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Labor MK Stav Shafir managed to get herself thrown out of a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee Monday, after she shouted repeatedly at committee chairman MK Nissan Slomiansky (Jewish Home) that he was “taking money from the poor and giving it to the settlers,” as he worked on approvals for the 2015 state budget.…

Following the long saga over the Language and Culture School in Ramat Beit Shemesh, the Beit Shemesh municipality and the Ministry of Education have finally reached a compromise, and filed it with the District Court in Jerusalem. Tensions initially arose when the municipality decided to dedicate one of the floors of the school for the use of…

The house of national Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi), at Atlanta’s Emory University, was defaced by swastikas and other offensive graffiti spray-painted on the walls, Sunday morning – shortly after the end of Yom Kippur.  A second set of spray-painted swastikas were found on a stone wall outside of the Kappa Alpha (KA) chapter house Monday morning, student newspaper,…

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat told Arutz Sheva on Monday that the city’s second annual Formula One is an appropriate answer to international criticism over Israel’s construction in its capital. The race, which began Monday and will be held on Tuesday as well, features famous drivers like Giancarlo Fisichella, as well as four young Israeli drivers,…

The world needs to understand that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, President Reuven Rivlin said on Monday. Rivlin received Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the President’s Residence for a private meeting to receive an update following the Prime Minister’s return from the United States. The two spoke about the Prime Minister’s visit to the United States,…

Buses may be harder to come by in some parts of Israel soon. The directorate of the Egged cooperative, which operates buses throughout Israel, on Monday voted in some cost-cutting measures that would see as many as 160 employees dismissed. The plan will save the company NIS 100 million, but will reduce manpower – including…

In response to criticism of the US in an interview program Sunday, the White House on Monday slammed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saying that his criticism of American values was out of place. The criticism of America for its concern over Israel’s construction in Jerusalem was “odd,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “When…

Israel is preparing for a possible breakout of Ebola. On Monday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called a meeting in his office to discuss how prepared Israel is for such an outbreak, and what the country would do if such an event came to pass. During the meeting, health officials presented an overview of the Ebola…

Although it hasn’t been reflected in prices, the number of homes being sold in Israel dropped sharply over the past year. As of June 30, the Central Bureau of Statistics said, there were 94,450 homes and apartments under construction in Israel; by August 31, 26,920 were still unsold, a very unusual situation in a country…

A man in his thirties fell from a sixth floor balcony Monday night on Sha’agat ha-Arie Street in Modi’in Illit.  United Hatzalah medics provided him with first aid treatment on the scene, and from there he was taken to the hospital in severe condition, where he later died of his injuries.  Samuel Rosengarten, head of United Hatzalah…

On Yom Kippur eve, vandals spray-painted swastikas on the walls of the Beit Meir synagogue in the Corsica’s capital of Ajaccio, in an attack which rocked the small Jewish community. Corsica, a tiny island in the Mediterranean, is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the Italian island of Sardinia.…

A group of Israelis living in Berlin has shocked compatriots back home by urging them to move to Germany as a much cheaper alternative to living in the Jewish state, AFP reports Monday.  “It is time to immigrate to Berlin,” says the group’s Hebrew-language Facebook page entitled “Let’s Immigrate to Berlin” which offers practical tips for those seeking an alternative to…

Replacements have been found for two police officers who retired under suspicious circumstances, Walla! News reports Monday, in an ongoing effort to restructure Israel’s police force.  Major General Moshe Aderi will replace Jerusalem District Police Commander Major General Yossi Pariente, eight days after Pariente chose to step down for “personal reasons.” Major General Motti Cohen, likewise, will replace…

The government will allocate NIS 1.7 billion ($550 million) to the war on poverty, despite the cuts in the budget to pay for Operation Protective Edge. The plan was presented Monday by Welfare Minister Meir Cohen and his deputy, Eli Alalouf. The plan will provide a host of programs and transfer payments designed to lift…

