Israel News

After four years of work, the Israel Defense Forces has completed the sophisticated new underground barrier on the Gaza border which is used to detect and prevent tunnel-digging by terror groups into Israeli territory.

Answering questions from his audience on Zoom at a Likud event on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of two reasons four Arab states normalized ties with Israel in the past year, and more want to join them: the economic advantages of cooperating, and shared security aims.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Thursday said the Israel Defense Forces is continuously updating its plans for a prospective military strike on Iranian nuclear sites.

Israel has identified the ship that recently caused a massive Mediterranean oil spill that has been described as the worst environmental disaster to affect Israeli beaches in decades, the Times of Israel reports. No details about the ship were given.

The Biden administration opposes and is disappointed with the decision by the International Criminal Court to pursue an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said on Tuesday that Israel and the United States have agreed that neither nation will make decisions pertaining to Iran and the Iran nuclear deal without informing the other first.

Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have discussed expanding cooperation in facing common enemies, an Israeli official familiar with the matter said Monday.

The High Court of Justice handed down a landmark decision on Monday after 15 years of deliberations on the hot-button issue of non-Orthodox conversion, ruling that the state could no longer abide by only one stream when it comes to the immigration of Jews under the Law of Return.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has pointed a finger at the Iranian regime after an Israeli-owned cargo vessel was damaged in an explosion near the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, an incident recalling a series of maritime blasts in the region in 2019 which the U.S. blamed on Iran.

The environmental organization Greenpeace on Sunday published images from the European Sentinel satellite showing 12 apparent oil slicks at various distances from Israel’s shores in the days before a storm washed tons of tar onto 160 kilometers (99 miles) of Israel’s coastline.

“We’ll be done with the vaccinations in March, the beginning of April. That’s for the adult population. Then “Then, vaccines for children will start arriving,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells Israel Hayom’s political supplement in a special weekend interview.

The Israel Democracy Institute on Sunday challenged Israel’s coronavirus restrictions on entry to the country that have left thousands of Israelis stranded abroad, saying they constitute an extreme erosion of rights that could infringe on citizens’ rights to vote in the March 23 elections.

Israeli health officials on Thursday approved a measure to electronically tag arrivals from abroad, which will go in effect next week, in order to ensure coronavirus quarantine regulations are observed.

“If Hezbollah crosses a quantitative or qualitative threshold for precision weapons, we will have to act against it. This is a serious decision, but one from which we cannot run away,” said Lt. Col. Eran Niv, the head of the IDF’s Warfare Methods and Innovation Division.

A secretive Israeli nuclear facility at the center of the nation’s undeclared nuclear weapons program is undergoing what appears to be its biggest construction project in decades, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone Wednesday and discussed, among other issues, a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ynet News reports.

Jerusalem and Washington will launch strategic discussions on Iran in the coming days that will focus on the two nations’ intelligence on the Iranian nuclear program, according to a Wednesday report.

Israel’s Health Ministry rolled out its “green passport” program requiring that citizens show their green badge in order to enter places such as registered gyms, swimming pools, hotels, theaters, places of worship and concerts. Restaurants and bars are expected to join the program in March.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a special statement from Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer ahead of Purim, in which he also listed the five stages until the full opening of the economy after the closure.

The Knesset gave final approval on Wednesday to controversial legislation allowing the Health Ministry to give local authorities personal details of residents who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.