Israel

19 Nov 2019; MEMO: Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin has asked head of the Blue and White Party, Benny Gantz, not to form a government backed by the Arab-majority parties, Kan reported yesterday.

According to the Israeli broadcaster, Rivlin extended his request to Gantz during a meeting that took place on Saturday at the former’s residence.

18 Nov 2019; MEMO: Palestinian prisoner Nael Barghouthi yesterday entered his 40th year in Israeli jails yesterday and was placed in solitary confinement for seven days, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said.

Barghouthi, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, had spent 33 years in Israeli jails before being released in the Egypt-brokered prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel in October 2011.

15 Nov 2019; MEMO: Yuli Edelstein, speaker of the Israeli Knesset, yesterday dismissed Arab MK Ahmed Tibi from the Knesset plenum after he heckled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, local media reported.

13 Nov 2019; MEMO: The Israeli government slammed yesterday’s European court ruling on labelling settlement produce as a form of discrimination and vowed to thwart its implementation.

In a much-anticipated decision, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided that European Union countries must identify products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

13 Nov 2019; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly determined to kill Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu Al-Ata after rocket fire forced the premier off stage at an election rally shortly before September’s election, reported the Times of Israel.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Gaza officials say new Israel airstrikes have killed two militants, raising the death toll to 12 since the latest escalation erupted.

The Islamic Jihad says two of its fighters were targeted Wednesday, as rocket fire into Israel resumed along with Israeli retaliation after a brief overnight lull. Nearly all the casualties were Islamic Jihad members.

The military says some 220 rockets have been fired since Tuesday, following an Israel strike that killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said fighting with Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants that erupted after Israel killed their top field commander in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday could prove protracted.

“Israel is not interested in escalation, but we will do everything required to protect ourselves,” Netanyahu told reporters at military headquarters. “This could take time. What is needed is stamina and cool-headedness.”

11 Nov 2019; MEMO: A plurality of Israelis back the formation of a Benny Gantz-led unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, the results of a new poll published yesterday has found.

11 Nov 2019; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces clashed with far-right settlers yesterday during an attempt to arrest a so-called “hilltop youth” activist in the notorious illegal settlement Yitzhar.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli border police officers arriving at the settlement yesterday night were “pelted with stones, paint bottles and other objects”, with “a number of security vehicles…also damaged” by the settlers.

JERUSALEM, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- A decades-long deal enabling Israel to lease a Jordanian border territory has been extended by six months, the Israeli military said Sunday.

Located in the Negev Desert south of the Dead Sea, the territory is called Tzofar in Hebrew and al-Ghamr in Arabic.

A military spokesperson said the lease had been extended with new terms through April 2020. Under the agreement, the territory was declared "a closed military zone" with access allowed only to farmers.