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Pope Francis on Monday condemned a “worrying” resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe and urged the continuation of dialogue between Christians and Jews, according to AFP.  Speaking during a meeting with the Conference of the European Rabbis (CER), a first since the organization was founded in 1956, the pope called on all Christians to stand firm against anti-Semitism. “The anti-Semitic tendencies and certain…

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has refused to meet former US President Jimmy Carter in an upcoming visit to Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Gaza due to his anti-Israeli views, Channel 10 reports Monday.  A senior diplomatic source told the news agency that Carter, who has a long history of antagonism towards Israel, is “permanently damaging” to Israel and that…

Yemen’s Foreign Minister, Riyad Yassin, underlined on Sunday Yemen’s rejection of the “four-point peace plan” that Iran has submitted to the UN Secretary General and the President of the Security Council. FM Yassin reiterated last week’s letter of total rejection of Iran’s “peace-plan,” by what is essentially Yemen’s government-in-exile. He added that “There is no room…

Rocks were thrown Monday evening at the vehicle of Michal Herzog, wife of Zionist Union chairman and Opposition leader, MK Yitzhak Herzog.  According to reports, the attack occurred as Herzog was leaving the couple’s home in north Tel Aviv. While Herzog was not hurt, the rear window of her car was damaged.  Herzog immediately filed a…

A toast in honor of upcoming Israeli Independence Day was held Monday and attended by the higher echelons of Israel’s defense establishment.   On hand, notably, were Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, as well as other members of the Israeli military’s general staff.  Ya’alon spoke during…

A top Iranian commander on Sunday said that his country will never permit “foreigners” to inspect its military sites. “Not only will we not grant foreigners the permission to inspect our military sites, we will not even give them permission to think about such a subject,” Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the second-in-command of the Islamic…

The first French weapons from a $3 billion Saudi-funded program will arrive in Lebanon on Monday as allies seek to bolster the country’s defenses against the Islamic State (ISIS) group and other jihadists pressing along its Syrian border, AFP reported Sunday. Anti-tank guided missiles are set to arrive at an air force base in Beirut,…

An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced to jail a man convicted of “spying for Israel” in  the Sinai Peninsula, judicial officials said, according to AFP. Two Israeli accomplices of the jailed Egyptian were tried in absentia and also given life terms, the officials added. In a verdict delivered by a court in North Sinai, the…

A mother and her five children were among at least 19 civilians killed on Sunday in Syrian regime bombardment of the southern province of Daraa, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the six members of one family died in the rebel-held area of Dael, AFP reported. All of the children…

In a shocking neglect of duty and endangering of soldiers, investigative reporters with Channel 10 found that a former IDF base which was evacuated and abandoned over a year ago was left with classified documents sitting around for anyone to find. The reporters visited the base, the name of which is banned from publication, where they found that…

Members of the radical Women of the Wall group created a provocation at the Western Wall Monday, when they brought a Torah scroll into the women’s section of the Kotel Plaza, read from it and held it high, in contravention of custom. The provocation caused men to cross over from the men’s section into the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited President Reuven Rivlin Monday morning and received a 14-day extension in which to cobble together a new ruling coalition. “I am giving you another 14 days to put together a government,” Rivlin told Netanyahu in remarks broadcast live on Israel’s main radio stations after the premier formally requested an extension.…

An attempt to smuggle 18 tons of special “metallurgical coke” coal into Gaza was foiled on Sunday at the Nitzana border crossing, which leads to the Sinai from where the coal was to be smuggled into Gaza. The smuggled coal, which was seized thanks to the joint activities of the Tax Authority and General Security Service, is used…

A coalition of neo-Nazis have threatened to hold a second demonstration against the Jewish community in London, following a similar rally held earlier this month. The coalition – made up of a number of small splinter groups from the British far-right, as well as several Polish immigrant neo-Nazis – held a small demonstration on April…

A five-year-old boy was struck while riding a scooter by a Binyamin Regional Council shuttle bus on Monday in the Samarian community of Beit El.  Teams of Magen David Adom paramedics were called to the scene. They began to provide the child with first aid treatment, but were unable to save him, and subsequently determined his death at the…

In the first volley of a spate of bomb attacks in Gaza over the weekend, an explosive was detonated late last Friday in western Gaza City right by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s former home. Abbas’s Gaza home was turned into Palestinian Cabinet headquarters after the unity deal between Hamas and the PA last…

Numerous politicians responded to the death of leading religious-Zionist figure Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, who passed away on Monday morning at the age of 81. MK Ze’ev Elkin, chairman of the Likud faction and a graduate of the rabbi’s Har Etzion Yeshiva in Alon Shvut, located in Judea’s Gush Etzion, eulogized the rabbi. “In this difficult hour,…

Should Israel generate a new ally? If Sherkoh Abbas’ advice were heeded, Israel would be trying to draw the Western world closer to the notion of an independent Kurdistan.  Abbas, the Chairman of the Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA) and the organization’s representative in Washington D.C., advocates for the splitting of Syria into multiple ethno-religious political regions…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided not to attend Russia’s victory parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II on Saturday May 9, Kol Israel reported Monday.   The leaders of the United States, France, and Germany have also stated their intentions not to attend the event.  The absences of those leaders, as…

Eli Cohen, who infiltrated the highest echelons of Syria and was executed after his capture, is remembered by Israel and the world as the greatest Israeli spy. After he was executed by hanging in 1965, Cohen was buried in Damascus, and the Syrian government rebuffed requests to allow him to be brought home for burial in Israel.  But now,…

With tension boiling in coalition negotiations between Likud and Jewish Home, board members of Jewish Home’s Forum of Deputy Mayors as well as members of city, local and regional councils are joining the fray.  Writing to Jewish Home chair Naftali Bennett on Monday, the board members expressed staunch support for his threat to shut down talks entirely, should Prime Minister…

Fewer couples got divorced in 2014, according to statistics released by the Rabbinical Court system to Channel 2 Monday – a rare decrease despite a definite upward trend.  Overall, 2% fewer couples divorced in 2014 then in 2013 – 11,023 couples vs. 11,223. Most of the couples (874) divorced in Jerusalem, followed by Tel Aviv (779, up…

An Israeli soldier has been arrested by police for allegedly “bowing his head” upon leaving the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest site. According to a statement by the legal rights group Honenu, police claimed that as he was exiting the soldier turned and nodded his head in the direction of the holy site in the traditional…

The Egyptian army has destroyed 69 tunnels along the border with Gaza since March 28, an Egyptian army spokesman said Saturday, according to the Ma’an news agency. The spokesman, Muhammad Samir, said that Egyptian border forces stationed in the Egyptian side of Rafah had discovered and destroyed the tunnels in coordination with army engineers. Last…

Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog continued to insist on Saturday that he will not join a coalition headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. “Immediately after the election I said that we were going to the opposition. This is not by default, it is our preference,” Herzog said at a cultural event in Tel Aviv. “I have…

An explosive device went off near the offices of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City Saturday night, AFP reported. A second struck near police headquarters, the report said. UNRWA and Gaza security officials said there were no dead or injured. “A bomb exploded near the outer wall of the headquarters of…

Ahead of Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars (Memorial Day), Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah on Saturday night visited the grave of the prime minister’s brother Yoni, who fell during the operation to free the hostages at Entebbe in 1976. The Netanyahus visited the grave, on the Mt. Herzl military cemetery…

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has once more warned against the transfer of an advanced surface-to-air missile system to Iran. “Israel sees with great severity the supply of S-300 missiles from Russia to Iran, at a time in which Iran is ramping up its aggressiveness in the region and all around Israel’s borders,” Prime Minister…

An unprecedented meeting of holocaust-deniers took place in London last week, drawing the who’s who of the European and North American fringe far-right and triggering concern from Jewish and anti-fascism groups. The meeting – said to be the largest of its kind ever held in the UK – took place in on Saturday April 11 at the Grosvenor…

In honor of Israel’s upcoming Memorial Day, Yom Hazikaron, the National Insurance Institute has published a report documenting the number of Israeli civilians killed in hostilies since the War of Independence as well as in the past year.  According to NII’s report, 2,538 Israeli civilians have been murdered in terror-related attacks since the birth of the…

Some 700 African migrants are feared dead on Sunday, after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea.  Declared an emergency at around midnight, the ship is believed to have started capsizing when migrants aboard all moved to one side of the ship, as a merchant vessel approached.  Only twenty-eight people have been…

Shas MK Yaakov Margi is very optimistic that things will work out with all of the Likud’s “natural partners,” including his party, Jewish Home, and Yisrael Beytenu. “Anyone who wants a national government will have to compromise, and I think everyone will,” Margi told Arutz Sheva in an interview Sunday. “Otherwise they are likely to…

Australian security forces arrested five people Saturday over an ISIS-inspired plot to attack police and citizens with “edged weapons” at Anzac Day ceremonies. “There was a knife and there was a sword. There was suggestion of firearms but we have not seized any,” acting Victoria Police Commissioner Tim Cartwright said. The five young men arrested in…

As Israel’s official Memorial Day approaches, hundreds of bereaved families have called on Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to ban the entry of terrorists’ families into Israel to attend an “alternative” Yom Hazikaron ceremony.  Organized by the extreme left-wing organization “Combatants for Peace,” the joint ceremony will see the participation of family members of terrorists killed while carrying…

The New York Times has openly addressed the disparity between Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount this week – a possible first for a newspaper now often associated with anti-Israel views. The paper published a piece entitled “Palestinian Women Join Effort to Keep Jews from Contested Holy Site,” which presents testimony from Palestinian Arab women who…

In what appears to be yet another “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority, Israel has streamlined its admission policy for PA residents. Whereas formerly it took a PA resident several weeks to get an entry pass into Israel, the process has now been cut to hours. Previously, each request was examined one at a time, and…

Israelis could soon see a lot more American cars on their roads, after Israel and the United States signed a deal last week that increased cooperation on transportation issues, enhancing the import and export of parts and vehicles. Although it is generally not well known, Israel has a substantial automotive industry, based mostly on parts…

