Middle East Experience

“Culture is important to the mental health and wellbeing of the public,” said Health Minister Yuli Edelstein.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Coronavirus: Gov’t approves holding cultural events of up to 500 people

To date, some of the world’s hottest countries - Brazil and Saudi Arabia, for example - have had the largest outbreaks.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Coronavirus did not go away in the summer – here’s what we know

Israel is reviving the E1 plan to build thousands of settlements in East Jerusalem, which would cut off the city from the rest of the West Bank and undermine any prospect for the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: As annexation stalls, Netanyahu revives plan to expand West Bank settlements

Conflicting reports have emerged on whether Israeli tanks entered Lebanese territory amid high tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Israeli tanks deploy to Lebanese border

Coronavirus czar: 'Perhaps there is no choice but to impose a closure'
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israel tops China in number of coronavirus cases

Netanyahu asked Mandelblit what he would do if the sexual threats were against his own wife, singling her out by name.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Netanyahu slams Mandelblit for not stopping calls to hurt his family

Iran executed men it said spied for the United States and Israel last month.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Iran arrests alleged spies for UK, Germany, Israel

Radiant in a long white gown and veil, 29-year-old Lebanese bride Israa Seblani stands smiling and posing for her wedding video. The scene is shattered by a deafening roar, and a powerful shockwave nearly blows her off her feet.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The dramatic footage captured the moment when a massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, killing 137 people and injuring more than 5,000.Seblani, a doctor working in the United States, helped to check on the injured nearby, before fleeing central Beirut's Saifi square to safety.A day later, she and her husband Ahmad Subeih, 34, a businessman in Beirut, were struggling to process what happened.“I have been preparing for my big day for two weeks and I was so happy like all other girls, ‘I am getting married.’ My parents are going to be happy seeing me in a white dress, I will be looking like a princess,” she told Reuters.“What happened during the explosion here - there is no word to explain ... I was shocked, I was wondering what happened, am I going to die? How am I going to die?”Behind her, piles of smashed glass from the blown-out windows of the hotel where she was due to stay littered the ground, along with crushed remnants of flower arrangements that had adorned banquet tables.Seblani arrived in Beirut three weeks earlier to prepare for her wedding.Subeih recalled the aftermath of the blast, which officials have blamed on a huge stockpile of highly explosive material stored for years in unsafe conditions at the port.“We started to walk around and it was extremely sad, it was not describable the devastation and the sound of the explosion,” he said. “We are still in shock ... I have never heard anything similar to the sound of this explosion.”“I feel so sad about what happened to other people, about what happened to Lebanon,” added Seblani. “When I woke up and saw the damage that happened to Beirut, the one thing I said was thank God we are still alive.”Read also: Beirut blast sweeps away bride posing for wedding day in LebanonAfter the blast, she and her husband tried to compose themselves and carry on with their celebrations.“My husband told me to continue, we can't stop. I was like okay, why not, we continue. I was not living the moment actually, I was like walking, my face was smiling, my lips were smiling, that's it, not more. Then we went to have a dinner.”Subeih recalls entering the damaged hotel on Wednesday to retrieve belongings and passports.“The scene in the room was unbelievable,” he said.He is waiting for a visa to the United States so he can join his wife there. Seblani loves Lebanon, but feels that after Tuesday's blast, living there is not an option.She is still trying to find joy in a wedding she took so long to prepare.“There is a lot of damage, many people were killed and wounded. But also if I want to look at us, myself, my husband, the photographer - how we escaped unharmed, I thank God for protecting us.“This alone makes me feel optimistic and to keep the joy of the occasion that I came here to celebrate.”Read more:Missing port worker found alive in sea 30 hours after blastMassive explosions rock Lebanon’s capital of BeirutBeirut explosion death toll rises to at least 137 and 5,000 injured: Ministry
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Beirut explosion: Bride in viral blast wedding video happy to be alive in Lebanon

