An Israeli minister lashed out at world media on Wednesday, accusing them of bias against Israel and defended Israel's handling of the case of an American graduate student held in detention at the country's international airport for the past week over allegations that she supports a boycott against the Jewish state.

Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old American citizen with Palestinian grandparents, landed at Ben-Gurion Airport last week with a valid student visa and was registered to study human rights at Israel's Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

But she was barred from entering the country and ordered deported, based on suspicions that she supports the Palestinian-led boycott movement.

An Israeli court has ordered that she remain in custody while she appeals, although Israel says she can leave the country.

The weeklong detention is the longest anyone has been held in a boycott-related case.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that Israel had the right to protect itself and decide who enters its borders despite growing international criticism.

His remarks come after the Times published an opinion piece by columnist Bret Stephens and editor Bari Weiss critical of Israel's handling of Alqasem's case.

More than 300 academics penned a letter in the British Guardian Wednesday calling the case "an attack on academic freedom."

While waiting for her appeal to be heard, Alqasem has been spending her days in a closed area with little access to a telephone, no internet and a bed that was infested with bedbugs, according to people who have spoken to her.

Erdan insisted Alqasem was not detained and was free to return to the US, but chose to remain at Ben Gurion airport in a move he suggested was part of an anti-Israel campaign.

Leora Baruch, a member of Alqasem's defence team said the case is a crucial one as it goes to the very heart of the debate about Israel's identity.

Alqasem, from the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Southwest Ranches, Florida, is a former president of the University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.

The group is a branch of the BDS movement, whose name comes from its calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

BDS supporters say that in urging businesses, artists and universities to sever ties with Israel, they are using nonviolent means to resist unjust policies toward Palestinians.

Israel says the movement masks its motives to delegitimise or destroy the Jewish state.

Alqasem's case is set to be heard at a Tel Aviv court on Thursday.

Jerusalem - 10 October 2018

1. Set up of Gilad Erdan, Israel's Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information

2. Cutaway of hands

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Gilad Erdan, Israel's Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information:

"Lara was the head of one of the most extremist BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) organisations known as SJP - Students for Justice in Palestine. And this is a BDS organisation, an anti-Semitic BDS organisation that is acting against pro-Israel speakers, that is bullying and trying to harm Jewish students in many campuses around the United States of America, and this is exactly one of the most extremist BDS organisations that we don't want to see their activists coming to Israel and trying to use our infrastructure to harm us and to destroy us."

4. Cutaway of Erdan

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Gilad Erdan, Israel's Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information:

"World media most of the time is against the state of Israel. We know it. We will try always to expose the truth and to tell the truth about what is really happening in Israel. But, unfortunately it is not always working because the world media many time are against the state of Israel and that is not something that has to tell us to change our ideology or to change our mind. We are doing whatever we believe that is right for the security of the state of Israel and that is more important than whatever The New York Times or other newspapers around the world will say about our policy."

6. Cutaway of Erdan

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Gilad Erdan, Israel's Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information:

"Even though she, under our criteria, under the law criteria, she should be banned from entering Israel, if she would say the she regrets all her activities against the state of Israel and she would commit not to be part of those anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli activities, so we will think again about allowing her to enter Israel. But until now I didn't get this kind of commitment."

8. Photograph of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Gilad Erdan, Israel's Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information:

"It's also important to understand and to emphasise that Ms. Alqasem is not being detained. She can leave Israel whenever she wants but she decided, and it looks like a campaign, she decided to stay at the airport as long as her appeal to our court is continuing. We told her - we will pay for your flight and you can come back, fly back, home to the United States whenever you want. But she decided to stay at the airport."

10. Wide of Erdan

11. Photo of Netanyahu on wall

12. Set up of Leora Baruch, lawyer representing Lara Alqasem

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Leora Baruch, a lawyer representing Lara Alqasem:

"Lara's case is critical because we learned from it how the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Strategic Affairs has been implementing the Boycott Amendment to the Law on Entering into Israel and how they intend to implement it in the future. The law itself is actually quite ambiguous. It says that a person who, acting on their own behalf or on behalf of an organisation or a body for a public call to boycott, or who has made a commitment to boycott. I don't know what a commitment to boycott is. That's something that is very unclear."

14. Cutaway

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Leora Baruch, a lawyer representing Lara Alqasem:

"Lara Alqasem's case is being followed throughout Israel, all over the news and throughout the world. And what might happen tomorrow is we might learn whether this amendment should be used at all and how it should be used and how broad or how narrow it should be used. And whether there has been an abuse of power here and whether the Ministry of Interior has used the amendment for a case that clearly doesn't fall within the parameters of the amendment itself. And so there really is a lot at stake here and it's again part of a larger conversation about academic freedom, about freedom of speech, about being able to visit Israel even if you don't share the opinions of the consensus, of the majority of the party, the administration."

16. Cutaway of degree certificate

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Leora Baruch, a lawyer representing Lara Alqasem:

"With respect to Minister Erdan's statement, he's asked that Lara claim that BDS is an illegitimate movement, that it is an illegitimate form of protest. Lara is not willing to claim that BDS is illegitimate, even if she isn't a supporter of BDS. And we're currently in negotiations to see if there's a way of bridging the gap between the two parties."

18. Baruch at her computer

The top official of an international human rights watchdog, that has found itself at odds with the Israeli government, welcomed a delay in a court hearing on Wednesday about whether to deport its local director from the country.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), said he hoped the Israeli government would use the period to reflect and "reassess" its position.

For over a year, Israel has been working to expel the local director of the international group Human Rights Watch, Omar Shakir, accusing him of promoting boycotts.

The deportation issue had been scheduled to go before Israel's Supreme Court this week, but was postponed on Wednesday until September.

Roth had travelled to Israel to demonstrate the stakes at hand by attending the court hearing himself, adding there was mounting international pressure against the move.

Roth said the possible deportation would list Israel among a handful of governments that bar HRW researchers such as North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Cuba and Venezuela.

He accounted Israel's change in attitude towards the rights group to internal Israeli politics as well as the closeness of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to US President Donald Trump.

The BDS (Boycott Divest and Sanction) movement promotes boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israeli institutions and businesses in what it says is a non-violent campaign against Israeli abuses against Palestinians.

Israel says the campaign masks a deeper goal of delegitimising and even destroying the Jewish state.

Roth noted that neither the group nor Shakir, in his position at Human Rights Watch, has called for a boycott of Israel.

It says Shakir, who is a US citizen, is being targeted for the group's opposition to Israel's West Bank settlements and its calls for companies to stop working with the settlements.

The boycott movement's economic impact on Israel has been minimal, but it has enjoyed stronger success in the entertainment and academic worlds, gaining significant support on US college campuses.

Israel and its allies, however, have succeeded in promoting legislation in US states and elsewhere against BDS.

Jerusalem – 24 July 2019

1. Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Executive Director seated

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Executive Director:

"It's not every day that a government tries to deport one of Human Rights Watch's researchers and given that that's what the (Benjamin) Netanyahu government is trying to do, I thought it was very important to demonstrate the stakes at issue and come here myself for what we thought would be the Supreme Court hearing. Now, the hearing has been postponed which we take as welcome news because that comes at a moment when there really has been rapidly mounting global outrage at what almost everybody sees as an effort to censor legitimate human rights advocacy. And so I hope that the Israeli government uses this hiatus as a moment of reflection. To recognise that its effort to sort of pretend that this is only about one researcher and his past that everybody sees through that excuse, that everybody recognises that what's really at stake here is the ability to engage in human rights advocacy which may be uncomfortable for the Israeli government, but is completely legitimate and mainstream even within the Israeli public generally."

