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

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 Supreme Court heard the appeal on Wednesday of 22-year-old American student Lara Alqasem, who seeks to fight her expulsion order over her alleged past involvement with the boycott movement against Israel.

Alqasem appeared calm and collected in a courtroom packed with journalists and lawmakers.

The judges asked in-depth questions of the state attorneys about their evidence of Alqasem's suspected boycott activities during the time she served as president of her alma mater's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.

The defence argued that Israel's anti-boycott law is being applied too broadly, and said they were optimistic about the verdict.

According to Alqasem's lawyer Leora Bechor, the judges sent a message during the hearing that "(the state's) discretion is not unrestricted," she said.

Alqasem has been held in detention since arriving in the country October 2 with a valid student visa.

She will either be deported or allowed to enter the country, pending the court's decision.  

Ben Adoram, legal adviser for the nationalist Israeli group "Im Tirtzu" said he has presented the court with reasons to be suspicious of Alqasem's boycott activities, including evidence that she deleted her social media accounts.

Adoram said that although Alqasem claims not to be a member of the boycott movement now, "other sites acknowledge her as a member still."

Jerusalem - 17 October 2018

1. Lara Alqasem (c) sitting on bench at Israel's Supreme court

2. Close of Alqasem's hands

3. Alqasem sitting on bench at Israel's Supreme Court

4. Supreme Court judges entering UPSOUND (Hebrew) "court"

5. Media waiting in hall outside court

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Leora Bechor, Lara Alqasem's lawyer:

"We requested that Lara Alqasem be allowed entry into Israel and that she be allowed to use the visa that was already given to her two months ago in the Israeli Consulate in Miami. We are both, myself and Yotam Ben-Hillel (Alqasem's other lawyer) we are both of the opinion that the hearing went very well, that the judges asked the right questions, they saw all the holes in the state's argument, they saw the holes in the decision of the lower court, that the lower court wasn't looking at the evidence on record, rather was looking at evidence that was never brought before it."

7. Cutaway of Bechor

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Leora Bechor, Lara Alqasem's lawyer:

"If she was an activist in the past, or if she engaged in BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) activities in the past, that past was 18 months ago, everything in the record indicates that she is not that same person, that she's come to Israel in violation actually of the academic boycott, and of the economic boycott because she's going to be living and breathing and living her day to day life in Israel. So many questions were asked of the state that in our opinion weren't answered in a way that gave the judges sufficient reason to uphold the state's argument."

9. Bechor talking to media

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Leora Bechor, Lara Alqasem's lawyer:

"The message that was given, was your discretion is not unrestricted, they were telling the Ministry of Interior you can't deny people entry on a whim, you have to be accountable. Until now you have not been accountable, but that is not going to stand anymore. This law, if it's going to be applied, it must be applied narrowly, and you can't use it to deny entry to people because of their political opinions or based on flimsy evidence or no evidence at all."

11. Various of people inside court

12. Set-up shot of Ben Adoram (standing), legal adviser to the Im Tirtzu (nationalist Israeli non-governmental group)

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Adoram, Im Tirtzu legal adviser:

"The position of the state, being specific, today we have brought before the court, information that we have exclusively because of her activity in the campus. We know that the administrative level of the university opposes, strongly opposes, any possible confrontation which may arise, and the administrative level, being specific the security officer of the university, considers this to be a spark that can ignite the whole university and possibly the whole city. "

14. Alqasem (wearing glasses ) entering court

15. 13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Adoram, Im Tirtzu legal adviser:

"We have brought information that shows that although Miss Alqasem deleted all of her digital activity in the recent year, and although she claims not to be a member of the BDS movement now, other sites acknowledge her as a member still. This information was not before the Attorney's office, it was withheld of course by her representatives, the representatives of Lara Alqasem, and of course the university itself has no interest of showing it. "

16. Various exteriors of Supreme Court

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a low-income neighbourhood of Tel Aviv on Thursday, promising residents to "return South Tel Aviv to the people of Israel" by expelling migrants.

Netanyahu referred to African migrants, who he said were "illegal infiltrators, not refugees" and said that Israel had the right to "guard its borders."

Anti-immigration activist May Golan welcomed the visit, but stressed that because of the heavy security measures, Netanyahu "can't really feel what's going on in the country of what I call the country of South Tel Aviv."

Eritrean refugee Johnny Karl said that he had hoped Netanyahu "would have talked to us" to hear both sides.

Israel has grappled in recent years with how to deal with an influx of tens of thousands of migrants from Africa, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, who have arrived through the border with Egypt.

The migrants say they are fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries, but Israel sees most of them as economic migrants whose numbers threaten the country's Jewish character and are a burden on the South Tel Aviv neighbourhood where many reside.

Israel has built a fence along its southern border with Egypt that has all but halted the flow of migrants and has enacted laws enabling it to hold migrants already in Israel in detention centres or send them to third countries.

The recent Supreme Court decision was in response to an appeal by rights groups against the latest iteration of the law.

Members of Netanyahu's religious and nationalist government regularly criticize the Supreme Court.

After the Supreme Court's decision on the migrants, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked criticized the judicial system for prioritizing individual rights over Israel's Jewish character.

Other ministers vowed to draft legislation to bypass the ruling.

Tel Aviv - 31 August 2018

1. Wide of closed off area

2. Child trying to pass to other side of closed off street

3. People looking on

4. Closed off street

5. CEO of The Hebrew City May Golan in conversation with her mother and fellow residents of South Tel Aviv

6. SOUNDBITE (English) May Golan, CEO of The Hebrew City and anti-immigration activist:

"We obviously support the fact that the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came here, recognizing the suffering of the Southern Tel Aviv people. But as I told him after I shook his hand, I told him, that what he sees here doesn't represent even by a gram the real reality of what's going on in South Tel Aviv. Because, you know, they closed the entire area. He has dozens of guards and you can't see an infiltrator from two miles away from here. You can't see a drug addict, you can't see prostitution, you can't see anything. And let's be honest, let's be honest, you can't really feel what's going on in the country of what I call the country of South Tel Aviv."

7. Various of Netanyahu walking in closed off street, surrounded by journalists and security

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

"We are here on a mission, the mission is to return South Tel Aviv to the people of Israel. We have a very clear policy, we are dealing with illegal infiltrators, not refugees, illegal infiltrators and the right of the State of Israel is to guard its borders and to expel the illegal infiltrators from within."

9. Car carrying Netanyahu leaving

10. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Johnny Karl, refugee from Eritrea:

"The situation here is very tough, no one has a dream of staying here. My dream, personally, is to return to my country, to see my mother, my father. But what happened here, I am very very moved to see Benjamin Netanyahu, but I thought that maybe he would have talked to us, maybe he would have talked to our community too. It's not ok, he only talked to the people that were here, the Israelis, he heard only the other side."

11. Woman with her child and stroller walking away

LEADIN:

An Arab rights group has filed a petition with the Supreme Court against the controversial Jewish state law.

The new legislation defines Israel as the Jewish nation-state which critics say marginalises the Arab population.

STORYLINE:

Mohammad Baraka and other Arab members of the Knesset are about to be interrupted.

Their press conference is disrupted by a heckler.

"You should resign from the Knesset this is really chutzpah. You are a liar," the unidentified man shouts.

His anger is directed at a panel who are here to speak about Israel's controversial Jewish state law - an issue that generates a lot of emotion.

Passed by parliament last month, it defines Israel as the Jewish nation-state and downgrades the Arabic language to a "special status."

Critics say it marginalises the country's Arab minority, while supporters say it ensures the Jewish character of the state for generations to come.

An Arab rights group in Israel has filed a petition with the Supreme Court against the legislation.

Baraka says the petition is of "utmost importance".

"We didn't come to this place from anywhere, we were born here, our grandparents were here," he says.

"Our citizenship isn't conditional upon army service and is not conditional upon our loyalty to Zionism and the government. If this principle is not accepted I think this country will look like an apartheid country."

Today's statement from Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, says the law "has distinct apartheid characteristics" and denies "civil and national rights of Palestinians in their homeland."

Tens of thousands demonstrated against the law in Tel Aviv on Saturday, calling for it to be amended to ensure equality for the country's minorities.

The Knesset is slated to discuss the law at an emergency session in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

Tel Aviv, Israel - 7 August 2018

1. Wide of Israeli Arab representatives at podium

2. Wide of unidentified heckler interrupting press conference UPSOUND (Hebrew) "You should resign from the Knesset this is really chutzpah. You are a liar. Don't touch me, I'm not interrupting." It was not clear if the man backed the nation-state law or was against it.

3. Mid of unidentified man interrupting press conference UPSOUND (Hebrew) "You're all serving (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu"

4. Wide of Arab lawmakers

5. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Mohammad Baraka, Arab member of Knesset:

"The petition was filed to the Supreme Court in the name of the High Follow up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel and in the name of the Committee of the Arab chairmen of the local councils and in the name of the Joint Arab List. The Adalah Centre (Arab rights group) which filed the petition in our name has done a very serious job. I think that the petition is a legal document of the utmost importance, even on an international level. And our petition demands that the Supreme Court completely strikes down the entire Nation State Law."

6. Mid of man with laptop

7. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Mohammad Baraka, Arab member of Knesset:

"We want to say first of all that this law is against any international documents and all the international agreements that talk about human rights and citizenship. Our citizenship isn't conditional. We didn't come to this place from anywhere, we were born here, our grandparents were here, and our citizenship isn't conditional upon army service and is not conditional upon our loyalty to Zionism and the government. If this principle is not accepted I think this country will look like an apartheid country."

8. Various of press conference

The Reform movement in Israel welcomed on Tuesday the Supreme Court landmark ruling that people who converted to Judaism through the Reform and Conservative movements are also Jews and entitled to become Israeli citizens.

The landmark ruling, 15 years in the making, centered around the combustible question of who is Jewish and marked an important victory for the Reform and Conservative movements.

These liberal streams of Judaism, which represent the vast majority of affiliated American Jews, have long been marginalized in Israel.

The lawyer and representative of the Reform movement, Nicole Maor, said the Supreme Court handed down ''the only decision that it could really hand down.''

Israel's powerful ultra-Orthodox establishment has held a virtual monopoly on religious matters for Israeli Jews, overseeing life-cycle rituals like weddings and burials and using their political clout to gain influence over matters like immigration.

The ruling chipped away at that power by saying that the state must allow Jews who undergo conversions with the liberal movements in Israel to receive citizenship.

For Erika Belovai, the court's decision came after years of uncertainty.

Belovai came from Hungary to Israel in 2001 and after being married for one year to an Israeli man, she finished the Reform conversion in 2006.

She returned to Hungary in 2007 after divorcing her husband, but she has always felt like she belongs to Israel.

Belovai tried to return to Israel in 2011, but was arrested and deported back to her home country.

Authorities confiscated her Israeli identity card, she said.  

With Maor's help and after a meeting at the Interior Ministry in 2018, Belovai was given her identification card back.

While Israel previously recognized conversions by the liberal streams conducted overseas, this ruling now applies to conversions inside Israel.

The ruling does not resolve the issues faced by people who qualify for citizenship under the so-called Law of Return but are not considered Jewish under religious law.

Monday's ruling only directly affects about 30 people a year, such as spouses of Israeli citizens, advocates say.

The Law of Return grants citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent, while religious law requires one to have a Jewish mother.

These different definitions have allowed tens of thousands of people, mostly from the Soviet Union, to immigrate to Israel, only to suffer from discrimination when seeking religious services from the state.

Belovai said she is looking forward to being able to vote in Israel's elections while wiping tears away.

Tel Aviv - 2 March 2021

1. Zoom in of Nicole Maor, lawyer representing the Reform movement (screen-right) hugging Erika Belovai (screen-left)

2. Close of Belovai

3. Maor and Belovai hugging

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicole Maor, Lawyer representing the Reform movement:

"The ruling of the Supreme Court today brings to a closure 30 years of battle for the recognition of non-Orthodox conversions performed around the world. In 2005, we asked the Supreme Court to recognise converts who were converted by the non-Orthodox movements, Reform and Conservative movements, in Israel. Because, at that time the interior ministry only recognised conversions performed outside of Israel. We didn't believe that it would take 15 long years for the Supreme Court to hand down its decision, and it took so long because the Supreme Court wanted the state to legislate the matter and keep it out of the Supreme Court jurisdiction. Because the state could not legislate or chose not to legislate, The Supreme Court handed down the only decision that it really could hand down. "

5. Maor and Belovai sitting in office

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Erika Belovai, converted to Judaism through Reform conversion:

"Now it's a big change that we finally got a decision from the Supreme Court, which I was waiting form 2006. So, because of this, from yesterday, when I got the call, I just (could not) stop to cry. It was so hard, 15 years, that it's really hard to believe that everything will be okay from then."

