Benjamin Nethanyu

The Israeli military struck targets in the Gaza Strip while Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets rockets into southern Israel early Friday, with the region edging closer toward war following two days of unrest at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site and a rare rocket attack from neighbouring Lebanon. The fighting comes during a delicate time when Jews are celebrating the Passover holiday and Muslims are marking the Ramadan holy month. Similar tensions spilled over into an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers in 2021. The current round of violence began Wednesday after Israeli police twice raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. That led Thursday to rocket fire from Gaza and, in a significant escalation, an unusual barrage of nearly three dozen rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Security Cabinet late Thursday, the military struck what it said were four sites in Gaza belonging to ...

President Joe Biden spoke Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express concern over his government's planned overhaul of the country's judicial system that has sparked widespread protests across Israel and to encourage compromise. The White House said Biden reiterated U.S. concerns about the measure to roll back the judiciary's insulation from the country's political system, in a call a senior administration official described as candid and constructive. There was no immediate indication that Netanyahu was shying away from the action, after rejecting a compromise last week offered by the country's figurehead president. Netanyahu said Sunday the legal changes would be carried out responsibly while protecting the basic rights of all Israelis. His government the country's most right-wing ever says the overhaul is meant to correct an imbalance that has given the courts too much power and prevented lawmakers from carrying out the voting public's will. Critics say it

More than 90 countries have expressed deep concern at Israel's punitive measures against the Palestinian people, leadership and civil society following a UN request for an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice on the legality of Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. In a statement released Monday by the Palestinians, the signatories called for a reversal of the Israeli measures, saying regardless of their position on the General Assembly's resolution, we reject punitive measures in response to a request for an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice. The 193-member General Assembly voted 87-26 with 53 abstentions on December 30 in favour of the resolution which was promoted by the Palestinians and opposed vehemently by Israel. Even though rulings by the International Court of Justice are not legally binding, they can be influential on world opinion. Israel's new hardline government responded on January 6, approving steps to ..

If all goes according to plan, Israel will swear in a new government on Sunday

Israel is holding fourth election in two years, the product of protracted political deadlock and disagreement over longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu's fitness to rule while facing corruption charges

The attorney general will now decide whether to bring indictments in a case, which centres on regulatory benefits allegedly granted to a telecommunications firm.