3. Cutaway

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Executive Director:

"There currently is a court order enabling Omar Shakir to stay in Israel until there is a final decision on his case, which ultimately we hope will be a positive decision. So, the plan for now is that Omar Shakir continues to be Human Rights Watch's representative in Israel Palestine. And I hope that that continues for a long, long time because we anticipate a positive ruling in the end. But frankly, even if the Supreme Court were to go the other way, ultimately the decision to enforce a deportation order is the government's. So, while for the moment we're looking at the court in the end it's the government that has to act or not act. And we hope that either the Netanyahu government, or any successor government, will recognise that the world sees through the excuses that it's making with respect to Omar Shakir, recognises that what's really at stake is free speech and legitimate human rights advocacy. And so Israel does not want to join the narrow set of abusive governments that bar Human Rights Watch representatives"

5. Cutaway

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Executive Director:

"Well the irony is that the Israeli government's position is driven by its fear of the so-called BDS movement - the Boycott Divest and Sanction movement. Now why they chose Human Rights Watch to make this case I don't know because Human Rights Watch actually has never advocated boycotting Israel and we don't endorse the BDS (Boycott Divest and Sanction) movement. But what they did is they looked back into kind of the ancient college history of the Human Rights Watch researcher and say well back then he did so we're going to penalise him. But the point is that even this Israeli war is not supposed to be punitive for the past, it's supposed to be preventative for the future. And the government was unable to come up with any evidence that Omar Shakir had ever deviated from Human Rights Watch's positions during the entire ten-year of his employment with Human Rights Watch. So this is really a misguided effort to strike back against BDS (Boycott Divest and Sanction) which everybody sees is in fact becoming just an effort to censor a widely respected, broadly viewed as legitimate organisation that is simply reporting what it is with respect to Israeli conduct in the occupied territories"

7. Cutaway

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Executive Director:

"I mean many people have wondered why did the Netanyahu government try to pull this off this time? And you know frankly I think part of the explanation is just domestic Israeli politics. Things are moving to the right and so something that Netanyahu actually chose not to do just two years ago, he now feels he can get away with or maybe has to do in order to placate the far right within Israel. I think (US President Donald) Trump's embrace of Netanyahu as if Netanyahu can never do anything wrong may have emboldened him as well. But you know fortunately most of the world is not in the same place as Netanyahu and Trump. Most of the world still believes in the Geneva Conventions. Most of the world still believes in the legitimacy of human rights advocacy. And those are the things that are at stake here. And I think that given the global outrage at his effort to deport the Human Rights Watch researcher, this is an opportunity for the Netanyahu government to reassess and to recognise that, you know, it doesn't want to join the ranks of North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Cuba and Venezuela in being one of those handful of governments that bars Human Rights Watch researchers."

9. Cutaway

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Executive Director:

"Actually what people don't recognise is that Human Rights Watch's programme on the United States is our largest country programme in the world. And indeed Human Rights Watch has been doing intensive work, most recently on the child separations on the border; the efforts to undermine the right to seek asylum; on the various Trump efforts to demonise immigrants, to promote racist views to really, you know, undermine human rights enforcement at home. And this of course presents a problem globally as well because traditionally, while the US government has never been a, you know, a regular promoter of human rights, it at least has been a government that we could look to from time to time. And that is not terribly productive under Trump. You know, Trump is so busy embracing autocrats. He's not the most credible articulator of human rights principles. So we've had to look elsewhere. But the good news is that there are other governments who've been willing to step up to the plate and whether it's you know Saudi abuses in Yemen or Russian indiscriminate bombardment in Syria or Myanmar crimes against humanity against Rohingya or even China's persecution of the Uighur Muslims. There are governments willing to stand up. And typically it's not the United States, but there are other coalitions of governments that continue to be a powerful voice for human rights and have caused all of those governments to react and to be less abusive than they might have been."

11. Cutaway

12. Omar Shakir, HRW director in Israel, Palestine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday.

Speaking ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said the "important" talks would focus on ways to strengthen coordination between the Israeli and Russian armies in Syria.

Israel and Russia maintain a hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing over war-torn country.

Netanyahu added that Israel is working towards preventing Iran from using "Syria as a front in their war to destroy Israel".

Israel has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, primarily against Iranian targets and suspected arms shipments to Hezbollah militants.

Netanyahu also called last week's Middle East security conference in Poland "historic", noting that dozens of foreign ministers "sat together with Israel and also accepted our position against Iran".

He made the comments while seated next to Israel Katz, his newly appointed interim foreign minister, a post held by Netanyahu himself for the last four years.

Jerusalem - 17 February 2019

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government officials at cabinet meeting

2. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"This weekend, I came back from the Middle East Peace and Security conference that took place in Warsaw. I met there with US Vice President Mike Pence and with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. First I want to say that the ties between Israel and the US are stronger than ever. During this conference, something happened that you probably noticed - a historic change with great significance to Israel. Sixty foreign ministers and representatives attended, including Arab countries which we don't have ties with, sat together with Israel and also accepted our position against Iran. I told them the Iranian aggression is the main factor that is destabilizing the Middle East and the entire world. I said that we must prevent Iran from (obtaining) nuclear weapons and to stop Iran from establishing itself militarily in Syria and we will continue to act all the time to ensure the security of Israel."

3. Cutaway

4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"On Thursday, I will meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. I will discuss with him strengthening coordination mechanisms to avoid friction between the Israeli army and Russia's army. These talks are very important and are part of a continuing effort to ensure freedom of action of Israel against Iran and its proxies that declare their intention to use Syria as a front in their war to destroy Israel."

5. Netanyahu and newly appointed Israeli interim foreign minister, Israel Katz

6. Close of Katz

Israel's Prime Minister has said his country is "in the midst of a campaign against terror in Gaza."

During his cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the deadly violence that has taken place near the Israeli-Palestine border during the past months.

"It won't end with a single strike" Netanyahu said Sunday morning, adding, "our approach is clear, a complete ceasefire. We won't be satisfied with less than that."

He also stated that the Israeli military so far has destroyed "hundreds of Hamas military targets."

Three Palestinians were killed on Friday by Israeli fire during a Hamas-led protest along the Gaza border.

The incident came as Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel honoured a cease-fire Friday that ended two days of an intense flare-up in violence.

During Sunday's meeting, Netanyahu also spoke about mass protests taking place in Tell Aviv on Saturday evening against the new Nation-State law, which critics say marginalises Israel's non-Jewish citizens.

"We received conclusive evidence of opposition against the existence of the state of Israel, and the necessity of the nation-state law. We saw PLO flags yesterday flying in the heart of Tel Aviv," Netanyahu told cabinet ministers.

Saturday's rally marked further fallout from the explosive Nation-State law and came a week after thousands of Druze, also members of the Arab minority, packed the same city square last week.

Israel's 1948 declaration of independence defined the country as a Jewish and democratic state and the government says the recently passed bill merely enshrines the country's existing character.

But critics say it undercuts Israel's democratic values and sidelines the country's non-Jewish population, namely the Arab community that makes up 20 percent of the country.

Jerusalem - 12 August 2018

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving for cabinet meeting

2. Pan left from Netanyahu over cabinet ministers during meeting

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"We are in the midst of a campaign against terror in Gaza. There is an exchange of blows, and it won't end with a single strike. Our approach is clear: a complete ceasefire. We won't be satisfied with less than that. Until now we have destroyed hundreds of Hamas military targets, in every round of attacks, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has inflicted another heavy toll on Hamas. I won't disclose our operational plans here; they're ready."

