Israel

19 Aug 2021; MEMO: CIA Director William Burns has warned Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of the dangers of Chinese investments in Israel, particularly in the IT sector and major infrastructure projects, American Axios news website revealed yesterday.

19 Aug 2021; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett yesterday ruled out the possibility of imposing a lockdown to limit the spread of the coronavirus as serious infection cases in the country hit a five-month high record.

"A lockdown is the easiest step for the government. Lots of people say, 'press on the lockdown button'… and everything is in order, except for one thing. In doing so we are destroying the future of the country," Bennett said during a televised press conference.

18 Aug 2021; MEMO: Israel's Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, thanked the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday for sending firefighters to help their Israeli counterparts to tackle the wildfires around Jerusalem, but also cancelled a meeting set to approve the permit for new Palestinian homes to be built in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

The PA sent four fire trucks and 20 firefighters to help Israel to deal with the massive fires, which are getting closer to residential areas. The order was given by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

17 Aug 2021; MEMO: The diplomatic crisis between Israel and Poland has escalated with the Polish Ambassador to Israel being told by his government not to return to his post after his family holiday, agencies have reported. Ambassador Marek Magierowski will remain in Poland until further notice.

This followed the recall of Israel's envoy from Warsaw for consultations. The Times of Israel said that the Israeli Foreign Ministry has also advised Magierowski to stay in his country.

17 Aug 2021; MEMO: Israeli Defence Ministry yesterday confiscated a large number of chocolate bars which were destined for the besieged Gaza Strip, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The chocolate bars, the Israeli occupation claimed, were meant to serve as an alternative currency to fund Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at Israel on Monday that was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, the military said, in the first such attack since an 11-day war in May.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the launching, which Israel's Kan Radio said could be a response by militants in the Hamas Islamist-run enclave to the killing earlier in the day of four Palestinians during a clash with Israeli troops who carried out a raid in the occupied West Bank. 

16 Aug 2021; MEMO: Sahar Ismail, the senior adviser of Israel's education minister on Arab affairs, was shot dead near his home in the northern Arab village of Rameh yesterday morning.

16 Aug 2021; MEMO: Polish citizens in Israel are facing such hatred that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Sunday that he had decided to "safely bring back home the children of Poland's ambassador to Israel," Haaretz has reported.

16 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Taliban's control of Afghanistan will affect Israel's security, former Defence Minister, Moshe Ya'alon, warned yesterday.

"Despite the great distance between Afghanistan and Israel, the withdrawal of the United States forces and the Taliban's control over the country will have repercussions on Washington's position in the Middle East, and on Israel's security," Ya'alon wrote on Twitter.

16 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Israeli Supreme Court yesterday froze eviction orders issued against three Palestinian families in occupied East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, Anadolu news agency reported.

"Today, the [Israeli] occupation court issued a decision freezing the displacement decision of 3 families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, namely Dajani, Al-Dahudi and Hammad, until the court finishes all procedures in the Sheikh Jarrah case," the Sheikh Jarrah's family committee said in a statement.