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Following Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s June 20 decision to support the dissolving of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, the political map in Jerusalem is set to shift in the coming days, with the PM expected to step down as early as Monday.
Last week, Bennett and Alternative PM Yair Lapid conceded that they had “exhausted options to stabilize” their coalition a year after it was established. Lawmakers then overwhelmingly okayed a preliminary bill to disband parliament, paving the way for the country’s fifth national election in less than four years.
Lapid will take over as caretaker premier through the ballot in the fall, keeping in line with the coalition agreement.
Although both sides of the political aisle back dispersing the Knesset, rebel coalition member Nir Orbach delayed the process to give the opposition a chance to form a new government without sending Israelis to the polls, a scenario regarded as unlikely by many analysts.
The Knesset is expected to formally disband days after two committee reviews and three more votes are conducted, procedures that — barring any unexpected developments — should be completed on Monday.
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The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recently charged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with deliberately targeting Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, drawing the ire of the Israeli mission to the UN.
The OHCHR claimed it had conducted an “independent monitoring” of the events. The agency concluded that the bullet, which killed Abu Akleh, could have only come from Israeli forces. According to OHCHR, the shots fired at and around Abu Akleh were “seemingly well-aimed.”
Abu Akleh, who reported on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for over two decades, was shot while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin — a known hub of Palestinian terrorist activity.
The Palestinian Authority has refused an Israeli offer to jointly investigate the circumstances surrounding Abu Akleh’s death. However, the IDF has been conducting its own inquiry into the incident, and has ruled out the possibility that Abu Akleh was shot intentionally.
In its response, Israel’s mission in Geneva noted that the OHCHR “deplorably” failed to mention “the main obstacle to establishing the truth in this tragic incident: the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to conduct a joint investigation and hand over the bullet.”
“Without this evidence, it is not possible for any ‘independent monitoring’ to legitimately conclude whether Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by indiscriminate Palestinian fire, or accidentally hit by an IDF soldier,” the statement said.
OHCHR’s statement regarding the death of journalist #ShireenAbuAkleh once again deplorably fails to mention the main obstacle to establishing the truth in this tragic incident: the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to conduct a joint investigation and hand over the bullet. 1/8 pic.twitter.com/vsf49bK5xu
— Israel in UN/Geneva🇮🇱🇺🇳 #HRC50 (@IsraelinGeneva) June 24, 2022
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Indirect talks between Iran and the United States aimed at resurrecting the 2015 nuclear deal are expected to resume in “the coming days,” the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister declared at a joint press conference with the European Union’s foreign policy chief in Tehran.
“We are prepared to resume talks in the coming days. What is important for Iran is to fully receive the economic benefits of the 2015 accord,” said Hossein Amirabdollahian, adding that he had held a “long but positive meeting” with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell.
“We are expected to resume talks in the coming days and break the impasse,” Borell likewise stated. “It has been three months and we need to accelerate the work.” According to the European rep, Washington has already given the go-ahead, although the White House said it could not comment on the status of the negotiations.
Talks had stalled in recent months, chiefly over Tehran’s demand that the Biden Administration remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — which includes an elite division responsible for covert terror operations outside Iran — from the US terrorism list.
During Borell’s stay, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council vowed to push ahead with its race towards nuclear weapons capabilities until the West ends its “illegal behavior.” Ali Shamkhani claimed that Iran’s “retaliatory actions in the nuclear sector are merely legal and rational responses to US unilateralism and European inaction.”
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The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group has recently set up 15 new positions near the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire line, local media reported over the weekend. The posts, built around 5-250 yards (4.6-228.6 meters) from the temporary border line between the two countries, are said to consist of observation towers and residential structures.
While the flag of a Lebanese environmental organization flies over the sites, Hezbollah is known for using civilian groups as front organizations. In the past, it used “Green Without Borders” as a cover for activities on Israel’s border, as well as the “Peace Generations Organization for Demining.”
According to Israel’s Channel 12 News, the newly established posts are manned around the clock by terror operatives. “This is a clear statement of intent by Hezbollah,” a senior IDF Northern Command official added. “The problem is that once Hezbollah erects such a post, the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL can no longer access the area,” he said, referring to the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
Another Israeli official noted that some operatives spotted in the posts are known members of the Radwan Force, Hezbollah’s elite unit formed to carry out covert operations against the Jewish state.
UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, called for the disarming of Hezbollah and the deployment of the Lebanese army to exert sovereignty — especially in the south of the country along the Lebanon-Israel boundary.
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