Israel said it had been accepted as a member in a global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog group.

The Financial Action Task Force is an intergovernmental group of some 35 countries based in Paris that sets international standards on terror financing and money laundering.

Israel said on Monday that its acceptance into the group would allow it to take an active role in global policy-making on the issues.

Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said it would change the status of Israel and would encourage more investors to invest their money in Israel.

In a statement, the FATF said Israel's "experience and perspective will make a valuable contribution to our work to prevent the misuse of the financial system".

The group has in the past given Israel's archenemy Iran ultimatums over terrorism funding, warning of deeper economic isolation if it doesn't comply.

Tel Aviv - 10 December 2018

1. Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked entering press room

2. Wide of Ayelet Shaked talking

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayelet Shaked, Israeli Justice Minister:

"Israel became a member in the very exclusive club of the FATF, the organization that is responsible to prevent money laundering and terror financing. There are 35 countries who are members of this organization, Israel will be the thirty-sixth country and I think it's the first time that a country is getting to this organization on the first chance. It's putting Israel in one line with the United States and UK regarding and preventing money laundering and financing terror."

4. Shaked standing with Dr Shlomit Wagman, head of the Israel money laundering and terrorism financing prohibition authority and the head of the Justice ministry

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayelet Shaked, Israeli Justice Minister:

"I think it will change the status of Israel and will encourage more investors to invest their money in Israel because they will know that it's a safe country and it will encourage doing business with Israel. And in general the organization, the FATF, said that Israel is one of the most efficient countries regarding preventing money laundering and financing terror."

6. Dr Shlomit Wagman, head of the Israel money laundering and terrorism financing prohibition authority, talking to media

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Shlomit Wagman, Head of the Israel money laundering and terrorism financing prohibition authority:

"Israel was included in the blacklist of the FATF about 16 years ago. Since then since it was removed from the blacklist we've made tremendous efforts towards improving our system, the legislation, the effectiveness, the law enforcement authorities activities and we are very proud with the results of the mutual evaluation report of the FATF which proved that Israel made huge progress and is now one of the most effective regimes in the world."

8. Pan from cameramen to media

SHOTLIST

1. Various of conference

2. Wide of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman walking to stage

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Foreign Minister:

"We are very far away (from peace deal with the Palestinians). It's not just that it is impossible; I think that in the current climate it is also not practical and simply forbidden. So what's my conclusion? My conclusion is that we definitely need to start preparing Plan B, a long term temporary arrangement. I can say this Plan B exists, it is on the shelf."

4. Wide of Lieberman speaking on stage

5. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Foreign Minister:

"On the apology issue, this borders rudeness and is even beyond rudeness. If anyone has to apologise, it is the Turkish government to Israel for its cooperation with terror entities, supporting terror, supporting the IHH (Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, known by its Turkish acronym IHH), Hamas and Hezbollah. There will be no apology and if there is one, then it will be us waiting for an apology from the Turkish government and not the other way around."

6. Lieberman leaving

STORYLINE

Israel's foreign minister said on Sunday that a peace deal with the Palestinians was "impossible" under current conditions and that Israel shouldn't pursue one.

Avigdor Lieberman told Israeli diplomats that Israel should instead seek a long-term, interim agreement on security and economic matters.

Palestinians have consistently rejected that approach.

Lieberman said the West Bank Palestinian Authority was not legitimate because it has postponed elections.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority broke down in September.

US mediators have not been able to restart them.

Lieberman is known for expressing hard-line views that don't always represent those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu's office had no immediate comment.

Lieberman also reacted to a statement by his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, who said on Saturday that his country wanted improved ties with Israel but the Jewish state must apologise and offer compensation for its deadly raid on a Gaza Strip-bound aid flotilla.

Lieberman said the Turkish insistence on apology was "beyond rudeness" and stressed that Israel would not apologise, but that, on the contrary, it was Turkey who should apologise to Israel "for its cooperation with terror entities, supporting terror, supporting the IHH, Hamas and Hezbollah."

The IHH is the Turkish acronym for the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, who organised the aid flotilla.

Israel and Turkey built strong military and economic ties over the past 15 years, and Turkey became Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world.

Relations between the two soured, however, with Turkey's Islamic-oriented government's increasingly vociferous criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

They hit an all-time low in May, when Israeli naval commandos killed nine activists from Turkey on board a Gaza-bound ship that tried to breach Israel's naval blockade.

Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv and Turkish leaders denounced Israel repeatedly over the raid.

Turkey has made an Israeli apology and compensation for the victims' families a condition for improved ties.

Israeli commandos claimed they opened fire in self-defence after meeting what they called unexpected resistance when they boarded the ferry carrying aid supplies to Gaza.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also wants Israel to end its blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Egypt blockaded Gaza after the militant Islamic Hamas seized control there in 2007.

Israel wants Turkey to return its ambassador and remove the raid from the international agenda.

High-level Turkish and Israeli officials met in Geneva earlier this month to try to mend fences, after Turkey sent aircraft and firefighters to help Israel battle a wildfire.

But they failed to agree on terms.

SHOTLIST

Jerusalem - 21 May 2008

1. Exterior of Israeli parliament building

2. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert walking down stairs in Knesset, refusing to respond to journalists' questions on Israeli negotiations with Syria

3. Olmert talking to people

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yoel Hasson, Kadima member of Knesset

"As a Prime Minister, he should do what he can to try to achieve peace and to try to open a negotiation with Syria. He is doing what all the governments before this government did. So for me it's important and it's important for the country, and I think the question of the Golan Heights it should go, if it's going to be a final negotiation with agreement, this agreement should go to a referendum in israel."

5. Olmert greeting man, walks away

6. Likud Member of Knesset Yuval Steinitz talking to press

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yuval Steinitz, Likud Member of Knesset

"It's a very sad day for the state of Israel because evidently the prime minister is so corrupt that he is not only taking cash money in envelopes but he is ready to trade the Golan Heights and our most vital interests in an attempt to save himself from criminal investigation and indictment."