4. Cutaway of cabinet meeting

5. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister (speaking about mass protests in Tel Aviv on Saturday against a contentious new law that critics say marginalises Israel's non-Jewish citizens):

"Yesterday we received conclusive evidence of opposition against the existence of the state of Israel, and the necessity of the Nation-state Law. We saw PLO flags yesterday flying in the heart of Tel Aviv, in the heart of Tel Aviv. We heard the chants 'With blood and fire we will redeem Palestine.' Many of the protesters want to cancel the Law of Return (a law which gives Jews the right to come and live in and gain citizenship in Israel), they want to annul the anthem, they want to fold up our flag, they want to nullify Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and turn it - as some of them say - into an Israeli-Palestinian state, others say a state of all its citizens. Precisely for this reason we passed the Nation-state Law. We are proud of our country, we are proud of our flag, we are proud of our anthem. Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. Individual rights of its citizens are well anchored in the basic laws and other laws, and now it's clearer than ever that the nation-state Law is needed to ensure the future of the state of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. We passed this law and we will keep this law."

6. Mid of meeting

Tens of thousands of members of Israel's Druze minority and their Jewish supporters packed a square in central Tel Aviv Saturday night to rally against a contentious new law that critics say sidelines Israel's non-Jewish citizens.

It marked the first time in recent memory that the Druze - who are considered fiercely loyal to the state of Israel - staged a large public protest.

Hundreds of brightly colored Druze flags, rarely seen outside the community, fluttered in the square along Israel's national banners.

Nearby City Hall was also lit up in the Druze colours.

The rally marked the biggest backlash yet against a recently passed law that enshrines Israel's Jewish character and downgrades the standing of Arabic from an official to a "special" language.

The law has outraged Israel's Arabic-speaking community, which includes the Druze and makes up about 20 percent of the population.

Critics say the law undermines the country's democratic values.

The Druze serve in the military, unlike most of the country's Arab citizens, who overwhelmingly follow Sunni Islam and have close family ties with Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories.

Over the years, members of the Druze community have risen to prominence in the military and in politics.

On Saturday, Tel Aviv's Rabin Square was packed with Druze protesters bused in from all over Israel, and their Jewish backers, including former senior members of the defenfe establishment.

The crowd chanted "equality, equality."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Cabinet ministers have met with Druze leaders to try and pacify their concerns.

But recent meetings did not go well.

According to Israeli media, Netanyahu abruptly ended a meeting with retired brigadier general Amal Assad and other Druze officials this week after Assad warned the new law would "lead to apartheid."

Israel's 130,000 Druze live mostly in the north of the country.

Tel Aviv - August 4 2018

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Various of Druze demonstration with Druze as well as Israeli flags being waved

++DAY SHOTS++

2. Demonstrators

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Amal Assad, retired brigadier general:

"We gathered here all of the Israeli citizens to change the bad law for the Israeli country, for the state of Israel, for the Jewish people, and for all the minorities. It's a bad law and we are all equal, Jews, Arabs, Druze, everybody. We are brothers, we defend this country and we'll build it and we will continue to live here together"

4. Mid of demonstration

5. Mid of front of demonstration, with Nadia Halabi, from Northern Israeli town of Daliyat al-Carmel standing with other protesters

6. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Nadia Halabi, protester:

"We are loyal to the state of Israel, we the Druze have been loyal to the state of Israel for 70 years, and we will continue to live here and serve in the army for another 700 years, but we won't accept that Benjamin Netanyahu split us, and will divide the Israeli society. I am a proud Israeli and I am also a proud Druze. When we're looking at the national law that he (Netanyahu) made, he created this problem, if not, we wouldn't be here, all the Druze from all over Israel. Long live Israel."

7. Mid of demonstration

Thousands of African asylum seekers on Wednesday protested outside the Rwandan Embassy in Israel, calling on the African country not to cooperate with an Israeli plan to deport them.

Israel has given thousands of migrants in the country until April 1 to accept an offer to leave for an unnamed African destination - widely known to be Rwanda, based on testimonies of people who have already left - in exchange for 3,500 US dollars and a plane ticket. Those who don't leave face indefinite incarceration.

The protesters said the plan would put them in danger and said the deportations were racist. They urged Rwanda and its president, Paul Kagame, not to cooperate. Rwanda is one of Israel's closest African allies.

"Deported to death because I'm black," said one banner. "Black or white I'm human," said another, held by protesters with faces painted white.

Israel has 40,000 migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, who say they fled from danger at home. Both countries have poor human rights records.

Israel claims that most of the migrants are job seekers and cites complaints that they have transformed working class neighbourhoods of south Tel Aviv into unrecognizable slums.

But the migrants and their supporters say those who have left have run into danger in Rwanda and Uganda, another destination country. They claim they have no rights in those countries, and quickly are forced to flee through war-torn countries like Sudan and Libya in hopes of making their way to Europe.

In a 2015 incident, a migrant who had left Israel was captured by Islamic State militants in Libya and decapitated.

The migrants say they do not want to settle in Israel, but want to remain as refugees until it is safe for them to return to their homelands.

"Saving a refugee is a moral obligation," the crowd chanted.

Thousands of migrants entered Israel from neighboring Egypt until Israel completed a massive border fence to stop the flow. Since then, Israel has struggled to find a solution for those who entered the country.

The deportation plan has sparked outrage in Israel, where critics have called it unethical and a stain on Israel's image as a refuge for Jewish migrants.

The government says it has no obligation to take in migrants, and that it has taken steps to make sure they are not harmed. Women, children and families, for example, are exempt from the deportation order.

Herzliya, central Israel - 7 February 2018

1. African asylum seekers raising hands in handcuff gesture, faces painted white, holding signs reading (English, from left to right) "Deported to death because I'm black," "Black or white I'm human"

2. Close up of handcuff gesture

3. African asylum seekers raising hands in handcuff gesture, faces painted white

4. Protester speaking on megaphone

5. Close up of woman protester

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Halofom Sultan, asylum seeker from Eritrea:

"I'm glad to see all the people, all the African asylum seekers as well as Israelis and other people here, and I can say why the people are here, because they are very worried about their future."

7. Wide of protest

8. Banner showing Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reading (English) "Stop racism"

9. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Tasfou Takle, asylum seeker from Eritrea:

"I was told 'go to your country,' I am asking for asylum, and I am not leaving (Israel) if I am to be sold, so here, I am standing here, I will stand here, I don't want to be deported from Israel, I'm a refugee also now."

10. Sign reading (English) "Black or white I'm a human"

11. Close up of baby in stroller

12. Crowd chanting (Hebrew) "Saving a refugee is a moral obligation"

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Sigal Rozen, Head of Public Department at the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants in Israel:

"It looks as if we managed to recruit such a large Israeli public, because suddenly the Israeli public realizes that Israel is about to actually deport genuine refugees, but our demands remain the same for the last 12 years, we keep on asking the Israeli government to grant refugee status to the people who deserve this status and to stop abusing them and trying to force them to leave."

14. Protesters chanting (Hebrew) "We will not fall into despair, we will stop the deportation"

LEADIN:

Two prominent rock singers from Israel and Iran are collaborating - despite major hostility between their countries.

They'll perform an iconic peace anthem called 'The Hope Song' at a concert in Tel Aviv this week, in a call for unity.

STORYLINE:

Aviv Geffen breaks into the opening lyrics of 'The Hope Song', one of the signature hits he wrote after the the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

It became something of a peace anthem and has been referred to as the Israeli version of John Lennon's 'Imagine'.

However the call for peace and hope is taken to a new level as the artist to his left joins the song.

Shahin Najafi meshes its Hebrew lyrics with Farsi - the language of Israel's long term enemy Iran.

Najafi is an Iranian dissident musician who had to flee the Islamic Republic because of his activism and was later issued a death sentence for a song about a Shiite cleric that was deemed to be blasphemous.

