Category Archives: Israel

2,500 rare texts from Islamic world to go online for free

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National Library of Israel is digitising collection of manuscripts and books dating back to ninth century

More than 2,500 rare manuscripts and books from the Islamic world covering a period of more than a thousand years are to be made freely available online.

The National Library of Israel (NLI) in Jerusalem is digitising its world-class collection of items in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, dating from the ninth to the 20th centuries, including spectacularly beautiful Qur’ans and literary works decorated with gold leaf and lapis lazuli.

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Israel’s West Bank plans condemned by leading British Jewish figures

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Simon Schama and Sir Malcolm Rifkind among those warning that annexation ‘would have grave consequences’ for Palestinians

Some of the most prominent and respected names in British Jewry have raised alarm over the Israeli government’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank, saying such a move would be an existential threat to Israel.

Among more than 40 signatories of an unprecedented letter to the Israeli ambassador to the UK are Sir Ben Helfgott, one of the best-known Holocaust survivors in Britain; the historians Sir Simon Schama and Simon Sebag Montefiore; the former Conservative foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind; the lawyer Anthony Julius; the philanthropist Dame Vivien Duffield; the scientist Lord Robert Winston; the former MP Luciana Berger; the Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein; and the author Howard Jacobson. 

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Ancient DNA is offering clues to puzzle of Dead Sea scrolls, say experts

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Study may shed light on material and debated origins of some of the 25,000 fragments

With myriad fragments and an extraordinary past, the Dead Sea scrolls are quite a puzzle. Now experts say ancient DNA has helped them piece together which fragments come from the same scrolls, as well as which texts may have travelled a distance, and how widespread the writings were.

The scrolls are one of the most remarkable discoveries of the 20th century. Found in the caves of Qumran as well as other sites around the Judean desert, the ancient texts cover parts of the Hebrew bible canon as well as writings about religious practices, legal documents, and hymns.

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‘Palestinian lives matter’: Israeli police killing of autistic man draws US comparison

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Caregiver for Iyad Halak says she told police he was disabled shortly before he was shot

A caregiver for an unarmed, autistic Palestinian man killed in Jerusalem by Israeli police has said she repeatedly warned officers he was disabled before they opened fire, in a case that has drawn parallels with US police violence.

The body of Iyad Halak, 32, was buried late on Sunday night. He was shot dead the day before, reportedly after becoming confused by shouting police and fleeing in a panic to hide among rubbish bins.

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Wars without end: why is there no peaceful solution to so much global conflict?

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A new study shows that 60% of the world’s wars have lasted for at least a decade. From Afghanistan to Libya, Syria to Congo DRC, has endless conflict become normalised?

Libya’s civil war entered its 7th year this month with no end in sight. In Afghanistan, conflict has raged on and off since the Soviet invasion in 1979. America’s Afghan war is now its longest ever, part of the open-ended US “global war on terror” launched after the 2001 al-Qaida attacks.

Yemen’s conflict is in its sixth pitiless year. In Israel-Palestine, war – or rather the absence of peace – has characterised life since 1948. Somalis have endured 40 years of fighting. These are but a few examples in a world where the idea of war without end seems to have become accepted, even normalised.

Why do present-day politicians, generals, governments and international organisations appear incapable or uninterested in making peace? In the 19th and 20th centuries, broadly speaking, wars commenced and concluded with formal ultimatums, declarations, agreed protocols, truces, armistices and treaties.

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Israeli police shoot dead ‘unarmed’ Palestinian man in Jerusalem

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Officers chased man suspected of carrying a pistol in Old City amid heightened tensions

Israeli police officers have shot dead a Palestinian they suspected was carrying a weapon in Jerusalem’s Old City, but the man was later found to have been unarmed, Israeli media reported.

“Police units on patrol spotted a suspect with a suspicious object that looked like a pistol,” the police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. “They called upon him to stop and began to chase after him on foot. During the chase officers also opened fire at the suspect.”

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Malka Leifer can be extradited to Australia, Israeli court rules

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Momentous ruling comes six years after extradition request first filed for alleged child sex abuser

An Israeli court has ruled that the alleged child sex abuser Malka Leifer is mentally fit to stand trial and can be extradited to Australia, where the former Melbourne headteacher is wanted on 74 sexual assault charges.

The pivotal ruling comes six years after Australian police first filed an extradition request, and follows dozens of hearings and setbacks in a dramatic court saga in Jerusalem that has deeply strained relations between Israel and Australia.

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Palestine cuts off all ties with Israel and US: is it a bluff?

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Mahmoud Abbas says all agreements with US and Israel are void but others call move a cry for help

It was a speech intended to define a new era. In a final, do-or-die attempt to block what appeared to be Israeli plans for a permanent land grab, the Palestinian president announced he would renege on decades of diplomacy.

From the 1990s-era Oslo accords – the first steps of a peace process – to deep security coordination between the Palestinian leadership, Israel and US intelligence agencies, all were now void, Mahmoud Abbas said in a late-night speech last week. He said the Palestinian leadership was “absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments”.

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Benjamin Netanyahu appears in court on corruption charges

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Israeli PM could face more than a decade in prison if convicted in three separate cases

Defiantly railing against attempts to “overthrow” him before donning a face mask to enter court, Benjamin Netanyahu sat for the first day of his high-profile corruption trial, which threatens to put Israel’s longest-serving leader behind bars and open deep divisions within the country.