FILE: Golan Heights

8. Wide shot of border between Israel and Syria

9. Israeli flag on border, Syrian flag in the background on the other side of border

10. Wide shot hillside, border fence

11. Sign reading: "Frontier ahead", wind farm turbines

Jerusalem - 21 May 2008

12. Former Israeli Foreign Ministry director, Alon Liel, sitting, with framed photograph of him standing with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in foreground

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Alon Liel, Former director of Israeli Foreign Ministry/Chairman of the Israel-Syria Peace Society

"I think we have a wonderful development in front of us. It's a statement that was published simultaneously in Jerusalem and in Damascus. It is short but very, very meaningful. It says that the sides are starting negotiations, official negotiations, in fact in the open."

FILE: Golan Heights

14. Israeli radar station on top of hill, on border with Syria

15. Various of radar station

16. Various of border, barbed wire, wind turbines

STORYLINE:

Israel and Syria on Wednesday said they are holding indirect peace talks through Turkish mediators - the first official confirmation of contacts between the longtime enemies.

In statements issued minutes apart in Jerusalem and Damascus, the two governments said they had "declared their intent to conduct these talks in good faith and with an open mind," with the goal of reaching "a comprehensive peace."

Both nations thanked Turkey for its help, and Turkey issued its own confirmation. Muslim Turkey has good ties with both Israel and Syria.

There have been reports in recent months of new Israeli-Syrian contacts through Turkey, and Turkey's foreign

minister said earlier this month that his country was trying to bring the sides together.

But this was the first official confirmation that contacts have actually resumed.

An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Olmert's chief of staff and diplomatic adviser had been in Turkey since Monday, and their Syrian counterparts were also in the country.

Israel and Syria are bitter enemies whose attempts at reaching peace have repeatedly failed in the past, most recently in 2000.

The nations have fought three wars, and their forces have also clashed in Lebanon.

Peace with Syria would require Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and has occupied ever since.

A Golan withdrawal would be extremely controversial among Israelis, and it could be difficult for a weakened leader like Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose already low popularity has been battered by a recent corruption investigation, to win public support for such a move.

Peace talks with Syria could also divert attention from newly relaunched Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which aim to reach an agreement by the end of the year, but are unlikely to do so.

Israel, meanwhile, has demanded that Syria - which offers refuge to militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad and supports the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah - distance itself from what it terms terrorism as a condition for talks.

Last September, Israeli warplanes attacked an installation in Syria that the U.S. has claimed was an unfinished nuclear reactor built by North Korea.

U.S.-mediated talks between the two countries broke down in 2000 because of disagreements over the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan.

The main point of contention concerns a narrow strip of land along the Sea of Galilee, which Israel wants to keep to ensure its control of vital water supplies.

The latest round of contacts began in February 2007, when Olmert visited Turkey.

The announcement comes as Olmert finds himself mired in yet another corruption investigation - the fifth investigation into his conduct since he took office in 2006.

His dismal approval ratings have sparked widespread speculation about his ability to survive in office and to conclude an elusive peace deal with the Palestinians by the year-end target.

Reaction in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, was mixed.

Kadima member Yoel Hasson approved of the reopening of talks with Syria, but said any agreement reached between the two sides should go to a referendum in Israel.

"As a Prime Minister, he should do what he can to try to achieve peace and to try to open a negotiation with Syria. He is doing what all the governments before this government did. So for me it's important and it's important for the country," he said.

But opposition Likud member Yuval Steinitz criticised the prime minister, saying it was a "very sad day for the state of Israel because evidently the prime minister is so corrupt that he is not only taking cash money in envelopes but he is ready to trade the Golan Heights and our most vital interests in an attempt to save himself from criminal investigation and indictment."

Alon Liel, former director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Chairman of the Israel-Syria Peace Society, was very supportive of the move.

Speaking in Jerusalem on Wednesday, he called it "a wonderful development."

"It's a statement that was published simultaneously in Jerusalem and in Damascus. It is short but very, very meaningful. It says that the sides are starting negotiations, official negotiations."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jerusalem – 24 July 2019

1. Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Executive Director seated

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

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

3. Cutaway

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

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

5. Cutaway

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

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

7. Cutaway

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

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

9. Cutaway

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

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

11. Cutaway

12. Omar Shakir, HRW director in Israel, Palestine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jerusalem - 17 February 2019

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

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

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

3. Cutaway

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

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

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

6. Close of Katz

the UK's Prince William's upcoming visit to Israel will be a "celebration of the strength" of the current relationship between the two countries, the UK ambassador to Israel said on Sunday.

Prince William is set to arrive in Israel and the Palestinian territories this week for the first official visit of a member of the British royal family, ending the monarchy's decades-long, mostly hands-off approach to one of the world's most sensitive regions.

In an interview with the Associated Press, David Quarrey said nothing has changed in British government policy regarding Jerusalem and emphasised the trip by the Duke of Cambridge "is not a political visit."

However, Israeli media reported that some of the terminology used in the itinerary of the Royal visit, describing Jerusalem as occupied territories angered Jerusalem Affairs Minister, Zeev Elkin.

Quarrey said the description of the Prince's visit "reflected decades of terminology used by British governments," adding that "absolutely nothing has changed" as far as the UK's policy regarding Jerusalem was concerned.

The Duke of Cambridge will be meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and visiting landmark Jerusalem sites at the heart of the century-old conflict.

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

Israel considers the city, home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims and the emotional epicentre of the conflict, as an inseparable part of its capital.

The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as a future capital.

The prince kicks off his Middle East four-day visit Sunday in Jordan, arriving in Jerusalem on Monday before travelling on to coastal Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the West Bank.

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Ramat Gan, central Israel - 24 June 2018

1. UK Ambassador to Israel, David Quarrey walking into room

2. SOUNDBITE (English) David Quarrey, UK Ambassador to Israel:

"It is a celebration of the strength of our contemporary relationship, between the UK and Israel. We've have never had such a strong relationship in terms of trade, investment, science and technology. We also work closely together against terrorism and other shared threats, so it's the right moment - we think - for a visit to really shine a light on that relationship and show how strong the contemporary relationship is between the two countries."

3. Close up of the ambassador's hands

4. Quarrey sitting in interview

5. SOUNDBITE (English) David Quarrey, UK Ambassador to Israel:

"The British government policy has been consistent regarding Jerusalem for years, for decades in fact, and absolutely nothing has changed regarding our policy, and the description for example of the Prince's visit reflected decades of terminology used by British governments. It is important to emphasise that the Duke is not a political figure, this is not a political visit."

