Page 145 - Israel

India to buy 31 Predator drones from US for $3.5 bn; all you need to know

These drones can operate at heights up to 50,000 feet for over 27 hours with a payload capacity of 1,746 kg

Israeli PM Netanyahu says he's opposed to any interim US-Iran nuclear deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he opposes any interim agreement reportedly being negotiated between the US and Iran over its nuclear programme. Netanyahu spoke after reports in Israeli media said understandings are being reached between Washington and Tehran that would seek to hold back Iran's nuclear programme somewhat, in exchange for some sanctions relief. The reports could not be independently confirmed and the U.S. has publicly denied any such deal. Netanyahu said Israel had informed the U.S. that the most limited understandings, what are termed mini-agreements', do not in our view serve the goal and we are opposed to them as well. Israeli officials believe some understandings have already been reached limiting enrichment and that some funds have already been unfrozen. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a confidential diplomatic assessment. The Israeli news site Walla last week reported that under the emer

Crime within Palestinian minority reaches new heights under Netanyahu govt

A relentless wave of violent crime within Israel's Palestinian minority is turning cities and towns into bloody battlefields, exasperating a community feeling increasingly forsaken by Israeli authorities. Anger over the mounting insecurity is directed at Israel's government and its ultranationalist minister in charge of police, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Critics say that with his history of anti-Arab rhetoric, he cannot be trusted to combat the rising scourge. The skyrocketing violence lays bare the deep inequities in Israeli society, with Arabs facing years of discrimination that activists say laid the groundwork for the unabating bloodshed. More than 100 people have been killed in violent crime in Arab communities this year, nearly three times higher than at the same time last year, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a group that promotes Jewish-Arab coexistence and safe communities. It also is more than three times the murder rate in the majority Jewish sector, according to official ..

Israel's judicial reform could prompt hi-tech cos to relocate abroad: IMF

A report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautioned that the uncertainty caused by the Israeli government-proposed judicial reform could prompt Israeli hi-tech companies to relocate abroad

Israeli Oppn leaders freeze settlement talks on Netanyahu's overhaul

Israeli opposition leaders have announced that they had suspended the negotiations on settling a controversial judicial overhaul spearheaded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel's export of military equipment hits record high of $12.55 bn in 2022

Some 120 Israeli companies signed "hundreds" of new sales deals in 2022, with about half of them valued at over $100 million, according to the statement

Israel's former prime minister testifies at Netanyahu's corruption trial

Israel's opposition leader testified for the prosecution on Monday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his corruption trial in Jerusalem. Yair Lapid, a former prime minister himself and a major Netanyahu rival, is testifying in one of three cases against Netanyahu. The indictment claims Netanyahu used his position of power to further Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan's interests in exhange for gifts, representing a conflict between the premier's public duties and personal friendship. Netanyahu did personal favors for Milchan, including asking US officials to extend Milchan's US resident's permit and extending Israeli regulations exempting Israeli returnees from declaring foreign income, according to the indictment. Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader, denies claims of wrongdoing, saying he was not acting in Milchan's personal interests and even occasionally acted against them. He says the exchanges of gifts were just friendly gestures. Milchan is expected to testify in

Israel's new challenges

Civilian control of West Bank seals Palestine's fate

Israel poised to release world's first digital government bond: TASE

The initiative, known as Project Eden, also introduced a digital Payment Token as a fundamental component of the settlement process

Israeli troops fire tear gas to disperse protesters along Lebanon border

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas to disperse scores of protesters who pelted the troops with stones along the border with Lebanon Friday, leaving some Lebanese demonstrators and troops suffering breathing problems. The tension on the edge of the Lebanese border village of Kfar Chouba began earlier this week over the Israeli military digging in the area that Lebanon claims. On Wednesday, a Lebanese villager tried to stop an Israeli bulldozer from digging a trench along the border. Once the villager's legs were covered with sand as the bulldozer moved ahead, U.N. peacekeepers jumped in and convinced the driver to move back. Videos of the elderly man with his legs stuck in the sand dune went viral on social media. Israel ended an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon when its troops withdrew from the area in May 2000. Friday's protest took place on the edge of Kfar Chouba hills, which Beirut says is Lebanese land occupied by Israel. Kfar Chouba hills and the nearby Chebaa Farms, ar

OpenAI CEO sees 'huge' Israeli role in reducing risks from AI technology

Altman is one of the tech world's most prominent voices urging governments to rapidly come up with regulations to make sure AI is used responsibly

Netanyahu appoints new media advisor who has been critical of Biden: Report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a new media advisor who has tweeted critically against President Joe Biden, the daily Haaretz reported. The appointment comes at a time when US-Israel relations are strained. Gilad Zwick, a journalist with a conservative Israeli TV station, has in his tweets called Biden "unfit" to rule and said that he was "slowly but surely destroying America". He also posted tweets suggesting he supported President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 US election was rigged. At least one of the tweets that was live earlier was deleted later in the day. Zwick did not respond to a request for comment but tweeted on Monday in English that he was a private citizen when writing the posts about Biden. "I don't hold those views today and I will act in a completely professional manner in the prime minister's office," he said. Zwick had previously worked for Israel Hayom, a pro-Netanyahu daily. Netanyahu's office declined to comment. Zwick's

Israel's Netanyahu appoints a Joe Biden critic as new media advisor: Report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a new media advisor who has tweeted critically against President Joe Biden, the daily Haaretz reported. The appointment comes at a time when US-Israel relations are strained. Gilad Zwick, a journalist with a conservative Israeli TV station, has in his tweets called Biden "unfit" to rule and said that he was "slowly but surely destroying America." He also posted tweets suggesting he supported President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 US election was rigged. The tweets were still online on Monday. Both Netanyahu's office and Zwick did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Zwick previously worked for Israel Hayom, a pro-Netanyahu daily. Zwick's appointment comes as ties between Israel and its closest ally, the US, are fraught over a contentious Israeli government plan to overhaul the judiciary and over the government's ultranationalist character. Biden has publicly expressed concern over the Netanyahu ...