A document published by Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) on Monday morning reveals that the Tourism Ministry is considering opening the Cotton Merchant’s Gate to the Temple Mount for Jewish visitors and tourists. As the status quo stands, the Mughrabi Gate is the only point of entrance for Jews in visiting the holiest site in Judaism, and that…

A blast rocked the coastal town of Petah Tikva’s Stampfer Street on Monday morning, after a car filled with hundreds of spark plugs exploded. However, despite the mighty blast that set the car on fire and burned it down, the owner of the car was miraculously saved – thanks to his car breaking down. Police…

It’s October and the olive harvest has begun – for Jewish residents of Samaria, that means the return of Arab attackers framing Jews by destroying their own olive trees, with leftist extremists inciting against Jews in the “modern blood libel.” Jewish residents of the region on Monday morning charged that Arab residents of Burin, located…

Jerusalem’s second annual Formula One race is set to start at 3:10 p.m. Monday, with the top-of-the-line racing cars setting off from the Old Train Station compound for a 20-minute spin around the city, following which the race will begin. The race will last three hours, and the drivers will include famous names like Giancarlo…

Israeli coach David Blatt led his new team, the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, to a 107-80 victory over the visiting Maccabbi Tel Aviv, in a pre-season exhibition basketball game on Sunday that marked Blatt’s NBA debut. The game pitted the team expected to contend for NBA Championships with the Israeli team Blatt led to victory in the Euroleague…

As Islamic State (ISIS) forces continue to advance on the Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria (western Kurdistan), Kurdish forces are engaged a last-ditch, desperate fight to fend off the jihadists. Kurdish forces from the People’s Protection Units (YPG), along with a small contingent of the rebel Free Syrian Army, have fought tooth-and-nail for…

An explosion at Iran’s Parchin nuclear plant has killed at least two people, among them an unnamed “nuclear expert”, according to Iranian media reports. The plant is located close to the Iranian capital Tehran, and the explosion has triggering speculation over a possible sabotage or assassination. The semi-official Isna news agency claimed the explosion took…

US Vice President Biden’s October 2, 2014 Harvard Kennedy School comments on Syria garnered most of the media attention, but he also made an important statement saying there is a “new opportunity” for a “win-win” breakthrough involving Turkey, Cyprus, and Israel, and the construction of a gas “pipeline” from the Levant Basin gas fields to…

Israeli security officials on Monday arrested an Israeli woman who was trying to smuggle illegal Palestinian workers into Israel – along with a cache of drugs. The woman and three Palestinian workers were arrested and are being held pending a hearing. The woman was caught as she attempted to drive through a checkpoint, with security…

The hareidi draft is here to stay, the State Attorney’s Office stated Monday – after petitions were filed against the law to the High Court of Justice. The Equal Burden of Service law, which ended the blanket exemption of hareidi yeshiva students from the IDF, was ratified earlier this year.  But three petitions claim that…

The Attorney General told the Knesset’s Interior Committee Monday that he will not allow it to override a High Court ruling that knocked the teeth out of the Infiltrators Law. The court decided two weeks ago to annul key clauses in the law and force the closure of a Negev detention facility created at great…

Following the Jewish High Holidays, Jerusalem will once again be awash in festive events – but not Jewish ones. The Municipality is planning to hold a special week of events honoring Japanese culture from October 19 to 25. Israel has been growing increasingly close to Japan recently, in July becoming the first country Japan signed an…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Science Minister Ya’akov Perry (Yesh Atid) on Sunday announced the winners of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels for Transportation. The two recipients, Prof. Michael Grätzel of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, and Prof. Thomas Meyer of the University of North Carolina, will be the…

Anti-Semitic British designer John Galliano is to restart his shattered career by taking over the creative direction of the fashion house Maison Martin Margiela, the label said on Monday, three years after he was sacked by Dior following a drunken anti-Semitic tirade in a Paris bar. Galliano (53) spent nearly 15 years at Dior before being canned for spouting Jew…

