Israel

16 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israeli Finance Minister Yisrael Katz said Sunday that the annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank was already suspended before the announcement of a deal to normalise relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Bahrain and Oman could be the next Gulf countries to follow the United Arab Emirates in formalising ties with Israel, Israel’s intelligence minister said on Sunday.

“In the wake of this agreement (with the UAE) will come additional agreements, both with more Gulf countries and with Muslim countries in Africa,” Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told Army Radio.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel closed the Gaza Strip’s offshore fishing zone Sunday following a night of cross-border fighting with Palestinian militants, the most intense escalation of hostilities in recent months.

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired two rockets into southern Israel after Israeli airstrikes targeted sites belonging to the territory’s militant Hamas rulers.

14 Aug 2020; MEMO: A team of North Korean hackers breached Israel’s security and penetrated its computer system, according to the international cybersecurity firm ClearSky.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Angry Palestinians in Jerusalem accused the United Arab Emirates of collaborating with Israel and endangering Al-Aqsa mosque - Islam’s third-holiest site - as they gathered for Friday prayers the day after the Gulf state’s deal with Israel.

Under an agreement brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, Israel and the UAE announced on Thursday that they will normalise diplomatic ties, brought together by a confluence of interests against Iran.

13 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israel tried to expel 60,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Uruguay after reaching understandings with the government of the South American state in 1969, Israeli Public Broadcaster (Kan) has revealed.

According to Al-Hadath news website, Kan said that the late Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, who served from 1963-1969, laid down the basis of this plan.

13 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, rejected a bill on Wednesday which would prevent its members indicted on criminal charges from forming a government, the Times of Israel has reported. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces corruption and fraud charges, and opposition leader Yair Lapid traded insults after the discussion in the chamber.

12 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday revealed that the United States prevented him from carrying out his plan to annex large swathes of the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported.

12 Aug 2020; MEMO: The number of coronavirus cases in Israel has risen to 85,354 since March, the Health Ministry revealed on Tuesday.

According to Israel Hayom, the ministry said that there were 24,608 active or symptomatic cases in Israel as of yesterday morning, 256 of whom were identified after midnight.

JERUSALEM (AP) — When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival, Benny Gantz, agreed to form an “emergency” government in May after three bitter and deadlocked election campaigns, the goal was to stabilize Israeli politics in the face of a global pandemic.