Now based in Germany, he still has a strong following among those opposed to the regime in Iran.

He's rehearsing with Geffen for a concert later this week in Tel Aviv - believed to be the first joint Israeli-Iranian collaboration.

The two artists hope to prove that despite the bitter enmity between their countries, the people could unite in the name of a better future.

"We can talk, we can hug and touch each other and sing, it's okay you know. So for us it's a great message to the people around the world", says Geffen.

"Naturally I have a very good feeling about it", adds Najafi. "I am very happy that I have this opportunity to come to Israel in the name of art and besides Aviv. We are going to sing together for democracy, freedom and against war."

In its early years, Israel actually had close ties to Iran and the country featured a thriving Jewish community. But following the Islamic revolution in 1979 they quickly devolved into bitter enemies, with the new Iranian leadership often referring to Israel as the "little Satan" and threatening to annihilate it.

In recent years, Israel has regarded Iran as its most dangerous adversary because of its nuclear program, its development of long-range missiles and continued support for militant groups along its border. Meeting with Israelis, let alone visiting the country, is considered an offence that could have severe repercussions.

In Israel, Geffen is cloaked in a rebellious image that earned him a title as the voice of a younger generation in the early 1990s when he would appear on stage in makeup, often without a shirt, and challenge his fans by screaming "do you want a change?"

His songs dealt with charged issues like suicide, religion, drugs and military service, which is compulsory in Israel but he himself skipped.

He performed at a peace rally in 1995 shortly before Rabin was assassinated by a religious extremist Jew opposed to his peace efforts, and Geffen's songs came to symbolise that era.

In recent years, he has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he has called a 'tyrant' who needs to step down.

But Geffen acknowledged that his political activism paled in comparison to Najafi's ordeal.

"I think Shahin is one of the bravest artists I ever met who is fighting on his own ideas and he's got loads, loads of people from Iran who are supporting him and some of his fans were thrown into jail because of his ideas and vision. So for me it was like a miracle to bring him here to Tel Aviv, to Israel just now, you know, because of all the history between us and Iran. To show the people that the people in Iran and Tel Aviv and Israel are getting together along really, really well", he says.

Born in Bandar-e Anzali, in the Gilan province in northern Iran, Najafi made a name for himself as an underground musician who took on controversial issues such as sexuality, politics and God. Under threat of persecution, he fled in 2004.

The "fatwa" death sentence against him was issued after his most controversial song, Naghi, in which he exhorts a Shiite Imam to solve some of the problems plaguing Iran.

The religious edict still stands, as does a 100,000 US dollar bounty on his head. He's often described as "the Salman Rushdie of music".

"I think that life is dangerous and my situation is such that I believe in what I do and I am fighting for what I believe in in general. For democracy, for freedom and for peace and I'm ready to die for it. I am very happy that there is this opportunity for two artists to come together and work together and bring the message of friendship to both the people of Iran and Israel."

Najafi, who learned to sing the chorus of 'The Hope Song' in Hebrew, worked off a translation of the lyrics to create the Farsi segments of the collaborative version.

The duo will also perform 'Good Morning Iran', a song Geffen wrote about Israeli politics.

Tel Aviv, Israel - 27 February 2017

1. Various of Israeli singer Aviv Geffen (left) and Iranian singer Shahin Najafi performing 'The Hope Song' in Hebrew and Farsi

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Aviv Geffen, Israeli singer:

"We can talk, we can hug and touch each other and sing, it's okay you know. So for us it's a great message to the people around the world, if it's let's say (Roger) Waters with the BDS supporting or to the people or to Bibi Netanyahu and Trump with his ridiculous vision. People can talk, people can make music together and it's all fine. We got no problem at all."

3. Cutaway USB stick with Peace sign attached to it

4. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Shahin Najafi, Iranian singer

"Naturally I have a very good feeling about it. I am very happy that I have this opportunity to come to Israel in the name of art and beside Aviv. We are going to sing together for democracy, freedom and against war."

5. Geffen and Najafi performing 'Good Morning Iran'

6. Pull out of drummer

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Aviv Geffen, Israeli singer

"I think Shahin is one of the bravest artists I ever met who is fighting on his own ideas and he's got loads, loads of people from Iran who are supporting him and some of his fans were thrown into jail because of his ideas and vision. So for me it was like a miracle to bring him here to Tel Aviv, to Israel just now, you know, because of all the history between us and Iran. To show the people that the people in Iran and Tel Aviv and Israel are getting together along really, really well."

8. Geffen and Najafi performing 'Good Morning Iran'

9. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Shahin Najafi, Iranian singer

"I think that life is dangerous and my situation is such that I believe in what I do and I am fighting for what I believe in, in general. For democracy, for freedom and for peace and I'm ready to die for it. I am very happy that there is this opportunity for two artists to come together and work together and bring the message of friendship to both the people of Iran and Israel."

10. Close of tattoo on hand of Najafi

11. Aviv Geffen singing 'The Hope Song'

12. Aviv Geffen and Shahin Najafi performing 'The Hope Song' and hugging at the end

Israel's prime minister says he is making a "last effort" to prevent the collapse of his government.

Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday it would be wrong to go to early elections during a sensitive time for Israeli security.

The sudden coalition crisis was sparked by the resignation of Israel's hard-line Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who stepped down in protest over a cease-fire reached last week with Gaza militants.

Lieberman had demanded a far stronger response to the most massive wave of rocket attacks on Israel since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.

The departure of Lieberman and his Yisrael Beitenu party leaves the coalition with a one-seat majority in the 120-member parliament.

Two other key coalition partners say that makes governing untenable.

Netanyahu is trying to convince them to stay.

Jerusalem - 18 November 2018

1. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting

2. Netanyahu

3. Ministers and Netanyahu at meeting

4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister:

"Tonight I will meet with Finance Minister Kahlon in a last effort to prevent the toppling of the government. During such a sensitive time for Israeli security, we should not and it is not right to go to elections. We remember well what happened when elements inside the coalitions took down a Likud governments in 1992 and in 1999 and we got the Oslo disaster and the Intifada disaster. We need to do everything we can to prevent repeating these mistakes."

5. Cabinet

6. Israel's Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan talking to the press

7. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Gilad Erdan, Israel's Public Security Minister:

"I think that there is no reason to shorten the term of a national government, not even by one day, and at this moment it's in the hands of the education minister and finance minister."

8. Israel's Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev speaking to the press

9. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Miri Regev, Israel's Culture and Sport Minister:

"I hope that we will not go to elections, there is no reason to go to elections. I think we can function as a coalition with 61.. (Regev notices Israel's Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon walking in, says "good morning to our Finance Minister") I am sure we can function and continue to do so with coalition of 61."

10. Netanyahu arriving at cabinet meeting

LEADIN

An interfaith group from the Gulf state of Bahrain has paid an unprecedented public visit to Israel.

The group says the visit is not political but it has still angered many in the Arab world.

STORYLINE

"We are so proud and so grateful that the group came despite all the hullabaloo of the last few days". Those are the words of Rabbi Abraham Cooper from the US-based Jewish human rights group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, as he welcomes an interfaith group from the Gulf state of Bahrain to an event in Jerusalem.

The hullabaloo he refers to is last week's announcement by Donald Trump that the US will recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel - and the violence that followed that seismic shift in policy.

The group from the Gulf flew to Israel on Sunday as guests of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in an unprecedented public visit which has generated uproar across the Arab world.

The trip comes at a time that Israel is boasting of warming, albeit covert, ties with moderate Arab countries in a shared front against archrival Iran. But the heavy criticism toward the group unleashed on Arab social media, along with the low profile they have taken, shows the limits on how far that goodwill can go.