Poland said Sunday it has demanded a formal apology from the United States after the head of the FBI claimed Poland shares responsibility for the Holocaust with Germany. US Ambassador Stephen Mull will “receive a note of protest and a summons for an apology” over the comments by FBI director James Comey, foreign ministry spokesman Marcin Wojciechowski wrote on Twitter. Comey’s…

Conversion to Judaism is a unique story for all who go through the process. Experience varies from country to country and person to person. It might be different also depending on the background: atheist or religious; black or white; rich or poor. The variety is one of the primary reasons that Ashirah Yosefah coauthored her…

While Israeli and foreign media slammed a Rishon Lezion teacher who had her kindergarten students wear a yellow star on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, parents of children in the Ilan Poreach (“budding flower”) kindergarten and nursery have expressed strong support for the teacher. The Facebook of the Rishon Lezion municipality was filled with…

The Palestinian Authority is determined to get Israel booted out of FIFA, the international organization that manages several soccer leagues, and doing so is “a gross attempt to mix sports and politics,” said Ofer Eini, chairman of the Israel Football (Soccer) Federation. Eini, along with Rotem Kamer, CEO of the Federation, are set to leave…

No fewer than 13 Israeli water companies participated in a “water delegation” to parched Brazil just before Passover – in an effort to help the country overcome what officials call its “water challenge.” Brazil is currently experiencing its worst water shortage ever, due to increased water use, low rainfall levels, and low infrastructure investments. The Israeli economic offices…

Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have cleared the country’s largest oil refinery of the Islamic State group, the international coalition helping Baghdad fight the jihadists said on Sunday, according to AFP.  ISIS has made repeated attempts over the past 10 months to capture Baiji refinery north of Baghdad, most recently seizing parts of the facility and holding out for…

Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett on Sunday night threatened to end the coalition negotiations with the Likud, if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decides to appoint Shas chairman Aryeh Deri as Religious Affairs Minister. “Unilaterally taking the Religious Affairs portfolio from religious Zionism and giving it to Shas is the end of the negotiations with the…

A memorial service was held on the one-year anniversary of the murder of 20 year-old Shelly Dadon on Sunday, in her hometown of Afula.  Police found Dadon’s body in an abandoned Migdal Haemek parking lot on May 1, 2014 (the anniversary being marked Sunday is for the Hebrew date – the first date of the month of…

The Eastern Orthodox church on Sunday appealed to the international community to help discover the fate of two senior clerics kidnapped in Syria’s northern Aleppo province two years ago, according to AFP.  On April 22, 2013, gunmen abducted Archbishop Gregorius Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Bishop Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Kfar Dael area.…

Chairman of far-left group Peace Now Yariv Oppenheimer, the persistently bitter ideological opponent of Jews in Judea and Samaria, has been assigned to do guard duty outside a community he wants evicted – and he spoke about his experience to Arutz Sheva on Sunday.  Oppenheimer shrugged off serving outside of the northern Samaria community of Mevo Dotan, noting that…

As Iranian ships steam towards Yemen for a possible showdown with Saudi Arabia, the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dismissed what he termed “American threats” as “stupid lies.” In a speech to Iranian forces, Khamenei pointed to comments by U.S. security officials this week, to the effect that “America is leaving all its options on…

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt over the weekend slammed Hezbollah top terrorist Hassan Nasrallah for his support of Iran’s assistance to Houthi rebels who have overthrown the government of Yemen. “Iran is trying to reestablish its ancient Persian empire, and it is destroying countries as it does so,” said Jumblatt. Nasrallah over the weekend attacked…

The US ambassador to Warsaw apologized Sunday after being summoned by the foreign ministry over comments by the head of the FBI that Poland shared responsibility for the Holocaust with Germany. Poland’s President Bronislaw Komorowski said the comments in an opinion piece by FBI director James Comey were an “insult” to Poland. “In their minds, the murderers and accomplices…

Yariv Oppenheimer, the chairman of extreme leftist group Peace Now, has been called up for IDF reserve duty – and he was placed to guard the very Jewish communities he rallies against.  Oppenheimer was placed by his commanders outside Mevo Dotan in northern Samaria – the same area he has slated for withdrawals.  While he has…

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has introduced strict conditions for any future transaction with Israel regarding the return of the bodies of two soldiers killed in Operation Protective Edge.  Last October, there was talk in Hamas of a swap of Arab terrorists in exchange for the bodies of Givati Brigade officer Hadar Goldin and Golani Brigade combat soldier Oron Shaul,…

An Argentine prosecutor dead under mysterious circumstances. His case against the president thrust spectacularly into the national spotlight. These events – are they fact or fiction? Reality collides with make-believe in “El Fiscal,” a Spanish-language political-fiction thriller that hit bookstore shelves last week and is based on the real-life death of Alberto Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor who died suspiciously in January…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Israel against sending arms to Ukraine on Saturday, days after reports emerged that Jerusalem would be in contact with Kiev in retaliation for Moscow lifting a ban on S-300 missile sales to Tehran.  Putin warned in an interview on Russian television that Israeli retaliatory measures would only bring on…

Yeshiva University will present “Jews for George: An Exploration of Judaism in the Age of the American Revolution,” a four-week Community Beit Midrash program beginning Wednesday, April 29, at Congregation Shearith Israel, The Spanish Portuguese Synagogue. Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of YU’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought and rabbi of Congregation Shearith…

Likud condemned the half-apology of actress Anat Waxman for her anti-Likud and racist tirade last week, noting Saturday night that she refused to retract the racist bent of her remarks.  “The tears Anat Waxman shed in her interview with Rina Matzliach [on Channel 2 – ed.] do not negate the fact that she refused to apologize…

At least 70 Palestinian Arabs from the Jalazun village approached Beit El on Friday evening, locals stated Saturday night, and began throwing rocks at IDF soldiers stationed nearby, Border Police officers who arrived at the scene, and Jewish homes in the community.  Several of the rocks hit the yard of the Koren family as the children were…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to ask President Reuven Rivlin for an extension on coalition talks, Channel 10 reports Saturday night, after progress has been said to be progressing too slowly to meet the usual deadline.  Netanyahu has been struggling to close deals with the different parties in the last 48 hours of the total coalition…

The Holocaust continues to take its toll, even 70 years later: A study has shown that adult children of Holocaust survivors are more concerned with the threat of a nuclear Iran than their peers whose parents are not Holocaust survivors.   The study, conducted by Dr. Amit Shrira, of Bar-Ilan University’s Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, was published…

Actress Anat Waxman has apologized for making offensive remarks against the Israeli public on Saturday night, nearly one week after she stated a derisive rant on Channel 2 against Likud voters.  Among other things, she referred to them as “the chocolates,” a reference to the infamous “chocolate” video that documented two drunk Israeli couples harassing an air steward who did not…

Works on the light rail in Tel Aviv will begin in earnest in the summer of 2015 in two central spots in the city and are expected to cause mass traffic delays. According to sources in the Transportation Ministry and NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd., works will start on the corner of Yehuda HaLevi…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet with Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett on Friday afternoon, amid tense barbs between the two parties and heavy speculation over the coalition.  Globes reported Thursday that some initial coalition talks had begun between Netanyahu and Bennett, whereby Bennett would be reinstated as Economics Minister and would also be given the…

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) condemned the request by 16 of the 28 EU states to have “settlement” products from Judea and Samaria labeled, in an economic attack on Israel that was revealed on Thursday. Writing on his Facebook page, Katz noted Friday that “European Union foreign ministers decided to boycott Israeli produce whose ‘source is…

France’s prime minister announced Friday the government would pour 100 million euros into a major anti-racism and anti-Semitism action plan devised in the aftermath of the deadly Paris jihadist attacks, according to AFP. The program, which among other measures increases penalties for crimes deemed to have been fueled by racism and anti-Semitism, comes as at a time when acts against Jews…

Also: A report from the wonderful work for Israel by CFMDA, the Friends of Magen David Adom. Click here to download the pocast

Hamas deputy leader Ismail Haniyeh has declared that his movement would continue to use “armed resistance” against Israel, reports the Ma’an news agency. “Hamas negotiates with the enemy with arms, not talks,” Haniyeh said during a press conference, held Thursday, in honor Palestinian Prisoner’s Day and the death of Hamas co-founder Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi. Al-Rantisi…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group is now issuing photo identity cards in Syria’s Raqa province, but only to males, along with a range of administrative documents, a monitor and activists told AFP on Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIS had begun issuing “identity cards to those without proof of identity and boys…

President Barack Obama will welcome the six leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council kingdoms in mid-May for talks on Iran’s nuclear program and the conflicts in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, AFP reported on Friday. The White House said the May 13 meetings at the White House and May 14 gathering at Camp David “will be…

James Baker, who served as the American Secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush, said Friday that there should be no final agreement with Iran if it continues to insist that all the sanctions against it be removed once a final deal is reached. In an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, Baker wrote…

Iraq is examining reports that Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, former leader Saddam Hussein’s long-fugitive deputy, has been killed. Officials quoted by AFP said Friday that Iraq will test the body of a man killed in clashes with pro-government forces who may be al-Duri, who was vice president at the time of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Nicknamed…

President Barack Obama said on Friday that he was “surprised” that Russia had waited as long as it did to seal a deal to sell missile defense systems to Iran, given the tensions between Russia and the United States, Reuters reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday lifting a ban on the…

Security researchers claimed on Friday that hackers have managed to penetrate computer networks associated with the IDF, Reuters reported. The researchers at Blue Coat Systems Inc. told the news agency that the attack was part of an espionage campaign that skillfully packages existing attack software with trick emails. The four-month-old effort, most likely by Arabic-speaking…

Israel Police have named the main suspect in a car attack which killed Shalom Yohai Sherki and seriously injured his date, Shira Klein, as 37-year-old Khaled Kutina.  The terrorist’s pregnant wife claimed in interviews with Palestinian Arab media on Friday that her husband is not at all interested in politics and news, so the incident was not a terror attack but “a…

Israel’s decision to apply to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), despite Washington’s displeasure, indicates its desire to build its economic ties with Asia. So states a position paper published by the BESA (Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies), authored by East Asian security expert Dr. Alon Levkowitz. Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu – currently also Finance Minister until…

