No deal with Hamas before captives returned: Israeli PM

In Israel visit, Philippines' Duterte dogged by past rhetoric

When Rodrigo Duterte makes the first visit to Israel by a president of the Philippines next week, officials on both sides will try to play down his record of jarring invective while promoting commercial and military ties.Israel sees the four-day tour by Duterte and his top ministers as a chance to thank Manila for taking in Jews during the Holocaust and backing the Israeli independence campaign that followed.Tourism, labour and defence deals are also on the agenda, cementing relationships between the Asian power and booming Israel, both historical U.S. allies.Yet Israel's Government Press Office has said most of the visit will be closed to the media, an apparent precaution against faux pas by a president whose two-fisted crime-fighting tactics and rhetoric have raised hackles at home and abroad.Israeli gov’t minister calls for ‘liquidation’ of HamasSome Israeli pundits have recoiled at his planned attendance at Holocaust commemorations.In 2016, in a bungled reference to an opponent’s remark that his rise could be like that of Adolf Hitler, Duterte said he himself would be “happy to slaughter” drug addicts on the scale of the Nazi leader's Jewish genocide.While Duterte apologised for that, he has been dogged by accusations from activists that thousands of killings in his ongoing war on drugs were executions, which he rejects, and is rebuked by women’s groups for remarks that make light of rape.In June, Duterte called God “stupid” and has lashed out repeatedly at the Catholic church, deeming it hypocritical. His visit will include sight-seeing in Jerusalem's walled Old City, which houses major Christian, Jewish and Muslim shrines.Israel troops hurt 10 Palestinians during Ramallah demo"There's just no knowing what he will say from one moment to the next, so both sides want to keep this (Israel) visit as low-key as possible," one official involved in the planning, and who asked not to be identified by name or nationality, told Reuters.TAKING CAREAides say Duterte hopes to regulate labour relations with Israel, where between 24,000 and 28,000 Filipinos work, mostly as care-givers, and to promote Holy Land tourism from the predominantly Catholic Asian country which has been growing by 30 percent to 50 percent annually in recent years.Establishing a direct air connection between Israel and the Philippines is in discussion.Duterte also wants to improve security cooperation with Israel, which has sold the Philippines three radar systems and 100 armoured vehicles, and which Manila is now eyeing for an aircraft deal. According to Israeli government data, exports to the Philippines were worth $143 million last year.Israeli prime minister’s wife suspected of briberyDuterte, who has kept domestic opinion on edge by hankering for retirement before his term ends in 2022, makes no secret of his personal disdain for Washington and its foreign policy.Still, he shares Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rapport with U.S. President Donald Trump. That has stirred modest hope in Israel that the maverick Asian leader might use his visit to announce recognition of Jerusalem as the country's capital, as Trump did last December, outraging the Palestinians."We have been encouraging the Philippines on this (Jerusalem recognition), as we do with all countries," one Israeli diplomat said. "We don't know that Duterte will do it - but neither do we know that he won't."Ernesto Abella, an official with the Foreign Ministry in Manila and a former Duterte spokesman, said the issue of moving the Philippine embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the United States did in May, had not been discussed.Israel will not acknowledge int'l agreements on SyriaAbella said the controversy around Duterte's Hitler comments had been settled "way back".The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said in a statement that Israel "assign(s) great importance to this visit, which symbolises the strong, warm ties between our peoples as well as the enormous potential for developing and strengthening the relations".Duterte arrives in Israel on Sunday and on Wednesday departs for neighbouring Jordan.

Israeli gov’t minister calls for ‘liquidation’ of Hamas

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has called for the “liquidation” of the Hamas leadership in Gaza and the destruction of the group’s missile-production capacity, Israeli daily Maariv reported on Friday.According to the newspaper, Bennett said Israel should “do what we did in Judea and Samaria” -- a reference to the occupied West Bank, where Israel has arrested and, in some cases, assassinated Hamas leaders, including lawmakers.In response to remarks by Gaza-based Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who threatened Israel with missile attacks if the latter struck Gaza, Bennett said: “Our priority now is to degrade Hamas’s ability to attack us.”Israel troops hurt 10 Palestinians during Ramallah demoIsraeli troops fire on Gaza protesters, wounding 52

Israel troops hurt 10 Palestinians during Ramallah demo

Ten Palestinians were injured by Israeli troops on Friday while taking part in a demonstration against Israeli settlement-building near the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to activists.According to a statement released by a local popular resistance committee, troops used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters.Friday’s demonstration was held to protest Israeli plans to build Jewish-only settler units on Palestinian land near the village of Ras Karkar on Ramallah’s outskirts.According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Israeli Jews now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government’s approval) -- and more than 200 settler outposts (built without government approval) -- across the occupied West Bank.International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.

Israeli troops fire on Gaza protesters, wounding 52

Israeli soldiers fired live rounds at Palestinian protesters, injuring 52 on the 23rd Friday of anti-occupation rallies that began in March.In a statement, Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinians were injured at the eastern Gaza border.A volunteer medical worker and a 10-year-old child were in serious condition, the statement said, adding 188 Palestinians had also been affected by teargas.The protesters are demanding the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.They are also demanding an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its 2 million inhabitants of basic commodities.Since the Gaza rallies began on March 30, more than 170 Palestinian protesters have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.Video: Israeli forces intervene in Palestinian protesters in Ramallah19 Palestinians martyred in August: Research centerIsrael would pay ‘heavy price’ for Gaza war: LiebermanIsraeli army arrests 16 Palestinians in West Bank raids