Russia and China have started making the case at the United Nations against Washington’s claim that it can trigger a return of all sanctions on Iran at the Security Council, with Moscow invoking a 50-year-old international legal opinion to argue against the move.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed concern Wednesday about ongoing beheadings and other abuses of Christians and other faith groups in several nations.
As Israel sees a spike in COVID-19 cases following the easing of lockdown restrictions, government leaders began to debate a controversial new bill Tuesday that would give the executive branch wide-ranging emergency powers to manage the virus outbreak, CBN News reported. The bill must first be approved by a special COVID-19 government committee before going on to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and to the Knesset for approval.
A former police chief of Dubai has controversially called for all Arab states to normalize relations with Israel. On Twitter this weekend, Khalfan Tamim said: “Israel wants long-term peace and security. I support that.” Moreover, Tamim said: “From the moment that the Gulf States normalize their ties with Israel, Qatar’s job as a proxy state for terror organizations will end,” Israel Hayom reported.
Protests, sometimes marred by violence, continue in Europe and elsewhere against perceived racist police brutality following the recent death of the unarmed black man George Floyd in U.S. police custody. The London police chief on Sunday condemned assaults the previous day against police in which at least fourteen police were reportedly injured.
American Christians prepare to worship amid concerns about damaged churches after U.S. President Donald Trump urged more prayers for America.
A former national security adviser to Israeli PM Netanyahu, says Iran’s failed cyber- attack on Israel’s water supply in April represents a new phase of Iranian aggression, World Israel News (WIN) reported. The Iranian attack sought to cause computers to add too much chlorine to Israel’s water supply. An official source told the Financial Times that the attack was almost successful.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, reports that Bible translators and their families in remote and poverty-stricken areas are facing starvation due to food shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is highly unlikely the US will approve Israeli advancement of plans to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank on July 1, a well-placed source told the Times of Israel (TOI) Wednesday. A central condition of US approval is that a joint US-Israel mapping committee must conclude its work on delineating the exact borders of the territory Israel would annex. According to the TOI source, it could take the committee weeks, if not months, to complete this task.
There have been numerous reports of journalists suffering attacks from both protestors and police while covering US riots sparked by the police killing of George Floyd. According to Reuters, there have been some two dozen attacks on members of the press by police. Documenting some 60 cases of attacks, arrests, or harassment of journalists, Radio Television Digital News Association reported many of the recorded incidents were by protestors as well.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have been reportedly engaged in secret talks since last December, through American mediation, over including Saudi representatives in the Islamic Waqf Council at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This development has been taking place against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s deal of the century, and the plan to apply Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and the large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria.
U.S. President Donald Trump has visited the 200-year-old church near the White House that was set on fire by protestors over the weekend after warning he may deploy the military to end days of rioting and looting across the nation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called state governors “weak” amid ongoing riots rocking American cities, prompting thousands of arrests.
“Remember … Ambassador, you’re not talking to a diplomat, you’re talking to a soldier.” When President Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said those words to then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, he also spoke to American intelligence agents listening in on the call. For three years, congressional Democrats have assured us Flynn’s calls to Kislyak were so disturbing that they set off alarms in the closing days of the Obama administration.
Britain, France, and Germany issued a joint statement Saturday in which they expressed “regret” about the United States’ decision to end sanctions waivers for Iranian civilian nuclear projects intended to prevent weapons development.
On Thursday, China’s legislature passed national security, anti-sedition laws that will affect Hong Kong in such a way as to suppress protests against the central government. In anticipation of the widely publicized move, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that Hong Kong “does not continue to warrant” special US treatment as compared to mainland China.
In response to Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank, on Wednesday Palestinian leaders reconfirmed their decision to terminate all agreements and security cooperation with the Israeli and US governments, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The head of the Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah on Tuesday rejected a US request to empower a UN peacekeeping force patrolling the border with Israel.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) warned Israel on Wednesday of “serious consequences,” if the Jewish state continues its attempts to annex parts of the West Bank and Jordan Valley. “There would be consequences for this measure on the economic and political Palestinian-Israeli relationship,” said PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday issued an executive order requiring the implementation of a law passed last week that bars any cooperation with Israel, including the use of Israeli software and hardware.