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.
The swearing in of a new Palestinian unity government on Monday elicited strong reactions from Israeli leaders, with right-wing cabinet ministers condemning the alliance of “terrorists in suits,” and centrists urging a more cautious approach.
In tough language rare for an Israeli diplomat in Washington, Israeli ambassador to the US Ron Dermer said Tuesday that Israel was “deeply disappointed” in the State Department’s decision to continue dealing with the Palestinian Authority now that it has Hamas support.
The West is prepared to work with a new Palestinian government, US and European Union officials said Monday, despite Israeli concerns it gives power and influence to the radical Hamas movement.
Prior to a vote on the so-called terrorist bill at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett called on cabinet ministers to support the bill, which would legally prevent certain terrorists from being pardoned.
The Palestinian unity government with Hamas will be announced on Monday “despite Israeli threats,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday.
The firepower of the Israel Air Force (IAF) will be four times greater by year’s end than it was two years ago, according to its commander, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, enabling Israel to bring another round of fighting with Hezbollah to a swift end.
Israel fired artillery shells at a target in Syria early Monday morning after a mortar shell from the war-torn country hit Mount Hermon, opening a second front hours after returning fire into Gaza.
Israel is to deploy three submarines equipped with nuclear cruise missiles in the Persian Gulf, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas chose a prime minister to head a unity government on Thursday but announcement of the lineup was held up over the foreign affairs portfolio, officials said.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced Thursday that a senior Hamas operative, who was arrested at the Allenby Bridge last month, revealed during his interrogation that Hamas uses the Islamic Movement in Israel as a front to advance its activities and goals in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday reiterated its position that east Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state.
The Vatican is evading questions on whether or not it is holding religious artifacts from the Second Temple, Rabbi Yonatan Shtenzel said on Wednesday, in what he calls “diplomatic evasion.”
Differences between Fatah and Hamas may delay the formation of a Palestinian unity government and its announcement by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian sources said Wednesday.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic organization which aims to have all Muslim countries unify as an caliphate ruled by Islamic law, held a mass rally at the Al-Aqsa Mosque last week, in which members of the group called upon the army of Pakistan and the Islamic nation to liberate Jerusalem from “Jewish filth”.
Mobs of Arab rioters Wednesday intimidated Jewish worshippers, attacked police officers and caused the closure of the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.
The United States has launched a campaign against Israel in wake of its refusal to attack Syria.
“Jerusalem is the heart of the nation. It will never be divided,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said. He spoke on Tuesday night, at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav Kook, to mark the anniversary of the capital’s reunification, 47-years ago. From 1948 and until the Six-Day War in 1967, the city was split between Israel and Jordan.
Pope Francis carried out a headline-grabbing three-day tour of the Holy Land, visiting refugees, hugging clerics and honoring the victims of the Holocaust. But perhaps the most interesting moment of the trip came during an exchange with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting in Jerusalem. The Israeli premier and the pope found occasion for a slight historical quibble.
Israeli police clashed with stone-throwing rioters on the Temple Mount for a second day in a row Wednesday morning, police said