The Social-Economic Cabinet on Sunday decided to sell off nearly all the government-controlled companies in Israel, in a move that is expected to bring in as much as NIS 20 billion ($7 billion) over the next three years. The controversial sell-off was the idea of Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who convinced Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu…

After a four-year-long legal battle, Egged buses in Jerusalem began displaying advertisements that feature women’s faces on Sunday. The advertisements feature a mix of women from Jerusalem – secular, religious, hareidi and Arab – despite concern over backlash by extremist hareidi elements. Some fringe elements within the hareidi community view the portrayal of women’s faces…

Syria has been wracked by civil war for over two years, with a variety of factions, from “moderate” groups to Islamists associated with Al Qaeda to IS (Islamic State) fanatics vying for control of the country, or what is left of it. All are fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops, and to an extent, each…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hosted a traditional Bible study class in his official residence Sunday. The Bible classes were first held by Israel’s founding prime minister, David Ben Gurion. They were discontinued, then renewed by Menachem Begin, then discontinued again, and renewed once more by Netanyahu two years ago. The class is named for Netanyahu’s…

Residents of working class Tel Aviv expressed their anguish and anger Sunday following the High Court decision striking down the Infiltrator Law, by marching with black flags. Organizer May Golan said that the residents are taking down the Israeli flag and flying the black flag in protest of the dictatorship of “bagatz” – the Hebrew…

Egyptian security forces have arrested four suspected members of a cell recruiting fighters for the “Islamic State” (IS or ISIS) group in Syria, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Sunday. Egypt’s MENA news agency reported that the four suspects, all of Egyptian nationality, were arrested in the Suez Canal city of Port Said. The report…

The president of the Sudanese Chess Association (SCA) tendered his resignation on Sunday following a game of chess that took place against an Israeli player at the World Youth Chess Championships in South Africa, reports the Sudan Tribune. The president, Tariq Zaroog, said that he as an administrator of the top chess body in the…

The Arab revolt in Palestine (1936-1939) was almost a preview for the 1947-1949 hostilities after the UN partitioned Palestine, the British mandate ended, the British army withdrew from Palestine and the State of Israel was declared.   The Har Zion, pictured here and on the main page, could take 110 passengers (Israel’s National Maritime Museum). The boat was sunk in 1940. The…

Drivers on Route 1, the main road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, are waiting with bated breath for completion of work that will upgrade the road to an international-class highway, eliminating twists and turns, and widening the road to three and four lanes. Work has been ongoing for months, at a furious pace, but UTJ…

Last week, Hamas Political Bureau member Mahmoud Al-Zahar stated that Hamas wants to build an Islamic state in all of Palestine, meaning it would replace Israel, reports Palestinian Media Watch (PMW): “[Some] have said Hamas wants to create an Islamic emirate in Gaza. We won’t do that, but we will build an Islamic state in…

A day after apologizing to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, U.S. Vice President Biden on Sunday made another apology, this time to the United Arab Emirates. According to The Washington Post, Biden apologized for comments he made suggesting that the United States’ Arab allies armed and funded terrorists in Syria. The furor over the comments,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in an interview which aired Sunday on CBS that the White House’s rebuke of Israeli construction in Jerusalem goes “against American values”. In the interview, which was recorded on Thursday and of which excerpts were quoted by The Associated Press (AP), Netanyahu said he did not accept restrictions on where…

Asia’s Olympic chief has urged all sports to let women wear the Islamic hijab headscarf, after an Asian Games row which saw Qatar’s basketball team quit in fury, AFP reports. Qatar’s women forfeited their matches and left after being told the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) would not allow hijabs, according to the report. Many sports,…

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi has criticized Israel and the United States over their reaction to Sweden’s decision to recognize “the state of Palestine”, the Ma’an news agency reported on Sunday. “Conditioning recognition of the State of Palestine on the outcome of negotiations with Israel is equivalent to making our right…

