Category: 2. Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Donald Trump today shortly before the expected release of the last living Israeli-American captive from the Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv said.

“The Prime Minister thanked President Trump for assistance in releasing IDF [Israeli occupation army] soldier Edan Alexander,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

According to the statement, Trump reaffirmed “his commitment to Israel and his desire to…

Israel’s security cabinet yesterday approved a decision aimed at implementing large-scale land registration in the West Bank for the first time since the territory came under occupation in 1967, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.

This Israeli decision would lead to the final registration of property rights in Area C of the West Bank – the area placed under exclusive Israeli control according to the Oslo Accords. This violates international law…

US President Donald Trump’s administration intends to accept a Boeing BA.N 747-8 airplane as a gift from the Qatari royal family that would be outfitted to serve as Air Force One, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed today according to Reuters.

The luxury plane, which would be one of the most valuable gifts ever received by the US government, would eventually be donated to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office, the source said. A…

WASHINGTON/ANKARA — US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he might travel to Turkey on Thursday for a potential meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

“I think you may have a good result out of the Thursday meeting in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine and I believe the two leaders were going to be there,” Trump told journalists at the White House, in reference to a potential meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.

“I was…

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman launched a new company to develop and manage artificial intelligence technologies in Saudi Arabia today, a top priority of its economic diversification drive, Reuters reports.

US President Donald Trump travels to Saudi Arabia this week, the first stop on his Gulf tour, and AI is expected to be a major discussion point during tomorrow’s joint Saudi-US investment forum in Riyadh.

The kingdom, the world’s biggest crude…

Israel has asked the International Criminal Court to dismiss its arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant while ICC judges reconsider complex jurisdictional questions.

In a 14-page document dated May 9 but posted on the ICC website on Monday, Israel argued the warrants issued in November were null and void while judges weigh a previous Israeli challenge to the ICC’s jurisdiction in the case.

In a ruling that made headlines around the…

Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, 21, was released from Gaza captivity Monday evening after 584 days, in a deal negotiated between the Trump administration and Hamas. 

Alexander, the only Israeli-American hostage known to be still alive, was released in Khan Younis in the south of the Strip, where Red Cross representatives received him. The handover did not include a release ceremony, as was the case in prior Israel-Hamas hostage-release deals. The Red Cross is now driving Alexander…