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SvennoJ on 31 May 2024
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With prolonged Gaza war, Israel’s Netanyahu may outlast Biden: Analysts

Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said earlier this week that Israeli forces will be fighting in Gaza for the next seven months, at least.

With Israel’s continuation of its war on Gaza likely to harm Joe Biden’s re-election campaign in November – as support for him plummets over his unequivocal backing of Israel – the November 5 presidential vote could mean Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlasts Biden’s term in office.

That dim prediction for Biden comes as analysts have warned that Netanyahu has a personal political interest in prolonging the war on Gaza, which is boosting his political standing at home.


Israeli security agency resists stepping up surveillance on anti-Netanyahu protesters: Report

The head of Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet, has reportedly resisted pressure to increase surveillance on the growing protest movement against Netanyahu’s government in Israel.

In a report in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, a government official is quoted as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have expressed expectations that the Shin Bet will “use its tools against parts of the protest [movement]”.

“They want to turn it into a thought police,” the unnamed official is quoted as saying.

However, at a meeting some weeks ago with Ben-Gvir and other senior officials, the Shin Bet director Ronen Bar said his agency would “not become a secret police”, the newspaper reports.

“The Shin Bet also does security vetting for senior public figures, meaning it has access to sensitive, intimate information about them that should be inaccessible to politicians. One can only imagine what would happen if the Shin Bet were headed by someone who is serving a government, fighting tooth and nail to survive,” Haaretz added.

Cue political pressure to replace the head of Shin Bet...


Egypt denies agreement with Israel to reopen Rafah border crossing: Report

An Egyptian official has denied that an agreement was reached with Israel to reopen the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, Egyptian TV has reported.

Quoting a high-level source, Egypt’s state-affiliated al-Qahera News TV said on Friday that “there is no truth” in media reports about an Egyptian-Israeli agreement to reopen the vital crossing to Gaza – the Palestinian side of which was taken over by the Israeli military earlier this month.

“Egypt insists on a full Israeli withdrawal from the crossing as a condition to resume its work,” the source told the channel, according to Germany’s DPA news agency.

Since the capture of the Rafah border crossing by Israeli tanks, Egypt had indicated it would not coordinate aid transports through Rafah until Israeli forces withdrew and returned control of the frontier to Palestinian authorities.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

But, Israel’s war on Gaza has fuelled anti-Israeli sentiment in Egypt and ties are strained amid fears in Cairo that Israel wants to trigger a mass exodus of desperate Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.


Spain rejects Israeli ‘restrictions’ on its Jerusalem consulate

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares says Spain rejects “restrictions” that Israel plans to impose on the activities of its consulate in Jerusalem in response to Madrid’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

“This morning we sent a note verbale to the Israeli government in which we reject any restriction on the normal activity of the Spanish consulate general in Jerusalem, as its status is guaranteed by international law,” he said during an interview with radio Onda Cero.


Israel will ‘strictly enforce’ restrictions on Spain’s Jerusalem consulate

Israel has doubled down on planned restrictions to Spain’s Jerusalem consulate, saying they will be “strictly enforced” due to Madrid’s recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Earlier today, Spain’s foreign minister said it had sent a note to Israel rejecting the restrictions, which include a halt to consular services to Palestinians, and requested they be reversed.

But Israel will go ahead with the policy and may totally shutter Spain’s consulate if it commits “violations”, Israeli FM Israel Katz said in a post on X.

“Any connection between the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem and individuals in the Palestinian Authority poses a threat to Israel’s national security and will be completely prohibited”, said Katz.