Israel

17 Jan 2022; MEMO: Israel's former President, Reuven Rivlin, has been accused of being a bullying, tyrannical boss by several employees who worked for him at the President's official residence in West Jerusalem.

Channel 12 reported that it spoke with more than ten workers who criticised Rivlin as a hot-tempered man and whose true nature clashed with the "cuddly grandfather" persona seen in public.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A delegation of Indonesian officials made a rare visit to Israel recently to discuss coronavirus strategies, despite the countries not having diplomatic relations, Israel’s Army Radio reported Monday.

The Indonesian health officials aimed “to learn how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic” and met with Israeli officials, the report said. The report did not specify when the visit took place.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Mansour Abbas broke a longstanding taboo when he led his Arab party into Israel’s governing coalition last year. The bold move appears to be paying dividends.

Abbas, a once obscure politician, is the linchpin of the shaky union, securing hefty budgets and favorable policies for his constituents and even winning an audience with the king of Jordan.

16 Jan 2022; MEMO: The new US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides stated on Friday that he will not visit Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank but would support normalisation.

Speaking to Yedioth Ahronoth, Nides, who took up his post in November, announced that he does not want to carry out actions that would inflame the situation on the ground. Nides, who is Jewish, is close to US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

16 Jan 2022; MEMO: The US has reportedly allowed Israel to supply cash-strapped Lebanon with gas via Jordan, according to local Israeli media.

Israeli Channel 12 said an agreement was reached between Washington and Tel Aviv to provide Lebanon with Israeli gas from the offshore Leviathan field through Jordan. From there, gas will be transferred to Syria and onto Lebanon.

13 Jan 2022; MEMO: Israel's Supreme Court has reduced the sentence of an extremist Israeli settler convicted of throwing stun grenades into Palestinian homes last year in the occupied West Bank. Judge Hagai Tarsi initially ordered the teenager, whose name has not been made public, to 20 months in prison and a fine of 60,000 shekels ($18,950), which will be paid to his victims in the village of Sarta.

JERUSALEM, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation on Thursday to discuss regional issues.

During the conversation, the two leaders vowed to continue "close cooperation," said a statement by the prime minister's office.

The conversation came at the backdrop of talks being held in Austria's capital Vienna by world powers regarding a deal on the Iranian nuclear program.

Bennett and Putin met for the first time several months ago, soon after the Israeli prime minister took office.

13 Jan 2022; MEMO: The turmoil in the Republic of Kazakhstan made Israel worried about its secret oil, cybersecurity and weapons deals with the Central Asian country, according to Haaretz columnist David Rosenberg. Despite looking marginal to Israel, Kazakhstan, is actually "an important source for imported oil and a lucrative market for Israeli arms."

Citing experts in such matters, he said that, "Both businesses are shrouded in secrecy but are strategically important."

11 Jan 2022; MEMO: Occupation forces arrested 16 civilians, including a minor, from the village of Al-Atrash in the Negev desert, including three women, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.

The residents reported that the police stormed the village and fired rubber-coated metal bullets and sound bombs, while carring out a campaign of arrests in an attempt to deter the Arab residents from confronting the bulldozers that were razing their lands in preparation for its seizure.

JERUSALEM, Jan 11 (NNN-PNA) – Israel reported a new daily record of 21,514 COVID-19 cases yesterday, bringing the caseload in the regime to 1,519,268, said the Israeli Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death toll increased by four to 8,269, while the number of patients in serious condition rose from 205 to 222, said the ministry.

The number of active cases also increased to a new record high of 133,928, since the outbreak of the pandemic in Feb, 2020, it added.