The Vatican expressed understanding on Friday for Israel’s position that it is essential to immediately end the violence in the disputed territories and acts of Palestinian terrorism, according to Ovadia Sofer, Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon’s emissary.
Aides to outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak tried to distance him from the controversy surrounding former US President Bill Clinton and the “pardongate” scandal, refuting claims on Saturday that Barak had made three calls to Clinton that ultimately persuaded him to pardon fugitive financier Marc Rich.
After quickly pulling together a broad coalition of national unity, Israeli war hero and long-time politician Ariel Sharon was sworn in as Israel’s 11th prime minister in a special Knesset session late Wednesday evening, becoming the leader of the largest cabinet in the nation’s history.
Israeli authorities are wrestling again with the “Jewishness” of immigrants under the Law of Return, while a group of new immigrant soldiers are asking to use the New Testament instead of just the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, during their induction as IDF soldiers.
A diplomatic dogfight is taking shape at the United Nations, as Israel ponders how to foil Syria’s drive to become one of the ten non-permanent members of the Security Council.
The Lebanese army has detained 12 people, including a Palestinian officer, accusing them of spying for Israel, the military said Thursday. The army statement did not say when or where the 12 were arrested, but said they were caught with sophisticated wireless and camouflaged photography equipment.
The gnawing debate inside Israel’s peace camp about whether arch-dove Shimon Peres should replace Ehud Barak as the Labor party’s candidate for prime minister seemed less relevant on Friday, as the latest polls showed Likud chairman Ariel Sharon now defeating either one come February 6.
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad concluded his first official visit to Tehran on Thursday by agreeing with his Iranian hosts that Israel and her US ally currently are in a period of weakness that should be exploited on behalf of the Palestinians.
Following the US-British air strikes on Iraq’s air defense system Friday night, Baghdad threatened to retaliate, intensifying not only its anti-US rhetoric, but also its continued campaign to eliminate the Jewish state.
It looked like smooth sailing, but the bid by Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon for a quick national unity government has run into rough waters due to sharp divisions within the Labor party over outgoing PM Ehud Barak’s decision to stay on as defense minister.
A key United Nations agency has lent its support to a Palestinian Authority Ministry of Tourism map that completely obliterates Israel, CNSNEWS.com reported.
Pushing a key element in its alternate agenda for survival, the shrunken cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud decided to close the Religious Affairs Ministry by the end of the month. The move is a key plank in Barak’s “social revolution,” a second option to rebuild a secular/left coalition in case peace talks with the Palestinians collapse.
JERUSALEM, Israel, 12 August 2000 (Newsroom) — Amid concerns by secular Jews that the wall between church and state is softening, Israel’s first Sephardi president insists that his priority is unifying a country that is agonizing over its character and future.
GOLAN HEIGHTS, 6 March 2000 (Newsroom) — Orthodox Rabbis and evangelical Protestants are among the leaders of a biblically based campaign to prevent Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s government from transferring the Golan Heights to Syria. Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, supported that stance on March 1 with approval of the first reading of a bill that would require a special majority in a referendum on ceding territory.
JERUSALEM, 15 February 2000 (Newsroom) — Seeking to heal strained relations with Jews, Pope John Paul II has agreed to meet with Israel’s chief rabbis during his historic visit to the Holy Land in March, according to a Vatican diplomat.