Benjamin Netanyahu News

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron will travel to Oman on Tuesday where he is expected to call for stability over ongoing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and de-escalating of tensions in the Middle East, the foreign office said on Tuesday.Cameron, on his fourth visit to the Middle East, will travel to Oman to meet his counterpart Badr Albusaidi to discuss how to diminish tensions across the region.The Houthi attacks on international shipping lines in the Red Sea will be a major focus of his discussions…

When the United States and 11 allies published a joint statement last week calling for an end to Houthi attacks from Yemen on Red Sea shipping, they hoped the implicit threat of force might at least reduce the intensity of fire on foreign vessels.Instead, Wednesday saw the largest single attack yet on foreign vessels, according to Western defence officials, launched seven days after the joint statement. It appeared a clear attempt to call the West's bluff, just as other tensions across the Middle East appear to be on the rise.In Iraq and Syria, U.S.

Israel said on Sunday that Yemen's Houthis had seized a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship in the southern Red Sea, describing the incident as an "Iranian act of terrorism" with consequences for international maritime security.The Houthis said they had seized a ship in that area but described it as Israeli. "We are treating the ship's crew in accordance with Islamic principles and values," a spokesperson for the group said, making no reference to the Israeli account.The Houthis…

A new and deadly chapter of the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict is a reality check for an ambitious trade route. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), championed by Washington last month on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi and dubbed a Western rival to China’s Belt and Road, had much to prove anyway. The latest conflict presses pause on any grand financial visions involving the neighbourhood.IMEC’s chief backers waxed lyrical about the potential of the trade route involving railways, ports and green energy. U.S.

Iran denies Israel's accusation that Tehran targeted an Israeli tanker on Feb. 10, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday.The captain of the Liberian-flagged Campo Square said on Saturday it had been lightly damaged by an airborne object on Feb. 10 while sailing through the Arabian Sea.

Top Israeli ministers on Wednesday endorsed a U.S.-brokered deal to delineate a maritime border with Lebanon, paving the way for a potentially fractious two-week parliamentary review before it goes into force.Prime Minister Yair Lapid's security cabinet said the deal should be "urgently" green-lit, according to a statement following the meeting.If finalized, the agreement - hailed on Tuesday by all three parties involved as a historic achievement - would mark a diplomatic departure from decades of war and hostility as well as opening the door to offshore energy exploration.

Israel gave its preliminary nod on Sunday to a draft U.S.-brokered deal demarcating a maritime border with Lebanon that may lead to profit-sharing in a disputed Mediterranean gas prospect. Hoping to defuse one source of conflict between the hostile countries and prod them toward accommodation, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein last week submitted a new proposal that would pave the way for offshore energy exploration.After years of stop-start shuttle diplomacy, agreement seems closer than ever.

An Iranian cargo ship has come under attack in the Red Sea, Al Arabiya TV reported on Tuesday, quoting unnamed sources, and semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim said the vessel was targeted by a limpet mine.Al Arabiya cited the sources as saying the vessel was attacked off the coast of Eritrea and was affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, but provided no evidence to support the assertion.Tasnim identified the ship as the Iran Saviz. “The vessel Iran Saviz has been stationed in the Red Sea for the past few years to support Iranian commandos sent on commercial vessel (antipiracy) escort missions,” it reported.Reuters could not independently verify the report.

A cargo ship owned by an Israeli company was damaged by a missile in the Arabian Sea on Thursday in what was suspected to be an Iranian attack, an Israeli security official said.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the ship was on its way from Tanzania to India and was able to continue its voyage after the attack.The official did not provide further details.According to Israel's Ynet news website, the ship sailing under a Liberian flag did not sustain serious damage and Channel 12 news reported the ship is owned by XT Management, based in the port city of Haifa.Reuters could not reach officials at the company for comment.

An Iranian container ship was damaged in an attack in the Mediterranean, the state-run shipping company said on Friday, adding it would take legal action to identify the perpetrators of what it called terrorism and naval piracy.The ship, Shahr e Kord, was slightly damaged in Wednesday’s incident by an explosive object which caused a small fire, but no one on board was hurt, the spokesman, Ali Ghiasian, said, according to state media.“Such terrorist acts amount to naval piracy…

Israel accused Iran on Wednesday of being linked to a recent oil spill off its shores that caused major ecological damage, calling the incident environmental terrorism.The spill was caused by an oil tanker that was carrying pirated cargo from Iran to Syria last month, Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said.The vessel sailed through the Gulf and the Red Sea without radio contact, switching its tracking devices back on before passing through Egypt's Suez Canal, Gamliel told reporters.It turned the devices off again before entering Israeli waters in the eastern Mediterranean, and dropped oil into the sea between Feb.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran on Monday for an explosion aboard an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman last week, an accusation rejected by Tehran.The vehicle-carrier Helios Ray was hit between Thursday night and Friday morning by a blast above the water line that a U.S official said ripped holes in both sides of its hull. An Israeli official said limpet mines were used.“This was indeed an operation by Iran. That is clear,” Netanyahu told Kan radio.Asked if Israel would retaliate, he said, “You know my policy. Iran is Israel’s biggest enemy. I am determined to fend it off. We are striking at it all over the region.”Iran denied involvement.