The Hezbollah group said Sunday that at least five of its fighters were killed along with “dozens” of gunmen in clashes in the Syria-Lebanon border area, AFP reports. A Hezbollah security official, speaking to the news agency on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deaths of five fighters after clashes around the town of Nabi Sbat…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had a message for Sweden on Sunday, a day after Sweden’s Prime Minister said his country would recognize the “state of Palestine.” Netanyahu clarified that unilateral actions will only reduce the chances of reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA). “Unilateral measures are contrary to agreements. They will not…

A senior Israeli Muslim religious leader called terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) “brothers” of Muslims in Israel and elsewhere, adding that they could not stand by and watch silently as Western forces pounded IS forces in Iraq and Syria. Ahmad Badran, an imam and educator from the Galilee Arab village of Jatt called on…

The Egyptian jihadist group Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis on Sunday decapitated three people and shot a fourth on accusations of “collaborating” with Israel’s Mossad spy agency and the Egyptian army, the Al-Ahram news website reported, citing a video published on online jihadist forums. The group published a previous decapitation video of four others in August who…

At a party meeting for Yesh Atid, Chairman Yair Lapid, apologized for convening a press conference from the doorway of his home on the Sabbath of September 20. He stated, “I was wrong. Although I personally work on the Sabbath, it was not right that I caused other people to work on the Sabbath.” Lapid opened…

An Orthodox Jewish group has taken legal action against a terminally ill patient’s family, DNAinfo reported Thursday, in an attempt to prevent the patient from being taken off life support.  Eileen Beth Kramer, 60, has been kept on life support at Brooklyn’s Maimonides Medical Center for nearly three weeks. But the question of her future has arose…

University of Ariel lecturers have been permitted to attend the European Association of Israel Studies’ annual conference – despite a policy biased against institutions in Judea and Samaria – but only on condition of hiding where they teach.  Ariel University Chancellor, Yigal Cohen Orgad blasted the “absurd” policy on Sunday, in a special interview with Arutz…

In a medical first and marking a milestone in infertility treatment, a woman has given birth to a baby using a transplanted womb. The 1.8kg (3.9lb) boy was born prematurely, but is healthy, and has been described by his parents as “amazing” and “our sweet Vincent, who does not know yet, that he has made history.” …

Haim Yalin, the head of the Eshkol Regional Council, addressed the false alarms sounded this morning (Sunday) at about 8:24 a.m. in three kibbutzim – Nirim, Ein HaShlosha, and Kissufim – all located within the council.  “It does not matter to the population in these communities that this was a false alarm,” Yellin said in an…

Human error, or computer fault?  The Dallas, TX hospital that mishandled the US’s first Ebola case initially reported that Liberian native Thomas Duncan had lied about his contact with a woman infected with the deadly disease upon admission and that a computer error hid other clues that his symptoms matched the virus, through a filing error. …

Sweden has effectively retracted an earlier statement by new prime minister Stefan Lofven, who announced that his country would recognize the “state of Palestine,” arousing ire in Israel and disapproval in the United States. “The prime minister said that the conflict between Israel and Palestine can be solved through the two-state solution, by negotiations in…

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is criticizing President Barack Obama for leaning toward, then deciding against military action against Syria for its use of chemical weapons. “By failing to respond, it sent the wrong message to the world,” Panetta says in a new book, an early copy of which was seen by The Associated…

The Western world has sought to physically hinder Islamic State (ISIS), the terrorist organization too extreme for Al Qaeda which has burst the Middle East asunder, through a series of targeted airstrikes.  But last week, an additional campaign was launched to break the terror organization’s hold on the region: an economic one.  ISIS is widely…

Barely out on the market, the iPhone 6 is a hot commodity, with fans of Apple products waiting on line for hours for their chance to buy one. If getting one is a challenge, getting 100 is a Herculean task – but it apparently wasn’t beyond the abilities of one smuggler, who tried to surreptitiously…

