Israel

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - In an historic first visit by a Gulf Arab nation, a United Arab Emirates delegation arrived in Israel on Tuesday to cement the normalisation deal signed last month.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other American officials accompanied the delegation on Etihad Airways plane from Abu Dhabi to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.

They were given a red carpet welcome by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Finance Minister Israel Katz.

20 Oct 2020; MEMO: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be marketing normalisation deals with Arab states as “great achievements”, but polls continue to show a sharp decline in his popularity among Israelis, Arab48.com reported on Monday. Even after signing a deal with Bahrain, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv calling for the Israeli leader to resign.

JERUSALEM, Oct 19 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), agreed to operate 28 commercial flights per week, between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi or Dubai, Israel’s transportation ministry said in a statement, yesterday.

The agreement also allows an unlimited number of charter flights, to the smaller Ramon Airport, outside Israel’s southern resort city of Eilat.

Additionally, some 10 cargo flights could be operated per week, under the deal.

The flights in the new route are expected to begin in a few weeks, according to the ministry.

19 Oct 2020; MEMO: Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews have challenged the Israeli government’s restrictions to combat the coronavirus and attended educational institutions across the country on Sunday.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night, resuming the weekly protest against the Israeli leader after emergency restrictions imposed as part of a coronavirus lockdown were lifted.

The protests were curtailed last month after Israel imposed new lockdown measures in response to a new virus outbreak. The emergency regulations blocked Israelis from traveling to Jerusalem to protest and allowed people only to attend smaller demonstrations within one kilometer (half a mile) of their home.

17 Oct 2020; MEMO: A new poll has indicated that 54 per cent of Israelis want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign from politics, 35 per cent want him to remain and ten per cent did not have an opinion, Quds Press reported on Friday.

The poll, which was published by Israeli Hebrew newspaper Maariv, conveyed that 28 per cent of Likud voters who took part in the last elections, and 57 per cent of right-wing voters, want Netanyahu to resign from politics.

16 Oct 2020; MEMO: The Israeli government is reviewing a proposal to reduce the salaries of senior officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the wake of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Israeli Walla news site reported.

According to the proposal, the reduction will be temporary until the end of 2021.

16 Oct 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli parliamentarians on Thursday that the Israeli normalisation deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has “no secret annexes or hidden clauses” before the Knesset overwhelmingly approved the deal, according to The Jerusalem Post.

15 Oct 2020; MEMO: Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics has announced that inbound tourism in Israel has retreated by 76.5 per cent since the start of the year, Quds Press reported on Wednesday.

Reporting Israeli media, Quds Press disclosed that only 837,000 tourists visited Israel between the start of 2020 and the end of September.

Foreigners are unable to enter Israel unless they have permission issued by the Housing Ministry, and any foreign visitor must spend 14 days in quarantine.

JERUSALEM (AP) — When Israel went into lockdown last spring, Jerusalem pub owner Leon Shvartz moved quickly to save his business — shifting to a delivery and takeaway model that kept him afloat throughout the summer. Then came the second lockdown.

With restaurants and shops shuttered again, Shvartz’s business is struggling to survive. He has laid off 16 of his 17 employees.