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman will meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for coalition talks on Friday afternoon, where he will reportedly demand that the IDF obliterate Hamas over the next term.  Sources close to Liberman told Arutz Sheva before the meeting Friday that the chairman will not discuss the portfolios for the next government, and instead…

The Legal Forum for Israel is preparing to submit a series of lawsuits against leftist organizations that call to boycott products from Judea and Samaria, after the High Court this week ruled that those calling to boycott the state of Israel must pay compensation for their economic damage. Attorney Yifa Segel of the Forum told Arutz Sheva that “we…

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused neighboring Turkey of torpedoing a UN plan for a ceasefire with rebels in the second city of Aleppo, in comments published on Friday. Assad told the Swedish newspaper Expressen that Ankara had used its influence with rebel factions to persuade them to reject the proposals put forward by UN envoy Staffan de Mistura for a…

Stephane Charbonnier, editor-in-chief of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and one of the 12 people murdered in the January 7 attack on its Paris headquarters, has not been silenced as he criticized Islam in a posthumous book released Thursday. Charbonnier, 47, was also known as “Charb,” and took the helm as editorial director from 2009 onward. He was murdered…

A senior commander of US forces in the Pacific revealed to the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that Russia’s military activities and nuclear presence in the area are returning to a Cold War posture. Adm. Samuel Locklear said, “Russia in the last few months has returned to, I would say, nearly a Cold War level of activity that…

Former Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Yona Metzger told one of his associates to lie outright to the State about his embezzlement, Channel 2 reported Thursday, after recordings of a conversation between the two were leaked to the press. In the conversation, Metzger can be heard denying the fact that the monies “donated” to him through various deals…

While it comes as a welcome development at a time of skyrocketing European anti-Semitism that a Croatian soccer star would have a Hebrew tattoo, Atletico Madrid’s striker Mario Mandzukic’s tattoo which was exposed this week is unfortunately backwards – and features awful grammar. The 28-year-old had the tattoo on his lower back viewed as he…

Fifteen illegal Muslim immigrants from Africa were arrested in Italy on Thursday after reportedly throwing 12 Christian passengers overboard into the Mediterranean Sea. Witnesses saw the Muslim immigrants throw the passengers into the sea after a brawl on a boat of immigrants to Italy, and after police in Italy were informed the offenders were arrested,…

A recent study, run jointly by researchers at the Technion in Haifa as well as at the University of Bordeaux, has shed new light on the shady origins of Earth’s moon. For decades, scientists have found consensus on what formed it, but not exactly where it came from. The Giant Impact Theory posits that some…

A skit on Israel’s first-ever televised nationalist satire show, We’ll Be the Judge, was banned from the airwaves by Channel 1‘s Editor in Chief, Yona Weisenthal. It will therefore not be aired when the show is broadcast Friday. The segment featured a game show in which contestants were presented with phrases and asked whether they refer…

US President Barack Obama released a statement on Thursday in time for Holocaust Remembrance Day, saying the day marks a time “to reaffirm our responsibilities to ourselves” and to future generations. “Today, with heavy hearts, we remember the six million Jews and the millions of other victims of Nazi brutality who were murdered during the Holocaust,”…

Shira Klein was critically wounded on Wednesday night in what police have begun to recognize as an intentional terror attack, when an Arab driver ran over her and Shalom Yohai Sherki as they waited at a bus stop in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem. Sherki, who Klein was on a date with, was murdered in the attack,…

Two Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) will arrive in Israel in December 2016, making the Israeli Air Force (IAF) the first outside of the United States to receive the combat jet, a senior Lockheed Martin official said Wednesday. Israel has ordered 33 additional F-35s and intends to acquire another 17 in…

Russian President Vladimir Putin explained on Thursday that Iran’s drive to find a solution in talks over its nuclear program had spurred his decision to renew a contract to deliver S-300 missile defense systems to Tehran, Reuters reported. “With the progress of the Iranian nuclear track — and that is obviously positive — we do not see any reason…

European Parliament President Martin Schulz told Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday that he “understands” Ankara’s reaction to a vote calling the 1915 mass killing of Armenians a genocide, Reuters reported. According to the report, which cited sources in Davutoglu’s office, Schulz also told the Turkish Prime Minister that the vote on the issue…

A US man has been charged with supporting a terrorist organization after he allegedly trained in Syria with Al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front and planned an attack on US soil, the Justice Department said Thursday. A federal grand jury charged Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, 23, on three counts, including providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and making a false statement to the Federal Bureau…

Thousands of young Jews from Israel and across the globe marched alongside Polish teenagers Thursday in the March of the Living ceremony, in memory of Holocaust victims at the former Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in southern Poland. The site, now a memorial and museum, has become an enduring symbol of Nazi Germany’s genocide of European Jews. One million Jews were…

Last year, the film “X-Men: Days of Future Past” was released to critical acclaim, in which the protagonist team of superheroes sends one of their own 50 years into the past to change history. It is just the latest iteration of the alternate history genre in fiction. But while the desire in that scenario is…

Tunisian troops have captured a large arms cache including Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and explosives, a security source said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report. The discovery of the arms cache comes as the government struggles to keep track of jihadists after a bloody attack last month. Last month gunmen stormed the national Bardo museum…

The top United States military officer said Thursday that delivery of Russian S-300 air defense missiles to Iran will not affect America’s ability to strike at Tehran’s nuclear facilities if necessary. “We’ve known about the potential for that system to be sold to Iran for several years and have accounted for it in all of…

Passengers who took the Egged Line 101 bus in Jerusalem Thursday morning were treated contemptuously by their driver, an Arab from eastern Jerusalem, who refused to stop the bus in honor of the Holocaust Remembrance Day memorial siren – and insisted on leaving the radio on, as he listened to Arabic music. The bus was…

The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) held a special meeting in Gaza on Wednesday ahead of “Prisoners Day” on April 17, in which it discussed the situation of Arab terrorists currently jailed in Israel. Hamas MP Mohammed Faraj al-Rul called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to submit a lawsuit at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the…

This past week, the Palestinian Authority (PA) arrested several terrorists in the Balata ‘refugee camp’ outside of Shechem (Nablus). The fighting there was reported to be with members of a faction of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas’ own ruling party. It is seldom reported in the press what factionalism might exist among Palestinians, particularly within different parties,…

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday welcomed Iran’s assistance in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists, but warned Tehran to respect Baghdad’s sovereignty. “Everything must be done through the government of Iraq,” Abadi told an audience of American policy experts at a Washington think tank, according to the AFP news agency. “We welcome…

White House spokesman Josh Earnest suggested Thursday that Moscow’s move to lift its ban on supplying anti-aircraft systems to Iran shows the weakness of Russia’s economy after being hit by sanctions. Earnest, who was quoted by AFP, was responding to Russia’s decision this week to lift a ban on selling Iran its advanced S-300 missile system.…

Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid on Thursday spoke to the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and sharply criticized a call by 16 EU countries to label products from Judea and Samaria. Lapid told Mogherini that calling for a boycott of Judea and Samaria is essentially a call for a de facto…

Major world powers and Iran will hold fresh talks in Vienna on April 22 and 23 to build on the framework accord reached on Tehran’s nuclear program, the European Union (EU) announced Thursday, according to the AFP news agency. The two sides “will continue work towards a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear issue based…

President Reuven Rivlin is working behind the scenes towards the formation of a unity government made up of Likud and the Labor-Hatnua joint list, known as the “Zionist Union”, Channel 10 News reported Thursday. According to the report, Rivlin has been saying in private conversations that “we need to have the broadest possible government”. The…

Members of the Beitar youth movement on Thursday conducted their annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony outside the German Embassy in Tel Aviv – an activity, the group said, was more relevant than ever this year, given the fascination among some Israelis and the media of “the good life” in Berlin. The ceremony was led by…

The conflict in Syria has left more than 220,000 dead since it began four years ago with an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, a key monitoring group said Thursday. “We have counted 222,271 deaths since the start of the revolt in March 2011,” the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman,…

The European Union parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favor of recognizing the mass-murder of Armenians by Ottomoan Turkey in 1915 as a genocide. The decision to recognize the genocide – which saw more than 1.5 million Christian Armenians perish at the hands of Muslim Turkish forces – is sure to enrage Turkey’s Islamist leadership, coming…

Students and faculty at the Bnei Tzvi yeshiva in the town of Bet El in southern Samaria were in mourning Thursday, after the death of Shalom Yohai Sherki in what is looking increasingly like a “car terror” attack in Jerusalem Wednesday night. Sherki was struck, apparently on purpose, by an Arab driver late last night, in an…

Over 500 people in Ashdod attended the funeral of a Holocaust survivor whom they did not know Thursday morning – after a message on social media went out Wednesday night appealing to the community to help make a minyan (a prayer quorum) to properly lay the 82 year old Binyamin Schlesinger to rest. Schlesinger, who…

Eugene (Aryeh Leib) Lebovitz was born in Czechoslovakia in 1928. In this show, he tells of his experiences as a teenager in the ghetto, through the “selections” at various work camps, the miracles that saved his life time after time, including the numerous death marches that he survived as well. He shares his liberation story, including his return to the town in which…

Some 2,000 people gathered in the small town of Nir Galim in southern Israel to participate in a Holocaust Memorial Day gathering, where the featured speaker was outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. Gantz is the child of Holocaust survivors who resettled in Israel after the establishment of the state in 1948. “As an…

Although the Shemittah year prohibitions against planting new trees are largely kept around Israel, in both secular and religious community, the Judea town of Kfar Adumim will be planting olive trees – to replace hundreds of trees that were destroyed by Bedouin Arabs in recent weeks. According to Boaz Ido, who is organizing the effort,…

Minute’s silence at Jerusalem’s Martyrs’ Forest Israelis throughout the country stood for a minute’s silence Thursday morning, as the sirens sounded in honor of Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day. In familiar yearly scenes, motorists could be seen parking their cars in the middle of highways across Israel, standing together with pedestrians in a powerful show…

Nearly three decades after it was established, CNN has “discovered” the town of Mevo Horon – and declared it an “illegal settlement,” according to Yehudit Tiar, one of the town’s long-time residents. “When I contacted them, they themselves admitted that they weren’t clear on the dates. It just goes to show the quality of research…

A Cairo criminal court on Wednesday jailed deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi’s former chief of staff for three years, after he was convicted of abusing his powers, AFP reported. The man, Refaa al-Tahtawi had been charged with hiring someone banned from public service, a court official said. Tahtawi had given a job to a man…

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said Wednesday that President Barack Obama was “responsible” for making sure that Washington respects a final agreement over Iran’s nuclear program, even though Congress has been given a say on the accord’s fate. “It is the obligation of the government of the United States to implement its international agreements.…

Hamas on Wednesday demanded that the national unity government with longtime rival Fatah commit to previously agreed-to understandings regarding salaries of civil servants. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement quoted by the Ma’an news agency that the unity government should deal with all employees equally and fairly, calling upon the government to…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday dismissed pressure from the U.S. Congress over a preliminary deal on his country’s nuclear program, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Speaking a day after the Senate Foreign Relations committee gave the green light to a bill that would give Congress the right to review a possible final agreement with Iran,…

Both Israel and the Iran deal have become deeply partisan issues, according to a recent poll – despite repeated calls from politicians on Capitol Hill to discourage the nation from becoming divided over the issue.  Bloomberg Politics polled 1,008 adults between April 6-8, with a 3.1 point margin of error.  The results indicate that Democrats overwhelmingly support an…

Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) will be officially inaugurated at 8:00 pm Wednesday night, in a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. Loading… The central theme for this year’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day is “The Anguish of Liberation and the Return to Life: Seventy Years Since the End of…

A UN envoy will travel to Iraq and Syria this week to address the disturbing use of rape, sex slavery and other sexual violence by extremists like the Islamic State, according to AFP.  Zainab Hawa Bangura, the special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, will also travel to Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon in her first Middle East tour. Bangura…

Israeli Professor Daniel Boneh of Stanford University will be awarded the 2014 ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in the Computing Sciences for his work in cryptography. The award specifically will recognize his work in “pairings-based cryptography,” which is a technique whereby documents are encoded on the one hand, and only the “designated recipient” would have the ability…

A police investigation has been launched against a high school music teacher in Berlin, The Local reports Wednesday, after she forced her class of eleventh graders to march to the Nazi anthem as an alleged part of her curriculum.  The song, the “Horst-Wessel-Lied,” includes lyrics that glorify Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The teacher – who still remains…

A day after his conviction on bribery charges, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, head of the Shuvu Yisrael sect, told followers that his suffering would save the Jewish people from “a difficult judgment. We accept everything with love and the knowledge that the patience we have had in the past years cause a ‘sweetened judgment’ for the…

Rebels fighting in southern Syria will not cooperate militarily with Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, Al Nusra Front, a spokesman said Wednesday. Essam al-Rayes’ comments come after tensions between local rebel groups and Al Nusra over the capture of a border crossing between Syria and Jordan.   “We reject all forms of cooperation with Al Nusra Front because keeping silent…

Police are suspecting a terrorist attack after a car driven by an Arab driver hit and seriously injured two pedestrians who were standing at a bus stop in Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood on Wednesday night, shortly before midnight. Paramedics who arrived at the scene provided medical treatment to the two victims, a man in his…

What is Israel’s next move against Iran? The question is a complex one to answer, and partly deals with the question of how Israel deals with its primary ally going forward – the United States. The agreement itself has already shown some cracks, with Russia exploiting its ambiguity to justify shipping S-300 surface-to-air missiles to…

The Holocaust serves as a testament to Jewish strength  – but also as a reminder of the obligation to support survivors, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon stated Wednesday night.  “An outsider can never understand the terror and persecution, the loss of separation from parents and family that will never be seen again, and the suffering of those who, by good grace, are still…

(AFP) – Suzanna Braun, who experienced the horrors of the Holocaust and defied death at least three times, believes she survived because of her determination to save her sister – and some divine intervention. The first time she beat death was sheer luck. Suzanna was just two weeks shy of 16 when she, her sister Agi and her parents were rounded…

It’s been seventy years after the Holocaust, and the world still hasn’t learned the lesson of where unbridled hatred of Jews can lead it, wrote MK Miri Regev (Likud) on her Facebook page Wednesday. Israel’s official ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day began Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Over 240 smaller ceremonies…

A mortar shell struck the Golan Heights on Wednesday night, near Alonei HaBashan.  The shell struck an open field and there were no casualties.  Security officials said shortly after the strike that the shell was likely accidental spillover from nearby Syria.  Tensions along the border enflamed in January, after Major Yochai Kalengal and Sgt. Dor Chaim…

A new research study released its findings on Wednesday, exposing how acts of violent anti-Semitism in Europe positively skyrocketed in 2014. The report, conducted by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, was prepared together with the European Jewish Congress (EJC).  It found a full 766 violent anti-Semitic…

At least 24 people have been killed in a series of Syrian government air strikes around the city of Idlib, which rebels seized earlier this month, a monitoring group said Wednesday. Two children were among 12 people killed when a barrel bomb hit a shelter in the rebel-held town of Saraqeb, southeast of Idlib, on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said…

IDF soldiers on Tuesday blocked off an illegal road paved by Palestinian Arabs between an illegal Arab quarry and Highway 60, adjacent to the Jewish community of Ofra in Samaria’s Binyamin region. In recent weeks, Mustafa Tarifi, a Palestinian Arab entrepreneur, has been operating a large quarry between the Arab village of Deir Dibwan and…

The Israel Law Center / Shurat Hadin legal NGO, which specializes in anti-terror legal warfare, has won a “historic” judgment in the amount of $330 million in a lawsuit filed against North Korea, on behalf of the family of a Korean priest who was murdered. A US court found that Rev. Kim Dong-Shik was abducted…

The Israel Law Center / Shurat Hadin legal NGO, which specializes in anti-terror legal warfare, has won a “historic” judgment in the amount of $330 million in a lawsuit filed against North Korea, on behalf of the family of a Korean priest who was murdered. A US court found that Rev. Kim Dong-Shik was abducted…

A new research study released its findings on Wednesday, exposing how acts of violent anti-Semitism in Europe positively skyrocketed in 2014. The report, conducted by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, was prepared together with the European Jewish Congress (EJC).  It found a full 766 violent anti-Semitic…

The IDF, Israel Securoty Agency (ISA) and Israel Police launched a large-scale operation in Shechem (Nablus) Tuesday night, arresting 29 Hamas terrorists suspected of planning attacks against Israel. Those arrested include senior Hamas men and ex-convicts. The defense establishment believes that these men intended to carry out attacks under the guidance of Hamas’s overseas arm,…

There has been mutual sniping between the more liberal Zionist rabbis and a more conservative Zionist MK, over the Conversion Law passed by the previous government, which allows municipal and neighborhood rabbis throughout the country to initiate and execute conversion processes. The latest round of political pugilistics sees Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat pitted against MK…

A top Saudi terrorist in the leadership of Al-Qaeda in Yemen was killed in a US airstrike on Tuesday, according to a statement by the group online cited by Reuters. The terrorist was named as Ibrahim al-Rubaish, a leader of Yemen’s Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). It is appraised that the strike is significant, because…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday expressed anger over the pope’s recognition of the genocide of Armenians in 1915-1917 by Ottoman Turks, pressing the pontiff not to repeat such a “mistake” again. Ankara at the weekend summoned the Vatican nuncio and recalled the Turkish envoy to the Holy See in a furious reaction to Pope Francis’ description of the murder…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday evening, after Putin on Monday lifted a self-imposed ban on a sale of advanced S-300 anti-missile batteries to the Islamic regime of Iran. In the call, Netanyahu expressed Israel’s great concerns over the deal, warning Putin that the sale will increase Iran’s aggression in…

A senior official of US President Barack Obama’s administration said back in 2010 that the sale of Russia’s advanced S-300 anti-missile system to Iran constitutes a “red line,” but the administration has been surprisingly low key since Russia on Monday announced it is lifting the ban on the sale. Russia signed a contract in 2007 to…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly offered the post of Transportation Minister to Shas chairman Aryeh Deri on Tuesday, as coalition talks continue to develop. The move is apparently meant to defuse tensions after Deri and Kulanu head Moshe Kahlon both demanded control of the Planning Administration in the Interior Ministry. By making the offer to Deri, Netanyahu…

Why do a small but vocal minority of young Jewish students consistently join the ranks of some of the most rabid anti-Israel organizations, both on and off campus?   It’s a question many mainstream Jewish organizations and community leaders have been struggling with for decades, with little in the way of answers or solutions to show…

Hamas evidently wanted to leave no doubts that when it comes to implementing its jihadist genocidal goals of wiping out the Jewish people by all terrorist means at its disposal, age is no barrier – and that brainwashing works all the better the younger you start. Hamas’s Ministry of Interior, which is part of its “governmental…

US President Barack Obama will remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism according to a White House announcement on Tuesday, as he continues to push for normalization with the Socialist regime. Cuba had been on the list with Iran, Sudan and Syria. Back in December when Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro…

In a move likely to raise security concerns among many, Israel began Tuesday to allow Palestinian Arab medical staff working inside the 1949 Armistice lines to freely enter from Judea and Samaria with their own vehicles, a first in 15 years since the outbreak of the last major terror war from the region. COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) said…

Jihadists from the Islamic State group (ISIS) have lost ground to Palestinian fighters in Syria’s Yarmouk camp, Palestinian officials and a resident said on Tuesday. ISIS fighters have retreated from much of the territory they seized in the camp in southern Damascus after entering it on April 1, a resident using the pseudonym Samer told…

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved, 19 to 0, legislation granting Congress a voice in negotiations on the Iran nuclear accord, The New York Times reported. The legislation will now go to the full Senate, after President Barack Obama earlier withdrew his opposition rather than face of a bipartisan rebuke. Republican opponents…

Apparently one should think twice before opening fire on an armadillo – that’s a lesson one man in the state of Georgia learned the hard way, after his bullet ricocheted off the animal’s armor and hit his 74-year-old mother-in-law in the back. Armadillos are treated as pests in the American South, and so upon finding one…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised Jewish Home party head Naftali Bennett the highly-coveted position of defense minister several months prior to the elections – and then promptly broke that promise. A Channel Two report has exposed how Netanyahu approached Bennett in November of last year and asked him to support a decision to fire Yesh…

For part one of this interview, click here. Is Hillary Clinton good for Israel? The centrifuges of questions have begun to spin as it were for Campaign 2016 in the United States, with both parties yet to nominate new figureheads as they try to replace the embattled Obama Administration. For American Jews and Israel, the…

A bipartisan letter from Congressmen was sent to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday, urging him to take all actions possible to block the sale of S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Iran by Russia. The letter, signed by Congressmen Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL), came after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced…

The Islamist terrorist who murdered two people in twin attacks in Copenhagen in February had once shared a prison cell with an inmate who openly backed the Islamic State (ISIS) group, Danish media reported on Tuesday. While serving time for a stabbing, Omar El-Hussein was reported three times by prison staff to the Danish Prison and Probation Service for expressing “extreme” views on Islam,…

Seven High Court judges on Tuesday rejected the request for an additional debate which was submitted by a group of Arab terrorists jailed in Israel against a decision not to let them receive academic studies from the Open University while in jail. The terrorists claimed that they were being “discriminated” against as opposed to regular prisoners…

House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday issued a broad critique of the Obama administration’s Middle East strategy. According to USA Today, Boehner said President Barack Obama should re-engage U.S. troops in Iraq in a combat-like role to fight the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS). “I think the president is placing artificial constraints on our…

A deal between Republican and Democratic senators was reached on Tuesday to support a bill that would let Congress have the final say on the Iran nuclear deal, according to Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) who is one of the key authors of the bill. “We have reached a bipartisan agreement that keeps the congressional review…

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday his country will resume talks with world powers on a final nuclear agreement on April 21 and is ready to take “irreversible steps” if the West does the same, AFP reports. “My team, the assistant to (EU foreign policy chief Federica) Mogherini and the other representatives…

House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday issued a broad critique of the Obama administration’s Middle East strategy. According to USA Today, Boehner said President Barack Obama should re-engage U.S. troops in Iraq in a combat-like role to fight the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS). “I think the president is placing artificial constraints on our…

The Cuban foreign ministry on Tuesday welcomed President Barack Obama’s move to drop the country from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying it was “fair”. “The government of Cuba acknowledges the fair decision of the president of the United States to take Cuba off a list on which it should never have been…

Apple has purchased Israeli camera technology company LinX Imaging for approximately $20 million, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. LinX specializes in creating multi-aperture camera equipment for mobile devices and it’s possible that Apple will use the company’s technology in upcoming iOS devices, according to the Mac Rumors website. Last year, LinX announced the launch…

UN mediator Staffan de Mistura wants his next consultations on the conflict in Syria to include “all those with influence,” but has yet to complete a list of participants, a UN spokesman said Tuesday, according to AFP. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, pressed by reporters, refused to say whether Iran would or should be invited to…

The United States on Tuesday placed two top figures in Yemen’s Houthi rebellion on its sanctions blacklist, following suit after the United Nations approved global sanctions on the two, AFP reported. The Treasury Department named Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, and leading backer Ahmed Ali Saleh, son of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, to its…

Many people come and ask about passages in the Talmud, ignoring the language and context, and want to know if we really believe the sensational verses that they read about? Ira and Rod are joined once again by Rabbi Chaim Coffman to discuss the veracity of the the Torah, both written and oral. They also discuss the…

A second man has been arrested in connection with the murder in London of an imam who was a critic of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, police said Tuesday, according to AFP. The imam, Abdul Hadi Arwani, 48, was found in his car with gunshot wounds to the chest in Wembley, northwest London, last week. The…

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday spoke out against Russia’s decision to prepare to deliver missile systems to Iran, Reuters reported. Speaking before a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in the northern German city of Luebeck, Steinmeier said that it was “too early” to think about rewarding Iran. “We’re in the middle of a…

Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, on Monday defended his country’s decision to lift a ban on the delivery of S-300 anti-missile rocket systems to Iran, saying the S-300 system does not pose a threat to Israel. Commenting on the decision, Lavrov was quoted by Russia Today as saying that the embargo on S-300 deliveries was…

The Civil Administration on Monday night evicted and demolished the Hazon David synagogue, located near Kiryat Arba. Hazon David was built in 2001, in memory of David Hacohen and Chezi Muallem, who were killed by terrorists. Hacohen was killed when terrorists fired at his vehicle near the entrance to Kiryat Arba. Muallem, who arrived at…

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Monday expressed support for a bill that would force President Barack Obama to submit any nuclear agreement with Iran for Congress approval. McCarthy said he would bring the bill to the House floor if the Senate approves it, according to The Associated Press (AP). The Senate is set to…

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday said Ban considers the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago “atrocity crimes” but is not supporting Pope Francis’ description of the killings as “the first genocide of the 20th century”. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric was quoted by The Associated Press (AP) as telling…

The United States voiced concern on Monday about the possible sale of sophisticated Russian air defense missiles to Iran, after Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted a ban on such shipments. AFP reported that Secretary of State John Kerry raised Washington’s concerns about the end of the sales ban on the S-300 missile system directly, with…

The UN’s atomic watchdog, answer the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Monday it will hold talks on Wednesday seeking to jumpstart its long-stalled probe into Iran’s alleged past efforts to develop nuclear weapons, AFP reported. The meeting in Tehran will be the first since Iran and six major powers agreed on April 2 the…

If you have ever had the honor to attend a Holocaust dedication ceremony, it is a harrowing experience. That can be especially so when attending a guest lecture from a survivor of the Nazi concentration and extermination camps, or hearing the dramatic tales of survival by elders who were only kids who hid in forests,…

A court in Jordan on Monday ordered six men jailed for waving the Islamic State group’s flag and singing jihadist slogans at a wedding, AFP reported. The state security court sentenced two defendants to five years in prison for “carrying out acts that expose the kingdom to the risk of hostile acts and ruining relations…

The UN agency responsible for Palestinian Arab refugees on Monday said it had provided urgent supplies to around 500 civilians who have fled fighting in the Damascus neighborhood of Yarmouk, which has been stormed by the Islamic State (ISIS). The mission to help the evacuees from the Yarmouk camp “was made possible following facilitation and…

President Barack Obama met with Jewish American leaders at the White House in two sessions on Monday in a bid to “defuse antagonism toward him,” and to improve the chances that the deal being finalized with Iran will pass in Congress, writes the Washington Post. At the first meeting, the president spent an hour with…

The prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency has many Israeli analysts wondering what will become of the relationship picking up the pieces from Barack Obama. Will those proverbial pieces be thrown in the garbage for good, or will she glue them back together? Despite the fears of many conservative Israelis, there is a sense of…

Likud MK Miri Regev joins a chorus of Likud officials who have recently attacked right-wing parties during the coalition talks, claiming they are placing unreasonable demands on Likud and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. “It’s time to change the electoral system,” Regev fired on her Facebook page. “It cannot be that small and medium sized parties blackmail the major parties…

Minister of Interior Gilad Erdan said Tuesday that to the best of his knowledge, the report that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Labor Chairman MK Yitzhak Herzog met recently is not true. The report about the meeting was carried by Channel 1 and submitted by veteran political correspondent Ayala Hasson, who is also the director of Channel 1‘s…

The Shuvu Yisrael sect heavily defended its leader Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto on Tuesday, hours after he was convicted for bribery and corruption in the Tel Aviv District Court.  “Our spiritual leader, Rabbi Pinto, appeared in court today with head held high to honor the plea bargain he signed with the government,” it said. The sect…

Leading Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are nearing a deal on legislation that would allow Congress to review any nuclear agreement with Iran, according to Politico. If this agreement is achieved, the chances that the bill will receive a veto-proof majority will be greatly improved. “Key congressional negotiators are confident they…

Turkey on Tuesday deported nine Britons, including the son of a local councillor, two weeks after arresting them for attempting to cross into Syria to join jihadists, the official news agency said. The nine were taken by minibus from custody cells in the Hatay region of south Turkey on the Syrian border to the city of of Adana where they were…

The Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet), the IDF, and the Israel Police busted a Hamas cell planning major attacks during Purim, it was cleared for publication on Tuesday.  The cell was planning to shoot IDF soldiers on patrol near the Arab settlement of Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem. Members bought a Hyundai Elantra for the…

Car bombs in the Baghdad area, including one near a hospital, killed at least eight people on Tuesday, security and medical officials said. One blast hit a car park across the street from Yarmuk hospital in the west of the Iraqi capital, killing at least four people and wounding 10, according to AFP. The second struck a residential area…

Incoming Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich fumed Tuesday at the destruction of a Kiryat Arba synagogue on Tuesday morning, after the Civil Administration moved to demolish the structure overnight.  “The destruction of the Hazon David synagogue last night in Kiryat Arba is a serious incident,” Smotrich stated. “Again and again [the Civil Administration] bears the name of the rule…

Iran’s Defense Minister, Hossein Dehqan, on Monday welcomed Russia’s decision to lift a ban on the delivery of S-300 anti-missile rocket systems to his country, claiming the decision would help maintain stability in the region. “The expansion of cooperation [with Russia] and improving cooperation with other neighboring countries in various fields can be very effective…

With coalition negotiations with United Torah Judaism in their final stages, and Shas and Kulanu not far behind, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu may be on the verge of forming his fourth Likud-led government.  Netanyahu and Kulanu Chairman Moshe Kahlon met for three hours on Sunday night, bringing Likud and Kulanu “closer” to a coalition deal, sources…

Shots were fired outside of a synagogue in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, local daily The Tennessean reported. No one was hurt.  Police spokesman Don Aaron said a maintenance worker heard a loud noise at around 8:30 a.m. EST outside of the West End Synagogue on West End Avenue in Nashville.  Upon coming to the synagogue’s front entrance,…

