Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s attorney general has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he must not be involved in an overhaul to the country’s judicial system proposed by his government, saying in a letter made public Thursday that he risks a conflict of interest in his ongoing corruption trial.

Netanyahu’s new far-right government has made changing the legal system a centerpiece of its legislative agenda and despite mounting public criticism, has charged ahead with steps to weaken the Supreme Court and grant politicians less judicial oversight in their policymaking.

02 Feb 2023; MEMO: Israel's intelligence services have warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that nobody can guarantee calm with the Gaza Strip due to the continuous incitement by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and the measures he proposes.

The warning followed the Israeli Prison Service's aggression against Palestinian inmates, including women prisoners, who sent a voice message complaining about the aggression and restrictions.

01 Feb 2023; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his priority is to normalise Israel's relations with Arab countries before peace with the Palestinians, Anadolu News Agency report.

"I think that the way we're going to succeed is not let the Palestinian tail wag the body of the Arab world," Netanyahu told CNN in an interview published on Wednesday.

01 Feb 2023; MEMO: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has dismissed reports published by an Israeli channel that his ministry transferred tax money to the Palestinian Authority.

According to the Israeli media, Smotrich categorically denied the news reported by Israeli TV Channel 12 that his ministry transferred tax money to the Palestinian Authority prior to the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

31 Jan 2023; MEMO: Israeli banks impose higher interest rates on Palestinians citizens of Israel when compared to Jewish citizens of the occupation state.

30 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Israeli hacker behind "one of the biggest cybercrimes in history" has returned to Israel, his father has revealed in an interview broadcast in the Republic of Georgia.

31 Jan 2023; MEMO: Israeli violence against Palestinians increased in 2022, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a report issued on Monday. The rights group stressed the need for accountability and an end to the impunity that Israel has enjoyed for decades.

31 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Knesset yesterday approved the first reading of a bill allowing the revocation of Israeli citizenship and permanent residency licenses from Palestinian prisoners, the Israeli parliament said in a press statement published on its website.

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel and the Palestinians on Monday to ease tensions amid a spike in violence that has put the region on edge. The bloodshed has alarmed the Biden administration as it attempts to find common ground with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new right-wing government.

JERUSALEM (AP) — An alarming spike in Israeli-Palestinian violence and sharp responses by both sides are testing the Biden administration as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plunges into a cauldron of deepening mistrust and anger on visits to Israel and the West Bank this week.