Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.(Photo twitter.comnaftalibennett)
Israeli police said they have arrested a 65-old-woman on suspicion of sending death threat letters and bullets to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s family…reports Asian Lite News
The police issued a statement on Monday identifying the woman as a resident of southern Israel, without giving more details, reports Xinhua news agency.
A court-issued gag order has been imposed on most of the details in the case.
Bennett’s family received two death threat letters with live bullets in the mail in April.
Following the threats, the security guard for Bennett and his family was reinforced and the Lahav 433 special police unit and Shin Bet internal security agency launched an investigation.
Bennett leads a narrow eight-party coalition government, which includes Hawkish and liberals partners.
Also the leader of Yamina, a small pro-settler nationalist party, Bennett has been under intense criticism by his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his associates, who accuse him of abandoning his ideology.
Security forces in Israel have been more cautious over death threats against senior officials ever since former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a far-right religious extremist amid a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has tested positive for Covid-19, his office announced on Monday in a statement…reports Asian Lite News
“The Prime Minister is feeling well and will continue his schedule as planned from his home,” Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.
On Sunday, Bennett met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jerusalem.
In the evening, he rushed to the site of a shooting attack in the country’s northern city of Hadera and held a situation assessment with senior security officials.
Israel’s Health Ministry has reported 15,596 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 3,869,819.
The country’s death toll stood at 10,485.
In face of rising infections nationwide fuelled by the BA.2 Omicron subvariant, the Ministry on March 24 announced a vaccination campaign for people aged 60 and over.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Naftali Bennett to discuss the Ukrainian situation…reports Asian Lite News
Putin and Bennett discussed the situation in Ukraine on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Israeli PM voiced his assessments of the situation regarding Ukraine and the ongoing negotiation process between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, the Kremlin said in a brief statement.
Against the backdrop of the recent developments in the world and the region, the leaders discussed the ties between the three countries and ways to strengthen them on all levels, reports Asian Lite News
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Tuesday attended a tripartite meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
The meeting discussed ways of enhancing relations between the three countries, and the importance of cooperation and coordination to drive development and enhance stability in the region, as well as bolstering global energy security and market stability.
Sheikh Mohamed, El-Sisi and Bennett also exchanged views on a number of regional and global issues of mutual concern and relevant developments.
This was Prime Minister Bennett’s second visit to Egypt. His first official visit to Egypt took place in September last year.
On Sunday, Sheikh Mohamed and El-Sisi deliberated the prospects of further advancing cooperation across all fronts for the benefit of the two countries and their peoples.
During a meeting in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh, where Sheikh Mohamed arrived earlier on Sunday, the two leaders reviewed issues of interest, and the latest developments on the regional and international scene. They affirmed the importance of strengthening Arab solidarity in the face of common challenges, with Sheikh Mohamed commending the privileged relations between the two nations.
“Egypt is a cornerstone of Arab security and its pivotal role and efforts are well appreciated,” Sheikh Mohamed said, pointing to the UAE’s keenness to maintain constant channels of cooperation between the two nations to promote their common interests and achieves stability, security and peace in the region. He expressed his sincere thanks to the Egyptian President for the warm reception and hospitality he received during the visit.
For his part, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi welcomed Sheikh Mohamed’s visit, expressing his pride in the longstanding relations between the UAE and Egypt and the joint action that unites them in facing the challenges besetting regional stability and security.
He also affirmed Egypt’s keenness to strengthen relations with the UAE in various fields, and underlined the importance of increasing bilateral meetings to ensure constant coordination over the rapid developments witnessed by the region and the world.
At the end of the meeting, they reaffirmed the common vision shared by the two countries regarding many files and issues of interest. They stressed on the need to continue enhancing Emirati-Egyptian cooperation and coordination for consolidating joint Arab action, with Al-Sisi stressing in this context Egypt’s unshakable commitment toward the security of the Gulf and its rejection of any attempts to destabilise it.
The meeting was attended by H.H. Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, Vice, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Advisor for Special Affairs at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, Ali bin Hammad Al Shamsi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Supreme National Security Council, and Mohamed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Under-Secretary of the Court of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince.
Major General Abbas Kamel, Chief of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, Major General Ahmed Ali, Chief of the President’s Office, and Presidential Spokesperson, Bassam Rady also attended the meeting.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.(Photo twitter.comnaftalibennett)
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that his country will continue to mediate between Russia and Ukraine even if the prospects for success are slim amid the ongoing war…reports Asian Lite News
“We will continue to assist as needed,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Prime Minister as saying ahead of a Cabinet meeting on Sunday.
“Even if the chance is not great — as soon as there is even a small opening, and we have access to all sides and the capability.”
Bennett’s remarks came made a day after his three-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, after which he flew to Berlin for consultations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
He also spoke on the phone with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On early Sunday, Bennett and Zelensky held their third phone call within 24 hours, Bennett’s office said in a statement, without providing further details.
The talks came after Israel offered to mediate between Ukraine and Russia last week.
Israel will start using a laser-based system to intercept missiles within a year, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Tuesday…reports Asian Lite News
“Within about a year, the IDF (Israel Defense Force) will bring into action a laser-based interception system, first experimentally, and later operationally,” Bennett told the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli security think tank.
The system will be deployed first in southern Israel, where communities have been under recurring rocket fire launched by Gaza Strip’s ruler Hamas and other Gaza-based militant groups, Xinhua news agency reported.
The system will later be installed in other parts of the country, the prime minister added.
“This will allow us, in the medium to long term, to cover Israel in a wall of lasers defending us from missiles, rockets, drones and other threats,” Bennett said.
“It will effectively take away the strongest card the enemy has been against us,” he added.
The laser system would be an addition to Israel’s multi-layered defense doctrine, which is composed of four operational layers: the short- to medium-range anti-rocket Iron Dome system, the medium-to-long-range David’s Sling aerial defense system, and the long-range anti-missile Arrow system.
Bennett’s remarks incitement to violence: Palestine
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said that the remarks of his Israeli counterpart Naftali Bennett on rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state are “an incitement to violence and proof of the Israeli government’s anti-peace stance”…reports Asian Lite News
Ishtaye made the remarks in an official statement issued after the weekly meeting of the Palestinian Authority cabinet held in the West Bank city of Ramallah, reports Xinhua news agency.
Bennett on January 28 said that as long as he is the Prime Minister of Israel, there will be no Oslo, referring to the peace agreements signed between Israelis and Palestinians in 1993.
He also said that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state and that he wouldn’t allow any political negotiations that would lead to a Palestinian state.
In response, Ishtaye said rejecting to negotiate the establishment of a Palestinian state “proved to us and the world the scale of extremism of Bennett’s government and its positions hostile to peace and negotiations”.
He called on the US and the European Union to intervene to put an end to Israel’s settlements in East Jerusalem.
Direct peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians stopped in 2014 following disputes on Israeli settlements and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has warned that 2 million to 4 million Israelis are predicted to be infected with coronavirus during the current outbreak mainly caused by the highly infectious Omicron variant…reports Asian Lite News
“Information presented at a cabinet meeting indicates that in Israel, overall 2-4 million citizens will be infected in the current wave,” Xinhua news agency quoted Bennett’s statement on Sunday on his Facebook page.
Addressing a wide public criticism of the government’s complicated and frequently changing restrictions, Bennett explained that Omicron is “contiguous to an extent we did not know”, saying the restrictions have been frequently updated to adapt to the fast spread of Omicron.
Bennett has led a policy based on keeping the economy open while aggressively promoting vaccination.
The total number of Covid-19 cases in Israel, with a population of 9.45 million, surpassed 1.5 million on Sunday, according to the latest figures issued by the country’s health ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett entered quarantine after his daughter tested positive for Covid-19, a government spokesman said in a statement…reports Asian Lite News
Bennett’s wife and other children have however tested negative, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.