7. Close of Belovai wiping tears away

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Erika Belovai, converted to Judaism through Reform conversion:

"(In) 2007 I decided I want to live here, really, finally. But, Israel country, or ministry of interior they didn't want it so much. They deported me from the airport, and they told me at the airport that you made Reform conversion, its nothing, you are nothing and I flied home.''

9. Maor and Belovai sitting in office

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicole Maor, Lawyer representing the Reform movement:

"The Jewish people is a peoplehood, and peoplehood includes all streams of Judaism, Reform, Orthodox and Conservative. And so there for anyone who is converted within a recognised stream of Judaism, inside of Israel and outside of Israel, has to be recognised as a Jew under the law of return. This doesn't mean that they will recognise as Jews for the Rabbinate which controls at the moment all issues of marriage in Israel. But that ultimately is not important when we're looking at the big picture, of who is a Jew in the Jewish world. This decision just determines that anyone who was born as a Jew, or chooses to become a Jew within any recognised streams of Judaism is now considered a Jew by the state of Israel."

11.SOUNDBITE (English) Erika Belovai, converted to Judaism through Reform conversion:

"I always wanted to go to election, okay? And this, when I get my citizenship it will become true, that I can go and I can vote, and I can decide about my life. I feel with this decision that I am not in the air, I am on the ground, and I can be with my life, because I don't need to be scared of what will be. So, it makes me a very stable life that I can live here in Israel."

12. Maor and Belovai saying goodbye

On January 8th 2017 four people were killed and 15 others were wounded after a truck rammed into a group of Israeli soldiers who were disembarking from a bus in Jerusalem, Israeli police and rescue services said.

A police spokeswoman said the truck veered off course and rammed into the group.

The attacker was shot dead, police said.

The attack comes amid a more than year-long wave of Palestinian shooting, stabbing and vehicular attacks against Israelis that has slowed of late.

January 8th's incident marks the first Israeli casualties in three months.

Israel says the violence is driven by a Palestinian campaign of incitement, while Palestinians say it's the result of nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation and dwindling hopes for an independent state.

***

Hundreds of Israeli Arabs demonstrated took to the streets of Kalansua on January 11th to protest the demolition of 11 homes in the city without proper permits by Israeli authorities.

Israeli Arab leaders also called for a general strike in all their towns and villages in response to the demolitions.

The leaders said that the source of the problem were longstanding barriers placed by the state that prevent Arabs from acquiring proper building permits.

Arabs make up some 20 percent of Israel's population and often complain about a second-class status.

The Israeli government has recently vowed to crack down harder on illegal Arab building.

It comes after criticism from Jewish West Bank settlers who faced a court-ordered evacuation of an illegally built outpost and who demanded the law be enforced equally.

***

Clashes between Israeli security forces and Arab Israelis ensued on January 18th in the vicinity of Umm al-Hiran, a village set for demolition under new government plans to crack down on illegal Arab construction.

Dr Ahmed Tibi, a member of the Arab Joint List, tried to enter the village to protest plans for its demolition, but was stopped by security forces.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli Arab rammed his vehicle into a group of police officers, killing one of them before he was shot dead, according to Israeli police.

***

Israeli forces continued their operation to evacuate settlers from the West Bank outpost of Amona on February 1st.

Unarmed police in blue sweatshirts and black baseball caps were seen forcibly remove several settlers who had refused to leave.

Minor scuffles broke out between some activists and police as protesters tried to block officers from progressing.

The Amona outpost is the largest of about 100 unauthorised settlements in the West Bank.

While readying to evacuate Amona, Israel late on Tuesday announced plans to build 3,000 homes in the West Bank.

***

Israel's military fired on Hamas installations in Gaza after a rocket launched from the territory exploded inside Israel on February 6th, with no reports of casualties on either side.

Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, has largely adhered to a ceasefire that ended a 50-day war with Israel in 2014, but other militant groups occasionally fire rockets or mortar rounds over the frontier. Israel holds Hamas responsible for all incoming fire.

Sirens wailed in parts of southern Israel warning of incoming rockets early on February 6th. The military said one exploded in an open field. Soon after the attack, it said a tank fired at a Hamas position near the frontier.

Hours later, Gaza residents said Israeli airstrikes targeted three Hamas-run militant training sites. The residents asked not to be identified for security reasons.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the military "will not tolerate rocket fire toward civilians and will continue to ensure security and stability in the region."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility in Gaza for the rocket attack. Jihadists who support the Islamic State group have admitted similar attacks in the past.

***

Israeli police said authorities began demolishing buildings at a West Bank settlement on February 6th following an enforced evacuation the previous week.

Police said officers were securing Amona on February 6th to "prevent incidents."

In 2014, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that Amona was built on private Palestinian land and must be demolished.

Settlers resisted the evacuation order and clashed with police, who were enforcing the legal ruling.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later announced the establishment of a new settlement - the first in two decades.

Most of the international community view settlements in Palestinian-claimed territory as illegal and a hindrance to a two-state solution in the region.

New US President Donald Trump is perceived as sympathetic to settlements, an issue that caused friction between Netanyahu and Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

***

Yehiya Sinwar made his first public appearance since being named leader of Hamas, the Islamist group in control of the Gaza Strip, on February 24th at the opening of a new mosque in Rafah.

The appointment of Sinwar, who was freed by Israel in a 2011 prisoner swap after two decades behind bars, solidifies the takeover of Gaza operations by the armed wing of the group from civilian leaders.

The military wing, which controls thousands of fighters and a vast arsenal of rockets, has battled Israel in three wars since Hamas seized Gaza a decade ago.

The militant wing tends to take more hard-line positions toward Israel, while the politicians, who are tasked with improving the difficult living conditions in Gaza, tend to be more pragmatic.

Sinwar replaces Ismail Haniyeh, who served as the prime minister of Hamas' government following the 2007 takeover of Gaza and remains a top figure in the movement.

Haniyeh on February 24th welcomed the naming of Sinwar as a sign that Hamas rewards loyalty and said Sinwar was a hero in the eyes of the Palestinians.

Haniyeh is now expected to take over as Hamas' supreme leader, replacing Khaled Mashaal, who lives in exile.

***

Israeli forces began evacuating nine homes in the West Bank settlement of Ofra on February 28th, following a Supreme Court decision that ruled they were built on private Palestinian land.

Dozens of settlers and their supporters were protesting as military and police forces handed the evacuation orders to settler leaders and asked them to cooperate peacefully and avoid confrontation.

One of the residents defiantly tore up the order while others were carried away by troops tasked with clearing the area.

Earlier in February Israeli forces uprooted Amona, a nearby West Bank outpost, removing residents and hundreds of their supporters in sometimes violent clashes.

Amona was also the scene of violent clashes between settlers and security forces during a partial demolition in 2006.

Such evacuations have created tension in the hard-line coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been caught between appeasing his pro-settler coalition allies and respecting the rulings issued by the Supreme Court.

The Palestinians and most of the international community consider both outposts and settlements illegal and see them as an obstacle to creating a Palestinian state.

The Palestinians want the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war - for their future state.

Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, and the territory was subsequently overrun by the Hamas militant group.

Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas took over Gaza. Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from getting weapons while critics say it amounts to collective punishment

01:32:02

00:00:00

Scene of truck attack on Israeli soldier

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Jerusalem - 8 January 2017

1. Various of Israeli emergency services personnel, security and investigators at scene

00:07:23

Israeli Arabs protest demolition of 11 homes

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Kalansua - 11 January 2017

2. Woman holding toddler looking at rubble from a demolished house

3. Pile of rubble in foreground, women in background

00:15:23

Clashes in Israel over demolitions

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Umm Al-Hiran - 18 January 2017

4. Israeli politician Dr Ahmed Tibi (wearing purple jacket) surrounded by Israeli security forces, who scuffle with several men

5. Israeli security preventing Tibi from entering village

6. Protestor being held by security forces

00:28:02

Israel troops remove settlers from outpost

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Amona, Jewish outpost, West Bank - 1 February, 2017

7. Israeli security forces carrying a settler away

8. Another settler being carried away

9. Israeli security forces pulling settler resisting out of building and away from railing

00:40:02

Israel targets Hamas sites after Gaza rocket attack

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Gaza Strip - 6 February 2017

10. Smoke rising from Hamas military site after an Israeli air strike targeted the site

11. Smoke rises from the scene

12. Hamas police at the scene

00:51:12

Israeli forces demolish buildings in WBank settlement

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Amona outpost - 6 February 2017

13. Bulldozer destroying house at illegal outpost, settlers and Israeli soldiers watching

14. Pan from caravan being put on top of truck to bulldozers and people near demolished house

15. Zoom out from Palestinian village to debris

01:08:19

New Hamas leader makes first public appearance

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Rafah - 24 February 2017

16. Newly-appointed Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiya Sinwar (brown suit) hugging associates

17. Sinwar kneeling, flanked by Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh in chair

18. Close of Sinwar

01:20:03

Clashes as Israel evacuates WBank settler homes

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Ofra settlement, West Bank - 28 February 2017

19. Israeli forces carrying settler away

20. Police evacuating settler

21. Police carrying settler

GAZA ISRAEL PROSECUTION

SHOTLIST:

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

LENGTH: 3:00

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Gaza City, Gaza Strip - 25 April 2022

1. Close-up of poster with image of boy who was killed by an Israeli air strike in 2014

2. Various of Bakr family members sitting next to posters with images of children who were killed in air strike

3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Zakaria Bakr, uncle of child killed by an Israeli air strike in 2014:

"We were expecting this decision (Israeli court rejecting appeal) because Israel will not sue itself. It doesn't work if the criminal and judge are the same. Israel has committed a crime."

4. Various of Bakr family members sitting next to posters with images of children who were killed in air strike

5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Zakaria Bakr, uncle of child killed by an Israeli air strike in 2014:

"We are looking for international justice. If there is international justice, we will get our right. If there is no justice, then peace be upon the world (nothing can be done). Israel is a curse on humanity. The sight of our children torn apart on the seashore was something inhumane and everyone who supports Israel has no humanity. Israel committed war crimes against the Gaza Strip. The massacre of the children of the Bakr family was witnessed by the whole world. The earth shook because we screamed while they were torn to pieces. They went to play and came back torn to pieces. So is it possible for Israel to remain without prosecution? Our only hope is that Israel will be tried and punished."

6. Sign of Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Raji Al-Sorani, head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights:

"With this procedure, by agreeing to close the investigation file, the court confirms that the Israeli judicial system plays a specific, functional role by giving legal cover for all war crimes and crimes against humanity and against Palestinian civilians. Israel, with this procedure, confirms that it is a state above the international law and above international humanitarian law, and that it practices war crimes, not just as a political decision but also with legal cover."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Gaza City, Gaza Strip - 16 July 2014

8. Various of funeral of four boys from Bakr family, all killed by an Israeli strike during the 2014 war in Gaza as they played on the beach

LEADIN:

The family of the four Palestinian children who were killed in a 2014 Israeli airstrike while playing on the beach in the Gaza Strip reacted to the Israeli Supreme Court decision on Sunday rejecting a request to reopen the probe into the deaths.

STORYLINE:

The family of the four Palestinian children killed in a 2014 Israeli airstrike said Monday that they are still seeking justice after Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday rejected a request to reopen the investigation into the deaths.

The children were killed by an Israeli airstrike while playing on the beach in the Gaza Strip during the 2014 war.

In its ruling, the court upheld earlier decisions by Israeli military investigators and legal authorities determining the incident was a tragic mistake.

"With all of the sorrow and heartache over the tragic and difficult outcome of the event in this petition, I did not find that the petitioners pointed to a flaw in the decision of the attorney general," said Sunday's ruling, signed by the court's president, Esther Hayut, and approved unanimously with two other justices.

The cousins from the Bakr family, all between 10 and 11 years old, were playing soccer on the beach when they were killed during the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers.  

Zakaria Bakr, an uncle, said that for the family, Israel had acted as both the "criminal and judge."

"We were expecting this decision (Israeli court rejecting appeal), because Israel will not sue itself," he said, vowing to continue the struggle to get the case to international courts.

The incident drew widespread international attention, in part because many foreign journalists staying in nearby hotels witnessed the incident.

Images showed the children desperately running away from a jetty as a missile falls, and then the boys falling to the ground one after another.  

The appeal to the Supreme Court was filed by three human rights organizations — the Israeli group Adalah and the Gaza-based Al-Mezan and Palestinian Center for Human Rights — who were seeking a criminal investigation into the incident.

In a joint statement, the groups said Sunday's decision "is further evidence that Israel is unable and unwilling to investigate and prosecute soldiers and commanders for war crimes against Palestinian civilians."

Critics have long accused Israel and its military of whitewashing wrongdoing by its troops.

