Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s leader on Sunday praised President Donald Trump’s Mideast policies, even as he avoided openly taking sides ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that U.S. bipartisan support has been “one of the foundations of the American-Israeli alliance.” He then went on to say “that alliance has never been stronger” and praised a slew of steps taken by Trump in favor of Israel.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Usumain Baraka speaks impeccable Hebrew, considers Israelis among his best friends and can quote passages from the Old Testament. But as a Sudanese asylum seeker, Baraka has no legal status in Israel and lives a precarious life tethered to the whims of the Israeli government.

30 Oct 2020; MEMO: Israel will impose sanctions and penalties on Palestinian banks which process payments from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to the families of Palestinians who have spent time in Israeli jails, lsraeli media reported.

29 Oct 2020; MEMO: Three Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike along with Maher Al-Akhras, who has abstained from food for 95 days, in protest against illegal Israeli measures against them, the Palestine Prisoners’ Society (PPS) reported yesterday.

28 Oct 2020; MEMO: An Israeli Knesset committee has called for banning a film documenting Israel’s siege on the occupied Palestinian West Bank city of Jenin in 2002 and the crimes carried out against its residents, Quds Press reported yesterday.

The Foreign and Security Committee at the Israeli Knesset submitted a draft resolution that will be raised to the government’s Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, demanding a ban on the film ‘Jenin, Jenin’.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel plans to nominate a far-right former general and Cabinet minister who once called for the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank to head the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, officials said Tuesday.

Effie Eitam, a religious nationalist with a history of harsh rhetoric toward the Palestinians and Israel’s Arab minority, is also a staunch advocate of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, which are widely seen as a violation of international law and an obstacle to peace.

27 Oct 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prevented cabinet ministers from travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before he visits the country, the Walla news agency reported yesterday.

The agency said a number of ministers, including Minister of Transport Miri Regev, have in recent weeks contacted Netanyahu’s office and informed him of their interest to visit the UAE and hold meetings with their counterparts to enhance cooperation between the two countries.

26 Oct 2020; MEMO: An Israeli cabinet minister said on Sunday that a US sale of advanced F-35 warplanes to Qatar could be possible despite Israel’s objections to such a deal given the Gulf state’s links to Iran and Palestinian Hamas, Reuters reports.

25 Oct 2020; MEMO: Israel strongly attacked Turkey and renewed its full support for Greece regarding the East Mediterranean crisis, The New Khalij reported on Friday.

According to The New Khalij, an official Israeli Twitter account run by the Foreign Ministry posted: “Israel is following the latest developments in the East Mediterranean. Some unilateral measures taken by Turkey could undermine the fragile stability in the region.”

24 Oct 2020; MEMO: A Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for more than 85 days since his arrest by Israel is entering a medically “critical phase”, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced yesterday.