Israel’s Ynet news reported that Bennett left a special cabinet meeting held in the Golan Heights in order to enter quarantine after his 14-year-old daughter tested positive.
Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton also entered quarantine on Sunday after her daughter tested positive.
Bennett had entered quarantine on December 14 after a person on his flight back from a historic visit to the United Arab Emirates tested positive for the virus.
Israel has witnessed a surge in Covid-19 cases amid the fast spread of the Omicron variant.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was greeted by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed. The trip also marks the first official visit of an Israeli PM to the Gulf country…reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made his first official visit to the United Arab Emirates, in a bid to strengthen the recently-established bilateral ties.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, welcomed the Israeli Prime Minister upon his arrival at the Presidential Terminal at Abu Dhabi International Airport.
‘India, US, UAE, Israel likely to meet in Dubai’
Mohamed Mahmoud Al Khaja, UAE Ambassador to Israel, and Amir Hayek, Israel’s ambassador to the UAE were present during Bennett’s arrival.
Bennett thanked Zayed for his warm welcome and said that he looks forward to strengthening bilateral ties on the first-ever trip, reported The Times of Israel.
Bennett said bin Zayed, “I appreciate your warm hospitality. This is a wonderful welcome. I am very excited to be here on the first official visit by an Israeli leader here. I look forward to strengthening the relationship between our two countries.”
“I am delighted to take off for a historic visit, the first of its kind, to the UAE,” Bennett said on Sunday in a video statement at the Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv ahead of his departure.
Bennett added that he will meet the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday, and will also meet “dozens of other ministers and senior officials.”
The visit, coming some 14 months after Israel and the UAE normalised ties, is “intended to deepen the cooperation between the countries in all areas,” the Israeli Prime Minister said.
He added that the ties are already “excellent and branching, and we must continue to nurture and strengthen them, and build the warm peace between the people of the two countries.”
The visit comes amid Israeli diplomatic bids to halt the nuclear talks between world powers and Iran, Xinhua news agency reported.
The trip also marks the first official visit of an Israeli Prime Minister to the Gulf country.
Israel and the UAE signed the so-called Abraham Accord, a US-brokered normalisation agreement, in September 2020.
In late June, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid flew to the UAE, in the first visit by a senior Israeli official, to open the first Israeli embassy in the Gulf state. About a month later, the UAE inaugurated its embassy in Israel.
Israel-Dubai trade
Ilan Sztulman Starosta, the Israeli Consul-General in Dubai earlier said that the bilateral trade between Israel and Dubai has reached AED2.57 billion (US$700 million) since the Abraham Accords was signed in September 2020.
“We have this huge amount of trade [even though] Israel was closed completely for foreigners, and sometimes for Israelis, too, up to 1st November, because of COVID-19. It only proves that once the doors are opened, we are going to have a surge of more business going back and forth,” the Israeli Consul-General in Dubai told WAM.
Dubai Government announced on 30th January that the emirate’s trade with Israel in five months, between September 2020-January 2021, had reached AED1 billion (US$272.26 million).
In June 2021, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that bilateral trade between his country and the UAE had reached over NIS2.2 billion (AED2.48 billion/US$675.22 million), within ten months of signing the Abraham Accords.
The Israeli Consul-General said commodities constituted most of the two-way trade, with diamond having high volumes.
Meanwhile, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will open an office in the UAE in the coming weeks. The new office will strengthen IAI’s growing cooperation with the local and regional governments, industries, companies, and academia, and will provide additional business opportunities for future collaborations on technological developments in the defence and civilian sectors, said an IAI statement.
The office opens following the company’s historic participation at the Dubai Airshow, during which a number of cooperation agreements were signed, including with Emirates Airlines on cargo conversions and with the defence company EDGE on developing advanced unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and electro-optics. These agreements follow a successful year of cooperation between IAI and other Gulf-based companies, including Etihad Airways, Gulf Air, and G-42.
