Category: 2. Middle East

Iranian and US negotiators closed on Friday a fifth round of nuclear talks in Rome with “some but not conclusive progress”, mediator Oman said, after a public disagreement over Tehran’s uranium enrichment.

The talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the foes since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Since returning to office, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, backing talks but…

Director Nadav Lapid said his new film “Yes” about a musician asked to re-write the Israeli national anthem is a response to his country’s “blindness” to suffering in Gaza.

Lapid has previously dissected his country’s ills in “Synonyms”, which won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2019, and “Ahed’s Knee” (2021).

In “Yes”, he portrays a society buried under its own “dark side” since Palestinian militants Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

“Blindness in Israel is unfortunately a fairly…

Before they were killed by a gunman outside a Washington Jewish museum, Yaron Lischinsky had planned to make a formal proposal of marriage to Sarah Milgrim in Jerusalem next week.

As their deaths late Wednesday intensify the international spotlight on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, here is what we know about the two Israeli embassy staffers shot dead after attending a networking event for young professionals.

– Yaron Lischinsky –

The 30-year-old had worked as a researcher at the Israeli embassy…

Fighting back tears, the head of the World Health Organization on Thursday urged Israel to have “mercy” in the Gaza war and insisted peace would be in Israel’s own interests.

In an emotional intervention at the WHO annual assembly, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the war was hurting Israel and would not bring a lasting solution.

“I can feel how people in Gaza would feel at the moment. I can smell it. I can visualise it. I can hear even the sounds. And this is because of PTSD (post-traumatic…

The suspect accused of gunning down two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington was charged Thursday with murder, as international tensions over anti-Semitism erupted over the attack.

Elias Rodriguez, 30, shouted “Free Palestine” as he was taken away by police after the shooting late Wednesday outside the Capital Jewish Museum, prosecutors said in a court document.

“I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” he told the officers.

The Chicago man made an initial court…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday his pick for the next head of the Shin Bet domestic security agency, defying the country’s attorney general and a significant segment of the public.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu announced this evening his decision to appoint Major General David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet,” a statement from the premier’s office said.

The decision is the latest development in a long-running controversy surrounding the role, which has seen mass…

Thousands of Greeks on Thursday night marched to the Israeli Embassy in Athens, calling for an immediate end to Israeli genocidal attacks on Gaza, Anadolu reports.

Called by the PAME trade union confederation, one of the country’s biggest unions affiliated with the Greek Communist Party (KKE), the march was participated in by workers, professionals, artisans, and common citizens, as well as some lawmakers of KKE.

Carrying Palestinian flags, the protesters…

Palestinian residents of Maghayer al-Deir in the occupied West Bank told AFP on Thursday that they had begun packing their belonging and preparing to leave the village following repeated attacks by Israeli settlers.

Yusef Malihat, a resident of the tiny village east of Ramallah, told AFP his community had decided to leave because its members felt powerless in the face of the settler violence.

“No one provides us with protection at all,” he said, a keffiyeh scarf protecting his head from the…

US President Donald Trump is “saddened and outraged” over the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington DC, the White House said Thursday, Anadolu reports.

“The evil of antisemitism must be eradicated from our society,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Her remarks came after a gunman opened fire near the Capital Jewish Museum in the US capital late Wednesday, killing the staffers. The suspected gunman shouted: “Free Palestine,”…