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After the arrest of ten activists from the Lehava anti-assimilation organization last Tuesday – after which a court dismissed the arrests leading to the release of all ten last week – police this week continued their campaign against the group, arresting eight more members. The arrests this time focused on different members than those targeted…

The offices of suspended Knesset member Hanan Zoabi were vandalized over the weekend, officials of the Balad party said. The offices, located in the city of Nazareth, were ransacked, with computers and other paraphernalia stolen. According to party officials, the lock and the front handle of the office were broken off. Zoabi has filed a…

For the third consecutive year, volunteers from Shishi Shabbat Yisraeli visited and lit Hanukkah candles with 150 Russian-speaking Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans in the Jerusalem area.  Shishi Shabbat Yisraeli – a national and educational non-profit for young Israeli Russian speakers – calls its annual campaign Operation Light Up! Last Thursday, the third…

Two Israeli men convicted of “Price Tag” vandalism have been sentenced to two and a half years in prison each. A Magistrates Court sentenced Yehuda Landsberg and Yehuda Savir to 30 months, after they were found guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime motivated by racism or hostility towards the public, arson, and destruction of land motivated…

Security was stepped up at police and fire stations across France on Sunday after a knife-wielding French convert to Islam was shot dead after attacking three police officers.   Bertrand Nzohabonayo was killed Saturday after entering a police station in the central town of Joue-les-Tours armed with a knife, seriously wounding two officers – slashing…

​ In a recent children’s television show sponsored by terrorist organization Hamas, a young boy was asked to a send a message to the enemy. He responded by reciting a poem titled “I Do Not Fear The Gun.” The poem begins: “I do not fear the gun! / I do not fear the gun! /You…

The government’s “price target” plan to lower the cost of apartments for first-time homebuyers kicks in on Monday. The cabinet easily passed the plan, which was proposed by Housing Minister Uri Ariel. The plan was approved after it was considered on its own, independent of the Zero-VAT plan proposed by ex-Finance Minister Yair Lapid, which…

United States President Barack Obama has signed into law the 2014 United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act.  The bill, meant to strengthen the US-Israel alliance, passed unanimously in the House of Representatives earlier this month, after passing unanimously in the Senate in September.  The law declares Israel’s status as a “major strategic partner” of the United States as…

After the Mifal Hapayis’ (Israel’s official state lottery) Landau Prize to radical leftist poet Yitzhak Laor was cancelled last week, it was decided again to award Laor the prize, causing Gilit Chomsky – one of the Landau Prize’s three committee members – to resign in protest on Sunday. Chomsky had voted against giving Laor the prize in…

Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) on Sunday hit out at Hatnua chairperson Tzipi Livni, over reports she asked US Secretary of State John Kerry to shoot down a unilateral Palestinian Authority (PA) UN bid so as to help the Left in elections. Speaking at the Shamoon College of Engineering (SCE), Ya’alon called Livni’s move…

President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday joined residents of Nitzan in southern Israel who were among those thrown out of their homes in the 2005 disengagement for a Chanukah candle lighting ceremony. “Despite the long time that has passed since that event, my heart still aches when I remember Gush Katif – its productive workers, its…

At a Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told IDF soldiers that Israel faced a multi-front struggle – both on the battlefield and off. “In this struggle that we are in, Israel is being attacked on two fronts simultaneously. It is being attacked by the terrorism of Hamas and the other terrorist…

In France last weekend, a good dose of Jewish humor was recruited in the battle against anti-Semitism.  The Organization of Jewish Europeans (OJE) launched a bold campaign to fight against anti-Semitism, a rising problem in France. The organization is set to distribute 10,000 boxes of “anti-Semitism first aid treatment” under the brand name “Antisémitox.”  Each…

Michael Bloomberg’s charity announced last Monday that it will provide urban innovation grants to Israel’s two biggest cities – Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  Tel Aviv, located along the Mediterranean in central west Israel, has a population of 414,600 residents. Jerusalem, nestled in the Judean hill in the eastern part of the country, has a population of 801,000. …

The IDF’s military court handed an indictment Sunday to Maher Al-Hashalmoun, the Palestinian terrorist who murdered 26-year-old Dalia Lemkos as she waited at a bus stop in Gush Etzion. Al-Hashalmoun was indicted for causing death with intent and various additional charges for the attack outside the town of Alon Shvut, south of Jerusalem. According to…

In an explosive TV interview aired last week, Iraq’s Grand Mufti Rafi Al-Rifa’i, the highest Sunni authority in the country, accused the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iraqi government, and Iraqi Shiite militias of mass genocidal killings and rape of Sunni men and women from Iraqi towns and villages “liberated” from ISIS (Islamic State).…

Over 1,000 people gathered Sunday in Tel Aviv to set a new world’s record for “dreidel-spinning” – the largest number of Chanukah tops spun in tandem ever recorded by the Guinness organization. The previous record saw 377 people succeed in spinning their dreidels for at least ten seconds all at the same time. Sunday’s new…

Expect changes – lots of them – in the opinion polls during the run-up to next March 17th’s elections, said Professor Avi Degani of the Geocartographia Polling Institute. In fact, said Degani, one of Israel’s most experienced pollsters, the results of polls are likely to change on a daily basis. Like on Sunday, when Arutz…

Anne and Horatio Spafford, founders of the American Colony (seen here and on the main page), arrived in Jerusalem in 1881 after losing their four daughters in a shipwreck.  Millennialists and Utopian Christians, they established a commune-like way of life with followers from the United States and Sweden who worked on a farm, dairy, carpentry shop, and bakery.  The American Colony was…

The Islamic State (IS), which has firmly established itself as the ruling entity in a large portion of Syria and Iraq, has recently begun instituting Shari’a Islamic law as the law of the land – in its full and literal sense. According to classic Islamic law, a thief must have his right hand cut off…

Al-Qaeda on Sunday slammed the Taliban for being “too violent,” as the heads of the international terrorist group lectured the Afghani Islamists over their killing of nearly 150 schoolchildren last week. A spokesperson for the he al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) group said that the “massacre of innocent children” in an Afghan school…

The members of the Tekuma Central Committee have officially decided that the party will not split off from the Jewish Home. The Central Committee voted on the issue late Saturday night, in a meeting that was called after the Tekuma council on Thursday discussed whether or not to run jointly with Jewish Home, but could…

Egypt said Saturday it aims to end differences with Qatar, as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with an envoy from the Gulf emirate, reports AFP. Ties between Cairo and Doha deteriorated after Sisi, who was then the army chief, ousted Mohammed Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood movement is backed by Qatar. Since Morsi’s ouster in July…

The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group has executed 100 of its own foreign fighters who tried to flee their headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa, AFP reported Saturday, citing the Financial Times (FT) newspaper. An activist opposed to both ISIS and the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who is well-known to the British…

Two uniformed NYPD officers were shot dead Saturday afternoon as they sat in their marked police car on a Brooklyn street corner, The New York Post reports. Investigators believe the incident was a crazed gunman’s execution-style mission to avenge Eric Garner and Michael Brown. “It’s an execution,” one law enforcement source said of the 3:00…

Senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk said on Saturday night that the terrorist group was committed to the ceasefire reached with Israel at the end of Operation Protective Edge, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire. “We in Hamas are committed to the ceasefire, as long as Israel is,” Abu Marzouk wrote on Facebook, according to…

The Otzma Yehudit (lit. Jewish Strength) party will hold its first election rally in Ramat Gan on Wednesday, during which it will elect its leader. The most prominent candidate for chairman will be former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, who is widely supported among all party members. In addition, the party in the coming weeks will…

Israeli aircraft hit Gaza for the first time since an August truce ended 50 days of war after Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket at a southern Israeli town, witnesses and the army said early Saturday. A spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said there were no casualties in the air strike, which came just hours…

A 20 year-old man has been shot dead by the French police on Saturday, Le Figaro reports, after he stabbed three policemen in Joue-les-Tours, near the city of Tours, while shouting ‘Allahu Akhbar!’ (Arabic: “G-d is great”).  He stabbed three police officers before being “killed (by) police officers present using their issued firearms,” according to a French Interior…

Former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni insisted that she turned to US Secretary of State John Kerry and urged him not to allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) draft resolution to go to vote before elections “with Israel’s interests in mind” during a Channel 10 interview Saturday night.  “I turned to Kerry to safeguard the interests of the…

Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid has reached out to Israel’s youngest voting population Saturday night, holding a question-and-answer session with 200 members of Yesh Atid at Tel Aviv’s Tailor Made club in a pre-election appearance.  Lapid was joined by MKs Yaakov Perry, Mickey Levi, Ronen Hoffman, Aliza Lavie, Pnina Tamano-Shata, and Boaz Toporovsky. “Israel owes you…

The Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic has firmly opposed Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting Prague to attend ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, AFP reports Saturday. Invited to attend events by Czech President Milos Zeman, the Russian leader has thus far neither accepted nor rejected taking part in the commemorations organized by the European…

Jewish Home Chairman and Economics Minister Naftali Bennett sharply criticized former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on Saturday night, after diplomats from the EU and US told Foreign Policy magazine that she appealed to John Kerry to stall a Palestinian Authority (PA) UN draft resolution solely to prevent Bennett and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from winning more votes…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon addressed the IAF’s strikes on Gaza on Saturday night, noting that it was response to a rocket fired at Israeli civilians on Friday that struck the Eshkol region.  Ya’alon, speaking at a candle lighting event for IDF soldiers at the Western Wall (Kotel), said the target…

After decades of civil service, military service, and then as a civilian in the fields of social work in Israel, two years ago I responded to your inquiry continuing my activity through political action and your request to join Hatnua.  We agreed then, mainly concentrating on issues of religion and state, and you guaranteed me…

Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri launched a verbal tirade against Yachad Chairman and former Shas MK Eli Yishai Saturday night, during an interview in the Channel 2 studio.  “It was not a good week for us, because we made very great efforts, personally and all members of the Knesset and rabbis, in order to avoid this from happening,”…

