Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday expressed support for a direct election for the premier as a way of ending Israel’s two-year cycle of inconclusive elections and to prevent a potential fifth national vote since April 2019.

Washington has informed Jerusalem of its displeasure over recent attacks against Iranian targets attributed to Israel, as well as what it called “boasting” by Israel regarding these incidents, sources said.

Israel and Greece have signed their biggest-ever defense procurement deal, which Israel said on Sunday would strengthen political and economic ties between the countries.

A new effort to reintroduce direct elections for prime minister is reportedly being advanced by right-wing party leaders in a bid to break the political logjam, block Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid’s path to the premiership, and prevent a fifth consecutive Knesset election.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday urged the Biden administration to revoke a US law that deems the Palestinian Liberation Organization and its affiliates a terror group.

Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers attended the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, in the largest such gathering since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The Israeli military struck targets in the Gaza Strip early Friday, hours after Palestinian terrorists in the coastal enclave fired a rocket at southern Israel.

Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror came to an end on Wednesday evening with sadness giving way to joy in a state ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem to mark the start of the country’s Independence Day.

The Biden administration stressed its commitment to preventing a nuclear-armed Iran during a strategic meeting with Israeli officials on Tuesday, as Middle East tensions rose and Iran announced it was stepping up uranium enrichment to unprecedented levels.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday hosted Yamina party chief Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem for the second day in a row, after the former interim Defense Minister said his faction would throw its support in forming a right-wing government with Likud.

Iran’s foreign minister on Monday blamed Israel for a power failure that reportedly caused massive damage to the Natanz nuclear facility, vowing to “take revenge on the Zionists” and to replace damaged centrifuges at the site with even better ones.

Hosting US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at his office in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel and the US agree on never allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that “The struggle against Iran and its proxies and the Iranian armament efforts is a huge mission.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin completely omitted the Iranian issue during his press conference with Defense Minister Benny Gantz in Israel on Sunday.

The Palestinians are optimistic regarding the prospects of reviving the peace process with Israel in light of the US administration’s renewed commitment to the two-state solution, a senior Palestinian official, said on Saturday.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Israel, Germany, Britain and the NATO headquarters in Belgium in the coming week for talks with government and military leaders, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday promised to press for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as he restored aid to the Palestinians.

Following the Trump administration’s almost total freeze on aid to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (which supports Palestinians living in refugee camps), the US government announced Wednesday that it is officially resuming $150 million in economic aid to UNRWA.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday said Israel would take military action anywhere there was a threat against it, after an American official attributed a mine attack on an Iranian ship in the Red Sea the previous day to Israeli naval commandos.

Israel carried out airstrikes in Syria after midnight Wednesday attacking targets near Damascus and wounding four soldiers, Syrian state media reported, in the latest in a series of raids attributed to the Jewish state.