Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz have agreed to impose a third national lockdown to curb a surge in new COVID-19 infections, Israeli television reported Tuesday.

Over 100 doctors in Israel have signed a letter of protest against the government’s COVID-19 lockdowns and its alternative restrictions such as the closure of schools, the Times of Israel (TOI) reported Sunday. The physicians’ protest was made as the number of daily coronavirus cases in Israel surged to nearly 3,000 Tuesday through Friday last week, and as a new wave of restrictions looked likely.

Israel’s COVID-19 cabinet approved a decision Monday to ban all foreigners, including those with current visas, from entering the country starting December 23, the Jerusalem Post reports. Aimed at slowing Israel’s current surge in coronavirus cases, the ban will be in place for at least 10 days, with the option to extend as needed.

Israel is progressing with moves to legalize recreational marijuana in the next few months, while its burgeoning cannabis industry looks to expand its manufacturing, production and export capabilities, Ynet News reports.

A bill proposed to avoid Knesset dispersal and the fourth elections over the last two years has failed to pass on Monday night, sealing Israel’s fate.

Yamina leader Naftali Bennett said Monday that his goal was to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and would not support legislative efforts to help the premier avoid his corruption charges.

The Knesset overnight Monday-Tuesday narrowly rejected a bill that would have deferred a Tuesday midnight deadline for passing the 2020 state budget, and thus set Israel on an almost certain course to its fourth general election in two years.

An Israeli submarine openly crossed the Suez Canal last week, in a show of force against Iran, the Kan public broadcaster reported Monday night.

The Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Jordan on Saturday stressed the need to urge Israel to return to negotiations in order to reach a final settlement on the basis of a two-state solution to ensure the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines, with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Church leaders and local authorities say they are preparing Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, the Biblical birthplace of Jesus, despite a reported increase in coronavirus cases. “Bethlehem is going to celebrate Christmas. And Christmas will not be canceled,” pledged Mayor Anton Salman.

Israel will be the first country to give its citizens a “green passport” — a card or mobile phone app that will allow them to enter public spaces like restaurants, shopping centers, and airplanes – once they have received the COVID-19 vaccination, All Israel News reports.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Monday that archaeologists working in the Judean Hills city of Beit Shemesh have unearthed a lost cistern containing hundreds of ceramic oil lamps that are 1,600-1,700 years old, the Times of Israel reports.

Israel’s head of missile defense said Tuesday that he would consider working with Arab Gulf states on mutually beneficial missile defense programs, World Israel News reports.

Jerusalem must remain a united city, but there will be a place for a Palestinian capital within its boundaries, Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a rare interview published on Thursday with the London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.

Yisrael Beiteinu leader MK Avigdor Lieberman called on fellow opposition lawmakers to join forces and challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ultra-Orthodox allies in the upcoming elections.

The Israel Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency for the first time demonstrated a multilayered air defense system using the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow weapon systems in a recent series of tests.

Israel has successfully completed an air defense exercise that tested the abilities of the Iron Dome missile defense system to intercept cruise missiles for the first time, the Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday.

The US is making a mistake by leaving the Middle East to its own devices and this could lead to a conflagration between Israel and Iran, wrote former Turkish MP Aykan Erdemir and former US Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman in an article for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Hamas vowed on Monday to continue the fight against Israel “until the liberation of Palestine, from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River.”

Oman and Indonesia could be next in line to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in the coming weeks, a diplomatic source said Sunday.