Last year, the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into alleged Israeli crimes in the Palestinian territories, including actions during the 2014 war.

Bakr family members delivered testimony to the court during a preliminary inquiry.

Israel has rejected the ICC case, saying its legal system is capable of investigating the military and accusing the court of antisemitism.

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A human rights researcher who is being deported from Israel over his alleged boycott advocacy said Sunday he will remain in his position and continue documenting violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories from abroad.

Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine Director for Human Rights Watch since October 2016, must leave the country Monday after the Supreme Court upheld a deportation order earlier this month following a long legal battle.

"The world should understand that the deportation of a Human Rights Watch official speaks to the serious, dire, human rights situation on the ground, a 52-year long occupation defined by systematic rights abuse and institutional discrimination," Shakir told The Associated Press.

Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, defended Shakir's work and criticised the Israeli government for not being able to come up with "a single case where Shakir deviated from the Human Rights Watch position."

Roth also said Israel was now joining a group of countries that have barred its researchers, including Iran, Egypt and Venezuela.

He stressed that Shakir would continue to direct Human Rights Watch's work on Israel and Palestine from abroad.

Israel revoked the work visa of Shakir, a US citizen, under a 2017 law that bars entry to foreigners who have called for economic boycotts of Israel or its settlements in occupied territory.

Authorities cited statements and social media posts by Shakir from before he joined Human Rights Watch, some going back to his student days nearly a decade ago, that they said amounted to boycott activism.

Human Rights Watch does not call for boycotting Israel but urges companies to avoid doing business in West Bank settlements, saying it makes them complicit in human rights abuses.

Israel seized east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories the Palestinians want for their future state, in the 1967 Mideast war.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis live and work in settlements considered illegal by almost the entire international community.

Jerusalem - 23 November 2019

1. Omar Shakir, Director of Israel and Palestine at Human Rights Watch, being interviewed

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Omar Shakir, Director of Israel and Palestine at Human Rights Watch:

"The world should understand that the deportation of a Human Rights Watch official speaks to the serious, dire, human rights situation on the ground, a 52-year (long) occupation defined by systematic rights abuse and institutional discrimination. The reality is this is larger than about, you know, shrinking space or about the limitations on human rights advocacy, it's about a government that is escalating an assault on the most basic international norms."

3. Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Executive Director, being interviewed

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

"In fact, Omar's entire time with Human Rights Watch, he has held quite clearly to the organisation's position and we do not support BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, a Palestine-led movement that advocates boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israeli businesses, universities and cultural institutions). So the Israeli government was never able to come up with a single case where Omar deviated from the Human Rights Watch position."

5. Shakir and Roth being interviewed

6. Shakir's hands

7. Shakir speaking to reporter, Roth seated next to him

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Omar Shakir, Director of Israel and Palestine at Human Rights Watch:

"The (Israeli Supreme) Court's rationale says that those who call for businesses to refrain from contributing to rights abuse, which is a mainstream basic human rights ask, that is grounds under Israeli law now for denial of entry deportation. So today, its Human Rights Watch, you know, tomorrow who's going to be targeted? Today the logic is being applied based on what they call a boycott, which is refraining from engaging in rights abuse; tomorrow is that same logic going to apply to calling the West Bank occupied or settlements illegal or calling for the International Court Criminal Court to be investigated?"

9. Various of interview

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Omar Shakir, Director of Israel and Palestine at Human Rights Watch:

"There is nothing special about what's happened in my case, the reality is it comes amid many other efforts taken by the Israeli government to assault human rights advocacy, beginning with laws that deny entry to people for their peaceful expression. Other activists have been denied entry, UN representatives. We know that Israeli groups have been accused of defaming the state and maligned for those activities, and we know that Palestinians have faced criminal charges and travel bans solely because of their human rights advocacy. What's different about the Supreme Court ruling is the court has now put the veneer of legality on the (Benjamin) Netanyahu government's assault on human rights advocacy and that's a dangerous precedent that will affect many other people. Not just human rights advocates, but ordinary students that study at Israeli universities, spouses of Israeli who engage in mainstream criticism and advocacy."

11. Mid of interview

German authorities on Tuesday handed over to Israel some 5,000 documents kept by a confidant of Franz Kafka, a trove whose plight could have been plucked from one of the author's surreal stories.

The returned papers include a postcard from Kafka from 1910 and personal documents kept by Max Brod, which experts say provide a window into Europe's literary and cultural scene in the early 20th century.

They are among some 40,000 documents, including manuscripts, correspondence, notebooks and other writings that once belonged to Brod, which are being brought together again in Israel's National Library.

The archives had ended up in bank vaults in Switzerland and Tel-Aviv, a Tel-Aviv apartment and a storage facility in Wiesbaden, Germany, where police found them tucked among forged Russian avant-garde artworks.

"I think he (Kafka) would really be amused," said National Library archivist and humanities collection curator Stefan Litt, who helped identify the papers recovered in Germany, "he couldn't invent by himself a better plot."

The documents recovered in Wiesbaden have little to do with Kafka himself, but make the Brod collection complete and shine a light on Brod and his circle, which included Kafka and other writers, Litt said.

Kafka, a Bohemian Jew from Prague who lived for a while in Berlin, was close friends with Brod, himself an accomplished writer.

Shortly before his untimely death at 40 from tuberculosis in 1924, Kafka bequeathed his writings to Brod, reportedly telling him to burn them all unread.

Instead, Brod published much of the collection, including the novels "The Trial," The Castle," and "Amerika," helping to posthumously establish Kafka as one of the great authors of the 20th century.

After the Nazis occupied the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Brod fled to escape persecution with the entire collection to what was then British-ruled Palestine.

When Brod died, he left his personal secretary Esther Hoffe in charge of his literary estate and instructed her to transfer the Kafka papers to an academic institution.

Instead, she kept the documents for the next four decades and sold some, like the original manuscript of Kafka's "The Trial," which fetched 1.8 million US dollars at auction in 1988.

When she died in 2008, the collection went to her two daughters, who fought to keep it but eventually lost a battle in Israel's Supreme Court in 2016.

The court sided with the country's National Library, whose lawyers had argued the Kafka papers were "cultural assets" that belonged to the Jewish people.

Berlin, Germany – 21 May 2019

1. Jeremy Issacharoff, Israeli ambassador in Berlin, and David Blumberg, Israel's National Library chairman, looking at papers in folder

2. Blumberg looking at folder

3. Paper with Hebrew writing

4. Officials beside box with papers

5. Israel's National Library archivist, Stefan Litt, talking to guests at reception

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Stefan Litt, Israel's National Library archivist and humanities collection curator:

"The significance is, of course, that they will add some very important parts to Max Brod's written estate, because he was a prolific writer by its (his) own, not just the inventor and pusher of Franz Kafka and his works. So, we have many, many notes he has taken for a number of novels he wrote and which were then quite successful ones. Also we have some manuscripts of early novels and we have also large parts of the correspondence between him and his wife."

7. Hand scrolling through folder to famous postcard by Kafka and others

8. Postcard by Kafka and others in transparent film

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Stefan Litt, Israel's National Library archivist and humanities collection curator:

"Among those materials, there's almost nothing which is directly related to Franz Kafka except one postcard which was sent by Max Brod, Franz Kafka, another friend of them, the then-famous author Franz Werfel and also another close friend, Felix Welsch. And the four of them just sent a very short greetings to Elsa Brod, to Brod's wife, from a certain place in the Czechoslovakian Republic."

10. Seal of German Federal Police

11. Folder with papers

12. Exhibit document by German Federal Police on box

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Stefan Litt, Israel's National Library archivist and humanities collection curator:

"I think he (Franz Kafka) would really be amused about the same story, or the whole story, because he couldn't invent by himself a better plot."

14. Litt walking by Spree river in central Berlin

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Stefan Litt, Israel's National Library archivist and humanities collection curator:

"There was a long ongoing dispute in three several courts, up to the Supreme Court in Israel, about the question (of) who is the rightful owner of those materials. And at the end, all three instances decided in favour of the National Library. And those materials, beginning in December 2016, were transferred step by step to the National Library. In the meantime, we have the largest number of materials with us, and the addition from Berlin is, of course, something very important."

16. Peter Henzler, vice president of the German Federal Police, officially handing over documents to Issacharoff and Blumberg

17. Document being closed

18. Officials posing for handover

Israel's Supreme Court convened Tuesday to hear a petition on whether an indicted member of parliament can form a new government, a key test case for whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can prolong his political career after elections in March.

If the court decides Netanyahu is ineligible, it could precipitate a constitutional crisis in Israel, and exacerbate the already tenuous ties between the Israeli government and judiciary.

The court did not hand down an immediate ruling and may ask for a full panel of the court to convene on the matter. Either way, it was wading into uncharted territory.

Israeli law requires Cabinet ministers and mayors to resign if indicted, but does not specify so for a sitting prime minister.

There are no restrictions on Netanyahu to run in the March 2 election - the third in less than a year - but good governance groups are appealing on whether he could be tasked with forming a new government if he emerges victorious.

“We claimed that the head of the executive authority can’t be a person who is in conflict of interest between his personal interests and the interests that we as the public need," argued Dafna Holtz-Lechner, the attorney leading the petition.

Given the shaky legal ground, the court could deem the scenario hypothetical and delay the case until that actually happens.

Avi Halevy, a lawyer for Netanyahu, called it a “political petition.”

“Those deciding in the state of Israel and in democracy who will serve is prime minister, according to any system, are the people and only the people,” he said. “We of course hope it will be Benjamin Netanyahu.”

The hearing comes as Netanyahu appears poised to seek immunity from the corruption charges against him, delaying the prospect of a trial until the elections when he hopes to have a parliamentary majority coalition that will shield him from prosecution.

The request for immunity is likely to languish under the current parliament. Normally, a request for immunity would need to be approved by a parliamentary committee and then submitted to a full vote. But the committee charged with handling such matters doesn't exist because a government was never formed after September's election. The attorney general cannot file the indictment until the question of immunity is settled, delaying any court proceedings.

Netanyahu, who was re-elected leader of the ruling Likud party last week, has long accused judicial and law enforcement officials of trying to drive him from office and has said only the voters can choose who will lead the country.

Netanyahu has been in power for more than a decade and is Israel's longest-serving leader. He was indicted last month on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust stemming from three cases of trading political and regulatory favors for positive press coverage and accepting lavish gifts from wealthy supporters.

Netanyahu has dismissed the allegations as an “attempted coup" and has vowed to battle them from the prime minister's office. Netanyahu is Israel’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime.

Jerusalem - 31 December 2019

1. Supreme Court judges entering

2. Walking shot inside court

3. Various of lawyers of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

4. Mid of journalists in court

5. Dafna Holtz-Lechner, attorney leading the petition

6. Lawyers of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surrounded by journalists

7. Close of camera operator

8. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Avi Halevy, lawyer of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

"The petition that was submitted to this court, is a political petition and a petition against the people. Those deciding in the State of Israel and in democracy who will serve as prime minister, according to any system, is the people and only the people. And therefore, Israel's President, after the Knesset elections, will appoint the task of forming a government. We of course hope it will be Benjamin Netanyahu, but he will appoint whomever the people will request."

9. Various of Netanyahu supporters protesting

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Lizzy Hameiri, supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu:

"I came here to protest. What is going on here is a disgrace. It's shameful. The court has no authority. There's a law, the law says that Netanyahu can serve as prime minister, the law is very clear. And they think here that they are above the law. The judges here have the audacity. It's unbelievable, it can't happen in any country in the world, it's shameful."

11. Various of Netanyahu supporters protesting

12. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Dafna Holtz-Lechner, attorney leading the petition:

"We claimed that the head of the executive authority can't be a person who is in a conflict of interest between his personal interests and the interests that we as the public need. We insisted that the public's trust in all three government authorities will be dramatically harmed, if they (Supreme Court) do not decide now on the rule that you cannot position someone as head of the executive authority, as head of Israeli ministers, as a person with the highest and greatest power of all the citizens of Israel, a person who is now in the status of a defendant with serious offenses, offenses of moral turpitude, including bribery which is the most serious offense."

13. Close of Supreme Court façade

14. Wide of Supreme Court

Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday overturned an appeals court ruling that agreed with the government's decision to bar an American graduate student from entering the country over her alleged involvement in the boycott movement against the Jewish state.

The court accepted Lara Alqasem's appeal, saying her desire to study in Israel undermines the premise of her alleged support for a boycott.

Alqasem's lawyer said she was released from Ben Gurion International airport, where she had been held in detention since arriving in the country on 2 October with a valid student visa to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Alqasem, 22, a Florida native whose father is Palestinian, 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, named for its support of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

The country's Strategic Affairs Ministry, which spearheads the government's efforts against the boycott campaign, describes Alqasem's group as an extremist organisation, and says BDS aims to delegitimise or even destroy the Jewish state.