6. Ambassador sitting during interview

7. SOUNDBITE (English) David Quarrey, UK Ambassador to Israel:

"We have a different view than the government of Israel does, that's clear. There are many, many things that we and the government of Israel agree on and there are many things that we work together on. There are some issues that we take a different view on and I think that's characteristic of a deep mature relationship as we have between the two countries."

8. Ambassador seated, at work

9. SOUNDBITE (English) David Quarrey, UK Ambassador to Israel:

"The Duke is very clear that he wants to come and get under the skin of the country, he wants to get a feel for Israel, he wants to get a flavour of the country, he doesn't just want to come and sit in meeting rooms and do what many visitors do. He actually wants to get out there and experience the place, including in particular meeting young people here."

10. Quarrey sitting and writing

11. SOUNDBITE (English) David Quarrey, UK Ambassador to Israel:

"I shall be watching the football match, we are going to have a two-hour pause this afternoon in our visit preparations to allow us all to be cheering on England against Panama and then we will be back to work this evening preparing for the visit, but I'm afraid there is no way, I mean the Duke is a massive football fan so I'm sure he will following it closely and there is no way the embassy won't be watching the football this afternoon."

12. Union Jack flying on top of the ambassador's residence

13. Wide of the entrance to the ambassador's residence

14. Flags of Israel and the UK in street

A court in Israel on Tuesday ruled that a woman wanted for up to 74 charges of sexual abuse of schoolgirls in Australia will not be held under house arrest.

Malka Liefer, a former Australian principal accused of child abuse, fled to Israel in 2008.

James McGarry, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian embassy in Jerusalem, said on Tuesday the Australian government had a "strong interest" in extraditing Liefer to stand trial in Australia.

Israel said last week that Leifer will not be extradited to Australia, citing her mental health.

Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at the Israel office of Jewish Community Watch, told The Associated Press the decision not to hold Liefer under house arrest is "very, very upsetting for her victims".

A court in Israel on Tuesday ruled that a woman wanted for up to 74 charges of sexual abuse of schoolgirls in Australia will not be held under house arrest.

Malka Liefer, a former Australian principal accused of child abuse, fled to Israel in 2008.

James McGarry, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian embassy in Jerusalem, said on Tuesday the Australian government had a "strong interest" in extraditing Liefer to stand trial in Australia.

Israel said last week that Leifer will not be extradited to Australia, citing her mental health.

Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at the Israel office of Jewish Community Watch, told The Associated Press the decision not to hold Liefer under house arrest is "very, very upsetting for her victims".

Jerusalem - 7 June 2016

1. The brother of Malka Leifer, a former Australian principal accused of child abuse who fled to Israel in 2008 (left on screen), and her lawyer Yehuda Fried (centre) sitting at table

2. Fried talking on mobile

3. Leifer's brother and Fried talking

4. Close of Leifer's brother

5. James McGarry, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy, standing outside courtroom

6. SOUNDBITE (English) James McGarry, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy:

"The Australian government retains a strong interest in the extradition of Miss (Malka) Liefer from Israel, she is facing 74 charges in Australia. Given that this matter is...we continue to work with the Israeli authorities to offer them any assistance they need to finalise the extradition matter, but given that this is something that's before the Israeli courts, it's not something that we can discuss any further."

7. Various of Fried and prosecutor inside courtroom

8. Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at Jewish Community Watch, entering courtroom

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at Jewish Community Watch, Israel office:

"We are understanding that the conclusion here regarding the house arrest is that it has been lifted. She is no longer going to be on house arrest, which is devastating. I mean it's very, very upsetting for her victims, there are some of them that I understand now live in Israel and for them to now have to live with, I mean, the fear of bumping into her is unbelievably upsetting. That they, on top of everything else, that now they have to deal with that is completely unfair."

10. Leifer's brother leaving courtroom talking, talking mobile

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at Jewish Community Watch, Israel office:

"If she is not well enough to be extradited then one would think that she would be in some kind of psychiatric care that's more contained, more consistent, having her see a psychiatrist once every five weeks - it doesn't exactly point to a serious psychiatric issue where one would think that wouldn't allow her to be extradited, so that's really I think a major question that everybody has here - is why are we seeing on the one hand that she's not well enough to be extradited to a country that we have an extradition treaty with, but then on the other hand she is not required to be in some kind of really constant psychiatric care. And it's very, very upsetting."

12. Aaronson listening to journalist

13. Exterior of court

The European Union on Wednesday approved guidelines for its member states to specially label products made in West Bank settlements, a move that has already been criticised by Israel as "disguised anti-Semitism."

The EU move, which came after months of procrastinating, underscores the bloc's unhappiness over Israel's continued expansion of settlements on territory that Palestinians seek for their future state.

The EU is now seeking to differentiate between its relations with Israel and with the settlements, fearing that a continued status quo would never push the Israeli government into changing its settlement policies.

The EU's Ambassador to Israel told reporters in Jerusalem on Wednesday that the move did not in any way support a boycott or sanctions against Israel.

Lars Faaborg-Andersen stressed that EU member states mainly wanted clarification on where the goods originated from, and whether they were produced in Jewish settlements or by Palestinians in areas beyond the internationally recognised borders of Israel.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 11 November 2015

1. Wide of EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen during news conference

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Faaborg-Andersen, EU Ambassador to Israel:

"Now the upshot of the notice as it pertains to goods coming from beyond the Green Line (Israel's frontier before the capture of the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war) in other words from the area... the Golan and the West Bank, which have been under Israeli administration since 1967, the relevance of the notice to that, which as I said before, is again a reflection of existing legislation and requirements is that products coming from beyond the Green line cannot be marketed in Europe as made in Israel. Because the EU does not recognise those areas beyond the Green line as part of Israel's internationally recognised borders. This is something that also happens to be the view of 99 percent of the international community. So the issue here is that those products are still very welcome on the European market, they just have to have the correct indication of origin on them. And the interpretative notice that was adopted by the (European) Commission proposes a number of different indications of origins that can be used, but it's basically up to the member states to decide which one would be the most appropriate. But drawing on some of the examples from countries, UK, Belgium, Denmark, that have already enacted this kind of procedure on a national basis, the notice suggests that one can, for example, use the phrase 'Produced in the West Bank - parentheses Israeli settlement' or it could be 'Produced in the West Bank - parentheses Palestinian product' for example. So it's important to understand that this is legislation that pertains both to products coming from Israeli settlements but also for products coming from the Palestinian areas of the West Bank, for example."

