Category Archives: Israel

More than 20 dead as violence flares between Gaza and Israel

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Air and tank strikes kill 19 Palestinians after Netanyahu orders ‘massive attacks’, while rockets kill four in Israel

Militants in Gaza and Israeli forces engaged in a bloody and spiralling clash over the weekend, with Palestinian factions launching hundreds of rockets towards towns and cities in Israel, which retaliated with more than 250 strikes.

In exchanges that marked some of the worst fighting in recent years, 19 Palestinians, including two pregnant women and a toddler, have been killed since hostilities began on Friday, the health ministry in Gaza said. The dead included at least eight militants and a Hamas commander killed in the first targeted assassination Israel has conducted in the strip for years.

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Israel launches multiple airstrikes after Palestinian rocket attacks

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Six people have been killed in Gaza after Israel responded with airstrikes and tank fire to about 250 rockets being fired over the border by Palestinian militants on a day that has put further strain on an already fraying ceasefire.

It was the second day of fighting after a month-long lull in violence around the blockaded enclave and came while leaders of Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, were in Egypt for talks aimed at restoring the ceasefire.

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Turkey condemns ‘Israeli terrorism’ for bombing news agency in Gaza

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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticises attacks as six Palestinians and an Israeli civilian die in renewed violence

Turkey’s president has attacked what he called “Israeli terrorism” after the Gaza office for the Turkish state-run news agency was destroyed during the latest round of hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.

More than 24 hours of heavy fire continued into Sunday, as militants launched rockets out of the strip and Israel responded with air attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to launch more “massive strikes” on Gaza and move tanks, artillery and infantry to the edge of the enclave.

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Infant and pregnant mother killed in Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes

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Three fatalities reported in Gaza after Israel respond to 200 rockets fired by Palestinian militant

An infant, her pregnant mother and an adult have been killed in Gaza after Israel responded with airstrikes and tank fire to about 200 rockets being fired over the border by Palestinian militants, further straining an already fraying ceasefire.

Two days of fighting have brought an end to a month-long lull in violence around the blockaded enclave. It came while leaders of Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, were in Egypt for talks aimed at restoring the faltering ceasefire deal.

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‘Let’s just not say it’: Jared Kushner says ‘two-state’ label hinders Middle East talks

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Trump son-in-law says upcoming Middle East peace plan will be ‘very acceptable’ to Palestinians

Jared Kushner has revealed aspects of the US peace plan for the Middle East, indicating it would pull back from longstanding mentions of a two-state solution with the Palestinians and accept Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Kushner, the son-in-law and senior adviser to President Donald Trump, is expected to present a long-awaited deal next month on behalf of the US administration, which has closely aligned itself with Israel’s rightwing.

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Celebrities denounce proposed boycott of Eurovision in Israel

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Stephen Fry, Marina Abramović and Sharon Osbourne among stars describing the boycott movement as ‘an affront to both Palestinians and Israelis’

Public figures including Stephen Fry, Sharon Osbourne, Marina Abramović and pop mogul Scooter Braun have signed a letter speaking out against a proposed boycott of this year’s Eurovision song contest, which is to be held in Tel Aviv in May.

Their letter states that Eurovision’s “spirit of togetherness” across the continent is “under attack by those calling to boycott Eurovision 2019 because it is being held in Israel, subverting the spirit of the contest and turning it from a tool of unity into a weapon of division”.

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Seret Israeli film festival welcomes all communities and faiths | Letter

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The co-founders of the festival, Anat Koren, Odelia Haroush and Patty Hochmann, respond to a call for UK cinemas to boycott it

As the co-founders of Seret, the UK Israeli film and television festival, we are surprised that, yet again, there has been a call for a boycott on screening films from Israel here in the UK, from film-makers who believe that they are supporting the “Palestinian cause” (Letters, 26 April).

Israeli films are distributed globally, and the cinemas they are screened in are delighted and proud to show them to their audiences.

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Reporting from Jerusalem: ‘the focus is always on how the story is told’

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The Guardian’s Oliver Holmes describes his quest for positive news in one of journalism’s most notoriously difficult beats

I had pretzels and a beer ready to pop. It was after 10pm and I was watching a live feed of mission control. An Israeli-built spacecraft was approaching the lunar surface and due to touch down within minutes. It was a straightforward good news story – the first privately funded attempt to land on the moon.

Flight engineers had their eyes glued to screens and I was listening to one talking through the details in Hebrew. Then, amid the technical jargon, I heard a jolting phrase in English: “Not OK”.

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Beyoncé rocks, but so did Woodstock | Brief letters

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Roger Waters | Rock concerts | Use-by dates | Exercise | Smartphones

Regarding Jeremy Beecham’s thoughts on Roger Waters (Letters, 19 April), I think we can take it as read Waters would not encourage Madonna to support the Assad regime by playing Damascus.
John Warburton
Edinburgh

• You failed to mention the two most important filmed rock concerts (Homecoming review – Beyoncé documentary is a triumphant celebration, 19 April): Monterey Pop and Woodstock. To write about seminal filmed rock gigs without mentioning them is like writing about influential 60s groups without mentioning the Beatles or the Stones.
Jon Ingram
Ilkley, West Yorkshire

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Roger Waters is too simplistic on Israel | Letters

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Readers share their views on the musician’s call for other artists to stay away from Israel over its human rights record

Roger Waters’ mother imploring her son to “decide for yourself” and execute the “right thing to do” was no doubt in reference to the juvenile politics of the playground (If you believe in human rights, Madonna, don’t play Tel Aviv, 17 April). Unfortunately, these simple values can not be transposed to the labyrinthine issues of the Middle East in general and the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular.