Speaking in the corridors of the courthouse ahead of the hearing, Netanyahu decried police and prosecutors he accused of attempting to topple him. “When there is a strong rightwing leader like me, everything is permitted to bring him down,” he said, flanked by loyal ministers. “This is an attempt to overthrow us.”

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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ends security agreement with Israel and US

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Declaration follows the creation of a new Israeli government which is officially contemplating annexation of some areas of the West Bank

The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has declared an end to security cooperation with the Israel and the United States, citing the imminent threat of Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank.

“The Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] and the state of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and of all the commitments based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones,” Abbas said in his speech.

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Netanyahu takes office in deal that could see West Bank annexation

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Rival Benny Gantz to take over as PM of Israeli unity government after 18 months

Benjamin Netanyahu has been sworn in as Israel’s prime minister, heading a unity government in which he will rotate the leadership with his former rival, Benny Gantz, in a deal that could see the annexation of large parts of the West Bank.

The coalition agreement ends a deadlock that has dragged on for more than 500 days. In that time, the country has held three back-to-back elections with neither side clinching an outright victory.

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Israel threatens to pull evangelical Christian TV station aimed at Jews

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State forbids preaching to under-18s without parents’ permission

The Israeli government is threatening to take off air a Christian television channel that launched in the country to preach to Jews, warning that it will be barred if it breaks strict rules around proselytising.

GOD TV, an evangelical media network that broadcasts across the world, signed a seven-year deal with a major Israeli cable television provider, HOT, to host its new Hebrew-language channel that began airing last month.

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Australian government tells ICC it should not investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine

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International Criminal Court rejects Australia’s argument it has no jurisdiction because Palestine is ‘not a state’

The Australian government has told the International Criminal Court it should not investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine because Palestine is “not a state”, arguing the court prosecutor’s investigation into alleged attacks on civilians, torture, attacks on hospitals, and the use of human shields, should be halted on jurisdictional grounds.

Australia was lobbied to make the submission to the court by Israel, which is not a party to the court. But the office of the prosecutor has rejected Australia’s argument, saying it had not formally challenged Palestine’s right to be a party to the court before.

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Israel: Netanyahu and Gantz get supreme court nod for coalition

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Rivals will alternate as prime minister with government to be sworn in on 13 May

Israel’s supreme court has approved the coalition agreement between the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Benny Gantz, paving the way for a unity government to be sworn in next week.

The country’s top court considered eight separate petitions from opponents of the pact at a hearing this week.

But it ruled “there was no legal reason to prevent the formation of a government” led by Netanyahu.

As the decision was delivered, Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party and the centrist Blue and White alliance led by Gantz said in a joint statement that the new government would be sworn in on 13 May.

Related: Netanyahu and Gantz agree to form unity Israeli government

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Top Israeli court hears challenge to Netanyahu forming government

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Judges agree to livestream hearing to allow public scrutiny during coronavirus pandemic

Benjamin Netanyahu could be barred from forming a government after Israel’s high court began assessing petitions that seek to obstruct the prime minister because he is under criminal indictment.

Sunday’s hearing threatens to end the political career of the country’s longest-serving leader. It could also return Israel to political crisis just two weeks after it appeared the year-long stalemate had finally been resolved.

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MPs press for sanctions against Israel over West Bank annexations

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PM urged to impose sanctions if Netanyahu carries out threat to annex parts of West Bank

Nearly 130 parliamentarians, including former Conservative cabinet ministers, have written to Boris Johnson urging him to impose economic sanctions against Israel if Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition government goes ahead with its threat to annex parts of the West Bank.

The letter, signed by the former Tory chairman Lord Patten and the former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell, says annexation would be clearly illegal under international law.

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WhatsApp: Israeli firm ‘deeply involved’ in hacking our users

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NSO Group allegedly connected to hacks of 1,400 people including human rights activists

WhatsApp has alleged in new court filings that an Israeli spyware company used US-based servers and was “deeply involved” in carrying out mobile phone hacks of 1,400 WhatsApp users, including senior government officials, journalists, and human rights activists.

The new claims about NSO Group allege that the Israeli company bears responsibility in serious human rights violations, including the hacking of more than a dozen Indian journalists and Rwandan dissidents.

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Ramadan TV dramas signal shift in Arab-Israeli relations

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Two popular Middle Eastern series stir surprise with pro-Israel messages backed by Saudi Arabia

Nightfall during Ramadan in the Middle East is drama time, when Arab soap operas accompany evening feasts with fare of feuds, historical heroes and villains and forbidden love. This year though, programmers have broached new ground using the popular shows to highlight a normalisation with Israel.

Two series broadcast across the region in the first three days of the Muslim holy month have stirred both surprise and contention – one by daring to explore the Jewish history of the Gulf, the other by suggesting that Israel may not be an enemy and that Palestinians have been ungrateful for Saudi Arabia’s support.

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Netanyahu and Gantz agree to form unity Israeli government

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Prime minister will remain in office for 18 months before handing position to his rival

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his main rival, Benny Gantz, have agreed to form a national unity government, ending a year-long political crisis that has seen the country hold three back-to-back elections.

A copy of the power-sharing agreement said Netanyahu, currently the interim leader, would remain in the role for 18 months before handing over to Gantz, a former army chief, for the remainder of a three-year term.

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Israelis hold ‘socially distant’ protest against Netanyahu – video

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Thousands of people in Tel Aviv staged a protest against Benjamin Netanyahu while attempting to maintain physical distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic. Protesters in Rabin Square wore masks and tried to keep two metres apart while voicing their anger at the prime minister, who is under criminal indictment in three corruption cases, in which he denies any wrongdoing

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