Middle East
“In the Talmud and Jewish law, we learned that poor non-Jews need to make a living just like poor Jews, and so, too, this is the ruling according to which non-Jewish prisoners should be freed just like Jewish prisoners; it is already known that the commandment to free prisoners is one of the most important commandments,” he wrote.
Egyptian, Lebanese, Algerian and Moroccan journalists working for media outlets in France, Egypt and Belgium are set to visit Israel as part of initiative by Israeli Embassy in Paris • Knesset speaker hopes the visit will contribute to how Arab media views Israel.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot travels to Abu Dhabi for meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, says Lebanese newspaper • Meetings reportedly focus on potential Israeli arms sale to UAE • Bahrain and Kuwait also eye ties with Israel.
The American administration is hopeful that its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan will be released “in the next couple of months,” according to senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner • “Not every side is going to love” the proposed agreement, he cautions.
Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa wrote on his Twitter account: “Is terrorist Hezbollah’s digging of the tunnels under Lebanon’s border not a flagrant threat to Lebanon’s stability, which it shares responsibility for?”
Rumored ties between Israel, and both Bahrain and Sudan, are viewed by the Palestinian Authority as normalization, which it opposes as long as there is no Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hints at emerging relations with Persian Gulf state in historic meeting with leader of Chad, another Muslim country now warming up to Israel • In recent weeks, Netanyahu and his ministers visited a number of Gulf states.
P.A. security forces have arrested Isam Aqel, an American-Palestinian man in eastern Jerusalem, on suspicion of assisting in the sale of an Arab-owned house in the Old City of Jerusalem to Israeli Jews.
U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to postpone the long-awaited unveiling of his Middle East peace plan, Palestinian newspaper reports • Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer reportedly recommended the delay to Trump.
In addition to joint economic and social-development matters, Israel sees Oman as an ally to combat the Iranian regional threat.
Transportation Minister Israel Katz departed Sunday evening for Oman, nine days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Gulf emirate.
Omani FM Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah: Israel is a part of the region; the Torah and the Israelite prophets emerged in the Middle East.
