Israel

08 Dec 2022; MEMO: It has become almost certain that the new Israeli Minister of Defence will be retired General Yoav Gallant.

Gallant was elected to the Knesset in 2015, within the Kulanu Party led by former Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, but he defected from it and joined the Likud Party led by former and future Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of the 2019 Israeli elections.

09 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israel's incoming Finance Minister has said his economic strategy will be infused with religious beliefs laid out in the Torah, predicting that this would help the country prosper, Reuters reports.

08 Dec 2022; MEMO: A number of senior Israeli officials have warned of chaos inside the Israeli army that might lead to Israel's collapse, Al-Resalah reported on Wednesday.

Former Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General Matan Vilnai, has handed over a letter to Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu calling for an end to the "incitement wave" against the army. The letter was signed by 412 Israeli army veterans.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s ties to the Jewish American community, one of its closest and most important allies, are about to be put to the test, with Israel’s emerging far-right government on a collision course with Jews in the United States.

06 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israel's Justice Minister has urged the country's President not to grant an extension for newly-elected Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's mandate to form a new government, amid continued opposition to his government's far-right elements.

In a tweet this morning, Gideon Sa'ar – the Israeli Justice Minister, former member of the Likud party – called on President Isaac Herzog not to grant an extension of Netanyahu's 28-day mandate which expires next Sunday.

06 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday accused outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defence Minister Benny Gantz of spreading lies about his upcoming coalition government.

Netanyahu accused Lapid of claiming that the Defence Ministry will be taken apart, referring to the coalition agreement with far-right MK Bezalel Smotrich who is set to get control of the Civil Administration – the Defence Ministry's arm in the occupied West Bank.

JERUSALEM, Dec 5 (Reuters) - A top Israeli intelligence analyst said on Monday that Iran's clerical rulers were likely to survive protests that have swept the country for weeks, and predicted they could stay in power for years to come.

"The repressive Iranian regime will, it seems, manage to survive these protests. It has constructed very, very strong tools for dealing with such protests," Brigadier-General Amit Saar told the military intelligence think-tank Gazit Institute.

05 Dec 2022; MEMO: The heads of more than 50 municipalities in Israel have protested against a role belonging to the Ministry of Education being handed to a far-right Knesset Member and his party. According to the Jerusalem Post, the "rebellious" municipalities will self-fund the plans that will be affected by handing the external programme unit to Avi Maoz MK of the far-right Noam Party.

TEL AVIV, December 4. /TASS/: Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has flown out to Bahrain on the first state visit in history, the presidential administration reported.

"Herzog has flown out to Bahrain on a state visit, the first one for an Israeli president in history," its statement said.

JERUSALEM, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli air force conducted airstrikes against targets in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, in response to rockets fired from the territory hours before.

According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the strikes targeted a weapon manufacturing site "belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization," and the site is "where the majority of the ... rockets in the Gaza Strip are being manufactured."

The statement also said a Hamas cross-border tunnel was targeted.