US-Israel Relations

Dozens of progressive policy groups and human rights organisations came together on Tuesday to call on the US Congress to pass a bill that would require the administration of President Joe Biden to investigate the killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid says Tel Aviv’s relations with the US have deteriorated so much under the leadership of his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that Washington is “no longer our closest ally".

US President Joe Biden on Monday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington for an official visit at a date to be determined, the Israeli prime minister's office announced

Three more US lawmakers have announced their intentions to boycott Israeli President Isaac Herzog's address to a joint session of Congress next week. It comes after Congresswoman Ilhan Omar announced there would be "no way in hell" she would be in attendance.

A hardline Israeli minister has hit out at US President Joe Biden for his recent remarks calling Israel's current government the "most extreme" he's seen in its history, stressing that Israel is "no longer a star" on the American flag.

US President Joe Biden says Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government has some “of the most extreme” cabinet members he’s ever seen in Israel, saying ministers who back settling “anywhere they want” in the West Bank are “part of the problem” in the conflict.

A US congresswoman has renewed a push to ensure that Washington’s aid to Israel does not contribute to abuses of Palestinians, particularly children. It comes as progressive legislators continue to call for conditions to be placed on the assistance.

A new poll shows that more than 40 percent of Democrats in the US with an opinion on Israel view it as a state “with segregation similar to apartheid”, and a similar percentage of Democrats support the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

A group of US lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden to undertake a foundational “shift” in its dealings with Israel and ensure that American taxpayers’ money will not be allocated to Israeli settlements.

Israel has reportedly lodged protests and sought “clarifications” from the White House, after the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told American lawmakers that Washington would never allow Tehran to have a “fielded” nuclear weapon, fearing his language indicated a shift in US policy.

The US has summoned the Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Herzog after Tel Aviv repealed a 2005 law barring settlements in the occupied northern West Bank.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has arrived in Israel during a surge in demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plans with thousands of people calling for a “day of resistance to dictatorship.”

Senior officials in US President Joe Biden's administration have offered the Israeli government a package deal to cooperate with the US if they wanted to move ahead with issues such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has criticized Israeli policies, including settlement expansion and home demolitions, as detrimental to the two-state solution. Still, at a news conference at the end of his trip to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, he reasserted Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to Israel.

The US and Israel launched their largest joint military exercise ever on Monday, sending what they call a clear signal to Iran. Tehran has repeatedly warned that any mistake by the US and Israel will be met with a crushing response.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Israel at the end of the month to get a better understanding of the new government's agenda. Prior to Blinken's visit, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is expected to arrive in Israel on January 19.

The Israeli army says it has decided to ground 11 of its F-35A fighter jets, following an incident in Texas last week that saw a US Air Force F-35B Lightning II crash during an attempted landing.

Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has stated that both Democrats and Republicans in the United States have always supported the Israeli regime’s crimes and killing of Palestinians.

The White House is said to have rejected a request by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid for an emergency phone call with US President Joe Biden regarding the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in an apparent last-minute push by Tel Aviv to derail the talks on a revival of the multilateral agreement.

The administration of US President Joe Biden wants Israel to review its “rules of engagement” during military operations in the occupied West Bank after the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Israeli and US sources briefed on the call told Axios.

The leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has lashed out at Washington’s efforts to normalize ties between Israel and Arab countries. Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi stated US President Joe Biden demonstrated his loyalty to Zionists during a recent visit to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Former Iranian foreign minister and Chairman of Iran’s Strategic Council of Foreign Relations Kamal Kharrazi says Tehran has the capacities to develop nuclear weapons but it does not intend to do so.

An Iranian expert on international and geopolitical affairs says US President Joe Biden’s trip to occupied Palestine and Saudi Arabia was an abject failure. Abdolreza Faraji Rad told Jamaran news outlet that Israel’s intelligence agencies have confirmed that Biden made no gains during his trips to the kingdom and to Israel.

A top Iranian political analyst has downplayed US President Joe Biden’s tour of the Middle East in a wider context of developments in the world, saying the trip on its own cannot change the deep-seated policies in the region and beyond.

The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Interests Section in Egypt says the trip to the West Asia region by US President Joe Biden is aimed at ensuring the security of the Israeli regime.