Israel

07 July 2022; MEMO: Israel's regional cooperation minister said today that he had asked Saudi Arabia to admit direct flights from Tel Aviv for Muslim pilgrims, pointing to a possible new accommodation by Riyadh ahead of next week's visit by US President Joe Biden, Reuters reports.

Israeli officials have also been seeking expanded permission for their airlines to fly over Saudi soil to Asian destinations.

05 July 2022; MEMO: Israel's Defence Minister said on Tuesday that Iran has been entrenching itself militarily in the Red Sea, calling it a threat to regional stability and trade, Reuters reports.

"Today, we can confirm that Iran is methodically basing itself in the Red Sea, with warships patrolling the southern region," Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, said at an event in Athens.

04 July 2022; MEMO: Israel has announced that its trade with Arab countries has reached record increases within one year alone, as a result of the numerous deals and economic agreements struck between them in their normalisation of relations.

04 July 2022; MEMO: The Israeli army recognised that Hamas hacked the smartphones of its soldiers and officers through fake social media accounts, Maan news agency reported yesterday.

Maan said that Israel's Channel 12 broadcast a lengthy report that disclosed Hamas' success in hacking the smartphones of its soldiers and officers despite the army's effort to undermine the attempt.

JERUSALEM, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Israel's interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday pledged to run a functional government despite another round of political instability that triggered new elections.

In the first cabinet meeting since Lapid took office as interim prime minister on Friday, he sat next to his predecessor Naftali Bennett. The two rotated on Friday under a power-sharing deal they agreed upon in June 2021, after their ideologically diverse eight-party coalition government collapsed only a year after it took office.

JERUSALEM, July 2 (Reuters) - Israel said it had shot down three drones headed from Lebanon toward one of its Mediterranean gas rigs on Saturday and accused the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group of launching them.

There was no immediate response from Lebanon to the Israeli allegation, which came amid tensions between the countries over the location of the Karish rig and long-standing but so-far fruitless U.S.-mediated efforts to agree on a maritime border.

30 June 2022; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett handed over the premiership to his coalition partner Yair Lapid today, following the dissolution of the Knesset.

A handover ceremony was held between Bennett and Lapid at the prime minister's office in West Jerusalem, the Prime Minister's Press Office said in a statement.

Prime ministerial staff, senior officials and Bennett and Lapid's family members attended the ceremony.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s parliament voted Thursday to dissolve itself, marking the end of a year-old experimental coalition government, and sending the country to the polls in November for the fifth time in less than four years.

Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister and architect of the outgoing coalition government, will become the country’s caretaker prime minister just after midnight on Friday. He will be the 14th person to hold that office, taking over from Naftali Bennett, Israel’s shortest serving prime minister.

29 June 2022; MEMO: Unilever, on Wednesday, sold its Ben & Jerry's ice cream business in Israel to its local licensee for an undisclosed sum, aiming to smooth over a potentially damaging diplomatic row, Reuters reports.

The deal comes after the US ice cream brand announced last year it would stop marketing products in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying that selling there was "inconsistent" with its values.

29 June 2022; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, told members of his Yamina party that he will not be running in the upcoming election, a statement from his spokesperson said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

The statement, which came ahead of a Knesset vote to dissolve parliament and prepare for new elections, said Bennett would retain his position as alternate Prime Minister after his coalition partner, Yair Lapid, takes over as head of government.