Former Israeli PM: Putin promised not to kill Zelenskyy
A former Israeli prime minister who served briefly as a mediator at the start of Russia's war with Ukraine says he drew a promise from the Russian president not to kill his Ukrainian counterpart. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett became an unlikely intermediary in the war's first weeks, becoming one of the few Western leaders to meet President Vladimir Putin during the war in a snap trip to Moscow last March. While Bennett's mediation efforts appear to have done little to end the bloodshed that continues until today, his remarks, in an interview posted online late Saturday, shed light on the backroom diplomacy and urgent efforts that were underway to try to bring the conflict to a speedy conclusion in its early days.
news.yahoo.comBiden administration responds to Iran's offer on nuke deal
The Biden administration says it has responded to Iran’s latest offer to resume its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, but neither side is offering a definitive path to revive the agreement, which has been on life-support since former President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018.
US, Iran inch closer to nuke deal but high hurdles remain
The Biden administration is expected to weigh in this week on Iran’s latest offer to resume its compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, but neither side is offering a definitive path to revive the agreement, which has been on life-support since former President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018.
Israeli PM Bennett won't run in upcoming election
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who led a broad but fragile coalition government that came unraveled barely a year after taking office, announced Wednesday that he will not run in upcoming elections. Bennett’s office said he will continue to serve as alternate prime minister in a caretaker government to be led by Yair Lapid, the architect of the coalition who is currently foreign minister. Bennett embodies many of the contradictions that animate his small country.
news.yahoo.comIsrael to dissolve parliament, call 5th election in 3 years
Israel’s weakened coalition government announced Monday that it would dissolve parliament and call new elections, setting the stage for the possible return to power of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or another period of prolonged political gridlock. The election will be Israel's fifth in three years, and it will put the polarizing Netanyahu, who has been the opposition leader for the past year, back at the center of the political universe. While opinion polls project Netanyahu, who is now on trial, as the front-runner, it is far from certain that his Likud party can secure the required parliamentary majority to form a new government.
news.yahoo.comIsraeli coalition suffers loss, faces uncertain prospects
Israel’s government on Monday failed to pass a bill extending legal protections for settlers in the occupied West Bank, marking a major setback for the fragile coalition that could hasten its demise and send the country to new elections. The failure to renew the bill also highlighted the separate legal systems in the West Bank, where nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers enjoy the benefits of Israeli citizenship while some 3 million Palestinians live under military rule that is now well into its sixth decade. Three major human rights groups have said the situation amounts to apartheid, an allegation Israel rejects as an assault on its legitimacy.
news.yahoo.comIsrael army shoots Palestinian while crossing from West Bank
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Sunday that a Palestinian man died after he was shot by Israeli troops near a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military said that soldiers “spotted a suspect who attempted to illegally cross the security fence” and fired at him. In a separate incident, a Palestinian man allegedly stabbed an Israeli police officer outside Jerusalem's Old City.
news.yahoo.comIsraeli PM's family receives death threat and bullet in mail
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's teenage son has received a death threat and bullet in the mail, Israeli officials said Thursday, he second such warning against the Israeli leader's family this week. The threats have come at a time of deep political divisions in Israel. In a major speech on Wednesday night marking Israel's Holocaust memorial day, Bennett had spoken out against the polarization in Israel, urging citizens not to let internal divisions rip society apart.
news.yahoo.comBlinken set to see Israelis, Arabs wary about Iran, Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will try to use his three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa to reassure wary Israelis and Arabs that the Biden administration is committed to the region’s security at a time when Washington is confronting multiple foreign policy challenges.