Following the release of an International Atomic Energy Agency report on the Iranian nuclear program issued earlier this week, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said: "Israel views with utmost gravity the picture of the situation reflected in the report, which proves that Iran is continuing to lie to the world and advance a program to develop nuclear weapons while denying its international commitments.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"It must be made certain that Iran will never have nuclear weapons capability," he said.

The premier called for an "appropriate and rapid international reaction to the severe actions of Iran. The IAEA report warns that the time to act is now; therefore, the naïve expectation that Iran will be prepared to change its path via negotiations has been proven to be baseless," he said.

"Only a vigorous stand by the international community, backed up by decisions and actions, will be able to lead to change from the regime in Tehran, which has lost all restraint," Bennett said.

"Israel will do everything to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons," he said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency blasted Iran for having "seriously undermined" efforts to inspect the country's nuclear activities in a report Tuesday.

The report comes as the US and its allies attempt to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, with negotiations stalled in Vienna.

Iran suspended IAEA inspectors from some monitoring activities, allegedly for the US refusing to lift sanctions. This included some video and other surveillance on Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran agreed to transfer these recordings to the IAEA in an agreement that expired on June 24. Since then, the report said Iran "has failed to engage with the Agency at all on this matter for a number of months."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post PM calls on international community to act now on Iranian nuclear program appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

US President Joe Biden will tell Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House on Thursday that Washington shares Israel's concern that Iran has accelerated its nuclear program but remains committed for now to diplomacy with Tehran.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

A senior US official briefing reporters said: "Since the last administration left the Iran nuclear deal, Iran's nuclear program has just dramatically broken out of the box, and it's accelerating from week to week."

Iran has more advanced centrifuges and uranium stockpiles as well as technology so that nuclear "breakout" – the capability to produce a bomb – "is now down to just a few months," the official said and added the two leaders would discuss "what to do about it."

The administration was increasingly alarmed by Iran's nuclear activities, the official said but signaled that Biden was sure to reject any entreaties from Bennett to halt efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear accord.

"We are, of course, committed to a diplomatic path," the official said amid stalled negotiations with Iran, where a new hardline president has taken power. "We think that is the best way to put a ceiling on the program and roll back the gains that Iran has made over recent years on the nuclear side."

"If that doesn't work, there are other avenues to pursue," the official added, without elaborating.

Despite differences, US and Israeli officials alike have expressed hope the White House meeting will set a positive tone between Biden, who took office in January, and Bennett, a far-right politician who ended Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year run as prime minister in June.

This would stand in sharp contrast to years of tensions between Netanyahu, who was close to Republican President Donald Trump, and the last Democratic administration led by Barack Obama with Biden as vice president.

Bennett's visit gives Washington an opportunity to demonstrate business as usual with its closest Middle East ally while it contends with the chaotic situation in Afghanistan, Biden's biggest foreign policy crisis since taking office.

Iran will top the agenda, with Bennett – who arrived in Washington on Tuesday – expected to push for a hardened US approach to the terrorist state.

In a report seen last week by Reuters, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had accelerated uranium enrichment to near weapons grade. Iran has consistently denied seeking a nuclear bomb.

Bennett has been less openly combative but just as adamant as Netanyahu was in pledging not to allow Iran, which Israel views as an existential threat, to build a nuclear weapon.

Biden and Bennett will also discuss the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The US president has again made a two-state solution a central part of Washington's policy, but Bennett, a right-winger who heads an ideologically diverse coalition, opposes Palestinian statehood.

The Biden administration sees little chance of a near-term resumption of peace talks, which collapsed in 2014, "but there are a number of steps that can be taken to kind of dampen the risks of further sparks of conflict," the official said.

The Biden administration has already emphasized it opposes further expansion of Jewish settlements.

Biden will also discuss with Bennett behind-the-scenes efforts to get more Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel, the official said. This would follow in the footsteps of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, which signed the Abraham Accords with Israel brokered by the Trump administration.

"There's an awful lot of work going on to expand those arrangements to other countries," the official said.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Biden to tell PM he shares alarm over nuclear Iran but sticking to diplomacy appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the Arab party Ra'am clashed on Sunday after Jews were allowed to sing and pray in certain parts of Temple Mount on the occasion of Tisha B'Av, in which Jews mourn the destruction of the two temples and a variety of other calamities.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Ra'am, which is a critical faction in Bennett's razor-thin coalition that spans both right-wing and left-wing lawmakers, was outraged after footage emerged showing Jews, who are normally not allowed to recite prayers or hymns on the Temple Mount, singing Israel's national anthem and even praying discreetly in a secluded area.

