to support Israel’s decision to label six prominent Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist organizations”.

In October, Israel labeled as terror groups Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International–Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees.

Continue reading...

CEO of Israeli Pegasus spyware firm NSO to step down

Posted on by

CEO Shalev Hulio is stepping down as part of NSO reorganisation that will see it focus on sales in Nato member countries

Israel’s NSO Group, which makes the globally controversial Pegasus spyware said on Sunday its CEO Shalev Hulio would step down as part of a reorganisation.

The indebted, privately owned company also said it would focus sales on countries belonging to the Nato alliance.

Continue reading...

Palestinian flight plan shelved on eve of first scheduled departure

Posted on by

Controversial plan to fly people from occupied West Bank to Turkey has been paused

A controversial plan to allow Palestinians to fly to Turkey from southern Israel’s Ramon airport has been shelved on the eve of the first scheduled departure.

Israel’s airport authority announced earlier this month that Ramon in the Negev desert, near the Red Sea city of Eilat, would begin allowing Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to travel on Turkish-operated flights to Antalya and Istanbul from 22 August.

Continue reading...

Israeli forces raid offices of six Palestinian human rights groups

Posted on by

Property confiscated in move decried as ‘appalling attack’ on Palestinian civil society in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have raided the offices of six Palestinian human rights groups in the occupied West Bank that it previously accused of being terrorist organisations, a move decried as an “appalling attack” on Palestinian civil society.

Property belonging to the prominent advocacy groups was confiscated and entrance doors sealed by soldiers in the early hours of Thursday.

Continue reading...

Turkey vows to back Palestinians despite restoring Israel ties

Posted on by

Comments by foreign minister come moments after Israeli PM announces full resumption of diplomatic ties

Turkey has said its decision to restore diplomatic relations with Israel after a decade of tensions does not mean it will abandon its support for Palestinians.

The comments by the foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, came moments after the Israeli prime minister, Yair Lapid, announced the resumption of full diplomatic relations, including the reappointment of ambassadors.

Continue reading...

Uproar after Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin accuses Israel of ’50 Holocausts’

Posted on by

German chancellor condemns remarks morning after joint press conference with Palestinian leader

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has accused Israel of committing “50 Holocausts”, at a joint press conference with Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in Berlin, drawing condemnation from Germany and Israel.

At the end of his state visit to Germany’s chancellory on Tuesday night, Abbas was asked by a German journalist whether he planned to apologise for the deadly attack by Palestinian militants on Israeli citizens at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the 50th anniversary of which is on 5 September.

Continue reading...

Svika Pick, Israel’s ‘king of pop’, dies aged 72

Posted on by

Songwriter behind hits including 1998 Eurovision winner, and Quentin Tarantino’s father-in-law, dies at home

Svika Pick, a prolific songwriter and musician who was known as Israel’s “king of pop” and by the moniker the Maestro, has died at the age of 72.

He died on Sunday in his home. The cause of death is yet to be announced.

Continue reading...

Jerusalem shooting: eight wounded as gunman fires at bus near Western Wall

Posted on by

Two victims including pregnant woman in serious condition, according to Israeli hospital officials, while police say suspected attacker turned himself in

A gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalem’s Old City early on Sunday, wounding eight Israelis in a suspected Palestinian attack that came a week after violence flared between Israel and militants in Gaza, police and medics said.

Two of the victims were in serious condition, including a pregnant woman with abdominal injuries and a man with gunshot wounds to the head and neck, according to Israeli hospitals treating them.

Continue reading...

Funerals and Islamic Jihad battle songs: Gaza after the ceasefire

Posted on by

Many areas are still without water and electricity following three days of Israeli airstrikes

In Shujaiya, a neighbourhood of Gaza City already scarred by several rounds of war, men passed around coffee and dates under the shade of a colourful mourning tent while Palestinian Islamic Jihad battle songs blared from sound systems.

About a dozen men carrying AK-47s, their faces shielded by black balaclavas, lined the entrance to the tent, and the militant group’s black and yellow flag flew overhead.

Continue reading...

Gaza: truce takes effect between Israel and Islamic Jihad after days of fighting

Posted on by

Joe Biden welcomes ceasefire agreed after three days of conflict triggered by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza Strip

A truce between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad has taken effect in the Gaza Strip after three days of cross-border fighting triggered by surprise Israeli airstrikes.

US president Joe Biden welcomed the agreement on Sunday, and called on all parties to “fully implement the ceasefire, and to ensure fuel and humanitarian supplies are flowing into Gaza as the fighting subsides”.

Continue reading...

Israel bombs Gaza Strip for second day in ‘pre-emptive operation’

Posted on by

Health authorities in Palestinian enclave report 15 dead in Israeli attacks targeting Islamic Jihad

Residents of the Gaza Strip were bracing for the possibility of a new round of war on Saturday after two days of “pre-emptive” Israeli airstrikes against a Palestinian militant group.

