Tag Archives: Israel

NBC News reports: Israel reopened swathes of its economy including malls and leisure facilities on Sunday, with the government saying the start of a return to routine was enabled by Covid-19 vaccines administered to almost half the population. Shops were open to all, but access to gyms, hotels and theatres was limited to people with a “Green Pass”: those who …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Joe Biden made a long-awaited first phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday after a delay that had seen Washington deny it was snubbing Israel’s leader. There had been speculation that the Democratic president was signaling displeasure over Netanyahu’s close ties with former President Donald Trump, who called the right-wing leader two days …

Israel Hayom reports: A popular rabbi urged his followers not to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, warning them that doing so, it might “turn them” into homosexuals. Rabbi Daniel Asor’s assertion goes against decrees issued by leading rabbis in Israel and around the world, who have called on ultra-Orthodox society to take every precaution against the global pandemic, including getting …

Axios reports: Israel has administered more COVID-19 vaccinations than any other nation, with over 1 million people receiving jabs — a rate of 12.59 doses per 100 people, new data from an Oxford University-run tracking site shows. As countries like the U.S. fall behind on immunization goals, Israel has given coronavirus doses to over 10% of its population of 9.2 …

The Associated Press reports: The United States sold the ambassador’s residence in Israel for more than $67 million in July, according to an official Israeli record of the sale that shines new light on a transaction that has been shrouded in secrecy. The State Department confirmed the sale in September but refused to identify the buyer or disclose the sale …

The Washington Post reports: Israel’s fractious coalition government collapsed Tuesday night, forcing the country into its fourth round of national elections in less than two years. The immediate cause was the failure of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to pass an annual budget by a midnight deadline, one of many basic acts of lawmaking that have gone undone since right-wing and …

Axios reports: A fallout between President Trump and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, led to the breakthrough that resulted in the Morocco-Israel normalization deal, sources briefed on the matter told me. Inhofe is Washington’s most avid supporter of the Polisario Front — a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement aiming to end Moroccan occupation of …

Axios reports: The Israel Defense Forces have in recent weeks been instructed to prepare for the possibility that the U.S. will conduct a military strike against Iran before President Trump leaves office, senior Israeli officials tell me. The Israeli government instructed the IDF to undertake the preparations not because of any intelligence or assessment that Trump will order such a …

The Hill reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday announced that the State Department will ban funding any organization it determines participates in the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, labeling such activity as anti-Semitic. The secretary made the announcement alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while on travel in Jerusalem and said the State Department would …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris in his message to Sunday’s cabinet meeting, conducted over video conference. “I have a personal, long and warm connection with Joe Biden for nearly 40 years,” Netanyahu said, “and I know him to be a great friend of the State of …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Florida will now be issuing specialty “Florida Stands with Israel” license plates for those who wish to support the Jewish state throughout the Sunshine State. Gov.  Ron DeSantis signed legislation (HB 1135) on Friday which authorized the creation of the special license plate. The Israeli-American Council (IAC) lauded the “heartwarming expression of solidarity,” saying that it …

The Washington Post reports: Most politicians go to great lengths to conceal their dirty laundry. And then there’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Over the years, the Israeli leader has developed a reputation among the staff at the U.S. president’s guesthouse for bringing special cargo on his trips to Washington: bags and suitcases full of dirty laundry, according to U.S. officials …

The Associated Press reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was pushing on Wednesday for an immediate and strict nationwide lockdown as the country’s raging coronavirus outbreak showed no signs of slowing. Netanyahu warned the nation that tough measures loomed as he took a break from a stormy session of his coronavirus Cabinet. Members of the policy-making body were reportedly deeply …

The Washington Post reports: Israel will head into a second coronavirus lockdown, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in a televised news conference Sunday night, following a sharp escalation in the number of new infections in the country in recent weeks. The lockdown, which requires schools, stores, malls and hotels to close and reinstates restrictions on people’s movements for at least …

The Christian Post reports: Israel has decided to remove the U.S.-based evangelical Christian station GOD TV from the Israeli cable television provider HOT due to claims that it was trying to evangelize Jews. Asher Biton, chairman of Israel’s Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council, said he told the station last Thursday that it has seven days to halt broadcasting. “The channel …

The Times of Israel reports: The Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality on Sunday said it would allow cohabiting couples to register their relationship and enjoy marital rights, in a protest of the government’s refusal to recognize same-sex couples or those not wed under the state’s religious authorities. Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai said the move, coinciding with the country’s Pride Week, makes …

The Times Of Israel reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hired prominent right-wing journalist Aaron Klein as his new strategic and communications consultant, the Likud party announced Monday. Klein, 41, has advised Netanyahu for several months, but in recent weeks quit his job as Israel correspondent for the far-right Breitbart website to work for Likud full-time. Klein’s new appointment made …

The Associated Press reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday launched a tirade against the nation’s justice system as his long-awaited corruption trial got underway, accusing police and prosecutors of conspiring to “depose” him. Netanyahu’s comments opened what is sure to be a tumultuous period for Israel as he becomes the country’s first sitting prime minister ever to go …

Haaretz reports: Although proselytizing can be against the law in Israel, a brand-new evangelical channel dedicated to taking “the gospel of Jesus into the homes and lives and hearts of the Jewish people” had its official launch last week on cable television. Shelanu (Hebrew for “Ours”) TV is the new Hebrew-language channel of GOD TV, an international Christian media network …

The Times Of Israel reports: Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of President Donald Trump who was convicted last year in Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, was in contact with one or more apparently well-connected Israelis at the height of the 2016 US presidential campaign, one of whom warned Stone that Trump was “going to …