The Israeli government is considering shutting middle and senior schools once again as coronavirus rates have begun to rise in recent days. More than 30 Israeli schools have been closed – sending 10,000 pupils and teachers into home quarantine – after students at them were diagnosed with the virus. As Read more…
The Trump administration is believed to be seeking to slow the process of Israel annexing parts of the West Bank, according to Israeli media reports. On Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu held a conference call to discuss the implementation of the administration’s peace plan – including its provisions to allow Israeli to Read more…
After months of delays and legal ducking and diving, Benjamin Netanyahu finally appeared in court this week to face a raft of corruption charges. Israel’s longest-serving premier is also the first incumbent prime minister to go on trial. Sunday’s court appearance by Netanyahu was a formality in which he was Read more…
Israel continued to move out of its tight lockdown this week as bars, restaurants and tourist attractions were given the green light to reopen on Wednesday. Social distance and hygiene rules will be strictly enforced and customers are being told they must wear masks, except when they’re eating. However, smaller Read more…
Hardline leaders of Israel’s settlement movement are threatening to derail Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to annex parts of the West Bank. The prime minister told his Likud party on Monday that he intended to press ahead with applying Israeli sovereignty to West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley (pictured) after Read more…
Israel is planning to allow 83,000 Palestinians to return to work on construction sites in the country after 31 May. The move – which would provide a much-needed boost to both the Israeli and Palestinian economies – comes more than two months after tight controls on Palestinians working in Israel Read more…
The painstaking process of assembling a new Israeli government is due to culminate in its swearing-in tomorrow. Israel has had a caretaker government since late 2018 when the first of three closely fought, inconclusive elections was triggered. The third of those elections in early March eventually led to a “unity Read more…
Speaking in Foreign Office questions, LFI chair Steve McCabe welcomed Israeli-Palestinian cooperation to tackle COVID-19. “I thank the Minister for his comments. Will he join me in welcoming the news that Israel has approved a $230 million advance payment to the Palestinian Authority, alongside coronavirus test kits, intensive care beds, Read more…
Nearly two months after it commenced a stringent lockdown, Israel appears to be turning a corner in the fight against the coronavirus. The number of new cases over 24-hour periods has consistently been below 200 since the start of last week. On Sunday night, Israel registered only 29 new cases Read more…
The release of Donald Trump’s much-delayed Middle East peace plan in January was a nakedly political bid to boost Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of re-election. After the conclusion of a “unity government” agreement last week, Netanyahu is guaranteed at least another 18 months as Israel’s prime minister. In that period, he appears determined Read more…
Israel is engulfed in a constitutional crisis following an effort by the speaker of the Knesset to effectively shutter the country’s parliament and prevent a vote on his replacement. Yuli Edelstein, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, has defied a ruling by the Supreme Court which ordered him to Read more…
Opposition leader Benny Gantz was officially charged yesterday with the task of forming Israel’s next government after a roller-coaster weekend of political manoeuvring. It came against the backdrop of the country in a virtual lockdown as dramatic measures to counter the coronavirus were taken by Benjamin Netanyahu’s caretaker government. Gantz, Read more…