FIFA U20 WC: Debutants Israel knockout Brazil by 3-2 to enter semifinal

Israel will now play the winner of the match between USA and Uruguay in the semifinals

Sun Pharma proposes to acquire Israel-based Taro Pharmaceutical Industries

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries on Saturday said it has proposed to fully acquire Israel-based Taro Pharmaceutical Industries through a reverse triangular merger. The Mumbai-based drug major said it has issued a letter to the Taro board with a proposal containing a non-binding indication of interest to acquire all of the outstanding ordinary shares for a purchase price of USD 38 per ordinary share in cash. Sun Pharma currently owns a 78.48 per cent stake in Taro. "We envisage the proposed transaction to be consummated in the form of a reverse triangular merger under the Israeli Companies Law, 1999 and practice," Sun Pharma said in a regulatory filing. The purchase price represents a premium of 31.2 per cent over Taro's closing price on May 25, 2023, a 41.5 per cent premium over Taro's average closing price in the last 60 days and a compelling liquidity opportunity for Taro's shareholders, it added. Under the indicative proposal, post the acquisition, Taro will become a wholly-owned

New Iranian nuclear facility will not be immune from attack: Israeli NSA

The Israeli government's national security adviser on Tuesday said a new nuclear facility being built by Iran would not be immune from attack, despite assessments by experts it will be beyond the reach of last-ditch U.S. bunker-busting bombs. Tzachi Hanegbi made the comments in response to an Associated Press report that said the new facility appears to be as deep as 100 meters (328 feet) below ground. Hanegbi, speaking at a security conference near Tel Aviv, said he was not surprised by the report, noting that Iran has other underground facilities. While he acknowledged the location would complicate any potential military strike on the facility, he said there are still solutions to the challenge. What is possible to say about this matter is that there is no place that can't be reached, he said. He declined to say whether Israel had the ability to do this on its own. We hope we won't get to a situation where the solution to the story of a nuclear weapon in Iran is a kinetic soluti

Family with disabled children among Gaza's homeless after fight with Israel

When Najah Nabhan learned that her home was about to be bombed by Israel, she knew she had to get out quickly. What she didn't know was how she would get her four children with special needs out of the building in time. With the help of neighbours, her children, who are unable to walk on their own, were carried to safety. But the airstrike flattened the three-story building, leaving 42 members of Nabhan's extended family homeless and leaving her children without the wheelchairs, crutches and medical equipment they need to move about. "I needed time to think what to take and what to leave. We have important documents and reports of the children's conditions and history, medications and tools. All of them are gone," said Najah, sitting on a mat in the debris-strewn front yard of what used to be her home in northern Gaza. On Sunday morning, the entire family gathered in the yard, sitting under the shadow of a tree and receiving visitors who came to show solidarity. Nabhan's home was .

Cease-fire between Israel, militants in Gaza appears to hold after fighting

A fragile cease-fire between Israeli forces and militants in the Gaza Strip appeared to be holding on Sunday, after a five-day clash that killed 33 Palestinians and two people in Israel. The latest round of Gaza fighting was sparked on Tuesday when Israeli jets killed three top commanders from the Islamic Jihad militant group in response to earlier rocket launches from Gaza. Those killings set off a barrage of militant fire and the conflagration threatened to drag the region into another all-out war until an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire took hold late Saturday. While the calm appeared to bring a sense of relief to Gaza's 2 million people and hundreds of thousands of Israelis who had been largely confined to bomb shelters in recent days, the agreement did nothing to address the underlying issues that have fuelled numerous rounds of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip over the years. In Gaza, residents surveyed the latest damage caused to their .

Digital intelligence Israel-based firm Similarweb cuts another 6% of staff

In November last year, Similarweb laid off about 10 per cent of its team, around 130 employees, when it announced its results for the third quarter of 2022

Israel foreign minister's India visit provided further impetus to ties: MEA

Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen's trip to India provided further impetus to the bilateral cooperation that has remained on a qualitatively higher trajectory since the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in 2017, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday. The Israeli foreign minister arrived in Delhi on Tuesday morning on a three-day visit but had to cut short the trip in view of Tel Aviv's operation against a militant group in Gaza Strip. He departed from India on Tuesday night. During the day-long visit, Cohen called on Prime Minister Modi and held wide ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, NSA Ajit Doval and Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The ties between India and Israel have been on an upswing in the last few years in a range of sectors, including trade and investment, defence, agriculture and water management. "India's bilateral merchandise trade was US$ 7.86 billion