Republican Senator Marco Rubio announced to donors Monday that he is launching a presidential campaign, AFP reports. American media reported that Rubio told major donors on a conference call about his plans, hours ahead of a glitzy launch event in Miami where he is expected to present himself as the next-generation candidate in the candidate.…

A man has been arrested in connection with the murder in London of an imam who was a critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, police said Monday. Abdul Hadi Arwani, 48, was found in his car with gunshot wounds to the chest in Wembley, northwest London, on Tuesday. The investigation into his death is being handled by counter-terrorism police. Scotland Yard…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu once again blasted the West’s nuclear deal with Iran on Monday, stating in a lengthy series of remarks that the deal is “an agreement full of holes.”  “There is no convincing explanation to the effect that the nuclear deal being offered to Iran is a good deal for one simple reason:…

Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate led a fierce assault on an intelligence base in Aleppo city Monday night after regime attacks on civilian infrastructure in the city forced rebels to shut schools, according to AFP. Along with other Islamist terrorists, the Al-Nusra Front set off a large tunnel explosion near the air force intelligence headquarters in the west of the northern city. Rami Abdel…

An Israeli soldier was indicted on Monday for allegedly tipping off far-right Jewish extremists that they were about to be arrested, the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) stated.  Elad Sela, a resident of Bat Ayin between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, was arrested on March 10 and charged with “aggravated espionage.”  Sela has confessed to passing on “classified and sensitive documents to rightist extremists…

Despite angry tension between Likud and Jewish Home throughout the coalition negotiation process, Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett said Monday night that the two parties had made headway.  The Economy Minister, who has been vocal about his desire for the foreign affairs ministry, faced a backlash from Likud members who charged Jewish Home with being excessive in its…

Likud MKs wasted no time firing back at actress Anat Waxman Monday after she described Likud voters with contempt in a television interview. MK Miri Regev called Waxman “stuck up and elitist” on Facebook. “Except for calling us mice, she used every possible slur to describe us.” “I wonder what cheese they let her sniff, that caused…

Anat Waxman, a successful stage and television actress, insulted many fellow Israelis with her derisive description of Likud voters on Channel 2 Sunday. Among other things, she referred to them as “the chocolates,” a reference to the infamous “chocolate” video that documented two drunk Israeli couples harassing an air steward who did not serve them chocolate when…

A man has been arrested in connection with the murder in London of an imam who was a critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, police said Monday. Abdul Hadi Arwani, 48, was found in his car with gunshot wounds to the chest in Wembley, northwest London, on Tuesday. The investigation into his death is being handled by counter-terrorism police. Scotland Yard said a…

Iran has become adamant that all sanctions be dropped immediately with the signing of a nuclear deal by June 30, a demand contradicting Western positions, but that appears unlikely to happen as US states seem determined to maintain their sanctions regardless of a deal. A full 26 states have sanctions measures in place against companies…

Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto was taken to the Ichilov Medical Center Monday morning after apparently suffering a heart attack on the plane that brought him to Israel from New York. Rabbi Pinto, who heads the Shuva Israel sect, flew to Israel in accordance with a District Court order, in order to be present at his arraignment Tuesday in…

US officials revealed that Iran is trying to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the Shi’ite Houthi militia in Yemen, to aid its attempts to conquer the country and stave off a Saudi-led airstrike campaign. One of the senior US defense officials quoted in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday said of Iran’s efforts to supply surface-to-air missiles: “we…

Two polls that received very little fanfare were released late last month, and found that the majority of Christian and Jewish Canadians think Islam is “irreconcilable” with the West – it also found 42% of Canadian Muslims agree with that assessment. The polls, conducted by Leger Marketing, were published in the Vancouver Sun and found 63% of…

In confirmation of the Yachad – Ha’am Itanu and Otzma Yehudit accusations that Shas activists committed mass voter fraud in invalidating the two parties’ joint list ballot slips, recordings reveal Shas activists instructing how to invalidate the slips. IDF Radio on Monday morning published recordings of a Shas activist from Jerusalem guiding his friends on how to harm…

Despite national initiatives last year to help Holocaust victims residing in Israel, the situation for many is still dire.  The Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims published on Monday, ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day which begins Wednesday night, a survey demonstrating the worrying conditions a good number of survivors live in.  According to the survey,…

“Shi’i Islam has a greater tendency than Sunni Islam for innovative thought due to its embrace of reasoning and rationalism as a tool for interpreting the religious law,” an expert on Shiite religious affairs told Arutz Sheva, who asked to remain anonymous. “Iran is of course Shi’i and the whole idea of an Islamic republic…

The number of Europeans fighting with jihadist groups in Syria could exceed 6,000, a top EU official told a French newspaper Monday, according to AFP. “At the European level, we estimate that 5,000-6,000 individuals have left for Syria,” EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jouriva told Le Figaro in an interview, adding the true number was likely to be far higher due to the difficulty…

The coalition negotiations between Likud and the haredi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party have reached the final stages of phrasing the wording of the agreement, reports IDF Radio. The agreement is to include a clause guaranteeing a cancellation of the criminal sanctions in the Enlistment Law, which was led by Yesh Atid and Jewish Home in…

Iraq has exhumed the remains of 164 people believed to have been massacred by jihadists from mass graves in Tikrit, the human rights ministry said Monday. “Search teams have discovered the remains of 164 (victims) so far in four mass graves during work over the past week,” ministry spokesman Kamel Amin told AFP. He said documents and mobile phones that have been…

Germany’s most famous writer, Gunter Grass, best known for his 1959 novel “The Tin Drum” but whose reputation was tarnished by his admission he had served in Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s Waffen SS, died Monday aged 87, his publishers said. The Nobel laureate died in a hospital in the northern city of Luebeck, the Steidl publishing house said on Twitter. Grass…

According to the Reuters news agency, the Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday lifting a ban on the delivery of S-300 anti-missile rocket systems to Iran. Russia said that it cancelled a contract to deliver the missile system to Iran in 2010, under pressure from the West…

While American Jews have supported US President Barack Obama significantly more than the general population in survey polls, that gap is narrowing, Gallup reported Friday – and disparagement is highest among the most religious.  Survey polls conducted over the past 6 years of Obama’s presidency usually indicate a gap of at least 12-13 percentage points between American Jews’…

Israel has been focused more on events nearer-by than the wars in Syria and Iraq. However, it has not been lost on many that Israel will need to continue developing relationships with groups in these two countries, especially as the security challenges there move closer to Israel’s borders. ISIS is pressing offensive operations in southern…

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced she is running for President in 2016. “Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top,” Clinton said in an internet video.  “Everyday Americans need a champion. I want to be that champion.” “So I’m…

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared Sunday that anyone convicted of digging tunnels into Gaza from Sinai or of assisting in such activity would face a death sentence, according to a report on Israel’s Channel 1 TV. Sunday proved to be another bloody day in Egypt, as at least five people were killed and some…

Former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General (res.) Yair Naveh said Sunday that “more and more people agree” that the deal negotiated by the P5+1 powers with ith Iran over its nuclear program is a bad one. However, he added in a Channel 1 interview, Israel can still reach understandings with the US and…

Germany has approved the delivery of the fifth of six promised submarines to Israel – amid claims that the sub will be outfitted with nuclear weapons. Is this part of Israel’s answer to the US nuclear agreement with Iran? The German Federal Security Council, which monitors Germany’s export of military goods, has given the green light for the delivery of another submarine to…

Dozens of Likud branch chairmen and members of Likud’s Central Committee published a petition this week demanding that party chairman, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, add the Jewish Home to his coalition and avoid a “unity” government with Labor at any cost. One of the people behind the petition is Likud’s Rosh Ha’ayin Branch Chairman Mati…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged lawmakers not to put up obstacles in the path of the talks between Iran and the West on its nuclear program, AFP reported. Kerry spoke with CBS’s “Face the Nation” as he prepares to defend the deal to lawmakers later this week. “I’ll lay out the…

An Egyptian court’s decision to sentence 14 men to death and jail 37 others accused of ties to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood was “politically motivated” and “blatantly unjust”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday, according to Reuters. The group’s statement comes a day after the court condemned Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and 13…

A Washington Post journalist detained in Iran for over eight months is accused of “espionage” and “acting against national security,” The Associated Press (AP) reported Sunday, citing Iranian media. The semi-official Fars news agency, which reported about the charges against Jason Rezaian, did not elaborate on the source of the information, but the agency is…

Activists from the Canadian-Palestinian organization Samidoun are planning to hold a demonstration outside the Israeli Consulate in Toronto, in protest against the arrest of Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian Arab parliamentarian who is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. Jarrar was arrested on April 2 for what…

Jordan on Sunday expressed concerns over air traffic safety as it restated its opposition to the construction of an Israeli international airport near the coastal city of Aqaba, AFP reports. Ali Odaibat, a spokesman for the Jordanian Transport ministry, told the official Petra news agency Jordan had notified the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) about…

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid was welcomed Sunday by both Germany’s foreign minister and France’s former president. Hours before the announcement was made, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed it, saying Clinton had showed herself to be a strong partner for Europe. Writing in the daily newspaper Bild and quoted by Reuters,…

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a possible Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential election, expressed his discontent on Sunday over the fact that President Barack Obama had held a meeting with Cuban leader Raul Castro. In a post on Twitter, Bush wondered why Obama had met with Castro while snubbing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu when…

A Syrian regime air strike hit a school in the main northern city of Aleppo on Sunday killing five children and four other civilians, a monitoring group said, according to AFP. “Military aircraft struck a school in east Aleppo city and killed five children, three female teachers and one man,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head…

Thousands of people on Sunday joined Hungary’s annual “March of Life” commemorating the Holocaust, as World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder denounced the country’s surging far-right Jobbik party as “extremist”, AFP reported. Over 10,000 people took part in the march. In a speech at the end of the procession, Lauder called Jobbik an “extremist party that promotes hate”. Condemning…

Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to announce her long-awaited second run for president of United States in an online video on Sunday, AP reported.  Clinton, a former first lady and New York state senator, initially ran for president in 2008, but lost the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama. She then served as Secretary of State during his first presidential term. …