Jordan’s main opposition Islamist party threatened Saturday to take legal action against anyone in the kingdom whosigns a controversial gas deal with Israel, according to AFP. Amman’s plans to buy gas from the Jewish state have aroused fierce opposition at a time of mounting criticism of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians. The Islamic Action Front, political wing of the Jordanian…

Egypt said on Saturday it supports a draft resolution submitted by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to the UN Security Council setting out terms for a final peace deal with Israel, according to AFP. On Wednesday, the PA presented the resolution setting a 12-month deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final settlement and the end of 2017 for completion of an Israeli…

Ali Baraka, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon, said Friday that a recent visit by a Hamas delegation to Iran had “opened a new chapter” in relations between Tehran and the terror group. “[Tehran] has pledged to continue supporting the [Palestinian] resistance,” Baraka told the Turkish Anadolu Agency. “Hamas welcomes the support of any Arab or Muslim…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is upset with Canada for boycotting this week’s conference in Geneva which dealt with “respect for international humanitarian law in the PA assigned territories”. On Friday, the top PA diplomat in Canada said Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government should not have boycotted the conference which, as expected, harshly criticized Israel over…

Hezbollah has put one of its operatives on trial for treason, after he tipped off Israel about five operations to avenge the killing of Hezbollah’s top military commander Imad Mughniyeh, a security source told the Lebanese newspaper Daily Star. Hezbollah has arrested the informant – Mohammad Shawraba, head of the party’s so-called External Operations Unit,…

Iran has continued to meet commitments under an interim nuclear agreement with six world powers, a new report by the UN’s atomic agency finds. The monthly update by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seen by Reuters on Friday, said Iran was not enriching uranium above a fissile concentration of 5 percent, far below the…

Despite a report indicating corruption, FIFA’s president ruled out on Friday the possibility that the soccer body would go back on Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup. “It would really need an earthquake, extremely important new elements to go back on this World Cup in Qatar,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter said, according to the…

The FBI announced on Friday that North Korea is officially responsible for the cyberattack on Sony Pictures, according to CNN. An FBI investigation linked the malware, infrastructure and techniques a group of hackers called “Guardians of Peace” used in the Sony attack to previous North Korean cyberattacks. The North Korean-backed hackers broke into Sony’s servers,…

Hamas is claiming that its security forces in Gaza arrested an “Israeli agent” who was tasked with gathering information on the weapons presented by the Al-Qassam Brigades during a parade held this week to mark the anniversary of the establishment of Hamas. The Hamas-affiliated Al-Majd website reported on Thursday that the alleged “agent” admitted that…

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday and expressed concern over mass trials and the continued detention of journalists and peaceful activists, AFP reports. During a telephone call, the White House said, Obama encouraged Sisi to “invest in the political, economic, and social aspirations of the Egyptian people.”…

France and Britain said on Thursday that Iran has not demonstrated sufficient flexibility in nuclear talks with six world powers. According to Reuters, the remarks were made at the United Nations. They came just after the completion of another inconclusive round of negotiations in Geneva this week between Iranian officials and the United States, Britain,…

Shai Malka, the director-general of the Manhigut Yehudit faction (lit. Jewish Leadership) in the Likud, which is headed by MK Moshe Feiglin, announced on Thursday that he will run in the Likud party’s primaries and compete for a spot on the party’s list for the 20th Knesset. Malka has been Feiglin’s parliamentary advisor over the…

The deputy speaker of the Swedish parliament caused an outrage by suggesting that Jews living in Sweden should ditch their identity if they wish to be considered Swedes. The claim by Bjorn Soder, of the Sweden Democrats party, was made in an interview with a Swedish newspaper, according to the International Business Times. In the…

The Central Committee of the Tekuma party will gather on Saturday night and decide whether or not Tekuma will run jointly with the Jewish Home in the next elections. The decision to let the members Central Committee determine what Tekuma will do was made during a meeting between the party’s MKs and the Tekuma rabbis.…

President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a measure that bars suspected Nazi war criminals from receiving Social Security, The Associated Press (AP) reports. The bill was unanimously approved two weeks ago by the House of Representatives and closes legal loopholes that have allowed some World War II-era Nazis to collect government benefits even…

The landmark $1 billion New York court case against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on terrorism charges will be held as planned, after the rare appeal the two organizations filed this month in an attempt to stall the trial was overruled. The appeal, a writ of mandamus, was thrown out by presiding judge…

After being arrested Tuesday morning with nine other members of his anti-assimilation Lehava organization on vague accusations of “incitement,” Lehava director Bentzi Gopshtain was finally released on Friday to five more days of house arrest. Gopshtain was joined by two other Lehava members being released Friday to house arrest – the other seven were freed…

Israeli Air Force pilot Lt. Col. Ron Arad was abducted by terrorists in Lebanon back in 1986; now, 28 years later, his wife Tami opened up and recounted the many hardships suffered on the long road without her husband. Speaking to Yedioth Aharonoth, Tami noted that she was once informed that Ron died. “It was after seven years. Information…

A full 1,100 high school seniors from twenty-five Jewish schools across France celebrated the third night of Hanukkah in Jerusalem Thursday, as part of the Jewish Agency’s ongoing efforts to reach out to the French Jewish community.  The teens were joined by Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky, who lit…

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are claiming their most decisive victory yet against the brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group in northern Iraq, by breaking the jihadists’ siege of the strategic Mount Sinjar. Mount Sinjar has been the scene of one of the most high-profile humanitarian emergencies in the fight against ISIS, with thousands of Yazidi Kurds…

A majority of the National Union/Tekuma party’s rabbis are against a split in the national-religious camp, Arutz Sheva has learned Friday. Three of the four Rabbis – Rabbi Isser Klonsky, Rabbi Chaim Steiner, and Rabbi Gidon Perl – opposed the split during the Thursday night meeting over the game-changing potential to break off from Jewish Home.  On…

Four men in their thirties were found unconscious overnight Thursday/Friday, and are in critical condition after an apparent poisoning or drug overdose. The four collapsed next to a warehouse in the back of Ashdod’s “Trio” restaurant, next to the Keshtot Beach. They were found with no signs of external injuries.  United Hatzalah and Magen David…

Liverpool Football Club player Mario Balotelli faces a one-match suspension, a 25,000 pound ($39,176) fine, and an educational course, the Football Association ruled Thursday night, after posting racist and anti-Semitic comments on Instagram. “Following an independent regulatory commission hearing today Mario Balotelli has been fined £25,000, suspended for one-match with immediate effect, subject to any appeal,…

Thousands of protesters supporting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s rival Mohammed Dahlan demonstrated in front of Gaza City’s parliament building on Thursday, carrying posters accusing Abbas of corruption – that included images of Abbas being hung. The protest calling Abbas a “traitor” came after reportedly 100 PA security force members supportive of Dahlan, formerly…

At least one million people have been wounded and 200,000 killed in Syria since its years-long Civil War began in March 2011, Syria’s World Health Organization (WHO) representative stated to Reuters Friday.  “In Syria, they have a million people injured as a direct result of the war. You can see it in the country when you travel…

Former Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon (Likud) responded to the Gaza rocket attack Friday morning, linking it to the European Union’s (EU) removal of Hamas from its terrorist organization list on Wednesday. “This morning the Europeans received more proof that Hamas is a terrorist organization,” released Danon in a statement after the rocket attack which…

There is clear evidence that Hamas has begun rebuilding its terror tunnels into Israel using international aid, Gal Berger from Reshet Bet reports Friday.  According to Berger, Hamas is not building new tunnels, but rebuilding the tunnel system destroyed during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza over the summer.  Palestinian Arab sources told the station that cement and…

A rocket was fired from Gaza early Friday afternoon, breaking the truce reached at the end of the last Hamas terror war. “Color red” rocket warning sirens were sounded in communities in the Eshkol Regional Council area just outside of Gaza, and shortly thereafter it was reported that a rocket struck just outside a community…

The 6th Annual Latke Festival in New York City was held this week in honor of Hanukkah, and to mark the Jewish holiday celebrating how the Maccabees defended Judaism from Greek occupiers – participants decided to submit non-kosher ham latke potato pancakes. A total of 24 restaurants and vendors took part in the potato pancake…

Will Israel’s political structure change drastically after the March 2015 elections? Dr. Eyal Levin, an expert in political psychology at the University of Ariel, stated to Arutz Sheva Friday that the answer is clear: Not at all. According to Levin, the series of political upheavals characterizing this round of elections – including the Hatnua-Labor pact, Moshe Kahlon’s new…

Sarah, a 26-year-old medical engineer, is one of the ten members of the Lehava anti-assimilation organization that were thrown in jail as part of a police crackdown against the group this week on charges of “incitement” – she and six others were freed on Thursday. Speaking to Channel 10, she recounted her arrest saying “they turned…

The UN General Assembly on Thursday voted in favor of referring Kim Jong-Un’s North Korean regime to the International Criminal Court (ICC), where it will be tried for crimes against humanity. Responding to the vote, which passed by 116 to 20 with over 50 abstentions, North Korea called it “a product of political plot and…

Levi Rosenblatt, the 22-year-old who was stabbed in a shocking attack on the Crown Heights’ 770 Chabad Lubavitch center in Brooklyn, New York, was released from Bellevue Hospital Center on Wednesday, a mere eight days after the attack. In the attack Calvin Peters (49), who police report had a long arrest record and mental illness, entered…

The United States finally stated on Thursday that it will not support the Palestinian Authority (PA) resolution submitted to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, which demands that Israel withdraw from Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem by 2017. Washington has seen the text of the draft resolution and “it is not something that we would…

After Likud MK Moshe Feiglin left the race for leadership of the party, only Likud Central Committee chairperson MK Danny Danon is left facing off against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for control of Likud. Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Danon said that despite the frequent controversy between himself and Netanyahu the current race is not a personal…

The Tekuma/National Union party council on Thursday evening discussed whether or not to run jointly with Jewish Home as it did in the last elections for the upcoming March 17 elections. At the end of the meeting a vote on the issue was held. Minister Uri Ariel, who heads the party, MK Zevulun Kalfa and…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas issued condemnations of two terrorist attacks within the span of a month – an investigation of the texts reveals there is a world of difference between apparently sincere condemnations he makes, and insincere ones when Jews at prayer are the victims. In the first of the two cases, both…

