Israel

Israel’s new government is looking to take advantage of a rare political opportunity to push more ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the workforce to boost the economy, a measure that could pit powerful religious leaders against politicians. By 2065, Israel’s “haredi” community is expected to make up 32% of Israel’s population, …

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian teenager during a clash in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The violence erupted at a protest against Israeli settlements near the city of Ramallah Witnesses said a crowd of young Palestinians hurled stones at Israeli forces, who …

As you know, most artists develop an interest in art during their childhood and that’s what happened to me. I was good at art in school and I once won a children’s drawings competition for the United Nations when I was about 13. My family, my school and my village …

Israel has set up a senior inter-ministerial team to assess growing allegations that spyware sold by an Israeli cyber firm has been abused on a global scale, Israeli sources said on Wednesday. One source said the team is headed by Israel’s National Security Council, which answers to Prime Minister Naftali …

Former United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay will head an international commission of inquiry into alleged crimes committed during the latest conflict between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, the U.N.’s Human Rights Council said in a statement on Thursday. The council agreed in late May to …

Syria’s air defenses intercepted early on Thursday an Israeli attack on the al Qusair area in Homs, Syrian state media reported. A Syrian military source said in a statement there was some material damage from the strike and no casualties.The Israeli military said it had no comment. In a separate …

Palestinian groups and supporters have welcomed an announcement by ice cream maker Ben and Jerry’s that it will stop selling its products in the occupied Palestinian territories. The brand announced its decision on Monday, saying: “We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben and Jerry’s ice cream to …

The Israeli company NSO – linked to the Pegasus spyware case – is present in Luxembourg via its subsidiaries, said Luxembourg foreign affairs minister Jean Asselborn on Tuesday. Asselborn said he would be writing a letter to the directors of those Luxembourg units of NSO to remind them of the …

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday and that the two agreed there was a need to make trust-building steps. It was the first high-level contact made public by the new Israeli government, which was sworn in last month, unseating the country’s …

Israel’s new prime minister backtracked on Monday after claiming that Jews were entitled to “freedom of worship” at Al-Haram Al-Sharif in Jerusalem, the third-holiest site in Islam. In fact, the site is administered by Jordan through the Islamic Waqf, and Jews may visit but not pray. Naftali Bennett’s office made …

The Israeli military said its artillery shelled southern Lebanon early Tuesday after two rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. The army said in a statement that aerial defenses intercepted one of the rockets, and the second fell in an open area. No injuries or damage were reported. The …

Israeli soldiers used force to clear worshippers and protestors from Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday morning, to allow over a thousand Jewish extremists to enter Al-Haram Al-Sharif compound. Members of the Israel Defense Force then failed to stop the extremists from praying at the site, violating a long-standing agreement forbidding Jewish …

An Israeli company’s spyware was used in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, government officials and human rights activists around the world, according to an investigation by 17 media organizations published on Sunday. One of the organizations, The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/nso-spyware-pegasus-cellphones/?itid=lk_inline_manual_14, said the Pegasus spyware licensed …

An Israeli group sold a tool for hacking Microsoft Windows, Microsoft and technology human rights group Citizen Lab announced Thursday, highlighting the growing business of finding and selling tools for hacking widely used software. Hacking tool vendor Candiru developed and sold a software exploit that can break into Windows, one …

In early May, the world witnessed an escalation in violence committed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against Palestinians, prompting a flood of thousands of posts on social media feeds around the globe. Throughout the month, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media (7amleh) documented more than 700 …

An independent UN human rights expert has condemned the “unlawful and heartless” actions of Israeli authorities in repeatedly demolishing homes belonging to the Palestinian Bedouin community of Humsa Al-Baqai’a, in the occupied West Bank. Michael Lynk, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, …

Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank amount to a war crime, a U.N. human rights investigator said on Friday, calling on countries to inflict a cost on Israel for its “illegal occupation”. Michael Lynk, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, was addressing …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has raised concerns with Israeli officials over the demolition of a family’s home in the West Bank, the State Department said on Thursday. “The secretary and other senior officials here at the State Department in recent days have raised these concerns directly with senior …

The Israeli army said Thursday it demolished the home of a Palestinian woman with US citizenship whose estranged husband stands accused of fatally shooting a Jewish student in the occupied West Bank. “Overnight… troops demolished the residence of the terrorist [Montasser] Shalabi, in the village of Turmus Ayya, northeast of …

Israel demolished the tent dwellings of at least 63 Bedouin in a village in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, a Palestinian official said, in an area designated by the Israeli military as a firing zone. Palestinians and rights groups accuse Israel of trying to forcibly clear out the Bedouin …

The U.S. military has told Newsweek that it was aware of reports that a drone attack had hit near Erbil International Airport, but said early information suggested no human or material loss. Meanwhile, a local militia claimed they had killed a number of people in a series of similar attacks. Footage emerged Tuesday via …

A spokesman for the Egyptian Armed Forces has said that they are aware of the challenges facing the region and are prepared to deal with them. “It is not wise, in light of our capabilities and high deterrence power, to test the reaction of the Egyptian Armed Forces,” added Gharib …

Israel’s new government faced its first big defeat in parliament on Tuesday, failing to renew a controversial law that prevents Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who marry Israeli citizens from gaining citizenship themselves. It was the first major political test for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who …