The 25 participants include Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and both Sunni and Shiite Muslims. While organisers and participants say the trip is non-political and unconnected to the government, it nonetheless is a possible test case for other Gulf Arab nations in seeing what could happen if they recognise Israel.

"People have been asking us, 'Oh why are you here now after there was an announcement that was made by the White House?' says Betsy Mathieson, President of This is Bahrain.

"We have nothing to do with politics," Matheison insists. "And if every time somewhere in the world a politician or a leader made a political announcement, or there was a new governmental issue, we would never get any of our work done."

But the early results seem decidedly mixed.

Shortly after the group arrived, it was forced to issue a statement on the state-run Bahrain News Agency that it "does not represent any official entity" in Bahrain after uproar on social media. People were especially angry that the visit came so close to President Donald Trump's comments.

The US President's statement has enraged Palestinians, who seek the city's eastern half as capital of a future state.

Throughout their time in Israel, the group has avoided the spotlight. Several Bahraini citizens in the group chose not to attend a dinner alongside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City to light candles for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah on Tuesday. The few Bahrainis who did attend either refused to speak to The Associated Press or did so only if they were not identified.

Roughly half of the members of This is Bahrain that took part in the trip were Bahraini citizens. Israel and Bahrain do not have diplomatic relations, although the two are rumoured to be nurturing close covert ties. Israel's Interior Ministry said the participants entered the country legally after their arrival was coordinated in advance with Israeli authorities with the assistance of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says the fact that the group arrived, defying expectations they would cancel because of Trump's statement, "speaks volumes."

"We're looking for the normalisation. We're not waiting for politicians, and we're going to try to stick to that narrative," he says.

Bahrain and other Sunni Arab states see themselves as sharing regional interests with Israel when confronting Shiite power Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly touted Israel's warming ties with Gulf Arab states in recent months. On Sunday, Netanyahu asserted that "many of the Arab countries now recognise that Israel is not their enemy but their indispensable ally." This shift, he said, "could help pave the way to an ultimate peace between us and our Palestinian neighbours and between us and the rest of the Arab world."

Netanyahu acknowledged last week that Israel won't be able to sign peace treaties with Arab countries without a deal with the Palestinians, but also implied that ties have already been established and have plenty of room to grow. "Peace treaties, no. Everything else below that, yes, and it's happening," he said just hours before Trump's declaration on Jerusalem.

The island nation of Bahrain, east of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, has long been seen as more liberal than its larger neighbour, but has faced major criticism in recent years for how it put down its 2011 Arab Spring protests with the help of the Saudi kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

The tiny state is ruled by a Sunni king but has a majority Shiite population. According to the Bahraini government, 70 per cent of the population is Muslim and the remainder adheres to various faiths.

Shiites and others demonstrated in 2011 seeking more political freedoms. An official investigation found the government demolished 30 Shiite religious structures following the demonstrations, ranging from mosques to meeting halls and shrines, as part of a broader crackdown on dissent.

Bahrain is home to a small Jewish community, but no members of the community took part in the trip.

Jerusalem - 12 December 2017

1. Pan from Rabbi Abraham Cooper holding candle to group of visitors from Bahrain (English) UPSOUND "We are so proud and so grateful that the group came despite all the hullabaloo of the last few days."

2. Cooper speaking to group at candle lighting ceremony

3. Close of candle

4. Pull out of Cooper lighting candle

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Betsy Mathieson, president, "This is Bahrain"

"We're thrilled to be here in this beautiful city of Jerusalem. We've been so warmly received and we've been visiting the holy sites and making new friends and sharing our message of peaceful coexistence."

6. Group member lighting candle

7. Close of candle

8. Another group member lighting candle

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Betsy Mathieson, president, "This is Bahrain"

"People have been asking us, 'Oh why are you here now after there was an announcement that was made by the White House?' The thing is, as I said, we have nothing to do with politics. And if every time somewhere in the world a politician or a leader made a political announcement, or there was a new governmental issue, we would never get any of our work done. So you know, political things can change in a heartbeat, but what will not change is the message of This is Bahrain, and our message is one of peaceful coexistence. So we can't allow world leaders or politics to derail our mission."

10. Group members lighting candles

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associated dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center:

"I think that most observers here, in the days leading up to their arrival, assumed that there would be a postponement or a cancellation. That they came speaks volumes."

12. Pan left of group members watching Rabbi Abraham Cooper sing

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associated dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center:

"We're looking for the normalisation. We're not waiting for politicians, and we're going to try to stick to that narrative and we give them tremendous credit."

14. Various of group members around dining table at ceremony

++NIGHT SHOT++

15. Jerusalem's Old City walls

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban for standing up for Israel during his official visit to Israel.

Netanyahu's warm embrace came despite outcry over the visiting populist, right-wing leader's past anti-Semitic remarks.

Orban arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a two-day visit.

The four-time Hungarian premier drew criticism last year for praising Miklos Horthy, the World War II-era Hungarian leader who introduced anti-Semitic laws and collaborated with the Nazis in the Holocaust.

Orban was also criticised for employing anti-Semitic tropes against billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros during his re-election campaign.

Despite global Jewish condemnation of those remarks, Netanyahu praised Orban for combating anti-Semitism and thanked him for Hungary's pro-Israel stance.

Protesters are expected to demonstrate at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, during Orban's visit there on Thursday afternoon.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jerusalem - 19 July 2018

1. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shaking hands with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Prime Minister:

"We both understand that the threat of radical Islam is a real one, it could endanger Europe, it could endanger the world, it certainly endangers us and our Arab neighbours. We believe that, of all the sources of militant Islam, Iran is the greatest threat to our common civilisation. And by being here, in this country here, at the front line of the battle against radical Islam, in many ways Israel is defending Europe and I want to thank you for defending Israel. You have stood up for Israel time and time again in international forums, it is deeply appreciated."

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Prime Minister: ++CAMERA REPOSITIONS DURING SOUNDBITE++

"Anti-Semitism has been the scourge of the Jewish people for thousands of years, it claimed horrible tragedies, culminating in the greatest tragedy of all, the holocaust in the 20th century. It must be fought continuously, relentlessly, unambiguously. In July, Hungary sponsored a statement in the UNHCR condemning anti-Semitism. In March you inaugurated the renovated synagogue, Subotica. You said it was, I quote, 'a moral duty that Jews live without fear and practice religion freely.'"

4. Netanyahu and Orban standing at lecterns

5. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban: ++TRANSLATOR'S VOICE CUTS THROUGH SOUNDBITES++

"I think the excellent ties between Israel and Hungary is in large part because of our excellent personal ties and I explain that it is that way because the two countries have patriots as leaders and I see proof in that, in our relationship, that a Hungarian patriot and a Jewish-Israeli patriot will always find common ground."

6. Netanyahu and Orban standing at lecterns with translator in shot

7.  SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban: ++TRANSLATOR'S VOICE CUTS THROUGH SOUNDBITES++

"Prime minister, the place we live in, in Europe, we are experiencing a crisis of migration and terrorism. Terrorists exploit the routes of the migrants in order to come to Europe and we must take steps against this phenomenon."

8. Pan from Netanyahu to Orban, leaders shake hands

Israel and the United States say they have successfully tested a jointly developed missile defence system in Alaska.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a Cabinet meeting Sunday that the Arrow 3 gives his country the "ability to act against ballistic missiles fired against us from Iran and from any other location."

"All of our enemies should know that we will overcome them both defensively and offensively," said Netanyahu.

US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, said the Trump administration was "delighted" with the results, adding that the Arrow 3 would serve as a "critical element of Israel's missiles defence."

Arrow 3, along with the Iron Dome, David's Sling, and the Arrow 2 systems, is part of the multi-layered shield Israel is developing to defend against rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon, as well as Iran's long-range missiles.

