Category: 2. Middle East

Israel cannot be forced to allow the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA to operate in Gaza, the United States told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) today, Reuters reports.

Israel last year passed a law that banned UNRWA from operating in the country.

The United Nations General Assembly in December asked the UN’s top court to give an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is delivered by states and…

A coalition of hundreds of British Muslim organisations, coordinated by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), delivered a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday, urging the UK government to recognise Palestinian statehood immediately and call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The call comes amid growing concerns that the UK itself may be complicit in the ongoing genocide by Israel in the enclave.

In its press release about the letter, signed by a broad…

A Turkish court has jailed, pending trial, 18 employees of the Istanbul municipality on corruption charges, state-owned Anadolu and other media reported on Wednesday. The arrests come amid a crackdown on the opposition and the city’s jailed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

Reuters reported that Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival who leads him in polls, was jailed in March pending trial over corruption charges. He also faces charges of aiding…

The Israeli occupation military today carried out what was described as a warning strike against “extremists” preparing to attack members of the Druze minority in the Syrian town of Sahnaya, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Defence Minister Israel Katz.

According to Reuters,The Israeli announcement came after an eruption of deadly sectarian violence in predominantly Druze areas near Damascus, pitting Druze and Sunni…

Iran on Wednesday executed a man convicted of espionage for Israel and involvement in the killing of a Revolutionary Guard but activists said he was sentenced to death after an unfair trial and a confession obtained by torture.

Mohsen Langarneshin, reportedly aged 34, was hanged at dawn at Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj outside Tehran, several rights groups said.

His mother and father held a vigil outside the jail during the night, pleading for his life to be spared, images on social media…

Syria said Israel launched new strikes near Damascus on Wednesday, after sectarian clashes left nearly 40 dead in two days and Israel warned against attacks targeting the Druze minority.

The sectarian violence and Israel’s intervention present huge challenges to the Islamist authorities who overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, and follow massacres last month in Syria’s Alawite coastal heartland.

United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen condemned the violence as…

Israel struck Syria on Wednesday in what it called a “warning” against attacks on the Druze minority, in a military intervention that came as sectarian clashes spread near Damascus, killing 13 people.

The sectarian violence, and Israel’s intervention, present huge challenges to the Islamist authorities who overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, and follow massacres last month in Syria’s Alawite coastal heartland.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “carried out a…

British police said today they had charged a man arrested on suspicion of trying to get into the Israeli embassy in London with terrorism offences and possession of a bladed weapon, Reuters reports.

Police said a man was detained by officers attempting to gain unauthorised access to the grounds of the embassy in west London on Monday evening and arrested him on suspicion of a public order offence, trespassing on a designated site and possession of an offensive…

A representative of Saudi Arabia told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) yesterday that Israel considers itself above all laws and refuses to comply with the court’s advisory opinion on halting its aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Mohamed Saud Alnasser, who is the director of legal affairs at the kingdom’s Foreign Ministry, condemned Israel’s “flagrant violations of international law” in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as…

The Israeli government yesterday reversed its decision to dismiss Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, in a move that appeared to be aimed at pre-empting a potentially precedent-setting High Court ruling on petitions challenging Bar’s ouster. The decision came one day after Bar announced that he will step down on 15 June.

Now that the government has reversed its decision to dismiss Bar, it is unclear what the court will decide with regard to his case.

Israeli Prime…