Middle East & North Africa

22 August 2022; MEMO: The CEO of the Israeli spyware firm NSO Group and one of its founders, Shalev Hulio, has resigned from his position and will be responsible for searching for a buyer for the company. NSO also informed 100 employees that they would be dismissed. The company's COO Yaron Shohat will take over from Hulio until a successor is named, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

22 August 2022; MEMO: Data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics in Egypt revealed yesterday that the value of Emirati investments in Egypt increased to $1.9 billion during the first half of the 2021-2022 fiscal year, compared to $712.6 million during the same period last year, a rise of 169.1 per cent.

23 August 2022; MEMO: There are currently 723 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons without trial, including eleven children, Haaretz reported on Monday.

According to the Israeli newspaper, the number of prisoners held with neither charge nor trial — "administrative detention" — has risen significantly from the 671 held at the beginning of August. The current figure is the highest since 2008.

23 August 2022; MEMO: The northern section of the grain silos at Beirut Port collapsed this morning, covering the surrounding area with dust, the official National News Agency reported, adding that only a small section of the silo now remains standing.

"The northern part of the silos in Beirut Port collapsed, as dust covered the surrounding area," NNA said.

22 August 2022; MEMO: An Iraqi member of parliament yesterday called on the country's auditing and anti-corruption bodies to take legal action to stop an alleged deal between the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority and an Israeli company, Al-Sumaria News reported.

22 August 2022; MEMO: Israel's Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar visited Egypt to hold meetings with officials in an attempt to mend fences with Cairo.

Ronen Bar met with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, who recently cancelled a scheduled visit to Israel in protest at Tel Aviv's arrest and killing of Islamic Jihad members in Nablus despite the Cairo-brokered ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group.

22 August 2022; MEMO: A well-known Palestinian rights group called on Monday for the international community to intervene immediately to protect Palestinian civil society groups and their staff targeted by the Israeli occupation authorities. The heads of leading rights groups in occupied Palestine have been told by Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet to sever their connections with the organisations "or else".

The United States, on Monday, pushed back against Iranian accusations of delaying the indirect talks aimed at reinstating the 2015 nuclear deal, saying it was working as quickly as it can to put together an appropriate response to Tehran's comments on a draft text put forward by the European Union, Reuters reports.

22 August 2022; MEMO: Two Qatari Air Force planes arrived in Sudan on Sunday, carrying an urgent relief aid shipment provided by the Qatar Fund for Development in cooperation with Qatar Charity, and in coordination with the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Khartoum, Anadolu News Agency reports, citing the official Sudanese News Agency, SUNA.

22 August 2022; MEMO: The Israeli Security Agency, Shin Bet, will formally charge the leader of the Islamic Jihad movement in the occupied West Bank, Bassam Al-Saadi, the Israeli army said.

According to the army, the investigation into Al-Saadi has been completed and the Prosecutor has decided to charge him with membership in a "terror group", in reference to the Islamic Jihad movement, conducting operations for the group, incitement and "supporting terrorism".