Jerusalem - 28 July 2019

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, watching tests of Arrow 3 missile during Cabinet meeting, zoom in on missile on screen  

2. Mid of Friedman

3. Camera

4. Netanyahu and Friedman clapping after observing successful test

5. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister: ++STARTS ON SHOT OF FRIEDMAN, PANS TO NETANYAHU++

"In recent weeks we've conducted three secret, breakthrough tests of the Arrow 3 missile. These tests were conducted in Alaska in the United States with full cooperation from our great ally, the United States. The tests succeeded beyond all expectations. The Arrow 3 fully succeeded in intercepting ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere at heights and speeds that we didn't know until now. The execution was perfect, every one hit target. Today, Israel has the ability to act against ballistic missiles fired against us from Iran and from any other location. This is a great achievement for Israel's security. All of our enemies should know that we will overcome them both defensively and offensively."

6. Mid of Netanyahu and Friedman

7. SOUDNBITE (English) U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman :

"On behalf of (US) President (Donald) Trump and the Trump administration, I just would like to tell you how delighted we were with the successful results of the test of the Arrow 3 missile system, a critical element of Israel's missiles defence. The results were extraordinary. We're very proud of our partnership with the state of Israel and the funding that we provide for this, the technical expertise that we added, obviously making our airspace available for this test over Alaska. This is an extraordinary and an unprecedented example of the cooperation between our two great countries, and from here may we continue to go upward and onward and making the world a safer place."

8. Netanyahu seated at end of Cabinet meeting

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday came to the defence of Israeli soldiers.

Speaking at a regular cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said soldiers protecting Israel "from annihilation" were being approached by people calling them terrorists, adding "nothing more absurd that this".

Netanyahu was referring to a video shot on the border with Gaza where a left-wing protester accused Israeli soldiers of being terrorists.

Netanyahu made his defence as Israel marked its annual Holocaust memorial day.

Since late March, 26 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded by Israeli fire in mass border protests led by Hamas, but also driven by widespread desperation over the territory's decade-old border blockade by Israel and Egypt.

The protests are seen, in part, as an attempt by Hamas to break the blockade.

Israel has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for carrying out attacks and bringing infiltrators into Israel.

It has said some of those at the border tried to damage the fence, planted explosives or hurled firebombs.

Jerusalem - 11 April 2018

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving at cabinet meeting

2. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman (middle) arriving at cabinet meeting

3. Netanyahu and ministers at cabinet

4. Cutaway of Netanyahu

5. Mid of cabinet meeting

6. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"Today, actually this evening, we will commemorate Holocaust Memorial day. The memory of the Holocaust is always with us, and so is our appreciation to the courage that established the State of Israel and gives us hope to the future. This hope is first and foremost our ability to defend ourselves on our own against those who want to annihilate us. On this matter, I saw something outrageous and absurd, people approaching IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers who are protecting us from annihilation and calling them terrorists. They are not calling Hamas terrorists, who are saying loud and clear that they intend to destroy the State of Israel, including those demonstrators - no terrorists calls to that. To the IDF soldiers who are acting to prevent this annihilation, they are being attacked. Nothing more absurd than this. I think that on every day, especially today, we all know IDF's soldiers incredible contribution to the security of Israel and the future of Israel. I am proud of our soldiers, and with the government ministers, we give the full and necessary back up to their sacred duty."

7. Wide of cabinet

An Israeli activist who works with a progressive Jewish advocacy group said on Sunday that she was "outraged" after an Israeli official stated the government had frozen a long-overdue plan to open a mixed-gender prayer area at Jerusalem's Western Wall.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered top aides to formulate a new plan.

Anat Hoffman, the Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center activist group, called the reported freeze "cowardice".

Sunday's decision dealt a blow to efforts to promote religious pluralism in Israel and is likely to upset liberal streams of Judaism that represent most Jews in the United States.

Israel approved a plan in January 2016 to officially recognise a special mixed-gender prayer area at the Western Wall - the holiest site where Jews can pray.

But the programme was never implemented due to opposition by powerful ultra-Orthodox political parties.

Under ultra-Orthodox management, the wall is currently separated between men's and women's prayer sections.

FILE: Jerusalem - 13 April 2017

1. Various of Jewish worshippers attending priestly blessing at Western Wall

Jerusalem - 25 June 2017

2. Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) speaking on phone

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of Israel Religious Action Center:

"I'm outraged by this government decision, I think it shows cowardice. For two years we negotiated in good faith with the government of Israel, we reached a compromise, this wasn't easy, I have a parking spot at the prime minister's office because we negotiated for two years. They've made a decision, overwhelming majority voted 15 to 5 to implement the compromise, and then today they decide that it is null and void, that they're not going to implement it, that equality is out the window, and the women ministers in our government, sat there and voted for it."

4. Hoffman talking on the phone

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of Israel Religious Action Center:

"We will continue to pray there, and we will do it fearlessly, despite the incitement against us, but if there's going to be bloodshed at the Wall, and if one of us is going to be injured, this is on (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's hands, and if there's a rift between Israel and North American Jews, and Jews of the diaspora, it's on his conscience, because this compromise would have brought peace and harmony to the Jewish people. We have our faith in the supreme court of Israel. The supreme court of Israel may force Netanyahu's hand, to bring equality to the Wall as well."

FILE: Jerusalem - 13 April 2017

6. Various of women attending priestly blessing at Western Wall

7. Men praying at Western Wall

8. Wide of Jewish worshippers attending priestly blessing at Western Wall

Israel's prime minister said the Palestinians are "determined to continue the conflict at any price."

Speaking at his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu was referring to the Palestinian leadership's rejection of last week's Middle East peace conference in Bahrain aimed at providing economic assistance.

Netanyahu says while Israel welcomed the US' $50 billion Palestinian development plan, the Palestinians themselves denounced it and even arrested a Palestinian businessman who participated in it.

Netanyahu says: "This is not how those who want to promote peace act."

Palestinian forces have since released businessman Saleh Abu Mayala.

The Palestinian Authority accuses the Trump administration of being biased toward Israel and has boycotted it since it recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017.

They accuse the US of trying to replace Palestinian statehood with money.

Netanyahu also addressed the tension between Israel and Hamas.

"Last week we enacted heavy sanctions on Hamas, including halting fuel. If needed we will apply much tougher actions" he said.

On Friday, Israel restored fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip's sole power plant and expanded the permitted fishing zone off the enclave's coast, easing some recent restrictions.

The restrictions had been placed in response to incendiary balloons that recently sparked wildfires in southern Israel.

An Israeli official confirmed Palestinian reports that Israel had resumed fuel deliveries that were cut off earlier this week, and extended the fishing zone up to 15 nautical miles from 10 nautical miles.

The official said that in return, Hamas which rules Gaza "promised to halt the attacks on Israel," a reference to the balloons and marches along the border.

Jerusalem - 30 June 2019

1. Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu arriving at cabinet meeting

2. Netanyahu  and ministers at cabinet meeting

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minster:

"Over the last few days the Palestinian Authority even arrested a Palestinian business man, later they released him under American pressure, but they arrested him for participating in an economic conference aimed at improving the Palestinian economy. One thing is clear from all of this, the Palestinians are determined to continue the conflict at any price, including at the cost of their own prosperity, this is not the way peace seekers act. We on the other hand continue to strengthen ties with the Arab World including today, and this serves everyone."

4. Pan of meeting

5. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minster:

"Last week we enacted heavy sanctions on Hamas, including stopping fuel. If needed we will apply much tougher actions."

