Middle East Experience

Israel will cease all contact with the UN's Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and any other body acting on its behalf, its UN envoy said Tuesday, after repeatedly accusing the organization of undermining its security.UNRWA's offices and staff in Israel play a major role in the provision of healthcare and education to Palestinians, but Israeli officials have long clashed with the agency. UNRWA claims to have brought in 60 percent of the food to have reached Gaza since the start of the war that followed the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Israel defies UN and vows to cut ties with UNRWA, with US blessing

The bill, proposed by Likud MK Tally Gotliv, allows for the lifting of criminal immunity granted to MKs with the approval of a 90-MK majority.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Knesset committee readies bill which would grant quasi-total immunity to MKs

If Neanderthal women mated with Homo sapiens or Denisovan men, there was a high risk of newborns having neonatal hemolytic disease.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Blood incompatibility with Homo sapiens may have led to Neanderthal extinction

Leiter said he envisions his role as an opportunity to unite various groups around the shared goal of supporting Israel.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: New Israeli US envoy: 'I’ll speak in every synagogue, regardless of denomination'

Authorities in Lebanon and Syria have stepped up their fight against the Captagon trade following the fall of the Assad regime, which heavily relied on the industry as one of its major sources of income.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Lebanon army, Syrian traffickers clash as anti-smuggling efforts ramp up

For the first time in more than a year, war-displaced Gazan Ammar Barbakh awoke on Monday feeling refreshed after a night spent in a tent, but free of Israeli attacks."This is the first time I sleep comfortably and I'm not afraid," Barbakh, 35, told AFP a day after a fragile truce in the Israel-Hamas war took hold."We didn't hear any shelling, and we weren't afraid," he said.Barbakh, from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, pitched a tent on the rubble of his former home.Despite the destruction, he was thrilled to have had a peaceful sleep.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: 'We slept in peace': War-weary Gazans savour truce's first night

Syrian phone shop owner Abdel Razzaq Hamra was thrilled to finally be working in peace after years of being harassed and detained by security personnel enforcing an Assad-linked company's monopoly.Before president Bashar al-Assad was ousted last month, his security forces would raid the central Damascus district where dozens of mobile stores operate in search of phones without the Emmatel company logo."If they would find one device without an Emmatel sticker, they would confiscate everything," said Hamra, 33.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Syria phone shops free from Assad-linked monopoly

While many celebrities celebrated the release of Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, Israel's critics were silent on the women's plight and newly returned freedom.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Gal Gadot, Gwyneth Paltrow and other celebs salute the hostage release

Netanyahu will hope that, as with the Iranian issue, Trump's personal anger will be set aside.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Will Trump see eye-to-eye with Netanyahu as he returns to the White House?

October 2025 – when the global sanctions snapback threat and limits from the 2015 nuclear deal on Tehran’s centrifuges expire – is just over the horizon.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Is this the last Iran nuke negotiation before judgment day?