Middle East

Israel to ban passenger flights, in a move to curb COVID-19 spread

Editorial Bureau January 24, 2021

JERUSALEM (ISRAEL) – Israel on Sunday decided to ban incoming and outgoing passenger flights from Monday at 22:00GMT until the end of January in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 and new coronavirus strains, Israel’s Haaretz news website reported.

Middle East

Israel approves use of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine

Editorial Bureau January 5, 2021

JERUSALEM (ISRAEL) – Israel’s health ministry has given approval for a COVID-19 vaccine developed by US drugmaker Moderna Inc, the company and an Israeli official said. With this authorisation, it would be marking the vaccine’s third regulatory authorisation and the first outside North America. Moderna said in a statement on Monday, “Ministry of

Middle East

Israel delves into supplies, pace in its pursuit of full vaccination of at-risk groups

Editorial Bureau December 31, 2020

JERUSALEM (ISRAEL) – Israel juggles supplies and pace in its COVID-19 vaccination drive hoping to meet a late-January goal of full protection for its most vulnerable people, officials said on Thursday. Having begun the vaccinations on Dec. 19, Israel is now administering more than 150,000 doses a day. Top priority are the quarter of its […]

Europe

Erdogan says Turkey wants to forge better ties with Israel

Ren Leen December 25, 2020

ANKARA (TURKEY) -President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would like to have better ties with Israel and that talks at intelligence level continued between the two sides, but criticised Israeli policy toward Palestinians as “unacceptable”. The two countries have had a bitter falling out in recent years, despite strong commercial ties, expelling

Middle East

Israel aims for restoring ties with fifth Muslim nation before Trump steps down: Minister

Editorial Bureau December 23, 2020

JERUSALEM (ISRAEL) – An Israeli minister said on Wednesday that the country is working towards normalising ties with a fifth Muslim nation before US President Donald Trump’s term comes to an end next month. The White House has brokered rapprochements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco this year, with Morocco […]

Tech

Government says Facebook has pulled down anti-vaccine ‘fake news’ in Israel

Editorial Bureau December 20, 2020

JERUSALEM (ISRAEL) – Facebook has taken down content that spread lies in Israel against coronavirus vaccinations as the government seeks to drum up support for the programme, the Justice Ministry said on Sunday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday became the first person to be vaccinated in Israel. Opinion polls show some two-thirds of the […]

Middle East

US-brokered deal sees Morocco agreeing to normalise ties with Israel

Editorial Bureau December 11, 2020

WASHINGTON (US) – In what is seen as a deal brokered with US help, both Israel and Morocco agreed on Thursday to normalise ties. This makes the North African nation the fourth Arab country to normalise relations with Israel in the past four months. US efforts to have a united front against Iran in the […]

Middle East

Israel hands over $1 billion in Palestinian tax backlog in a move to forging ties

Editorial Bureau December 2, 2020

RAMALLAH (ISRAEL) – Israel handed over a backlog of billions of shekels in tax money to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, both sides said, in another sign of warming ties between the sides after the U.S. presidential election victory of Joe Biden. The taxes, managed by Israel under interim peace accords from the 1990s and […]

Middle East

Shamkani talks on suspicion about Iran opposition alongside Israel over scientist’s killing

Editorial Bureau November 30, 2020

DUBAI (UAE) – A senior Iranian official said on Monday an opposition group was suspected alongside Israel in the killing of a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist, an attack that has raised the prospect of a new standoff between Tehran and its longtime enemy. Iran’s English-language Press TV reported the weapon used in Friday’s killing of […]

Middle East

UAE stops issuing new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim states

Editorial Bureau November 25, 2020

DUBAI (UAE) – The United Arab Emirates has stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a document issued by a state-owned business park. A source briefed on the matter told Reuters the visas had temporarily stopped being issued to Afghans, Pakistanis and citizens […]