Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s new environmental protection minister has set some ambitious goals: She believes she can use her office to play an important role in the global battle against climate change while also promoting peace in the volatile Middle East.

Tamar Zandberg laid out her agenda in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the upcoming U.N. climate conference in Glasgow. She says Israel, despite its small size and own inability to reach the global goal of zero net emissions by 2050, has the potential to be a key player.

20 Oct 2021; MEMO: Every foreign agricultural worker was sexually assaulted in Israel, according to a new report presented to the Knesset's Special Committee on Foreign Workers yesterday. Shocking levels of abuse were uncovered by the report, whose authors issued a warning that "The State of Israel has abandoned these women."

19 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israel has approved a budget of NIS 5 billion ($1.5bn) to prepare for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, local media revealed on Monday. According to Israeli Channel 12 TV, NIS 3bn will come from the current budget, with the balance coming from the new budget slated for approval in November.

19 Oct 2021; MEMO: Indian Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, hailed Israel as their "most trusted and innovative partner," during yesterday's meeting with US, Indian and Israeli business leaders and government officials.

"The degree of trust between us is very high," said India's top diplomat, as he encouraged increasing trade ties between the countries during the business meeting at Jerusalem's King David Hotel.

18 Oct 2021; MEMO: Nine Israeli hospitals and medical centres were subjected to major cyberattacks on Friday and Saturday, recording a 72 per cent increase of attacks compared to recent weeks, Arab48 reported on Sunday.

According to the National Cybersecurity Directorate in Israel, Kan public broadcaster reported that the Israeli hospitals and medical centres were subjected to hundreds of cyberattacks on Friday and Saturday.

16 Oct 2021; MEMO: Following a request by the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israeli internal security agency Shin Bet will reveal payments made to a Palestinian collaborator, Quds Net News Agency reported on Friday.

Quds Net News Agency disclosed that the Israeli District Court in Jerusalem took the decision at the beginning of the month.

14 Oct 2021; MEMO: The presence of Palestinians in Israel is a "mistake", said member of the Israeli Knesset Bezalel Smotrich. The 41-year-old leader of the religious Zionist Party and a MK made the remarks during a heated exchange in the Knesset yesterday where he said that Palestinians exist in Israel because its founder David Ben Gurion did not "finish the job" of clearing out the territory of its indigenous populations.

Calling Arab lawmakers "enemies" in an angry exchange during a debate, Smotrich said:

13 Oct 2021; MEMO: Former chief of the Israeli foreign intelligence service (Mossad), Yossi Cohen, said yesterday that Iran is not close to obtaining a nuclear bomb, contradicting claims by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and others that Tehran is on the cusp of becoming a nuclear power.

"I think that at the end of the day, Iran is not close to reaching any nuclear weapons. It is no closer than before, and that's thanks to the great effort we made," Cohen said at the Jerusalem Post Conference.

13 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that FIFA President Gianni Infantino had suggested organising the 2030 FIFA World Cup in Israel in partnership with other countries in the region, led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Bennett met Infantino in his office in Jerusalem on the first visit by a FIFA president to Israel, his office said in a statement.

13 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett claimed on Monday that Iran has been working to build an army in the Golan Heights, but Israel will continue to "roll up the Iranian presence in Syria," Israeli media reported.

Bennett was speaking at the Makor Rishon newspaper conference, and said: "The Golan Heights is Israel, period."