Alqasem has fought her expulsion order for more than two weeks, the longest anyone has been held in a boycott-related case.

Ben Gurion airport - 18 October 2018

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Yotam Ben-Hillel, Lara Alqasem's lawyer walking

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Yotam Ben-Hillel, Lara Alqasem's lawyer:

"The Israeli Supreme Court decided today to release Lara Alqasem from her detention at Ben Gurion airport and enable her to start her studies, hopefully next week at Hebrew U (Hebrew University of Jerusalem). Start the programme she was accepted to in transitional justice. We are really happy that the Supreme Court decided that the Ministry of Interior cannot just deny entry to Israel from people who criticise Israel policy without basic grounds and without sufficient evidence. And we are really happy for this decision. We just spoke to Lara few minutes ago, she was really excited to be released and to start her programme next week. And we really hope that this decision will help maintain the freedom of speech and the academic freedom in Israel."

3. Ben-Hillel speaking on the phone

Israeli forces began evacuating nine homes in the West Bank settlement of Ofra on Tuesday, following a Supreme Court decision that ruled they were built on private Palestinian land.

Dozens of settlers and their supporters were protesting as military and police forces handed the evacuation orders to settler leaders and asked them to cooperate peacefully and avoid confrontation.

One of the residents defiantly tore up the order while others were carried away by troops tasked with clearing the area.

Earlier this month, Israeli forces uprooted Amona, a nearby West Bank outpost, removing residents and hundreds of their supporters in sometimes violent clashes.

Amona was also the scene of violent clashes between settlers and security forces during a partial demolition in 2006.

Such evacuations have created tension in the hard-line coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been caught between appeasing his pro-settler coalition allies and respecting the rulings issued by the Supreme Court.

The Palestinians and most of the international community consider both outposts and settlements illegal and see them as an obstacle to creating a Palestinian state.

The Palestinians want the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war - for their future state.

Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, and the territory was subsequently overrun by the Hamas militant group.

Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas took over Gaza. Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from getting weapons while critics say it amounts to collective punishment.

Ofra settlement, West Bank - 28 February 2017

1. Israeli forces carrying settler away

2. Girls hugging and crying

3. Police evacuating settler

4. Girls screaming at police, UPSOUND (Hebrew): "What are you doing? What are you doing? Forty families don't have a place to sleep. Go to the religious seminary and see the condition they live in like in a jail cell."

5. Girl lying on ground, other girl hugging her

6. Police blocking access to house

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Eliana Passentin, settler:

"I think it is a disgrace. I think it is unjust and another solution could have been found. We are situated in the heart of the town of Ofra that was established 42 years ago, legally by the state of Israel. These 8 families are being removed from their homes. Their lives will be changed forever, the lives of their children. And for what? No one is going to come and live here instead and it is not going to bring us any closer to peace."

8. Girls walking and crying

9. Police carrying settler

10. Soldier being escorted away by colleagues

11. Various of police carrying settlers out

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Waller, Christian volunteer from St. Louis, Missouri:

"There are hundered of thousands of Christians around the world like myself that support a Jewish return to the mountains of Israel. And so this is important for us, as bible believers, to see that the Jews are returning. We are not too far from the story that most everybody knows, where Jacob had a dream and God spoke to him that the land of Israel and his descendants will be here. So this is in opposition to that promise and as Christians we want to support that (promise)."

13. Various of settlers being carried out

14. Wide of evacuation

SHOTLIST:

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jinba Bedouin community, West Bank – 6 May 2022

1. Wide of Jinba Bedouin community

2. Children on donkeys walking near camels

3. Camels walking

4. Mid of tractor

5. Various of children playing in playground

6. Residents gathered together

7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nidal Younis, Head of the Masafer Yatta council:

"We noticed before the decision was taken, we saw more than two weeks ago the army's actions on the ground. You notice as you leave the village an army checkpoint that has been there for two weeks, another checkpoint in the western side as well. Also the vehicles of the teachers in Jinba and the teachers of Msafir secondary school in al-Fakhit were confiscated during the past weeks, four vehicles that transports the teachers were confiscated, the teachers have been detained, and the educational process has been disrupted in these areas. This was an evidence that the decision taken by the court was in their favour, and they had taken these steps in advance."

8. Farmers near sheep

9. Issa Abu Aram, a farmer, entering a cave that is part of his house and turning the light on

10. Abu Aram inside cave  

11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Issa Abu Aram, farmer:

"I have 14 children, they lived under the precautionary order, we opened a school, only one did not go to the school, I have kids from the first grade to the 12th grade, one of them started school in the first grade and now he is in the 12th grade, this is the first to reach this grade, he did not live in any other place except of Jinba, how are you going to convince him during this deportation to live somewhere else?"

12. Abu Aram (background) next to dried yogurt (foreground)

13. Mid of solar panel

14. Khalid Al-Jabarin, a farmer, entering farm

15. Al-Jabarin with sheep

16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khalid Al-Jabarin, farmer:

"I don't have an alternative and they cannot remove me, the entire government of Israel can't remove me. We will not leave, even on our bodies, we will not get out of here because we are the inhabitants of the land, why would they bring a replacement from South Africa to live in the high mountains, in our land, and replace us, and remove us, why? "

17. Various of the Bedouin community

STORYLINE:

The lives of thousands of Palestinians in a cluster of Bedouin communities in the southern West Bank have been on hold for more than four decades, ever since the land they cultivated and lived on was declared a military firing and training zone by Israel.

Since that decision in early 1981, residents of the Masafer Yatta region have weathered demolitions, property seizures, restrictions, disruptions of food and water supplies as well as the lingering threat of expulsion.

That threat grew significantly this week after Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a long-standing expulsion order against eight of the 12 Palestinian hamlets forming Masafer Yatta - potentially leaving at least 1,000 people homeless.

On Friday, some residents said they are determined to stay on the land.

Israel has argued that the residents only use the area for seasonal agriculture and that they had already rejected offers of compromise that would have given them occasional access to the land.

The Palestinians say that if implemented, the ruling opens the way for the eviction of all the 12 communities that have a population of 4,000 people, mostly Bedouins who rely on animal herding and a traditional form of desert agriculture.

The residents of Jinba, one of the hamlets, said Friday that they have opposed any compromise because they have lived in the area long before Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war.

Issa Abu Aram was born in a cave in the rugged mountainous terrain 48 years ago and has endured a tough life since building is banned here.

He said his 14 children grew up with the threat of expulsion hanging over them.

His children are attending a makeshift school in Jinba, with the oldest son now in 12th grade.

“He did not live in any other place except Jinba, how are you going to convince him during this deportation to live somewhere else,” he said.

The Palestinian leadership condemned on Friday the Israeli Supreme Court ruling, which was handed down on Wednesday - when most of Israel was shut down for the country's Independence Day.

The West Bank has been under Israeli military rule for nearly 55 years - Masafer Yatta is in the 60% of the territory where the Palestinian Authority is prohibited from operating.

For now, the families say they have only one choice left: to stay and stick to their land.

“I don’t have an alternative and they cannot remove me,” said farmer Khalid al-Jabarin, standing outside a goat shed. “The entire government of Israel can’t remove me."

"We will not get out of here because we are the inhabitants of the land," he added.

Referring to West Bank settlers who came from other countries, he said: "Why would they bring a replacement from South Africa to live in the high mountains, in our land, and replace us, and remove us, why? “

===========================================================

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LEAD IN

Tel Aviv's giant Jewish museum has reopened after a massive upgrade.

It comes following a 100 million US Dollar renovation project which took over a decade.

STORY-LINE

From Queen Salome to the late RBG and Moses to Sandy Koufax, Tel Aviv's newly revamped Museum of the Jewish People attempts the ambitious undertaking of bringing almost 3,000 years of Jewish history and tradition under a single roof.

The museum - formerly known Beit Hatfutsot and newly branded as ANU, Hebrew for "We", has reopened to visitors after a more than decade-long, 100 million US Dollar renovation project.

Its exhibition space has tripled, making it the largest Jewish museum in the world, the museum says.

Its old galleries with dioramas and models from when it first opened in 1978 have been replaced with cutting edge exhibits with interactive touchscreens and artwork both historical and original.

The lion's share of the facelift was financed by Russian-Israeli former oil magnate Leonid Nevzlin's Nadav Foundation. It provided 30 million US Dollars, while another 52 million US Dollars came from other U.S.-based philanthropists and foundations, and 18 million US Dollars from the Israeli government.

Nevzlin's daughter, Irina Nevzlin, wife of Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, serves as chair of the museum's board of directors.

Above all else, the museum adopts a decidedly fresh approach to telling the story of the Jewish people.

"It tells the entire historical story of the Jewish people, the entire geographical story of the Jewish people, and also Jewish identity in all its forms and facets of Jewish culture, Jewish civilization, Jewish values, everything that binds us together and makes us one people," says Dan Tadmor, the museum's CEO.

Scattered through 72,000 square feet of galleries are historical artifacts and mementos from Jewish celebrities: a jawza belonging to the 20th century Iraqi musicians known as the Al-Kuwaity brothers, one of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's signature collars, a Book of Esther scroll from pre-Inquisition Spain, and a monumental carved stone from a first-century AD synagogue on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

But the museum shines in its original artwork highlighting lesser-known historical figures such as Ottoman Jewish philanthropist Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi and the legendary Ethiopian warrior queen Yodit.

It offers visitors the option of using a digital bracelet to capture memorable elements - from literary quotations, to recipes and family trees - or other archival material and take them home by email.  

"We tried to take this huge story that happened all over this planet, throughout history, with dialog with almost all cultures, and figure out what we want to say about it," says Orit Shaham-Gover, the museum's chief curator.

"That reconceptualization focuses on the broad diversity of Jewish culture on the one hand, and a celebration of the Jewish people's accomplishments, not just its tragedies."

She adds that the open-space gallery of contemporary Jews is "a celebration of life and culture and lights and colours."

"The museum is not a muted temple," Shaham-Gover says. "It's about life. So you come here, you have sounds, you have light and colors. It's part of you."

The grand opening comes as the fundamental issue of what defines a Jew has resurfaced as a key issue in Israeli politics ahead of this month's fourth parliamentary election in two years.

Tadmor avoided touching on the politics of the issue and insisted the institution does not take a stance on the question of defining who is and isn't a Jew.

Upon entering the main gallery, visitors encounter life-sized projections of Jews from a kaleidoscope of different affiliations and lifestyles — from Reform to ultra-Orthodox and everywhere in between— explaining how they define their Jewish identity.

Anat Lieberman, a museum visitor from Ramat Gan, says that the presentation of people from "all colors of the rainbow" was moving, and showed that it was a museum "for the entire Jewish people".

Tel Aviv, Central Israel - 9 March 2021

1. Travelling shot of start of exhibition, entrance floor which represents the present

2. Wide of sculpture on second floor which represents the journey

3. Travelling shot of video installation showing the journey of the Jewish people

4. People looking at exhibition

5. Wall with famous dancers

6. Musical Jews section

7. Set-up shot of Dan Tadmor, CEO of the ANU museum of Jewish people

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dan Tadmor, CEO of the ANU museum of Jewish people

"Over a decade ago, we set out to recreate the biggest and most comprehensive Jewish museum in the world, physically, it's the largest Jewish museum in the world because it's almost 7000 square meters in square feet, it's about 72000 square feet. But in terms of the story that it tells, it's the most comprehensive Jewish museum because it tells the story in its entirety. It tells the entire historical story of the Jewish people, the entire geographical story of the Jewish people, and also Jewish identity in all its forms and facets of Jewish culture, Jewish civilization, Jewish values, everything that binds us together and makes us one people."

9.  Various of contemporary exhibition

10. Set-up shot of Dr Orit Shaham-Gover, Chief curator of the ANU museum of Jewish people

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Orit Shaham-Gover, Chief curator of the ANU museum of Jewish people

"We try to take this huge story that happened all over this planet throughout history with dialogue with almost all cultures and figure out what we want to say about it, and we want to say three things. A, the Jewish people is very pluralistic, there are many groups in it and subgroups and cultures and subcultures and identities, we present them all. The second goal is that we want visitors to understand that it's about time to give up the position of the victim. We can look back and see a lot of ingenuity and prosperity and cultural dialog and creativity and not just atrocities, so we can allow ourselves to look back and instead of saying "Gevalt" to say hallelujah. And the third goal, which is very important because it structures the story of the museum, is that we want that every visitor of all faiths when he or she comes here, will tell him herself this story is also mine. "

12. Zoom out from people looking at exhibition to wide of museum interior

13. People watching

14. Picture of character from movie "Fiddler on the roof"

15. Woman taking picture

16. More of people watching exhibition

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Orit Shaham-Gover, Chief curator of the ANU museum of Jewish people

"So we start with the present. The first floor of the visit is about identity and culture today, and it includes all the arts and all kind of identities, personal identities, group identities and everything in between, it's a celebration of life and culture and light and colors and this is why the design of the museum is open, with lots of colors, that people can look all over the place and know where to go. We don't take the visitors and push them through a maze, they are in the center of the celebration and they choose their own way."

