Israel

20 Jan 2022; MEMO: Critics of Israel have long maintained that the occupation state's claim to being "the only democracy in the Middle East" is a deceitful fabrication, peddled to score political points in the West. Insisting Israel is far from being a democracy, they would point to the seemingly never-ending occupation, and the countless human rights violations that inevitably follow, in trying to keep millions of people, who happened to be of a different race, under political subjugation.

20 Jan 2022; MEMO: The chances of reaching a plea bargain between Israel's former Prime Minister and head of the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the prosecution have declined in recent days amid strong opposition from prosecution staff who had put the case against Netanyahu, local media reports said Thursday.

20 Jan 2022; MEMO: Israel closed a deal yesterday to buy three submarines from German industrial giant thyssenkrupp [sic] for €3 billion ($3.4bn), the Times of Israel has reported.

18 Jan 2022; MEMO: Israel's State Comptroller, Matanyahu Englman, and Privacy Authority said, on Tuesday, that they would probe Israeli police over claims of using NSO Group's Pegasus hacking technology against citizens and protesters in Israel.

Israeli business news outlet, the Calcalist, reported on Tuesday morning that Israeli police have, for years, been making widespread use of the spyware against Israeli civilians.

19 Jan 2022; MEMO: Washington has officially informed Israel that it will no longer support the proposed EastMed natural-gas pipeline, Israeli media reported on Tuesday, pointing that the US also informed Greece and Greek Cyprus of its decision.

The Jerusalem Post reported that an official from the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed the decision on Tuesday, but said that the had Ministry refused to comment on the matter.

JERUSALEM, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A fourth shot of COVID-19 vaccine boosts antibodies to even higher levels than the third jab but it is not enough to prevent Omicron infections, according to a preliminary study in Israel.

Israel's Sheba Medical Center has given second booster shots in a trial among its staff and is studying the effect of the Pfizer booster in 154 people after two weeks and the Moderna booster in 120 people after one week, said Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit.

18 Jan 2022; MEMO: The Israeli Foreign Ministry criticised European diplomats harshly on Monday for visiting Sheikh Jarrah in solidarity with a Palestinian family under threat of forced eviction, the Jerusalem Post has reported.

"The ambassadors that attacked Israel today were confused," claimed a senior ministry official. "Instead of protecting the residents, they're protecting criminals."

18 Jan 2022; MEMO: The former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's demand that a plea deal in his criminal trial include a clause banning him from public office for seven years, Israeli TV, KAN, reported Monday.

Israel's Channel 12 news quoted an unnamed associate of Netanyahu as saying that he has "decided to go for a deal and accept the attorney general's bottom line," referring to the "moral turpitude" designation.

18 Jan 2022; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's coalition government was embarrassed yesterday when the Knesset (parliament) failed to pass the orthodox conscription bill, which fell in a 54-54 vote on its first reading.

According to the Jerusalem Post, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu voted against the bill, while the head of the United Arab List (Ra'am), Mansour Abbas, voted for it. Abbas's colleague Mazen Ghanaim missed the vote.

JERUSALEM, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A fourth shot of COVID-19 vaccine boosts antibodies to even higher levels than the third jab but it is not enough to prevent Omicron infections, according to a preliminary study in Israel.

Israel's Sheba Medical Center has given second booster shots in a trial among its staff and is studying the effect of the Pfizer booster in 154 people after two weeks and the Moderna booster in 120 people after one week, said Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit.