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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Monday said that a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) would make the Middle East safer. Sisi’s comments came in a meeting with a delegation of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Arab Today news website reported. During the meeting, which was also attended by Foreign…

Iran will continue to view the United States as the “Great Satan”, even if a nuclear deal is reached between Iran and world powers, an Iranian commander has made clear. The military official, Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, underlined that any possible nuclear deal between Tehran and the world powers would never mean friendship between…

Education Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday evening told Arutz Sheva that the Bedouin teachers who joined the Islamic State (ISIS) and spread its teaching in their schools had “crossed a red line”. It was cleared for publication earlier that in a joint operation with local police, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) had arrested six…

Yoav Yitzchak, the veteran journalist who is being blamed by many for driving Brigadier General Efraim Bracha to commit suicide, fought back Tuesday. Yitzchak insists that a few days before Bracha’s suicide, the Police Internal Investigations Department heard the testimony of at least two people who strengthened suspicions against Bracha. He is adamant that the knowledge that…

At a meeting with families who were removed from their homes in the 2005 Disengagement plan, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau – currently Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, and at the time Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel – revealed Tuesday that he had met with then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a month before the plan came into…

A suicide bomber from the Al-Nusra Front terrorist group, Syria’s Al-Qaeda offshoot, blew himself up in a Syrian army outpost in a contested neighborhood in the city of Aleppo on Monday night. The bombing killed at least 25 soldiers and allied militia and injured scores, according to the Reuters news agency. The Britain-based Observatory for…

The Knesset marks one year since Operation Protective Edge in Gaza on Tuesday, and will be holding a series of debates and hearings on the issues, including testimonies from soldiers who served.  Several reserve soldiers who were injured but are still not recognized as disabled veterans are due to testify, according to Maariv, as well as…

A new pilot program in the Beit Aryeh community in Samaria will see 150 residents, many of them teens and young adults, equipped with a new tracking device. The devices, by Israeli firm Trackimo, will keep track of the location of users in order to ensure that they can be quickly found – in case…

Eddie Yisraeli was simply trying to help out when he posted on Facebook on Monday, asking for strangers to attend a girl’s Bat Mitzvah in Ashkelon.  The event, which was arranged entirely by volunteers, was already in progress – but with very few attendees.  “Once again, friends, it’s time to step up – share quickly!!”…

The Nazareth District Court rejected Tuesday an appeal by a well-known rabbi from northern Israel facing sexual abuse allegations, after the Magistrates’ Court decided to allow his name to be published.  Following the appeal, however, the rabbi’s identity will not be revealed until Wednesday at 4:00 pm, in order to allow the rabbi’s defense attorney to…

Nine additional suspects in an ambush by Israeli Druze on an IDF ambulance in June were arrested overnight Monday, in a joint operation between the Border Police and local and national units of the Israel Police. All nine are from villages in the north close to Majdal Shams, the Israeli Druze city in the Golan…

The IDF recognized 2014’s Protective Edge operation in Gaza as a fully fledged campaign and has issued decorations for the soldiers who took part in it. David Kahlon, whose son Eliav Eliyahu Haim hy”d was killed in the campaign, told Arutz Sheva that the recognition is a very meaningful one for the bereaved families.  He also told…

Video filmed on the Temple Mount attests to what right-wing activists have long contended – that the police and security forces are afraid of Muslim rioters, who are prepared to cause anarchy at the drop of a hat. Upon seeing Jews, Muslim women begin rioting, while police, instead of stopping the riot, usher Jews off…

The controversy over the Conversion Law – and the decision by the new Shas-controlled Religious Affairs Ministry to essentially scupper it – has exposed some of the most sensitive fault lines in Israeli Jewish society. The previous Religious Affairs Minister – the Jewish Home party’s Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan – enacted reforms aimed at streamlining the…

The IDF has some tough soldiers – and now, some of the toughest will be pushed even further to the limits of their physical, intellectual, and tactical capabilities. The IDF on Monday announced the Commando Division, which will institute new training protocols and missions for some of the best soldiers in the army – those…

In a joint operation with local police, the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) arrested six Arab residents of the town of Hura in the Negev who formed a cell of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, authorities released for publication Monday. An initial investigation revealed that the cell members conducted secret meetings in which they learned…

Science, Space and Technology Minister Danny Danon on Monday pledged to ensure that Jews living in the Hevron region were protected from Arab terror. In the wake of a series of terror incidents in the region recently Danon said that residents of Hevron and Kiryat Arba deserved the same level of protection as residents of…

Hundreds of ISIS members could infiltrate Europe together with masses of refugees from Libya, Syria, and Iraq – ironically fleeing ISIS terror in their homelands, said Michele Coninsx, head of the EU’s judicial cooperation agency Eurojust. Speaking Monday in Brussels, Coninsx told reporters that the EU was working together with other countries to prevent the…

The leader of opposition party Yesh Atid, MK Yair Lapid, said Monday that if the deal that is shaping up between the P5+1 nations and Iran is indeed signed, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should resign. “If this bad deal is signed,” Lapid said at a session of his faction’s MKs, “this is a failure that…

Looking back after 50 years of service to the Anti-Defamation League, retiring national director Abraham Foxman expressed passionate concern to journalist Edwin Black about the safety and security of Jews overseas and Israel’s position in the world. Excerpts from his exit interview follow, edited and condensed for continuity, clarity, and length. Edwin Black: Looking back over…

Large fire and rescue forces were called on Monday morning to the Tambour paint factory in Akko after a leak of massive quantities of fire retardant foam. Initially, three people were feared missing in the foam, but they were later located safe and sound. While the foam is not a particularly toxic or dangerous chemical, it…

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin has spoken out for the first time since his tenure as Chief Rabbi of the town of Efrat was extended by the chief rabbinate, ending weeks of controversy and rumors he would be dismissed for ideological reasons. Speaking at a reception of Efrat residents hosted by Mayor Oded Ravivi to mark his continued tenure, Rabbi…

Iran has demanded yet another concession in nuclear talks with the West on Monday – this time, to end the UN arms embargo on the Islamic Republic.  After already having extending the talks several times, Iran and the six major powers set a deadline of June 30 to reach a final deal, but when they…

Islamic State (ISIS) group fighters attacked a town near their de facto Syrian capital Monday in a bid to recapture it from Kurdish and Arab rebel forces, a Kurdish spokesman told the AFP news agency. “ISIS launched a large-scale offensive at dawn… and managed to enter Ain Issa,” said Redur Khalil, a spokesman for the…

President Barack Obama said Monday the coalition battling Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists was “intensifying” its campaign against the group’s base in Syria, but cautioned the fight would be long, AFP reported. Obama addressed the media after a briefing at the Pentagon with top military brass and members of his national security team on efforts to…

The “Greek Tragedy” playing out in the European Union’s most troubled economy contains a bright spot for Israelis looking to get away on vacation. As a result of Greece’s problems – and the failure of the country to support the EU’s demands for a strict budgetary regimen – the euro has been sinking all day…

The Jerusalem-based Kedem Auction House has put up for sale an original typed protocol of two meetings between the Council of Torah Sages and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and President Yitzchak Ben-Zvi, respectively. The meetings, which took place in the summer of 1953, dealt with the controversial topic of the drafting of women to National…

Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, who was savagely attacked last October by an Arab terrorist who shot him in the chest, found himself, figuratively, in “the belly of the beast” this week – attending a post-Ramadan meal in Istanbul attended by 1,000 Muslim clerics. How did it go? “Not bad,” said Glick, who had been…

Among its slew of complaints about Israel to the International Criminal Court, the Palestinian Authority – recognized there as “the State of Palestine” – demanded that Israel be investigated for, among other things, “abuse of prisoners.” The PA was referring to the long jail sentences that Israel has imposed on terrorists from PA-controlled areas of…

The government on Monday held an official memorial service for the IDF soldiers killed during last year’s Operation Protective Edge. Most of the 67 soldiers killed in the war are buried in a special section of the Mount Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem, where the ceremony was held. Five civilians were also killed in the war.…

In a letter Monday to entertainment mogul Haim Saban, Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton expressed her “alarm” over attempts to boycott Israel, bother commercially and academically. It was the first clear statement by Clinton on the BDS phenomenon. In her letter to Saban, Clinton wrote that she was seeking Saban’s “advice on how we can…

A resident of Israel’s south who worked as a translator and lip reader for the police in the past has sued the Israeli Police, charging them of “abandoning” him and allowing him to be assaulted by a suspect whose lips he had read. The seven million shekel (roughly $1.9 million) lawsuit was submitted to the Be’er Sheva District…

Interior Security Minister Gilad Erdan gathered the police’s top officers Monday for a motivational talk following the suicide Sunday of Major General Efraim Bracha, who headed the National Unit for Fraud Investigations. Bracha killed himself as journalists led by News1‘s Yoav Yitzchak reported that he would soon be interrogated for serious offenses. “When statements are…

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has raised a media storm after she roped off reporters in a New Hampshire 4th of July parade, in an apparent bid to prevent uncomfortable and unsolicited questions. New York Times reporter Peter Baker on Sunday condemned Clinton for the move while speaking on CBS‘s Face the Nation TV program. “It reinforces…

British police are under fire for having let a man cloaked in the flag of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization walk with impunity near the UK Houses of Parliament in London, just a week after ISIS massacred British tourists in Tunisia. The man was photographed walking near Big Ben with a massive ISIS flag draped…

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) has defended her party from charges it should never have agreed to a cancellation of conversion reforms when it joined the ruling Coalition. Her comments come after the Religious Affairs Ministry – now controlled by the haredi Shas party – essentially undid the reforms enacted by the previous government, when the…

A bomb fell from an Iraqi Sukhoi warplane and exploded in eastern Baghdad on Monday because of a “technical problem”, killing at least seven people, security and medical officials said.   “One of the bombs became stuck because of a technical problem, and during its (the aircraft’s) return to base it fell on three houses…

An indictment was submitted on Monday morning to the Central District Court against Muatasem Fadila, a 35-year-old Israeli Arab resident of Tira to the northeast of Tel Aviv, for the premeditated murder of another Tira resident, Mardi Mardi. According to the indictment Fadila shot Mardi at least 11 times, and an accomplice to the murder fired…

President Reuven Rivlin hosted dozens of Muslim officials Sunday in the President’s Residence and broke the Ramadan fast with them at the same time that Jews were breaking the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz. At the start of the festive meal, Rivlin gave a speech and said that the Arabs’ citizenship in Israel was theirs by right. “The…

Jordanian security forces arrested a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards planning attacks in Jordan, foiling what they said was the most serious terror plot in the country in the past decade, state media revealed Monday. According to the Al Rai newspaper, the suspect – who belonged to the Guards’ elite Qods Force and is a dual Iraqi-Norwegian…

Hundreds of people joined a large crowd in Beit El Sunday afternoon to recite afternoon prayers near two buildings the High Court ordered torn down Sunday. The worshipers prayed that the demolition of the homes be halted. Dozens of prominent rabbis and members of communities in Judea and Samaria participated in the event. MK Yinon…

At an event marking the end of the Ramadan fast on Sunday, President Reuven Rivlin spoke with Arabic language mediaand discussed a number of issues, chief among them the relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel. At the outset, Rivlin noted that both Jews and Muslims had fasted on Sunday – the latter for Ramadan, and…

Greece’s government on Sunday looked to have won a ‘No’ it had been seeking in a referendum on bailout terms, AFP reports. An official tally of over half the ballots cast showed that a resounding 61 percent of Greek voters had backed the government’s ‘No’ in the referendum. Senior eurozone officials were to hold talks…

On the eve of the 39th anniversary of the historic Operation Thunderbolt, the rescue of Jewish and Israeli citizens kidnapped by terrorists and held captive at Entebbe Airport in 1976, commandos involved in the daring raid provided commentary for an animated video detailing this heroic story for students around the world. The video is the…

The Turkish army has called a meeting of troop commanders stationed along its fortified border with Syria to discuss a possible intervention in Syria, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Sunday. Turkey has boosted its military defenses on the volatile border over the past week, stationing tanks and anti-aircraft missiles there as well as bolstering troop…

How can Israel deal with the rising threat of ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula, along its southern border? Middle East expert Prof. Hillel Frisch of the Begin-Sadat Center doesn’t rule out possibility that Israel will help Egypt deal with ISIS, by delivering air strikes. “We can only do what the Egyptians ask us to do.…

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said Sunday that he, and the Jewish Agency, were “troubled” by the decision of the government earlier Sunday to reform the conversion system in Israel. Under the plan, control of conversions will be placed under the Rabbinical Courts, reversing the law that would have allowed individuals seeking to convert to approach rabbis outside…

The Tunisian jihadist behind the recent massacre of foreigners at a seaside resort had previously worked in tourism, officials said Sunday, according to AFP. Meanwhile, the mother of the jihadist, 23-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui, insisted her son was “brainwashed”, the report said. In an interview on Sunday, Prime Minister Habib Essid revealed more details about Rezgui,…

The Yad L’achim anti-missionary organization called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to do something about the “worrying rise” in assimilation and intermarriage. Speaking at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that while the growth of the Jewish nation in recent years has been significant – last week, it was reported that the number of Jews in…

An Iranian nuclear agreement is possible this week if Iran makes the “hard choices” necessary, but if not, the United States remains ready to walk away from the negotiations, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday, according to Reuters. Speaking after his third meeting of the day with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Kerry…

Just two days after saying Iran and the West were “closer than ever” to a nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said Sunday night some differences still remained between his country and the six powers. “Still nothing is clear … some differences remain and we are trying and working hard,” the minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was…

Two lion cubs were on Sunday taken from Gaza to Jordan, their former owner said, after their maintenance became too great a financial burden, reports AFP. “We’re very sad. The two lions were like children to us,” Saadi Jamal said of the five-month old male and female big cats named Max and Mona. Jamal, a…

Egypt’s military on Sunday launched airstrikes and ground operations that killed 63 Islamists in North Sinai, security sources said, according to the Reuters news agency. The Sinai has recently witnessed some of the heaviest fighting between security forces and Islamists since the army ousted President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. Security sources…

The anti-Semites have cleverly invented a new word to disguise an old hate. The word is BDS and it has  proven quite effective so far. But the foreign policy of Israel is now fighting the new enemy of the Jewish nation – those people who don’t know Israel from inside, and who take the anti-Israeli position without…

The UN atomic watchdog said Sunday that “senior officials” were flying to Tehran, the AFP news agency reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gave no further details, but on Thursday its chief Yukiya Amano held talks in Tehran on jump-starting a stalled nuclear weapons probe. The investigation is a sticking point in ongoing talks…

The city of Paris, capital of anti-Semitism-plagued France, will construct an $11 million “European Center for Judaism” by the year 2017. So announced Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Joel Mergui, President of the Jewish Consistoire. The Consistoire is the body responsible for providing French Jewry with religious services. “I wouldn’t want us to leave for the summer vacation…

Over the past year, 322 IDF soldiers injured in Operation Protective Edge in Gaza have been recognized as disabled war veterans, the IDF unit for Rehabilitation stated Sunday.  177 IDF soldiers were recognized as handicapped by 20% or more, and 8 were deemed 100% handicapped from their injuries, it said.  72 soldiers were estimated to…

German police have discovered a tank, a torpedo and other illegal weaponry dating back to the Second World War in the basement of a villa in the wealthy town of Heikendorf.  Prosecutors from Kiel, of which Heikendorf is a suburb, ordered the search, suspecting the owner of the house was breaking a law against possessing weapons of…

A Nazi seaside resort off Germany’s Baltic coast is being transformed into luxury holiday apartments, German media has reported.  Block 2 of the Prora resort will be redesigned into 150 luxury apartments, featuring the best in amenities such as chic, modern furniture and heated floors as well as a spa, hot baths and a gym for…

Jewish Home expressed outrage Sunday at the government’s decision to advance Shas measures turning the clock back on religious reforms passed by the previous government, when the Religious-Zionist party controlled the Religious Affairs Ministry.  Ministers approved transferring jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts back from the Justice Ministry to the Religious Affairs Ministry, controlled now by the haredi Shas, as…

The French government will continue to fund a militantly anti-Israel NGO, despite its involvement in last month’s flotilla to break the Israeli army’s blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza, France’s Embassy in Israel as well as the French Foreign Ministry told Arutz Sheva.  As revealed by an Arutz Sheva investigation in June, one of the leading sponsors of the Freedom Flotilla…

The nuclear deal being forged with Iran in Vienna is even worse than the framework agreement made in Lausanne, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated Sunday.  “What is emerging in nuclear talks in Vienna this is not a breakthrough, but a breakdown,” Netanyahu began, during opening remarks for his Sunday Cabinet meeting. “Every day, the concessions…

Police in Uruguay have accused an Israeli embassy security worker of planting a fake explosive device outside the Montevido World Trade Center which houses the Israeli Embassy.  The “incomplete” bomb discovered on June 17 was the third such episode near the Israeli embassy since late last year.  The guard, who has worked for the embassy for nearly nine years…

A large crowd of Jews is waiting for entry to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday morning, on the occasion of the 17th of Tammuz fast that marks the breach of the walls of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple.  The Temple Institute, however, is concerned that they will be denied entry…

MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) said that although he was disappointed at the government decision Sunday to transfer control of the Rabbinical Courts from the Justice Ministry to the Chief Rabbinate, he was satisfied with the decision to reform the conversion system. “The decision ensures that the local rabbinical courts that were set up last…

Gun shop owners are reporting a spike in gun sales, as a result of the current terror wave, and also of new regulations that allow more citizens to buy and hold guns. Yitzchak Mizrahi, who owns the Magnum firearms store in Jerusalem, told Arutz Sheva Sunday that Jews are responding to the ongoing terror attacks in…

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved Sunday a bill submitted by MK Karin Elharar (Yesh Atid) that would regulate the issue of foster care, and favor adoption by next of kin where possible. The bill was passed in an initial reading in the previous Knesset, and the Committee voted to applied the “principle of continuity” to…

The government on Sunday canceled a law passed earlier this year to reform the conversion system in Israel. Control of conversions will return to the central Rabbinical Court system, reversing the law that allowed individuals seeking to convert to approach rabbis outside of their hometowns. Instead of repealing the law, it will be amended – with…

A moving event was held on Friday to mark one year since the establishment of the Oz veGaon Nature Preserve, in memory of Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Sha’er, three Israeli teens kidnapped and brutally murdered by Arab terrorists last summer. Bat-Galim and Ofir Shaer, Gilad’s parents, joined leading rabbis, community leaders and the IDF’s Etzion…

One of the incidents most widely disseminated as “proof” of Israeli war crimes during its defensive Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last year was the deaths of four Arab youths on a Gaza beachfront used exclusively by Hamas terrorists. Foreign journalists reported as fact that Israeli war planes had bombed a beachfront, killing four youths…

Serial Islamist troublemaker Sheikh Ra’ed Salah has made a career of condemning Israel and encouraging Muslim jihad against it, but now he has found a new worry, and target – ISIS, which has threatened to unseat Hamas and take over Gaza. ISIS, said Salah, is “a roadblock in the Islamist agenda,” and he demanded that…

Police say that they believe Palestinian arsonists were behind three separate forest fires near Jerusalem this past week. The fires destroyed over a thousand dunams (one square kilometer). According to Ynet, authorities found several used Molotov cocktails near where today’s (Saturday) fire began. Eyewitnesses also reported seeing people throwing incendiary devices in the area. The…

A 17-year-old was arrested after he broke into the house of Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar today (Saturday). Rabbi Amar and his family are currently abroad, and the house was empty at the time of the crime. According to a report on the Kol Hai radio program, someone called the police during Shabbat to say…

After months of denial, Hamas has finally admitted that the ISIS terrorist group has established a network in Gaza. ISIS-affiliated jihadist groups in Gaza have carried out sporadic rocket attacks against Israel over the past several months, shattering the delicate ceasefire between Israel and Gazan terrorist factions. The attacks have been seen both as a direct…

MK Ahmed Tibi (Joint Arab List) has called on the international community to boycott products from communities in Judea-Samaria. In addition, he says that international pressure should be used to force Israel to abandon its “racist” policies against Palestinians. Tibi’s remarks came during an interview with a Turkish news agency which he conducted while visiting…

MK and former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beitenu) criticized the government’s reaction to yesterday’s rocket fire from Gaza. “What has changed for the worse is not the threats but rather Israel’s deterrence, which has been damaged since Operation Protective Edge,” said Liberman. His remark came during a talk in Be’er Sheva. He added that…

New documents posted on the website Wikileaks purportedly show that the United States regularly spied on senior members of the Brazilian government. According to Wikileaks, “The publication proves that not only President Dilma Rousseff was targeted but also her assistant, her secretary, her chief of staff, her palace office and even the phone in her…

Fighting broke out between Jews and Arabs near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem today (Saturday) after a group of haredim threw stones at cars driven by Arabs. The incident occurred on Haim Bar-Lev Street, not far from the Old City’s Damascus Gate. Reports indicate that an Arab woman was injured and two cars damaged. Police…

Asher Grunis, who finished his term as head of the Supreme Court this January, has announced that he will head the committee to choose Israel’s next attorney general. The current attorney general, Yehuda Weinstein, has held the position since 2010 and will step down next year. The Israeli justice system has been criticized for its…

An anti-Semitic neo-Nazi rally was held in central London Saturday, amid tight security and after weeks of speculation and tensions. But after a dramatic build up the anti-Semitic initiative turned out to be a damp squib. Some two dozen Nazi demonstrators were vastly outnumbered by around 200 Jewish and anti-fascist counter-protesters, and a phalanx of police…

The manager of the Al Midan Theater in Haifa announced Saturday he was leaving his post, days after the Haifa Municipality unfroze funding to the controversial theater.  According to Adnan Tarabash’s family, the manager suffered a car accident several days ago and needs to rest. The theater’s legal advisor, Ghassan Abu Warda, will take over…

Amid reports that Iran and the six world powers are getting closer to signing a permanent agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, a senior Israeli official on Saturday night issued a stern warning about the impending agreement. “The agreement is worse than the interim agreement reached in Lausanne,” the official told Arutz Sheva, “because not only…

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi on Saturday said that Egypt had foiled an attempt by the Islamic State (ISIS) group to seize territory and set up an extremist state in the Sinai, reports The Associated Press (AP). Speaking to members of the army in a televised speech which marked his first public remarks since Wednesday’s multi-pronged…

The nuclear talks between Iran and the six world powers have already been extended several times, but a senior American official on Friday raised the possibility that they could be extended yet again. The official, who was quoted by Reuters and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the nuclear talks could run past a July…

A rocket fired from Egypt exploded in southern Israel’s Gaza belt region Friday afternoon. Residents of the area were forced into rocket shelters after sirens sounded at approximately 4:20 p.m. local time. No damage or injuries has been reported. The IDF temporarily closed Route 12 as a “security precaution.” Unlike other recent rocket attacks, which…

Palestinian Islamist terror group Hamas on Friday dismissed as “propaganda” an Israeli claim that it provided support related to this week’s jihadist attacks against Egyptian soldiers in Sinai. “The occupation’s (Israel) statements about Hamas helping IS are stupid accusations… and propaganda that aims to incite against Hamas,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP, referring to the…

A new Islamist rebel alliance, including Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, was locked in a fierce battle Friday to seize government-held areas of Aleppo, the divided former economic capital. Once a powerhouse of industry, Aleppo has been devastated by years of fighting between regime forces and a succession of rebel groups. Clashes raged overnight as the Islamist alliance,…

Yukiya Amano, head of the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), revealed on Friday after visiting Iran the day before that more work will be needed to achieve a nuclear deal. “I believe that both sides have a better understanding on some ways forward, though more work will be needed,” Amano said in…

Arab MK Jamal Zahalka (Joint Arab List) gave an interview in a Hamas magazine on Thursday, in which he attacked Israel’s policies toward the Palestinian Arabs.  Zahalka accused Israel of silencing any voice which contradicts its import and export restrictions to Hamas – the terror group which has lobbed over 3,600 rockets at Israeli civilians in a…

The Hamas terrorist organization has claimed that it has achieved a deterrent balance of force against the IDF as it continues to expand the missiles, weaponry and terror tunnels in Gaza. In a festive event on Thursday celebrating the completion of a military course, senior Hamas official Ahmed Bahar, who is the first deputy of the…

Nationalist politicians have risen to the defense of IDF Binyamin Brigade Commander Yisrael Shomer on Friday, after he was forced to shoot dead a Palestinian Arab terrorist hurling large rocks at the IDF vehicle he was in. “Whoever rises to kill you, kill him first,” Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) stated on Facebook Friday. “I fully…

The UN’s cultural body, UNESCO, on Friday condemned the destruction by Islamic State (ISIS) group jihadists of antiquities in the Syrian city of Palmyra, describing it as an attempt to strip the people of their heritage in order “to enslave them”. “These new destructions of cultural goods of the site of Palmyra reflect the brutality…

Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate for the presidency 2016, has been hinting to wealthy Jewish donors that she will be a better friend to Israel than President Barack Obama, Politico revealed on Friday. According to the report, the former Secretary of State has stated to the donors that she would be better for Israel…

Hamas on Friday for the first time openly condemned the ongoing terrorism in the Sinai Peninsula. Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk said that he condemns the series of recent terror attacks which he said “undermine our security”, according to Yedioth Ahronoth. Abu Marzouk explained that Hamas has improved its relations with Egypt recently, saying, “We’ve…

Iran and the six major powers are closer than ever to reaching a nuclear agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed on Friday. “We are ready to strike a balanced and good deal and open new horizons to address important common challenges,” he said in a statement broadcast on YouTube and was quoted by…

The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group’s affiliate in Egypt claimed responsibility for a rocket attack from the Sinai Peninsula into southern Israel on Friday, AFP reports. “Three Grad rockets were fired at Jewish positions in occupied Palestine,” the group, now known as Sinai Province and previously called Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis, said in a statement on…

A civilian was killed on Friday during the clearing of a demonstration in Cairo, the Egyptian health ministry spokesman told Reuters. The demonstration marked the second anniversary of the army’s overthrow of president Mohammed Morsi following mass protests in 2013. According to Reuters, the protest took place in the southern Cairo district of Dar al-Salaam…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu denounced the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, following its decision to endorse the report accusing Israel of war crimes during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. “The UN Human Rights Council is not interested in the facts and is not really interested in human rights,” Netanyahu charged in a…

Boko Haram, the Nigerian terrorist group that joined Islamic State (ISIS) in March, conducted a massacre on Wednesday as it shot up mosques and murdered 80 Muslims at prayer during the fast month of Ramadan, according to residents. The attack took place in the remote town of Kukawa, located in northeast Nigeria, and due to the…

Terrorists ambushed IDF forces in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Qalandiya early Friday morning, pelting them with rocks.  IDF soldiers on duty returned fire and killed one of the terrorists. There were no injuries to IDF forces.  On Tuesday evening, a terrorist attempted to ram his car into the same checkpoint, screaming “Allahu Akhbar.” IDF forces…

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) security forces conducted a wave of arrests over the course of Thursday night targeting Hamas, the rival of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction. The arrests were concentrated around the areas of Hevron and Bethlehem in Judea, as well as Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria. According to Arab media cited by Walla!, no fewer…

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) denounced President Barack Obama’s decision to open an embassy in Cuba before Washington has an embassy in Jerusalem. “How sad is it that under the Obama administration the United States is going to have an embassy in Havana before we have an embassy in Jerusalem?” Cruz said Wednesday’s on…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani plan to meet in Russia’s city of Ufa next week, a Kremlin spokesman said Thursday, according to Reuters. “Yes, (the meeting is) expected and we really prepare such (a) meeting,” the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was quoted as having told reporters. Russia holds the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit…

Bil’am and Balak fail miserably, and then ‘succeed’ when Israel shoots itself in the foot (so to speak). Overview of the sedra and a look at the upcoming postponed 17th of Tammuz fast day. Click here to download the podcast

Eight suspects, including a woman, remain in custody on suspicion of being directly linked to last Friday’s deadly attack on holidaymakers in the Tunisian resort of Sousse, a minister said Thursday, according to the BBC. Four other people who had been detained have been released, he added. The minister, Kamel Jendoubi, said at a media…

A leading Mennonite group on Thursday delayed a decision on divesting from companies with business tied to Judea and Samaria, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The Mennonite Church USA was set to vote this week on whether it should sell off stock in companies “known to be profiting from the occupation” and from “destruction of…

France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, on Thursday left the nuclear talks taking place with Iran in Vienna. However, he said he would return Sunday evening in the hope that sufficient progress had been made over the next few days to reach a final deal, Reuters reported. “There has been some progress, but we are not…

In the ancient city of Hevron in Judea dozens of Jewish residents protested on Friday morning against the IDF Hevron District Commander’s recent decision to open dozens of previously closed Arab stores. The stores are located on the central road leading to the Cave of Machpelah, where the Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs – other than Rachel –…

Turkey has no plans to intervene militarily in Syria anytime soon, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, refuting media speculation about an imminent operation to create a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border. “No one should expect that Turkey will go into Syria tomorrow or in the near future. It’s speculation,” Davutoglu told the private Kanal 7 broadcaster in an interview late Thursday. While…

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled this week that a monument with the Ten Commandments from the Torah chiseled on it, located on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds, violates the state’s constitutional ban on placing religious symbols on public property. The 7-2 ruling on Tuesday stated that the Ten Commandments engraved in English on the 6-foot tall granite monument…

A seemingly routine IDF self-defense procedure, in which Binyamin Region Brigade Commander Col. Yisrael Shomer shot dead a Palestinian Arab who attack his car with rocks in Qalandiya, has elicited strong reactions from defense officials and politicians Friday.  Military officials affirmed to Walla! News that Shomer acted according to protocol. “The images that come out left no doubt:…

The recently extended nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, now in their final stretch ahead of an extended deadline next Tuesday, will successfully reach a deal ahead of that deadline according to Russia’s top negotiator. Negotiator Sergei Ryabkov on Thursday told the Russian TASS news agency that a deal will be reached “in the coming days,” reports AFP on Friday.…

Terrorists ambushed IDF forces in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Qalandiya early Friday morning, pelting them with rocks. The attack targeted the car of Binyamin Division Commander Col. Yisrael Shomer. Shomer returned fire and killed one of the terrorists, who was identified as Mohammed Kosba, 17. There were no injuries to IDF forces in the exchange.  The IDF has backed…

On Thursday, a trial was held in the case against Amin Bouslamat, a 19-year-old Muslim who threatened the lives of Barnea Hasid, who serves as the Israeli Consul-General in Marseilles, and Jewish MP Meir Habib. Bouslamat was sentenced to one year of prison with the option of conditional release.  Amin sent to Habib and Hussein Islamic…

Police prepared in large numbers Thursday for what could be a restive weekend as Arabs in Jerusalem commemorate the one year anniversary of the death of Mohammed Abu Khder. The youth, 16, was kidnapped from eastern Jerusalem on July 2 and burned to death. Three Jews – a 29 year old and two 16 year olds –…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu paid a visit Thursday to the CyberSpark Industry Initiative in Be’er Sheva and spoke about the deadly ISIS attack in Sinai yesterday. “Until a few months ago, when we said ISIS was operating on our borders, people were skeptical, and here we see before our eyes how ISIS acts with extraordinary…

This week Ira Rod discuss the recent Supreme Court Decision that allows for same sex marriage in the United States. In their discussion they make the distinction between what is not acceptable according to Torah law, and what the Jewish position is on human dignity. Click here to download the podcast

Although he has come out against the idea of public transportation operating on Shabbat, a scheduling change instituted by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz is likely to make it much easier for buses to roll on the holy day. According to research by the News1 Hebrew-language site, Katz has canceled a long-standing Ministry policy that requires…

July 4th isn’t just the anniversary of American independence – it’s also the anniversary of the 1976 Entebbe operation (known as Operation Jonathan and Operation Thundebolt), the Israeli military raid that rescued over 100 Israelis and Jews, who were being held hostage by Arab terrorists in Uganda with the cooperation of then-Ugandan President Idi Amin, Thirty nine years…

A young man from Bet El has been in jail for three weeks because despite being released to house arrest because the judge ordered him to wear electronic handcuffs, and these were not allowed in Judea and Samaria until 15 days ago, when a new law took force. The new director of the electronic monitoring…

Israel said Thursday that Hamas was actively assisting the ISIS terrorist militia that killed over 70 Egyptian soldiers in a multi-pronged attack Wednesday. “We have clear information that Hamas supports the Walayat Sinai organization, which belongs to ISIS,” Major General Yoav Mordechai said, in an Arabic-language interview for Al Jazeera. “In the latest attacks, Hamas…

ISIS’s escalating campaign against the Egyptian government – culminating in the assassination of the country’s chief prosecutor and yesterday’s bloody attacks in the Sinai Peninsula – have raised a great deal of questions vis-a-vis the extent and nature of the jihadist group’s presence in the Arab world’s most populous country. Is ISIS’s Egyptian branch –…

The fate meted out to the ten thousand Jews who were booted out of their homes in Gush Katif by Ariel Sharon was “unfortunate, but it was necessary,” according to his son, Gilad Sharon. In an interview with Army Radio, the son of the late prime minister, whose 2005 Disengagement plan spelled a death sentence for…

A report of shots fired early Thursday at the same Washington Navy Yard where a gunman killed 12 people in 2013 prompted a massive police response and lockdown, but after an extensive search, authorities issued an ‘all clear’ at the facility.  The US Navy also confirmed there was no sign of a shooting. “All personnel OK,” the…

Border Police officers were able on Thursday night to foil a planned stabbing attack near Hevron. The incident began when an 18-year-old Palestinian Arab arrived at a Border Police station. The officers noticed that the suspect was acting suspiciously and called on him to stop. As the officers were arresting the suspect, he dropped a…

A senior Islamic State (ISIS) leader who recruited funds and fighters and procured weapons for the jihadists has been killed in a coalition airstrike in Syria, the Pentagon said Thursday, according to the AFP news agency. The leader was identified as Tariq bin Tahar al-Awni al-Harzi. He was killed in the northern city of Shaddadi…

Residents were evacuated from their homes in the village of Yavne’el in northern Israel, and near Maale Hahamisha in the Jerusalem area, as two fires were burning Thursday night. Six firefighting crews were battling the blaze between Yavne’el and Sharona in the lower Galilee. Residents of homes in Yavne’el were evacuated from their homes as…

The IDF has announced that Highway 12 will be closed to traffic starting at 5:00 am Friday, because of the danger posed by fighting between ISIS and Egyptian military in the Sinai desert. The highway circumvents the mountains of Eilat from the north and west, and connects Eilat to Highway 10 and Highway 40, which…

MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union/Labor) on Thursday praised the performance of IDF soldiers during the Second Lebanon War. Speaking at a state ceremony in honor of the soldiers killed during the 2006 war. “Today it is clear not only how justified that war was, but also how the IDF’s response and power has kept the…

President Barack Obama formally announced on Wednesday that the United States and Cuba have both agreed to open embassies in each other’s capitals, branding the move “a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas.” The American…

Major powers and Iran are making progress in their talks on a nuclear agreement but some very difficult issues remain, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on Wednesday, according to Reuters. “We have some very difficult issues, but we believe we are making progress and we are going to continue to work because…

Egypt’s government on Wednesday night adopted a controversial anti-terror law and requested a faster court appeals process, AFP reports. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who vowed to adopt tougher measures following the killing of state prosecutor Hisham Barakat on Monday, is expected to swiftly ratify the law, the report said. Wednesday’s draft law will provide “means…

A 17-year-old Ukrainian student will be deported from Poland for snapping a photo of himself waving his middle finger at a memorial dedicated to Jews who were exterminated at the Majdanek death camp during World War II, the Sputnik news agency reported Wednesday. The student, Vladislav Kucher, posted the photo along with a brief offensive…

The head of the UN cultural organization, UNESCO, on Wednesday called for a campaign against the “culture cleansing” being carried out by Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists. “Extremists don’t destroy heritage as a collateral damage, they target it systematically to strike societies at their core,” Irina Bokova said in a speech at the Chatham House think…

For the past several months, I’ve been privileged to be on the faculty of this amazing organization called Root Source (root-source.com). There are many Christians around the world who understand that Judaism is the root of their belief and practice, and are therefore anxious to know more about their source, hence the term “root source”.…

Terrorists will continue to pay a heavy price, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday night, shortly after the IDF announced it had finished sealing the home of one of the terrorists who carried out the massacre at the Har Nof synagogue in Jerusalem last November. In a statement, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said it…

Former IDF chief rabbi, Brigadier General Rabbi Avichai Rontzki, called on the Israeli government Thursday to decisively end the latest wave of terror before it explodes.  Noting that the current wave of violence is nothing new, Rabbi Rontzki said: “My children and grandchildren are also traveling on the roads day and night, and as someone who served for many…

UNRWA, the UN body tasked with aiding “Palestinian refugees,” has warned that it may have to close its schools as it goes bankrupt after years of falling into debt. Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA media adviser, said that the financial deficit may cause the body to close 700 schools in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan at the…

A day after Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav chose to return funding to the Al Midan Theater, a city council member who apparently signed on to the financing alleged he could not have given his approval, as he was recovering from surgery. Al Midan recently sparked outrage with its play “The Parallel Time,” about the life of Walid Daka, one of…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu personally eulogized Nicholas Winton, who passed away on Wednesday at the ripe old age of 106 and was dubbed the “British Schindler” for his work saving hundreds of Jewish children during the Holocaust. “The Jewish people and the State of Israel owe an eternal debt to Nicholas Winton who singlehandedly saved hundreds…

Leading members of Congress are pressing US President Barack Obama to abandon his attempts to force through a nuclear deal with Iran, after the deadline for talks was extended on Tuesday to July 7 in a last gasp week-long reprieve. In response to the desperate efforts to reach a deal despite the obvious differences in position that…

Israel’s first ambassador to Iran, Dr. Meir Ezri, passed away on Tuesday aged 92. Ezri pioneered Israel’s relations with pre-revolution Iran, when the country was ruled by the pro-Western Shah, or king. Iran’s last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, headed by Ayatollah Khomeini. The revolution ushered in the current era of Shia…

A 10-second video released by campaigners has graphically highlighted anti-Jewish discrimination on the Temple Mount. The clip, recorded yesterday (Wednesday) and uploaded the same day by the Temple Institute, shows a group of Jewish visitors being harassed and heckled by a large mob of Muslim provocateurs as they enter the Mount, which is Judaism’s holiest…

First Lieutenant R. is the second female religious combat navigator in the history of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), and in a special interview with Walla! published Thursday she spoke of Lt. Tamar Ariel, her pioneering predecessor who was tragically killed last October in a lethal Nepalese avalanche. R., whose name was kept secret for her safety, is…

The subsidiary of an Israeli defense electronics firm has won a contract from the Dutch of Ministry of Defense worth $150 million, Reuters reported. Elbit Systems Ltd said Thursday that its subsidiary will be tasked with providing advanced systems for infantry soldiers in the Benelux countries – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemberg.  The contract, set to last a period of five…

Potato farming is the main industry in Prince Edward Island (PEI) in Canada, but one treacherous individual has put that industry – and the safety of countless potato eaters – at risk by covertly pushing needles and nails into potatoes as they grow. The PEI Potato Board has grown desperate and put out a 500,000…

The IDF is taking extra precautions along Israel’s southern borders on Wednesday, after a group associated with the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Sinai Peninsula launched a coordinated attack against Egypt that killed 50 Egyptian soldiers.  One hour after the attack security officials closed the Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossings, according to Maariv, after they deemed both as…

President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday morning hosted a group of over 70 Israeli and North American Jewish students, and noted that those studying in American university campuses are on the “front lines” of the battle against anti-Semitism couched in the guise of antagonism to the Jewish state. Rivlin began by welcoming the students, who are participating in the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) on Wednesday visited the Border Patrol guard who was stabbed at Rachel’s Tomb on Monday, by her bedside at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center. “We visited now the wounded, who have shown very impressive courage, composure, and spirit,” Netanyahu stated. “We, the Defense Minister and I, wished them a speedy recovery,…

Border Patrol officer Raz Bibi, who was critically wounded when an Arab terrorist stabbed him at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City two weeks ago, was released from hospital on Wednesday and visited the Kotel (Western Wall) to offer a prayer of thanks for his miraculous recovery. Bibi arrived at the Kotel Plaza to…

Sir Nichloas Winton, the man dubbed the “British Schindler” for saving hundreds of Jewish children in Prague from the Nazis before World War II, has died at 106 Wednesday, his family announced.  Winton passed peacefully in his sleep at Wexham Hospital, his son in-law Stephen Watson told the BBC.  Winton was born in London in 1909 to German-Jewish parents, but…

The Jewish Home party on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to respond to the latest wave of terrorist attacks by renewing construction in Judea and Samaria and by cancelling some of the “gestures” given to Palestinian Arabs in honor of Ramadan. The call was made after members of the faction held an urgent…

A female resident in the Jewish town of Adora, located to the west of Hevron in Judea, had the alertness and presence of mind to thwart an attack on Wednesday afternoon. The resident spotted an Arab who had breached the security fence of the town and infiltrated into the community. She quickly contacted the town’s security squad, which together…

Egyptian air force F-16 fighter jets pounded jihadist positions in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, Wednesday afternoon. The airstrikes were in response to a deadly coordinated attack against 15 separate military positions by an affiliate of the ISIS terrorist group, which left at least 50 Egyptian soldiers dead. Egyptian security officials said jets hit ISIS positions in…

Roughly 1,000 concerned citizens turned out on Wednesday night to protest in front of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, calling for action against the recent surge in terrorist attacks during the Muslim month of Ramadan that began mid-June. The turnout at the protest, which began at 6:30 p.m., is high for a weekday protest by Israeli…

Eliezer and Sara Rosenfeld, the parents of 26-year-old Malachi, who was fatally wounded by an Arab terrorist who shot him and his three friends as they returned home from a basketball game Monday night, spoke publicly on Kol Hai radio on Wednesday night. The Rosenfeld family has already buried another son. Thirteen years ago, on March 29, 2002, Lt. Yitzchak-Menachem…

Israel and the United States must stand up “to all the forces of militant Islam” including Iran and the Islamic State (ISIS), Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday evening as he spoke at the Fourth of July celebrations at U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro’s residence in Herzliya. “This is a great day because…

While nuclear talks have been held up by – among other things – Iran’s demand to have all sanctions removed immediately, the Islamic regime showed how the current sanctions regime has been unable to punish its economy as it repatriated 13 tons of gold this week. Iranian officials on Monday announced the transfer by the South African…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) visited the IDF’s Judea and Samaria Division headquarters on Wednesday night, and was briefed by commanders of the sector following the recent spate of terror attacks. Ya’alon visited the scene of Monday night’s shooting attack outside Shvut Rachel in which three people were injured, and one, Malachi Rosenfeld, was fatally wounded, as…

The family of IDF soldier Moshe Tamam, who was brutally murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists in 1984, expressed their shock on Wednesday night after Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav decided to continue funding the controversial Al Midan Theater. The Arab theater, which had its funds frozen by Culture Minister Miri Regev (Likud) last month, has stirred controversy…

Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL) on Wednesday sharply condemned the US State Department’s statement the night before, which announced that the US will only defend Israel from boycotts targeting parts of the country within the 1949 Armistice lines. Roskam is among those behind the anti-BDS amendment to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal which calls to defend Israel from the…

Big-box retail giant Walmart is under fire once again on Wednesday, after a Louisiana store printed an Islamic State (ISIS) cake after rejecting an order for a cake with the Confederate flag.  Sidell, Louisiana resident Chuck Netzhammer ordered a cake with the message “Heritage, not Hate” over the confederate flag at his local Walmart this week,…

Iran continued to block a website dedicated to providing information on the Holocaust and Jewish-Muslim relations, the US State Department revealed.  According to the State Department’s annual report on human rights, Iran’s government has continuously blocked the Persian-language website of the Aladdin Project, a foreign-based NGO launched by the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah.  In…

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday launched his 2016 campaign for president, promising to “tell voters the truth even if it makes them cringe”, reports The Associated Press (AP). “You’re going to get what I think whether you like it or not, or whether it makes you cringe every once in a while or…

President Barack Obama will announce on Wednesday that the United States and Cuba have reached an agreement to open embassies in Havana and Washington, an administration official confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday. The announcement marks a major step in ending hostilities between the longtime foes and an opportunity to re-establish formal diplomatic relations. The…

A UN envoy who has spent two months meeting with key players in Syria will address the Security Council next week to make recommendations for ending the war, AFP reported on Tuesday. The envoy, Staffan de Mistura, will be in New York from Monday to meet with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and brief the 15-member council,…

The IDF decided on Tuesday evening to beef up its presence in Judea and Samaria, in the wake of the recent wave of terror attacks, Walla! News reported. A senior IDF official told the Hebrew-language news website that, in order to try to prevent further deterioration in the security situation in the region, the IDF…

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday warned major powers that his country would resume its halted nuclear work if they went back on a proposed final deal. “If we reach a deal, both sides should be committed to it,” Rouhani said in Tehran, according to the Reuters news agency. “If the other side breaches the…

Nearly a year since the end of a devastating 51-day war and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza are stronger than ever, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh asserted on Wednesday.  Speaking during a tour of Rafah, Palestinian media reported, Haniyeh claimed that Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades military wing is more powerful and prepared for protecting Gaza from “Zionist” threats than ever before.  Haniyeh said upcoming days would bring “good…

The United States will only defend Israel from boycotts targeting parts of the country within the 1949 Armistice Lines, the State Department declared Tuesday night.  The announcement comes after President Barack Obama signed his “fast track” trade bill – which also contains legislation combating the BDS movement in Europe – into law on Monday.  The anti-BDS amendment to the Trans-Pacific Partnership…

Israel’s security forces have uncovered a large-scale effort by Hamas to create an operative terror infrastructure in Samaria. About 40 terrorists have been arrested in Shechem (Nablus) and its environs in recent months. The matter was under a gag order but has now been allowed for publication. Some of those arrested are senior members of…

Syrian Kurdish forces regained full control of Tal Abyad on Wednesday, expelling Islamic State fighters who had seized a district of the strategic border town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “Kurdish fighters expelled ISIS from the Mashur al-Fawqani district that they had captured yesterday (Tuesday),” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory.  He said at least…

A Syrian rebel group operating around Damascus has executed 18 alleged members of the Islamic State group in a videomimicking the extremist organization’s own macabre productions. The video, which emerged overnight, AFP reported, shows fighters from Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam) wearing the orange prison clothes that ISIS victims often sport. The ISIS prisoners however are wearing black clothes and…

Loading… Malachi Moshe Rosenfeld, 26, is being brought to rest at Kochav Hashachar, in the Binyamin region. He was murdered by terrorist gunmen on Monday. Hundreds of friends and relatives are taking part in the funeral, including Education Minister Naftali Bennett. Rabbi Ohad Krakover, the community’s rabbi, eulogized Malachi and said tearfully, “We demand that…

A two thousand year old ritual bath (mikve) was recently discovered beneath a living room floor during renovations of a private home in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem.  The mikve, fully complete and quite large, is rock-hewn and meticulously plastered according to the Jewish laws of purity. A staircase leads to the bottom of the…

A multi-pronged jihadist attack against the Egyptian military in the Sinai Peninsula has left at least 60 Egyptian soldiers dead, according to Arab reports cited by NRG. Other sources said there were at least 30 dead. The attacks included a suicide car bomb detonated against a military checkpoint at Sheikh Zuweid in northern Sinai, which…

Yesha Council chairman Avi Roeh and head of the pre-military academy in Eli, Rabbi Eli Sadan, arrived Wednesday to the Prime Minister’s Residence to protest a wave of terror attacks that have struck the Binyamin region in recent days.  Blasting Israel’s current security policy, as led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, as “immoral,” Rabbi Sadan told Arutz Sheva that…

Security forces sealed the home of one of the terrorists who carried out the massacre at the Har Nof synagogue in Jerusalem on November 18. The action was carried out Wednesday morning at the home of one of the two terrorists, in eastern Jerusalem’s Jabel Mukaber neighborhood. The four victims – Rabbi Moshe Twersky, Rabbi…

The level of anti-Semitic attitudes among the general population in France showed a dramatic decline this year, while Germany and Belgium registered significant reductions, according to a new poll from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released Tuesday. The ADL thinks the change reflects the shock caused by the violence against Jews in Western Europe the past…

Head of the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet/Shabak) Yoram Cohen warned the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Hamas is already prepared to launch another terror war against Israel, just a year on from last summer’s war with Israel . Cohen and other ISA officials gave a complete picture of the…

The June 30 deadline on talks between world powers and Iran over the Islamic regime’s clandestine nuclear program rolled around on Tuesday with no conclusion, as the two sides were forced to extend the deadline to July 7. An announcement on the extension of talks was released by the US State Department, adding that Iran…

A suspected terrorist has been shot attempting to break through an IDF checkpoint just west of Jerusalem. According to local security forces, an Arab man driving a BMW drove his car at high speed towards security guards while shouting “Allahu Akbar!” Security forces responded by firing in the air and ordering the attacker to stop, at…

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un runs a strict regime where any minor slight may cost one’s life, as illustrated graphically by the fate of senior designer Ma Won-Chun, the architect behind the new terminal of Pyongyang Airport. Ma was notably absent from the gaudy press pictures released by the state of a smiling Kim touring the new…

A jittery Jordan is preparing to create a security zone in southern Syria to fend off a possible jihadist advance across the border, in what would be the first such humanitarian “buffer zone” established in the civil war-torn country. According to the UK Financial Times, sources familiar with the plans say the buffer zone would cover the Daraa and Suwayda…

One of the victims of last night’s terrorist shooting attack in the Binyamin region, north of Jerusalem, has succumbed to his wounds. Malachi Moshe Rosenfeld, a 25-year-old resident of Kochav Hashachar, was among four Israeli civilians wounded by a terrorist gunman outside the village of Shvut Rachel, next to Shiloh. With great sorrow the Rosenfeld family announce…

Palpably illustrating its indifference to the Arab Christian population’s fate, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) unity government on Tuesday largely brushed off the detailed threat by an Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate in Jerusalem to “purify” the city of Christians. The ISIS announcement was posted in the eastern part of the capital city last Thursday, and in…

Turkey sought to calm speculation Tuesday it was planning to invade Syria, saying it would not act unilaterally but has a right to protect its borders. “To interpret our border security measures as ‘Turkey is going to war’… is not very rational,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told a press conference in Ankara. “A country has…

