Israel

01 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, reached a coalition deal with the far-right Religious Zionism party, bringing him closer to securing a new government after an election last month, Netanyahu's Likud party said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Religious Zionism will be given, among other portfolios, control of the Finance Ministry as part of a rotation, Likud said, though it did not provide details on how the rotation would work.

02 Dec 2022; MEMO: Egypt is a "strategic partner" for Israel, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said on Thursday, adding that it was the "first neighbouring country to sign a peace agreement with us."

Gantz's remarks, which he posted on his official Twitter account, came in response to recent attacks on Egypt by the Israeli lawmaker Avi Maoz, who described the North African country as an "enemy state."

01 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israel's defence minister has warned the country that he is "worried" about the strength and solidity of the Israel Defence Forces.

"If the rumours are real," said Benny Gantz yesterday, "then I am very worried about the existence of the Israeli army as a people's army."

30 Nov 2022; MEMO: Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, on Wednesday, slammed what he described as "wild incitement" against commanders of the Israeli army, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Lapid's statement was made in response to criticism of extremist politician, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to the army punishment of soldiers who assaulted Israeli activists last week in the West Bank city of Hebron.

JERUSALEM, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian man was shot dead after injuring an Israeli soldier in a car-ramming attack in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Israeli military said in a statement.

The man drove to a gas station near the settlement of Kokhav Ya'akov in the central West Bank, where he rammed the car into a female soldier and injured her, according to the statement.

28 Nov 2022; MEMO: Far-right politician, Itamar Ben-Gvir, will be Israel's National Security Minister under a coalition deal with Prime Minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, in what is set to be the most right-wing government in the country's history, Reuters reports.

28 Nov 2022; MEMO: Prime Minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, will do everything to avoid imprisonment, outgoing Israeli Premier, Yair Lapid, said on Monday, Reuters reports.

Addressing a conference in Jerusalem, Lapid said Netanyahu will seek to carry out judicial reforms to appoint judges to look into his corruption cases.

"The bottom line is he will become the second Prime Minister in the country's history to go to prison," Lapid said.

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

As western countries are floating the theory that Russia could escalate its conflict with Ukraine to a nuclear war, many western governments continue to turn a blind eye to Israel's own nuclear weapons capabilities. Luckily, many countries around the world do not subscribe to this endemic western hypocrisy.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has struck a coalition deal with a small ultranationalist faction leader known for homophobic rhetoric and disparaging remarks about non-Orthodox Jews, a sign of the prospective government’s hardline makeup.

Netanyahu’s Likud party announced Sunday that the agreement names Noam faction leader Avi Maoz as a deputy minister whose portfolio includes an office bolstering Jewish identity among Israelis.

28 Nov 2022; MEMO: The Israeli occupation authorities have banned Israeli car owners from having their vehicles repaired at workshops owned and run by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Arab48.com reported on Sunday. Those who ignore the ban face heavy fines and even prison sentences.