3. Wide of news conference

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Faaborg-Andersen, EU Ambassador to Israel:

"The European Union is against sanctions, against boycotting, against isolation of Israel. And therefore the measures that we have taken and which are again all based on existing legislation have absolutely nothing to do with that. If we wanted to boycott, let's just hypothetically assume that we wanted to boycott those products, we would have done the same as we have done in the case of Crimea, which after the Russian occupation of that area we have put a ban on products coming from Crimea."

5. Wide of journalist asking question

The head of the body which administers Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, on Tuesday objected to plans to install surveillance cameras at the shrine.

Abdel Azeem Salhab, the chairman of the Waqf Council which administers the walled Jerusalem shrine at the epicentre of Israel-Palestinian violence, said that Israel wants to install cameras there "for its own purposes and this will not happen".

Israeli and Jordanian officials said earlier that new surveillance cameras should be installed there within days, with the goal of streaming the footage live on the internet for maximum transparency.

The idea to install the cameras emerged during separate talks late last week between U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the three sides with a stake at the shrine: Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian self-rule government.

Kerry was looking for a way to lower tensions, but it's not clear if video cameras will achieve that.

The current round of violence began in mid-September, triggered in part by heated disputes over the Jerusalem shrine.

The compound is revered by both Muslims and Jews and a lightning rod for the clashing national narratives of Israelis and Palestinians.

Jordan, which controlled the site before Israel captured it in the 1967 Mideast war, serves as the custodian of the Muslim-administered site.

Under decades-old arrangements, Jews are allowed to visit, but not to pray at the shrine.

However, the number of Jewish visitors has doubled in the past five years, accompanied by statements from Jewish groups and several leading Israeli politicians demanding prayers at the site.

Such statements have fuelled Palestinian fears that Israel is trying to expand its presence at the shrine.

Israel adamantly denies such allegations, saying they amount to incitement to violence.

In mid-September, tensions started to soar, coinciding with an increase in the number of Jewish visitors during a period of Jewish holidays. Clashes erupted at the shrine between young Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli security forces.

The confrontations quickly spread. In all, 11 Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbings, while 52 Palestinians, including 30 said by Israel to be attackers, have been killed by Israeli fire.

Under the compromise brokered by Kerry, video cameras are to be installed inside the 37-acre (15-hectare) walled platform to help defuse tensions.

The details are to be worked out between officials from the site's administrator - the Islamic Trust, or Waqf - and Israeli authorities, said a senior Jordanian government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.

He said he expects the cameras to be installed in "days, not weeks."

He said both Muslim clerics and Israeli officials will for now monitor the images, but that "the ultimate goal is for the footage to be seen on the internet, by everyone."

Israeli officials confirmed the plan, and in a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it hopes to start the process "as soon as possible."

Israel has welcomed the plan, saying the cameras will prove it is doing nothing wrong and expose violent activities by Palestinian protesters.

The Palestinians have given the plan a cool reception, saying Israel will use the cameras to arrest people and complaining that deeper issues have been ignored.

The Palestinians say the violence is the result of years of Israeli military occupation and a lack of hope for gaining independence after years of failed peace efforts.

The head of the body which administers Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, on Tuesday objected to plans to install surveillance cameras at the shrine.

Abdel Azeem Salhab, the chairman of the Waqf Council which administers the walled Jerusalem shrine at the epicentre of Israel-Palestinian violence, said that Israel wants to install cameras there "for its own purposes and this will not happen".

Israeli and Jordanian officials said earlier that new surveillance cameras should be installed there within days, with the goal of streaming the footage live on the internet for maximum transparency.

The idea to install the cameras emerged during separate talks late last week between U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the three sides with a stake at the shrine: Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian self-rule government.

Kerry was looking for a way to lower tensions, but it's not clear if video cameras will achieve that.

The current round of violence began in mid-September, triggered in part by heated disputes over the Jerusalem shrine.

The compound is revered by both Muslims and Jews and a lightning rod for the clashing national narratives of Israelis and Palestinians.

Jordan, which controlled the site before Israel captured it in the 1967 Mideast war, serves as the custodian of the Muslim-administered site.

Under decades-old arrangements, Jews are allowed to visit, but not to pray at the shrine.

However, the number of Jewish visitors has doubled in the past five years, accompanied by statements from Jewish groups and several leading Israeli politicians demanding prayers at the site.

Such statements have fuelled Palestinian fears that Israel is trying to expand its presence at the shrine.

Israel adamantly denies such allegations, saying they amount to incitement to violence.

In mid-September, tensions started to soar, coinciding with an increase in the number of Jewish visitors during a period of Jewish holidays. Clashes erupted at the shrine between young Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli security forces.

The confrontations quickly spread. In all, 11 Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbings, while 52 Palestinians, including 30 said by Israel to be attackers, have been killed by Israeli fire.

Under the compromise brokered by Kerry, video cameras are to be installed inside the 37-acre (15-hectare) walled platform to help defuse tensions.

The details are to be worked out between officials from the site's administrator - the Islamic Trust, or Waqf - and Israeli authorities, said a senior Jordanian government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.

He said he expects the cameras to be installed in "days, not weeks."

He said both Muslim clerics and Israeli officials will for now monitor the images, but that "the ultimate goal is for the footage to be seen on the internet, by everyone."

Israeli officials confirmed the plan, and in a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it hopes to start the process "as soon as possible."

Israel has welcomed the plan, saying the cameras will prove it is doing nothing wrong and expose violent activities by Palestinian protesters.

The Palestinians have given the plan a cool reception, saying Israel will use the cameras to arrest people and complaining that deeper issues have been ignored.