Israel’s status as a regional superpower is unusual for its lacking a reliable set of local allies. Even where security ties with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia might be strong, the country is forced to keep those ties in the background. Regardless, it exerts a degree of influence just by its own strategic value. While…

Is Israel a superpower? The question comes up and meets a number of answers and reactions. Some would answer that it is a miniature superpower, while others feel Israel is treated like a vassal state of the US. Power in international affairs is an academic issue and is never black and white. Some countries are…

Hundreds of Israelis are stranded abroad on Sunday after four separate flights that were supposed to return to Israel were delayed for various reasons.  Greek airline company Blue Bird cancelled two flights from Crete to Tel Aviv on Sunday, after discovering a technical failure in one of their planes.  Just yesterday, on Saturday, another one…

In a blockbuster admission, Admiral Bill Gortney, Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) disclosed that the Pentagon now believes North Korea has mastered the ability to miniaturize its nuclear bombs so they can be fitted onto their latest mobile KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are capable of reaching…

Pope Francis has officially deemed the murder of more than 1 million Armenians in 1915-17 by the Ottoman Turks as “genocide” Sunday – a definitive step in ensuring recognition of the tragedy on the international scale.  “In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies,” Francis stated, at the…

With 18 days since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was handed the mandate to form the next government, Likud is under pressure to finalize agreements with their coalition partners.  But Development of the Negev and Galilee Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud) stressed during Channel Ten’s “Central Headquarters” program on Saturday night that a Likud-led coalition would be completed within the time remaining…

The June 30, 2015 deadline for a final nuclear agreement between the P5+1 powers and Iran is subject to the whims of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Tehran has announced. “Iran will work hard to reach an agreement within the specified time of three months or even sooner, but if the deal doesn’t meet the criteria…

London’s High Court will examine the legality of the University of Southampton’s cancellation of a conference challenging Israel’s right to exist, the Southern Daily Echo reported Saturday.  Entitled “International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism,” the conference aimed “to explore the relatedness of the suffering and injustice in Palestine to the foundation and protection of…

Police presence was high Sunday morning at the funeral of Rabbi Chaim Grenimann in Bnei Brak, who died on Friday at the age of 89. Police are apparently not taking risks after the horrific trampling disaster during Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner’s funeral earlier this month, which saw hundreds injured and resulted in two deaths.  The funeral…

A UN agency chief said Sunday he was deeply concerned for civilians stuck in a Damascus neighborhood after it was stormed by the jihadist Islamic State terrorist group, also known as ISIS. “We remain very worried for refugees and civilians inside Yarmouk,” Pierre Krahenbuhl, who heads the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said in Damascus.…

MK Yariv Levin (Likud), who is a member of Likud’s coalition negotiation team, told Arutz Sheva Sunday that coalition talks are facing difficulties, and the gaps between the positions of the six parties involved are still large. Instead of showing flexibility, he explained, the potential partners are becoming entrenched in their positions, making completion of…

More than 500 Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have been killed in clashes on the border with Yemen since the Saudi-led air war against them began, the Saudi Defense ministry said Saturday, according to Al Arabiya, which cited the Saudi Press Agency. It was the first reported death toll for the clashes since Saudi Arabia, heading an…

Israel was hit with an unusually late winter storm Sunday, with rainfall levels not seen in decades during early April. With spring already in the air – and Passover just completed – Israelis awoke on their first full day back at work since before the beginning of the holiday more than a week ago to…

Police Sergeant Ofer Kenerick, 28, was laid to rest Sunday after he was killed in a tragic accident on Friday. Kenerick, who left behind a wife and two small children, was killed when he was on patrol, on the last hours of his last regular shift. He was set to be provided with a schedule…

The government hasn’t been formed yet, but already rival parties are accusing each other of “ruining” their policies which have yet to be implemented. In the case of Kulanu, MK Roy Folkman said Sunday that it was possible that the policies prospective Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon was planning to institute would be stymied – because…

Turkey has reacted angrily to a declaration by Pope Francis in which he labeled the mass-murder of more than one million Armenians by Ottoman Turkey a “genocide”. The Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to Ankara to express its “disappointment” Sunday, saying the Pope’s speech had caused “a problem of trust” between the two states, according…

Israeli politicians took part in the festivities Saturday night for the Moroccan Jewish celebration of Maimouna, which follows Passover (Pesach) and features delicacies such as Mufleta and other leavened goodies that cannot be eaten during Pesach. Maimouna was held on Saturday night after Shabbat ended, because the seventh and final day of Pesach led directly…

Evidence is emerging that Hezbollah terrorists have been fighting alongside Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen, where a bloody civil war has been raging for the past several weeks. The first report of Hezbollah assistance surfaced on Friday in pan-Arab news outlet Asharq al-Awsat, which claimed that the body of a “former Hezbollah militiaman” was discovered among the dead…

Iranian leadership continues to state clearly that the framework deal announced in Lausanne, Switzerland earlier this month constitutes a major achievement of the Islamic regime, which didn’t give up on its nuclear program at all and forced the US to fold. Iranian Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammed Ali Jafari, who is considered to be one of the…

The war of words between Hamas and Fatah is heating up, as a senior Hamas official asserted that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had forfeited his legitimacy to lead. In an article published in the Hamas journal “Palestine”, senior official Mahmoud Al-Zahar accused Abbas of “treachery” over the PA’s security cooperation with the Israel Defense…

US Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that Iraqi leaders have asserted the country’s sovereignty in their war against jihadists and do not want to be “puppets” of Iran or other outside powers. In last month’s battle over the town of Tikrit, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had insisted that forces fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) group must be under Baghdad’s authority…

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow on Monday where the issue of Middle East peace talks will be raised, Russian authorities announced Thursday. “The two leaders will hold talks concerning key aspects of Russian-Palestinian relations and their future, with particular attention on the trade, economy and humanitarian sectors,” the Kremlin said in a statement…

Jihadist fighters from the Islamic State (ISIS) group are holding hostage at least 50 civilians, almost half of them women, seized in a raid on a village in central Syria, a monitor said. They were kidnapped from the village of Mabujeh in Hama province on March 31, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights according to AFP. News of the…

Iranian intelligence is conducting widespread activities from within Egypt and from there branching out to other Arab countries as well, according to Arab security sources. The London-based Arabic-language Asharq Al-Awsat made the revelation in a report on Thursday, citing security sources who disclosed the Iranian intelligence operations. In the report it was noted that the Iranian diplomat…

The Syrian Kurds have gained de facto autonomy in the crumbling Syrian landscape. With a large portion of Kurdish-majority territory tucked away in the northeastern corner of the country far away from the main habited zones around Damascus, the coast, Aleppo or along the Euphrates River, the tiny al-Hasakah province has been more focused on…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group on Saturday released a video that shows terrorists smashing artifacts at the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq before blowing up the site. The undated video suggests that the site, on the Tigris river about 30 kilometers (18 miles) southeast of Mosul, was completely leveled. Destruction at the site was reported more than a…

Israel may be forced to freeze its plans for a preemptive strike, allowing the Israeli military to return to its proper dimensions. There may even be room for a strategic move of the diplomatic kind. On October 25, 1956, four days before the Sinai Campaign started and before the Israeli cabinet had given its approval…

WASHINGTON – A poll conducted by the NBC news network and published Thursday in the United States found that 68 percent of Americans do not believe Iran will comply with the terms of a nuclear deal signed with the international coalition. About 25 percent of those polled said they had faith that Iran would hold…

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow on Monday where the issue of Middle East peace talks will be raised, Russian authorities announced Thursday. “The two leaders will hold talks concerning key aspects of Russian-Palestinian relations and their future, with particular attention on the trade, economy and humanitarian sectors,” the…

The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party said on Friday he favoured recognising Palestine as a state if such a move would help bring about a broader peace deal in the Middle East. Ed Miliband was asked by a reporter if Britain would recognise Palestine in the first year or two of his premiership, if…

A Palestinian was killed and two were wounded in clashes with the IDF, Palestinian sources said Friday. Ziad Awad, 30, died during riots that broke out at the funeral of Jafaar Awad, a close relative who was released from prison a few weeks ago because of a terminal illness and died on Thursday. Ziad Awad,…

A Wisconsin man has been charged with providing support to Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria, where he allegedly planned to join the extremist group, the Justice Department said Thursday. Joshua Ray Van Haften, 34, of Madison, Wisconsin, was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare airport as he returned from Turkey on Wednesday.   He left…

A kosher baking company has been left red-faced, and bracing for a possible backlash from religious Jewish customers, after a batch of cookies which were not kosher for Passover were found for sale at an international airport. On Tuesday, mid-way through the Pesach (Passover) festival, a Jewish traveler posted an image online taken from JFK…

Argentina has declassified files relating to the 1992 bombing outside the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that left 29 dead and 200 wounded, according to documents published in local media Thursday. The government was ordered by the Supreme Court to make the items publicly available, more than two decades after the attack by Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists, reports AFP. According to the…

Sherkoh Abbas is a busy man. Residing in Washington D.C., he has the colossal job of lobbying for a state that does not yet exist – Syrian Kurdistan, a.k.a. Rojava. He is the Chairman of the Kurdistan National Assembly, an umbrella group of Kurdish organizations, political parties and civil leaders. Much like other exile groups…

Canada carried out its first air strikes in Syria on Wednesday the military said, according to AFP.  The move is part of Ottawa’s plans to expand its contribution to the US-led coalition against Islamic State, after parliament approved a larger role in the conflict. Two F-18s using precision-guided munitions struck a ISIS position near the Syrian city of Raqqa, before…

French television network TV5Monde said Wednesday it had been hacked by individuals claiming to belong to the Islamic State group, who brought television broadcasts to a halt and and hijacked its websites and social networks. The Paris-based company was able to partially resume television broadcasts by 1:00 a.m. after a three-hour blackout, the network’s director-general Yves Bigot told AFP, but added its systems…