Despite the fact that world nations pledged $5.4 billion to rebuild the Hamas stronghold of Gaza, the UN on Thursday claimed it’s running out of money to house families in the area, and doubled the estimate of homes damaged in Hamas’s latest terror war on Israel. “Unless the situation changes urgently, we will run out of…

After the Knesset approved a very watered down version of the Infiltrator Law last month, the High Court once again stepped in to block the law on Thursday for the third time running. The High Court issued a temporary order preventing the implementation of the recently amended law; the state will be required to respond…

In lighting the third candle for Hanukkah at his Jerusalem office on Thursday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) unilateral move the day before to submit a UN Security Council resolution calling for Israel to withdraw from Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem by 2017. Referring to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas by…

On his personal Facebook page, MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) attacked the possibility that MK Orit Struck will not be allowed on the party list of National Union, if it will join with Eli Yishai’s new Yachad party.  National Union/Tekuma Chairman Uri Ariel has been in talks with Yishai for days about the possibility of joining…

Former MK Michael Ben-Ari on Thursday slammed police for their “invasion” of the offices of the new Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Strength) party in Jerusalem. “On false pretenses, and to make up for the severe criticism being levied at them, they decided that the best move was to come into our offices and interfere with the…

The Judicial Zionism organization called on Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to prosecute the organizers of a fashion show held in a Tel Aviv synagogue while congregants sang “Shalom Aleichem.”  According to the organization, which espouses reinforcing the values of Zionism and Judaism through the legal world, the rarely used law, which prohibits any actions that…

Foreign Minister and Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman announced Wednesday evening that he is boycotting any meeting with the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Margot Wallstrom.  Liberman’s actions can be viewed as one of Israel’s first political reactions to the policy wave against Israel seen in the European Union, parliaments across Europe, and the United…

For two years, MK Nissan Slomiansky (Jewish Home) worked “under the thumb” of ex-Finance Minister Yair Lapid and a mighty heavy thumb it was, Slomiansky told Arutz Sheva in an interview. “The Finance Minister is the most powerful figure in the country’s political system, and in the case of Lapid, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu preferred…

Tens of thousands of Israelis in the center of the country were without bus transportation Thursday, as over 1,800 drivers for the Kavim bus company went on strike. The strike – a “warning action,” union representatives said – would last throughout the end of the service day Thursday, with service resuming only at 4:30 AM…

Vilely anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala has announced he wants to meet with representatives of France’s Jewish community, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.  In an open letter sent by Dieudonne’s lawyers last week, a request was made to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Gilles Clavreul, the French government’s interministerial delegate in the fight against anti-Semitism, to…

Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologists have discovered a massive and elaborate entryway to the Herodian Hilltop Palace at Herodium National Park in Judea, south of Jerusalem. The newly discovered entryway is remarkable in that it features a complex system of arches on three separate levels, allowing the King and his entourage to directly enter the…

In a speech at the Herzliya Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Thursday, Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett said that he would not apologize for his “no apologies” campaign following criticism of it. Bennett on Wednesday was slammed by the left for his video in which he portrayed himself as a Tel Aviv “hipster” who apologized…

Members of the Garin Torani – the Religious Zionist yeshiva community – in Lod have begun spreading “Hanukkah joy” among members of the beleaguered Jewish community. Many Jewish residents have complained of harassment, vandalism, and worse at the hands of the local Arab residents, and in order to provide encouragement to local Jews, Garin Torani…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Libeman condemned the Palestinian Authority Thursday for submitting a draft resolution to the UN Security Council to force Israel to withdraw from all of Judea and Samaria, and most of Jerusalem. PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said Liberman, “is interested only in attacking Israel. The Palestinians have no other purpose. They will just…

Dan Meridor, a former top minister in Likud governments, has chosen not to run for the Knesset, and will thus not participate in the Likud primaries at the end of December. His reason: “I will not be the detergent for the Likud’s current right-wing policies,” he told the Knesset Channel in an interview Thursday. Meridor, 67,…

Most Israelis would like to see Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu replaced after March elections but, paradoxically, he is seen as the most suitable for the job, an opinion poll said Thursday. Elections will be held on March 17, just over two years after Netanyahu’s right-leaning coalition took office. The 19th Knesset broke up following a spat in which the premier fired…

Upon leaving the hall of the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Thursday, Lehava chairman Bentzi Gopshtain stated adamantly that he will not submit to the recent police crackdown on his anti-assimilation organization which he notes completely observes the law. Judea-Samaria police raided the homes of members of the activist group Tuesday morning, including Gopshtain’s home, and arrested the members…

A court in Pakistan on Thursday granted bail to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the man accused of masterminding the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, lawyers told AFP. The 60-hour siege on India’s economic capital left 166 people dead and was blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals worsened dramatically after the carnage in Mumbai, in…

World leaders welcomed the groundbreaking news that the United States and Cuba are moving to restore diplomatic relations and bury one of the last vestiges of the Cold War after more than 50 years of hostility. From China to Chile, plaudits rang out. South American leaders holding a trade meeting in Argentina interrupted their session and broke into euphoric applause.…

At his annual end-of year news conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that Russia’s currency, the ruble, will stabilize, but warned the country’s economic crisis could last two years.  Although the ruble strengthened slightly on Thursday morning, it has fallen extremely low in recent days, and Russia may be on the verge of a recession. …

Investigators from the Moriah Station of Israeli Police arrested a man, 25, on suspicion of threatening to cause bodily harm to MK Eli Yishai.  The man was one of dozens of hareidi Shas supporters who stormed Yishai’s press conference Monday night at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem, where he announced the establishment of his new…

The United States on Wednesday urged the European Union to keep up its sanctions on Hamas, saying there was “no change” in US policy. “The EU should maintain terrorism sanctions on Hamas,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, adding that the United States was studying a ruling by an EU court ordering that the Palestinian terrorist group be removed from an EU…

The European Union’s (EU) removal of Hamas from its terror blacklist sets a precedent for allowing anti-Semitism in Europe to run rampant, Morton Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), stated Wednesday.  “This both encourages and legitimizes Islamic terrorism and Islamic murder against Jews and others, and it sends a message to Islamic…

An Israeli citizen survived a kidnapping attempt from Palestinian Arab terrorists, he reported to police Wednesday night.  The citizen, who remains unnamed, told local police that he was standing at a bus stop at the Alliance Intersection near Kiryat Arba when a jeep pulled up with one driver and one passenger inside.  When the window…

A special Hannukah candle-lighting ceremony was held Tuesday, where a 90 cm (35 inches)-high hannukiah, built by volunteers from Yad Sarah with parts of medical equipment, was lit in the memory of terror attack Dalia Lemkos hy”d, who was killed by Palestinian Arab terrorists in Gush Etzion five weeks ago. Lemkos was a Yad Sarah volunteer. …

US President Barack Obama formally announced the renewal of diplomatic ties with Cuba on Wednesday, in a special press conference following the announcement of a landmark prisoner swap.  “Today, the United States of America is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba, one of the most significant changes in our policy in over fifty…

MKs, community members, and religious officials decried what they called a “fashion show” at a Tel Aviv synagogue. The synagogue, located in central Tel Aviv, is associated with the Tzohar movement and is known for its liberal Orthodox views on a number of issues. Photos circulating in social media show images of scantily-clad women dressed…

A joint list between Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party and Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu could drastically change the face of the Knesset, according to a new survey released Wednesday.  The poll, published in Haaretz, presents two scenarios: one with a Lapid-Kahlon joint list, and one without.  In the event of a joint list, Lapid and Kahlon would…

Alan Gross, the Jewish American contractor who was released on Wednesday after five years in jail in Cuba, sees his release as a Hanukkah gift. “It’s good to be home,” Gross said at a news conference in Washington shortly after landing in the States, according to Bloomberg news. “It’s the best Hanukkah I’ll be celebrating…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman issued a sharp response to the European Union (EU)’s recognition of the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday, labeling the move “counterproductive” and noting that the vote shows a distinct bias.  “The decisions made today by the European Union do not contribute to improving the situation in the Middle East, nor do…

The United States and Cuba were on the brink of a historic thaw in ties Wednesday after a prisoner exchange cleared the way for talks on ending their five-decade-old stand-off, according to AFP.  Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro were to make major speeches after Havana released US contractor Alan Gross in exchange for three Cubans held in the United States for…

The 2015 election campaign has officially started, and with it comes the parade of broken political promises – with one by former Finance Minister Yair Lapid leading the pack. Barely a month ago, Lapid announced with great fanfare the establishment of what was to be the largest ice cream factory in the Middle East, but…

After great success with their mobile sukkot, activists of “Mobile Chabad in the Holy Land” recently finished assembling giant portable hanukkiyot candelabras in time for the Hanukkah holiday. The mobile hanukkiyot, known as “Chabad mitzvah tanks,” are to go around the major cities in Israel during the nights of the holiday and light the candles…

The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday officially submitted a draft United Nations resolution paving the way to a final peace deal with Israel, AFP reports. The PA’s envoy to the UN said, however, there could still be negotiations on the text. The draft was presented to the UN Security Council by fellow Arab member Jordan, envoy…

A resident of Havat Gilad in Samaria was detained for questioning after he caught an Arab who was throwing stones at his car. The incident occurred in the village of El-Funduk in central Samaria, several kilometers west of Kedumim. The driver said that he saw the Arab, who was about 15, throw a rock at…

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said on Wednesday he had “very useful and helpful” nuclear negotiations with major powers in Geneva, according to Reuters. Araqchi, speaking to reporters at the end of all-day closed-door talks, said there was an agreement to continue nuclear talks “next month” at a venue to be decided. “We had…

Students on Yeshiva University’s Beren Campus created a hanukkiyah in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, by lighting windows in their dorm building, Brookdale Residence Hall.  Loading…

Police on Wednesday evening raided the offices of the Otzma Yehudit party, headed by former MK Michael Ben-Ari, and searched the premises. Sources in the police explained that the raid was related to an investigation into the anti-assimilation Lehava group, the leader of which was arrested with nine other activists Monday night on suspicions of “incitement”. According…

