Israel News for 12-2-2019
News Update
PM Netanyahu spoke on the phone with US President Trump yesterday, about Iran and other issues. This comes after Netanyahu lashed out at European nation for continuing to trade with Iran, undermining US sanctions against the country. The PM is set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in London on Tuesday. He will also meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reports that IDF troops shot and killed an 18 year old Palestinian on Saturday who, along with 2 other men, threw firebombs at the IDF patrol near Israeli settlements located near Har Hebron area of the West Bank. The army took the body. The other 2 attackers were taken in for questioning.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that he is planning the construction of a new Jewish neighborhood in Hebron. The neighborhood will be built in an abandoned marketplace that was home to both Jews and Arabs before the riots of 1929, when 67 Jews were massacred and the entire community left the city. There are currently 800 Jews and 250,000 Arabs living in Hebron.
Despite some rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes in response, Palestinian sources say that “significant progress” has been made in Egypt’s mediation efforts with Hamas to achieve an agreement for calm in Gaza.Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is considered very close to Hamas, reported that UN special envoy to the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov is expected to meet in the coming days with the Hamas leadership in order to complete the negotiations on the agreement. The meeting is expected to take place just days after Mladenov met with Defense Minister Naftali Bennett.
Is Walmart coming to Israel? A Walmart job listing posted on Linkedin for all sorts of positions in Jerusalem seemed to indicate that the retail giant was coming to the Holy Land. But the listing was a mistake. The link led to a listing for Salem, Illinois. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Walmart might not come to Israel in the future.