Two British groups have announced plans to hold an exhibition featuring cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Sharia Watch UK and Vive Charlie on Tuesday announced their intention to hold the exhibition in central London in September of 2015, noting the event will feature controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who recently caused a storm in his…

Norwegian prosecutors are seeking an eight-year jail sentence for a jihadist who they say fought for the Islamic State (ISIS) group and an affiliate of Al Qaeda in Syria, media reported Tuesday. The 24-year-old Norwegian, named as Ishaq Ahmed by the TV2 channel, left for Syria in October 2013. Prosecutors say he fought for ISIS before joining the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate. He…

A protest rally was held on Tuesday evening outside the village of Shvut Rachel, next to Shiloh in the Binyamin region, the spot where Malachi Moshe Rosenfeld was murdered on Monday night by a terrorist gunman. Hundreds of residents of the Binyamin region participated in the rally, which began with evening prayers and reading of…

US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he is still willing to walk away from a potential nuclear accord with Iran if Tehran doesn’t agree to a verifiable inspections process that satisfies the US and the five other world powers involved in the negotiations.” “There’s still some hard negotiations left to take place,” he said.…

A Jewish man’s car was attacked outside a synagogue by an ax-wielding man in London, just hours after a Jewish elementary school nearby was vandalized with sickening anti-Semitic graffiti. The two incidents took place Tuesday in the London neighborhood of Stamford Hill, which is home to a large Orthodox Jewish community. Graffiti reading “f*** the Jews” was…

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has laid the blame for the recent series of terrorist attacks squarely at the feet of the Palestinian Authority. Speaking during a tour of the Golan Heights, Yaalon said the PA’s continued incitement to violence and glorification of terrorism directly fueled the spate of attacks, which included the murders of…

The leadership of Kochav Hashachar, in the Binyamin region, published a statement Tuesday floowing the death of Malachi Moshe Rosenfeld hy”d, 25, who was gunned down north of Jerusalem Monday. “The entire community embraces, with pain and warmth, the Rosenfeld family, and the families of the wounded, and is united in prayer for their recovery,”…

Cyprus on Monday sentenced to six years in jail a Lebanese man who pleaded guilty to terror charges linked to 8.2 tons of potential bomb-making material found in his home, reports the AFP news agency. Judicial authorities said that Hussein Bassam Abdallah, who also has a Canadian passport, was a member of the so-called “military…

American authorities on Monday arrested a 23-year-old New Jersey man on charges of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State (ISIS) group after he helped his brother travel to the Middle East, allegedly to join the group, AFP reported. The Justice Department said the man, Alaa Saadeh, bought his brother a plane ticket…

Hours after it was seized by naval troops, the Swedish ship Marianne which had taken part in the latest “freedom flotilla” to Gaza, arrived at the Ashdod Port on Monday night. 16 foreign nationals who were on the ship were transferred to the Population and Immigration Authority. The foreign nationals are expected to go through…

Global powers negotiating with Iran have drawn up a system which will give the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to all suspect Iranian sites, a senior American official said Monday, though Secretary of State John Kerry said it was too soon to tell whether a deal was possible. “We have worked out a process…

For the second time, members of the ZAKA emergency medical service participated in a multi-nation drill with the United States Military. The drill, which takes place once every two years, was held in the state of Indiana this year. This year’s drill simulated a scenario of an 8.3-magnitude earthquake hitting the city of Bloomington in…

During last year’s Gaza war, Hamas did more to inflict death, suffering and destruction on its own civilian population than any other terrorist group in history, Colonel (ret.) Richard Kemp said on Monday. Kemp was speaking at an alternative event in Geneva to reveal the failings of the UN report accusing Israel of “war crimes” in…

The saga continues as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) negotiations with Hamas and Islamic Jihad continue to sputter in their attempts to form a new unity government, after Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the last dysfunctional government earlier this month. Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior head of Abbas’s Fatah faction and the leader of the PLO committee…

Clever work by the IDF helped reduce international press coverage of the “aid to Gaza” flotilla to practically zero. Israel Navy commandos boarded the Swedish ship Marianne, part of the anti-Israel flotilla bringing relatively small amounts of aid to Gaza, early Monday morning. As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu explained Monday afternoon, the goods on the ship are equal…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called out the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Tuesday, noting that it has not condemned the wave of terror attacks stemming directly from territory under its control since Ramadan began earlier this month.  Speaking at a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentilloni, Netanyahu first wished the victims of Monday’s attacks a speedy recovery. …

Israel deported Tunisian ex-president Moncef Marzouki and European parliament member Ana Miranda on Tuesday after they took part in the anti-Israel flotilla destined for Gaza.  “The (former) president of Tunisia and the Spanish lawmaker flew this morning. There are another 14 who have begun the expulsion process,” a spokeswoman for Israel’s immigration authority told AFP. Israel had on Monday commandeered the Swedish-flagged…

Intelligence and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) spoke on Tuesday about the morphing terror threat in Gaza, where a Salafist affiliate of Islamic State (ISIS) has recently been growing active and has coordinated activity with the ISIS branch in the Sinai. Speaking at an intelligence and special units conference which was held in Tel Aviv for…

As world powers and Iran reach a deadline Tuesday – which may be extended – for talks on the Islamic regime’s nuclear program, Israel is taking steps to prepare for a military strike on Tehran’s nuclear facilities so as to defend itself from the impending threat. Iran has refused to allow inspections of its covert…

Orange Telecom could pay millions of shekels to its Israeli franchisee, Partner Communications, after a new agreement reached against the backdrop of the former’s boycott remarks.  In the agreement, both companies will evaluate use of the franchise in Israel under a detailed market study over a 12-month period; both companies will have the right to terminate the…

Dozens of residents from Kochav Hashachar held morning prayers at the Kochav Hashachar junction Tuesday to protest the shooting attack overnight Monday/Tuesday in which four residents of the community were wounded. Israel Police forces arrived and allowed the prayer session to continue, telling Arab drivers in the region to take alternative routes to avoid conflict.  Many…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group has beheaded two women in Syria on accusations of “sorcery,” the first such execution of women in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Tuesday. “The Islamic State group executed two women by beheading them in Deir Ezzor province, and this is the first time the Observatory has documented women being killed by the group in…

MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), a resident of Kedumim in Samaria, said Tuesday following the terror wave in the Binyamin region that his party has the right to threaten a coalition crisis if the government does not start getting tougher on terror. “If [Kadima Chairman Moshe] Kahlon and [Shas Chairman Aryeh] Deri have the right…

Israel’s highest-ranking diplomat in Ankara was reprimanded on Monday by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, after seven Turkish nationals were refused entry to Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday.  Embassy charge d’affaires Amira Oron was also summoned to a meeting with the Foreign Ministry on Friday over the incident. Israel confirmed the meeting took place, but refused to speak of its…

France wants a new international group made up of the United States, European powers and Arab countries to be set up to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday. “It could be a sort of Quartet-plus,” Fabius told reporters, according to AFP, referring to the foursome led by former British prime minister Tony Blair that included the United…

International security, legal, human rights and Middle East experts are taking part in an “alternative event” in Geneva Monday evening, to counter a report by the UN Human Rights Council on last summer’s conflict between Israel and Gazan terrorists widely condemned as biased. The alternative event started at 5 p.m. local time (6 p.m. Israel-time) with a panel…

The Berlin Philharmonic’s conductor to-be will no longer be giving interviews after two major German media outlets published articles describing him using anti-Semitic stereotypes.  Kirill Petrenko, 43, who is of Russian Jewish origin, was last week appointed to take over as conductor for the Berlin Philharmonic starting in 2018. He currently serves as the director for the Bavarian State Opera…

Israel Prize laureate and celebrated painter Yosl Bergner celebrates 95, and last weekend he hosted a special meeting in his Tel Aviv studio with the President of the Zionist Federation of Australia Dr. Danny Lamm and Chaim Chesler, founder of Limmud FSU, an organization that aims to strengthen the Jewish identity and heritage in Jewish communities all…

A father and his two sons were attacked on Monday morning by an Arab, who threw stones and shoes at them, as they visited the Temple Mount.  The father said that a group of Muslim women verbally attacked him and his two sons, while a group of ten policeman sat by doing nothing.  “The police just tried to…

More than 150 children “of Martyrs and prisoners” participated in a Palestinian Authority camp named “Jerusalem in the Eyes of the Lion Cubs and Flowers of Palestine,” Palestinian Media Watch reports Monday. The summer camp is run by the PA security forces in coordination with Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah’s youth movement “the Lion Cubs and Flowers of Palestine.”  Campers danced…

The Israel Police’s Jerusalem District Commander, Maj. Gen. Moshe “Chico” Edri, and the Commander of Jerusalem’s Border Police, Brig. Gen. Yizhar Peled, paid a visit Monday afternoon to the beside of the Border Policewoman who was wounded earlier in the day when a female Arab terrorist stabbed her at the Rachel’s Tomb checkpoint. The two men…

Yisrael Beytenu Chairman, Avigdor Liberman, said Monday afternoon that his faction will vote against the government in Monday’s Knesset vote, on a resolution that would give the government authority to circumvent an anti-trust law and sign a deal with the entrepreneurship monopoly that is producing offshore natural gas. Nevertheless, he said that he fully supports…

Yossi Dagan, the acting head of the Shomron Regional Council, on Monday night called on the government to take action against terrorism. Dagan’s comments came after the latest terrorist attack in which four people were wounded in a shooting attack near the community of Shvut Rachel in the Binyamin region. “We have recently witnessed an…

Terrorists opened fire on Monday evening on an Israeli vehicle near the community of Shvut Rachel in the Binyamin region. Four people were wounded in the attack, including one seriously. Two of the victims were evacuated to the Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem, among them the seriously wounded victim and one more in light-to-moderate condition.…

A number of participants in the Interior Ministry’s cadet course refused to participate in a scheduled tour of Judea and Samaria, Channel 10 reported on Monday.  During the first stage of the course, the cadets, Jews and Arabs alike, toured the periphery and Arab communities within the 1949 Armistice Lines.  But then two weeks ago, when the trainees were…

While Islamic State was once associated with Al Qaeda, the atrocities it has committee have now banned its members from paradise, a prominent Al Qaeda terrorist warned in a publication released Monday.  “While no one can deny the considerable strength and prowess of the Islamic State group [ISIS] in military terms, at the same time,…

