By Trevor Hunnicutt and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in White House talks on Friday that he was putting “diplomacy first” to try to rein in Iran’s nuclear program but if negotiations fail he would be prepared to turn to other unspecified options. After a one-day […]
President Joe Biden is being briefed on the bloody attack against Kabul’s airport, the White House said Thursday, delaying a planned meeting with Israel’s visiting prime minister and canceling another event. “The president has been briefed and he is in the Situation Room,” an official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “The president met with […]
A ball of fire rises above a building after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis. Ashraf Amra/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa A teenager has been killed in a raid by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian rescue services. The 15-year-old was shot in the head, the Health Ministry […]
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas sites in Gaza in response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave that caused brush fires in southern Israel, its military said early on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the air strikes that targeted what the military said was a weapons production […]
A newly developed visitor route through the Wailing Wall tunnel has opened to visitors in Jerusalem, as part of hopes that Israel’s tourism industry will come back to life with the help of its leading vaccination figures. The new tour offers insight into, among other things, a magnificent public building from the Second Temple period […]
The state of Texas is investigating an ice cream company for potential blacklisting by the state. “Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar is considering blacklisting the popular ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s over its decision to stop doing business in Israeli-occupied territories,” the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday. The investigation comes after the company announced it would […]
Tisha B’Av fasting and memorial day in Jerusalem – A group of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men pray in the Old City of Jerusalem near the entrance to the al-Aqsa mosque compound. Israeli security forces stand guard at a closure during the annual Tisha B’Av fasting and memorial day, commemorating the destruction of both Solomon’s Temple by […]
Former President Donald Trump was reportedly enraged last year when then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted out congratulations to President Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 election. Forward reports that journalist Michael Wolff’s new book, titled “Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency,” claims that Trump felt personally betrayed by Netanyahu’s call, […]
(Removes extraneous letter from headline, no changes to text) TURMUS AYYA, West Bank (Reuters) -Israel drew U.S. criticism on Thursday when it destroyed the family home of a Palestinian-American accused of involvement in a shooting that killed an Israeli and wounded two others in the occupied West Bank. Muntasir Shalabi was indicted in an Israeli […]
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – 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 for nearly […]
The United States said on Sunday it carried out another round of air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, this time in response to drone attacks by the militia against US personnel and facilities in Iraq. In a statement, the US military said it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations […]
The US national security advisor said Sunday that even with the election of an ultra-right president in Iran, the “ultimate decision” on recommitting to the 2015 nuclear deal lies with that country’s supreme leader. “Whether the president is Person A or Person B is less relevant than whether their system is prepared to make commitments […]
Former U.N. Ambassador and 2024 GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley drew rage Monday from Israel’s top liberal newspaper, Haaretz. Haley had thrown down in dramatic support of ousted Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, and Haaretz was not impressed. A Haley photo op lavishing praise on the Netanyahu was seen by the influential Haaretz as insulting […]
Israel awoke Monday with Jewish nationalist Naftali Bennett at the head of a precarious coalition government that faces stark challenges, after 12 years under right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu. The watershed moment in Israeli politics saw an ideologically disparate eight-party bloc, ranging from right to left to Arab Islamic conservatives, band together to unseat the bombastic veteran […]
Israel alleged Tuesday that a Gaza media building it destroyed was used by Hamas to jam air defenses as it offered to help the Associated Press rebuild its bureau. Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Gilad Erdan, gave the most detailed explanation yet of the decision to strike the tower as he met the head […]
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid – Leader of the Yesh Atid opposition centrist political party Yair Lapid holds a press conference. – Ilia Yefimovich/dpa Opposition leader Yair Lapid still sees numerous obstacles on his way towards forming a new government in Israel. “Maybe that’s a good thing because we’ll have to overcome them together,” Lapid […]
By Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Naftali Bennett, Israel’s likely next prime minister, is a self-made tech millionaire who dreams of annexing most of the occupied West Bank. Bennett has said that creation of a Palestinian state would be suicide for Israel, citing security reasons. But the standard-bearer of Israel’s religious right and staunch supporter […]
By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel was gripped by political drama on Sunday over the possibly imminent end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record run as the country’s leader. After four inconclusive parliamentary elections in two years, a 28-day mandate for opposition leader Yair Lapid to form a new government runs out on Wednesday, […]
US top diplomat Antony Blinken on Tuesday vowed support to help rebuild the battered Gaza Strip and shore up a truce between Hamas and Israel, but insisted the territory’s Islamist militant rulers would not benefit from any aid. Blinken‘s tour, which started in Israel and will also take him to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan, comes […]
JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) – The Israel-Hamas ceasefire held into a third day on Sunday as Israeli police admitted Jewish visitors to a contested Jerusalem holy site where earlier confrontations with Palestinian protesters helped to ignite the cross-border Gaza fighting. Police reported no unusual incidents at the al-Aqsa mosque compound – one of Islam’s holiest sites – […]
In an op-ed for CNN this Thursday, Peter Bergen contends that Jared Kushner’s attempts to normalize relations between Israel and Arab states was “predicated by a fantasy,” especially evidenced by the latest round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. The fantasy, according to Bergen was the notion “that peace would […]
The top US military officer, General Mark Milley, said it was in no one’s interest to continue fighting in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Brussels (AFP) – The United States’ top military officer has warned the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas is creating instability beyond Gaza, saying it is “in no one’s interest to continue […]
As it has for decades, Israel has counted on the United States as a diplomatic shield in its latest crisis. But once unwavering US support is looking increasingly precarious as calls grow on the left to advance Palestinian rights. With violence that has killed more than 200 people, mostly Palestinians, entering a second week, Israel […]
Human rights advocates warned Monday that the Biden administration is deepening U.S. complicity in the Netanyahu regime’s ongoing massacre of civilians in Gaza by attempting to push through a $735 million sale of so-called “precision-guided weapons” to Israel. “[The] Biden administration must be held accountable for being complicit in escalating the violence and failing to […]
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Sunday that lawmakers must “take a hard look” at the nearly $4 billion in military aid the U.S. sends to Israel on an annual basis as the Netanyahu regime continues its devastating assault on Gaza and attempts to forcefully expel Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem. “The […]
A group of nearly 30 Senate Democrats issued a joint statement late Sunday calling for an immediate cease-fire as Israel intensified its bombing campaign in the occupied Gaza Strip throughout the weekend, killing dozens of additional Palestinians and overwhelming the territory’s hospitals with wounded victims. “To prevent any further loss of civilian life and to […]
Week in Pictures – Gaza Strip – Palestinians sit on their belongings in a UN school in Gaza City after fleeing from their homes in the Shejaiya neighbourhood and the city of Beit Lahia during Israeli airstrikes, amid the escalating flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence. – Mohammed Talatene/dpa Around 42,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have […]
Israeli-Palestinian conflict – People inspect the damage of destroyed vehicles caused by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, amid the escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence. – Ilia Yefimovich/dpa A week after the shelling began, militants have fired some 3,150 rockets from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, the Israeli army said Monday morning. About 460 […]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group faced mounting international calls for a ceasefire in hostilities that entered their second week on Monday with no end in sight. World concern deepened with an Israeli air strike in Gaza that destroyed several homes on Sunday and which […]
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza – Al-Jalaa tower, which houses apartments and several media outlets, including The Associated Press and Al Jazeera, collapse after being hit by Israeli airstrikes, amid the escalating flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence. – Mohammed Talatene/dpa Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected criticism of an Israeli airstrike targeting a high-rise building housing […]