Negotiations are continuing between Naftali Bennett and Uri Ariel in efforts to ensure that Tekuma does not split off from Jewish Home. Under the latest offer, Uri Ariel will be the number two MK on the Jewish Home list, and will be tapped for a senior ministry if the party participates in the next government.…

Mati Shriki, one of Israel’s up-and-coming religious musical sensations, has released a special single in honor of Hanukkah. “Ohr Chadash” (New Light) was released last year, but Shriki released a new acoustic version as a fitting tribute to the festival of light. Since first entering the Israeli music scene just a few short years ago…

Hamas, in both its military and governmental branches, has been temporarily removed from the European Union’s list of proscribed terrorist groups as the result of a technical legal blunder. After Hamas filed an appeal against its terrorist list standing, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg published its decision on Wednesday, with Hamas being removed…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s adviser on Religious and Islamic Affairs assured in his televised weekly sermon last Friday that Israel will be destroyed, and that military options are being considered to make that happen. The comments made by Mahmoud Al-Habash, who also serves as PA Supreme Sharia (Islamic law) Judge, on the official PA TV…

Benny Katzover, head of the Shomron (Samaria) Residents Council, told Arutz Sheva he is worried about how the coming March 17 elections may negatively effect Israel. “I’m worried because in the reality today you can’t know what each day will bring, the negative forces understand this is the eleventh hour in terms of the possibility of establishing…

MK Eli Yishai, former chairperson of Shas who on Monday split from the party and launched his Yachad party, explained the move and his falling out with Shas head Aryeh Deri. “Between me and Deri there are different opinions. I’m on the right, he leans to the left…Deri and I are people with different paths…

Following Tuesday’s publication of a startling report by the National Insurance Institute on poverty and social gaps in Israel, MK Shelly Yehimovich (Labor) who formerly served as her party’s head quickly responded by blaming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s policies.  Although the report notes that the percentage of poor families declined from 19.4% in 2012 to…

An international conference in Geneva on Wednesday called on both Israelis and Palestinians to respect humanitarian rights laws in Judea-Samaria, but was condemned by Israel as a “political exercise,” AFP reports.   Switzerland gathered diplomats from 126 of the 196 signatories of the Geneva Conventions to discuss protections for civilians, fulfilling afive-year-old request for such a conference from the UN General…

United States Vice President Joe Biden marked the beginning of the Hanukkah holiday on Tuesday, by taking part in a candle-lighting ceremony on the White House lawn. “Jewish heritage is American heritage,” Biden said. “The central Jewish notion of religious freedom, of safety in your land, of being treated with dignity in your own community,…

European Union lawmakers stopped short on Tuesday of proposing a joint motion urging EU members to recognize “a state of Palestine”, settling instead on a compromise resolution that peace talks should progress, according to Reuters. Social Democrat, left-wing and Green members of the European Parliament had put forward motions for a symbolic vote on Wednesday…

Cuba has freed Alan Gross – a US contractor jailed on the communist-ruled island since 2009 – on humanitarian grounds at the request of the United States, a US official said Wednesday. US President Barack Obama and Cuba’s President Raul Castro both scheduled statements at 1700 GMT, their respective governments said. “This morning, Alan Gross has departed Cuba on…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday decried the decision by the European Union to remove Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations, while expressing appreciation to the United States for what he called a “true friendship.” Netanyahu contrasted the two relationships at a meeting with Senator-elect Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who is in Israel on a…

Professor Manuel Trajtenberg on Wednesday informed the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education in Israel, which he chairs, that he was resigning in order to throw his hat into the political arena. “I have decided on this in order to allow myself the opportunity to take part in Israel’s political system…

The EU said Wednesday it still considers Hamas to be a “terrorist” group even though a European court ruled that it should be temporarily removed from the bloc’s terrorism blacklist. “The EU continues to consider Hamas a terrorist organisation,” European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said, adding that the EU would consider its response to the…

Rabbi Haim Amsalem, who broke off from Shas and failed to make it into the Knesset in the last elections with his Am Shalem party, told Arutz Sheva that he is calling on Jewish Home to hold negotiations with him to bring him into the party. The rabbi is considering running on a joint list with either Jewish…

The decision is by the European Union to remove Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations is a “very puzzling” one, according to former Israeli ambassador to the US Zalman Shoval. “I would like to believe that they are telling the truth when they say it was a ‘technical error,’ but we cannot ignore this.…

Luxembourg’s parliament voted Wednesday to urge the government to recognize a Palestinian state, AFP reports Wednesday – the latest in a series of similar moves around Europe aimed at pressuring Israel to move forward the peace process. The motion, filed by the socialist head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, called on Prime Minister Xavier Bettel’s government to “formally recognize a Palestinian state under the…

The European Parliament overwhelmingly backed the recognition of a Palestinian state “in principle” on Wednesday, following a series of votes on the issue in EU nations which have angered Israel. Lawmakers approved the motion by 498 votes to 88 with 111 abstentions, although it was a watered down version of an original motion which had…

Talk of a merger between Eli Yishai’s newly-founded “Yachad” party and the National Union faction of Housing Miniter Uri Ariel are looking increasingly unlikely following statements made Tuesday evening by Rabbi Meir Mazuz, dean of the Kisei Rahamim yeshiva and the former Shas MK’s spiritual mentor. In an interview with the Kol Berama radio station Rabbi Mazuz…

Hezbollah says it recently exposed a Mossad agent embedded among its “elite operations unit”, in what the Iranian-backed terror group says is “the most serious [intelligence] breach in Hezbollah’s history.” According to Lebanese media reports, “sources close to Hezbollah” claimed an Israeli intelligence cell – comprised of four Hezbollah members under the command of the…

In a meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian Authority (PA) chief negotiator Saeb Erekat in London on Tuesday, Kerry reportedly finally promised to veto a PA resolution bid at the UN Security Council after flip-flopping on US action. A PA official said the PA threatened that it will submit the draft…

Learn and Return, an organization that works to prevent Jewish women and girls from getting trapped in abusive relationships with Arab men, has uncovered the shocking truth of an epidemic of young Jewish girls being forced into drug use and prostitution by older Arab men. Mishmar Ezrachi, of Beersheva in southern Israel, reported to Learn…

Ahead of the traditional period of shloshim on Wednesday marking thirty days since the Har Nof synagogue massacre in which four Jews at prayer and a police officer were murdered by two Arab terrorists wielding meat-cleavers, knives and guns, a new book has been released on the incident with all proceeds going to the families of the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took part in a ceremony marking the first night of Hanukkah together with two elite army units Tuesday night – the Oketz canine unit and the IDF’s Counter-Terrorism Unit – and took the opportunity to warn soldiers that they face an array of forces sworn to destroy the State of Israel.…

As the first night of Hanukkah began on Tuesday evening, a 15-year-old Arab terrorist wielding a knife was arrested at the Gush Etzion Junction in Judea and confessed in investigation to planning “to stab to death a Zionist.” Police announced that shortly after 5 p.m. a citizen contacted the police 100 emergency hotline reporting he…

Australian media has unearthed new details about “hate sheikh” Man Haron Monis (49), who took just over a dozen people hostage in a Sydney cafe Monday before being killed along with two of his victims as police stormed into the cafe. Most notable among the details revealed about Monis is that roughly a month ago he swore…

Former MK and primaries contender in the radical leftist Meretz party Mossi Raz, who also is the former secretary general of Peace Now, paid a condolence visit in Ramallah on Tuesday evening at the home of convicted terrorist turned Palestinian Authority (PA) minister Ziad Abu Ein. Abu Ein, who had a long history of health…

Canada reiterated on Tuesday that it will not attend Wednesday’s anti-Israel conference in Switzerland, which will deal with “respect for international humanitarian law in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) assigned territories”. In a statement, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said, “Canada has conveyed its deep concerns and has communicated clearly that it will neither attend…

A Jerusalem court on Tuesday accepted an appeal filed on behalf of a Jewish woman who was banned from entering the Temple Mount because she was carrying a bottle of grape juice. The appeal was filed by Attorney Naftali Warzberger of the Honenu legal aid organization, a week after the 54-year-old woman from Maaleh Adumim…

The Afghanistan Taliban on Tuesday condemned their Pakistani counterpart over an attack on a school in Peshawar that killed 141 people. “The intentional killing of innocent people, children and women are against the basics of Islam and this criteria has to be considered by every Islamic party and government,” group spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in…

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday sent Jews around the world his traditional greeting in honor of the holiday of Hanukkah. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, began on Tuesday evening. “Over the eight nights of Hanukkah, Jews across America, Israel, and the world will remember an ancient triumph of freedom over oppression, and renew their…

Six people are died and one injured in a deadly shootout in the heart of Pennsylvania, District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said Monday night – and the gunman is still at large.  Bradley William Stone, 35, of Pennsburg, PA is an ex-marine charged with killing his ex-wife and her mother, grandmother and sister, as well as…

PEGIDA has gained popularity in Dresden and nationwide, despite being founded just two months ago. Support for anti-Islam rallies has become so high, in fact, that the group has become a subject of scorn for German officials, who claim the organization only stirs tensions between the influx of Muslim immigrants and dozens of right-wing and…

Yachad Chairman and former Shas party leader MK Eli Yishai has been assigned a security detail, Knesset Police Commander Yosef Griff stated Tuesday, after clashes erupted Monday night and after multiple threats have reportedly been made against his personal safety.  Dozens of hareidi Shas supporters stormed Yishai’s press conference announcing Yachad, with one taking the…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman criticized the UN Security Council’s pressure on Israel Tuesday, noting that the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) demands to force Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria within a strict two-year timeline is part of “a political attack” on the Jewish state, fomented by the EU.  “Even the European Parliament [itself] will vote…

The Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) and the Israel Police’s Central District have declared a hit-and-run in Samaria a crime – not a terror attack – Tuesday, despite repeated claims by the victim’s family that the accident was a car rampage.  Three Arabs were arrested earlier this month in connection to the accident,…

In yet another sign that the Hamas-Fatah unity government is crumbling, the head of Hamas’s politburo, Khaled Mashaal, said Monday that the Palestinian reconciliation “scene” was not satisfying, reports the Ma’an news agency. Mashaal was quoted as having told the al-Risala newspaper that the “reconciliation scene is not satisfying and it is painful; this should…

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, told member-states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a first address on Monday that the Palestinians plan to join the ICC “at an appropriate time.” Mansour made the address after the PA was given the status of observer state to the assembly of states parties to…

The Judea-Samaria police raided the homes of members of the activist group Lehava Tuesday morning, including the home of the organization’s chairman Bentzi Gopshtain, and arrested them on suspicion of incitement and calls to commit acts of violence and terror against Arabs.  “This is a complex and extensive investigation,” the police said in a statement…

One Palestinian Arab terrorist was shot dead by IDF forces overnight Monday/Tuesday, after several threw a pipe bomb at the Duvdevani unit during a raid.  Two terrorists attacked the IDF and threw the bomb, the IDF stated – necessitating response by live fire. One of them was killed in the process and the other was…

Former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, whose Hatnua party recently merged with Labor, voice her approbation on Tuesday of the nighttime arrest of ten members of the Lehava anti-assimilation organization over charges of “incitement” – charges which the group strongly denies. Livni on Kol Yisrael radio called “to uproot those who fan hatred and violence and incite to…

Less than 12 hours after the press conference in which former Shas chairperson Eli Yishai announced his new Yachad party after 30 years in the Sephardic-hareidi party, Shas appears to be in a panic on Tuesday following the release of a new poll showing Yishai took half of their electorate power. The poll, conducted by…

The Hamas-affiliated Al-Rai website reported on Monday that Saudi Arabia recently sent an angry message to the Hamas leadership over the group’s rapprochement with Iran, which Riyadh considers to be an enemy of the Sunni Muslim world. According to the report, senior officials in the Saudi intelligence contacted Hamas leaders and asked them to stop…

Israel’s Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that  a test of the Arrow missile defense system was a success,  after the short-range missile system intercepted its target smoothly. However, later reports following a comprehensive inquiry into the test revealed opposite results: the missile defense system test failed.  The project is overseen by the Ministry of Defense’s…

After former Shas chairperson Eli Yishai split with the hareidi party over steep demands by chairperson Aryeh Deri and launched his own Yachad party on Monday, a new poll on Tuesday shows Yachad and Shas stand even at four mandates apiece. Shas currently has 11 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. The poll, conducted by Panels…

A Greek politician has come under fire after saying that Greek Jews don’t pay taxes, at a time of particular tension for the country’s small Jewish community. Panos Kammenos, who leads the right-wing Independent Greeks Party, made the comment Monday in an interview on the Antenna television channel. He was slammed by Jewish communal leaders,…

Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, who survived an assassination attempt on his life in October, has filed a complaint against an Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher Tuesday, after a viral video was released showing the preacher spewing hate speech against Jews.  Sheikh Omar Abu Sara is shown in the video claiming that the Jews are “master of…

Interior Minister Gilad Erdan has filed a formal request to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to allow the citizenship of three Israelis involved in terror attacks to be revoked, he announced Tuesday afternoon. “Imagine sitting at home, and then someone breaks in and starts smashing windows, breaking furniture and destroying your china,” he explained. “In the…

Austrian authorities said Tuesday they have ordered a Saudi-financed school to close due to allegations of anti-Jewish teachings and for failing to give the names of staff. The Saudi School in Vienna “is being investigated over suspicions of anti-Semitic teachings,” Matias Meissner, a spokesman for Vienna’s Schools Board, the Stadtschulrat, told AFP. “We have also asked the school to supply us…

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday night (Tuesday morning local time) that the self-proclaimed Islamic “sheikh” who took more than a dozen people hostage in a cafe in Sydney had a history of “mental instability”, reports ABC News. The man, identified by Australian media as Man Haron Monis, was killed by police during…

French police launched raids across the country on Monday, dismantling a network sending jihadist fighters to Syria, a police source told AFP. Elite and anti-terror police units descended on around a dozen targets, mostly in the southern region of Toulouse, but also around Paris and in the northern region of Normandy, the source said on…

Iran condemned on Monday night the attack in Sydney, Australia, in which an Iranian born man took dozens of people hostages in a cafe. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham condemned the hostage taking and said that resorting to inhuman methods and creating fear, under the name of religion, is by no way acceptable in any…

Former Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Yuval Diskin is known for his strong criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but even he thought that former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni crossed a line in her sharp attack of Netanyahu on a satirical television program several days ago. Writing on Facebook, Diskin said that Livni’s remarks…

The National Union/Tekuma party, headed by Minister Uri Ariel, rejected on Monday evening reports that Ariel and Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett are close to signing an agreement to run together in the upcoming elections. Officials in the National Union said there are still gaps between Ariel and Bennett and that the two are scheduled…

The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group is continuing to strictly enforce Islamic Sharia law on areas of Syria it has captured. The group’s “police force” in the city of Homs in Syria recently executed two men who were convicted of collaborating with the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. According to the group, one of those…

A 93-year-old man arrested in September on suspicion of serving as a guard at Auschwitz, the Nazi’s deadliest concentration camp during the Holocaust, will be tried in 2015, a German court stated Monday.  The accused, Oskar Groening, is set to be tried on the charge of accessory to the murders of over 300,000 people at…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu released a response to the resolution of the hostage crisis in Sydney on Monday night, after three people were killed and four injured in a police raid on a cafe held by an Islamist.  “I would like to send my condolences to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and to the Australian…

Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid met with Kulanu Chairman Moshe Kahlon Monday evening amid talks of a Center consolidation.  Members of Yesh Atid have recently made no secret of their desire to to join Kahlon’s Kulanu party, and Lapid has made known his belief in the various studies which predict the two could reach 24…

The IDF has been cleared of accusations of irresponsibility in the death of convicted terrorist and Palestinian Authority (PA) official Ziad Abu Ein, a Border Police official leaked to Channel 10 News Monday. Abu Ein, 55, a convicted terrorist who previously held the post of PA Deputy Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, died Wednesday of a heart attack during…

His motives are a mystery and his acts described as random and deranged, but analysts say the gunman who took a Sydney cafe full of terrified people hostage could still score a propaganda coup for jihadists.   Bearing a black jihadist flag, the Iranian-born Islamist created precisely the sort of lone-wolf attack urged by groups…

The heart-attack death of a Palestinian Authority minister after a scuffle with Israeli soldiers last week has led to a Fatah call to “respond in kind.” Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an organization that tracks PA media reports, says that, based on past history, this “could be interpreted as a call to assassinate an Israeli minister”…

Likud’s Legal Advisor, Attorney Avi Halevy responded Monday night to the Likud Court’s ruling not to hold primaries for the Chairman of Likud and the Likud party list on the same day, despite a vote by the Likud Central Committee to do so.  After reviewing a petition submitted by MK Moshe Feiglin, the Likud Court…

Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione and New South Wales premier Mike Baird were scheduled to hold a press conference Monday night (5:00 am Tuesday local time; 8:00 pm IST), where they were to clarify the details of a dramatic standoff between security officials and an Islamist gunman during an hours-long hostage crisis at a Sydney cafe.  It has now been confirmed that…

Former Shas Chairman Eli Yishai held a press conference Monday night in Jerusalem in which he announced the establishment of a new party to run in upcoming elections for the 20th Knesset. “It is not an easy day for me,” Yishai said at the press conference. “Shas has filled many important roles in Israeli governments.…

Police have now stormed the cafe in Sydney where a radical Muslim cleric has held tens of people hostage, according to live footage from the scene – and New South Wales Police have now officially declared the siege “over.”  Loud gunshots and the ring of flash-bang grenades were heard and the windows broken after several…

Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid took more jabs at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday, during a professional conference for the Association of Insurance Agents. “Next to Netanyahu, you must not stand out,” Lapid stated. “That’s what happened with [Kulanu Chairman Moshe] Kahlon, that’s what happened with Gideon Sa’ar, with Benny Begin, with [Dan] Meridor, with…

Hours after a terrorist took 40 people hostage at the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in central Sydney, Belgium dealt with its own hostage crisis Monday morning.  At around 10 a.m. four armed men invaded an apartment in the northwestern city of Ghent, taking a hostage, and leading to a tense standoff with police.  Police were called after…

Police have now stormed the cafe in Sydney where a radical Muslim cleric has held tens of people hostage, according to live footage from the scene.  Watch live coverage of the siege: Loud gunshots and the ring of flash-bang grenades were heard and the windows broken after several more hostages escaped the cafe. Police are now…

A Jewish driver was lightly wounded on Monday afternoon, after Arab terrorists hurled rocks at his car at the Habitot Junction south of Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria. While rock attacks on Jewish cars in the region have become tragically common, the attack on Monday was somewhat unique in that the driver’s wounds came after the…

In a major blow to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Likud Court has disqualified the Likud Central Committee’s vote to approve Netanyahu’s proposal to hold primaries for Likud Chairman and for the party’s Knesset list on the same day – December 31. On Wednesday, the committee voted in favor of Netanyahu’s proposal to advance the date…

Excavations being conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority in Rosh Ha’ayin preparatory to enlargements to the city in the coastal region have unearthed a unique find in recent weeks – a 2,800-year-old farmhouse consisting of 23 rooms. “The farm, which is extraordinarily well-preserved, extends across an area of 30 by 40 meters (roughly 100 x…

Islamist rebels including Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front have seized control of two key Syrian army bases in northwestern Idlib province, in a major blow to Assad forces Monday. Nusra Front rebels were aided by Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham in taking the Wadi al-Deif base in a major assault launched on Sunday morning, according to the Syrian…

IDF Radio has obtained recordings of Ovadia Yosef’s daughter attacking Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri’s character in scathing terms. “I do not think Deri is conducting himself in the right way. I did not want to say it on stage and I did not say it on stage – not because I favored him, but because…

An armed man took over the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in central Sydney, Australia, on Monday (local time), and is holding more than a dozen hostages, according to Reuters. A black flag with white Arabic writing could be seen in the window of the cafe with the text, “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad…

