Police investigating whether Israelis were targeted or victims of a random antisemitic attack, as couple buried in Tel Aviv Belgian police are investigating whether the killing of three people, including an Israeli couple, at the Jewish museum in Brussels on Saturday was a targeted assassination or a random antisemitic attack. On Tuesday, federal authorities quickly denied media reports that a suspect...
Detour, at request of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, seen as attempt to appease hosts after stop at separation wall Pope Francis has deviated from his itinerary for his tour of the Holy Land for the second time in two days this time to visit a memorial to Israeli victims of terrorism. The surprise addition on Monday was made at the request of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu,...
CCTV footage of Nadeem Suwara, shot dead by Israeli forces, spread around the world. Here his father talks of a teenager of the new Ramallah, a world of smartphones, western music and prosperity but one in which life is still overshadowed by the threat of violence Towards the end of our interview about his son Nadeem's short life, Siam Nawara says something unexpected. Nadeem, 17, was one of the two...
Pope also chose to arrive in West Bank from Jordan rather than via Israel in a symbolic nod towards Palestinian statehood Pope Francis has called the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians unacceptable, as he landed in the West Bank town of Bethlehem in a symbolic nod to Palestinian aspirations for their own state. Jubilant, flag-waving crowds greeted the pope on the second day of his Middle...
Pope Francis is on a three-day visit to the Middle East, including Jordan, the West Bank and Israel. His first few steps in Bethlehem are likely to rouse controversy after saying prayers by the security wall, a highly symbolic gesture Continue reading... ...
Pope Francis arrives in the West Bank on day two of his three-day visit to the Middle East. The pontiff meets with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and makes a controversial and dramatic gesture by praying at the separation wall. He holds Mass in Bethlehem and invites both the presidents of Palestine and Israel to the Vatican to pray for peace in the region Continue reading... ...
Stop rouses controversy as pontiff invites Peres and Abbas to Rome in unprecedented papal intervention in peace process It is an image that will define Pope Francis's first official visit to the Holy Land. Head bowed in prayer, the leader of the Catholic church pressed his palm against the graffiti-covered concrete of Israel's imposing "separation wall", a Palestinian girl holding a flag...
The schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches is still wide, but Ukraine reminds us how important the relationship is In Jerusalem on Sunday, Pope Francis will meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the honorary head of the Orthodox church. The two men, representing Christian traditions estranged for 1,000 years, will pray together in public. They will sign a hitherto undisclosed joint declaration....
The aftermath of the Soma mine disaster, the Glasgow School of Art fire, the Cannes film festival the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week Continue reading... ...
Christian pilgrims happily swallow a political narrative that is served up to them by the rebranding of archaeological sites Jesus was baptised in the river Jordan. That much we know. But what we don't know is exactly where, or more specifically, on which side. Did he step into the muddy waters from the east or from the west? I know, I know: who really cares? Well actually, it matters not least to...
Vatican says purpose of visit is mainly religious, but political spectres hang over three-day tour of Jordan, Palestine and Israel In a refugee camp near Bethlehem, final preparations are being made for Pope Francis's first official trip to the Holy Land, which begins on Saturday night. On Saturday, in the Phoenix Centre, a modern community hall on the outskirts of the Deheisheh camp, Francis will...
Fifteen-year-old Mohamed al-Azi recalls how he was shot in the back by Israeli troops in Beitunia, West Bank. A human rights agency says video of two other boys, Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Salameh, being shot and killed on the same day shows they posed no threat. Witness Fahker Zayed, as well as corroborating footage from CNN, says the victims were too far away from the soldiers to be considered dangerous...
B'Tselem contradicts Israeli military claims that CCTV footage showing deaths is either forged or was edited misleadingly The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has concluded that footage capturing the moment two Palestinian teenagers were shot dead by Israeli soldiers despite posing no risk to them is "genuine and consistent", contradicting Israeli army claims that the footage is likely...
Unlike his predecessors, Pope Francis won't hide his sympathies for the Palestinians on his Middle East visit this weekend Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had better brace himself: Pope Francis arrives in the Middle East on Saturday. The pontiff's words, of course, will be of the need to improve relations between Christians, Jews and Muslims. But the visit's semiotics will send out...
As Pius XII's canonisation is considered, Nazi hunters want to see files on alleged links between Vatican and war criminals The pope's visit to Jerusalem this weekend has given fresh hope to campaigners some of whom are close friends of the pontiff who believe that he might use the occasion to open the Vatican's secret Holocaust-era files. Among them is Efraim Zuroff, chief Nazi hunter of the Simon...
The irreverent US comedian's brother-in-law Yosef Abramowitz, himself no stranger to controversy, has announced his candidacy for the election on 10 June She is famous for her potty-mouth and her irreverence, but could comedian Sarah Silverman soon be part of Israel's first family? On Monday, Israel set 10 June as the date for its next presidential election, and Silverman's brother-in-law,...
Video released via the human rights organisation Defence for Children International (DCI) shows two Palestinian teenagers being killed during a protest in Beitunia. DCI has accused Israeli troops of unlawful killing as it claims the video shows neither boy posed an immediate danger. The Israeli military has launched two investigations into the allegations Continue reading... ...
Evidence from CCTV above office shows alleged fatal shootings of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Salameh by Israeli forces New video evidence showing the fatal shooting of two Palestinian teenagers last week strongly indicates that neither of the boys posed a threat to Israeli forces at the time they were targeted, supporting claims they were "unlawfully killed". The footage was caught by a CCTV...
Family will ask court to overturn judgment that Israeli military was not negligently responsible for activist's death in 2003 Eleven years after the death of Rachel Corrie , the 23-year-old American activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, her family will have their case reheard by three judges in Israel's supreme court in Jerusalem. The Corrie family will...
Construction minister Uri Ariel, blamed by some for peace talks impasse, says settler numbers could grow by 50% by 2019 Israel's ultra-nationalist construction minister whose actions have been blamed by some US officials for torpedoing the peace process has predicted an explosion of settlement activity in the next five years on the occupied West Bank. Uri Ariel, a member of the hardline Jewish Home...