Israeli Finance Minister Orders Cancellation of Waiver on Cooperation with Palestinian Banks
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich walks to visit the Damascus Gate to Jerusalem's Old City, as Israelis mark Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 26, 2025.
June 10 (Reuters) – Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered on Tuesday the cancellation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks, in a move that puts the Palestinian banking system at risk.
Smotrich said the decision came against the 'delegitimization campaign' by the Palestinian Authority against Israel globally, according to a statement from his office.
The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism.
Without it, Palestinian banks would be cut off from the Israeli financial system.
The decision comes as the Palestinian Authority continued to face mounting financial pressure from a slowdown in aid, a squeeze on a system of tax revenue transfers by Israel and a slump in contributions from Palestinians who have been shut out of the Israeli labour market by the war in Gaza.
It comes hours after the United Kingdom and four other nations imposed on him and another far-right minister sanctions for inciting violence in the West Bank. The sanctions included a freeze on assets and travel bans.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Nikkei Asia
an hour ago
- Nikkei Asia
Trump unveils new sweeping tariff rates up to 41%
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on April 2. © Reuters PAK YIU NEW YORK -- The U.S. will begin imposing punishing tariffs of up to 41% on trading partners on Friday, according to the White House. Trump signed an executive order on Thursday raising "reciprocal" tariff rates from the 10% baseline on all countries' exports. Several Asian partners that saw their rates change -- to 40% for Laos, 25% for India, and 20% for Taiwan, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand, as well as Pakistan, are all listed at 19%.
Japan Today
2 hours ago
- Japan Today
Trump seeks to use Canada's recognition of Palestinian state as leverage in trade talks
FILE - From left, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump arrive for the family photograph during the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, June 16, 2025. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP, File) By MICHELLE L. PRICE Canada's announcement it will recognize a Palestinian state 'will make it very hard' for the United States to reach a trade agreement with its northern neighbor, President Donald Trump said. Trump's threat, posted early Thursday on his social media platform, is the latest way he has sought to use his trade war to coerce countries on unrelated issues. And when other allies had raised the matter of Palestinian statehood, the Republican president had been ambivalent. He said this week that he did not mind that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was taking the position that the United Kingdom would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza, allowed the United Nations to bring in aid and took other steps toward long-term peace. 'We have no view on that,' he told reporters later on Air Force One. Last week, the Republican president said French President Emmanuel Macron's similar move was "not going to change anything.' But Trump, who has heckled Canada for months and suggested it should become its 51st U.S. state, is now indicating that Prime Minister Mark Carney's similar recognition would become leverage before a looming deadline that the American leader set in U.S.-Canada trade talks. 'Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,' Trump said in his Truth Social post. 'That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh' Canada!!!' Trump has threatened to impose a 35% tariff on Canada if no deal is reached by Friday, when he's said he will levy tariffs against goods from dozens of countries if they don't reach agreements with the U.S. A spokesperson for Carney declined comment. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said later that Trump "expressed his displeasure and his disagreement with the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Canada. He feels as though that's rewarding Hamas at a time where Hamas is the true impediment to a ceasefire and to the release of all of the hostages." Some imports from Canada are still protected by the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is up for renegotiation next year. Carney's announcement Wednesday comes amid a broader global shift against Israel's policies in Gaza. Though Trump this week said he was 'not going to take a position' on recognizing a Palestinian state, he later said that such a move would be rewarding Hamas, whose surprise Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel prompted a declaration of war and a massive military retaliation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump's new cudgel against Canada comes after he sought this week to impose steep tariffs on Brazil because it indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally who like the U.S. president has faced criminal charges for attempting to overturn the results of his election loss. Citing a personal grievance in trade talks with Brazil and now Canada's symbolic announcement on a Palestinian state adds to the jumble of reasons Trump has pointed to for his trade war, such as stopping human trafficking, stopping the flow of fentanyl, balancing the budget and protecting U.S. manufacturing. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
3 hours ago
- Japan Today
President says Lebanon determined to disarm Hezbollah
Smoke rises over the al-Khardali area of south Lebanon following an Israeli air strike. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that he was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a step it has come under heavy US pressure to take, despite the group's protests that doing so would serve Israeli goals. Hezbollah and Israel fought a two-month war last year that left the militant group badly weakened, though it retains part of its arsenal. Israel has kept up its air strikes on Hezbollah targets despite a November ceasefire, and has threatened to continue them until the group has been disarmed. In a speech on Thursday, Aoun said Beirut was demanding "the extension of the Lebanese state's authority over all its territory, the removal of weapons from all armed groups including Hezbollah and their handover to the Lebanese army". He added it was every politician's duty "to seize this historic opportunity and push without hesitation towards affirming the army and security forces' monopoly on weapons over all Lebanese territory... in order to regain the world's confidence". Under the November ceasefire, Hezbollah was to withdraw its fighters north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border. Israel was meant to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon, but has kept them in five areas it deems strategic. The truce was based on a two-decade-old UN Security Council resolution that said only the Lebanese military and UN peacekeepers should possess weapons in the country's south, and that all non-state groups should be disarmed. However, that resolution went unfulfilled for years, with Hezbollah's arsenal before the latest war seen as far superior to the army's, and the group wielding extensive political influence. Aoun took over the presidency in January ending a two-year vacancy -- his election by lawmakers made possible in part by the shifting balance of power in the wake of the conflict. On Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said that "anyone calling today for the surrender of weapons, whether internally or externally, on the Arab or the international stage, is serving the Israeli project". He accused US envoy Tom Barrack, who has visited Lebanon several times in recent months, of using "intimidation and threats" in his talks with senior officials with the aim of "aiding Israel". Collapse or stability Israel has carried out near daily strikes in Lebanon in recent months, targeting what it says are Hezbollah militants and infrastructure, but the group has refrained from striking back. Israel launched several strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in the south and east on Thursday, targeting what it said were sites used by Hezbollah to manufacture and store missiles. Defence Minister Israel Katz said the targets included "Hezbollah's biggest precision missile manufacturing site", and the military said it had hit "infrastructure that was used for producing and storing strategic weapons" in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. In his speech, Aoun said Lebanon was at "a crucial stage that does not tolerate any sort of provocation from any side". "For the thousandth time, I assure you that my concern in having a (state) weapons monopoly comes from my concern to defend Lebanon's sovereignty and borders, to liberate the occupied Lebanese territories and build a state that welcomes all its citizens," he said, addressing Hezbollah's supporters as an "essential pillar" of society. Lebanon has proposed modifications to "ideas" submitted by the United States on Hezbollah's disarmament, Aoun added, and a plan would be discussed at a cabinet meeting next week to "establish a timetable for implementation". Aoun also demanded the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the release of Lebanese prisoners and "an immediate cessation of Israeli hostilities". "Today, we must choose between collapse and stability," he said. Hezbollah is the only group that held on to its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of "resistance" against Israel, which occupied south Lebanon until 2000. Lebanon has also committed to disarming Palestinian militant groups that control the country's refugee camps. © 2025 AFP