18. Travelling shot of exhibition floor showing the journey

19. Traditional ancient Jewish Moroccan outfit

20. Famous picture from Holocaust with ashes laid in front

21. More of the journey exhibition floor

22. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Anat Lieberman, museum visitor from Ramat Gan

"First of all I was moved by everything, to get here was exciting. What moved me the most? I was moved the most by the place where Jewish people from all the colors of the rainbow from Israel and abroad were standing, introducing themselves, talking about what is Judaism for them"

23. Travelling shot of display of people talking about Judaism

24. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Anat Lieberman, museum visitor from Ramat Gan

"On the same stand, different people from different backgrounds are talking about their Jewish connection and this is very detailed, very comprehensive. It was the first thing I saw when entering the museum at the third floor and how do we say, the heart, the heart is beating fast, it comes from the heart"

25. Pan down from roof of museum to ground floor representing the foundation

26. Wide of museum interior

27. Exterior museum

An Israeli kibbutz has changed its name to honour the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in a weeklong tribute to the Jewish American judge.

Kibbutz Ramat Hashofet, or The Judge's Heights, is named after Julian Mack, an early 20th century Jewish American judge.

The kibbutz in northern Israel said this week it was temporarily tweaking its name to Ramat Hashofetet.

Hebrew is a gendered language and the change turns the word judge female.

Ginsburg died Friday at age 87.

Esther Kamel Hakim, a member of the kibbutz said the move was made to cherish RBG's legacy and her contribution to justice and equality in the US.

Ramat Hashofetet / Ramat Hashofet, Israel - 23 September 2020

1. Wide of Ramat Hashofet

2. Wide of sign reading (Hebrew/English/Arabic) Ramat Hashofet

3. Various of tile mosaics on building commemorating the founding of the kibbutz in 1941

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Esther Kamel Hakim, member of the kibbutz:

"Kibbutz Ramat Hashofet decided to honour RBG (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) and change the name to the kibbutz from Ramat Hashofet to Ramat Hashofetet. Ramat Hashofetet means 'the female judge.' We decided to change the name for one week because we want to honour and to cherish RBG's legacy and her contribution to justice and equality in America. And this was also some of the ideas that Judge Julian Mack, which was the kibbutz originally named after, promoted and did all his life."

5. Various of kibbutz

6. Various of kibbutz member David Bar Ilan

7. SOUNDBITE (English) David Bar Ilan, kibbutz member:

"So today, we planted this vineyard here in Ramat Hashofet, or Ramat Hashofetet, in the memory of RBG. And we decided to name this vineyard, Ruth Vineyard, in her name and to her honour. It was the decision of this morning, actually, when we just signed the papers for the plants, I decided to name the vineyard 'Vineyard Ruth.'"

9. Various of Bar Ilan

10. SOUNDBITE (English) David Bar Ilan, kibbutz member:

"I hope this vineyard will be as important and it's as interesting as RBG."

11. Wide of kibbutz

A large billboard offering support to US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump could be seen in Tel Aviv on October 4th.

The sign reading "God bless you, Donald & Melania" was erected after the news Trump and wife had both tested positive for the coronavirus.

Trump went through a "very concerning" period October 2nd and faces a "critical" next two days in his fight against COVID-19, his chief of staff said October 3rd.

The US president remained at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as of early October 4th.

***

While greeting voters in a Traverse City, Michigan neighborhood, October 9th, Governor Gretchen Whitmer called for a stronger stance against extremism targeted at state officials.

October 8th, federal authorities announced they foiled a plot to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home before the November 3rd election.

"I think that it's a very real threat to our democracy. There's no question that these hate groups are domestic terrorists and I think we need to call them that, frankly," she said.

Thirteen men are facing various charges in both federal and state court in the plot to kidnap Whitmer and storm the Michigan capitol to seek a "civil war."

In between greeting voters, Whitmer called out the role she says President Trump has in the extremist movement.

"I think the President has given safe harbor to hate organizations and domestic terror organizations," she said. "We need leadership who steps up and takes it on."

Whitmer called for Trump and his fellow Republicans to do more.

"I have asked specifically from this White House to bring the heat down. I have asked Republican leaders in our state legislature to bring the heat down. I have asked for their help and none of them have done a darn thing," Whitmer told the Associated Press.

***

More than 500,000 people have already cast mail-in absentee ballots amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a polling site in south Charlotte, about 100 people were lined up October 15th, many who arrived before it opened its doors at 8 a.m.

The line was moving briskly and several said they were able to vote in an hour or less.

Mary Keith's gloved hands held onto her walker as she waited in line to vote.

The 95-year-old retired insurance agent wasn't going to let the coronavirus pandemic stop her from casting her ballot for Joe Biden.

"I think we need need to maintain, so to speak, our dignity. So, I'm looking forward to voting and I hope everybody feels the same way," Keith said.

Kenny Boyd was in line early to set an example for his three sons, who will be voting in this election for the first time.

"I don't think you can complain unless you use your civic right to actually vote and say something," Boyd said.

The in-person early voting option, which continues until October 31st, allows people to vote at any voting center in their county of residence.

People can also register to vote and cast a ballot at the same time during the early voting period.

"I'm happy that I came the first day. A lot of people were hesitant, thinking it would be longer but I think it's gone very well," Kathy Nettleton told the Associated Press.

More than 60% of the total ballots cast during the 2016 presidential election in North Carolina were cast through early in-person voting. That's nearly 3 million votes.

The percentage is likely to drop in 2020 as more 500,000 absentee ballots have been turned in so far - 10 times more than had been cast by mail at this point in the 2016 election.

Mail-in ballots seem to be preferred by those at higher-risk for severe illness from the coronavirus.

State and county election officials have been preparing for months for in-person voting, accumulating protective equipment for poll workers and voters.

Voters are encouraged but not required to wear masks.

In many locations, the "I Voted" stickers usually handed out will be replaced with single-use pens that voters can take home once they fill out their ballots.

***

Donald Trump, trailing in polls in most battleground states, continued his travel blitz in the race's final fortnight, and delivered what his campaign has wanted to be his closing message.

"It's time to send a message to these wealthy liberal hypocrites by delivering Joe Biden, sleepy Joe, a thundering defeat on November 3rd" Trump told the crowd.

***

Skirmishes broke out between supporters and opponents of President Donald Trump in New York City on October 25th.

Video from Manhattan showed Trump supporters and protesters screaming and cursing at each other and fighting, including a moment when anti-Trump protesters tried to pull a "Chinese American Alliance for Trump" banner away from a group of the president's supporters.

A Jews For Trump convoy of hundreds of cars draped with American flags and Trump 2020 banners rolled slowly through Manhattan and Brooklyn on October 25th. Videos shared on Twitter showed several protesters pelting the vehicles with eggs or stones, snatching flags and shouting insults.

New York City police said seven people were taken into custody in connection with physical confrontations in Times Square.

***

US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden received a little extra help on the campaign trail on October 31st from former US president Barack Obama.

The Democrats made a stop in Bloomfield Hills alongside as part of a two-event day to get out the vote in Michigan.

Earlier October 31st they had campaigned in Flint.

Biden was Obama's vice president from 2008 to 2016.

The trip marked their first day of the campaign in which they had appeared together.

***

Vote counting in the US election continued on November 4th.

The fate of the United States presidency hung in the balance as the battle for the White House between US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden continued.

***

The race between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden was too early to call in battleground Michigan on November 4th, with many votes uncounted.

So were the state's most competitive Senate contest in 20 years and several closely watched House races.

Detroit, Michigan's largest city and a Democratic stronghold, was not expected to finish counting until November 4th evening as it processed a surge of absentee ballots.

Trump smashed the "blue wall" in his first White House bid, narrowly winning Michigan and two other states that had not backed a Republican nominee in decades.

The margin of victory in Michigan, about two-tenths of a percentage point, was the closest of any state in 2016.

Michigan was critical this time around, too, and turnout was high.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said at least 3.2 million absentee ballots were returned - a record - and she projected an additional 2 million to 2.5 million were cast in person.

The total would surpass the high of 5 million votes in the 2008 presidential election.

***

As the vote counting continued November 4th, people across the nation watched to see whether Georgia would finally become the swing state that Democrats have long hoped for.

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in Georgia’s presidential contest because the race between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden is too early to call.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he was pushing counties to complete vote tallies, with just under 100,000 ballots left to count as of th evening of November 4th.

There was a narrow margin between Trump and Biden in Georgia, a close race in a state that has not backed a Democrat for president since 1992. There is no automatic recount, but a candidate can request one if the margin is within 0.5%.

The outstanding vote was primarily in the Atlanta area, which tends to lean Democratic. On Wednesday, about 50 people were counting votes inside State Farm Arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks NBA team. Counties have until 5 p.m. on Nov. 13th to certify results.

At stake in Georgia are 16 electoral votes. All absentee ballots were due November 3th.

***

Pennsylvania had hundreds of thousands of ballots left to count November 5th, but the state's elections chief signaled the number was expected to dwindle rapidly as Democrat Joe Biden and President Donald Trump fought to the end for the White House.

Some of the state's most heavily populated locales, including Montgomery and Chester counties in the Philadelphia suburbs, reported finishing their tallies. The Trump campaign asked a federal judge to stop the count in Philadelphia itself, alleging city officials were depriving their observers of meaningful access. There was no immediate ruling.

"We have just filed a motion in federal court for immediate injunctive relief to shut down the voting process until we can get a resolution where we can look at these ballots," said Trump campaign legal adviser Pam Bondi.

"Whether you're a Democrat or Republican, you should care about this," Bondi said.

Despite a flurry of legal action by Trump and the Republican Party over aspects of the count, counties across Pennsylvania headed toward the finish line of a massive tabulating effort that included millions of mail-in ballots. Pennsylvania remained the largest electoral prize yet to be called.

The Trump campaign and the Republican Party argued in court that GOP election observers were too far away from the tabulation in Philadelphia, that some Democratic-leaning counties unfairly allowed people to fix technical problems with their mail-in ballots, and that mail-in ballots arriving after Tuesday should not be counted.

Trump scored one legal victory as intermediate state appeals court on November 5th granted more access to party and candidate observers, allowing them to get closer - 6 feet away - to election workers processing mail-in ballots in Philadelphia.

The Trump campaign later filed an emergency action in federal court, asserting the city had failed to comply with the state court order. The campaign asked a federal judge to halt the count "so long as Republican observers are not present as required by state law."

The city insisted it had moved barricades as ordered, even as it appealed the state court ruling to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, citing concerns over worker safety amid the coronavirus pandemic and the potential for intimidation.

The Trump campaign said it wanted better access to the count to ensure that ballots contained a signature and an eligible voter's name and address. Ballots without that kind of information could be challenged or disqualified.

It was unclear whether any of the legal challenges would make a difference to an eventual outcome.

Bob Bauer, a Biden campaign adviser, said the Trump campaign lawsuits don't have any merit and are designed to spread misinformation, disrupt vote counting and confuse the public.

***

Election results showed Joe Biden with a slim lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada, but it was still too early to declare a winner in the race November 5th with a large number of ballots yet to be counted.

The top elections official in the most populous county said more results will be released Friday morning that include mail-in ballots.

Nevada's Attorney General, Aaron Ford, a Democrat, said threats of lawsuits from Republicans over alleged voting improprieties were expected and called them "a Hail Mary."

"It's another opportunity to undermine the confidence in this election. But I won't partake in that." Ford said.

No Republican presidential candidate has carried Nevada since 2004.

But the state has remained a battleground.

Trump fell just shy of winning Nevada and its six electoral college votes four years ago, and this year he campaigned hard in the state hoping for better luck.

***

A pro-Donald Trump rally was underway in Las Vegas on November 5th outside an election centre.

Supporters were waving Trump flags and chanting "Stop the fraud," and "Don't steal the vote!"

In addition to Las Vegas, groups of Trump supporters have gathered at vote tabulation sites in Phoenix, Detroit and Philadelphia, decrying counts that showed Democrat Joe Biden leading or gaining ground.

It comes as President Trump continued to claim that Democrats were trying to commit "fraud".

The president did not back up his claim with any facts or details.

State and federal officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud.

The presidential race has not yet been called because neither Trump nor Democratic nominee Joe Biden has yet collected the requisite 270 Electoral College votes.

***

Supporters of US President Donald Trump protested outside an election office in Phoenix on November 5th, urging authorities to stop the "illegal" vote as ballot counting continued in Arizona and other battleground states.

