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Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the president to grant him a pardon during his long-running corruption trial that's bitterly divided the country. In a statement on Sunday, the prime minister's office said that Netanyahu had submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the Office of the President. The Office of the President called it an extraordinary request, carrying with it significant implications. Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases, accusing him of exchanging favours with wealthy political supporters. He has not yet been convicted of anything. The request comes weeks after US President Donald Trump urged Israel to pardon Netanyahu.
Israel's prime minister toughened his stance Wednesday by declaring that his country is in charge of its own security and isn't an American protectorate as he prepared to discuss progress on Gaza's fragile ceasefire agreement with US Vice President JD Vance. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks ahead of his meeting with Vance appeared aimed easing public concerns that the presence of an envisioned international security force in Gaza could limit Israel's ability to strike in the devastated territory to thwart future threats. We are not a protectorate of the United States. Israel is the one that will decide on its security, Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office as he headed into the meeting. Speaking to reporters before the meeting's start, Vance acknowledged that the road to peace is strewn with huge hurdles but at the same time tried to maintain the buoyant tone he sounded Tuesday on his arrival to Israel. "We have a very, very tough task ahead of us, which is
Israel has completed the identification of the bodies of two more hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Wednesday, as US Vice President JD Vance sounded a buoyant note about progress in Gaza's fragile ceasefire during a visit to Israel. Authorities identified the deceased hostages as Arie Zalmanovich and Tamir Adar. Their bodies were transported in coffins by the Red Cross and handed over to the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. A military ceremony attended by the chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces was planned for later in the day, Netanyahu's office said. The two were killed in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants, which triggered the two-year war. Since the ceasefire began on October 10, the remains of 15 hostages have been returned to Israel. Another 13 still need to be recovered in Gaza and handed over, a key element to the ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, the burial of more than 50 Palestinians is set for Wednesday at
An Israeli airstrike targeting the top leaders of Yemen's Houthi rebels in August killed the chief of staff of its military, officials said on Thursday, further escalating tensions between the group and Israel even as a ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have acknowledged the killing of Maj. Gen. Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari, who had been sanctioned by the United Nations over his role in the country's decadelong war. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said al-Ghamari died of wounds he suffered in the attack and had joined "his fellow members of the axis of evil in the depths of hell". Katz referred to the strike as "the strike of the firstborn", likely a reference to a series of strikes Israel conducted on August 28. That attack killed Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi and others. However, analysts suggested al-Ghamari may have been wounded in a different attack targeting the secretive group. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also acknowledged Israel killing ..
President Donald Trump is declaring Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip over and has already barrelled ahead toward far larger goals arguing that the fragile ceasefire his administration helped broker is a chance to bring a lasting peace to the greater Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is equally exuberant about the present, but far more measured in his assessments going forward. He's characterised the deal, which is still in its early stages, as a proposal to free hostages and end the war while also saying that his country used two years of often brutal war in Gaza to showcase its military might. The pair seemingly offering strikingly different perspectives about the prospects for future peace is noteworthy given just how much each lavished the other with praise during speeches before the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on Monday. But it also reflects just how different the political and diplomatic stakes may be for each leader going forward. That's ...
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcoming the agreement on the first phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan for West Asia, the Congress on Thursday termed as "shameful and morally atrocious" the prime minister's "unqualified praise" for Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and slammed his "silence" on the future of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine. Congress general secretary in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh, also said that Modi said nothing on the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. "The prime Minister has welcomed the new developments regarding Gaza and hailed President Trump. That eagerness to do so is not surprising. But what is shocking, shameful, and morally atrocious is Mr Modi's unqualified praise for the Israeli PM Mr Netanyahu - who has unleashed a genocide in Gaza over the past twenty months," Ramesh said. "Mr Modi has also maintained a total silence on the future of an independent, sovereign state of Palesti