Sadly “bad stuff” occurs in all conflicts, which are not as clearcut as Waters would suggest: baddie Israelis (“apartheid”, “ethnic cleansing”, “slaughter”) versus goodie Palestinians (“fortitude”, “grace”, “heads high”).

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Europe urged to reject US Middle East plan if it is unfair to Palestinians

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Exclusive: letter from former officials says Europe must stand by the two-state solution

High-ranking former European politicians have condemned the Trump administration’s one-sided Israel-Palestine policy and called in a letter for Europe to reject any US Middle East peace plan unless it is fair to Palestinians.

The letter, sent to the Guardian, the EU and European governments, was signed by 25 former foreign ministers, six former prime ministers, and two former Nato secretary generals.

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Palestinians eye Israel’s election: ‘People could make peace … the problem is politicians’

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Palestinians hoped for change, but a lurch to the right in Israel’s elections has only brought despair

For as long as she can remember, Mary Giacaman, a Christian Palestinian, has watched the outcome of the Israeli election on TV. “But not this year,” she explained. “It was too depressing, and anyway I knew what would happen.”

This Holy Week, the 56-year-old Catholic will be attending mass each morning as usual at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity across the square from her olive wood carved souvenir shop; she will spend a festive Easter day with her sons, daughters and six grandchildren. If nothing else, it will be a welcome distraction from a “very bad” election result, which saw a decisive victory for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Labor candidate Melissa Parke pulls out of Curtin contest over Israel comments

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Parke says she did not want to be a distraction during the election campaign, despite her views being ‘well known’

The Labor candidate for the West Australian seat of Curtin, Melissa Parke, has pulled out following reports that she told a public meeting last month that the way Israel treated Palestinians was “worse than the South African system of apartheid”.

Parke, formerly a federal member for Fremantle, said on Friday night that she did not want to be a distraction during the election campaign. The seat of Curtin was previously held by former Liberal party deputy leader Julie Bishop.

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Benjamin Netanyahu: the enduring hardman of Israeli politics

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Ultranationalist PM has been at heart of backlash against peace efforts during 13 years in power

It was a win by the slimmest margin. Back in 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu took the Israeli election by less than 1% of the total votes.

Twenty-three years later, he has pulled off more knife-edge election acrobatics, securing a fifth term even though he tied in the election, after his main rival conceded.

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‘We have not managed to land successfully’: Israel’s moonshot fails

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Spacecraft crashes in to lunar surface after engine and communications breakdown

An Israeli spacecraft has crashed into the lunar surface, ending the first privately funded attempt to land on the moon.

About the size of a washing machine, the 585kg (1,290lb) robotic lander experienced an engine and communication failure in the last seconds of touchdown.

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Pompeo flounders on why annexation is good for the Golan but not for Crimea

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Trump’s decision to recognise Israeli sovereignty over territory it seized from Syria sets a troubling precedent, experts fear

Under intense questioning about why the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights was good but the Russian seizure of Crimea was bad, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, told senators that there was an “international law doctrine” which would be explained to them later.

It turned out there was no doctrine. The state department’s clarification of Pompeo’s remarks contained no reference to one, and experts on international law said that none exists.

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Trump basks in Netanyahu’s victory by highlighting their personal alliance

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US president tweeted a picture of people waving Trump banners at the Israeli leader’s election celebrations

Donald Trump welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu’s election victory by underlining the personal alliance between the two men, tweeting a picture of people waving Trump banners at the Israeli leader’s celebrations.

Related: 'The future is dark': Palestinians react to Israel's election

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Israel election: Netanyahu wins fifth term as rival concedes

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Benjamin Netanyahu has already begun to broker deals with religious and far-right parties

Benjamin Netanyahu is set to serve a fifth term as Israel’s prime minister after his main rival conceded that he had lost the election.

With 97% of votes counted, Netanyahu’s Likud party and the Blue and White party, led by former army general Benny Gantz, had tied with 35 seats each in the 120-seat house, the Knesset. However, the rightwing bloc that Netanyahu is part of had 65 in total, a comfortable majority.

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Netanyahu will now feel free to pursue hardline agenda of confrontation | Simon Tisdall

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Election victory gives Israeli PM confidence he will get his way on Iran and Palestine

His supporters call him a magician. And there is truly something uncanny about how Benjamin Netanyahu has conjured up three-way US, Russian and Arab support for his hardline security and nationalist agenda. For a small country, Israel packs an ever bigger punch – and pugnacious Bibi’s likely fifth term presages a new era of escalating confrontation.

First in line for the Netanyahu treatment is Iran. He claimed credit on Monday for Donald Trump’s unprecedented decision to brand Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, including its al-Quds force, a foreign terrorist organisation. The provocative move, akin to singling out the US marine corps for punishment, bought a vengeful riposte from Tehran.

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