The Palestinians say the violence is the result of years of Israeli military occupation and a lack of hope for gaining independence after years of failed peace efforts.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 27 October 2015

1. News conference with Abdel Azeem Salhab, Chairman of the Waqf Council (Islamic trust which administers the Al-Aqsa mosque site), and other officials

2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdel Azeem Salhab, Chairman of the Waqf Council:

"The actions of the occupation authorities show that they are continuing with their policies to judaise the Al-Aqsa mosque. And anything that will encroach on Al-Aqsa mosque and its sanctity and the freedom of the Muslims to pray in it, is absolutely unacceptable. Israel wants cameras for its own purposes and this will not happen."

3. End of news conference

4. Al-Aqsa compound

Thousands of evangelical Christians from more than 80 countries descended upon Jerusalem this week to show their support for the Jewish state, including pilgrims and politicians from countries with a history of hostility toward Israel.

The celebratory summit reflects evangelical Christianity's dramatic growth worldwide and gives a boost to Israel at a time when, some argue, the country is increasingly isolated internationally.

Attitudes in Israel toward evangelicals are evolving, from scepticism about Christian Zionist motives, to the realisation that Israel cannot survive on the support of diaspora Jewish communities alone and is in no position to turn down the potential political and tourism boost the Christians can provide.

Evangelical Christianity is one of the world's fastest growing religious movements. Of the world's estimated two billion Christians, some 700 million are evangelicals, according to the pro-Israel International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, which organized the Jerusalem summit.

Evangelical movements are expanding most prominently in Latin America, Africa and Asia - regions that "hold great potential for the nation of Israel in political, diplomatic and economic terms," according to a position paper the group presented last year to Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Evangelicals at the summit boasted of their success at lobbying on Israel's behalf in the halls of parliaments around the world.

There are currently 32 pro-Israeli caucuses in parliaments worldwide, according to the Israel Allies Foundation, a Jewish-Christian pro-Israel political group that brought two dozen lawmakers from 18 countries to Jerusalem this week to meet with Israeli lawmakers and officials.

The annual weeklong summit is billed as the Feast of Tabernacles, the Christian term for the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which in biblical times was marked by a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Thousands of evangelical Christians from more than 80 countries descended upon Jerusalem this week to show their support for the Jewish state, including pilgrims and politicians from countries with a history of hostility toward Israel.

The celebratory summit reflects evangelical Christianity's dramatic growth worldwide and gives a boost to Israel at a time when, some argue, the country is increasingly isolated internationally.

Attitudes in Israel toward evangelicals are evolving, from scepticism about Christian Zionist motives, to the realisation that Israel cannot survive on the support of diaspora Jewish communities alone and is in no position to turn down the potential political and tourism boost the Christians can provide.

Evangelical Christianity is one of the world's fastest growing religious movements. Of the world's estimated two billion Christians, some 700 million are evangelicals, according to the pro-Israel International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, which organized the Jerusalem summit.

Evangelical movements are expanding most prominently in Latin America, Africa and Asia - regions that "hold great potential for the nation of Israel in political, diplomatic and economic terms," according to a position paper the group presented last year to Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Evangelicals at the summit boasted of their success at lobbying on Israel's behalf in the halls of parliaments around the world.

There are currently 32 pro-Israeli caucuses in parliaments worldwide, according to the Israel Allies Foundation, a Jewish-Christian pro-Israel political group that brought two dozen lawmakers from 18 countries to Jerusalem this week to meet with Israeli lawmakers and officials.

The annual weeklong summit is billed as the Feast of Tabernacles, the Christian term for the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which in biblical times was marked by a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 1 October 2015

1. Man playing Jewish trumped called "shofar"

2. Banner reading (English): "Israel you are not alone"

3. Man holding South Korean flag cheering

4. Various evangelical Christians dressed up in colourful regional costumes banging drums and performing

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 29 September 2015

5. Pan to the right of evangelical Christians gathered at stadium, many waving Israeli flags

6. Evangelical Christians cheering Israeli president Reuven Rivlin as he takes to the stage

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Reuven Rivlin, President of Israel:

"Thank you for standing with us, thank you for standing with us."

8. Couple sitting, the man wrapped in Israeli flag

9. Medium of man with Israeli and Finnish flags

10. Set up of Jerusalem's International Christian Embassy Director Jurgen Buhler talking to guests

11. SOUNDBITE (English): Jurgen Buhler, Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem:

"Those millions of Christians, they have a passion and a love for the Jewish people. They also do see something very interesting: it's that the ancient prophecies of the Bible, which some of them are 2,500, 3,000-years-old which speak about the time that the Jewish people will be exiled around the world, but one day they will come back to their land. So they read the scriptures, they see what is taking place today in Israel. They say: 'Wow, this is amazing; we see biblical prophecy being fulfilled in front of our eyes. So they want to get involved. They support Israel, they stand (by) Israel, and what we've seen over recent decades (is) that they even became a significant force within even parliaments around the world."

12. Buhler talking to guest

13. SOUNDBITE (English): Jurgen Buhler, Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem:

"To see today, we have around 40, I believe even 50 members of parliament from more than 25 nations which have come to the Feast of Tabernacles. They are meeting with lawmakers here in Israel; they are gathering together as a group, strategising what they can do. For example, some of the European parliamentarians, they are looking at what they can do to challenge the boycott law which is being prepared right now in the European Union, which some of them feel that this is a flashback to what was happening 70 years ago, when people were told not to buy Jewish goods anymore. So they are talking together (about) what they can do in order to challenge those laws. So this is a very practical step."

14. Wide of South African lawmaker Kenneth Meshoe with other guests

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Kenneth Meshoe, South African lawmaker and head of the African Christian Democratic Party:

"Whenever there was a clash between the Palestinians and Israel, everybody would condemn Israel and forget that Israel is never the aggressor. But Israel always responds and when Israel responds, many do not want to look at who caused the trouble, but they would just condemn Israel and they would say that the action is disproportional. But when aggression is started by the other group, they would be quiet. And that is very wrong."

16. Woman dancing in front of stage area as band is playing

Israel's Prime Minister says the country is not indifferent to the plight of migrants and refugees flooding Europe but that Israel is too vulnerable to absorb them.

