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Author: Vijeta Uniyal

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Vijeta Uniyal

Vijeta Uniyal is a writer based in Germany. He is Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Gatestone Institute and founder of the "Indians For Israel".

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has declined to open an investigation against Israel over the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident. The decision came after the ICC appeals judges ordered their chief prosecutor to reconsider her previous rejection of calls for probe into the 2010 raid. In May 2013, Comoros, a small Muslim-majority Indian Ocean island country, approached the Hague-based tribunal to launch "war crimes" proceedings against Israel.

Six European countries have joined the European payment mechanism which seeks to bypass U.S. sanctions against Iran. "Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are in the process of becoming shareholders of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (Instex)," the Government of Norway said in a statement on Friday.

The London Bridge attacker, who murdered at least two people on Friday, has been identified as an Islamic terrorist previously convicted of planning an Al Qaeda terror plot in London. The 28-yer-old terrorist of Pakistani origin, Usman Khan, was out on parole after serving less than seven years of his 16-year prison sentence for planning to blow up the  London Stock Exchange and U.S. embassy, among other targets. The convicted terrorist was wearing an electronic tag at the time of the attack, the UK news reports confirm.

A decade after Bolivia's socialist President Evo Morales severed all ties with Israel, the South American country has reestablished full diplomatic relations with the Jewish State. The decision was announced by the country's new Foreign Minister Karen Longaric who took office as part of an interim government after the long-serving socialist leader was ousted following popular unrest over the rigged election for the nation's parliament.

Anti-regime protesters torched around 731 banks in nationwide unrest that began two weeks ago, Iran's top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei admitted. The demonstrations against the Shi'a Islamic regime started on November 15 after Tehran announced the rationing of gasoline and a sharp hike in fuel prices. Protesters also turned their anger at symbols of the regime, setting fire to banners and billboards depicting Ayatollah Khamenei and Islamic propaganda.

The latest polls show British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has increased his lead over Labour Party rival Jeremy Corbyn. "Boris Johnson’s Tories have established their biggest lead over Labour for two years," the British newspaper The Telegraph reported. With less than three weeks to go until the December 12 election, the Conservative party is "on course for 80 seat majority" in the 650-seat Lower House, the newspaper predicted citing a "monthly poll of polls."

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro announced the creation of a new political party, aligning himself closer to the country's Catholic and Evangelical electorates. The "Alliance for Brazil," as the new party is called, will restore "God's place in the life, history and soul of the Brazilian people," the Brazilian President told cheering crowd at a rally on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will stand trial on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, the country's attorney general Avichai Mandelblit announced Thursday. The trial is expected to begin mid next year. The indictment against Netanyahu comes after three years of investigations that looked at allegations of him accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts from wealthy businessmen, and trading favor with media houses in exchange for favorable coverage.

The Iranian regime is using snipers and helicopter gunships to quell anti-regime protests, the media reports disclosed. People witnessed pro-regime sharpshooters firing at unarmed demonstrators, German newspaper Bild reported. "Verified video footage show snipers shooting at people from rooftops," the newspaper confirmed. "In at least one instance, a helicopter had been used for the shooting."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a major policy shift on Monday by declaring that the United States no longer considers Israeli 'settlements' to be illegal under the international law. The statement reverses the U.S. State Department's long-held policy that regarded Israeli 'settlements' in the region of Judea and Samaria, also referred to as the West Bank, "inconsistent with international law."

Anti-regime protests erupted across Iran after the regime imposed rationing of gasoline and hiked fuel prices. People took to streets in more than 100 cities, including the Iranian capital of Tehran. Iran's so-called Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei lashed out at the people on Sunday for protesting the three-fold fuel price rise, calling them "thugs" and "hooligans."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson-led British Conservatives have doubled their lead over the opposition Labour party days after Nigel Farage pulled hundreds of Brexit Party candidates ahead of the December 12 election. The ruling Conservative party now has the support of around 45 percent of the vote, with the left-wing Labour trailing with 28 percent, the latest YouGov poll for the UK's  Sunday Times shows.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that goods produced outside Israel's pre-1967 lines must be labeled as such, and may not be marketed as Israeli products. The judgment will impact food products imported into Europe from East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Judea, and Samaria, which the European Union does not recognize as Israeli territory. "Foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the State of Israel must bear the indication of their territory of origin, accompanied, where those foodstuffs come from an Israeli settlement within that territory, by the indication of that provenance," the top EU court declared on Tuesday morning.

In a massive boost to Prime Minister Boris Johnson-led British Conservatives, Nigel Farage has pulled hundreds of Brexit Party candidates ahead of the December 12 election. The Brexit Party will not field candidates in all 317 seats that the ruling Conservative party won in the last general election. "The Brexit party will not contest the 317 seats the Conservatives won at the last election," Farage said. "We will concentrate our total effort into all the seats that are held by the Labour party, who have completely broken their manifesto pledge in 2017 to respect the result of the referendum, and we will also take on the rest of the remainer parties. We will stand up and fight them all."