The Middle East is facing “dramatic instability in the entire region, and we must remain alert and prepared,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said Monday at the annual Herzliya Conference.
Israel has no constitution. The reason according to local lore is that the secular majority and the ultra-Orthodox minority could not agree on how to refer to God so they never wrote an actual constitution. Instead there are a series of 13 “Basic Laws” that function as a constitution.
On Sunday, ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved a bill that prohibits presidential pardons for terrorists convicted of murdering Israelis.
International hopes that a Palestinian unity government would strengthen the position of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip; however Hamas is taking control of Judea and Samaria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday.
The first crisis facing the Palestinian unity government was apparently solved over the weekend as Qatar pledged to pay salaries of thousands of Hamas public servants in the Gaza Strip.
The ministerial team tasked by the government with devising countermoves to the newly formed Hamas-Fatah unity government is scheduled to hold its first meeting Sunday, as Israel’s relations with the United States have become strained once more over the latter’s decision to recognize the new Palestinian government.
The Australian government has stopped using the term “occupied” when referring to east Jerusalem, Australian media outlets reported on Thursday.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu left Knesset members in shock this past Monday by suggesting that Israel would have to “separate” from the Palestinians, according to a report which appears in Friday editions of the nationalist-religious newspaper Makor Rishon.
For three of the world’s faiths, the Temple Mount bears special sanctity and significance. For archaeologists, the 3,000-year-old holy site is both an El Dorado and a Holy Grail, for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict precludes a scientist’s pick and shovel ever breaking its ground. But an improbable turn of events has allowed historians a glimpse into the monument’s mighty bowels.
Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to disarm Hamas and take control of the Gaza Strip after creating a unity government with Hamas.
The European Union said Thursday it was “deeply disappointed” over the Israeli announcement to commence construction of thousands of new homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and called on the government to “reverse this decision.”
Palestinians will pursue Israel in the international legal arena — for war crimes and for apartheid acts — if it takes punitive measures against the newly unified Hamas-Fatah government, warned chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Washington’s support for a new Palestinian government which includes Hamas, a terrorist organization, has left Israel feeling betrayed, triggering a new diplomatic crisis with its closest ally.
The US ambassador to Israel condemned Thursday a plan to build 1,500 housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, announced as a retaliatory measure to the formation of a Palestinian unity government earlier this week.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday the United States would work with the new Palestinian unity government “as is appropriate” but would be monitoring its commitment to continued cooperation with Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he is “deeply troubled” by the US decision to maintain relations with the new Palestinian unity government, urging Washington to tell the Palestinian president that his alliance with the Hamas militant group is unacceptable.
The land of milk and honey is still living up to its name, according to data the Central Bureau of Statistics released Monday ahead of the Shavuot holiday. In 2013, total milk production in Israel stood at 1,435 million liters, a 2 percent increase over 2012.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, as it became clear that Barack Obama would be the Democratic nominee, he granted an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in an attempt to establish pro-Israel bona fides. A Hamas official had recently endorsed Obama’s presidential candidacy and when Goldberg asked him about it, Obama responded emphatically: My position on Hamas is indistinguishable from the position of Hillary Clinton or John McCain. I said they are a terrorist organization and I’ve repeatedly condemned them. I’ve repeatedly said, and I mean what I say: since they are a terrorist organization, we should not be dealing with them until they recognize Israel, renounce terrorism, and abide by previous agreements.
In an apparent punitive move following the swearing in of a Palestinian unity government, Israel has revoked special travel permits for all Palestinian Authority officials other than President Mahmoud Abbas, a Palestinian official said Tuesday.
The United Nations on Tuesday welcomed the new Palestinian unity government and said it was ready to lend its full support in efforts to reunite the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, a spokesman said. The announcement followed statements by the US and the EU Monday that they would recognize the new leadership in Ramallah, much to Israel’s chagrin.