Benjamin Netanyahu bemoaned the "human tragedy" created by Syria's civil war and said Israel has aided them in various ways.

But he added that Israel was too small a country, both geographically and demographically, to provide a haven for a large influx of migrants.

Israel runs a field hospital on its border with Syria and has taken in wounded Syrians, but has stopped short of opening the borders to its long time enemy.

Israel's Prime Minister says the country is not indifferent to the plight of migrants and refugees flooding Europe but that Israel is too vulnerable to absorb them.

Benjamin Netanyahu bemoaned the "human tragedy" created by Syria's civil war and said Israel has aided them in various ways.

But he added that Israel was too small a country, both geographically and demographically, to provide a haven for a large influx of migrants.

Israel runs a field hospital on its border with Syria and has taken in wounded Syrians, but has stopped short of opening the borders to its long time enemy.

Israel's Prime Minister says the country is not indifferent to the plight of migrants and refugees flooding Europe but that Israel is too vulnerable to absorb them.

Benjamin Netanyahu bemoaned the "human tragedy" created by Syria's civil war and said Israel has aided them in various ways.

But he added that Israel was too small a country, both geographically and demographically, to provide a haven for a large influx of migrants.

Israel runs a field hospital on its border with Syria and has taken in wounded Syrians, but has stopped short of opening the borders to its long time enemy.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 6 September 2015

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving at cabinet meeting

2. Various of Netanyahu and ministers at cabinet meeting

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

"Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of the refugees from Syria and Africa. We handled with care of some 1,000 wounded from the fights in Syria and helped them to rebuild their lives. We are talking with African heads of state, and recently with Italy's Prime Minister (Matteo Renzi), and also with other European leaders about agricultural, economic and security, multinational aid packages to take care of the problem in the making. However, Israel is too small a country, very small, both geographically and demographically, therefore we need to control our borders against illegal migrants and terror."

4. Cutaway of cabinet meeting

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus034669

Israel's prime minister says his country is not bound by the international nuclear agreement with Iran, and that Israel reserves the right to defend itself.

Benjamin Netanyahu says the world is now a "much more dangerous place" and criticized Tuesday's agreement as a "stunning historic mistake."

Speaking in English to reporters in Jerusalem, he said that by removing sanctions, the deal will give Iran billions of dollars to support what he calls a worldwide terrorism network.

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus034669

Israel's prime minister says his country is not bound by the international nuclear agreement with Iran, and that Israel reserves the right to defend itself.

Benjamin Netanyahu says the world is now a "much more dangerous place" and criticized Tuesday's agreement as a "stunning historic mistake."

Speaking in English to reporters in Jerusalem, he said that by removing sanctions, the deal will give Iran billions of dollars to support what he calls a worldwide terrorism network.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 14 July, 2015

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

"The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday. The leading international powers have bet our collective future on a deal with a foremost sponsor of international terrorism. They've gambled that in ten years time Iran's terrorist regime will change while removing any incentive for it to do so. In fact, the deal gives Iran every incentive not to change."

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

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

"This bad deal does not require Iran to cease its aggressive behavior in any way. And just last Friday that aggression was on display for all to see. While the negotiators were closing the deal in Vienna, Iran's supposedly moderate president chose to go to a rally in Tehran. And, at this rally, a frenzied mob burned American and Israeli flags and chanted 'death of America, death to Israel.'

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

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

"By not dismantling Iran's nuclear program, in a decade this deal will give an unreformed, unrepentant and far richer terrorist regime the capacity to produce many nuclear bombs. In fact, an entire nuclear arsenal with the means to deliver it. What a stunning, historic, mistake."

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

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

"And Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran because Iran continues to seek our destruction. We will always defend ourselves. Thank you."

Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs has warned the West to not heed the more moderate rhetoric of Iranian president Hasan Rouhani whilst Iran "continues its approach toward nuclear weapons."

"If nothing serious will be done Rouhani will continue to smile, will continue to appease, and he will smile all the way to the bomb," Yuval Steinitz said on Sunday.

On Monday Rouhani was en route to New York after urging the West to heed his appeals for greater dialogue and denouncing economic sanctions as a dead-end strategy.

He says he hopes to use this week's annual U.N. General Assembly gathering to win Western promises to restart stalled talks over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Rouhani is urging the U.S. and allies to ease sanctions to move ahead the negotiations.

Iran claims its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

But critics in Israel and the West dismiss such explanations. They point to Iran's refusals to cooperate with U.N. nuclear inspectors, its covert enrichment activities and lack of progress in years of Western on-and-off negotiations with the Iranians.

"The most important thing that is going to influence our future, the future of Israel and the Middle East, the future of Europe, the future of America and the rest of the world, is the attempt of the ayatollahs, the attempt of Iran, to cheat the world," said Steinitz.

Israel has long claimed a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a grave threat to world peace and security.

Israel views a nuclear-armed Iran a threat to its very existence, noting calls by Iranian leaders for destruction of the Jewish state and Tehran's support of Israel's bitterest enemies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

AP TELEVISION NEWS

1. Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs in his office

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs:

"Since the last election, the Iranians implemented several thousand new centrifuges, including more advanced second generation centrifuges. So on the one hand, Iran is trying to appease the world with Rouhani's moderate rhetoric. And on the other hand, Iran continues its approach toward nuclear weapons, and if nothing serious will be done Rouhani will continue to smile, will continue to appease, and he will smile all the way to the bomb."

3. Close of Steinitz hands

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs:

"It was not Israel that changed its assessment. It was the Iranians that changed their behaviour following the depiction, the presentation of the red line by Benjamin Netanyahu. Instead of enriching more uranium to the 20 percent level, and crossing the red line, they did other things, they enriched more and more material to five percent, they implemented a new generation of new centrifuges, so actually they didn't cross the red line, but they bypassed the red line in a sense."

5. Close of Steinitz hands ++REPEAT OF SHOT 3++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs:

"The most important thing that is going to influence our future, the future of Israel and the Middle East, the future of Europe, the future of America and the rest of the world, is the attempt of the Ayatollahs, the attempt of Iran, to cheat the world, to smile to the world by Rouhani and meanwhile to develop a fissile material with centrifuges and to develop nuclear weapons."

