Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Victory' in Gaza only 'a few weeks away', Netanyahu tells US Congress members
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of US Congress members that "victory" in Gaza and "getting" Hamas' senior leadership in the enclave are only "a few weeks away."On Wednesday, Netanyahu told a bipartisan group from the US Congress, “We’ve killed many senior leaders [of Hamas], including number four in Hamas, number three in Hamas. We’ll get number two and number one. That’s victory. Victory is within reach. It’s a few weeks away," reports CNN.
Hosting the congressional delegation in Jerusalem, which the Prime Minister's Office claimed was organised by the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Netanyahu said it was "very important to maintain bipartisan support" but "especially in these trying times."
Netanyahu stated that Israel "had no choice" but to enter Rafah because its "very existence is on the line."
Netanyahu is an obstacle to peace: US Senate Majority Leader Chuck SchumerThe prime minister stated that Israel has had a "remarkable alignment" with the Biden administration since the October 7 Hamas attack, but they have fundamentally opposing views on an Israeli incursion into Rafah, the report said.Israel has received international condemnation before of its planned onslaught on the southern Gaza city, where over one million Palestinians are currently taking shelter. Netanyahu had previously stated to the delegation that displaced Palestinians in Gaza could "just move" out of Rafah and "move with their tents."
Biden: Netanyahu 'hurting Israel' by not preventing more civilian deaths in Gaza"There is all of the Gaza Strip north of Rafah," Netanyahu remarked. "People can move up or down," he continued.Disagreements regarding the possible invasion of Rafah and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza have strained relations between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.Earlier this week, Netanyahu postponed a scheduled government trip to Washington in protest over the United States' abstention from a UN Security Council vote that allowed a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza to pass, the report also said.The resolution, proposed by the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council, demanded an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and “the urgent need to expand the flow” of aid into Gaza.
Netanyahu snaps back against growing US criticism after being accused of losing his way on Gaza
'Will no longer be complicit in genocide': US Air Force personnel sets himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in Washington
An active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force was critically injured Sunday after setting himself ablaze outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., while declaring that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide,” a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The man, whose name wasn’t immediately released, walked up to the embassy shortly before 1 p.m. and began livestreaming on the video streaming platform Twitch, the person said. Law enforcement officials believe the man started a livestream, set his phone down and then doused himself in accelerant and ignited the flames. At one point, he said he “will no longer be complicit in genocide,” the person said. The video was later removed from the platform, but law enforcement officials have obtained and reviewed a copy.
The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Police did not immediately provide any additional details about the incident.
Read: Israel vows to target Lebanon's Hezbollah even if cease-fire reached with Hamas in Gaza
The incident happened as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking the cabinet approval for a military operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah while a temporary cease-fire deal is being negotiated. Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, however, has drawn criticisms, including genocide claims against the Palestinians.
Israel has adamantly denied the genocide allegations and says it is carrying out operations in accordance with international law in the Israel-Hamas war.
In December, a person self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta and used gasoline as an accelerant, according to Atlanta’s fire authorities. A Palestinian flag was found at the scene, and the act was believed to be one of “extreme political protest.”
Read: Israeli officials to meet on a proposed pause in Gaza while the Cabinet is set to OK a Rafah plan
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington said its officers had responded to the scene outside the Israeli Embassy to assist U.S. Secret Service officers and that its bomb squad had also been called to examine a suspicious vehicle. Police said no hazardous materials were found in the vehicle.
Also read: Netanyahu seeks open-ended control over security and civilian affairs in Gaza in new postwar plan
Israelis step up protests over government’s legal overhaul
Israelis protesting a contentious government plan to overhaul the judicial system were stepping up their opposition on Wednesday, with large demonstrations and road closures expected in what protest leaders have dubbed a “national disruption day.”
The demonstrations come as the government barrels ahead with the legal changes. A parliamentary committee is moving forward on a bill that would weaken the Supreme Court.
The crisis has sent shock waves through Israel and presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a serious challenge just two months after he returned to power. Israel’s longest-serving leader is battling corruption charges even as his government tries to rejig a system that could determine which judges rule in his ongoing trial.
