Sep 7 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel launched airstrikes on what it said was a Hamas military site in the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday, after incendiary balloons were sent into Israeli territory, the army said. Israeli forces, meanwhile, searched for six Palestinian prisoners who had escaped from a high-security facility in the biggest prison break […]
Sep 6 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel launched a massive manhunt in the country's north and the occupied West Bank early Monday after six Palestinian prisoners tunneled out of their cell and escaped overnight from a high-security facility in an extremely rare breakout. The escape marks an embarrassing security breach just ahead of the Jewish New […]
Aug 18 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Joe Biden has invited Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to Washington next week to discuss Iran as well as Israel's relationship with the Palestinians, the White House said Wednesday. The long-expected visit with Israel's new prime minister will take place Aug. 26 amid tensions with the Islamic Republic and Israel's […]
Aug 8 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel's prime minister said Sunday he holds the Lebanese government responsible for rocket fire launched from its territory, whether the Hezbollah militant group launched the weapons or not. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's comments came days after one of the heaviest flareups in violence between Israel and Hezbollah in several years […]
Aug 5 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel's defense minister warned Thursday that his country is prepared to strike Iran, issuing the threat against the Islamic Republic after a fatal drone strike on a oil tanker at sea that his nation blamed on Tehran. The comments by Benny Gantz come as Israel lobbies countries for action at […]
Jul 19 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is not changing the norms at a contested site in Jerusalem to allow Jewish prayer there, his office said Monday, walking back comments that sparked angry reactions a day earlier. Bennett, Israel's new premier, had raised concerns on Sunday when he said Israel was committed to protecting […]
Jul 7 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Wednesday demolished the Bedouin herding community of Khirbet Humsu in the occupied West Bank, the latest chapter in the military's attempts to uproot the Palestinian village of makeshift homes. At least 65 people, including 35 children, were displaced, said Christopher Holt of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of […]
Jul 6 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s parliament early on Tuesday failed to renew a law that bars Arab citizens from extending citizenship or residency rights to spouses from the occupied West Bank and Gaza, in a tight vote that raised doubts about the viability of the country’s new coalition government. The 59-59 vote, which came after an […]
Jul 6 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is sending 700,000 coronavirus vaccine doses to South Korea in exchange for a future shipment of vaccines from South Korea to Israel. Under the deal, Israel will transfer the Pfizer vaccines to South Korea in an effort to inoculate more of the Asian nation's citizens this month. South Korea will send […]
Jun 7 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police said Monday they blocked a planned procession by Jewish ultranationalists through parts of Jerusalem's Old City, following warnings that it could reignite tensions that led to a punishing 11-day war with Gaza's militant Hamas rulers last month. The parade, which celebrates Israel's capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast […]
Jun 3 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents pushed Thursday for a quick parliament vote to formally end his lengthy rule, hoping to head off any last-minute attempts to derail their newly announced coalition government. The latest political maneuvering began just hours after opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali […]
Jun 3 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — For months, Naftali Bennett vexed Israel's political establishment by refusing to say whether he and his Yamina party would get behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now the 49-year-old tech millionaire and former Netanyahu protege is poised to become his successor. His rise to Israel's top job is a historic turn […]
Jun 1 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he's prepared to risk tension with the U.S. if that is what it takes to neutralize Iran's nuclear capabilities. The embattled premier, whose political future is in question just 11 days out from a bruising war, said Israel's biggest threat remains the possibility […]
May 31 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday accused President Joe Biden of being soft on Israel's foes and inviting further violence during a deadly 11-day war that left Israelis rattled and turned parts of the Gaza Strip to rubble. One of four prominent Republicans in Israel in the conflict's aftermath, Cruz told The […]
Mar 19 2021 — Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press — TEL AVIV, Israel — In years of going against Israel’s religious and political mainstream, Rabbi Gilad Kariv has learned to handle conflict. He has argued controversial civil rights cases before Israel’s Supreme Court. And as an activist, he has lobbied at the Knesset, the 120-seat parliament for a country facing its fourth election in two […]