Election officials in several states said they are worried about the safety of their staffs amid a stream of threats and gatherings of angry protesters outside their doors, drawn by Trump’s baseless claims of widespread fraud in the race for the White House.

On November 5th, about 100 Trump supporters gathered for the second night in a row in front of the Maricopa County election center in Phoenix, some carrying military-style rifles and handguns.

Authorities at the center used fences to create a “freedom of speech zone” and keep the entrance to the building open.

Groups of Trump supporters have gathered at vote tabulation sites in Phoenix, Detroit and Philadelphia, decrying counts that showed Democrat Joe Biden leading or gaining ground.

***

Supporters of Joe Biden gathered to celebrate in his ancestral hometown of Ballina in Ireland on November 7th, ahead of his defeat of President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States.

Biden positioned himself to lead a nation gripped by the historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil.

His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots.

Biden clinched the White House with a victory in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born.

He also won Nevada on November 7th.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Joe Blewitt, who is a cousin of Biden, said Ballina would be "going wild" at the news of his victory.

***

Supporters of Joe Biden celebrated his victory after he defeated Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States on November 7th, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil.

Biden supporters celebrated on the streets of Philadelphia matching commemorations in other cities across the US.

In New York City, spontaneous block parties broke out on November 7th.

People ran out of their buildings, banging on pots.

They danced and high-fived with strangers amid honking horns.

In Washington, people streamed into Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House, waving sings and taking cellphone pictures.

Biden won Pennsylvania on November 7th to exceed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

The former Vice President also carried Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan.

***

Dozens of Trump supporters gathered in downtown Atlanta November 7th shortly after Democrat Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election to protest the announcement.

Holding signs and chanting "Stop the Steal," the demonstrators pledged their support to President Donald Trump and railed against what they called a stolen election.

The baseless and erroneous claim has been fueled in the days since the election by the president himself who continues to state the election was rigged and is moving forward with a series of legal battles.

Similar protests are occurring in cities across the country, from Detroit to Philadelphia to Phoenix.

****

Thousands streamed into Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House on November 7th holding signs and cellphones after Democrat Joe Biden won the presidency of the United States.

***

US President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani on November 7th said the Trump campaign would launch further legal challenges against the results of the US presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Speaking as US television networks announced the news of Biden's victory, Giuliani mocked their call.

"All the networks thought Biden was going to win by 10%. Gee, what happened? Come on. Don't be, don't be ridiculous. Networks don't get to decide elections. Courts do," Giuliani said.

Biden's victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots.

Trump has refused to concede and threatened further legal action on ballot counting.

He has pointed to delays in processing the vote in some states to allege with no evidence that there was fraud and to argue that his rival was trying to seize power - an extraordinary charge by a sitting president trying to sow doubt about a bedrock democratic process.

***

Supporters of President Donald Trump staged protests across the country November 7th, refusing to accept defeat and echoing the president's unsubstantiated allegations that the Democrats won the election by fraud.

Chanting "This isn't over! and "Stop the steal," the crowds ranging in size from a few dozen to a few thousand, some of them openly carrying guns, decried news of Joe Biden's victory after more than three suspense-filled days of vote-counting put the Democrat over the top.

Contrary to the claims of Trump supporters, there has been no evidence of any serious vote fraud.

Some Republican elected officials around the country began to distance themselves from Trump and urge him to accept the outcome gracefully.

About 50 protesters in Las Vegas braved a freezing wind and unexpected rain, bringing bullhorns and Trump flags to a "Stop the Steal" rally outside the Clark County registrar of voters office.

Trump supporters standing along the street and passing Biden supporters in cars yelled obscenities at each other, but otherwise it was largely peaceful.

***

Quoting the Bible, President-elect Joe Biden says it's a time to heal for America.

In a victory speech at a drive-in celebration in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden says Democrats and Republicans can choose to work together and promises to be a president for all.

Biden also paid tribute to his wife Jill, and welcomed Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to the Biden clan.

Biden and Harris brought their entire families on-stage with them to close out their victory party on November 7th.

After delivering speeches outside of the Chase Center in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, the two were joined by their families to watch as red white and blue fireworks exploded in the sky.

Biden's wife Jill, seven grandkids, his son Hunter and daughter Ashley all gathered around him, and he bounced one of his youngest grandchildren as the family enjoyed the display.

Harris, meanwhile, was joined by her sister Maya, her niece Meena and her husband, Doug Emhoff, as well as her two stepchildren.

Harris wrapped her arms around a younger grand-niece as they watched the celebration, with more than 1,000 supporters dancing and waving American flags and Biden campaign signs.

It was a celebratory ending to a day that was otherwise largely spent by the two Democrats waiting and watching as final returns rolled in.

***

President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are holding a meeting in Delaware with their coronavirus Task Force.

This comes as Biden hailed as a "breakthrough" Pfizer's announcement that its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19.

Biden on November 9th congratulated those involved in giving the country "such cause for hope." But at the same time, noted that the end of the battle against COVID-19 is still months away.

He said even if a vaccine is approved by the end of this month and some Americans are vaccinated later this year, it'll be many more months before there's widespread vaccination across the country.

Biden cited a warning by the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that for the foreseeable future, a mask remains a more potent weapon against the virus than a vaccine.

"Today's news doesn't change this urgent reality," Biden said, adding that Americans will have to rely on masking, distancing, social tracing, hand washing and other measures to keep themselves safe well into next year.

He said the U.S. is still losing over 1,000 people a day from COVID-19 and will continue to get worse unless progress is made on mask-wearing and other actions.

***

President-elect Joe Biden has chosen his longtime adviser Ron Klain to reprise his role as his chief of staff, installing an aide with decades of experience in the top role in his White House.

Klain will lead a White House likely to be consumed by the response to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to spread unchecked across the nation, and he'll face the challenge of working with a divided Congress that could include a Republican-led Senate.

Klain served as the coordinator to the Ebola response during the 2014 outbreak.

In a statement Biden suggested he chose Klain for the position because his longtime experience in Washington had prepared him for such challenges.

“His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again," Biden said.

Klain served as chief of staff for Biden during Barack Obama’s first term, was chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore in the mid-1990s and was a key adviser on the Biden campaign, guiding Biden’s debate preparations and coronavirus response.

He’s known and worked with Biden since the Democrat’s 1987 presidential campaign.

The choice of Klain underscores the effort the incoming Biden administration will place on the coronavirus response from day one.

Klain has experience in public health as the Ebola response coordinator and played a central role in drafting and implementing the Obama administration’s economic recovery plan in 2009.

“I’m honored by the President-elect’s confidence and will give my all to lead a talented and diverse team in a Biden-Harris WH,” Klain tweeted.

***

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is denouncing President Donald Trump as the "most irresponsible president in American history" over his efforts to overturn the result of the election.

Biden was asked by a reporter November 19th about Trump extending a White House invitation to Michigan state lawmakers in an apparent bid to overturn the results of the election in the state, which Biden won.

Biden shook his head, noted that "there's questions whether it's even legal" and said the move was "outrageous."

Biden added: "It's hard to fathom how this man thinks."

Speaking broadly about Trump's refusal to concede the election, Biden said Americans are witnessing incredible irresponsibility and warned that "incredibly damaging messages are being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions."

***

US President-elect Joe Biden has chosen former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to serve as treasury secretary, a pivotal role in which she would help shape and direct his economic policies at a perilous time, according to a person familiar with the transition plans.

Yellen, who is widely admired in the financial world, would be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department in a line stretching back to Alexander Hamilton in 1789.

Her nomination was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Biden's plans.

As treasury secretary, Yellen would face a shaky US economy, weakened by the pandemic recession and now in the grip of a surging viral epidemic that is intensifying pressure on businesses and individuals.

Concern is rising that the economy could slide into a “double-dip” recession this winter as states and cities reimpose restrictions on businesses and consumers stay at home to avoid contracting the disease.

A path-breaking figure in the male-dominated economics field, Yellen, 74, was also the first woman to serve as Fed chair, from 2014 to 2018.

She later became an adviser to Biden's presidential campaign in an unusual departure for a former Fed leader that thrust her into the political arena.

The treasury post would add another new chapter to Yellen's broad and varied career in financial policymaking.

As secretary, she would represent the administration in global financial affairs and lead a sprawling department whose responsibilities range from the government's finances and tax collections to global currency markets, bank regulation and the printing of money.

She would also be a key adviser to Biden and a public spokesperson for his economic agenda.

Yellen should enjoy the advantage of having already built long-standing ties to many of the Fed's policymakers, notably Jerome Powell, who worked closely with her on the Fed's board and later succeeded her as chair.

The health of the economy hinges in part on a close coordination between the Fed, an independent agency, and the Treasury, a presidential Cabinet department, especially during major crises like the pandemic recession that struck in early spring.

Soon after that crisis erupted, the government established a suite of lending programs that were designed to shore up businesses and municipalities and that involve a partnership between the Treasury Department and the Fed.

After leaving the Fed, Yellen became a distinguished fellow in residence at the liberal Brookings Institution in Washington.

She did not initially comment about Trump's decision not to offer her a second term.

But in a 2019 interview, Yellen said she didn't think Trump had a firm grasp of economic policy “or even knows the Federal Reserve's mandates” to stabilize prices and maximize employment.

Yellen is married to George Akerlof, a Nobel Prize-winning economist whom she met in a Fed cafeteria in 1977.

They have one son, Robert, who is an economics professor.

***

President Donald Trump's estranged niece, a clinical psychologist and author, says his baseless insistence that he won the presidential election is borne of his belief that he always deserves to win and "that it's OK to lie, cheat and steal" to do so.

Mary Trump, who wrote a book about the president and is penning another about America's history of trauma, said Trump has "nobody to blame but himself" for performing worse than other Republicans on the same ballots.

"He's spinning madly, he's desperate," she said, and if he "thinks he's going down, he's going to take the rest of us down with him."

The White House didn't immediately respond for comment on Mary Trump's remarks.

Mary Trump is the daughter of Trump's elder brother, Fred Jr., who died after a struggle with alcoholism in 1981 at 42.

***

President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be Secretary of Defense, according to four people familiar with the decision.

If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon.

Biden selected Austin over the longtime front-runner candidate, Michele Flournoy, a former senior Pentagon official and Biden supporter who would have been the first woman to serve as defense secretary.

Biden also had considered Jeh Johnson, a former Pentagon general counsel and former secretary of homeland defense.

The impending nomination of Austin was confirmed by four people with knowledge of the pick who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the selection hadn't been formally announced.

As a career military officer, the 67-year-old Austin is likely to face opposition from some in Congress and in the defense establishment who believe in drawing a clear line between civilian and military leadership of the Pentagon.

Although many previous defense secretaries have served briefly in the military, only two - George C. Marshall and James Mattis - have been career officers.

Marshall also served as secretary of state.

Like Mattis, Austin would need to obtain a congressional waiver to serve as defense secretary.

Congress intended civilian control of the military when it created the position of secretary of defense in 1947 and prohibited a recently retired military officer from holding the position.

One of the people who confirmed the pick said Austin's selection was about choosing the best possible person but acknowledged that pressure had built to name a candidate of colour and that Austin's stock had risen in recent days.

Austin is a 1975 graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and served 41 years in uniform.

Biden has known Austin at least since the general's years leading US and coalition troops in Iraq while Biden was vice president.

Austin was commander in Baghdad of the Multinational Corps-Iraq in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president, and he returned to lead US troops from 2010 through 2011.

Austin also served in 2012 as the first Black vice chief of staff of the Army, the service's No. 2-ranking position.

A year later he assumed command of US Central Command, where he fashioned and began implementing a US military strategy for rolling back the Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Austin retired from the Army in 2016, and he would need a congressional waiver of the legal requirement that a former member of the military be out of uniform at least seven years before serving as secretary of defense.

That waiver has been granted only twice - most recently in the case of Mattis, the retired Marine general who served as President Donald Trump's first Pentagon chief.

Austin has a reputation for strong leadership, integrity and a sharp intellect.

He would not be a prototypical defense secretary, not just because of his 41-year military career but also because he has shied from the public eye.

It would be an understatement to say he was a quiet general; although he testified before Congress, he gave few interviews and preferred not to speak publicly about military operations.

He earned the admiration of the Obama administration for his work in Iraq and at Central Command, although he disagreed with Obama's decision to pull out of Iraq entirely in December 2011.

Austin was involved in the Iraq War from start to finish.

He served as an assistant commander of the 3rd Infantry Division during the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and oversaw the withdrawal in 2011.

When Austin retired in 2016, Obama praised his “character and competence,” as well as his judgment and leadership.

Like many retired generals, Austin has served on corporate boards.

He is a member of the board of directors of Raytheon Technologies.