Netanyahu denies wrongdoing and the country’s attorney general has barred him from involvement in the overhaul, saying he risks a conflict of interest.
The rival sides are digging in, deepening one of Israel’s worst domestic crises.
The legal overhaul has sparked an unprecedented uproar, with weeks of mass protests, criticism from legal experts and rare demonstrations from army reservists who have pledged to disobey orders under what they say will be a dictatorship after the overhaul passes. Business leaders, the country’s booming tech sector and leading economists have warned of economic turmoil under the judicial changes. Israel’s international allies have expressed concern.
Protesters blocked Tel Aviv’s main freeway artery and the highway connecting the city to Jerusalem early Wednesday, halting rush hour traffic for about an hour. At busy train stations in Tel Aviv, protesters prevented trains from departing by blocking their doors. Police and protesters chanting “democracy” scuffled near a central intersection in Tel Aviv and several protesters were arrested for disturbing the peace.
In response, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist, called on police to prevent the road blockages, labeling the protesters “anarchists.”
Thousands of protesters came out in locations across the country waving Israeli flags. Parents marched with their children, tech workers walked out of work to demonstrate and doctors in scrubs protested outside hospitals. The main demonstrations were expected later Wednesday outside the Knesset and near Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem.
“Every person here is trying to keep Israel a democracy and if the current government will get its way, then we are afraid we will no longer be a democracy or a free country,” said Arianna Shapira, who was protesting in Tel Aviv. “As a woman, as a mother, I’m very scared for my family and for my friends.”
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the overhaul’s main architect, said Tuesday that the coalition aims to ram through some of the judicial overhaul bills into law in the coming month, before the parliament goes on recess for the Passover holiday on Apr. 2.
The Knesset also is set to cast a preliminary vote Wednesday on a separate proposal to protect Netanyahu from being removed from his post, a move that comes following calls to the country’s attorney general urging her to rule on where he can serve as premier while on trial for corruption.
The clash comes as Israel and the Palestinians are mired in a new round of deadly violence and as Netanyahu’s government, its most right-wing ever, is beginning to show early cracks just two months into its tenure.
Netanyahu has been the center of a yearlong political crisis in Israel, with former allies turning on him and refusing to sit with him in government because of his corruption charges. That political turmoil, with five elections in four years, culminated in Netanyahu returning to power late last year, left only with ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties as partners and forming the current far-right government.
Wielding immense political power, those allies secured top portfolios in Netanyahu’s government, among them Ben-Gvir, the minister who oversees police and has in the past been convicted of incitement to violence and support for a terror group. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a firebrand West Bank settler leader, has been given authority over parts of the territory. They have promised to take a tough stance against the Palestinians, which has ratcheted up tensions in recent weeks.
They have also been quick to condemn those protesting the overhaul but held back criticism against an attack by radical settlers on a Palestinian town this week.
Neither side in the overhaul debate appears to be backing down. The government has dismissed calls to freeze the overhaul and make way for dialogue and the protest organizers have pledged to intensify their fight until the plan is scrapped.
The government says the changes are meant to correct an imbalance that has given the courts too much power and allowed them to meddle in the legislative process. They say the overhaul will streamline governance and say elections last year, which returned Netanyahu to power with a slim majority in parliament, gave them a mandate to make the changes.
Critics say the overhaul will upend Israel’s system of checks and balances, granting the prime minister and the government unrestrained power and push the country toward authoritarianism.
Israel approves over 7,000 settlement homes, groups say
Israel’s far-right government has granted approval for over 7,000 new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, settlement backers and opponents said Thursday. The move defies growing international opposition to construction in the occupied territory.
The announcement came just days after the U.N. Security Council passed a statement strongly criticizing Israeli settlement construction on occupied lands claimed by the Palestinians. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, blocked what would have been an even tougher legally binding resolution, with diplomats saying they had received Israeli assurances of refraining from unilateral acts for six months.
