Israel

28 Aug 2019; MEMO: The Israeli army has launched several Farsi language social media accounts against the backdrop of mounting tensions with Iran.

In a press release yesterday, the Spokesperson’s Unit of the Israeli army said it has now launched Farsi language accounts on Twitter, Instagram and encrypted messaging service Telegram.

27 Aug 2019; MEMO: The chair of Israel’s Central Election Committee has banned parties from sending representatives equipped with cameras to polling stations in next month’s election, reported the Times of Israel.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military attacked targets near Damascus late Saturday in what it said was a successful effort to thwart an imminent Iranian drone strike on Israel, stepping up an already heightened campaign against Iranian military activity in the region.

The late-night airstrike, which triggered Syrian anti-aircraft fire, appeared to be one of the most intense attacks by Israeli forces in several years of hits on Iranian targets in Syria.

23 Aug 2019; MEMO: The number of Palestinians displaced by Israeli occupation authorities in the first seven months of 2019 has now exceeded the total number of people displaced in all of 2018.

23 Aug 2019; MEMO: A member of Israel’s parliament has claimed that dead people “participate” in the country’s elections in what amounts to ballot box fraud.

Oded Forer MK, of the Yisrael Beiteinu bloc in the Knesset, said on Wednesday that he is going to ask the election committee to place cameras in the polling stations in Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) neighbourhoods. Ballot box fraud among Haredi Jews is a “fact,” he claimed.

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. officials have confirmed that Israel was responsible for the bombing of an Iranian weapons depot in Iraq last month, an attack that would mark a significant escalation in Israel’s years-long campaign against Iranian military entrenchment across the region.

The confirmation comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is strongly hinting that his country is behind recent airstrikes in Iraq.

22 Aug 2019; MEMO: An Israeli conscientious objector has been released by the military after spending 82 days in solitary confinement, reported +972 Magazine.

Roman Levin was freed by the Israeli army last week, having been first jailed in February, “when he declared his refusal to continue his service after spending a year and a half as a driver in the army.”

22 Aug 2019; MEMO: Israel’s Supreme Court has frozen the appointment of Ophir Cohen, a loyalist to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the director general of the Justice Ministry.

JERUSALEM (AP) — In the eyes of critics, Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to bar two Democratic congresswomen at the request of President Donald Trump is the latest reckless gamble by a prime minister willing to sacrifice Israel’s national interests for short-term gain.

The move infuriated Democrats and risked turning Israel into even more of a partisan issue at a time when Americans are fiercely divided and Trump faces a tough fight for re-election.

17 Aug 2019; MEMO: Scores of Israelis took part in a protest organised in Tel Aviv yesterday calling for the return of Israeli soldiers captured in the besieged Gaza Strip.