UK Labour leader Keir Starmer held a phone call with Merav Michaeli, leader of Israel’s Labor Party, last weekend. Days before Israelis went to the polls for the fourth time in two years, Starmer wished Michaeli – elected to lead Labour in January 2021 – luck in the upcoming elections. Read more…
The unclear results of Israel’s general election this week appear to be mirrored within the Palestinian Authority, according to polling conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research. Should elections go ahead in May, the polling found that both Fatah, the party of PA president Mahmoud Abbas, and Read more…
Benjamin Netanyahu’s future as prime minister hangs in the balance after Israeli voters delivered another deadlocked election this week. Analysts predict that the country may be returning to the polls – for the fifth time since April 2019 – later this summer. What happened Overall, 57 percent of Israelis voted Read more…
Israel and the United Arab Emirates have announced the establishment of a new $10bn investment fund aimed at boosting regional economic cooperation between the two countries. The fund builds on last summer’s Abraham Accords, which saw the Jewish state establish diplomatic relations with the UAE and Bahrain for the first Read more…
Anthony Blinken last week used his first appearance before a congressional committee since being confirmed as the new US secretary of state to adopt a tough line on Iran. America’s top diplomat (pictured) said the Biden administration did not intend to make any initial “concessions” to Tehran to encourage it Read more…
Representatives of arch-enemies Fatah and Hamas are meeting this week in Cairo for a second round of talks aimed at allowing elections in the West Bank and Gaza to go ahead this summer. Mahmoud Abbas (pictured) called the elections – the first for 15 years – in January but his Read more…
Campaigning in Israel’s general election is entering its final week, with polls indicating there will be no end to the deadlock which has paralysed the country’s politics for the past two years. Nonetheless, with “Bibi fatigue” apparently affecting some sections of the electorate, Benjamin Netanyahu’s long domination of the political Read more…
The Biden administration targeted two Revolutionary Guard interrogators as it imposed its first set of sanctions on Iran this week. The secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, announced that two men – Ali Hemmatian and Masoud Safdari – would be banned from entering the United States. The State Department cited their Read more…
Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, appears to be floundering in his bid for re-election after three rounds of voting in a highly secret ballot on Tuesday produced no clear winner. Sinwar has held the post since 2017, making him the defacto ruler of the coastal enclave. The Read more…
The vast majority of Israelis think this month’s general election will not end the political deadlock which has gripped the country for the last two years, according to a new poll. The survey from the Israel Democracy Institute showed only 29 percent of voters expect the 23 March election will Read more…
Israel delivered its five millionth vaccine jab on Monday as the country began a significant easing of covid-19 restrictions ahead of this month’s general election. This week also saw the official start of a programme to vaccinate 120,000 Palestinians who work in Israel. The Jewish state continues to lead the Read more…
A series of decrees issued by Mahmoud Abbas has raised hopes that Palestinians will get to vote in their first elections in 15 years this spring. On Monday, the Palestinian president (pictured) released a decree establishing an elections court which, it is planned, will arbitrate disputes between Abbas’ Fatah party, Read more…