Category Archives: Israel

US isolationism leaves Middle East on edge as new decade dawns

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With Trump deciding against protecting allies, old rivalries are converging across the region

Throughout the Middle East’s modern history, a constant remained – the US held a prominent stake and would throw its weight around to protect its interests and allies. The maxim held true as ideologies rose and fell, Gulf monarchies, Israel, and Arab nationalist police states took root – and war and insurrection periodically raged.

But it ended during Donald Trump’s third year, a time when an isolationist, unworldly president began to see regional interests through a much narrower lens. The effect has been profound and 2020 will continue the process of recalibration by traditional friends of the US without a country whose clout they used to defer to and whose agenda they could more or less understand.

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‘A blessed initiative’: secular Israel rejoices over Sabbath buses

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Minibuses that run on Friday evenings and Saturdays buck state’s religious restrictions

Tel Aviv is one of Israel’s most dynamic cities, but the latest local craze could appear fairly humdrum to outsiders – a bus service that runs at weekends.

Packed 19-seat minibuses fill up fast with passengers, who excitedly gossip about the new routes. People patiently queue at bus stops, knowing they might have to wait for two or three buses to pass before there is a space. Still, they are upbeat. “It’s a pleasure,” said Ben Uzan, a 30-year-old electronic engineer. “It’s a blessed initiative.”

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Israel: leadership win gives Netanyahu boost before tough election

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Prime minister to enter March election campaign while under indictments for corruption

Triumphant after quashing a mini-revolt within his party, Benjamin Netanyahu faces what is likely to be a gruelling campaign to win Israel’s third national election in a year with damning corruption indictments still hanging over him.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, famed for his political acumen in escaping seemingly impossible situations, won a primary leadership contest held on Thursday by a landslide.

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Israel: Netanyahu wins landslide in battle for Likud party leadership

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Prime minister gets backing of 72% of members despite corruption indictments

Benjamin Netanyahu has won a landslide victory in a primary election for leadership of the ruling Likud party in Israel.

Official results announced early on Friday showed Netanyahu capturing 72% of the votes, compared with 28% for challenger Gideon Saar. Earlier, Netanyahu had declared a huge victory following an exit poll that put him on course for more than 70% of the vote.

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Benjamin Netanyahu hustled off stage at election rally after rocket launched from Gaza – video

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Israel's prime minister was bundled off the stage at an election rally on Wednesday after sirens rang out, warning of a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. The incident happened in the southern town of Ashkelon, a few miles from Gaza. Israeli authorities said their Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted the rocket. Netanyahu was campaigning hours before an internal Likud party leadership ballot

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Benjamin Netanyahu takes shelter after rocket launched from Gaza

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Second attack in three months forces Israel’s prime minister to interrupt campaign rally

A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at a southern Israeli city as it hosted a campaign rally prompted the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to take shelter briefly before resuming the event, Israeli TV stations have reported.

The Israeli military confirmed the launch on Wednesday against Ashkelon, which is 12km (7.5 miles) from the coastal Palestinian enclave, and said the rocket was shot down by an Iron Dome air defence interceptor.

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Benjamin Netanyahu: weakened Israeli PM faces primary vote

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Party rival Gideon Saar has launched a bid to unseat Netanyahu as Likud leader

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister is poised to face one of his most dangerous political challenges in a decade on Thursday when the ruling Likud party holds a leadership primary to decide who will lead it in the next election.

The internal vote arrives at a particularly fraught time for Benjamin Netanyahu, wounded by three damning corruption indictments as well as growing internal dissent over his failure to score decisive wins in two inconclusive national elections.

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Barriers, barbed wire and borders in the head: Josef Koudelka’s Holy Land

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The Magnum photographer grew up behind the iron curtain. As a documentary charts his journey where Israel and Palestine meet, Koudelka talks about challenging official narratives – and himself

There’s a surreal moment near the start of Koudelka Shooting Holy Land, a documentary about the acclaimed photographer Josef Koudelka. He has pointed his lens at one of the concrete barriers that separate Israel and Palestine but has been stopped by an official and a heavily armed soldier. His local assistant, Gilad Baram, is trying to smooth things over. “It might result in a book,” Baram tells the soldier. “He is a one of the most renowned photographers worldwide. He is a photographer with an agency called Magnum.”

Suddenly the atmosphere changes. “Magnum? Ah, I know it,” says the soldier, his stern face breaking into a smile. A short discussion later, a friendly handshake and all is well.

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Banksy’s nativity – with bullet hole in place of star – unveiled in Bethlehem

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Scar of Bethlehem designed to make people think about how Palestinians live in divided city

Banksy’s latest piece – the artist’s take on a nativity scene – has been unveiled at a hotel in Bethlehem.

The Scar of Bethlehem features a nativity scene with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, but instead of a star hanging over the crib there is what appears to be a large bullet hole piercing an imposing grey wall.

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ICC to investigate alleged Israeli and Palestinian war crimes

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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu hits out at ‘baseless and scandalous decision’

There is sufficient evidence to investigate alleged Israeli and Palestinian war crimes committed in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, the international criminal court has announced.

In a landmark decision, the ICC said it saw “no substantial reasons to believe that an investigation would not serve the interests of justice”.

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Israeli military law stifles Palestinian rights, watchdog says

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Many of the restrictions were announced in early days of occupation of West Bank

Palestinians in the West Bank are still being prosecuted under military orders that were designed to keep the peace in the early days of an occupation and that have stifled civil rights in the territory for more than 50 years, a watchdog group says.

The restrictions, some of which are based on laws passed during the British colonial era, are regularly used to break up protests, close radio stations and arrest activists under charges such as “attempt[ing] to influence public opinion … in a manner that may harm public order,” according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

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Trump/Netanyahu: Israel, America and the rise of authoritarianism-lite

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Two recent biographies of ‘Bibi’ pose fascinating questions regarding attitudes to Israel among American Jews

Like abortion and taxes, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel is one more flashpoint in America under Donald Trump. As millennials, minorities, women and liberals don’t readily cotton to the 45th president, their support for the Jewish state cannot be assumed. In the words of a recent Economist/YouGov poll: “When it comes to Israel, American views are partisan.”

Related: Free, Melania review: Trump book skips the birther question

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Israel heads for unprecedented third election in a year as stalemate continues

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Israel’s parliament votes on Wednesday to dissolve itself in a fresh bid to break political deadlock

Israel is set to hold a third round of elections within 12 months, after a deadline to form a government passed with no politician able to bring together the disparate parties.

A time limit to forge a majority coalition in the country’s parliament, the Knesset, expired at midnight on Wednesday, automatically triggering a fresh national ballot.

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

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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.

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

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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.”

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

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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.

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US senator to investigate if foreign spyware used to target Americans

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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.

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Netanyahu rivals move to bring him down after corruption indictments

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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.

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

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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

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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu indicted for bribery and fraud

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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.

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