Israel

JERUSALEM, Feb 6 (NNN-MA’AN) – The Israeli Secondary School Teachers’ Association, yesterday staged a one-day strike, in high schools in the country, for a pay increase.

Some middle school teachers, who are members of the association, also took part in the strike, which aimed to pressure the Finance Ministry into reaching a new collective agreement with teachers in time, as the previous one had expired more than a year ago.

The association said in a statement that, the ministry had yet to negotiate such an agreement, leaving the teachers with “no one to talk to.”

05 Feb 2023; MEMO: Thousands of people took to the streets in Israeli cities Saturday for a fifth straight week to protest the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concerning proposed judicial reforms, Anadolu reports.

Demonstrators from non-governmental organizations, lawyers and technology sectors staged the protests/

Police closed roads leading to squares in Tel Aviv during the day and took security measures in the surrounding area.

05 Feb 2023; MEMO: Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has threatened to resign in protest of the policies of the Benjamin Netanyahu government, according to local media, Anadolu reports.

The private Channel 13, citing sources close to Ben-Gvir, said the far-right minister was critical of the government's "lenient" response to rocket fire from Gaza and the slow evacuation of the Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin community near East Jerusalem.

05 Feb 2023; MEMO: Israel is exploring the possibility of supplying Ukraine with its state-of-the-art Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, Anadolu reports.

"The issue of arms supplies was considered and rejected by the previous Israeli government. I will study this issue and answer this matter in the most adequate manner," Netanyahu said in an interview with the French LCI channel.

06 Feb 2023; MEMO: Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid yesterday criticised National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Defence Minister Bezalel Smotrich, as well as Member of Knesset Aryeh Bibi.

JERUSALEM, Feb 5 (NNN-MA’AN) – Tens of thousands of Israelis, demonstrated last night, in several cities, to protest the government’s plan to reform the judicial system.

The largest protest was being held in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, which was attended by thousands of people.

Demonstrators have rallied for five weeks in a row, to voice their discontent with the judicial reforms, proposed by Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. They say, the reforms will weaken the courts and give the ruling coalition more power.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A former Israeli prime minister who served briefly as a mediator at the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine says he drew a promise from the Russian president not to kill his Ukrainian counterpart.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett emerged as an unlikely intermediary in the war’s first weeks, becoming one of the few Western leaders to meet President Vladimir Putin during the war in a snap trip to Moscow last March.

04 Feb 2023; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's words relating to the planned judicial overhaul as: "Flagrant, clear, stupid and unnecessary interference."

This came during an internal meeting with members of the Likud party, Sama News Agency reported Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth disclosing on Friday.

03 Feb 2023; MEMO: Female palestinian prisoners being held by Israel in the Damon Prison have recently been sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray, while some have been tortured or placed in isolation as a result of their protests against the treatment they are receiving at the hands of prison authorities.

03 Feb 2023; MEMO: Palestinian resistance groups have fired missiles from the besieged Gaza Strip at nearby Israeli settlements in retaliation for the Israeli army escalations in the occupied West Bank, especially attacks on female prisoners.