6. Close-up, photo of Netanyahu

7. Photos (from left to right) of Netanyahu, former prime minister Ehud Olmert, and late prime minister Ariel Sharon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended an event in Jerusalem on Tuesday, marking one year since the transfer of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Netanyahu and US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman unveiled a plaque commemorating the embassy move, and Netanyahu presented Friedman with a statue depicting Biblical David fighting Goliath.

The Israeli Prime Minister gave a speech at the event and spoke about Trump's decision to move the embassy, telling the crowd, "Nobody recognises Jerusalem until someone comes, who's politically incorrect, brash and unabashed, and one day out of the blue says, "That's right. Jerusalem is Israel's capital and I recognise it" - and that's what President Donald Trump did."

The decision to move the embassy was made by US President Donald Trump and sparked outrage among the Palestinians, causing an upsurge in violent protests in Gaza.

It also brought relations between Palestinian leaders and US officials to a near collapse.

Following the embassy move, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has severed all ties with American diplomats saying they are not a credible broker in efforts to find peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

The US administration is expected to unveil a plan this summer to end the dispute in what has been branded "The Deal of the Century."

Netanyahu also commented about the ongoing situation between the US and Iran saying that, "all the countries who seek peace in the world, should stand together with the United States against Iranian aggression."

Jerusalem - 14 May 2019

1. Various of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman on stage listening to US national anthem

2. Various of plaque commemorating US President Donald Trump's decision to move US Embassy to Jerusalem, being unveiled

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel:

"The world refuses to recognise Jerusalem (as capital of Israel), can you imagine? They refuse to recognise Jerusalem. One after the other. All the countries. Some of them had embassies here, kicked out by pressure in '67 and '73. And since then, it's almost half a century, since then, nobody recognises Jerusalem as our capital. The embassies are in Tel Aviv. I love Tel Aviv. But, it's Jerusalem, Yerushalaim. It's our capital, and what a capital. Nobody moves the embassy, and nobody recognises Jerusalem until someone comes, who's politically incorrect, brash and unabashed - and one day out of the blue says, "that's right. Jerusalem is Israel's capital and I recognise it" - and that's what President Donald Trump did."

4. Wide of stage

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel:

"There is a new effervescence, a new renaissance of relations between us and many of our Arab neighbours. And many non-Arab Muslim countries, many more than you can think. And it's true that we're united in our desire to stop Iranian aggression. And I believe that Israel and all the countries of the region, and all the countries who seek peace in the world, should stand together with the United States against Iranian aggression."

6. Friedman and Netanyahu shake hands on stage

7. Various of Friedman given statue depicting Biblical David fighting Goliath

8. Close of Friedman

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the Israeli military would continue with operation 'Northern Shield' until the threat of Hezbollah tunnels from Lebanon into northern Israel were eliminated.

Netanyahu added that Israel was also "working in the political arena" as well as the military one, to condemn Hezbollah and Iran and to "increase the sanctions against both".

Israeli forces said on Saturday that they had uncovered another Hezbollah tunnel dug from Lebanon, an announcement that came shortly after troops fired at suspected members of the Lebanese militant group who approached the site of Israeli army engineering working to thwart tunnels.

The find makes it at least the second cross-border tunnel discovered since Israel began an operation this week to detect and "neutralize" attack passageways dug by the Iranian-backed group into northern Israel.

Netanyahu also said that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and told him that Israel "will not allow Iran to establish itself in Syria" and that Israel "will continue operations against precise weapons from Lebanon" to eliminate the tunnel threat.  

Meanwhile, Israeli education Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters, before heading into the weekly cabinet meeting, that "Hezbollah has become an integral and central part of the sovereign state of Lebanon", adding that if any rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, Israel would see it as an "act of war".

Jerusalem - 9 December 2018

1. Wide of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sitting in cabinet meeting

2. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"Operation Northern Shield continues. IDF soldiers are working constantly systematically, with determination regardless of the weather, and the weather is stormy, to expose and neutralize tunnel after tunnel. We need patience, but with the same persistence we will continue this operation until it is completed and the tunnels threat is neutralized in the north. In parallel, we are working in the political arena to condemn the Hezbollah and Iran and increase the sanctions against both."  

3. Mid of cabinet minister sitting in meeting

4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"I told President Putin that we continue with our policy. We will not allow Iran to establish its self militarily in Syria. We will continue operations against precise weapons from Lebanon and we will complete the operation to eliminate the tunnels threat."

5. Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett speaking to media

6. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Naftali Bennett, Israeli Education Minister:

"Hezbollah has become an integral and central part of the sovereign state of Lebanon, and that's the reason that if god forbid rockets are fired from Lebanon at Israel, we will see it as an act of war of the sovereign state of Lebanon."

7. Netanyahu walking to cabinet meeting

Israel's prime minister claimed on Sunday that "Iran is investing billions of dollars in financing terrorism in the region and the world".

Addressing his ministers during a cabinet meeting, Benjamin Netanyahu added that the Iranian people were "rightly" protesting the country's declining economy.

The economic crisis has been fuelled by US President Donald Trump's May 8 decision to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal and restore sanctions.

International firms that made billion-dollar deals with Iran largely have pulled out of them, while the U.S. now is demanding its allies stop buying Iranian oil.

Netanyahu has been an outspoken opponent of the nuclear deal and welcomed the U.S. withdrawal.

Regarding Syria, Netanyahu said Israel "will continue to defend our borders, we will extend humanitarian assistance as much as we can, we will not allow entry to our territory".

Israel has been sending aid across the border for several years and has provided medical treatment to thousands of Syrians that reached the frontier with the Israel-controlled Golan Heights.

The military says it won't allow Syrians to enter Israel.

Jerusalem - 1 July 2018

1. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting

2. Mid of Netanyahu

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

"The Iranian regime is feeling the coming renewal of the economic sanctions against it. The Iranian economy is in decline. One must see the data to believe it. Iran is investing billions of dollars in financing terrorism in the region and the world, and in aggression in the region, instead of investing them in the Iranian people, and the Iranian people are protesting over it, and rightly so. The change in U.S. policy towards Iran is a strategic switch in Israel's situation. And I believed that this change is possible when I stood in front the entire world to cancel this bad deal. Our goal remains the same, one: to prevent Iran nuclear weapons and second to break the cash machine the deal provided Iran, which sponsors its aggression in the region, including Syria."

4. Mid of meeting

5. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

"With regards to southern Syria, we will continue to defend our borders, we will extend humanitarian assistance as much as we can, we will not allow entry to our territory, and we will demand strict fulfilment of the 1974 disengagement agreement with the Syrian army. I am continuously in contact with the White House and the Kremlin on this matter, and the defence minister and chief of staff are in similar contact with their counterparts in the U.S. And Russia."

6. Netanyahu arriving at cabinet meeting

The Israeli prime minister said on Tuesday that Hamas has turned Gaza into a "barrel bomb".

Benjamin Netanyahu was addressing a dedication ceremony of a bomb proof emergency room in the southern city of Ashkelon.

"We don't have a desire to harm the routine of Gaza's residents, but they must know that it is not Israel responsible for their hardship. The responsibility lays on the radicals that lead them," he said.

The Israeli military said on Monday it struck an underground militant infrastructure site in Gaza in response to rocket fire toward Israel.

The airstrikes came amid days of renewed tensions and violence along the Gaza border.

The military has struck various targets in Gaza in recent days and killed two Palestinians who tried to infiltrate Israel after a militant bomb on the border wounded four Israeli soldiers.

Israel holds Gaza's militant Hamas rulers responsible for all attacks emanating from the territory, regardless of who carries them out. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the strike on the underground site.

The border area has been generally quiet since a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2014.

