Secretive British street artist Banksy’s hotel next to Israel’s controversial separation wall was due to welcome its first customers Monday, two weeks after its surprise launch. The Walled-Off Hotel in Bethlehem is only four metres (yards) from the controversial wall which cuts through the occupied West Bank, and all the rooms face it. The nine … Read more
A man has been shot dead after grabbing a soldier’s gun at Orly airport in Paris, French officials say. He was killed by the security forces in a shop after seizing the weapon in the airport’s southern terminal. The airport has been shut down after what the authorities said was an extremely serious incident and … Read more
Israel saw a soap-opera-like spectacle Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified in court to deny a claim his wife had kicked him out of the car during a fight. “It didn’t happen,” Netanyahu said at the court in Tel Aviv, where he and his wife entered under tight security to testify in their defamation … Read more
US President Donald Trump’s administration waded into the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Tuesday as one of his top advisers held his first meeting with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. After five hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday night, Jason Greenblatt met Abbas in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. … Read more
US President Donald Trump’s administration waded into the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Tuesday with one of his top advisers set to hold his first meeting with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. After five hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday night, Jason Greenblatt was to meet Abbas in Ramallah in … Read more
An elderly man burnt a nurse alive at a clinic in central Israel on Tuesday after apparently being dissatisfied by the treatment he had received, police said. The suspect, in his late 70s, fled the scene in his car after the incident in Holon, southeast of Tel Aviv, but was later arrested, police said. The … Read more
A British activist who advocates boycotting Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territory has been denied entry to the country, authorities said Monday. Hugh Lanning, head of the London-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was denied entry on Sunday night at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv over his “ongoing actions to promote boycotts against Israel,” a … Read more
An imprisoned Palestinian journalist ended a 32-day hunger strike on Friday after receiving assurances Israel would not extend his detention without trial next month, his wife and lawyer said. It will be the second time within a year that 34-year-old Mohammed al-Qiq, who works for the Saudi television channel Al-Majd, has been released by Israel … Read more
An Israeli military court on Tuesday sentenced a soldier to 18 months in prison for shooting dead a wounded Palestinian assailant who lay on the ground, sparking criticism from rights groups. Defence lawyers announced an appeal and right-wing Israeli ministers immediately called for a pardon, while the Palestinian government and the victim’s family condemned the … Read more
An Israeli military court on Tuesday sentenced a soldier to 18 months in prison for shooting dead a wounded Palestinian assailant who lay on the ground, sparking criticism from rights groups. Defence lawyers announced an appeal and right-wing Israeli ministers immediately called for a pardon, while the Palestinian government and the victim’s family condemned the … Read more
Elor Azaria shot and killed Abed al-Fattah al-Sharif as he lay on the ground incapacitated after being gunned down. An Israeli soldier who shot and killed a wounded Palestinian, who was incapaciated having already been gunned down, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for manslaughter. A military court in Tel Aviv delivered the … Read more
Israel’s Shin Bet security service said on Monday it had arrested an Arab Israeli on suspicion of aiding the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group and plotting attacks in the Jewish state. Its agents and police had arrested Anas Haj Yahya, 35, from the northern town of Taibe, on January 29 “in the wake of intelligence … Read more
The culture clash in “Bar Bahar” starts off when Nur, a veiled and conservative Muslim, moves into a flat with two other Arab Israeli women and sees their drug-taking, party-going lives. But for its director, the real shock of the film, which opened last month in Israel, has been the controversy it has whipped up, … Read more
US President Donald Trump has dropped decades of US policy insisting on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At a news conference with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Trump promised to deliver a “great” peace deal, but said both sides must compromise. The Israelis and Palestinians have had no substantive peace talks since 2014. … Read more
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was open to a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if it is acceptable to both sides while urging Israel to hold back on settlement construction “for a little bit.” “I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy … Read more
A replica of Russian Queen Catherine the Great’s imperial crown stole the show at this week’s Israeli diamond market in Ramat Gan, as the industry eyes a recovery. Set with 11,352 diamonds, Catherine II’s crown took pride of place at the entrance to an enormous hall on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, as hundreds of … Read more
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, preparing for his first meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, will work with advisers on Tuesday to align Israeli and U. S. thinking on the Middle East and ensure “no gaps” remain. Staff have cleared most of Tuesday for discussions with Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron … Read more
President Donald Trump has said he might move America’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting Washington Wednesday, here is why the issue is so controversial. Why do both sides see Jerusalem as their capital? Jews argue that Jerusalem has been their capital for 3,000 years, citing religious and historical connections. … Read more
It might have sounded the death knell for an already moribund Middle East peace process, but Donald Trump seems to have delayed plans to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. The new US president campaigned for office on a long-standing Washington plan to move its main mission to Israel to the city that remains the … Read more
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who warmly welcomed Donald Trump’s election as US president, will visit the White House Wednesday to test his supportive campaign pledges against emerging policy. Since taking office, Trump has edged away from unqualified backing for Netanyahu’s drive for more Jewish settlement in territory the Palestinians claim for a state, and … Read more