Israeli warplanes hit several sites in the blockaded territory on Friday, part of a surprise operation named “Breaking Dawn” that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said thwarted alleged planned rocket attacks by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Continue reading...

Israel strikes Gaza amid tensions following arrest of Palestinian militant

Posted on by

Palestinian officials say at least 10 dead after Israel said it was preparing to ‘remove the threat from this region’

Israeli warplanes struck numerous sites in the Gaza Strip on Friday in what Israel said was a preemptive strike against Palestinian factions allegedly planning rocket strikes at targets in Israel.

Palestinian health officials reported that at least 10 people died and 55 were wounded in an initial barrage which killed the commander of Islamic Jihad, Tayseer Jabari, in the north of Gaza. Among the fatalities was an eight-year-old girl.

Continue reading...

Israeli forces kill two Palestinian fighters in West Bank gun battle

Posted on by

Palestinian authorities confirm death of two men and say six more were wounded during clash in Nablus

Israeli forces have killed two Palestinian fighters in a pre-dawn clash in the occupied West Bank and attacked a fishing boat off the Gaza Strip coast that was accused of smuggling in Hamas supplies from Egypt.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade militant group claimed the two Palestinians killed on Sunday at a house in Nablus as its members. The Palestinian health ministry said six others were wounded.

Continue reading...

Man dies after being sucked into swimming pool sinkhole in Israel

Posted on by

A couple are under house arrest after a 30-year-old man died during a private party at a house in Karmi Yosef

Police in Israel have placed a couple under house arrest, a day after a man attending a party at their villa died after being sucked into a sinkhole that formed at the bottom of their swimming pool.

The man and woman, both in their sixties, are suspected of causing death by negligence, police said. They were arrested on Thursday night and a court decided to release them Friday under “restrictive conditions of house arrest” for five days.

Continue reading...

Saudi citizen arrested after non-Muslim journalist sneaks into Mecca

Posted on by

Gil Tamary of Israel’s Channel 13 sparked online fury after he filmed himself in Islam’s holiest city despite a ban on non-Muslims

A Saudi citizen who allegedly helped a non-Muslim enter the holy city of Mecca has been arrested, police in the kingdom said, after an online backlash against a journalist working for Israeli television.

The journalist, Gil Tamary of Israel’s Channel 13, posted on Twitter a video of himself sneaking into Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, in defiance of a ban on non-Muslims.

Continue reading...

Aipac hails Democrat’s defeat for not being sufficiently pro-Israel

Posted on by

Donna Edwards, leading contender in Maryland primary for safe seat, lost after pro-Israeli groups poured millions to block her

Pro-Israel groups have heralded the defeat of a leading Democratic contender for Congress after pouring millions of dollars into blocking her election, for failing to be sufficiently supportive of Israeli government policies.

Donna Edwards, who was for months the favourite to win the primary for a safe seat in Maryland, lost to Glenn Ivey on Tuesday after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) and allied groups waded into the race.

Continue reading...

Kosher phone dispute grips ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv suburb

Posted on by

An opaque council controls smartphone access for Israel’s Haredim population, but many are making forays online anyway

Tel Aviv’s booming science and technology industry, bolstered by graduates of elite army intelligence units, has earned Israel the nickname “start-up nation”.

Yet in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox suburb just a few miles east of Tel Aviv’s skyscrapers, a vicious fight is being waged over whether smartphones are compatible with traditional Jewish law, and who should have the power to decide on internet access.

Continue reading...

Pro-Israel hardliners spend millions to transform Democratic primaries

Posted on by

Critics say Aipac and its allies are seeking to influence Democratic politics with money from Republican billionaires

Pro-Israel lobby groups have poured millions of dollars into a Democratic primary for a Maryland congressional seat on Tuesday, in the latest attempt to block an establishment candidate who expressed support for the Palestinians.

A surge in political spending by organisations funded by hardline supporters of Israel, led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), has reshaped Democratic primaries over recent months even though debate about the country rarely figures as a major issue in the elections.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden greeted by protests during brief visit to Palestine

Posted on by

US president promises $300m in aid amid anger in Bethlehem and East Jerusalem at sidelining of quest for Palestinian state

Joe Biden was greeted by small groups of protesters and billboards decrying the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories as apartheid during his brief visits to East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, signs of disappointment at the sidelining of the Palestinian quest for statehood during the president’s tour of the Middle East.

The president visited Augusta Victoria hospital in East Jerusalem on Friday morning, where he promised $300m (£250m) in assistance for the Palestinians, before travelling in a convoy to Bethlehem to meet the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, and visit the Church of the Nativity.

Continue reading...