Politics - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Politics

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After Jordan, Emirates also furious with Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not only managed to get into a diplomatic row with Jordan, he also succeeded in angering the Emiratis.

A cameraman arrives at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),prior to a press conference at the agency's headquarters in Vienna on March 4, 2021. - European nations will not go ahead with a planned resolution criticising Iran at this week's meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, diplomatic sources said on March 4, 2021. (Photo by ALEX HALADA / AFP) (Photo by ALEX HALADA/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran operating new advanced centrifuges, nuclear watchdog finds

According to an International Atomic Energy Agency report, Iran is now using IR-4 centrifuges to enrich uranium in violation of the nuclear accord.

Turkish member of Parliament for the left wing political party Peoples' Democratic Party Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu (C) reacts as he is surrounded by MPs applauding and brandishing placards after he was dismissed following a vote at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, on March 17, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Lawsuit filed to close pro-Kurdish party after lawmaker stripped of parliamentary seat

Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party deputy known to focus on human rights abuses, was stripped of his parliament seat and a lawsuit was filed to close the party March 17.

Netanyahu courts Arab voters as 'Abu Yair'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has adopted a new strategy for the Arab public: cynically rebranding himself as "Abu Yair."

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Iran’s supreme leader authorized infowar campaign during US election

Rights group criticizes Jordan over debt imprisonment

Jordanian detainees look on through the window of a rehabilitation centre in Zarqa, 30 kilometres east of Amman, on July 11, 2018. (Photo by Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP) (Photo credit should read KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP via Getty Images)

Lapid’s discrete campaign for premiership gains momentum

A man walks past election billboards of the Israeli Likud party (R to L) showing the face of Prime Minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu with the tagline "leader", and another showing Netanyahu with political opponent Yair Lapid with text in Hebrew reading "the next prime minister: Lapid or Netanyahu", in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on March 15, 2021, ahead of the election due later in the month. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP) (Photo by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)

COVID accelerates evolution of Gulf economies

Saudi female employees work at the customers service desk at a hypermarket, newly launched by the operator LuLu and run by a team of women, in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah, on February 21, 2021. (Photo by Amer HILABI / AFP) (Photo by AMER HILABI/AFP via Getty Images)

People display Turkish and Azerbaijan flags on their scooters as they take a tour in the city in solidarity with Azerbaijan called by Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), in Istanbul on October 5, 2020. - Turkey on October 4, 2020 condemned what it said were attacks on civilians by Armenian forces on the Azerbaijani city of Ganja in the conflict over disputed breakaway region Nagorno-Karabakh. The fighting over Karabakh, which broke out into renewed fighting seven days ago, intensified as Armenian

Erdogan dealt strong hand against Putin in Azerbaijan-Armenia war

Turkey is taking advantage of Russian dilemmas to claim a role in the Caucasus by backing for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia.

TOPSHOT - People hold signs reading "Stop executions in Egypt" in front of the Egyptian consulate in Istanbul on march 2, 2019 during a demonstration against death penalties in Egypt after the recent execution of nine men. - Egypt on February 20 hanged nine men for the 2015 assassination of prosecutor general Hisham Barakat following jihadist calls for attacks on the judiciary to avenge the government's crackdown on Islamists. Turkish President sharply criticised his Egyptian counterpart and called for the

Execution of 15 rekindles human rights debate in Egypt

Cairo has executed another 15 political detainees whose families are accusing the state of torture and refusing to hand over the bodies.

Israeli TV personalities Eliraz Sade (R) and Nathan Bashevkin (L) take part in the �Live billboard' event at the marina in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, on September 28, 2010. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli environmentalists, skippers battle over new marina plan

A controversial plan promoted by local municipalities in Israel foresees the construction of six new marinas and the expansion of existing ones.

This picture shows a general view of Kuwait's Parliament meeting during which Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was sworn in as the country's new Emir, in Kuwait City on September 30, 2020. - Kuwait today swore in its new emir, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, after the death of his half-brother, Sheikh Sabah, who died in the US at the age of 91. (Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat / AFP) (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Kuwaiti emir names new crown prince

Sheikh Mishaal al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah was previously deputy head of Kuwait's National Guard and is now next in line to become emir.

Turkish peasant women sow poppy seeds for opium in Turkey, 10/16/1974.(Photo by Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

British archaeology falls prey to Turkey's nationalist drive

The decision to seize seed collections from the British Institute at Ankara are linked to the Turkish president's wider Islamo-nationalist campaign.

Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers(C) of the National Security Division, FBI Director Christopher Wray(2ndR),US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia G. Zachary Terwilliger(L) and Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office James A. Dawson(R) host a press conference on a national security matter at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on October 7, 2020. - Two members of an Islamic State cell dubbed the "Beatles" accused of killing several Western hostages a

Islamic State 'Beatles' charged with hostage-taking of Americans

The charges against El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey include hostage-taking resulting in death and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Iranian flags flutter during an inauguration ceremony for new equipment and infrastructure on February 25, 2019 at the Shahid Beheshti Port in the southeastern Iranian coastal city of Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman. - With the web of US sanctions tightening, Iran faces a host of challenges as it looks to an isolated port in the country's far southeast to maintain the flow of goods. The port in Chabahar, only about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Pakistan border and located on the Indian Ocean, is Iran's

India works to boost influence in Iran as Beijing-Tehran ties warm

India is seeking to remain involved in the development projects at Iran's ports, especially since Chabahar Port helps India gain access to an important geopolitical region.

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises behind houses after shelling in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region's main city of Stepanakert on October 7, 2020, during the ongoing fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran protests spillover shelling from Armenia-Azerbaijan war

Shells and rockets from the conflict from Nagorno-Karabakh region have reportedly landed in northwestern Iran, which does not back either side.

A picture taken on September 24, 2020 shows a partial view of the Brega oil port some 270kms west of Libya's eastern city of Benghazi. - Libyas state oil firm lifted force majeure on what it deemed secure oil ports and facilities on September 20, a day after strongman Khalifa Haftar said he was lifting a blockade on oilfields and ports. The blockade, which has resulted in more than $9.8 billion in lost revenue according to the state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC), has exacerbated electricity and fuel sh

Libyan Central Bank warns of financial collapse if oil production not restored

Libya has lost $180 billion in oil revenues since 2013, according to the Tripoli-based central bank.

Corruption continues to threaten Iraq’s stability

Despite the prime minister's efforts, corruption remains a big driver of Iraq’s instability.

Palestinian demonstrators are separated by Israeli police barriers from Israelis celebrating Jerusalem Day, that marks the anniversary of the "reunification" of the holy city after Israel captured the Arab eastern sector from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War, outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's old city on June 5, 2016.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community. / AFP / AHMAD GHARABLI (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHA

Ex-Shin Bet analysts recruited to fight coronavirus within Israeli-Arab society

It is difficult to understand why the Israeli authorities are recruiting ex-Shin Bet analysts to participate in an information campaign planned to combat the coronavirus in the Israeli-Arab community.

TOPSHOT - This picture shows the courtroom and soundproof glass dock (bottom) during the trial of 700 defendants including Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, in the capital Cairo, on September 8, 2018. - Shawkan, who earlier this year received UNESCO's World Freedom Prize, was on September 8 handed a five-year jail sentence in a trial including over 700 other defendants over charges of killing police and vandalising property during the clashes, some of which were also handed

Reporter's arrest, abrupt release chills journalists in Egypt

A journalist who had gone to Luxor to cover the recent unrest there was arrested on charges that included the spreading of fake news and belonging to a terrorist group.