In addition to the different versions of the nuclear deal framework presented by the United States and Iran over the past few days, Tehran is adding one more: The Islamic Republic will not sign off on a deal limiting its nuclear development capacity unless all sanctions against it are lifted on the same day the deal…

With its much trumpeted “framework deal” with Iran coming under increasing criticism, the White House is on the defensive. Almost immediately after it was signed late last week, the deal has come under attack for missing key details such as how and when sanctions on Iran would be lifted, while Washington and Tehran have reportedly been “irritating” each…

Loading… The winner of the Bible Marathon held in Binyamin on Thursday morning was Ariel Rosenfeld of Kfar Saba. In second place was Yosef Fish from Mevasseret Zion and in third place Zion Neger from Ashkelon.  The Bible Marathon, held for the first time in 2015, relives the biblical story of an Israelite man from…

Broadcasts on France’s TV5 Monde television networks were taken over by hackers claiming to belong to ISIS, the Islamist terror group. Eleven of the networks channels were taken over for a short time, along with web sites and social media accounts belonging to the network. The network was inundated with phone calls Thursday as viewers…

If you enjoyed last week’s Dudu Fisher program, you’ll like this second helping even better. There are more of his life stories and of course lots more of music from this multifaceted superstar. All about Dudu: How he started, what he does now and his projects for the future. He will make you laugh and cry.   You won’t want…

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has said the framework deal reached with the US last week offers “no guarantee” of any final agreement over his country’s nuclear program. In comments made on his official website and posted to his Twitter account, Khamenei said he was “neither for nor against” the deal, explaining: “It’s all about…

Palestinian Authority police announced Wednesday that they had expanded the scope of their security control in Judea and Samaria following a deal with Israel.  Palestinian police will, for the first time, launch armed patrols in towns near Jerusalem, which have largely been under Israel’s security control since the Oslo Accords in 1993. Spokesman for the police,…

The young Israeli man killed during a hike in Peru has been identified as Max Sela, 24, from Shoham.  Sela served in the Engineer Corps of the IDF, and was recently released from regular service. His trip to South America his two best friends was meant to celebrate the conclusion of his military service.  The young Israeli was…

A UK Conservative Party source has claimed that an organisation called Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend) is trying to influence Tory party candidates standing in the upcoming General Election in Britain. The source, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Jewish Media Agency (JMA) that when he first heard Mend chief executive Sufyan Ismail speak at a…

A group of 14 Palestinian Arab factions said Thursday they backed a joint military operation with the Syrian government to expel Islamic State (ISIS) group jihadists from the Yarmouk neighborhood of southern Damascus. After a meeting of the factions in the Syrian capital, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official Ahmed Majdalani said the groups supported a coordinated military effort in the camp. The factions support…

French television network TV5Monde was forced to broadcast only pre-recorded programs Thursday after an “unprecedented” hack by self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, who also hijacked its websites and social networks. The Paris-based company, whose programs are broadcast in more than 200 countries worldwide, was the target of a cyberattack that is “unprecedented for us and unprecedented in the history of television,” TV5Monde boss Yves Bigot…

Argentina has declassified files relating to the 1992 bombing outside the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that left 29 dead and 200 wounded, according to documents published in local media Thursday. The government was ordered by the Supreme Court to make the items publicly available, more than two decades after the attack by Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists, reports AFP. According to the…

Israel took an economic hit from fighting Hamas terrorists in Operation Protective Edge, with the summer war causing an 0.3% reduction in the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). But no need to worry according to the Bank of Israel – the country made its lost fortune back thanks to the fruits of its offshore natural gas…

The American division of Israel’s Sabra salad company, the biggest seller of hummus in the United States, on Thursday issued a recall for some 30,000 cases of its classic hummus salad. The company said it suspected that some of the packages had been contaminated with Listeria, a sometimes-toxic bacteria that usually causes stomach aches, but…

Likud and the Jewish Home continued to arm-wrestle Thursday as Likud threatened to opt for Labor as partner if negotiations with its “natural” partners fall through. A Likud source told Arutz Sheva Thursday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu prefers a right-wing government over a “unity government” with the Left. The implied threat, however, is that…

A Family Court judge had some harsh words for a yeshiva student who claimed he couldn’t afford to pay alimony and child support: Go out and get a job. What set off his decision, said Judge Yehoram Shaked of the Tel Aviv Family Court, was the reasoning the student provided in a letter to the…

More than 80% of Israelis believe that the Holocaust will be forgotten within the next few years, according to a poll by the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors published Wednesday.  Also according to the poll, which comes several days ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel, 42.2% of the public think the memory of Holocaust affects…

There will be no public transportation on Shabbat, Transport Minister Yisrael Katz said Wednesday. Recent campaigns to promote bus travel on Shabbat were “being led by leftist activists,” Katz said, and the government was committed to ensuring that the “status quo” on religious matters – which includes continuation of long-standing bans on public activities, such…

The Islamic State group has freed more than 200 members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority it held captive for months, a commander in the Kurdish peshmerga security forces said Wednesday. “We have received 227 Yazidis, among them women and children” in the northern province of Kirkuk Wednesday, Major General Westa Rasul told AFP. “We negotiated for days with tribal sheikhs in…

A dead man found beaten beyond recognition in the ruins of a Gothic church in Berlin was an Israeli citizen, the Israeli embassy confirmed on Wednesday. Passersby reported finding the body early Sunday at the site near Berlin’s City Hall and the embassy said in a brief statement that it had received confirmation that the victim was one of its nationals. It…

A supervisor at the Population Registry offices in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem was arrested Wednesday on charges that she sold Israeli travel permits to Arabs who are generally not permitted to travel outside the city. The woman sold the permits for “unspecified benefits,” a police statement said. The woman has also been accused of…

Nearly half of European jihadists known to have traveled to territory held by the extremist Islamic State group are French, a report by the country’s upper house Senate revealed Wednesday. Just over 1,430 French people have made their way to Iraq and Syria, representing 47 percent of jihadists from Europe that are known and accounted for, Senator Jean-Pierre Sueur, who…

The Jewish Defense League of Canada has started a crowd-funding campaign to collect money that will be used to fund a trip of its Montreal members to protest an anti-Israel meeting in Vancouver. The meeting, the JDL says on its page on the Indiegogo crowd-funding web site, “is spear-headed by the far-left Christian “progressive” groups…

The International Criminal Court said on Wednesday that it would not yet open a probe into alleged crimes committed by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, including genocide, as it lacks jurisdiction, AFP reports. Iraq and Syria have not signed the ICC’s founding Rome Statute that would give the court jurisdiction, but the ICC could prosecute some of the…

A 12-year-old Israeli girl has died Wednesday, after a fire spread on a tourist ferry off the coast of Krabi in Thailand, according to international news sources.  The fire broke out at about 3:30 pm local time, as the ship was heading back to Phuket. It began in the stern of the vessel and spread.  The…

In what is apparently the third tragedy to occur this week involving Israelis outside the country, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that an Israeli in his 20s had been killed while on a hike in Peru. The Israeli was apparently gliding on an “omega” air glider at high speeds, when he either fell or the…

French World War II hero Jean-Louis Cremieux-Brilhac, one of the first to condemn the Nazi gas chambers, died on Wednesday aged 98, President Francois Hollande announced. A towering figure in the French Resistance, Cremieux-Brilhac also drew up the D-Day orders telling his countrymen how to react to the liberation of their country. “The life of this great man reflects…

The latest Palestinian terrorist murderer to receive his Master’s Degree in Israeli prison is Maslama Thabet, responsible for the murder of two Israelis. The Palestinian Authority (PA) news agency Ma’an reports that Thabet received his degree on the 13th anniversary of the start of his 25-year prison sentence. The degree, in Israeli Studies, was received from the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is set to announce his first coalition agreement for the formation of his new government next week, right after the conclusion of the Passover holiday, sources said Wednesday. Netanyahu met Tuesday with Shas head Aryeh Deri, and hammered out the last issues on Shas’s inclusion in the government, the sources said.…

Syrian exile and imam Abdul Hadi Arwani was shot dead on a London street this week, and authorities now say his death may be a politically-motivated assassination.  London police did not explicitly announce Arwani’s death, saying merely that a man in his late forties had been found lifeless in his car on Tuesday, with gunshot injuries to the…

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been convicted by a Boston jury after 11.5 hours of deliberation.  Tsarnaev has been declared guilty of all 30 federal charges. Seventeen carry the death penalty.   The charges, as listed in full by Boston’s WBUR radio website, include:  Using a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) resulting in death/aiding and…

While many Israelis took the week off for Pesach vacation, one group – the supervisors of kashruth in the Chief Rabbinate – were working overtime. Dozens of violations of laws against fraud, the applicable statutes for sales of food that are presented as kosher when they are not, were filed against businesses around the country,…

Reports Wednesday said that the Palestinian Authority has received a $100 million loan from Qatar. The money is to go towards paying salaries. Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, who is visiting Qatar, issued a public statement of gratitude, Reuters reported. Earlier in the week, Abbas threatened to file charges against Israel in the International Criminal…

CIA director John Brennan gave a staunch defense of the framework nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday, calling some criticism of the accord “disingenuous” and claiming Tehran had made considerable concessions. In his first public remarks since the outline agreement was announced last week, the spy agency chief said the deal would impose a litany of restrictions on Iran’s nuclear work, reports AFP. “I must…

The lifeless body of a 22-year-old Israeli was found adjacent to an abandoned church in Berlin on Tuesday bearing the signs of serious violence, according to local German news reports. Among the objects found around the body was an Israeli passport, leading to suspicions that he may have been targeted as an Israeli and murdered. According to…

This week Ira and Rod discuss Passover and the Counting of the Omer based on the seven emotional traits, and physical characteristics that we need to work on and meditate on during the 49 days leading up to the gift of Torah given at Shavuot.  Click here to download the podcast

Sepp Blatter, president of the world soccer federation FIFA, on Tuesday rejected the Palestinian Authority (PA) attempt to have Israel blocked from international competitions. While attending a Confederation of African Football (CAF) meeting in Cairo which is to select the host of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations this Wednesday, Blatter spoke about the request filed…