Israel

17 May 2019; MEMO: Prominent Likud parliamentarian Gideon Sa’ar has publicly criticised plans to pass a special law that would grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immunity from prosecution while in office.

As reported by the Times of Israel, Sa’ar told Channel 12 news that “this legislation offers zero benefit and causes maximum damage”.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Facebook said Thursday it banned an Israeli company that ran an influence campaign aimed at disrupting elections in various countries and has canceled dozens of accounts engaged in spreading disinformation.

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, told reporters that the tech giant had purged 65 Israeli accounts, 161 pages, dozens of groups and four Instagram accounts.

13 May 2019; MEMO: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to advance a bill which will curtail the power of the country’s Supreme Court, a move which could guarantee his immunity from prosecution for corruption.

13 May 2019; MEMO: Israeli NGO “Breaking the Silence” has called on Eurovision goers to experience “the full picture” of Israel’s occupation by taking a tour to the West Bank city of Hebron.

The group yesterday erected a giant billboard on a highway between Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and Tel Aviv – where this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is being held – in a bid to highlight Israel’s now 52-year-old occupation of the Palestinian territories.

JERUSALEM, May 12 (Xinhua): Israeli researchers have found a method to stop the division of cells in the body, which may lead to the prevention of cancerous tumors development, said a report of the Ben-Gurion University on Sunday.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is based on the chemical methylation process, an enzymatic reaction during which a methyl group CH3 is added onto DNA or proteins.

JERUSALEM (AP) — As host of this year’s Eurovision, Israel has tried to use the hugely popular song contest to present itself as a tolerant and cosmopolitan country that is winning increased acceptance on the world stage. But despite Israel’s best branding efforts, the kitschy festival is clouded in political conflict and controversy.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army on Monday lifted protective restrictions on residents in southern Israel, while the Hamas militant group’s radio station in the Gaza Strip reported a cease-fire, signaling a deal had been reached to end the bloodiest fighting between the two sides since a 2014 war.

There was no official cease-fire announcement from either side, but the intense fighting over the past two days appeared to come to a sudden halt in the early morning hours.

JERUSALEM (AP) — An early morning rocket from the Gaza Strip killed an Israeli man Sunday outside a home in the coastal city of Ashkelon, marking the first Israeli casualty from rocket fire since the 2014 war with Hamas militants.

Moshe Agadi, a 58-year-old father of four, was struck in the chest by shrapnel from one of the 450 rockets fired from Gaza in less than 24 hours, in one of the most intense flareups of violence in years.

TASS, May 2: The Israeli military carried out a series of air attacks against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the launch of air balloons containing flammable and explosive substances in the direction of the State of Israel, IDF (Israel Defense Forces) reported in its Twitter account on Thursday.

"In response to the explosive and arson balloons launched from Gaza to Israel earlier today, our Air Force recently struck a number of Hamas terror targets in Gaza. We hold Hamas responsible," the IDF Tweeted.

JERUSALEM, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli media named on Saturday the Syrian prisoners who would be released in return for an Israeli soldier's remains, identifying them as a Fatah activist and a drug dealer.

Hebrew-language Ynet news site identified the Syrian citizens as Ahmad Hamis, a 35-year-old Palestinian from the al-Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, and Zidan Tawil, a 57-year-old man from the village of Khader.