Read More: 10 Palestinians killed, scores hurt in Israel West Bank raid
The new approvals took place during a two-day meeting that ended Thursday and appeared to contradict those claims. The U.S. has repeatedly criticized Israeli settlement construction, saying it undermines hopes for a two-state solution with the Palestinians, but taken no action to stop it.
Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group that attended the meeting, said a planning committee granted approvals for some 7,100 new housing units across the West Bank.
The group said the committee scheduled a meeting next month to discuss plans to develop a strategic area east of Jerusalem known as E1. The U.S. in the past has blocked the project, which would largely bisect the West Bank and which critics say would make it impossible to establish a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.
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Lior Amihai, the group's incoming director, said some 5,200 housing units were in the early stages of planning, while the remainder were approved for near-term construction. He also said construction was approved in four unauthorized outposts.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had pledged not to legalize any more wildcat outposts. He made the promise after retroactively legalizing 10 existing outposts earlier this month.
The Israeli government is “spitting on the face of the U.S., only a few days after announcing that they committed to them that there would be no advancement of settlements in the near future,” said Peace Now.
The United States criticized the decision. “We view the expansion of settlements as an obstacle to peace that undermines the geographic viability of a two-state solution,” said a National Security Council Statement. But it gave no indication that the U.S. was prepared to act.
Read more: Israel's Netanyahu advances judicial changes despite uproar
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, appealed to the United States to intervene. “The American side is required to stop this violation, which will not lead to any peace or stability in the region,” he said.
The planned construction is likely to add to the already heightened tensions following an Israeli military raid that killed 10 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday.
The international community, along with the Palestinians, considers settlement construction illegal or illegitimate. Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future independent state.
Netanyahu’s new coalition, which took office in late December, is dominated by religious and ultranationalist politicians with close ties to the settlement movement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a firebrand settler leader, on Thursday was officially granted Cabinet-level authority over settlement policies.
Smotrich had promised earlier this month a major settlement push. His office declined to comment Thursday, but settler representatives, who also attended the planning meeting, celebrated what they said were new approvals.
Yossi Dagan, a settler leader in the northern West Bank, welcomed the retroactive approval of 118 homes in “Nofei Nehemia,” an outpost in the northern West Bank, after a 20-year struggle. “Great news for Samaria, for settlement and for the entire nation of Israel,” he said, using the biblical name for the region.
Shlomo Neeman, chairman of the Yesha settler’s council, declared the approvals “a tremendous boost.” Neeman is also mayor of the “Gush Etzion” settlement bloc near Jerusalem, where settlers said hundreds of new homes were approved.
The decision marks one of the largest approvals of settlement construction in years. In comparison, some 8,000 units were approved in the previous two years, according to Peace Now.
“It's very big,” said Amihai.
Israel’s Netanyahu lashes out as end of his era draws near
In what appear to be the final days of his historic 12-year rule, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not leaving the political stage quietly.
The longtime leader is accusing his opponents of betraying their voters, and some have needed special security protection.
Netanyahu says he is the victim of a “deep state” conspiracy. He speaks in apocalyptic terms when talking about the country without his leadership.
Read:Palestinian mom fights to stave off punitive home demolition
“They are uprooting the good and replacing it with the bad and dangerous,” Netanyahu told the conservative Channel 20 TV station this week. “I fear for the destiny of the nation.”
Such language has made for tense days as Netanyahu and his loyalists make a final desperate push to try to prevent a new government from taking office on Sunday. With his options running out, it has also provided a preview of Netanyahu as opposition leader.
For those who have watched Netanyahu dominate Israeli politics for much of the past quarter century, his recent behavior is familiar.
He frequently describes threats both large and small in stark terms. He has belittled his rivals and thrived by using divide-and-conquer tactics. He paints his Jewish opponents as weak, self-hating “leftists,” and Arab politicians as a potential fifth column of terrorist sympathizers. He routinely presents himself in grandiose terms as the only person capable of leading the country through its never-ending security challenges.
Read:Israel arrests Jerusalem activists in contested neighborhood
“Under his term, identity politics are at an all-time high,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a non-partisan think tank.