Members of the Tel Aviv Merchant’s Organization were shocked to discover that membership checks they wrote to the organization in recent weeks were deposited not in the organization’s account, but in the account of a Palestinian bank. At least a dozen members of the group said that checks they wrote to the organization in May…

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has undergone an operation on his prostate which lasted less than half an hour. The head of the surgical team said only local anaesthetic had been used, and that Khamenei was completely awake and speaking during the procedure. However, according to Reuters, it is the unprecedented media attention given…

Workers at Ben Gurion Airport are gearing up for another strike – this time on their own behalf. Unions representing workers on Sunday held an emergency meeting, which union officials said was a prelude to declaring a work action – a required step before calling a strike. Several weeks ago, workers went on a partial…

The suspension of Nazareth Illit Mayor Shimon Gapso was extended by five months Sunday, as he awaits verdicts in two bribery cases against him. He was initially suspended from his duty in March, and then again in July. The decision to extend the suspension was taken by a special committee for suspension of local authority…

Once again this year, Israelis were able to breathe easier on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on which Jews pray to be forgiven for and “cleansed” of their sins. Data collected during the day by sensors indicated that air pollution levels fell between 77% and 99% throughout Israel, depending on the location. On Yom…

Israeli and Lebanese forces clashed along the northern border Sunday afternoon, according to Lebanese media sources. Unnamed security sources claimed that one Lebanese soldier was injured in the brief gunbattle, which took place close to the Har Dov (Shabaa Farms) area. The IDF said troops had opened fire on suspects trying to infiltrate the north…

Campaigning officially got under way on Saturday for Tunisian parliamentary elections seen as a milestone in efforts to establish a democratic foothold in the birthplace of the Arab Spring, AFP reports. Tunisia has grappled with social unrest over the feeble economy, violence blamed on Islamists, and attacks by terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda loyalists. The Octember…

There is nothing wrong with the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, a senior North Korean official said during an extremely rare visit to the South on Saturday, according to AFP. South Korea’s Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae, speaking on a television talk show, quoted the North Korean official, Kim Yang-Gon, as saying, “There is…

The parents of Peter Kassig, an American aid worker held hostage by “Islamic State” (IS or ISIS) terrorists, have appealed for his release in a statement and video message, the Guardian reported Saturday. On Friday, a video was released of the murder of a British aid worker, Alan Henning, the fourth western hostage killed in…

U.S. Vice President Biden on Saturday apologized to Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for saying the Turkish leader admitted his country made mistakes by allowing foreign fighters to cross into Syria, Fox News reports. Biden spoke directly to Erdogan to “clarify” comments made on Thursday at Harvard University and apologized for “any implication” that Turkey…

Two million Muslims ritually stoned the devil Saturday in the last major rite of this year’s hajj in Saudi Arabia, while fellow believers around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice. The stoning occurred in Mina, about five kilometers (three miles) east of the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca. All…

Sweden’s ambassador to Israel will summoned to the Foreign Ministry after the prime minister of Sweden announced his government’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state. Left-wing Social Democrat leader Stefan Loefven – who won last month’s general election – said the Nordic country wanted to bolster a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Foreign Minister…

A 12-year-old boy fell from a 7-meter high bridge in Haifa as he was cycling on Yom Kippur. He was seriously wounded. A Carmel Area Magen David Adom team evacuated the boy to Rambam Hospital. After his situation stabilized, he was taken to the operating room. He was then taken to Children’s ICU, where he…

The Rebbe of Sanz, a hassidic dynasty, fainted during prayers on the night of Yom Kippur, causing great anxiety among his followers. Shortly before midnight Friday, his assistants noticed that he had lost consciousness and after he received initial care on the spot, he was evacuated on foot to the hospital. His followers remained in…

Rumors of a military coup in North Korea persist as leader Kim Jong-un’s prolonged absence from public view continues. Kim has not been seen in public for a month, leading to rumors that a military coup has broken out in North Korea and Kim has been arrested. Other rumors have it that Kim has gout…

“I have never eaten non-kosher food,” Prime Minister Binyanin Netanyahu told Channel 2 television in an interview recorded before Yom Kippur. He was hinting that while he has sat in restaurants that serve treif (non-kosher) food, he never ate the food himself. Netanyahu insisted that he never eats treif food, and that this is true…

Ambassadors to the United Nations from no fewer than 32 countries have asked that Yom Kippur be recognized as an official UN holiday. The UN currently marks 10 holidays, but none of them are Jewish. Among the recognized holidays are Christmas and Good Friday (Christian) and Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha (Muslim). The 32 ambassadors…

Sweden’s new prime minister announced Friday that the country will recognize a “Palestinian state”, becoming the first EU member in Western Europe to do so.   Left-wing Social Democrat leader Stefan Loefven – who won last month’s general election – said the Nordic country wanted to bolster a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Washington…

Islamic State (aka ISIS) terrorists have released a video documenting the murder of British aid convoy volunteer Alan Henning. Henning is the fourth western hostage to have been murdered by the group, following the filmed beheadings of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and Scottish aid worker David Haines. Another hostage, Hervé Gourdel, from…

In a stunning bi-partisan “Congressional Letter” from over 353 out of 435 U.S. congresspersons to US Secretary of State John Kerry, the 353 U.S. representatives issued a stark warning that, “As you wrote in the Washington Post earlier this summer, if Iran’s nuclear program is truly peaceful, “it’s not a hard proposition to prove. The…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday morning, hours before the beginning of Yom Kippur and after making an eventful visit to Washington.  “I went out on a national mission on behalf of the citizens of Israel,” Netanyahu said upon landing. “I told our truth on the UN podium at…

Hamas spokesperson Mushir Al-Masri said on Thursday night that his terrorist organization, despite returning to truce talks with Israel in Cairo in the last week of October, still remains fully committed to armed conflict. “The ‘resistance’ is the basis for the clash with Israel. Only through the ‘resistance’ can victory and liberation (i.e. the occupation…

Just a little over a month after the November 26 ceasefire with Israel that ended Hamas’s terror war and the 50-day Operation Protective Edge, terrorists in Gaza fired a rocket into the sea Friday morning. No one was wounded by the projectile, which Walla! speculates  was part of a missile test to check the capabilities of the…

The US Supreme Court will hear the case of a Muslim woman who was denied employment due to her headscarf, Reuters reported Thursday, taking the issue of religious dress to the national scale.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a complaint against popular teen’s clothing outlet Abercrombie Fitch – which is [in]famous for its policy of…

Israel’s public and emergency services are being prepared for the possibility of a tumultuous day, ahead of the upcoming Yom Kippur fast as well as the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha.  Magen David Adom (MDA) medics are on high alert, preparing for the inevitable onslaught of injuries from cyclists, emergency calls from pregnant women, and incidents of…

Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi David Lau released Halakhic (Jewish legal) guidelines for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is a day-long fast beginning on Friday at sundown. The rabbi began by warning “a sick person who wants to be stringent on himself and fast – in opposition to the instructions of his rabbi and doctor –…

An explosion was heard close to an IDF post near the Syrian border in the Golan Heights on Friday morning, patrols told Israeli media.  The blast caused no injury or damage.  IDF officials are scanning the area to determine the cause of the blast, and to check whether it is spillover from Syria’s civil war…

Mere days after trying to hush-up the “silent intifada” of terror attacks plaguing Jerusalem in the media, Mayor Nir Barkat has turned to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a letter demanding that the terror wave be ended. The letter also reached members of the government, Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino and recently retired Jerusalem District Police Commander…

After Arab MK Mohammed Barakeh (Hadash) said Israel is like the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group, and Palestinian Authority (PA) chief negotiator Saeb Erekat likened the Jewish state and “Islamic state,” Arab MK Ibrahim Sarsour (Ra’am-Ta’al) has now raised the bar. Sarsour, who heads his Arab Islamist party, was asked what its position is on ISIS by Prof.…

