Global Outlook

  “Israel won’t do anything in the West Bank, don’t be afraid,” Donald Trump said at the White House in response to a French reporter’s question whether the Knesset vote for sovereignty over that territory was a challenge to him. The question arises from the fact that the right-wing rivals of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have narrowly passed a West Bank annexation bill in the first parliamentary reading, prompting criticism from the US, while the allies promote a peace plan for Gaza whose regional support depends on the recognition of Palestinian territorial claims. “Personally, I consider it an insult,” said US Vice-President J.D. Vance, at the end of his visit to Israel, in response to Wednesday’s vote in the Knesset, with 25 votes in favour and 24 against. Last month, Trump declared that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, an area where, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, Palestinians want to establish an independent state. “Don’t worry abou...

  Egypt's Intelligence Chief Hassan Rashad arrived in Israel on Tuesday for Gaza ceasefire talks with Israeli officials. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said Rashed met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News channel said Rashad’s talks in Israel will also take up the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Egyptian intelligence chief will also meet with US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff during the visit. The visit is the first by a senior Egyptian official to Israel since Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023. The ceasefire deal took effect on Oct. 10 in Gaza, based on a phased plan presented by US President Donald Trump. Phase one included the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas. Since October 2023, the Israeli gen...

  Israel said Thursday that the date for the opening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt would be announced at a later stage and that it would only be open for the movement of people. “The date for the opening of the Rafah crossing for the movement of people only will be announced at a later stage, once the Israeli side, together with the Egyptian side, completes the necessary preparations for the crossing’s opening,” said a statement from COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories. “It should be emphasised that humanitarian aid will not pass through the Rafah crossing. This was never agreed upon at any stage,” the statement said, adding that “aid continues to enter the Gaza Strip” through other crossings. The Rafah crossing is a strategic gateway to the outside world for the Gaza Strip, and international organisations hope that the crossing point will enable a surge of aid to be delivered to the devastated territory...

  Israel reacted angrily to the recognitions by several major Western allies of a Palestinian state and pledged to take retaliatory measures as a second round of recognitions are expected at a U.N. summit in New York on Monday. The  announcements  by the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia on Sunday that they would recognize Palestine as a sovereign state were telegraphed in advance as part of an effort, led by France, to build momentum toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has never seemed more out of reach. French President Emmanuel Macron said he plans to follow suit at a high-level conference he is co-hosting with Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Monday afternoon. Other European countries are also joining in. While long sought, and applauded, by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, the moves are largely symbolic, analysts say. It’s unclear what effect, if any, they will have on the ground, where Israel is ...

  Israeli forces have killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza and wounded dozens in the south of the enclave, local health officials said, as residents reported intensified military bombardment in the suburbs of Gaza City. The military is preparing to take Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre, despite international calls on Israel to reconsider this over fears that the operation would cause significant casualties and displace the roughly one million Palestinians sheltering there. In Gaza City, residents said families were fleeing their homes, with most heading towards the coast, as Israel forces bombarded the eastern suburbs of Shejaia, Zeitoun, and Sabra. The latest deaths took to 71 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said. The UN considers these figures reliable. Israel officials describe Gaza City as the last stronghold of Hamas, which ignited the war with its deadly October 2023 attack on Israel. Th...

  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing back against international pressure for a Palestinian state, calling it an act of “suicide.” Despite strong criticism from the U.N. and others, Israel announced a large housing project for Jewish residents of the West Bank. And in an exclusive interview with  CBN News,  Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz shares his appreciation for Christians standing for Israel worldwide. Netanyahu offered a history lesson Thursday on why the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians is a deadly mistake. Netanyahu noted that “Before World War II, the Western countries tried to appease Hitler.” He elaborated, “Well, today the West is telling Israel, ‘Just give the Palestinians a piece of Israel and they’ll make peace with you.’ No, they won’t. For the last century, they’ve been offered a state of their own. And they refused, because their goal is not to create a state for themselves, it’s to destroy the state of ours, the ...

  Israeli opposition chief Yair Lapid on Tuesday backed calls for a general strike in solidarity with hostages still held in Gaza. “Strike on Sunday,” Lapid posted on X, saying even supporters of the current government should take part and insisting it was not party political. Sunday is the first day of the working week in Israel. “Strike out of solidarity. Strike because the families have asked, and that’s reason enough. Strike because no one has a monopoly on emotion, on mutual responsibility, on Jewish values.” Lapid’s post followed a call on Sunday by around 20 parents of hostages still held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip for a strike. On Monday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main representative group for relatives, backed the idea. The group has been pressing the leaders of Israel’s main trade union federation, Histadrut, to join in, but it decided against doing so. Instead, it said it would support “workers’ solidarity demonstrations”, the Forum sai...

  At least 38 Palestinians were killed overnight and into Wednesday   in the Gaza Strip   while seeking aid from United Nations convoys and sites run by an Israeli-backed American contractor, according to local health officials. The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots when crowds approached its forces. The latest deaths came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to announced further military action — and possibly  plans for Israel to fully reoccupy Gaza . Experts say Israel’s ongoing military offensive and blockade are already pushing the territory of some 2 million Palestinians  into famine . Another escalation of the nearly 22-month war could put the lives of countless Palestinians and around 20 living Israeli hostages at risk, and would draw fierce opposition  both internationally  and within Israel. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition allies have long called for the war to be expanded, and for Israel to eventually take over Gaz...

  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised Monday to update Israel’s Gaza war plan, a day before a UN Security Council meeting on the fate of hostages still held in the Palestinian territory. Addressing a cabinet meeting nearly 22 months into the war, the Israeli leader told ministers that later in the week he would instruct the military on how “to achieve the three war objectives we have set”. Netanyahu’s announcement comes as he faces increasing pressure to return the remaining hostages in Gaza, as well as mounting international calls to address the dire food situation in the Gaza Strip. Israel — backed by the United States and Panama — is preparing to convene a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday to highlight the fate of the hostages. At the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel’s three war goals remain “the defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel”. His statement came after hundreds...