It is a formula that has served Netanyahu well. He has led the right-wing Likud party with an iron fist for over 15 years, racking up a string of electoral victories that earned him the nickname, “King Bibi.”
He fended off pressure by President Barack Obama to make concessions to the Palestinians and publicly defied him in 2015 by delivering a speech in Congress against the U.S.-led nuclear agreement with Iran.
Although Netanyahu was unable to block the deal, he was richly rewarded by President Donald Trump, who recognized contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, pulled out of the nuclear agreement and helped broker historic diplomatic pacts between Israel and four Arab nations.
Read:Jerusalem evictions that fueled Gaza war could still happen
Netanyahu has waged what appears to be a highly successful shadow war against Iran while keeping Israel’s longstanding conflict with the Palestinians at a slow boil, with the exception of three brief wars with Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.
The situation with the Palestinians today is “remarkably the same” as when Netanyahu took office, Plesner said. “No major changes in either direction, no annexation and no diplomatic breakthroughs.”
Israel, Hamas escalate heavy fighting with no end in sight
Israel stepped up its attacks on the Gaza Strip, flattening a high-rise building used by the Hamas militant group and killing at least three militants in their hideouts on Tuesday as Palestinian rockets rained down almost nonstop on parts of Israel.
It was the heaviest fighting between the bitter enemies since 2014, and it showed no signs of slowing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to expand the offensive, while Gaza militants unleashed a fierce late-night barrage of rockets that set off air-raid sirens and explosions throughout the densely populated Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
Just after daybreak Wednesday, Israel unleashed dozens of airstrikes in the course of a few minutes, targeting police and security installations, witnesses said. A wall of dark gray smoke rose over Gaza City. Iyad al-Bozum, a spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said airstrikes destroyed the central police headquarters in Gaza City, a compound with several buildings.
Read:Netanyahu warns Hamas, says Gaza operation 'will take time'
Five Israelis, including three women and a child, were killed by rocket fire Tuesday and early Wednesday, and dozens of people wounded. The death toll in Gaza rose to 35 Palestinians, including 10 children, according to the Health Ministry. Over 200 people were wounded.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, a 26-year-old Palestinian was killed during clashes with Israeli troops that entered al-Fawar refugee camp in southern Hebron, the ministry said.
In another sign of widening unrest, demonstrations erupted in Arab communities across Israel, where protesters set dozens of vehicles on fire in confrontations with police.
The fighting between Israel and Hamas was the most intense since a 50-day war in the summer of 2014. In just over 24 hours, the current round of violence, sparked by religious tensions in the contested city of Jerusalem, increasingly resembled that devastating war.
The booms of Israeli airstrikes and hisses of outgoing rocket fire could be heard in Gaza throughout the day, and large plumes of smoke from targeted buildings rose into the air. Israel resumed a policy of airstrikes aimed at killing wanted militants and began to take down entire buildings — a tactic that drew heavy international criticism in 2014.
In Israel, the nonstop barrages of rocket fire left long streaks of white smoke in their wake, while the explosions of anti-rocket interceptors boomed overhead. Air-raid sirens wailed throughout the day, sending panicked residents scurrying for cover.
In a nationally televised address, Netanyahu said that Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant groups “have paid, and I tell you here, will pay a heavy price for their aggression.”
He claimed that Israel had killed dozens of militants and inflicted heavy damage on hundreds of targets.
“This campaign will take time,” he said. “With determination, unity and strength, we will restore security to the citizens of Israel.”
He stood alongside Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a political rival, in a show of unity. “There are lots of targets lined up. This is only the beginning,” Gantz said. The military said it was activating some 5,000 reservists and sending troop reinforcements to the Gaza border.
The current violence has coincided with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a time of heightened religious sentiments.
Critics say heavy-handed Israeli police measures in and around Jerusalem’s Old City helped stoke nightly unrest. Another flashpoint has been the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians are under threat of eviction by Jewish settlers.
Confrontations erupted last weekend at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which is the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism. Over four days, Israeli police fired tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinians in the compound who hurled stones and chairs at the forces. At times, police fired stun grenades into the carpeted mosque.
