Israel

6 Mar 2023; MEMO: Of the 40 reservists in the Israeli Air Force's 69th Squadron, 37 said on Sunday that they would not show up to one of their planned training sessions on Wednesday in protest of the government's plan to radically restrict the power of the country's judiciary. The reservists notified IAF commander General Tomer Bar and their squadron leader of their intention, but said that they would report for duty if required for operational duties.

JERUSALEM, March 5 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought on Sunday to soften international outcry over a call by a far-right member of his cabinet for a flashpoint Palestinian village to be "erased", saying those remarks had been "inappropriate".

But Netanyahu also pushed back against censure of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, accusing foreign powers of playing down Palestinian violence like the Feb. 26 killing of two Israeli brothers in Huwara village that sparked a settler rampage there.

JERUSALEM, March 5 (Reuters) - Israel rebuffed as "unworthy" on Sunday comments by the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief that any Israeli or U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be illegal.

Having visited Tehran in a bid to loosen deadlocked talks on renewing its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, International Atomic Energy Agency chairman Raphael Grossi on Saturday said "any military attack on nuclear facilities is outlawed".

5 Mar 2023; MEMO: Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has described Israeli protesters against his father as "terrorists" who "must be jailed," Israeli media reported on Friday.

"They are not protesters. They are not anarchists either. They are terrorists," Yair posted on Twitter shortly after midnight on Thursday.

5 Mar 2023; MEMO: Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Saturday that his comments earlier this week to "wipe out" the Palestinian town of Huwara was a "slip of the tongue," according to media reports, says Anadolu Agency.

5 Mar 2023; MEMO: Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets Saturday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing policies and a plan that would restrict the powers of the judiciary, reports Anadolu Agency.

Israelis have held demonstrations every Saturday against the judicial regulation of the extreme right-wing coalition government led by Netanyahu.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remarks by a key Cabinet ally calling for a Palestinian village to be erased were inappropriate in a Twitter thread Sunday, after the U.S. demanded that he reject the statement.

2 Mar 2023; MEMO: The Supreme Emergency Committee for Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs said on Wednesday that the number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons with neither charge nor trial under so-called administrative detention has exceeded 1,000 for the first time in 15 years.

JERUSALEM, March 2 (Reuters) - Israel on Thursday criticised Brazil's decision to grant berth to two Iranian warships in the face of U.S. pressure, and urged President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government to send them away.

The vessels docked in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Reuters reported that Brazil had declined to admit them in January, in a goodwill gesture from Lula as he flew to Washington to meet U.S. President Joe Biden.

1 Mar 2023; MEMO: The former chief of Israel's Shin Bet security service, on Wednesday, termed the coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "a government of terror", Anadolu News Agency reports.

Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv in central Israel, Yuval Diskin warned of a civil war in Israel due to a proposed judicial overhaul by the Netanyahu's government.