There’s a “good chance” of finding survivors of the Beirut explosion, said the French rescue team sent to Lebanon, according to AFP.The team headed to Beirut in the aftermath of the massive explosion in Beirut's port on Tuesday that killed over 137 people and injured at least 5,000 others.The blast rocked the city, causing billions of dollars worth of damage and leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the appFrench President Emmanuel Macron also visited the country on Thursday.“I guarantee you this - aid will not go to corrupt hands,” Macron told protesters in central Beirut two days after the city was devastated by a blast.“I will talk to all political forces to ask them for a new pact. I am here today to propose a new political pact to them,” he said, after being greeted by crowds calling for an end to the “regime.”Read more:Beirut explosion: Crowd on street urges Macron to help oust Lebanon’s leadershipWatch: Closest footage yet of Beirut blasts from apartment balcony opposite portCost of damages to exceed $5 billion, Beirut governor reveals as Lebanon grievesWith AFP.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Beirut explosion: ‘Good chance’ of finding blast survivors, French rescue team says

Hezbollah members and affiliates had previously been caught in London and Cyprus with large quantities of ammonium nitrate, the highly explosive compound thought to be the cause of the deadly explosion in Beirut this week, according to a report by British newspaper the Telegraph.The massive explosion that ripped through Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least 137 people and injuring over 5,000, is thought to be the result of the ignition of large quantities of ammonium nitrate that were being stored in Beirut’s port.Read more: Beirut blast: Ammonium nitrate fertilizer behind many industrial accidentsAuthorities have acknowledged that the nitrate was being stored in the port, but commentators have speculated about how it arrived there and why it was kept in hangar 12 in close proximity to densely populated central Beirut.According to a verified legal notice from a Lebanese law firm, the chemicals were offloaded from a Moldovan-flagged tanker in 2013 and had been kept there ever since.There is no current evidence that the material held in the port belonged to Hezbollah, but some have speculated that the chemicals might be linked to the organization, which has been designated as a terrorist group by the US and other countries.“The fact that a massive amount of explosive material was just sitting in the Port of Beirut – long suspected to be exploited by Hezbollah for illicit trade and smuggling – raises troubling questions about whether the Iran-backed terror group, which is the political glue that holds together Lebanon’s current government, had any intentions of deploying that material in an attack,” wrote Jonathan Schanzer, the senior vice president at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).On Twitter, Schanzer also pointed to old reports that have recently resurfaced of Hezbollah and its affiliates stockpiling quantities of ammonium nitrate elsewhere, including in London.Read more: Without dismantling Hezbollah’s arsenal, Lebanon will always be at riskHezbollah ammonium nitrate stocks in London, CyprusStocks of ammonium nitrate linked to Hezbollah have been discovered in the UK and Cyprus.According to the Telegraph, the UK’s MI5 and the Metropolitan Police found three metric tons of ammonium nitrate in northwest London in autumn 2015, after raiding properties belonging to “radicals linked to Hezbollah.”A man in his 40s was arrested but later released, said the Telegraph, after a tip-off from a foreign government.The material had reportedly been stored in ice packs, which “provide the perfect cover” because they are easy to transport and hard to prove that they are used for explosives, according to a source who spoke to the Telegraph.In a similar case, a Hezbollah member was caught with more than 65,000 ice packs in Cyprus.Hussein Bassam Abdallah, a dual Lebanese and Canadian national, was arrested by police in Cyprus in 2015 and admitted he was a member of Hezbollah’s wing during interrogation, reported the Telegraph.“Abdallah said the 8.2 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored was for terrorist attacks. He pleaded guilty and was given a six-year prison sentence in June 2015,” added the paper.He was reportedly also found with a forged British passport, suggesting that he may have been linked to the UK case.Read more:Beirut explosion: France's Macron arrives in Lebanon after deadly blastBeirut blasts leave hundreds of thousands homeless; hundreds step up to help LebanonBeirut explosion: Lebanese survivors emerge from blast angry at political elitesBurgas bombing linkThe chemical was reportedly used in the 2012 Burgas bombing in Bulgaria, a suicide bombing attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists that killed six people and injured 32 others.Hezbollah has been widely accused of carrying out the attack, and in 2013, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry released photographs of two Hezbollah members suspected in the bombing.According to the Washington Institute, investigators believe that the explosives used in the Burgas attack may have come from the chemicals that were stored in Cyprus.Hezbollah denies involvement in the attack.Opinion: We banned Hezbollah activities in Germany. Now it’s the EU’s turn.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Beirut explosion: Hezbollah had ammonium nitrate in northwest London, Cyprus: Reports