7. Cutaway

SHOTLIST

1. Zoom out exterior of prime minister's office

2. Various of Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni arriving at meeting

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Shimon Peres, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister:

"Israel does not intend to intervene in Gaza. Let's the Gazans decide their own destiny, their own situation. Any attempt by Israel to intervene there will put Israel in an impossible situation. I do hope they'll find the proper solution, but only they can do it, nobody else can do it instead of them, or should do it instead of them."

4. Israeli Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arriving at meeting

5. Wide of meeting

7. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Ehud Olmert, Israeli Prime Minister:

"Israel is following the events in Gaza Strip and hopes that the violence in the Gaza Strip between the Palestinians will end, and the violence and terror against the state of Israel will stop completely."

Mid of Israeli ministers sitting at meeting

8. Various of cabinet meeting

STORYLINE

Israel "does not intend to intervene" in the power struggle between Palestinian factions, the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister said on Sunday.

"Any attempt by Israel to intervene there will put Israel in an impossible situation," Shimon Peres said ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting.

"I do hope they'll find the proper solution, but only they can do it, nobody else can do it instead of them, or should do it instead of them," he added.

Peres' comments were echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who also warned the Palestinian internal dispute may reflect on Israel's security.

"Israel is following the events in Gaza Strip and hopes that the violence in the Gaza Strip between the Palestinians will end, and the violence and terror against the state of Israel will stop completely," Olmert said during the cabinet meeting.

The Israeli daily Haaretz on Sunday said the military and the Shin Bet intelligence agency were concerned that Hamas' accusations that Israel is backing Fatah could provoke new attempts to carry out suicide bombings or other attacks on Israel.

Hamas and Fatah gunmen fought sporadic battles in Gaza City's beach front neighbourhoods and around security compounds early on Sunday, ignoring renewed truce appeals and Arab mediation efforts.

One man was killed and 13 people wounded in the violence which continued as leaders from both sides prepared to head to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at ending the bloody power struggle.

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in internal violence since Hamas, which rejects Israel's right to exist, won parliamentary elections a year ago and wrested power from Fatah, which advocates peacemaking with the Jewish state.

Also on Sunday, Israel has declined to comment on reports of three Israelis suspected of spying for Israel in Egypt.

Egypt's state security prosecutor on Saturday charged a 26-year-old Egyptian and three Israelis with allegedly spying for Israel and harming national interests, a security official said.

The cabinet was also to approve the appointment of new Israeli chief of staff Gaby Ashkenazi.

Ashkenazy will replace Dan Halutz, who recently resigned his post after months of criticism on the war in Lebanon over the summer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jerusalem - 12 August 2018

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving for cabinet meeting

2. Pan left from Netanyahu over cabinet ministers during meeting

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

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

4. Cutaway of cabinet meeting

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

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

6. Mid of meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The crowd chanted "equality, equality."

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

But recent meetings did not go well.

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

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

Tel Aviv - August 4 2018

++NIGHT SHOTS++

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

++DAY SHOTS++

2. Demonstrators

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

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

4. Mid of demonstration

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

6. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Nadia Halabi, protester:

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

7. Mid of demonstration

Israel and Iran are on a collision course but it remains to be seen whether the recent confrontation between the countries will spiral into a more protracted battle, an Israeli Middle East expert said on Thursday.

Efraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies, said Israel and Iran have conflicting aims in Syria, meaning they are bound to continue to clash.

"The Iranians want to establish a military presence that is threatening Israel, while Israel at the same time is trying to prevent - with the use of force - the establishment of such a presence," Inbar said.

The Israeli military on Thursday said it attacked nearly all of Iran's military installations in neighbouring Syria in response to an Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the occupied Golan Heights.

It is the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date.

But it's unclear what the Iranian response to Israel's retaliation will be.

Inbar said US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear deal has weakened Iran and has strengthened Israel's power of deterrence.

Iran's ability to hit back further could be limited.

Its resources in Syria pale in comparison to the high-tech Israeli military and it could also be wary of military entanglement at a time when it is trying to salvage the international nuclear deal.

Iran has sent thousands of troops to back Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Israel fears that as the fighting nears an end, Iran and tens of thousands of Shiite militiamen will turn their focus to Israel.

Jerusalem - 10 May 2018

1. Efraim Inbar, President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS) think tank

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Efraim Inbar, President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies:

"Definitely there is a course of collision between Israel and Iran, particularly since the two sides are determined to continue and attain their goals. The Iranians want to establish a military presence that is threatening Israel, while Israel at the same time is trying to prevent - with the use of force - the establishment of such a presence."

3. Cutaway to JISS website

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Efraim Inbar, President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies:

"The Iranians will have to decide what they want to do in Syria. It is clear that Israel is determined to prevent an additional missile arsenal being accumulated in Syria, and it seems also that the Russians are actually allowing Israel a free hand. Under those circumstances it remains to be seen what kind of response we'll see from the Iranians."

5. Cutaway to screen

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Efraim Inbar, President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies:

"After (US) President Trump removed the American participation in the JCPOA, the (Iran) nuclear deal, the Iranian hand is weaker. They are afraid, maybe, of an American intervention. In any case, following Trump's decision, Israel's deterrence seems to be enhanced."

7. End shot of Inbar

LEADIN:

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

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

STORYLINE:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tel Aviv, Israel - 27 February 2017

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

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

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

3. Cutaway USB stick with Peace sign attached to it

4. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Shahin Najafi, Iranian singer

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

5. Geffen and Najafi performing 'Good Morning Iran'

6. Pull out of drummer

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Aviv Geffen, Israeli singer

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

8. Geffen and Najafi performing 'Good Morning Iran'

9. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Shahin Najafi, Iranian singer

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

10. Close of tattoo on hand of Najafi

11. Aviv Geffen singing 'The Hope Song'

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

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the reconciliation process between Israel and Turkey would continue in spite of the attempted military coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Israel and Turkey recently struck a broad reconciliation pact to restore diplomatic relations after six years of animosity between the once-close Mideast powers.

The rift followed a deadly Israeli naval raid to stop an activist flotilla aiming to breach the Gaza blockade.

Speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu also condemned what he called the "horrifying attack in Nice".

