Israel

15 Dec 2020; MEMO: The Israeli occupation's Jerusalem Municipality yesterday raided an Islamic cemetery in the occupied holy city, Palestinian sources reported.

Municipal teams, along with Israeli soldiers and bulldozers, demolished the wall and stairs in the northern part of the Al-Yusufiye Cemetery to make a garden in the area, Executive Director of the Commission for the Protection of Muslim Graves Ahmed Al-Dajani told Anadolu Agency.

Jerusalem, Dec 13 (AP-PTI) A few thousand Israelis protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding that he resign in the face of corruption charges and the pandemic.

Some 2,000 people demonstrated outside Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem. The size of the crowds has shrunk in recent weeks with the arrival of wintry weather.

Protesters held signs reading Go and Everyone is equal under the law.

10 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of using the Likud party for "personal interests", senior Likud MK Gideon Sa'ar announced on Tuesday that he was quitting the party and forming a new one.

An Arab businesswoman has announced her intention to stand in Israel's presidential election, the Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday. If elected by the Knesset, Ahlam Khazen would be the country's first non-Jewish president. The seven-year tenure of current President Reuven Rivlin ends in July next year.

"I want to represent all the people of Israel and all the parties," explained Khazen. "I want to reinforce coexistence."

07 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Impersonating themselves as businessmen, heads of Israeli criminal groups have recently started shifting their activities to the UAE, Anadolu reported yesterday.

According to the news service, Israel's Channel 12 TV quoting a senior Israeli police officer saying that the heads of criminal groups operate via agents or travelled themselves to complete deals worth tens of millions of dollars.

JERUSALEM (AP) — In the coming years, Israelis will be able to commute into Jerusalem and Tel Aviv from settlements deep inside the West Bank via highways, tunnels and overpasses that cut a wide berth around Palestinian towns.

05 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin on Thursday described the Israeli nation-state law as "self-incrimination of Israel" and "contrary to everything that Judaism represents."

In an article published by the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, Beilin said that the nation-state law: "Provides a reference to repeated claims by its [Israel's] enemies… [It] is a ringing slap in the face to anyone who supports Israel in the world."

JERUSALEM, Dec 5 (NNN-WAFA) – A Jewish settler attempted today, to burn down the Gethsemane Church, in the Mount of Olives area, in occupied East Jerusalem, according to local sources.

Witnesses reported that an illegal Jewish settler, sneaked into the premises of the church, before he was seen pouring some flammable liquid there.

The settler then tried to set some of the seats on fire but was thwarted by local Palestinian citizens, who handed him over to a police force that had just arrived at the scene.

05 Dec 2020; MEMO:  An Israeli settler was arrested on Friday for an arson incident at a church in occupied Jerusalem, Anadolu Agency reports.

"A 49-year-old suspect from Jerusalem arrived in the Church of Agony (Church of All Nations), poured flammable liquid, and set a fire, causing slight damage to one of the benches," Israeli police said in a statement.

The suspect was caught by security guards at the church and later taken into custody by police, the statement added.

05 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Following the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Israeli security services have asked senior ex-nuclear scientists to take extra security measures throughout their daily lives, Israeli media reported on Friday.