Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday called a criminal indictment against him an attempt at a ‘government coup’ and he will continue to ‘lead Israel.’ It is the first time in the country’s history a sitting prime minister has been charged with a crime.

President Reuven Rivlin tasked the Knesset with forming a coalition government in an unprecedented move for the Israeli political process Thursday.

Prominent evangelical leaders are celebrating President Trump’s decision to recognize Israeli West Bank settlements as legal, a determination that reversed decades of official U.S. policy left in place by Democratic and Republican presidents.

Negotiations following Israeli elections in September have still not produced any clear leadership.

United Nations Security Council members decried a United States policy shift on Israeli settlements on Wednesday during a meeting where they discussed recent developments in the Middle East, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement two days before.

The Arab League said it will hold an urgent meeting Monday on the US announcement that it no longer considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz on Wednesday night informed President Reuven Rivlin he had failed to form a governing coalition, paving the way to a shocking third round of elections in under a year.

The Israeli military says it has struck Iranian targets in Syria in what it said was retaliation for rockets fired on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights region.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his approval on Tuesday to advance a bill that would have Israel apply sovereignty to the Jordan Valley, after the US State Department reversed its stance of viewing Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria as illegal.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group on Tuesday condemned the US announcement that it no longer necessarily views Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party chief Benny Gantz were set to meet Tuesday evening, as multiple reports said the leaders were having serious negotiations for the first time since the September elections amid intense efforts to form a unity government.

A spokesperson for the IDF says that IAF fighter jets performed targeted airstrikes on dozens of military targets belonging to the Iranian Quds Force (IRGC) and the Syrian army on Tuesday night in Syria. The targets included air-to-ground missiles, headquarters, IDF warehouses, and military bases.

In another major reversal of the Obama administration’s policies on the Mideast dispute, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday the U.S. will no longer view the existence of Israeli communities (‘settlements’) in disputed territory as inherently illegal under international law, unleashing a wave of reaction, both positive and negative.

A Blue and White-led government would enact sweeping religion and state reforms, including easing the state-recognized process of converting to Judaism and legalizing civil marriages, according to a leaked document published Monday.

The Israel Defense Forces on Monday launched a two-day surprise military exercise in northern Israel, the army said.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired a new kind of rocket at Israel with a massive 300 kilogram (660 lb) warhead that left a huge crater where it exploded in southern Israel, Channel 12 reported Friday.

Terrorists in Gaza rained down hundreds of rockets on Israeli civilians over the last week, sending entire cities to their bomb shelters. In response, Israel pounded terror targets in the Gaza Strip with deadly airstrikes.

The UN gave its preliminary approval to a resolution that referred to the Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of Haram al-Sharif.

The chances of Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz forming a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are slim, but Gantz is also unlikely to establish a minority government supported by the Joint List even though his bloc has not ruled it out, sources in the faction said on Sunday.

Cyprus announced last week that it signed its first-ever natural gas exploitation deal for the Aphrodite gas field, saying it chose a consortium comprising Israel’s Delek, industry giant Shell, US-based Noble.