Merav Michaeli, Israel’s transport minister and leader of the Israeli Labor party, has joined other left-wing MKs in announcing that her party will oppose plans to build new settlements in the West Bank. During the weekly Labor caucus meeting, Michaeli said: “We will oppose any initiative that will prevent a Read more…
After 35 hours of voting, the Knesset last week passed a two-year budget – Israel’s first since 2018. The adoption of the budget – in which 800 opposition objections had to be voted upon – provides the anti-Netanyahu coalition government with a major victory, removing the threat of new elections Read more…
Hamas, the Islamist terror group which governs Gaza, condemned six people to death last week for cooperating with Israel. The military judiciary in the Gaza Strip also announced additional sentences ranging from hard labour to life imprisonment. Two of those sentenced, a 58-year-old Gazan and a 57-year-old from Khan Younis, Read more…
Israel has advanced plans for 1,303 new homes for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank on Monday. This was the first authorisation of its kind under the new coalition government came to power in June, and the first since the Biden administration was inaugurated in January. The Higher Read more…
The approval of some 3,000 housing units for Israeli settlers in the West Bank has drawn criticism from left-wing voices in the Israeli government, as well as the Biden administration. 1,804 housing units received final approval for construction last week, while a further 1,382 units were advanced for final approval. Read more…
As the world gathers in Glasgow for the COP26 climate conference, Israel has featured prominently so far – for both positive and unexpected reasons. A recap COP26 is a UN conference bringing together more than 200 world leaders to move forward global efforts against climate change. This COP – or Conference Read more…
Israel’s National Security Council ended a travel warning for Morocco that has been in effect for over a decade. In a statement, the council said the decision was made following an assessment that the threat level to Israelis in Morocco had decreased following diplomatic normalisation between the two countries, signed Read more…
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi has admitted that his organisation’s monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program is “no longer intact”. Speaking in an interview with NBC News, Grossi said that Iran’s continued refusal to grant access to camera at the key nuclear facility of Karaj meant the world Read more…
Israel announced on Monday that it was opening its border with Lebanon – with which it is technically at war – in order to allow agricultural workers to pick olives. “In light of the economic situation in Lebanon, and as a gesture of goodwill to the Lebanese people, the IDF Read more…
Bashar al-Assad’s international isolation appears to be coming to an end as Arab capitals make moves to bring the Syrian dictator in from the diplomatic cold. Political, strategic and economic imperatives have caused governments in the region – including some which previously aided the rebels attempting to overthrow the Assad Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel director Michael Rubin has written the below article for the Labour Foreign Policy Group. Click here to read the original. In the months since President Biden’s inauguration, we’ve already begun to see the difference in his administration’s approach to international affairs. “America First” is out, multilateral engagement is Read more…
The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group, Hassan Nasrallah, boasted this week that he commands 100,000 fighters. Experts estimate that the claimed figure, which exceeds the size of Lebanon’s army, is almost certainly an exaggeration of the more likely figure of between 25 to 50,000. However, Nasrallah’s claim is Read more…