Coalition chairman MK Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) on Sunday denounced the derogatory comments made by MK Tzipi Livni against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on a television program. Livni, who appeared on the “Matzav HaUma” (State of the Union) satirical program on Channel 2, took satire to a different level and was perceived to have gone beyond…

Turkish police on Sunday arrested the editor of Turkey’s biggest-selling newspaper and 26 others in lightning raids on supporters of an American-based cleric who has become President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top foe, AFP reported. The operation was the most significant yet against supporters of Fethullah Gulen, an influential former ally of Erdogan whom the Turkish…

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry warned on Sunday of a possible third intifada by Palestinian Arabs. Speaking to a British delegation, Shoukry warned that an intifada could break out due to “provocations”, according to Daily News Egypt. The most recent of these so-called “provocations”, according to Shoukry, was the incident leading to the death of…

MK Yoni Chetboun announced on Sunday night that he is resigning from the Jewish Home party and would not run with the party in the elections in March. “Over the last two years I realized the importance of the existence of a political framework that preserves the Jewish identity and the values of the Torah…

Although Moshe Kahlon announced last week that his Kulanu party was officially open for business, not much besides the name is known. However, according to reports, Kahlon has been recruiting some of the most famous “activists” in Israeli business, who, like him, have taken the lead in practical reductions of the cost of living for…

As Jews around the world gather to mark the first night of Chanukah on Tuesday, the Chabad Center of Kendall Pinecrest in Miami will take some time to honor the memory of Steven Sotloff, the 31-year-old freelance journalist and Florida native who was abducted and later beheaded by Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists. Sotloff, a native…

Over 20 Ramat Gan municipality workers, including senior employees of the Tel Aviv suburb’s municipality, were arrested early Monday morning as part of an ongoing covert investigation by the police’s Lahav 433 crime-fighting unit. The workers were arrested on suspicion of elections bribery, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and tax crimes. According to police…

An armed man took over the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in central Sydney, Australia, on Monday (local time), and is holding more than a dozen hostages, according to Reuters. A black flag with white Arabic writing could be seen in the window of the cafe with the text, “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is flying to Rome Monday morning, where he will meet US Secretary of State John Kerry. Netanyahu will try to persuade the US to veto a motion that the Palestinian delegation to the UN intends to file this week with the UN Security Council (UNSC). The Palestinian motion is being filed…

Outgoing Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) spoke Monday morning about the Palestinian Authority (PA) resolution to be submitted this Wednesday to the UN Security Council, demanding recognition and a two-year deadline for Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria. “The Palestinians are trying to get without giving anything,” Ya’alon said in an Galei Tzahal radio interview. “They…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced on Sunday that the draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would set a two-year deadline for Israel to “end its occupation” will be submitted on Wednesday. “The Palestinian leadership took a decision to go to the Security Council next Wednesday to vote on their project to end…

Egypt’s top prosecutor has referred 439 people to military tribunals for acts of violence, including the killing of three policemen last year, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Sunday. Security officials said that one group was made up of 139 men described as Islamists from the southern province of Minya, while another was comprised of…

MK Danny Danon warned on Sunday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is “playing with fire”, as the PA announced that on Wednesday it will submit the draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council calling for Israel to “end its occupation” in Judea and Samaria. “Abbas and the Palestinian Authority decided to play with fire with…

As many companies have recently begun offering smartwatches – a combination of the convenience of a wristwatch and the technological capabilities of a cell phone – Samsung is rolling out its Gear S, and now it is being officially marketed in Israel. The gadget runs on the Tizen operating system (OS), and boasts 3G and…

Veteran military historian Aryeh Yitzhaki thinks that the upcoming elections are deflecting the Israeli public’s attention from a war that is brewing in the north, just as an election campaign in 1973 distracted Israelis when Arabs were about to launch a surprise offensive. Yitzhaki told Arutz Sheva that in the course of the last 93…

At a cultural event in central Israeli city Ness Ziona Saturday, Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid once again addressed the unity deal established last Wednesday between Labor Chairman Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni.  Explaining why negotiations for a consolidation between himself and Livni failed, Lapid stated that Livni had chosen “to join the left-wing bloc.” …

Former Minister Raleb Majadla is returning to the Knesset to serve as a member of the Labor party in place of Binyamin (Fuad) Ben Eliezer.  Ben-Eliezer, a long-term Labor Party member who served as an MK and Minister in numerous governments, submitted a letter of resignation to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein Thursday citing health problems. …

Days after an internal IDF video showing previously unseen footage of a terrorist attack near the Zikim base on July 8 found its way to Arabic-language websites, Hamas now claims to have found another yet-unseen video from Operation Protective Edge – this time, boasting it hacked into IDF computers. The second video shows the terrorist infiltration of a…

Yisrael Beytenu Chairman and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman addressed his comments indicating support for a left-wing government on Saturday night, noting Sunday morning that his party is still a “nationalist party” and that Jewish Home is “hysterical.”  “Everyone understands that there is no government with Yisrael Beytenu that is not a nationalist government,” Liberman stated…

The Jewish Home party under Naftali Bennett and the Tekuma / National Union faction within it have yet to reach agreement over Tekuma’s part in the list for the coming election. As negotiations continue, Tekuma’s MK Orit Struk told Arutz Sheva that the disagreement is not over the placement of its people in the list,…

A majority of Israelis believe that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will continue in his role after the next elections, a poll published by Channel 10 News on Saturday night found. The poll, conducted by the Midgam project, found that 62% of Israelis said that they believe Netanyahu will be the next prime minister. Netanyahu was…

US Secretary of State John Kerry left early Sunday for a series of meetings in Europe seeking to head off an end-of-year UN showdown over a Palestinian bid for statehood, according to AFP. His first stop was to be Rome where he will meet separately with both Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Diplomats say negotiations on…

Amidst speculation of a split, Jewish Home Knesset members issued a letter Saturday night to three members of Tekuma calling on their members to remain united with Jewish Home and not form a new party.   The letter was titled: “Do not divide the Religious Zionist movement – accept the proposal of Party Chairman Naftali…

On Thursday, former Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that he would not contend for leadership of the Likud party against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the upcoming Likud primaries. “In the circumstances that emerged and after giving the matter careful thought, I decided not to vie for leadership of Likud at this time,” he wrote…

The IAF scrambled jets to defend Israel’s skies Sunday when Hamas sent a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into the air and flew it over a parade in Gaza marking the 27th anniversary of Hamas’s founding. The Israeli concern was that the drone would be sent into Israeli airspace, either for a terror attack or for…

Details on the deal between Labor party head Yitzchak Herzog and former Hatnua head – and Justice Minister – Tzipi Livni were revealed on Sunday. The back-room deal cooked up by the two last week was published just hours before a Labor Party meeting Sunday night, where members of the party will be asked to…

Environmental rescue workers and officials of the Parks and Nature Authority have turned the tide in the battle against the oil spill in the Arava last week, said Ofir Akunis, Deputy Minister for the Environment. “We are now in control of the situation and there is no danger that the pollution will reach Eilat.” Crews…

With at least half a dozen members of the defunct Hatnua Party joining the Labor Party – and guaranteed slots among the first 21 “realistic” candidate seats on the Labor list – Labor MKs were up in arms Sunday, hours before a Labor Party meeting in which they will be asked to approve the back-room deal cooked…

A new natural gas field containing about 3.2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas has been discovered about 150 kilometers (93 miles) off Israel’s coast. The Royee field contains, according to a seismic survey, between 1.9 and 5 tcf, with 3.2 tcf the best estimate. The license for the Royee field is held by Israel’s…

One of the five youths arrested for terrorizing Jewish children on a school bus in Australia earlier this year consented to visit the Sydney Jewish Museum as well as attend a tolerance program as part of his agreed punishment.  The offender was with a gang of eight drunken youths when they boarded a bus in Sydney…

Likud MK Moshe Feiglin presented his campaign platform Sunday, noting in a special interview with Arutz Sheva that his particular angle in the primaries against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is his stance against the “two-state solution.” “The crazy idea of the two-state solution, an idea that was decisive for the Oslo Accords, was adopted shamefully and quickly…

In a series of articles about the “Efrat” organization, Arutz Sheva presents a number of personal stories and anecdotes, through which the organization’s activities and strivings towards preserving human life is evidenced. This week’s article centers around an “Efrat” volunteer’s encounter with a young woman named Doreen, which deeply touched the volunteer telling her story.…

The organizers of Ireland’s national memorial for the Holocaust have banned any mention of Israel, the Jewish Chronicle Online reported last week – demanding the master of ceremonies “not to refer to the Jewish State or the State of Israel during any part of the ceremony” in January. Outrage against the Holocaust Educational Trust Ireland (HETI), who organized the…

On the 27th anniversary of its establishment, terrorist organization Hamas continues to send threatening messages to Israel – this time via an especially provocative parade in Gaza and with the release of its latest propaganda video.  The video, released by Hamas’ military wing the al-Qassam Brigades, features the voice of wanted terrorist Muhammad Deif. Deif,…

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Rome on Sunday for a flurry of meetings about a looming showdown at the United Nations amid a European-led drive to push moves towards Palestinian statehood. US officials told reporters accompanying Kerry on his plane that Washington wanted to learn more about the European position, saying the…

The Labor party convention has approved the agreement for unification with Hatnua, which generously gives the party six slots in the joint list for the Knesset, including places 2, 8 and 16, which are expected to make it into the Knesset. In addition, Livni will be prime minister for two years out of four, in…

People close to MK Eli Yishai, the former head of Shas, have applied to the Party Registrar to register a new party under his leadership. The name they selected is “Maran,” the honorific by which Shas founder and mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ztz”l was known. If the Registrar refuses to accept the name, the party…

Hassidic singing star Avraham Fried capped off a gala event at the Jerusalem Convention Center (Binyanei HaUmah) last night, marking a new round of the three-year study cycle of Maimonides’ magnum opus. Thousands of people in Israel and world-wide take part in studying a daily chapter of the work known as the Mishneh Torah, or…

When the government instituted rules several years ago demanding that service providers provide timely service to customers, it meant business – and on Sunday, cable company HOT learned just how serious breaking the rules is. The Cable Broadcasting Commission, the government supervisory organization HOT answers to, fined the company NIS 1.6 million ($385,000) because of…

Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yoav Galant denied on Sunday reports that he will be placed in the 11th spot in Likud’s list for the Knesset – one of two spots to which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has the prerogative to appoint people of his choosing. Galant was a candidate for chief of staff in 2010 but was…

If MK Eli Yishai plans to bolt Shas and take right-wing votes with him, Aryeh Deri will make up for those votes with more support from women. That seems to be the logic, political commentators said, behind Deri’s (figurative) embracing of Rebbetzin Adina Bar-Shalom, founder and head of the Hareidi College for Women in Jerusalem,…

Jewish Home Chairman, Naftali Bennett, and Uri Ariel, who heads the Tekuma faction inside Jewish Home, were preparing to meet Sunday evening in order to try and hammer out differences that could cause a split within the party. MK Moti Yogev said Sunday that he hopes the two men can reach a compromise, and present…

From now on, everyone in Israel gets a day off – a full one, consisting of 25 hours away from their job – and not just bits and pieces of time off, as workers in some industries have been used to getting. That recommendation was handed down Sunday by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, who said…

In the wake of reports that MK Eli Yishai is about to leave the Shas party, the Shas Council of Torah Sages on Saturday night instructed MK Aryeh Deri not to meet Yishai on Sunday as originally planned. Rabbi Shimon Baadani, a member of the Council of Torah Sages, informed Deri of the instruction not…

The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Saturday condemned the night-time gun attack on the Israeli embassy in Athens and stressed the need to catch the perpetrators, AFP reports. In a unanimous statement, the 15-member council “condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack against the Embassy of Israel in Athens, Greece, on 12 December,…

Dalit Halevy Palestinian Authority (PA) press agency SAFA has published portions of the minutes of a meeting held November 26 between senior PLO official Yasser Abd Rabbo and another PLO official, Hana Amira. The minutes include a statement according to which senior PLO man Saeb Erikat recently met with US Secretary of State John Kerry.…

Former Justice Minister MK Tzipi Livni was a guest on Saturday night on the satirical television program “Matzav HaUma” (lit. State of the Union), which airs on Channel 2. Most guests on the show use humor with the panel of hosts, as is expected on a satirical program, but Livni seemed to take things too…

A man suspected of running an influential Twitter account promoting the Islamic State (ISIS) has been arrested in southern India, the BBC reported on Saturday. The man, a 24-year-old working in Bangalore, was named as Mehdi Masroor Biswas. The arrest comes after the British Channel 4 News said it had identified the man running the…

The Likud and Yisrael Beytenu parties were involved in some back and forth bantering on Sunday, after Yisrael Beytenu chairman, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, said he would not rule out joining a coalition led by the Labor party after the elections in March. Responding to Liberman’s statement, the Likud party warned voters that voting for…

The Israeli air raid on Hezbollah weapons in Syria last Sunday was the most extensive yet, in terms of the number of targets hit, according to a report on Al Monitor. IAF warplanes targeted military sites in Dimas, 25 kilometers northwest of Damascus, as well as Damascus International Airport, 25 kilometers east of the capital,…

Meretz chairwoman MK Zehava Galon said on Saturday that the upcoming elections must be the last ones in which Binyamin Netanyahu contends. “Bibi is the dybbuk that has overtaken Israeli society. His shadow is floating over our heads for almost 25 years and I believe his time is up,” she said at a public interview…

Economics Minister and Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett fired back Saturday evening at veteran reporter Nahum Barne’a of Yediot Aharonot, after Barne’a used nasty language to describe Jewish Home’s religious-Zionist constituency. Barne’a called Jewish Home “xenophobes, benighted slaves to rabbis tainted with racism, religious fanaticism and nationalism, who squeeze out money from the teats of…

MK Eli Yishai is leaving the Shas movement, according to sources close to him. Yishai served as Shas’ chairman for years, until the political comeback of MK Aryeh Deri, his rival. At present, it is not clear what his plans are for the near future. There appear to be several options: he may establish a party with…

The planned new party uniting Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) and MK Eli Yishai (Shas) “is meant to move the entire political system to the right,” said elements involved in the establishment of the party. “This is a party that will unite the religious and hareidi publics, and will even bring many votes from voters…

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday he hoped to head off an end-of-year showdown at the United Nations over the Palestinian Authority’s planned push for statehood in meetings next week in Europe. “There are a lot of different folks pushing in different directions out there, and the question is can we all pull…

A bomb attack slightly damaged the shuttered French Cultural Centre in Gaza City Friday night without causing casualties, two months after a fire forced its closure, police and an AFP photographer said. Police spokesman Ayman Betjeni said “this was a cowardly attack and unfortunately the second incident of this sort in… two months.” “It seems…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, said Saturday that he does not rule out joining a coalition with the Labor party after it united with Hatnua, but criticized the rotation agreement between the two parties. Speaking at a live interview event in Tel Aviv, Liberman said that the unification between Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua…

The UN Security Council called for a speedy and transparent investigation after a senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official died during a confrontation with Israeli soldiers. The PA leadership has blamed Israel for the death of 55-year-old Ziad Abu Ein on Wednesday, which came during an protest march by roughly 300 Arabs who confronted IDF soldiers…

A Frenchman was ordered into detention Friday as investigators probed his ties to Mehdi Nemmouche, a compatriot charged with killing four people at Brussels’ Jewish Museum in May. The 27-year-old man, from the southern French city of Marseille, was arrested Tuesday and is suspected of being an accomplice of Nemmouche, according to a law enforcement…

A task force investigating the provenance of priceless paintings found in a Nazi-era art hoard said Friday it had received more than 200 queries about specific works by possible heirs, AFP reports. The head of the panel of experts, Ingeborg Berggreen-Merkel, said there had been a strong response to its call for the families of…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu did not promise Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett that he will be appointed as defense minister after the elections, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told Channel 2 News on Friday. “I do not deal with speculations, I am the Minister of Defense until the end of this government’s term. There were rumors…

The United Nations’ (UN) human rights chief on Friday said the circumstances of the death of senior Palestinian Authority minister Ziad Abu Ein were “disturbing” and called for a timely and impartial investigation. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein welcomed an investigation launched by the Israeli military into the death of…

Greek police on Friday said a far-left group was likely responsible for a night-time gun attack on the Israeli embassy in Athens that saw the building sprayed with gunfire but no one hurt. Two Kalashnikov assault rifles used in the attack had been used in a similar attack on the residence of the German ambassador…

Portugal’s parliament on Friday adopted a resolution calling on the government to recognize the Palestinian state, following a growing number of similar votes around Europe. Parliament’s motion, filed jointly by the ruling center-right majority and the opposition Socialist party, proposed “recognizing, in coordination with the European Union, the state of Palestine as independent and sovereign,”…

Adama Dieng, UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Prevention of Genocide, on Tuesday emphatically stated that Iran’s genocidal threats to “wipe Israel off the earth” are “totally unacceptable.” Dieng was at the UN’s headquarters in New York to commemorate the Anniversary of the Genocide Convention that was first adopted on December 9, 1948. Carmen…

An unusual opinion piece was written on Thursday by homosexual journalist Gal Ohovski in Channel 10‘s Mako Magazine, in which he warned leftist Labor party head Yitzhak Herzog that he has to make changes – or else face a “big problem” with the gay community. “Your party is in a very problematic situation. Veryyyyy (sic) problematic,” wrote…

Deputy Minister of Religious Services Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan announced Friday that he will be running in the Jewish Home party primaries for the 20th Knesset.  Rabbi Ben-Dahan has worked adamantly in recent weeks to bridge the gaps between Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett and Tekuma faction leader, MK, and Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home). …

A vending company in Tulsa, Oklahoma is under fire on Friday, after a four-year-old boy presented a toy ring with Nazi insignia on it to his shocked mother.  Leona Kelley told a local television network, KOKI-TV, that she was livid after her son presented her with the ring, which was purchased with a quarter (25 cent) at…

As the elections frenzy continues ahead of a March 17 voting date, a new poll published Friday morning confirms the newly combined Labor and Hatnua party would become the largest party – but that the public prefers a right-wing government, and not a leftist one. The poll conducted by Panels Politics for Maariv gives Labor 24 mandates,…

A Likud-Jewish Home pact could still be on the table, Likud sources told Channel 10 Thursday night – despite Jewish Home’s opposition to the idea.  The report contradicts a similar report from Channel 2 Thursday, whereby both Likud and Jewish Home sources said that “a union, if it is even being considered, will only happen after the election” – and…

Kulanu party chairman Moshe Kahlon is invested in the party for the long term, Channel 10 reports Friday – instituting a rule that he would remain chairman until 2023.  The former Likud communications minister alone will determine the list of candidates for the 20th Knesset elections, as well as any elections to follow until 2023 –…

Recordings from a closed meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Likud activists from the party’s Central Committee were released by Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) on Friday, and in them Netanyahu can be heard blaming the left with a concerted effort to oust him. “There is a clear and apparent attempt here whose goal is to bring…

A terrorist attacked a Jewish family with acid in the Gush Etzion region south of Jerusalem Friday, wounding six people including a number of young children. According to Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics, the mother of the family and three young girls between the ages of 8 and 10 were injured in the lower extremities…

A new twist in the apparently imminent possibility of a split in the hareidi Shas party occurred, as key senior rabbis in the Sephardic community vowed they would leave the party too, if former chairperson Eli Yishai breaks off due to heavy demands leveled on him by chairperson Aryeh Deri. While Deri appears to have…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said he supported Egypt’s crackdown on tunnels linking the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to the Sinai Peninsula and any other action the country took to protect itself from terrorism, AFP reported. “We have supported all the precautionary measures taken by the Egyptian authorities to close the tunnels and stop…

Yesh Atid held a “women’s conference” in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park Friday, which was attended by party chairman Yair Lapid, former Welfare Minister Meir Cohen, and several other Yesh Atid MKs. At the conference, Lapid stated that his “work will continue” for the centrist bloc.  “Our work was stopped in the middle,” Lapid said to hundreds…

