PA to decide this week whether to defer parliamentary elections – the first in 14 years – officially because Israel has not consented to voting in East Jerusalem, but unofficially, because Fatah might lose, some sources say
Apr. 28, 2021 1:35 PM
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s late media adviser told police investigators in 2017 that Netanyahu was involved in efforts, while he was finance minister, to obtain permission for Israeli Hollywood entertainment mogul Arnon Milchan to purchase a stake in Channel 10 television, in videotaped testimony aired on Channel 13 Tuesday night following a stormy legal battle. The testimony is potentially relevant to one of the criminal cases underway against the prime minister, who is accused of receiving lavish gifts from wealthy friends, including Milchan.
Shaya Segal, who died of cancer in 2017, was highly critical of Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, in the videotaped testimony that he gave the police. He also noted that he was forced to return the one-time symbolic payment of 2,500 shekels ($770) that he received for his services over the years after Sara Netanyahu found out about the payment and demanded a refund.
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Apr. 28, 2021 6:03 AM
The quiet on the Gaza border since Monday morning reflects the calming messages from both sides. After the launching of 40 rockets and mortar bombs at Israel from the Gaza Strip and many threats of Israeli retaliation, the firing stopped. Hamas conveyed to Israel, through intermediaries that included the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar, the message that it wanted to return to a full cease-fire.
Israel, for its part, saw to it that an operational plan approved by the Israel Defense Forces calling for an additional escalation of strikes on Hamas military targets was leaked from an inner cabinet meeting Monday. The organization’s leadership in the Gaza Strip chose to put the rockets back in storage (and to accuse Islamic Jihad of firing the last one), but that could turn out to be temporary. Renewed rocket fire from Gaza depends on developments on other fronts – an announcement by the Palestinian A
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Israel s top court is scheduled to convene Wednesday afternoon to continue discussion regarding Israel s unfilled justice minister post, after freezing the appointment of Netanyahu s pick for the post on Tuesday, due to the illegal nature of the vote.
In a statement Netanyahu said, The prime minister submitted a detailed response to the High Court that completely rejects the court s claim that yesterday s vote was illegal. However, Netanyahu said, after the prime minister s attempts at compromise were rejected again this morning, and in order to extract us from this dead end situation and allow the Justice Ministry to function, the prime minister decided to appoint Benny Gantz to the post of Justice Minister for the tenure of the interim government.