Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

September 17, 2024 11:28 AM

In a world-first, Mexico to elect its judges

Last week Mexico approved a sweeping judicial reform. It allowed election of judges at all levels – from the lower courts, right up, to the top court of the land. In one fell swoop, outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, helped in no small measure by his protege and President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, quite literally, upended the country’s judicial system. Now, it was all done Constitutionally. First, the lower chamber of the legislature voted 359 to 135 to pass the legislation. Nex...

October 6, 2025 2:50 PM

Tough-talking Haniyeh was seen as the more moderate face of Hamas

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was killed in Iran, was the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group's international diplomacy as war raged back in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike. But despite the rhetoric, he was seen by many diplomats as a moderate compared to the more hardline members of the Iran-backed group inside Gaza. Appointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, Haniyeh moved between Turkey and Qatar's capital Doha, escaping the travel curbs of the b...

July 30, 2024 9:13 PM

Israeli forces quit east Khan Younis, Palestinians recover dozens of bodies

Thousands of Palestinians returned to their homes in the ruins of Gaza's main southern city Khan Younis on Tuesday, after Israeli forces ended a week-long incursion there which they said aimed to prevent Islamist armed group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinian rescue workers and civilians collected dead bodies from the streets of the abandoned battle zone, bringing corpses wrapped in rugs to morgues in cars and donkey carts. The Hamas-run Gaza media office said Israel's eight-day-long raid in e...

September 16, 2024 5:05 PM

Israeli officials say they seek to avoid all-out war in Lebanon retaliation

Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but not drag the Middle East into all-out war, two Israeli officials said on Monday, as Lebanon braced for retaliation after a rocket strike that killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Two other Israeli officials said Israel was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting following Saturday's rocket strike at a sports field in a Druze town that it blamed on the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah. Hezbollah has den...

July 25, 2024 7:18 PM

Israeli forces advance in southern Gaza, tanks active in Rafah

Israeli forces advanced deeper into some towns on the eastern side of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. lawmakers he was actively engaged in bringing hostages home. Fighting in recent days has centred around the eastern towns of Bani Suaila, Al-Zanna, and Al-Karara, where the army said on Wednesday it had found the bodies of five Israelis who were killed in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and held in Gaza since. Hamas milit...

July 3, 2024 4:24 PM

Israel conducts new strikes in Gaza, families seek shelter after evacuation order

Many Palestinians were seeking shelter on Wednesday after fleeing their homes in southern Gaza and complained of water shortages as Israel pressed on with its military offensive in the densely populated enclave. Israeli forces carried out new military strikes in the southern city of Rafah amid fierce fighting with Palestinian militants overnight, residents said. At least 12 people were killed in new strikes in central and northern Gaza, health officials said. Israel's leaders have said they ar...

September 16, 2024 6:42 PM

PM Netanyahu calls Israeli strike on Rafah ‘tragic mistake’, says “we are investigating case”

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday called the country's strike on a displacement camp in Rafah a "tragic mistake." He said that Israel is carrying out investigation into the incident. In his address at the Israeli Knesset on Monday, Netanyahu said, "Despite our best effort, not to harm those not involved, unfortunately a tragic mistake happened last night. We are investigating the case." At least 45 people were killed and 200 others were injured after the Israeli strike hit a ...

April 16, 2024 9:17 AM

Israeli military vows response to Iran attack as calls for restraint mount

Israelis awaited word on how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would respond to Iran's first-ever direct attack as international pressure for restraint grew amid fears of an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. Netanyahu on Monday summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours to weigh a response to Iran's weekend missile and drone attack, a government source said. Military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Israel would respond. He provided no details. "This launch ...

April 9, 2024 12:01 PM

Hamas: Israeli ceasefire proposal fails to meet demands, under review

Hamas said early on Tuesday Israel's proposal that it received from Qatari and Egyptian mediators did not meet any of the demands of Palestinian factions. However, the group added in a statement it would study the proposal, which it described as “intransigent”, and deliver its response to the mediators. A Hamas official told Reuters on Monday that the group has rejected the Israeli ceasefire proposal made at talks in Cairo, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date was set ...