Israel

JERUSALEM, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Voting in the Israeli governing Likud party's primaries began on Thursday morning as a veteran politician attempts to unseat the country's longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Some 116,048 Likud members would vote who they want to lead the party in Israel's next elections: Netanyahu or Gideon Saar, a Likud lawmaker and the first significant challenger of Netanyahu's more than decade-long rule.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s governing Likud party was holding primaries on Thursday, in the first serious internal challenge to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his more than a decade in power.

Veteran politician Gideon Saar hopes to unseat Netanyahu, arguing that he will be better placed to form a government in national elections in March after Netanyahu failed to do so in two repeat elections this year.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into its southern territory Wednesday, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be hustled from a stage during an election rally in the city of Ashkelon.

The Israeli military said its air defense system, known as Iron Dome, intercepted the rocket. There were no reports of casualties.

JERUSALEM, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Israeli military's chief said Wednesday that Israel "has carried out actions" in Iraq to foil convoys of weapons that could be used against Israel.

Aviv Kohavi made the rare acknowledgment during a speech in a conference in the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, a private research college outside Tel Aviv.

Kohavi told the security conference that Iranian weapons "are being transferred freely from Iraq" and "we cannot let it go on without addressing it."

JERUSALEM, Dec 25 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israel Competition Authority, announced that, it had fined Coca-Cola Israel, 39 million new shekels (about 11 million U.S. dollars) for its abusing of monopoly position.

The authority mentioned six infringing actions by the company, which manufactures and markets U.S. beverage giant Coca-Cola’s products in Israel, and is headquartered in the central city of Bnei Brak.

24 Dec 2019; MEMO: Israel is considering preventing the entry of officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in response to the chief prosecutor’s decision to investigate its possible war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, local media reported.

Israel Hayom reported yesterday that representatives from the Israeli ministries of foreign affairs, justice and national security council have discussed practical ways to respond to the ICC chief prosecutor’s decision.

23 Dec 2019; MEMO: Only 14 per cent of immigrants who arrived in Israel over the past eight years have received Israeli citizenship, a report issued by Israeli NGO Hiddush revealed today.

Reporting Israeli media sources, Quds Press said 86 per cent of those who had moved to Israel were not Jews according to Jewish law, which states that only the child of a Jewish woman or a person who completes a recognised conversion process is considered Jewish.

23 Dec 2019; MEMO: Christians in the Gaza Strip will be allowed to visit holy cities such as Bethlehem and Jerusalem at Christmas, Israel authorities said on Sunday, reversing a decision not to issue them permits, Reuters reports.

Israel tightly restricts movements out of the Gaza Strip, territory controlled by Hamas, an Islamist group that it considers a terrorist organization.

23 Dec 2019; MEMO: The Israeli Ministry of Education has started to implement the terms of the Jewish Nation-State Law, which was adopted by the Knesset (parliament) in 2018 and has been described as “racist” by critics, Quds Press reported on Monday. The ministry ordered civil studies teachers to impress on students that Hebrew is the only official language in Israel.

21 Dec 2019; MEMO: Israeli attorney general, Avichai Mendelblit, on Friday published a legal opinion claiming that that the “Palestinian actions with respect to the court are legally invalid,” Israeli media reports.