Israel

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel hopes to hold a signing ceremony in Washington for its normalisation deal with the United Arab Emirates by mid-September, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet said on Sunday.

The date for such an event could be decided by senior aides to Netanyahu and to U.S. President Donald Trump when those officials fly to Abu Dhabi on Monday for talks, Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis told public broadcaster Kan.

29 Aug 2020; MEMO: An Israeli rights group on Thursday called for Israeli occupation authorities to immediately stop the punishing measures against the besieged Gaza Strip and to allow the entry of fuel, commodities and essential equipment needed to fight COVID-19.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - El Al Airlines on Monday will fly Israel’s first flight to the United Arab Emirates by a commercial carrier, a timetable on the Israel Airports Authority’s website showed, as the countries forge ahead with a deal to normalise ties.

The direct flight between Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport and the UAE’s political capital of Abu Dhabi is expected to carry an Israeli delegation and accompanying officials from the United States, which brokered the Aug. 13 accord. [nL8N2FR6C6]

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft struck posts belonging to the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah early on Wednesday after shots were fired from Lebanon towards its troops, Israel’s military said.

No Israeli troops were wounded in the firing, the military said. Soldiers deployed illumination flares, smoke shells and live fire after the shots from the Lebanese side of the frontier, it said.

JERUSALEM, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Israel struck on Tuesday Hamas' tunnels in Gaza, saying the attack was a response to the earlier launch of explosive balloons from the Palestinian enclave.

In the overnight attack, Tanks, warplanes and others targeted military posts and an underground infrastructure belonging to Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip, a military spokesperson said in a statement.

24 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israel has sold spyware to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain helping them monitor the activities of dissidents, Haaretz reported yesterday.

24 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israel’s cabinet meeting was cancelled yesterday due to the coalition crisis that could lead to the collapse of the government and force the country to hold a fourth election in less than two years, local media reported.

The coalition government, which consists of the Likud and the Blue and White parties, has been struggling to agree on the state budget.

24 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israel has been coordinating with Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia to demonise Turkey, which Israel’s Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen believes a “bigger threat”.

Roger Boyes wrote for the Sunday Times that Cohen discussed the Turkish threat with intelligence officials from Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia about two years ago.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday the United States would continue to ensure Israel enjoyed a military edge in the Middle East under any future U.S. arms deals with the United Arab Emirates.

“The United States has a legal requirement with respect to qualitative military edge. We will continue to honour that,” Pompeo told reporters after a meeting in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A U.S.-brokered deal on normalising relations between Israel and the UAE was announced on Aug. 13.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that he had accepted a proposal to extend budget negotiations, preventing the government from collapsing and plunging the country into a new election.

In a nationally televised address, Netanyahu said that now was not the time to drag the country into a fourth parliamentary elections in less than two years.

“Now is the time for unity. Not for elections,” he said.