The ship-to-shore crane paused above the cargo ship just arrived from Dubai, then set its load down on the pier in Israel.One after another, eight containers filled with electronics, cleaning supplies, iron, and firefighting equipment were unloaded off the MSC Paris, one of the first cargo ships to make the voyage between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.Just a few months ago, such a journey from Dubai's Jebel Ali port to the northern Israeli port city of Haifa would have been unthinkable.The countries announced a normalization deal in August which laid the ground for a potentially profitable new trade route.The diplomatic breakthrough stemmed from a strategic realignment of Middle East nations…

TEL AVIV - Israel's largest seaport in the southern city of Ashdod is fully operational, with containers being unloaded at a similar pace to a year ago despite the global outbreak of coronavirus, the port's chairwoman said.Some 97% of cargo to Israel, by weight, arrives by ship and the government has assured the country there will be no shortages of essential products.There are currently 25 ships at the port and since the start of 2020 some 200,000 containers have been unloaded…

Israel's navy could take action against Iranian oil smuggling, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, urging world powers to foil any effort by Tehran to evade U.S. sanctions.The Israeli leader told naval officers that Iran was still resorting to clandestine measures to ship fuel that it first used prior to a 2015 nuclear deal easing Western sanctions on its oil sector.U.S. President Donald Trump last year quit the nuclear deal and reimposed some sanctions, aiming to cut Iran's oil exports to zero."Iran is trying to circumvent the sanctions through covert oil smuggling over maritime routes, and to the extent that these attempts widen…

A U.S. Navy warship has docked in the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, the first such visit there in almost 20 years, in what officials from both sides hailed as a sign of their strong ties in the face of shared adversaries like Iran.Foreign navies generally prefer northern Haifa as their Israeli port of call, so the destroyer USS Ross's arrival at Ashdod potentially signaled Washington's interest in broadened berthing options for its Mediterranean Sixth Fleet."This visit has significance.

Israel would deploy its military if Iran were to try to block the Bab al-Mandeb strait that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.Last week, Saudi Arabia said it was suspending oil shipments through the strait, on the main sea route from the Middle East to Europe, after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis attacked two ships in the waterway.Saudi Arabia and Iran are in a three-year-old proxy war in Yemen, which lies on the eastern side of Bab al-Mandeb.Yemen's Houthis, who have previously threatened to block the strait, said last week they had the naval capability to hit Saudi ports and other Red Sea targets.Iran has not threatened to block Bab al-Mandeb but has said it would block the Strait of Hormuz…

Questions over the purchase of German submarines that started with media reports of a potential conflict of interest involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lawyer have mounted in the last 10 days, spurring investigations in two countries. At one level the issue is straightforward: Israel wanted to replace some of its ageing submarines and maintain its military edge against potential threats like Iran, so it ordered three new submarines, costing $1.5 billion, from Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, with delivery in about a decade. The first sign of a hiccup arose when Israeli media pointed out that the intermediary on the deal, Israeli businessman Miki Ganor, had retained Netanyahu's personal lawyer, David Shimron, to act on his behalf in the transaction.

A Chinese construction firm began work on a new Mediterranean port in Israel on Tuesday, prompting a strike at Haifa docks further up the coast where the workers oppose the new competition. Israel's government, looking to break up the monopoly of two state-owned ports in Haifa and Ashdod through which nearly all exports and imports pass, recently approved creating private ports adjacent to the current ones. The move, it says, will bring down the cost of goods across the board. A subsidiary of China Harbour Engineering Co is building the 3.3 billion shekel ($876 million) port in Ashdod, which is due to be completed in 2020. The port's operator has not been chosen and the contract for Haifa has yet to be awarded.

The United States supports moving forward with offshore natural gas deals in the Mediterranean involving the U.S. company Noble Energy, a State Department spokesman said on Tuesday. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has also discussed the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said. "We continue to engage and we support all parties to move forward with the natural gas deal signed between Noble Energy and entities in Jordan and Egypt," Rathke told reporters. Last week, Israel's competition regulator recommended breaking up control of the country's offshore gas reserves by Noble Energy and Delek Group, who together hold 85 percent of the giant Leviathan natural gas field.

Israel's former Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, toured the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal today as part of a one-day private visit to the country. Netanyahu was welcomed at the Miraflores Visitors Center by Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Minister for Canal Affairs and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dani Kuzniecky. The ACP briefed the ex-Prime Minister about Canal operations from the Miraflores Control Center and gave a presentation on the progress of the Expansion Program. Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister of Israel between 1996 and 1999.