The European Union (EU) on Friday condemned Israel’s plans to build 2,610 new homes in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem, calling it “highly detrimental” to diplomatic efforts for Israeli-Palestinian peace, according to AFP.  Brussels called on Israel to “urgently reverse” actions leading to expansion in Jerusalem, which the Palestinian Authority (PA) hopes to claim as the capital of a future state, following a…

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday used his annual message to Hajj pilgrims heading to Mecca to insult Israel and call for its “annihilation.” The speech comes ahead of Eid al-Adha on Friday, the Muslim holiday celebrating Abraham’s “sacrifice of Ishmael” in an appropriation of the original Torah story, and like his speech for…

A 23 year-old Somali-American was sentenced to thirty years in prison on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, for a 2010 plot to detonate a bomb in Portland, Oregon’s central square as 10,000 revelers celebrated Christmas.  Mohammed Mohamoud was originally slated for a forty-year sentence for his involvement in the plot, which was apprehended by the…

America has been in a race against the clock to prevent the spread of the lethal Ebola virus, following reports Tuesday that the first case of the disease in the country had been diagnosed in Dallas. Four people who came in contact with the man, Thomas Eric Duncan, have been quarantined. Another roughly 12 to…

Three US citizens are fighting in Syria, the British Daily Mail reports Friday. But unlike most foreign nationals, they are fighting against – not for – jihadists. One of the Americans has been identified as Jordan Matson (28) from Racine, Wisconsin, a spokesman for the private Pashmerga army, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), said Thursday.  Matson is a…

A severe, unpublicized security incident in Bet El, just north of Jerusalem, back in August led the town’s Security Chiefs, in cooperation with the IDF, to rethink defense arrangements. After the incident, Bet El Security Head Menachem Tzur, whose mother and brother were murdered just outside Bet El, received authorization to purchase security equipment in…

Bus drivers providing the public with transportation are allowed to take up to ten standing passengers according to Israeli law, occasionally causing them to pass by and leave passengers waiting at bus stations until a less crowded bus arrives. But thanks to the request of a hareidi resident of Elad, located east of Petah Tikva,…

In an unusual and moving ceremony, Paratroopers Brigade Commander Col. Eliezer Toledano arrived on Tuesday morning to the neuro-surgical ward of Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva to officially appoint wounded Maj. Hagai Ben-Ari as commander of the Paratrooper Commando Unit. Ben-Ari, a married father of three and resident of Nov in the Golan Heights, was critically…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) “unity government” has released a $4 billion reconstruction plan for Gaza ahead of the October 12 donor conference – but the donors would be well advised to peruse a recent Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) report featuring a TV interview on the PA’s Al-Awda TV channel. In the segment, Fatah…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed his anger at extreme leftist group Peace Now for what he said was an intentional attempt to sabotage his meeting Wednesday with US President Barack Obama. The organization leaked to the press that a plan for construction in Jerusalem had been approved, just as he met Obama – and the…

In further proof of the destructive effects of the 2011 Gilad Shalit terrorist release deal, another of the 1,027 terrorists released has been re-arrested for returning to crime. The terrorist, a resident of Al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley located north of Jericho in Samaria, was arrested and will have an indictment submitted against him for…

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said last weekend he intends to join American airstrikes on Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists in Syria and Iraq, a move met by sharp criticism from Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau, who is favored to replace Harper in the 2015 elections. Trudeau acknowledged that ISIS is a “threat to regional and global security”…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon declared on Thursday that Israel will continue to build in Jerusalem and will not apologize for doing so. Ya’alon made the comments at a ceremony in memory of Israel’s fallen paratroopers, and they come in the wake of international criticism over Israel’s approval of new housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhood…

Hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fired back at the United States’ criticism of Israel’s plan to build new homes in Jerusalem, Washington on Thursday came back with a response of its own. Netanyahu had given a series of interviews to the foreign press, including one with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, in which he suggested…

