Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin has acknowledged in private conversations that no attention is currently being given in Washington to Israeli plans to annex up to 30 percent of the West Bank, according to a Tuesday Army Radio report.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has expressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is concerned about Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank, the Jerusalem Post reports. In a phone call Tuesday, Johnson said annexation would hinder the prospect of peace in the region and asked the Israeli PM to return to negotiations with the Palestinians.
A new poll shows that if Israeli elections were held today, the Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would remain the most popular party, with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party trailing in fourth place, Israel News reported.
The poll conducted by Professor Yitzhak Katz of Maagar Mochot for 103 FM Radio showed Likud would win 38 seats, Yesh Atid-Telem 17 seats, the Joint Arab List 15 seats, and Blue and White 10 seats.
A confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the premier’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank would not start on Wednesday, the original target date.
The Knesset on Wednesday passed legislation authorizing the Shin Bet security service to use controversial phone surveillance measures to help track down potential coronavirus carriers for a three-week period.
Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip have called for a “day of popular rage” on Wednesday to protest Israel’s plan to apply its sovereignty to parts of the West Bank.
In a recorded address to the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Virtual Summit 2020 on Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted the application of Israeli law to areas of Judea and Samaria—part of the “Peace to Prosperity” plan unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump in January.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Christian supporters of Israel in the US on Sunday in a video message during an annual conference of Christians United for Israel, an evangelical organization with millions of members in the United States.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates are set to join forces in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jerusalem Post reports. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the partnership in a statement on Thursday, saying the decision to cooperate had come after months of intense negotiation.
The cabinet and the Knesset voted on Wednesday to advance legislation that would enable the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to use its digital tools to track coronavirus patients. The bill passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum by a vote of 44 to 33, but still must pass additional readings in a Knesset committee and the plenum next week in order to become law.
Hope but also frustration and uncertainty marked the world’s efforts Sunday to deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. officials will gather this week to discuss whether to give Israel a green light for its plan to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s target date of July 1 approaches.
The Israeli government’s ad hoc “Corona Cabinet” approved on Monday several new measures to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has begun to realize that Iran is lying about its nuclear ambitions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the opening of Sunday’s cabinet meeting.
Even the most contentious disagreements in previous governments – including coalitions that comprised Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked – didn’t prepare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the miseries of this current government. The combination of an equal share unity government with deadbeats such as Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, his dominant deputy with an independent agenda in the form of Gabi Ashkenazi, and a cohort of inexperienced Knesset members who haven’t graduated political boot camp yet, spurred Netanyahu to utter the word “election” more than once this week in closed-door conversations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told various officials over the past few days that he is considering a two-stage plan to implement Israel’s declaration of sovereignty in the Jordan Valley parts of Judea and Samaria.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday that Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank would “amount to a breach of international law.”
Israel has started construction of a major ring road that will connect Jewish settlements in the West Bank to Jerusalem, Reuters reported exclusively Monday. Israeli officials say the road will ease traffic congestion and will benefit Palestinian West Bank residents as well as Israelis. Palestinians have criticized the road as a hindrance to making East Jerusalem the capital of a future state and for cutting Palestinian neighborhoods off from each other.
Just over two weeks before a possible Israeli annexation of some as-yet unspecified portion of the West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces is preparing for a wide range of scenarios for potential regional fallout — up to and including a large-scale wave of terror attacks — while still not being told exactly what the government has in mind.
Given Palestinian rejection of the Trump peace plan, the US may support Israel in the unilateral annexation of a few settlement blocs in the West Bank, World Israel News (WIN) reported Thursday. Under the Israeli coalition government agreement, Prime Minister Netanyahu can ask the Knesset to vote on annexation proposals starting July 1. However, the agreement stipulates that any such proposal must have US backing.