Israel

20 Dec 2019; MEMO: Blue and White is maintaining its consistent lead over Likud ahead of new elections next year, a new poll has shown.

19 Dec 2019; MEMO: Thousands of immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union “may have come only to receive an Israeli passport before moving back abroad”, reported JTA, with the total such cases amounting to up to a quarter of all Russian immigrants.

17 Dec 2019; MEMO: The Likud party in Israel has expelled around 100 members who are known to be against the policies of its leader Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday. The current Prime Minister has been heading the Likud for 14 years.

17 Dec 2019; MEMO: Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz has signed the permits required for Israel to begin exporting natural gas to Egypt, the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday. The exports, it noted, are expected to start next month.

“The permits were granted after all the required procedures were completed, including the approval of the Israel Competition Authority,” added the Israeli newspaper.

13 Dec 2019; MEMO: Yisrael Beiteinu chair Avigdor Lieberman expressed his backing Thursday for a pardon of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provided that the Likud leader retires from public life.

According to Haaretz, Blue and White chair Benny Gantz also voiced “potential support for such a move”.

12 Dec 2019; MEMO: Israel will hold an election on March 2, its third in less than a year, parliament decided on Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival failed to parlay the previous two ballots into a new coalition government, Reuters reports.

12 Dec 2019; MEMO: On Wednesday morning Israeli occupation forces arrested Palestinian journalist and activist, Bushra Al-Taweel, just one week after her father was released from an Israeli prison, Safa Press Agency reported.

Al-Taweel is a Palestinian journalist and activist, who reports on Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli prisons.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel voiced worry about Britain’s election on Thursday, describing the possible rise of the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn as a threat to bilateral ties and alarming for British Jews.

Corbyn, a veteran pro-Palestinian activist, has been buffeted by allegations of anti-Semitism in Labour, with British media quoting some of the country’s Jews as saying they would consider emigrating should he be elected.

11 Dec 2019; MEMO: A new poll shows that Israelis are increasingly blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the ongoing political paralysis likely to thrust the country into a third election.

According to a report in The Times of Israel, the poll by Channel 13 news suggests that Blue and White is profiting from developments, increasing its lead over Likud.

11 Dec 2019; MEMO: Israeli foreign minister, Yisrael Katz, threatened on Tuesday to take military action against Iran, in order to undermine its efforts in obtaining nuclear weapons, Israeli media reported.