Category Archives: Israel

Trump: if Jared Kushner can’t achieve peace in Middle East, ‘it can’t be done’

Posted on by

President also told Israeli American Council summit some Jewish people in the US don’t love Israel enough and attacked Ilhan Omar

If Jared Kushner cannot achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Donald Trump claimed on Saturday, “it can’t be done”.

The president also told the Israeli American Council national summit some Jewish people in America don’t love Israel enough, a remark some said was antisemitic, and attacked the Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar for what he called her “despicable rhetoric” about Israel.

Continue reading...

Josep Borrell: can EU’s new diplomat- in-chief strengthen bloc’s global standing?

Posted on by

The veteran Spanish socialist has a reputation for plain speaking, and a brief to build a more assertive EU

It has been called Europe’s “valley of tears”. But it isn’t in National Geographic; rather it is the monthly pilgrimage of the European Union’s 28 foreign ministers to Brussels or Luxembourg to discuss the woes of the world.

And the man who coined the phrase, Josep Borrell, a socialist veteran of Spanish politics, was not paying a compliment. He described the EU foreign affairs council as “more a valley of tears than a centre of decision-making” because “it’s where all the open sores of humanity come. They tell us their sufferings, we express our condolences and concern … but no capacity for action comes out of it and we just move on to the next one.”

Continue reading...

The UN’s fight for Palestinian refugees goes on – but its key agency needs help

Posted on by

From Israel’s hostility to Trump’s withdrawal of US funding, the UNRWA faces unprecedented challenges. Timely financial and diplomatic support is key

Today, on the 70th anniversary of its founding, the UN Relief and Works Agency, the UN’s main refugee agency serving Palestinians, is facing unprecedented challenges.

It has become a key battleground in Donald Trump’s war against multilateralism and his unilateral attempts to redefine the Middle East peace process along a track proposed by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Continue reading...

US senator to investigate if foreign spyware used to target Americans

Posted on by

Exclusive: Ron Wyden says hacking claims raise “serious national security issues”

An influential US senator has told the Guardian he is examining the possible hacking of US citizens with technology sold by the NSO Group and other foreign surveillance companies, an issue he said raised “serious national security issues”.

Ron Wyden’s remarks come just weeks after a lawsuit was filed by WhatsApp against NSO, alleging that the Israeli company’s malware was used against 1,400 WhatsApp users in 20 countries over a 14-day period this year.

Continue reading...

Netanyahu rivals move to bring him down after corruption indictments

Posted on by

Israeli opposition parties scramble to find legal channels to strip weakened PM of power

Benjamin Netanyahu’s political opponents have moved to capitalise on a series of damning bribery indictments levelled against the Israeli leader, hoping to further weaken him at one of the lowest points in his decades-long career.

The opposition Labor party was expected to file petitions to the high court of justice to force the country’s longest-serving prime minister to step down.

Continue reading...

Benjamin Netanyahu describes corruption indictment as ‘attempted coup’ – video

Posted on by

The Israeli prime minister said he would not resign despite being charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a corruption scandal that he denounced as an 'attempted coup'. Netanyahu was indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust on 21 November – the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister has been charged with a crime

Continue reading...

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu indicted for bribery and fraud

Posted on by

Attorney general announces charges as crisis deepens for longest-serving leader

Israel’s attorney general has indicted Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, in a damning blow to the prime minister as he fights for his political survival.

Avichai Mandelblit charged the 70-year-old leader on Thursday in all three major corruption cases for which he was investigated. It was the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister has been charged with a crime.

Continue reading...

The US policy shift on Israeli settlements will not stop Palestinians persevering | Raja Shehadeh

Posted on by
Palestinians are surrounded by settlers and abandoned by the west, but this latest setback will only boost support for their cause

The day before US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s announcement that the United States now considers the Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be legal, I accompanied an American group of writers on a tour of the settlements around Ramallah.

It was organised by Breaking the Silence, a group formed by Israeli veterans who oppose the occupation. Yehuda Shaul, the co-founder of the organisation, led the tour. He said that, from 1967 on, the settlement project was state-driven, neither prompted nor led by the settlers. Since then, the US position had been that settlement building in the occupied territories was contrary to international law. And yet no material action has ever been taken by any US administration to force Israel to stop building – except for one moment, in 1991, when president George Bush refused to provide a guarantee for $10bn in loans to Israel over settlement expansion. So what is new about Trump’s announcement?

Continue reading...

Israel’s opposition leader fails to form coalition government

Posted on by

Benny Gantz’s lack of success pushes country closer to third round of elections in a year

Israel’s opposition leader, Benny Gantz, has failed to form a government, increasing the likelihood of the country holding an unprecedented third round of elections.

Gantz had close to a month to forge a coalition after the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, failed to do so. Neither leader won a clear majority during a September election and both have sought to stall each other’s play for power.