Word of Austin's selection broke a day before a meeting between Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and civil rights groups, many of whom had pushed the president-elect to pick more Black cabinet members.

***

Presidential electors in key battleground states cast the votes December 14th that will affirm Joe Biden as the nation's next president, a formality that took on added importance this year because of President Donald Trump's refusal to concede he lost his race for reelection.

Monday was the day set by law for the meeting of the Electoral College. Electors were casting paper ballots in gatherings that were taking place in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with masks, social distancing and other virus precautions the order of the day.

Joe Biden cleared the 270-electoral-vote mark to formalize his presidential victory with the state of California's 55 votes.

The voting milestone came late Monday when California electors affirmed Biden's massive 5 million-vote win last month in the nation's largest state.

Julie Pace, the Washington Bureau Chief for the Associated Press, said the vote verification process happens every four years and does not typically garner much attention from the American public.

"That's, of course, different in this election, given the fact that Trump has not conceded and has been challenging the results," Pace said. "So this was actually a really important moment, a moment for Americans to see their democracy at work and to see how this constitutionally mandated process plays out."

December 14th was the day set by law for the meeting of the Electoral College. Electors were casting paper ballots in gatherings that were taking place in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with masks, social distancing and other virus precautions the order of the day.

Following weeks of Republican legal challenges that were easily dismissed by judges, Trump and Republican allies tried to persuade the Supreme Court last week to set aside 62 electoral votes for Biden in four states, which might have thrown the outcome into doubt.

The justices rejected the lawsuit on Friday, December 11th.

In 32 states and the District of Columbia, laws require electors to vote for the popular-vote winner. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld this arrangement in July.

The results of the Electoral College will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside.

"President Trump says he's going to try to fight for that vote to go in his direction, but there really is no democratic mechanism for that to happen. It would literally be lawmakers overturning the will of voters, the will of the Electoral College if they were to go in another direction here," Pace said. "Given the fact that Democrats hold the majority in the House of Representatives, it's basically impossible to see how this would happen. But certainly we will continue to report and focus on that process now."

Electors almost always vote for the state winner anyway because they generally are devoted to their political parties. There was no reason to expect any defections this year

When all the votes are in, Biden is expected to have 306 electoral votes to 232 for Trump. It takes 270 to be elected. In the popular vote count, Biden topped Trump by more than 7 million votes nationwide.

***

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to pick former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg to head the Transportation Department.

That's according to three people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday to avoid preempting the president-elect's announcement.

The 38-year-old Buttigieg was one of Biden’s rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination.

He was a breakout star of the primaries, sharing victory in the nation’s first caucus with Bernie Sanders. He suspended his campaign before Super Tuesday and endorsed Biden.

The Transportation Department helps oversee the nation’s highway system, planes, trains and mass transit and is poised to play a key role early in the incoming administration.

***

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to tap former Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy to spearhead his ambitions for a massive, coordinated domestic campaign to slow climate change.

That’s according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to avoid publicly preempting the president-elect’s announcement.

McCarthy’s selection is in line with Biden’s pattern of picking tested, familiar figures from his time as vice president, passing over potentially more exciting and younger figures from the progressive movement.

McCarthy’s counterpart in climate efforts will be former Secretary of State John Kerry, earlier named by Biden as his climate envoy for national security issues.

***

Campaigning in Georgia on December 21st, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris stressed to Senate runoff voters a need for Democratic colleagues to advance the Biden administration's policy agenda.

Telling a crowd in Columbus that "everything is at stake" in the Jan. 5 elections, Harris said that she and President-elect Joe Biden need Democrats like Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in the Senate to advance policy priorities.

Harris said like increased funding for schools in low-income districts, a $15,000 tax credit to first-time home buyers and policing reforms including a ban on chokeholds and creation of a national standard for the use of force by police.

"We will need the legislation to be passed," Harris said. "We will need Jon and Raphael in the United States Senate. These are the things that are at stake."

Harris' other scheduled stop was canceled due to a scheduled Senate vote on a coronavirus relief package.

Just ahead of Harris' remarks, Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and a senior White House advisor, stumped with U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler outside a pub in Milton, a wealthy suburb about 30 miles (48 km) north of Atlanta.

More than 1.3 million people have already cast mail-in ballots or voted early in-person in the upcoming contests, the outcome of which will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate in the nascence of Biden's presidency.

Wins by both Democrats, Ossoff and Warnock, would yield a 50-50 divide, with Harris as the tie-breaking vote.

Monday's appearances continued a cavalcade of top-shelf surrogates wading into the races.

Biden himself has already stumped in the state, and Vice President Mike Pence has made several visits.

President Donald Trump said late Saturday he would return Jan. 4 for an election-even rally, just two days before Congress meets to count votes from the Electoral College.

Speaking ahead of Harris in Columbus, Ossoff warned that Republicans would block the Biden administration's agenda if they kept Senate control, stymying a progressive platform to raise the minimum wage, expand access to health care and invest in infrastructure.

"We have too much good work to do, Columbus, to be mired in grid lock and obstruction," he said.

Warnock pushed back at his opponent's repeated digs, which he said hindered his attempts at "a substantive debate about the people of Georgia."

"My opponent is trying to reduce this race to the kind of empty school yard insults made between children who aren't thinking very carefully on a playground," he said.

"I'm trying to have a debate, and she's engaged in name calling. That's all right. As we say in the South, 'Bless her heart.'"

06:01:09

00:00:00

Tel Aviv billboard: 'God bless Donald & Melania'

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Tel Aviv - 4 October 2020

1. Billboard showing US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, with text, reading (English) "God bless you, Donald & Melania"

00:04:00

Whitmer: Trump giving hate groups 'safe harbor'

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Traverse City, Michigan - 9 October 2020

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, (D) Michigan

"I think the president has given safe harbor to hate organizations and domestic terror organizations. He has done it in the middle of debates"

00:14:00

Long lines as early voting begins in N. Carolina

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Charlotte, North Carolina - 15 October 2020

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Kay Tawney, voter:

"I think this is the most important election in the history of our country and I wanted to make sure my voice counts."

00:20:23

Trump: time to send message to liberal hypocrites

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Erie, Pennsylvania - 20 October 2020

4. Wide of rally starting

5. SOUNDBITE (English) US President Donald Trump:

" And it's time to send a message to these wealthy liberal hypocrites by delivering Joe Biden, sleepy Joe, a thundering defeat on November 3rd."

6. Wide of Trump dancing

00:41:20

Trump supporters and opponents scuffle in New York

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++PLEASE NOTE: UPSOUND INCLUDES EXPLETIVE++

New York - 25 October 2020

7. People with "Chinese American Alliance for Trump" banner, chanting

8. Man shouting "Hater!" audible amid crowd

9. Man shouts "You're a hater"

00:51:05

Biden, Obama join forces to rally voters to polls

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Bloomfield Hills, Michigan - 31 October 2020

10. Wide of former US president Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden at a campaign event

00:55:05

Timelapse of White House sunrise after election day

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Washington DC - 4 November 2020

11. Time lapse footage of White House with sun rising in behind

00:59:05

Counting continues in crucial state of Michigan

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Detroit - 4 November 2020

12. Various of officials processing ballot at TCF Center in downtown Detroit

01:07:05

Beauty shots of Washington as vote count continues

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington DC - 4 November 2020

13. Various of US Capitol and US Supreme Court, people on the street

01:15:05

All eyes on Georgia as vote counting continues

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Atlanta, Georgia - 4 November 2020

14. Various of election workers counting ballots

01:23:05

Trump team decries Pennsylvania vote count process

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Philadelphia - 5 November 2020

15. Various of Corey Lewandowski and Pam Bondi

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Pam Bondi, Donald Trump campaign lawyer

"that they are suppressing the election results, the legal election results because they will not let us look at the ballot

01:34:17

Nevada AG: our state has 'fair, free' elections

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Las Vegas - 5 November 2020

17. Various ballot counting

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Attorney General Aaron Ford, (D) Nevada:

"At the end of the day, our state has demonstrated that it knows how to have fair, free and secure elections and that's what we're seeing happening right now."

01:51:10

Vegas Trump supporters chant 'don't steal the vote'

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Las Vegas - 5 November 2020

++NIGHT SHOTS++

19. Various of Trump supporters protesting, chanting, UPSOUND (English) "don't steal the vote"

02:04:00

Phoenix protesters chant 'stop the illegal vote'

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Phoenix, Arizona - 5 November 2020

++NIGHT SHOTS++

20. Protesters outside Maricopa County election center, UPSOUND chanting "Stop the illegal vote"

21. Various of protesters with weapons

02:15:16

Celebrations in Joe Biden's ancestral Irish hometown

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Ballina, Ireland - 7 November 2020

22. Man on ladder fixing American flags which line shops and bars

23. Woman posing with American flag

24. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Blewitt, Joe Biden's cousin:

Blewitt: "We've met him a good few times now, backing over, and we have very good bonds with him"

25. Biden supporters celebrating

02:25:01

Biden supporters in Philadelphia celebrate victory

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Philadelphia - 7 November 2020

26. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Pearce, Biden supporter:

"To me (Joe Biden's victory) means everything. My mother is a disabled woman who is on Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare, and to know that Donald Trump is out and he can no longer mess with those programs is amazing."

27. People in cars honking horns

02:50:12

Ga. Trump supporters hold 'Stop the Steal' rally

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Atlanta - 7 November 2020

28. Pan of Trump supporters with flags chanting "Stop the Steal"

02:54:22

Thousands celebrate Biden victory in Washington

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Washington DC - 7 November 2020

29. Various of thousands of supporters of US President-elect Joe Biden celebrating in the streets

30. Top shots of celebrations

03:07:19

Trump lawyer mocks networks calling Biden victory

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Philadelphia, USA - 7 November 2020

31. US President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani speaking at lectern, UPSOUND (English): Reporter

Reporter: "The call. The call, It was called for Joe Biden."

Giuliani: "Because they don't decide the election, the call for Joe Biden...who was it called by?"

Reporter: "All the networks."

Giuliani: "Oh my goodness. All the networks. Wow! All the networks. We have to forget about the law. Judges don't count. All the networks. All the networks. All the networks thought Biden was going to win by 10%. Gee, what happened? Come on. Don't be, don't be ridiculous. Networks don't get to decide elections. Courts do."

03:47:06

Trump supporters refuse to accept election defeat

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Las Vegas - 7 November 2020

32. Protester carrying rifle at "Stop the Steal" rally

33. Mid, man armed with gun

34. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Gapero, Trump Supporter:

"You look at it and it's the press that called it, and it's fully proof that the press is manipulating and propagandizing this whole election. They're brainwashing people. You can see it clearly."

04:08:03

Biden welcomes Harris into his extended family

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Wilmington, Delaware - 7 November 2020

35. Close-up US Vice Presidential-elect Kamala Harris, her husband Douglas Emhoff and her grand-nieces standing with the Biden family

04:15:06

Biden, Harris hold coronavirus Task Force meeting

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Wilmington, Delaware - 9 November 2020

36. Wide of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris listening to Virus Task Force via Zoom

37. Mid of meeting

04:23:06

Biden chooses Ron Klain as chief of staff

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, DC - 22 October 2014

38. Wide of then US President Barack Obama meeting with Ron Klain, new coordinator for the government's Ebola response

39. Mid of Klain during meeting with Obama in the Oval Office

04:30:24

Biden: Trump is the 'most irresponsible president'

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Wilmington, Delaware - 19 November 2020

40. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, U.S. President-elect:

" And what the president is doing now is, is really. It's going to be another incident where he will go down in history as being one of the most irresponsible presidents in American history.

04:52:22

Biden taps Janet Yellen for Treasury Secretary

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ARCHIVE: Washington, DC - 14 November 2013

41. Janet Yellen, then Federal Reserve Chair nominee, swearing oath

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ARCHIVE: Washington DC - 20 September 2017

42. Wide of former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen taking a seat for news conference

05:00:23

Mary Trump: For Pres. Trump 'winning is so important and he always deserves to win that it's OK to lie, cheat and steal'

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New York - 3 December 2020

43. SOUNDBITE (English) Mary Trump, President Trump's Niece:

"In his view, winning is so important and he always deserves to win that it's OK to lie, cheat and steal. You know, it's not the process. It's getting the win in your column.

05:10:15

Biden picks Lloyd Austin as defense secretary

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ARCHIVE: Baghdad, Iraq - 29 November 2011

++NIGHT SHOTS

44. Then US Vice President Joe Biden getting out of aircraft and being greeted by US Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey and US General Lloyd Austin

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Baghdad, Iraq - 11 December 2008

45. Austin talking to his troops

05:19:14

US Electoral College vote formalizes Biden victory

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Sacramento, California - 14 December 2020

46. SOUNDBITE (English) Shirley Weber, (D) California Assemblymember:

"For Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, a Democrat, ayes 55, no's, zero."