British Prime Minister David Cameron has called on the BBC not to use the term “Islamic State” for the extremist group in Iraq and Syria, according to the Daily Mail, arguing that the reference to Islam perpetuates a “perversion of a great religion.”  “I wish the BBC would stop calling it Islamic State because it’s not an Islamic State;…

A joint German-Israeli Innovation Day was held in Tel Aviv on Monday as part of celebrations to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.  Attending the exhibition and conference at the David International Hotel was German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel as well as a delegation of German business officials. In addition to…

Could the next cultural storm be on the horizon?  After the Al Midan Theater’s play “A Parallel Time” was exposed as being inspired by the life of terrorist Walid Daka, nationalist activist Shai Glick told Arutz Sheva of a second controversial play readying for performance at another state-sponsored theater.  The play, “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” on the life…

Three Islamic State (ISIS) group car bombs killed 12 Syrian troops and militiamen in the northeastern city of Hasakeh where the jihadists have taken two districts, a monitor said on Monday. The Sunday blasts came as troops battle to evict the jihadists from the two southern neighborhoods they seized on Thursday. “At least 12 regime soldiers and allied fighters were killed in the blasts,”…

Science Minister Danny Danon (Likud) on Monday welcomed the Israeli Navy’s action in intercepting the first ship of the third flotilla aiming to oppose Israel’s legal naval blockade against Hamas in Gaza. “I want to bless the Israel Defense Forces soldiers, the naval commandos, who acted firmly and gave a very clear message that we will guard…

An IDF soldier has been wounded in a stabbing attack at Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem Monday morning. According to security sources, a female Arab terrorist arrived on Monday morning to the checkpoint adjacent to Rachel’s Tomb, located south of Jerusalem and adjacent to Bethlehem in Judea, where she stabbed a 25-year-old female IDF soldier who was…

As European and Arab anti-Israel activists confront the Israeli navy over its lawful naval blockade of Hamas’s terrorist regime in Gaza, a surprising new poll in Germany released Sunday reveals the anti-Semitic double standards applied to the Jewish state. According to a YouGov poll commissioned by the Europe Israel Public Affairs/Press association (EIPA), Germans hold a significant…

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) began holding negotiations with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organizations on Saturday to form a new unity government, but according to a senior member of the Communist terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) the efforts are doomed to failure. Rabah Muhanna of the PFLP’s politburo…

  The US and Israel defense establishments have launched the first course for operators of the Magic Wand anti-missile system, which is scheduled to go operational in the coming months. It will complement the Iron Dome system, which deals mostly with short range missiles, and counter both short and medium range missiles, with a focus…

Egypt’s state prosecutor has been injured in a bomb attack which targeted a convoy he was traveling in the Egyptian capital Cairo. Hisham Barakat, the country’s top prosecutor, is said to be in “good condition,” according to Al Jazeera. His bodyguards were also wounded in the blast, which took place in Cairo’s Heliopolis district. According to Al…

US pop star Maria Carey met Sunday evening with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, during her visit to Israel with her boyfriend, Australian entrepreneur James Packer.  The pair were hosted by the PM, along with his wife Sarah, for dinner at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office described the meal…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group’s “caliphate” enters its second year Monday with the jihadists expanding their territory in Syria and Iraq and their global reach by claiming attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait. The extremist group headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced on June 29, 2014 that it was reviving a form of Islamic government known as the “caliphate,” pledging it would “remain and expand.”…

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely on Sunday said that a good “quiet diplomacy” combined with IDF preparation was the best way to take on the latest provocative flotilla headed to Gaza. “The Israeli policy since the Marmara, and there have been three flotillas since, is to keep a low profile with regards to these flotillas,”…

After MK Basal Ghattas (Joint Arab List) sent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu several letters protesting the IDF’s intention to prevent the Freedom Flotilla III, the Prime Minister is sending back letters to members of the flotilla. In his letter, Netanyahu says to flotilla members that they apparently “got lost.” “Welcome to Israel, but if it’s…

For the fortieth time, state-sponsored tractors have destroyed a synagogue that was built near the entrance to Kiryat Arba, near Hevron – and for the forty-first time, construction has commenced on rebuilding it. Hopefully, said activist Baruch Marzel, this will be the last time. “Early this morning – rally in the middle of the night…

Rabbi Menachem Lubinsky, Chairman of the International Committee for Defense of the Mount of Olives, called Sunday for Israelis to recognize the importance of the Mount of Olives Cemetery and “to wake up” and realize that “if they don’t protect their past, they won’t have their future either.” In the last two weeks, there have…

The P5+1 countries led by the United States under Barack Obama have caved in to Iranian demands and will not insist on inspections of nuclear installations as part of a deal on Iran;s nuclear weapons program, Channel 1 reported Sunday. The channel’s Arab affairs correspondent reported that the June 30 – Tuesday night – deadline…

A court set a precedent Sunday by sending a youth to house arrest שא his home in Samaria.  The concept of house arrest is far from rare in Israel, for suspected miscreants whose offenses are too serious to allow them release on their own recognizance, but not serious enough to warrant a stretch in jail. However…

Arutz Sheva got the chance to speak with the Bostoner Rebbe, Rabbi Naftali Yehuda Halevi Horowitz, about his celebrated hassidic movement in Massachussetts and the connection of Jews around the world with the land of Israel. Noting the importance of Israel, the rabbi pointed out the prayer said three times daily in the central amida prayers, which…

The student who carried out Friday’s terrorist attack on a Tunisian beach acted alone during the attack but had accomplices who supported him beforehand, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday, according to The Associated Press (AP). Police were searching nationwide for more suspects after the slaughter of at least 38 people in Sousse on Friday,…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) on Monday praised the actions of the Israeli Navy in the early morning hours, after naval soldiers took control of the Swedish ship Marianne which was taking part in the third flotilla aiming to break Israel’s legal maritime blockade of Gaza. “I congratulate the navy at the conclusion of their…

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif headed back to Tehran on Sunday night amid expectations that nuclear talks between Iran and six major powers would go past the June 30 deadline, The Wall Street Journal reported. A senior Iranian official confirmed Zarif was headed to Tehran and would return to the Austrian capital on Tuesday…

IDF naval fighters early on Monday morning boarded the Swedish ship Marianne that was taking part in the latest flotilla trying to violate Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The troops took control of the ship and will take it to the Ashdod Port where its contents will be inspected. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said the…

Israeli authorities have agreed to release Khader Adnan, a Palestinian Arab administrative detainee who has been on a hunger strike for the past 55 days, Haaretz reported on Sunday night. Adnan will be released in two weeks, and will gradually begin to eat and drink in the meantime, according to the report. Adnan has been…

Twelve students including British, Canadian, Sudanese and American citizens are feared to have left Khartoum for Turkey to try to join the Islamic State (ISIS) group, their university said on Sunday, according to AFP. Another group of British students of Sudanese origin from the same private University of Medical Sciences and Technology travelled to Turkey…

A rebel mortar attack killed four civilians in the Syrian capital on Sunday, as government forces battled Islamic State (ISIS) group jihadists in the northern city of Hasakeh, a monitor said, according to AFP. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a mortar round struck Revolution Street in central Damascus, killing four people and wounding…

The Al-Majd website, used by the internal security apparatus of Hamas, has warned the Palestinian public about the growing attempts of Israeli intelligence to tap calls on their mobile phones, and tells the story of Shadi (not his real name) who was allegedly recruited “through deceit” to become an informer for Israeli security agencies.  Shadi, who Hamas claims…

Yahia Moussa, chairman of the Palestinian parliament’s Committee of the Audit and Human Rights, has accused PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas as well as the Palestinian establishment in Ramallah of a deliberate policy to weaken Gaza economically.  In an interview with Palestine magazine, Moussa asserted the policy seeks to punish Gaza, because it is controlled by Palestinian terror organization Hamas – rivals of Abbas’…

Meeting with 15 journalists from top European economic and business media on a 4-day press trip to Israel last week, Yossi Vardi explained, “The secret of Israel’s entrepreneurial dynamism is that everyone here has a Jewish mother.’’ The 72-year-old Vardi, known as the Guru of Israeli internet, and founder of some 60 successful Israeli high-tech…

The Muslim extremist suspected of decapitating his boss in an attack on a gas factory in France has confessed to the grisly crime, sources close to the investigation said Sunday. Terrorist Yassin Salhi, 35, “has also given details about the circumstances” surrounding the killing, according to the sources, who said he would be transferred to…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday by noting Iran’s many human rights violations.  “The US Department of State released this weekend the annual report on the subject of human rights violations,” Netanyahu began. “It turns out that parallel to talks with world powers, Iran [still] appears at the top of the…

The Cabinet approved Sunday morning to transfer to itself the Economy Ministry’s authority under Article 52 of the 1988 Restrictive Trade Practices Act, regarding actions related to Israel’s natural gas fields.  This is the power to prevent the antitrust commissioner from interfering in a “restrictive agreement” – in this case as related to Israel’s natural gas development – for…

Israel emerged as a big winner at the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan over the weekend, taking home twelve medals in such events as wrestling, judo, swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, athletics and shooting.  The judo team, in particular, did very well. Led by men’s team coach Oren Smadja, Israeli judokas took gold and silver medals in two different weight categories. …

The IDF is scrambling to face the threats of another “Freedom Flotilla” arriving in Gaza Sunday, security officials revealed – and may have to use force.  As of Sunday morning, the ‘Freedom Flotilla III’ is comprised of 47 people on 4 boats – Marianne with 18 people, the Rachel with 12 people, Vagoliano with 12 people, and the Vitrio with 9 people. Tens…

Canberra was Sunday attempting to verify whether an Australian Islamic State terrorist, notorious for being photographed with severed heads, had survived a drone attack after a report said he was still alive, AFP reported. Australian media last week reported that two of the country’s most wanted ISIS jihadists, Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, were believed killed in a drone strike in Syria. But highly…

Sirens sounded Sunday morning in the Gaza Belt, including in Yad Mordechai and Nativ Ha’asarah, just after 11:10 am.  So far, no injuries nor damage are reported. The IDF clarified after an initial investigation that the sirens were a false alarm, but that a rocket had been fired; it boomeranged back into Gaza.  In recent…