"Settlers and MKs who trespass into the Al-Aqsa Mosque could lead to disturbances and a regional religious war," Ra'am warned. "We will not allow this to happen – we won't tolerate prayer and the singing of Hatikvah in the mosque that is under Islamic ownership, all 35 acres."

Bennett quickly tweeted, both in Hebrew and in Arabic, that the latest events do not reflect any change of the rules that prohibit Jewish religious practices in the plaza, which has two of the most sacred sites in Muslim tradition.

The statement read: "Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with Public Security Minister Bar-Lev and Israel Police Inspector-General Shabtai and thanked them for managing the events on the Temple Mount with responsibility and consideration while maintaining freedom of worship for Jews on the Mount. Prime Minister Bennett emphasized that freedom of worship on the Temple Mount will be fully preserved for Muslims as well, who will soon be marking the fast of the Day of Arafah and the Eid al-Adha."

Earlier, brief clashes erupted between Israeli police and Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque over visits by Jews.

No serious injuries were reported in what police described as stone-throwing early in the day by several Palestinian youngsters who it said were then dispersed.

Palestinian officials said police forcefully evacuated Muslim worshippers to clear the way for Jewish visitors and fired rubber-coated bullets during the confrontation in one of the most sensitive venues in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

All was quiet by the time Muslim noon prayers were held, but the incident drew condemnation by the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli media reports put the number of Jewish visitors who walked through the Jerusalem plaza at around 1,300.

In a statement, the Palestinian Authority said it held "the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the escalation resulting from the Israeli incursion in the Al Aqsa mosque complex in occupied Jerusalem".

The PA called the Jewish visits provocative and a "serious threat to "security and stability".

After the spate of violence, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett directed that Jewish visits there "continue, while maintaining order at the site."

The area is in Jerusalem's walled Old City and part of the territory Israel captured in a 1967 Middle East war.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Bennett, Arab lawmakers spar over Temple Mount access appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has made the unusual decision not to appoint an adviser for Diaspora affairs, Israel Hayom has learned.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The Diaspora affairs adviser is tasked with maintaining and bolstering the prime minister's ties with Jewish people overseas and their representatives.

Bennett's decision not to fill the role is particularly surprising given his prioritization of the subject throughout his political career.

In previous governments in which he served, Bennett demanded the Diaspora Affairs portfolio, and his close associate Dvir Kahana until recently served as the ministry's director-general.

Naama Klar, director of the non-profit Reut Group that tackles challenges facing Israel and the Jewish world, said: "Israel's prime minister plays a significant role not only regarding Israel's citizens but vis-à-vis the entire Jewish people. The ties between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora are a strategic issue that has repercussions for national security. Therefore, a senior adviser in the prime minister's sector must be tasked with the subject and be responsible for bringing up-to-date information to the prime minister and the senior echelon on Jewish communities and the robust relationship with them at any given moment."

Klar said the appointment of a Diaspora Affairs minister would not relieve Bennett of the need for a personal adviser in the field, as has been the case in the past.

"The Diaspora Affairs minister has operational responsibility for a variety of commitments and collaborations between the Israeli government and Jewish communities in the Diaspora, but they cannot integrate the importance of the connection between Israel and the Diaspora within the other most serious national security considerations on which the prime minister should formulate their policies. Not to appoint an adviser is to take the Diaspora issue off the prime minister's radar and make it more vulnerable to neglect and deterioration, which will necessarily lead to a blow to Israel's national security," Klar said.

Shira Ruderman, the founder of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which works to bolster ties between Israel and Diaspora Jews, said that while unexpected, "It's unclear whether the fact that they're not appointing an adviser in the field is an indication of the government's intentions on the Diaspora issue. Israel's ties with the Jewish world must be a critical subject that ranks high up in the new government's list of priorities."

She said: "I hope they find effective ways to promote the relationship, for example, by bolstering the role of the Diaspora minister and allocating significant resources."

Bennett's office has yet to comment on the reports.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Breaking with tradition, PM will not appoint Diaspora adviser appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.