The prime minister added that like Israel, the Palestinian Authority has offered its condolences to France, but accused it of still encouraging attacks against Israelis.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the reconciliation process between Israel and Turkey would continue in spite of the attempted military coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Israel and Turkey recently struck a broad reconciliation pact to restore diplomatic relations after six years of animosity between the once-close Mideast powers.

The rift followed a deadly Israeli naval raid to stop an activist flotilla aiming to breach the Gaza blockade.

Speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu also condemned what he called the "horrifying attack in Nice".

The prime minister added that like Israel, the Palestinian Authority has offered its condolences to France, but accused it of still encouraging attacks against Israelis.

Jerusalem - 17 July 2016

1. Various of Israeli cabinet meeting

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

"Israel and Turkey recently agreed on a reconciliation process. We believe that this process will continue, regardless of the dramatic events in Turkey this weekend."

3. Meeting

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

"The horrifying attack in Nice emphasises again the need for a unified and strong approach against the murderous terrorism that's targeting the whole world. On behalf of the government and the people of Israel, I've sent our condolences and wishes to the wounded through France's President Francois Hollande. The Palestinian Authority has also sent their condemnation, their condolences but with one difference: here not only do they not condemn ramming attacks, they encourage, they glorify the murderous attackers, they fund them and their families in case the attacker dies. Terror is terror whether it is in France or in Israel."

5. Meeting

SHOTLIST:

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

AP Entertainment

Jerusalem - 22 June 2016

1. Actress Helen Mirren posing for photographs

2. Wide of Mirren and host on stage

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen Mirren, actress - on what ties her to Israel

"It definitely came from that first visit (to Israel) in '67. It was extraordinary, I learned the meaning of the word 'sabra' (prickly pear): very prickly on the outside but soft and sweet on the inside. And the Israelis of the '60s were very like that."

Host: "You came with a boyfriend"

Mirren: "I came with a boyfriend, yes. And then being in 'The Debt' and that being an Israeli film, and actually we shot some of that in Israel, it's just a lucky, I have to say, just lucky for me, accident in my life that I've had this privilege."

4. Wide shot Mirren and host on stage

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen Mirren, actress - on spending time at a kibbutz:

"We were given a huge plastic comb, you know? And you literally have to go and comb the the grapes with your big, plastic comb. You know, why? Well, of course it's very sensible: what you're doing is taking off some of the grapes so the other ones can grow big, they were for dessert grapes, not for wine, so they wanted big, juicy, a few big." (she is interrupted by the host).

Host: "I think they were pulling your legs."

Mirren: "Yes, maybe they were; yes, maybe I was being teased. But anyway, I spent a day there and then for various reasons I was sent to the kitchens (laughs) and there I was set on washing up all the pots and pans."

6. Cutaway press

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen Mirren, actress - on the referendum of U.K. voters over membership of the E.U.:

"I would say that I vote to stay, absolutely."

8. Cutaway press

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen Mirren, actress - on calls for campaign of boycotts and sanctions of Israel:

"I think that art is an incredibly important way of communication. And I mean I understood the - I can't think of the right word right now, what is it? Guardian writer, you know the word; when an artist is not allowed to go somewhere, the boycott, thank you! The boycott of South Africa; as a member of British Equity (the trade union of actors) I would obey my union's requirements there. But I do believe, because artists in any country you're really, you're punishing the artists in the country and the artists in the country are the people you need to communicate with."

10. Wide of Mirren and host on stage and audience clapping

11. Medium of Mirren shaking hand with journalist

12. Close of Mirren walking away while talking to journalists

STORYLINE

HELEN MIRREN DISCUSSES HER LINKS TO ISRAEL AHEAD OF HOSTING THE GENESIS PRIZE

Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren said Wednesday she was a "believer" in Israel and rejected efforts to boycott it.

Mirren showered Israeli artists with praise and said she opposed both the efforts by pro-Palestinian groups to boycott them and the decision of some international artists to shun Israel.

"I think that art is an incredibly important way of communication," she said at a press event in Jerusalem. "The artists of the country are the people you need to communicate with and make a relationship with and learn from and build upon."

Mirren is in Israel to host the Genesis Prize, an award known as "the Jewish Nobel." The $1 million prize is being awarded to Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman for his accomplishments as a musician, teacher and advocate for the disabled.

Mirren, who is not Jewish, has visited Israel several times, and has been a vocal critic of pro-Palestinian activists who have called for a cultural boycott of Israel. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, known as BDS, has enlisted the support of Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters and has persuaded Elvis Costello, Lauren Hill and other performers to call off concerts in Israel.

Mirren, 70, is one of the few actors to have won the so-called Triple Crown - collecting an Oscar, Tony and four Emmy awards over the years. She received her Academy Award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the 2006 film "The Queen."

She played the role of a former Mossad agent in "The Debt," a remake of an Israeli film of the same name. And in "Woman in Gold," she played an elderly Jewish refugee who fought the Austrian government for a decade to reclaim an iconic Gustav Klimt painting stolen from her family by the Nazis.

She said her strong connection to Israel dates back to 1967, when she volunteered on a kibbutz, or collective farm, with her Jewish boyfriend at the time. She fondly recalled picking grapes and doing kitchen duty.

"It was extraordinary, I learned the meaning of the word 'sabra' (prickly pear): very prickly on the outside but soft and sweet on the inside. And the Israelis of the '60s were very like that," she said.

"And then being in 'The Debt' and that being an Israeli film, and actually we shot some of that in Israel, it's just a lucky, I have to say, just lucky for me, accident in my life that I've had this privilege."

Mirren shied away from more political questions, but she said she had already voted by proxy in favor of Britain remaining in the European Union. She will be in Israel when the Brexit vote is held on Thursday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present Perlman the award at Thursday night's ceremony in Jerusalem.

The prize was inaugurated in 2014 and is run in a partnership between the Israeli prime minister's office, the private Genesis Prize Foundation and the Jewish Agency, a nonprofit group with ties to the Israeli government. It is funded by a $100 million endowment set up by the foundation.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the recipient of the first prize, and actor Michael Douglas was last year's winner.

Comedian Jay Leno hosted the first two ceremonies.