 Israel’s parliament is set to vote Monday on whether to renew a temporary law first enacted in 2003 that bars Arab citizens of Israel from extending citizenship or even residency to spouses from the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Critics, including many left-wing and Arab lawmakers, say it’s a racist …

Israeli settlers were leaving a West Bank wildcat outpost Friday in adherence to an agreement struck with nationalist premier Naftali Bennett’s new government, an AFP reporter said. The last cars were streaming out of Eviatar in compliance with the 4:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) deadline to leave the outpost.Dozens of settler …

An Israeli private detective detained in New York since 2019 on charges of involvement in a hacker-for-hire scheme wants a plea deal, according to a letter filed in court by his lawyer. The unusual case has revealed the impacts of a secretive but thriving cyberespionage industry in India. Federal prosecutors …

Overlooking war-battered Gaza from the tenth floor of a tower block, Palestinian human rights lawyer Raji Sourani has a new bundle of files — on victims of last month’s war with Israel. For years, he has been building cases in the Israeli-blockaded enclave to be submitted to the International Criminal …

Israel demolished a Palestinian shop in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Tuesday, triggering scuffles between police and protesters who accused authorities of discriminatory enforcement of building permits in the holy city. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in a 1967 war, for a future state. Israel deems …

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told Israel’s new leader on Monday it was important to follow through on Egypt-backed efforts to rebuild the Gaza Strip following last month’s fighting there, the Egyptian presidency said. In his first phone call with Naftali Bennett since Bennett took office two weeks ago, Sisi …

Israel summoned Poland’s ambassador on Sunday to express its “deep disappointment” over a Polish bill that critics say will make it harder for Jews to recover property seized by the country’s Nazi occupiers during World War Two and then kept by post-war communist rulers, the foreign ministry said. Poland’s lower …

Israel has serious reservations about the Iran nuclear deal being put together in Vienna, new foreign minister Yair Lapid told his American counterpart, as he pledged to fix ‘the mistakes made’ in US-Israeli relations in recent years. In their first face-to-face meeting since Israel’s new government was sworn in two …

Scientists said on Thursday they had discovered a new kind of early human after studying pieces of fossilised bone dug up at a site used by a cement plant in central Israel. The fragments of a skull and a lower jaw with teeth were about 130,000 years old and could …

Gazan fishermen have been preparing their nets after the overnight announcement from the Israeli government on the expansion of the fishing zone off the blockaded Gaza Strip from 6 to 9 nautical miles. During the 11-day war in May between Israel and Gaza’s armed groups, Israel closed the fishing zone …

The Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) is considering a possible issuance of a digital currency, as a symbolic blow for monetary independence from Israel, Bloomberg reported. Two studies on cryptocurrencies are underway and no decision has been made yet, but the hope is to eventually use digital currency “for payment systems …

The United Nations on Thursday accused Israel of flagrantly violating international law by expanding settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, saying settlements are illegal and urging the country’s new government to halt their enlargement immediately. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland reported on implementation …

Oman’s foreign minister told his Israeli counterpart he hopes Israel’s new government will take concrete steps towards creating an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, Omani state media said on Thursday. Oman’s Badr al-Busaidi spoke by phone to Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, according to ONA, the …

Israel’s army chief on Wednesday hailed “unprecedented” cooperation with the US, as he wrapped up a US visit focused on preventing Tehran from obtaining military nuclear capabilities. Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi’s remarks came the same day as Iran said it had foiled a sabotage attack on an atomic energy agency …

Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the decision to destroy the family home of a detained Palestinian accused of a deadly shooting. It rejected a petition by his estranged wife, who lives in the house with their children and says she knew nothing about the attack. The case drew attention …

Israel’s jobless benefits for those made unemployed by the COVID-19 pandemic will cease as of June 30, the new finance minister said on Tuesday, after the previous government held out the possibility of an extension. With the economy recovering after a brisk vaccine rollout, some Israeli businesses have complained of …

Israel’s Defence Ministry and defence contractor Elbit Systems Ltd ESLT.TA are developing an airborne laser weapon to shoot down drones and other flying targets, officials said on Monday, predicting a prototype would be ready by 2025. They said the as-yet unnamed laser weapon could be incorporated in Israel’s multi-tier air defences, which …

Palestinians and Jewish settlers hurled stones, chairs and fireworks at each other overnight in a tense Jerusalem neighborhood where settler groups are trying to evict several Palestinian families, officials said Tuesday. The threatened evictions fueled protests and clashes in the runup to last month’s 11-day Gaza war and pose a …

Israel allowed a limited resumption of commercial exports from the Gaza Strip on Monday in what it called a “conditional” measure one month after a truce halted 11 days of fighting with the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas rulers. Gaza border officials said the easing of Israeli restrictions would last two to …

 Israel’s foreign ministry on Saturday condemned Iran’s newly-elected president Ebrahim Raisi, saying he was its most extreme president yet and committed to quickly advancing Tehran’s nuclear programme. “After the Supreme Leader effectively dictated to the Iranian public who they could choose, less than 50% of Iranian citizens eligible to vote …

The Palestinian Authority (PA) cancelled a deal on Friday to receive soon-to-expire COVID-19 vaccines from Israel after an initial Israeli shipment showed an expiration date sooner than had been agreed, the PA health minister said. Israel and the PA announced a vaccine swap deal earlier on Friday that would have …