Avishai Brett, who has sued the Israel Shooting Federation over being allowed to participate in the Israeli air-rifle shooting championship finals, met Sunday with Deputy Defense Minister, Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan. Brett, who is observant, is demanding to be allowed to participate in the finals, as he has earned his way there – but has been told…

Almost one year has passed since Operation Protective Edge, in which the IDF pushed into Gaza and destroyed a vast network of tunnels used by terrorists to infiltrate Israel. Members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, which is the armed wing of the Fatah organization, chose this time to carry out some psychological warfare, and…

Anti-assimilation organization Lehava has been handing out thousands of sweets to women and girls at nightlife venues throughout Israel in recent days, as part of a campaign to persuade Jewish women not to go out with Arabs. Each sweet comes with a color postcard that says: “My sister, I am thinking about you, I feel…

In a message from the Freedom Flotilla III, MK Basel Ghattas (Joint Arab List) demanded that the IDF end its blockade of Gaza and allow ships associated with the flotilla to arrive in Gaza. In a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Ghattas “hereby asks that the security forces be instructed to allow the ships…

Kosher food labeling could turn into the first major coalition crisis for Binyamin Netanyahu’s relatively new government, as Kulanu and Shas spar over a bill that would make the Chief Rabbinate the sole source of authority on what can be marketed as kosher. Shas MK Yoav Ben Tzur’s bill would require restaurants and catering halls…

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Shalom Galil, the ambulance driver who was shot at Saturday night as he was driving along a road adjacent to Beit El in the Binyamin region of Samaria, north of Jerusalem. The traces of at least three direct hits from the bullets were later located on the ambulance, but fortunately…

The Nose, Ear and Throat specialists at Kaplan Hospital, headed by Dr. Doron Halperin, successfully removed on Sabbath Eve a Chai / Magen David necklace with sharp edges from the throat of Talia Asraf, a 20-month-old girl. Sharon, Talia’s mother, had completed preparations for Shabbat Friday when she heard Talia coughing and choking. She ran…

“BDS claims that they’re fighting Israeli manufacturers in the occupied territories, but the reality is that they are fighting every Israeli manufacturer, and they’re aiming the entire Israeli economy,” says JudaicaWebStore.com CEO Arik Barel. The BDS movement declared economic war on the entire Jewish nation and it’s not just peaceful protesting. Working as a wholesaler…

The Islamic State group (ISIS or IS) has executed more than 3,000 people in Syria, including hundreds of civilians, in the year since it declared its self-described “caliphate,” a monitor said on Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group monitoring Syria’s conflict, said it had documented 3,027 executions by IS since June…

President Reuven Rivlin angered the bereaved family of Danny Gonen instead of comforting them when he visited them on their shiva – the seven-day mourning period – and new details have emerged on just how badly the president has apparently handled the situation. As reported by Arutz Sheva Friday, Assaf Golan, an editor at Makor Rishon, who…

A Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) committee launched talks with Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Saturday with the objective of forming a new unity government, after Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the dysfunctional previous one earlier this month. PLO Executive Committee member Hanna Amireh told the Palestinian Arab Ma’an News Agency about the talks, and said that…

Arab terrorists on Saturday night opened fire on a civilian ambulance as it was driving along a road adjacent to Beit El in the Binyamin region of Samaria. At least three direct hits from the bullets were located on the ambulance, but fortunately no one was wounded in the incident. A resident of the region told Arutz…

After officially submitting its “war crimes” case against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) last Thursday, the Palestinian Authority (PA) expressed hopes that the ICC will act on the documents it submitted and launch an investigation against the Jewish state. PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, who is a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)…

Schools are to go on strike for a full day on Sunday in no less than 70 towns and cities in Israel, as part of a protest by parents against overcrowding in the classroom. The Education Ministry stated on Saturday night that schools will open as normal and teachers will arrive to teach, even though…

Kurdish forces drove Islamic State (ISIS) group terrorists from the flashpoint Syrian border town of Kobane on Saturday, after a killing spree by the jihadists left more than 200 civilians dead. Forces of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) stormed ISIS’s last remaining position, taking full control of Kobane, a powerful symbol of Kurdish resistance. As they combed the streets for fugitive…

Israel last August 26 ended Operation Protective Edge by sealing a ceasefire agreement with a confederation of terrorist organizations in Gaza, foremost among them Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but that deal now appears to be on the brink of collapse. Khaled Al-Batash, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group, announced his organization may soon breach…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will never allow the establishment of a Kurdish state in Syria after major gains by Kurdish fighters.   In a strong-worded warning late on Friday, Erdogan accused the Kurds of ethnically cleansing other communities from land they have taken after pushing back Islamic State forces from the…

A Palestinian Arab terrorist held in an Israeli jail and on hunger strike for 53 days is in a critical condition and could die “at any moment,” his lawyer said Saturday. “Khader Adnan may suddenly die at any moment, doctors have confirmed to me,”  Jawad Boulos, legal counsel for the Ramallah-based Prisoners Club of the Palestinian Authority (PA) told AFP. He said he received…

Tremors from a 5.2 magnitude earthquake were felt throughout Israel Saturday, at around 6:30 p.m. The earthquake’s epicenter was some four kilometers southeast of Nuweiba, in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula which borders southern Israel. But the tremors were felt throughout Israel as well, from Be’er Sheva, Arad and Eilat in the south, to Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan…

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) took a surprising stance on Gaza, advocating for rebuilding despite his party’s tough line on defense.  “It is time to change the policy in relation to Gaza,” Bennett stated on “Meet the Press” Saturday. “We need to initiate an international process of rebuilding the Gaza Strip for civil empowerment…

The Religious Affairs Ministry has formulated a budget plan of 45 million shekels to install a computerized system in religious councils across the country.  The first step of implementation will be in the marriage department; each couple that comes to register will be tested via the computer system, which will present a full picture of the…

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Saturday set three “indispensable” conditions for a nuclear deal with Iran. Speaking to reporters upon his arrival in Vienna for the latest round of nuclear talks, Fabius said Iran has yet to accept these conditions in order to ensure a ‘solid’ agreement with major powers. “What we want is…

Kuwait on Saturday detained the owner of a car that took a bomber to a Shiite mosque to carry Friday’s terrorist attack, officials said, according to Reuters. The Islamic State (ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing against 2,000 worshippers praying at the Imam al-Sadeq mosque on Friday, one of three attacks on three…

Thanks to a unique and expanded catalog of more than 40 summer courses, this year’s summer school sessions at Yeshiva University are enjoying massive success: Well over 600 students are taking advantage of opportunities on campus in New York City or joining one of the program’s 10 fully online courses from as far away as Los…

This program brings you an authoritative overview of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Commission of Enquiry into Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in 2014 in Gaza. You will hear a representative of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, A former legal advisor to that Ministry, the President of the International Jewish Association of Lawyers and Jurists as…

Israeli Immigration and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin on Friday urged French Jews to flee to Israel after an Islamist terrorist attacked a factory near Lyon and pinned a severed head to the gates. “I call on the Jews of France – come home! Anti-Semitism is rising, terror is increasing,” Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party who also…

Both the attacker and the victim of a gruesome terrorist attack in France on Friday morning have been identified by authorities. At least one Islamist terrorist launched a daylight raid on an industrial gas factory in France Friday and pinned a severed head to the gates, in what President Francois Hollande called a “terrorist” attack. The…

At least 27 people have been killed after terrorists attacked a beach in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse. Authorities say at least one of the gunmen involved in the attack has been killed and another is currently being pursued by security forces. The death toll is expected to rise, according to the interior ministry. The…

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II made her first trip to a former Nazi death camp Friday, visiting Bergen-Belsen just over 70 years after it was liberated by British forces, on the final day of her state visit to Germany. The 89-year-old queen was accompanied by her husband Prince Philip, 94, as she visited the site where at least 52,000 people from across Europe…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived late Friday in Vienna seeking to wrap up a deal with Iran by a quickly approaching deadline. Kerry was expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday, three days before the Tuesday deadline for a deal that officials warn may be missed by a few…

Hundreds of Jews came to Ein Bubin, in the Binyamin region, on Friday, to mark a week since the murder of Danny Gonen hy”d at the location. The activity was organized by the Binyamin Regional Council, the Talmonim-Dolev Bloc and the Lod Torah nucleus group. Also present were Binyamin Regional Council Head Avi Roeh, Agriculture…

The next flotilla attempting to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza officially got underway on Friday, as activists set sail from the coast of Crete towards the coastal enclave. “Finally, we are aboard the Swedish freedom boat the Marianne, and we are on our way to Gaza,” MK Basel Ghattas (Joint Arab List) announced on…

The State Department in Washington said Friday there was no evidence so far that three terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait were coordinated. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the attacks were still being investigated but there was “no indication on a tactical level they were coordinated,” according to Reuters. “Obviously, clearly, they were…

At least five Britons are among the dead in Friday’s attack on a beach near the popular Tunisian resort town of Sousse, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said. Tunisia’s health ministry has said at least 37 people are dead, mostly foreigners, the BBC reported. The death toll among Britons could rise, Hammond said, with a “high…

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said it summoned the highest-ranking Israeli diplomat in Ankara to explain why a group of Turkish journalists and civil society workers were refused entry at Ben Gurion Airport, according to Reuters. A group of nine Turks had traveled to Israel on Thursday to attend an event marking the Islamic holy…

An Islamic State (ISIS) group suicide bomber killed at least 20 regime troops in Hasakeh city in northeast Syria on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said, according to the AFP news agency. “The attack by a booby-trapped car targeted the criminal security service headquarters in the south of the city” where…

With a June 30 deadline for a final nuclear deal just around the corner, major differences remain between Iran and world powers on several key issues, a senior Western diplomat said on Friday, according to the Reuters news agency. “The most difficult subjects need to be resolved in the coming days,” the diplomat told reporters…

The White House condemned on Friday condemned a spate of terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait as “heinous” acts of terrorism, saying it was working with the affected countries to offer any necessary support. “The United States condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks in France, Kuwait, and Tunisia today,” the White House…

A Greek politician angered the local Jewish community after he posted an image of the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp with its infamous “Arbeit macht frei” sign altered to read, “We’re staying in Europe”, the Independent reported on Thursday. The parliamentarian, Dimitris Kammenos, posted the image on his Facebook page, according to the report.…