Israel

07 Mar 2020; MEMO: Israeli occupation authorities yesterday demolished all Palestinian homes in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb in the Negev for the 176th time.

The village was first levelled in July 2010, and every time the residents of Al-Araqeeb rebuild their tents and small homes, occupation forces return to raze them, sometime several times in a month.

JERUSALEM, Mar 7 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israel’s Ministry of Health announced that, four more Israelis were diagnosed with the coronavirus, bringing the total number of COVID-19 patients in Israel to 21.

The ministry noted that the four are currently under medical quarantine. In addition, passengers who were on board the same flights with the four were asked to undergo quarantine.

Two of the newly diagnosed patients are around the age of 50, residents of central Israel. One of them returned from Madrid on Feb 27, and the other returned from Zurich on Mar 4.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Murad Mahmoud’s 14-year-old son has been detained by Israeli police in his east Jerusalem neighborhood three times in the last two years. His 10-year-old has been interrogated by police in combat gear. These days, he keeps all six of his children inside most of the time, fearing even worse.

“I won’t even let them go to the corner store,” he says. “I’m not just afraid they’ll be arrested, I’m afraid they’ll lose an eye or get shot in the head.”

06 Mar 2020; MEMO: The US State Department on Tuesday approved the sale of up to eight Boeing KC-46 aircraft and related equipment worth an estimated $2.4 billion according to a statement released by the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

JERUSALEM, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The bloc of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is three seats short of a majority coalition in the 120-seat parliament, the latest figures showed Wednesday after 99 percent of the votes have been counted.

The Central Elections Committee, which oversees the parliament election, said Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party gained 36 seats, while its main rival, Benny Gantz's Blue and White centrist party garnered 33.

Likud and its allies, a bloc of a pro-settler party and two Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties, won 58 seats.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future remained up in the air Tuesday as preliminary results and exit polls from Israel’s third election in under a year indicated the embattled leader would fall short of securing the parliamentary majority needed to form a new government.

03 Mar 2020; MEMO: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led on Tuesday in a cliffhanger election in Israel but was still short of a governing majority in a third national ballot in less than a year, exit polls showed, Reuters reports.

On the basis of initial projections by Israel’s three main television channels, Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, claimed victory in Monday’s vote over his main challenger, former armed forces chief Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party emerged as the largest party in the country’s third election in under a year, exit polls indicated, but it was unclear whether the embattled Israeli leader could secure a parliamentary majority as he prepares to go on trial for corruption charges later this month.

Exit polls on Israeli TV stations appeared to show Likud and its smaller ultra-religious and nationalist allies had captured 59 seats in Monday’s vote, two short of the majority required to declare victory.

02 Mar 2020; MEMO: In a last-minute bid for votes in today’s election, Benajmain Netanyahu has pledged to annex key parts of the occupied West Bank within “weeks” if re-elected.

Netanyahu made the pledge during an interview with Israeli public radio yesterday, envisioning the annexation of the Jordan Valley and other parts of the occupied West Bank.

Adding that the plan is part of “four major immediate missions” which would take no longer than two months”.

JERUSALEM, Mar 2 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israelis today began casting ballots in parliamentary elections for the third time in less than a year.

Voting started at 7.00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) at 10,631 polling stations across the country, and is due to end at 10.00 p.m. (2000 GMT).

According to the Central Elections Committee, which oversees the elections, there are almost 6.5 million Israeli citizens eligible to vote in this election.