But it has seen an increase in violence since President Donald Trump's announcement in December recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Ashkelon, southern Israel - 20 February 2018

1. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and wife Sara at dedication ceremony of bomb proof emergency room

2. Sign reading (Hebrew and English) "Emergency Department - Adult and Pediatric"

3. Netanyahu and wife Sara cutting ribbon

4. Cutaway cameras

5. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"Hamas rule and the terror organisations have turned Gaza into a barrel bomb. We build hospitals and they build terror tunnels and rockets. We don't have a desire to harm the routine of Gaza's residents, but they must know that it is not Israel responsible for their hardship. The responsibility lays on the radicals that lead them. We don't intend to look away from the attempts to violate our sovereignty, or to harm our soldiers and civilians. "

5. Audience

6. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"We will not accept any trickle of fire, we will not accept devices on the fence, as happened last weekend. Whoever harms us, will be hurt himself."

7. Netanyahu waving to crowd and stepping down from stage

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he looks forward to US President Donald Trump's visit to his country, while making no reference to a US-Saudi arms deal that was made earlier in the day.

"Mr. President, we look forward to your visit. The citizens of Israel will receive you with open arms," Netanyahu said during his weekly cabinet meeting.

On his current visit to Riyadh, Trump rewarded his Saudi hosts with a 110 billion US dollar arms package aimed at bolstering Saudi security and a slew of business agreements.

The deal with Saudi Arabia has been a cause of concern in Israel - the next stop in Trump's overseas tour.

On Sunday, Israeli Infrastructure and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz appeared to be making a reference to the US-Saudi deal by stressing the importance of preserving "Israel's military advantage" "in the decades to come."

"Saudi Arabia is still a hostile country without any diplomatic relations and nobody knows what the future will be," he said.

Commenting on the presidential election results on Iran, Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant said the re-election of Hassan Rouhani as President did not mean there was democracy in the country.

"It is the operational arms of the murderous policy of the Supreme Leader Khamenei that is entirely focused on terror, violence and exerting power against Israel, against the free world," said Galant.

Friday's election in Iran was widely seen as a referendum on the 68-year-old cleric's push for greater freedom at home and outreach to the wider world, which culminated in the completion of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal that hard-liners initially opposed.

Jerusalem - 21 May, 2017

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walking to weekly cabinet meeting

2. Netanyahu sitting in cabinet meeting

3. Cabinet members at meeting

4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew/English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"I will discuss with President Trump ways to further strengthen the primary and solid alliance with the United States. We will strengthen our security relations, which are growing stronger each day. We will also discuss ways to promote peace. Mr. President, the citizens of Israel are waiting for you with open arms. (English) Mr. President, we look forward to your visit. The citizens of Israel will receive you with open arms."

5. Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant arriving

6. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Yoav Galant, Housing Minister:

"The Iranians did not change their position with regards to Israel and we must not - under any circumstances - be under the illusion that there is a democracy there that elected someone. It is the operational arms of the murderous policy of the Supreme Leader Khamenei that is entirely focused on terror, violence and exerting power against Israel, against the free world."

7. Israeli Infrastructure and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz arriving at cabinet meeting

8. Close up shot of camera

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Yuval Steinitz, Israeli Infrastructure and Energy Minister:

"Saudi Arabia is still a hostile country without any diplomatic relations and nobody knows what the future will be and therefore it is very important to make sure that Israel's military advantage will be kept also in the decades to come."

10. Various of helipad where US President Donald Trump is expected to land being prepared ahead of his arrival on Monday

11. Sign regarding traffic changes ahead of Trump's visit

12. The American flag hung on post, in the background the King David hotel where Trump and his entourage are expected to stay

13. Roof top of the King David hotel where Israeli and American flags have been placed

14. Poster reading (English): "Trump is a friend of Zion"

15. Banner covering building reading (English): "JerUSAlem welcomes Trump."

16. Israeli and American flag hung on posts at main road to Jerusalem

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS VISITS ISRAEL AS INTERNATIONAL AMBASSADOR TO TEL AVIV'S GAY PRIDE PARADE

This year's official international ambassador to Tel Aviv's Gay Pride Parade says he has no interest in being one.

Neil Patrick Harris arrived in Israel Wednesday (12 JUNE 2019) along with his husband, the chef and actor David Burtka, to headline Tel Aviv's annual celebration of its famous gay-friendly scene. But Harris, who has two children via surrogacy and is involved in various gay-affiliated advocacy groups, said he hardly considers himself an icon of the community.

"I'm just a guy who is married to another guy and we have kids and we live our lives I would say as 'normally' as one would, but I think normal is a very subjective term especially in the gay community," he told The Associated Press ahead of the parade. "I legitimately have no interest in being a representative or an ambassador for anything except my kids."

Harris, who rose to fame as a child actor playing the title character in the medical drama Doogie Howser M.D., came out publicly in 2006 while starring as the notorious womanizer Barney Stinson in the popular comedy TV show "How I Met Your Mother."

Tel Aviv's Gay Pride Parade is the biggest event of its kind in the region, typically drawing some 250,000 people from Israel and around the world annually to the colorful beachside march and party.

Israel has emerged as one of the world's most gay-friendly travel destinations in recent years, with Tel Aviv in particular noted for its gay-friendly lifestyle, in sharp contrast to the rest of the Middle East where gay culture is often not tolerated or persecuted.

In Israel, homosexuals serve openly in the military and in parliament and many popular artists and entertainers are openly gay. Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed his ally Amir Ohana as justice minister, making him the country's first openly gay Cabinet minister.

Yet while support for gay rights is increasingly widespread among the country's secular majority, Israel's LGBTQ community hasn't attained full equality. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, which wield significant influence in Netanyahu's right-wing government, have long resisted legislation granting gay couples equal marriage and parental rights.

Among the Palestinian community, most homosexuals tend to be secretive about their social lives and some have crossed into Israel to live safely. Some critics have accused Israel of "pinkwashing," or using its tolerance for gay culture to deflect criticism of harsh policies toward the Palestinians.

Harris, in his first visit to the region, refused to wade into those murky waters, saying he knew very little of the local scene. In fact, he said the parade would be the first one in which he's ever taken part.

He noted the significance of his visit coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, widely regarding as the opening salvo in the fight for LGBT rights in the United States.

"It's nice to appreciate where we've come from," he said. "I'm very grateful that I live in a time and in a world where the needle has moved a lot because of others and I'm happy to promote the positivity of it all."

Tel Aviv, Israel - 12 June 2019

1. Medium, Neil Patrick Harris

2. Close of Harris's eyes

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Neil Patrick Harris, Actor:

"I'm just a guy who is married to another guy and we have kids and we live our lives I would say as 'normally' as one would, but I think normal is a very subjective term especially in the gay community, so we just are very grateful to be living our lives without a lot of oppression, without a lot of stigma, in fact none. We want to live in a world where our kids are given every opportunity that they want and without any concern about their personal individual upbringing."

4. Close of Harris's eyes

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Neil Patrick Harris, Actor:

"I think what's nice about pride is it's pretty apolitical. You come here to celebrate who you love, you come here to be proud of who you are among people who have their own individual stories and those stories don't have to bleed into what you think politically because love is not political."

6. Medium, Harris on balcony looking at ocean and skyline

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Neil Patrick Harris, Actor:

"I legitimately have no interest in being a representative or an ambassador for anything except my kids. I'm happy to come and say hello and like give quotes and be in a parade and things, but there are people who feel in their bones that what they are best at doing is being an advocate, being an outspoken advocate, a pundit on shows, someone who has a very strong point of view and wants to get, wants to move the needle. I'm very grateful that I live in a time and in a world where the needle has moved a lot because of others and I'm happy to promote the positivity of it all."

8. Various, Harris taking selfies with people