47. Electors cheering

05:19:14

Biden to name Buttigieg for Transportation chief

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Lebanon, New Hampshire - 8 February 2020

48. South Bend Mayor and former US Democratic Presidential contender Pete Buttigieg entering New Hampshire rally

Des Moines, Iowa - 2 February 2020

49. Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Buttigieg on stage

05:28:24

Biden set to pick Gina McCarthy as US climate czar

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ARCHIVE: Washington, DC - 11 August 2015

50. Then-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy speaking at news conference

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ARCHIVE: Washington, DC - 28 June 2016

51. Then-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy speaking at a Justice Department news conference

05:41:22

Kamala Harris campaigns with Ossoff, Warnock

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Columbus, Georgia - 21 December 2020

52. Kamala Harris, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff waving at the crowd

53. SOUNDBITE (English) Raphael Warnock, Democratic nominee for Senate:

"We want to say to the rest of the country, welcome to the new Georgia, welcome to the blue Georgia."

54. SOUNDBITE (English) Jon Ossoff, Democratic nominee for Senate:

"Georgia has the power to decide where we go from here

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his government's handling of the case of an American graduate student who is fighting an expulsion order, saying every country has the right to decide who enters its borders.

Asked about the case on Sunday, he said it was now in the hands of the Supreme court.

"They'll decide whether they handle it or not," he told a gathering of foreign Christian journalists.

"If they handle it, we'll see how it will develop, if they don't handle it, she'll be deported," he said.

Alqasem, 22, arrived in Israel on October 2 with a student visa to study at Israel's Hebrew University, where classes began on Sunday.

But she was barred from entering the country over her alleged involvement in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Alqasem has been held in detention since arriving in Israel and has turned to the high court after a lower court on Friday rejected her appeal to stay in the country.

Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday agreed to hear the appeal.

She will be allowed to remain in the country pending the Supreme Court appeal, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, her lawyers said.

Israel says the Florida native, a former boycott activist at the University of Florida, continues to promote the boycott movement against Israel.

She has argued that she is no longer active.

Jerusalem - 14 October 2018

1. Pan from audience clapping to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on stage

2. Mid of audience

3. Reporter asking question about US student Lara Alqasem, who has been denied entry to Israel UPSOUND (English): "Can you try to help us understand why American Lara Alqasem hasn't been allowed to enter Israel?"

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister: ++STARTS ON PAN FROM AUDIENCE++

"You think she's growing in her opinion on Israel?"

Reporter: "It's a question to you."

Netanyahu: "Well, you know, would that it were true, I don't know. But every country and every democracy and many democracies have special arrangements where they decide who to let in and who not to let in. If you come in and you're virulently against America and you try to come in to the United States, there is a good chance you want be let in if people know that in advance. That's also true of many of the European democracies, it's true of the democracy called Israel."

Reporter: "This is specifically about the new BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) law, which some people are saying it is not being applied properly in this case?"

Netanyahu: "You know I trust that Minister Erdan (public security minister Gilad Erdan) has examined that and looked into it, it's under the decision now of the Israeli Supreme Court, so I'm not going to get into that. And they'll decide whether they handle it or not. If they handle it, we'll see how it will develop, if they don't handle it... she'll be deported."

5. Netanyahu on stage

Palestinians living in an east Jerusalem neighbourhood face the prospect of their homes being destroyed - the result of a long-simmering conflict between the city government and residents.

For several years, Izz Burqan has lived with his wife and six children in a bucolic meadow that rolls through a Palestinian neighbourhood of east Jerusalem.

The conflict flared up on a recent spring morning, as Israeli bulldozers arrived to demolish Burqan's house and storage facility.

A coveted pasture, which Israel calls the "Peace Forest," lies in the crosshairs of the dispute.

Some 60 houses in the grassy quarter, known to its 500 residents as Wad Yasul, are now facing demolition by Israeli authorities.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court declined to hear the residents' appeal against demolition orders on the grounds the structures were built without the required permits in a municipally-designated green space.

"I was destroyed. I felt difficult feelings. I was in tears. Why is this happening to me? Why? What's the reason?" said Nasser Burqan, a longtime resident.

"I didn't do anything for this to happen, "

Demolition of unauthorized Palestinian-owned structures in east Jerusalem is not unusual.

The municipality contends it cracks down on zoning violations, and Palestinians say Israel severely restricts their ability to build on land they claim for the capital of their future state.

But the Peace Forest demolitions have drawn particular attention because of accelerating construction by a nationalist Jewish organization in the same park.

With the support of Israel's tourism ministry, the City of David Foundation has set up lodging structures, operates a Segway tour through the woodland and is advancing plans for several tourist attractions, including a visitor center and what it bills as country's largest zip line.

The foundation said it has leased 4% of the park's total area from the government.

Although city regulations forbid construction of any kind in designated parks, the municipality confirmed it was working to alter park zoning restrictions and retroactively authorise City of David's construction and facilitate its expansion.

"The City of David hasn't yet received final approval for everything, but its efforts to build up public space with sports and tourist facilities are being considered positively," said an official in the Jerusalem mayor's office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

"We are not eager to evict Palestinian residents in a brutal way, but we have a green light from the highest court.

This is an open space designated for public use, not for private residences."

Activists and Palestinian residents say the case of the Peace Forest highlights discriminatory Israeli policies that have propelled a housing crisis in overcrowded east Jerusalem.

"The area was declared as a forest exactly in order to prevent Palestinians from getting building permits. And so all their attempts for the last decade or two decades, to legalise the buildings, they tried to make a master plan, that was rejected by the municipality, and it didn't work," said Aviv Tatarsky from Ir Amim, an Israeli group that advocates equality in Jerusalem.

The Supreme Court's dismissal of the case brought an end to the residents' costly decade-long legal battle to get their houses, in many cases built on inherited family land, authorized by Israel.

Structures belonging to two local families were destroyed immediately following the decision, and another two were demolished on Tuesday.

Pending demolition orders for the rest of the area's homes can go into effect at any time, said Zyad Kawar, lawyer for the Palestinian residents.

Many residents view the park zoning as a government ploy to force Palestinians out of east Jerusalem, which Israel considers an indivisible part of its capital.

"They don't want to give us permits, that's the bottom line," said Nasser Burqan, whose cousin owned the house demolished this month.

"The whole issue isn't a permit issue, it's displacement, in one way or another."

Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed it, a move not internationally recognized.

Since then, Israel has boosted the Jewish presence there, building neighborhoods where over 200,000 Jews now live.

The Peace Forest sits in the larger Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, long a focal point of Jewish settlement for its proximity to some of the world's most sensitive religious sites in the limestone-walled Old City.

The City of David Foundation runs popular archaeological and touristic sites in and around Silwan--spots it emphasizes as centerpieces of ancient Jewish civilization.

In the Peace Forest, "the City of David has transformed what was once a derelict crime-ridden site" into a space used freely by the public, said the foundation's vice president, Doron Spielman. "We are confident that it too will become a major tourist attraction."

The organisation has also drawn sharp criticism for helping to settle Jewish families in Arab neighborhoods, fueling suspicions that its tourism projects mask efforts to erase the line between east and west Jerusalem, and with it, hope for an independent Palestinian state.

"They're using tourist activities to change the character of Silwan, to bring more Israelis there and take over more and more of the neighborhood," said Tatarsky.

The two-state dream seems more distant than ever after newly re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on the campaign trail to annex West Bank settlements, and is poised to form a governing coalition with right-wing parties that reject Palestinian sovereignty.

With the Trump administration providing unprecedented support for Israel's control over contested territories, there are fears in Jerusalem that the government could step up its pressure on Palestinian residents.

"I bought a tent and I will live in it now," said Burqan, standing amid the ruins of his two-storey home. "Where shall I go? I will stay here."

Jerusalem - 23 April 2019

1. Wide of Wad Yasul neighbourhood with Peace Forest in background

2. Street signage reading (English/Arabic/Hebrew) "Wad Yasul, Alley 9"

3. Wide of excavator approaching demolished house to clear the area, family standing nearby

4. Woman and her children walking past debris from demolished house

5. Excavator clearing debris

6. Children watching excavator at work

7. Concrete and metal debris

8. Damaged structure

9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Izz Burqan, Wad Yasul resident:

"I was destroyed. I felt difficult feelings. I was in tears. Why is this happening to me? Why? What's the reason? I didn't do anything for this to happen. Even if this happened, if there's a way to communicate and to negotiate with documents. This did not happen at all. Early in the morning I saw them coming. It's trickery. I don't know what they're thinking. Not in this brutal way."

10. View of demolished house

11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Izz Burqan, Wad Yasul resident:

"I think that in this way they can make us leave from here. I now brought a tent and I will live in it. Where shall I go? I won't leave here. I will stay here."

12. Pan from demolished house to forest

13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nasser Burqan, Wad Yasul resident:

"They don't want to give anyone permits, that's the bottom line. Wherever you go, they tell you there's no permit, not only in our area but in any other area. They don't want the locals to live, they want the area empty. The whole issue isn't a permit issue, it's displacement, in one way or another."

14.Burqan walking with his children towards demolished house

15. Ir Amim researcher Aviv Tatarsky working at his desk

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Aviv Tatarsky, Ir Amim researcher:

"Specifically in Wadi Yasul we're speaking about today more than 60 families that wanted to get building permits for homes on their land, their privately-owned land, and this was denied to them by the Jerusalem municipality with the pretext that the area was declared as a forest. That happened in the 1970s, but the area was declared as a forest exactly in order to prevent Palestinians from getting building permits. And so all their attempts for the last decade or two decades, to legalise the buildings, they tried to make a master plan, that was rejected by the municipality, and it didn't work. And finally now the court has rejected their appeals and their 60 homes are under threat of demolition."

17. Close up of Tatarsky pointing out the area on a Jerusalem map, UPSOUND (English) "The Wad Yasul neighbourhood is somewhere here, threatened by demolition."

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Aviv Tatarsky, Ir Amim researcher:

"For Elad and for the Israeli government, it's very upsetting that Silwan, right next to the Old City and to the al-Aqsa mosque, which for Israel is the Temple Mount, there are 25,000 Palestinians there. It's part of Palestinian Jerusalem. Elad is using home-takeovers, taking over Palestinian homes, but their main mechanism is through touristic projects, using archaeology and heritage and using all kinds of tourist activities in order to change the character of Silwan and bring many Israelis there and present it as a place of Jewish history."

19. Various of Silwan neighbourhood and al-Aqsa compound in the distance

Australian women accusing an Israeli school teacher of sex abuse on Wednesday protested outside a hearing at a Jerusalem court, in which a psychiatrist contended their alleged abuser was mentally unfit to stand trial.

Australian sisters Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer said they hoped alleged abuser Malka Leifer will be deemed fit to stand trial, adding that their campaign was "for everyone and not just for ourselves".

About a dozen demonstrators gathered outside the court to protest the court proceedings in solidarity with the accusers.

Authorities in Australia want 54-year-old Leifer extradited for allegedly sexually abusing young female students while she was a teacher at a Jewish religious school in Melbourne.

An Israeli court previously halted extradition proceedings after determining Leifer was not fit to stand trial.

Leifer's lawyer said the trail, now at its 48th hearing, could last several more months, adding that "the road to the Supreme Court is open" as well.

The next hearing, in which more psychiatrists will offer their views on Leifer's mental health, is scheduled for March 26.

Jerusalem - 13 March 2019

1. Australian sisters Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer, who accuse schoolteacher Malka Leifer of alleged sex crimes, walking to Jerusalem court to join demonstrators

2. Demonstrators gathered outside court, holding signs

3. Sign (English) reading: "You are not alone"

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dassi Erlich, Australian woman who accuses schoolteacher Malka Leifer of alleged sex crimes:

"It is because of your support that we can continue doing this, it is because of your support that we can continue fighting for justice and ensuring that this abuser is not on the streets anymore, and while we're doing that ensure that every single boy and girl out there are safe. And we're doing this for everyone and not just for ourselves, so thank you for being here today."

5. Exterior of Jerusalem district court

6.SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Yehuda Fried, Malka Leifer's lawyer:

"How long will it take? A cautious estimate is a few months. After that don't forget that the road to the Supreme Court is open, don't forget that."

7. Manny Waks, CEO of Kol V'Oz, an organisation that combats sexual abuse in Jewish communities, talking to media

8. SOUNDBITE (English)  Manny Waks, CEO of Kol V'Oz - organisation that combats sexual abuse in Jewish communities:

"Today is hearing number 48, let us not forget that. It's beyond any reason, it's difficult for us to understand why it's taken 48 hearings for us to get to where we are today, which is still not very much further from where we were not long ago, so hopefully the wheels of justice will continue to go, hopefully it will be quicker."

9. Various of Aus