On Monday evening, Hamas began firing rockets from Gaza. From there on, the escalation was rapid.
In a televised address, Hamas’ exiled leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said Israel bore responsibility. “It’s the Israeli occupation that set Jerusalem on fire, and the flames reached Gaza,” he said.
Read:Gaza militants, children among 24 dead as Israel hits Hamas
Palestinian health officials gave no breakdown on the death toll in Gaza, but Islamic Jihad confirmed that three senior commanders were killed in a strike on their hideout in a Gaza City apartment building. The Health Ministry said 10 children and a woman were also killed.
Netanyahu said Israel had attacked hundreds of targets. The fiercest attack was a set of airstrikes that brought down an entire 12-story building. The building housed important Hamas offices, as well as a gym and some start-up businesses. Israel fired a series of warning shots before demolishing the building, allowing people to flee and there were no casualties.
Israeli aircraft heavily damaged another Gaza City building early Wednesday. The nine-story structure housed residential apartments, medical companies and a dental clinic. A drone fired five warning rockets before the bombing. Israel said the building housed Hamas intelligence offices and the group’s command responsible for planning attacks on Israeli targets in the occupied West Bank.
Fighter jets struck the building again after journalists and rescuers had gathered around. There was no immediate word on casualties. The high-rise stood 200 meters (650 feet) away from the Associated Press bureau in Gaza City, and smoke and debris reached the office.
Soon after the bombing, Hamas announced that it would resume its attacks and aimed 100 rockets at the Israeli desert town of Beer-Sheva. Hamas said the renewed barrage was in response to the strike on the building. The latest rocket attack early Wednesday killed a man and his seven-year-old daughter in the central city of Lod, according to Israel’s Kan public radio.
The Israeli military said hundreds of rockets were launched toward Israel. Two women, including an Indian caregiver, were killed in separate rocket strikes in the southern city of Ashkelon.
Then, late at night, Hamas said it unleashed a barrage of 130 rockets toward Tel Aviv in response to the destruction of the high-rise. As the rockets rose into the skies, mosques across Gaza blared with chants of “God is great,” “victory to Islam” and “resistance.”
One rocket killed a woman in the city of Rishon LeZion, and another struck a bus in the nearby city of Holon, wounding three people, including a young girl.
The violence was beginning to spill over to Israel’s own Arab population.
In Lod, thousands of mourners joined a funeral for an Arab man killed by a suspected Jewish gunman the previous night. The crowd clashed with police, and set a synagogue and some 30 vehicles, including a police car, on fire, Israeli media reported. Paramedics said a 56-year-old man was seriously hurt after his car was pelted with stones.
The city’s mayor, Yair Revivo, described the situation in the mixed Jewish-Arab city as “civil war,” and the government ordered a deployment of paramilitary border guards from the West Bank to Lod.
In neighboring Ramle, ultra-nationalist Jewish demonstrators were filmed attacking cars belonging to Arabs. In the norther port town of Acre, protesters torched a Jewish-owned restaurant and hotel. Police arrested dozens of others at Arab protests in other towns.
Diplomats sought to intervene, with Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations working to deliver a cease-fire. All three serve as mediators between Israel and Hamas.
The U.N. Security Council planned to hold its second closed emergency meeting in three days Wednesday on the escalating violence, an indication of growing international concern. Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private, said the U.N.’s most powerful body did not issue a statement because of U.S. concerns that it could escalate tensions.
Read:Gaza militants, Israel trade new rocket fire and airstrikes
The escalation comes at a time of political limbo in Israel.
Netanyahu has been caretaker prime minister since an inconclusive parliamentary election in March. After failing to form a coalition government by a deadline last week, his political rivals have now been given the opportunity.
The support of an Arab-backed party with Islamist roots is key for the anti-Netanyahu bloc. But the current tensions might deter the party’s leader, Mansour Abbas, from joining a coalition with Jewish parties, at least for the time being.
The sides have three more weeks to reach a deal. If they fail, Israel would likely begin an unprecedented fifth election campaign in just over two years.
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