JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel’s president on Monday formally received the first-ever ambassador from the United Arab Emirates to the Jewish state, following last year’s historic agreement between the countries to normalize ties. UAE envoy Mohamed Al Khaja, who arrived in Israel earlier Monday, delivered his credentials to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at a ceremony in Jerusalem. After greeting Khaja in Arabic, Rivlin said: “The entire Israeli people welcome you with joy. “This will be […]
Tag: Israel
Israel extends Covid lockdown despite vaccination drive
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — The Israeli government decided Tuesday to extend the country’s coronavirus lockdown to the end of the month after a spike in infections, despite an intensive vaccination campaign. Israel began its third lockdown in late December and tightened it on January 8, with officials saying at the time it would be lifted after two weeks if the daily caseload decreased sufficiently. Since the rollout of vaccinations one month ago, the Jewish state […]
Israel hits 2 million vaccinated
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — The number of people inoculated in Israel for coronavirus passed the two million threshold Thursday, with the prime minister saying there was “light at the end of the tunnel”. Israel “will become the first country to emerge from the corona crisis,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted. “We see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said, all smiles as he watched an Israeli woman become the second millionth to […]
Israeli firm in Gaza extracts drinking water from air
by Guillaume Lavallee Agence France-Presse GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — The densely populated Gaza Strip has long lacked sufficient drinking water, but a new project helps ease the shortage with a solar-powered process to extract potable water straight from the air. Unusually, the project operating in the Islamist-run Palestinian enclave, which has been blockaded by Israel since 2007, is the brainchild of a Russian-Israeli billionaire, Michael Mirilashvili. The company he heads, Watergen, has developed […]
Israel announces third nationwide virus lockdown
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel announced Thursday that it will impose a nationwide lockdown from next week, its third of the Covid-19 pandemic, just days after it began vaccinations against the virus. “A general lockdown will be imposed from 17:00 (1500 GMT) on Sunday for two weeks,” a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. “There is an option to extend the lockdown for an additional two weeks, unless the basic reproduction number (for […]
Netanyahu gets coronavirus jab, starting Israel rollout
by Nir Kafri in Ramat Gan and Stephen Weizman in Jerusalem Agence France Presse Ramat Gan, Israel (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a Covid-19 vaccine jab on Saturday, kicking off a national rollout over the coming days. Netanyahu, 71, and Israel’s health minister were injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine live on TV at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. “I asked to be vaccinated first, together with Health […]
Israel gets first delivery of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine
TEL AVIV, Israel (AFP) — Israel received its first batch of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring the pandemic’s end was “in sight” and vowing to get the first jab. “This is a great celebration for Israel,” he said on the tarmac at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, as a fork-lift truck started unloading the cargo from a red and yellow DHL air freighter. The shipment was the first […]
Israel uncovers King David-era fortress in occupied Golan
GOLAN HEIGHTS (AFP) — Archaeologists on Wednesday unveiled a fortified structure from the time of the King David on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that sheds light on the borders of a Biblical Israeli ally. The 3,000-year-old fort, found near the Jewish settlement of Hispin ahead of works to build a new neighbourhood, is believed to have belonged to the Geshurites, King David’s allies. Locally quarried basalt boulders form the metre-and-a-half (five-foot) thick walls of the […]
Israel, UAE agree visa-free travel for nationals: Netanyahu
TEL AVIV, Israel (AFP) — Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed Monday to reciprocal visa-free travel, making Emirati citizens the first in the Arab world to not require Israeli entry permits. The deal was signed after the first ever official delegation from the UAE landed in Israel for a day of talks following an agreement to normalize ties signed at the White House last month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wearing a mask as […]
First Israeli flight to PHL in 7 years lands at NAIA, carrying 250 Filipino agri students
(Eagle News) — The first Israeli flight landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Wednesday, Oct. 14, hailed as symbolic of the “good relations between Israel and the Philippines,” according to Israel’s ambassador to the Philippines Rafael Harpaz. The El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. with Flight No. LY 063 landed at the NAIA at 6:25 AM on Wednesday. This was the first Israeli flight in seven years at a Philippine airport. The last […]
Fires brought under control in Syria, Lebanon
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Dozens of fires that ravaged parts of Syria and Lebanon in recent days were brought under control on Sunday, authorities in the two countries said. In Syria, blazes fuelled by high temperatures broke out Friday in the provinces of Homs, Tartus and Latakia, where at least three people died, according to the health ministry. Several families had to flee residential areas near the fires, according to media reports. Syrian Agriculture Minister […]
Israel announces 3-week nationwide coronavirus lockdown
by Jonah Mandel Agence France Presse JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel’s government announced Saturday it would impose a three-week nationwide lockdown in an effort to stem one of the world’s highest novel coronavirus infection rates after a surge in cases. The lockdown order, set to go into effect on Friday, makes Israel the first developed economy to take such a drastic measure to curb a “second wave” of virus infections. Israel had initially been widely […]