The Greek government condemned on Friday as a “terrorist assault on democracy” a night-time gun attack on the Israeli embassy in Athens that saw the building sprayed with gunfire, but fortunately wounded no one. A gunman riding on the back of motorcycle raked the embassy with at least 54 rounds from a Kalashnikov rifle, police said, as it passed the…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership has decided to postpone a critical meeting over whether to halt security coordination with Israel until Sunday, Channel 10 reports Friday – the second postponement in one week. The threat to cut security coordination came after Ziad Abu Ein, 55, a convicted terrorist who previously held the post of PA Deputy Minister…

The hareidi Shas saga refuses to subside, as shocking new statements by chairperson Aryeh Deri disparaging his rival, former chairperson Eli Yishai, give further indications the two will split early next week – likely in their Sunday meeting. “I don’t need him (Yishai), he just bothers me. We offered him what we offered him out…

Likud could still prevail over Hatnua head Tzipi Livni’s pact with Labor, according to a new poll released Friday – with a major gain over the leftist bloc that contradicts recent polls putting Labor ahead by several mandates. Likud would win 25 mandates if elections were held today, according to the survey published by the…

Members of former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari’s Otzma Yehudit (lit. Jewish Strength) party met in Jerusalem on Friday morning, and decided to officially announce the party will be running in the upcoming March 17 elections. The party ran in the last elections under the name Otzma Leyisrael and was just 9,000 votes short of the…

Former CIA Director James Woolsey spoke to Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) on Thursday, and emphasized that the ongoing incarceration of Jonathan Pollard (60), now in his 30th year behind American prison bars, has “no good reason.” Pollard has been suffering failing health and last week was hospitalized before being returned to jail; he apparently will need another surgery…

A classified internal military video presentation showing previously unseen footage of a terrorist attack near the Zikim base on July 8, has found its way to Arabic websites. The IDF is investigating how this happened. The attack was mounted by five Hamas commando terrorists who infiltrated into Israel through the sea on the first day of…

The details of the demands hareidi Shas chairperson Aryeh Deri on Wednesday leveled for former Shas head Eli Yishai to remain in the party were revealed by Walla! on Thursday – without some unforeseen development, they appear to spell the split of the party. Deri and Yishai have been rivals since Deri returned to politics after a…

The polls have been coming out fast and furious, ever since the Knesset decided to dissolve itself three days ago. The latest poll, carried out by Midgam for Channel 2, indicates that a Labor ticket, after the merger with Hatnua, would receive 24 Knesset seats. Likud would receive 23 seats; Jewish Home 15; Yisrael Beytenu 8;…

Dr. Ronen Shoval, founder of the grassroots Zionist student movement Im Tirtzu, declared on Thursday his candidacy for the next Knesset on the Jewish Home list, vowing: “I will fight with all my might against the influence of the leftist elite of the New Israel Fund in the courts, in academia and in culture.” In…

After losing a landmark decision on November 20 allowing them to be tried for terrorism charges in a $1 billion case, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have now filed a very rare appeal to the Second Circuit of courts trying to squash the case. Shurat Hadin (Israel Law Center) is leading the…

Outgoing Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) on Thursday slammed the “delusional accusations” made by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas blaming Israel for the death of convicted terrorist turned senior PA official Ziad Abu Ein on Wednesday. Liberman said the PA’s accusations that Israel had “murdered” Abu Ein were baseless and meant only to…

The air forces of Israel and Greece rehearsed air combat maneuvering this week in a joint exercise dubbed Re’amim, or Thunderclaps, at Uvda Air Base in the Negev. This is the countries’ third such joint exercise in recent years, and is part of the extensive security cooperation between them, reports the IDF Website. Besides maneuvering…

After merging their parties on Wednesday, Labor head Yitzhak Herzog and Hatnua chairperson Tzipi Livni on Thursday launched their election campaign ahead of the March 17 vote in the Gaza Belt region that was hard-hit by Hamas rockets over the summer. The two sharply criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for his management of Operation Protective…

Yeshiva University (YU) is offering a new online course for rabbis to prepare them in dealing with a topic that many say does not receive enough attention in the religious world – child abuse. The 12-week course on preventing child abuse is a joint offering by YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF), YU-affiliated Rabbi…

A Channel 2 News poll released on Thursday found that if the Likud and Jewish Home parties were to run together, they would win 33 seats and be the largest party in the Knesset, but the Jewish Home was quick to dismiss the idea of the two parties uniting. “There will be not be a…

In the wake of the recent upsurge in Palestinian terrorist attacks, hareidi-religious volunteers will now, for the first time, join the ranks of operative policemen, prison service officials, and firemen. The initiative is that of Sar-Shalom Jerby, Director-General of the Civil/National Service Authority, together with Police Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Police Commissioner Yochanan Danino. Fourteen…

The Likud party dismissed on Thursday evening the criticism of MKs Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni, who earlier claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is “weak against terror”. “The public will have to decide who will maintain security – Livni and Herzog who want to give up, give in and concede land, or Netanyahu who…

Iran will resume negotiations with world powers in Geneva next week aimed at reaching a deal over Tehran’s controversial nuclear program, its deputy foreign minister said Thursday, according to AFP. Top-level talks will begin on Wednesday, December 17, with meetings at the deputy minister level taking place two days earlier, state news agency IRNA quoted…

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan on Thursday addressed the revelations contained in a comprehensive report released this week about the agency’s use of enhanced interrogation methods from 2002 to 2009, ABC News reported, calling some of the techniques “abhorrent” but defending the program overall. The report accused the CIA of using unauthorized interrogation…

It is this extra concern that has driven Menachem to extend a plea for help. “The rock throwings and tire burnings are one level of disturbances. But, there is one soft spot in Bet El’s security plan – the area leading up from the canyon, in which three severe security incidents have occurred in the…

The United States on Wednesday responded to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s statement that a building freeze in Judea and Samaria was due to pressure from the Obama administration. Speaking to reporters in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that objection to “settlements” was longstanding and would not change after President Barack Obama leaves office…

Fans at football games who get out of hand and resort to violence will now have to face the full force of the law, after the Knesset on Wednesday passed on its second and third reading a law that would significantly increase punishments for violent acts committed at sporting events. Miscreants who are arrested committing…

Irish lawmakers urged their government Wednesday to recognize “Palestine” as a state in a symbolic motion that sailed through parliament unopposed, reports AFP. The non-binding motion agreed by lawmakers in Dublin called on the government to “officially recognize the State of Palestine, on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital,…

The University of California (UC) graduate student worker union on Wednesday voted in favor of a resolution supporting an academic boycott of Israel. The text proposes supporting the boycott until Israel “has complied with international law and respected the rights of Palestinians,” according to the Huffington Post. The union will call on both the University…

MK Stav Shaffir (Labor) welcomed on Wednesday the formation of a center-left bloc between her party and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua party, saying the move “brings closer the end of the rule of the extreme right”. “It is so inspiring to see two leaders who are dealing with the best interests of the state and not…

MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer on Thursday said he would resign from the Knesset. Ben-Eliezer, a Labor Party member who served as an MK and Minister in numerous governments, wrote to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein that “after a long decision making process and a difficult struggle with my thoughts on the matter, I have decided to resign…

The Likud Central Committee on Wednesday voted in favor of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s proposal to advance primaries for party leadership to December 31. In addition to moving the primaries date forward, Netanyahu’s proposal would allow the party chairperson to reserve the 11th and 24th spots on the Knesset list for candidates of his choosing,…

Rightwing MKs reacted with sharp criticism – and in some cases sharp mockery – to the announcement Wednesday that Tzipi Livni was abandoning her colleagues in Hatnua, and joining the Labor party. The combination of Livni and Labor head Yitzhak Herzog, who, if they form the government, will take turns as prime minister, would be…

The IDF will be on high alert in Judea and Samaria on Thursday, in anticipation of riots by Palestinian Arabs during the funeral of Ziad Abu Ein, a senior Palestinian Authority official who died Wednesday of a heart attack during riots against the IDF. As part of the preparations for the funeral, the IDF will…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will head to Rome on Sunday for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, AFP reported Wednesday. Kerry and Netanyahu “will discuss a number of issues, including recent developments in Israel, the West Bank (Judea and Samaria -ed.), and Jerusalem and the region,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki…

Israel has updated its anti-spam laws to include “spammy” phone calls. The new law making spam phone calls illegal was sponsored by MKs Adi Koll (Yesh Atid) and Mickey Rosenthal (Labor) passed its second and third readings late Tuesday. As a result, annoying “robo-calls” – the pre-recorded messages that are transmitted tens of thousands of…

Israeli and Palestinian officials have issued conflicting reports Thursday over the autopsy of Palestinian Authority minister Ziad Abu Ein, who died during a Palestinian protest riot in Turmas Ayya in Samaria Wednesday.  Prior to the autopsy, Palestinian sources claimed Israeli forces sprayed tear gas and beat Abu Ein with the butts of their rifles and their…

Israel’s policy of demolishing terrorists’ homes effectively decreases terrorist attacks, a new study found.  The study, “Counter-Suicide-Terrorism: Evidence from House Demolitions,” was co-authored by researchers at Northwestern University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It will be published in the January issue of the Journal of Politics. According to the study, demolishing the homes of Palestinian terrorists results…

In an interview Thursday, MK Tzachi Hanegbi said that there was one upside to the political union between Tzipi Livni and Labor announced Wednesday night: There was now a clear choice for Israelis between the Right and the Left. Hanegbi, a deputy Prime Minister and long-time Likud MK, said that the public now had a…

Kulanu head Moshe Kahlon denied on Thursday the rumor floated by former welfare minister Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid), who said earlier that there is ongoing contact between his party’s chairman, Yair Lapid, and the chairmen of Yisrael Beytenu and Kulanu. Yisrael Beytenu is also denying the claim. “We do not know of contacts about unification…

Police arrested two children, ages 12 and 13, who tried to rob a bank in Rishon Lezion Wednesday. The two children were caught after leaving behind a slew of clues leading police right to them. The pair walked into a Bank Leumi branch in central Rishon Lezion Wednesday afternoon, brandishing what looked like machine guns,…