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on Israeli settlements: still illegal | Editorial

Posted on by
The Trump administration’s declaration cannot change international law. But it will be seen as a green light for expansion and annexation

The secretary of state’s announcement that the US no longer considers Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land to be illegal is appalling. It is also the dismal culmination of the Trump administration’s record.

Washington has done all it can to aid Israel’s rightwing government, punish Palestinians and bury the two-state solution: moving its embassy to Jerusalem, ending funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency, and recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Continue reading...

Jordan says US settlement decision is ‘entrenching occupation’

Posted on by

US said on Monday Israeli settlements on West Bank were no longer considered illegal

Jordan has accused the US of entrenching the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, after Washington announced it did not consider Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank to necessarily be illegal.

Ayman Safadi, the Jordanian foreign minister, criticised the US decision, saying settlements “kill the two-state solution”, the most widely accepted blueprint for Middle East peace.

“Entrenching the occupation and its injustice, and violating the resolutions of international legitimacy will not achieve peace, and will not guarantee security and stability,” he said, according to state media.

“Nothing changes the illegal reality of settlements that the international community is unanimous in condemning,” he added.

Continue reading...

Pompeo says US does not view Israeli settlements as violation of international law – live

Posted on by

Secretary of state announces major shift in US foreign policy, while House investigating whether Trump lied to Robert Mueller – follow live

The US official who overheard a key phone conversation between Eu ambassador Gordon Sondland and Donald Trump will testify publicly as part of the House impeachment inquiry, according to CNN.

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

Continue reading...

US says Israeli settlements no longer considered illegal in dramatic shift

Posted on by

Declaration marks rejection of 2016 UN resolution that settlements on the West Bank are a ‘flagrant violation’ of international law

The US has declared that Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land are not necessarily illegal, in a dramatic break with decades of international law, US policy and the established position of most US allies.

“Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law has not advanced the cause of peace,” said Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state. “The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.”

Continue reading...

Israel strikes at Islamic Jihad commanders, sparking reprisal rockets

Posted on by

Commander killed in Gaza and political leader targeted in Syria, in sudden surge of violence

Related: Israel-Hamas relations: a predictable but fatal dance

Israel has launched airstrikes against two senior figures from the militant group Islamic Jihad in Gaza and Syria, in rare targeted assassination attempts that immediately prompted rounds of retaliatory rocket fire from Gaza.

Continue reading...

Products from Israeli settlements must be labelled, EU court rules

Posted on by

European court of justice says origin must be identified in decision likely to anger Israel

The European Union’s top court has ruled that EU countries must oblige retailers to identify products made in Israeli settlements with special labels, in a ruling likely to spark anger in Israel.

The European court of justice (ECJ) said in a statement that “foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the state of Israel must bear the indication of their territory of origin”.

Continue reading...

Jerusalem’s ‘love neighbourhood’: a refuge for star-crossed Palestinians

Posted on by

A bureaucratic loophole has left Kafr Aqab as a district where Palestinians can keep a foot in both Jerusalem and the West Bank – and be with their loved ones

For some Palestinian sweethearts, there’s only one place to live.

It’s an unremarkable suburb, crisscrossed by thin muddy streets and dotted with high-rise apartment blocks that cling to the steep hills on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Continue reading...

Palestinian killed in Israeli air strikes on ‘wide range’ of Hamas targets

Posted on by

The Israeli army said the raids were in response to at least 10 rockets being fired at Israel from Gaza on Friday

A Palestinian was killed by Israeli air strikes on Saturday, the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said, in an attack launched in response to rocket fire.

Dozens of strikes hit the Palestinian enclave in the early hours, targeting bases of the strip’s Islamist rulers and allied groups, a security source in Gaza said.

Continue reading...

WhatsApp ‘hack’ is serious rights violation, say alleged victims

Posted on by

Activists speak out after being warned of alleged cyber-attack to infiltrate mobile phones

More than a dozen pro-democracy activists, journalists and academics have spoken out after WhatsApp privately warned them they had allegedly been the victims of cyber-attacks designed to secretly infiltrate their mobile phones.

The individuals received alerts saying they were among more than 100 human rights campaigners whose phones were believed to have been hacked using malware sold by NSO Group, an Israeli cyberweapons company.

Continue reading...

WhatsApp sues Israeli firm, accusing it of hacking activists’ phones

Posted on by

NSO Group’s spyware allegedly used in cyber-attacks on lawyers and journalists

WhatsApp has launched an unprecedented lawsuit against a cyber weapons firm which it has accused of being behind secret attacks on more than 100 human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and academics in just two weeks earlier this year.

The social media firm is suing NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance company, saying it is responsible for a series of highly sophisticated cyber-attacks which it claims violated American law in an “unmistakeable pattern of abuse”.

Continue reading...