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz has decided to freeze the decision to fire the security officers of Gaza Belt communities and to reduce others to part-time employment, reported Channel 2. The decision comes just one day after the heads of local government councils in the Gaza Belt received letters from the Home…

Islamic State (ISIS) fighters are only a mile away from Baghdad, according to a spokesman for the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East. Battles between ISIS and Iraqi forces have also been raging in the strategic city of Amiriyat al-Fallujah, 25 miles west of Baghdad. Battles on both fronts have been calmed over the…

Iran on Thursday warned neighboring Turkey against doing anything that might aggravate tensions in the region, AFP reports. The warning came after the parliament in Ankara voted to authorize military intervention in Syria and Iraq. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke by telephone with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, and “criticized the method chosen…

Egypt’s army on Thursday killed a field commander for Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the country’s most dangerous Islamist group, Reuters reported, citing local security sources. The man was killed during clashes in the northern Sinai Peninsula, the sources said. Mohamed Abu Shatiya, who took part in the kidnapping of seven Egyptian soldiers in Sinai last year,…

The Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (COGAT) on Wednesday evening announced that Gazans will be allowed to travel to Jerusalem for the upcoming Eid al Adha holiday, part of a series of measures decided upon by Israel for the benefit of Palestinian Arabs during the holiday. As part of the announced…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) will ask the United Nations (UN) Security Council to set a deadline of November 2016 for Israel to “end the occupation”, according to the draft resolution obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press (AP). The circulation of the draft resolution to council members follows PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s announcement to the UN…

Transport for London (TfL) said on Wednesday it will take “appropriate action” against a driver who failed to respond when a commuter on his bus shouted anti-Semitic abuse at young children and passengers, the Jewish Chronicle (JC) reports. Paul Edwards, correspondence manager for buses at TfL, said, according to the report, “I can assure you…

Twin car bomb explosions in the central Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday killed at least 18 people, mostly children, and wounded 40 others, AFP reported, citing the state news agency SANA. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the same toll in the double bombing in the Akrameh neighborhood of Homs. The group…

An anti-Islam group filed a civil rights lawsuit against New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Wednesday for refusing to run a “Hamas Killing Jews” advertisement on city busses, the group’s attorney said, according to Reuters. The American Freedom Defense Initiative claims the state agency violated its constitutional rights by turning down advertisements that…

“I cannot tell a Jew that he is not allowed to purchase a home in Jerusalem,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told reporters on Wednesday night, hours after his meeting at the White House with U.S. President Barack Obama. Netanyahu briefed the reporters on his meeting with Obama, which Israeli officials described earlier as good. “We…

Julia Pierson, the first female director of the Secret Service, resigned her post Wednesday after an incident in which a fence jumper gained access to the White House on September 19, CNN reports. Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson announced the resignation in a statement. He also announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would…

The U.S. State Department used unusually harsh language on Wednesday when criticizing Israel’s approval of planned construction of 2,610 homes in Jerusalem. The housing units, which have been slated for construction since 2012 in the neighborhood of Givat Hamatos, were given final approval last week. Reacting to the move, the State Department warned it would call into question…

The United States on Wednesday authorized a $1.75 billion arms deal for Saudi Arabia. The deal will allow the Saudis to upgrade their stock of Patriot air defense missiles, replacing them with PAC-3 missiles. The missiles will be supplied by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, the State Department said. Congress has 30 days to block the…

Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz strongly condemned the extreme left-wing organization Peace Now, following its attempt “to sabotage” the meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama Wednesday by engineering an outcry over the approval of 2,610 new building tenders in Jerusalem.  “The building in Givat Hamatos will strengthen Jerusalem from the South…

Why are Muslims obsessed with Jews visiting the Temple Mount in Jerusalem? That’s a question the Temple Institute is asking in a new video illustrating the shocking harassment, intimidation and violence faced by Jewish pilgrims to the holiest site in Judaism at the hands of Muslim extremists. The video is a montage of several clips…

Following the abduction and murder of Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah three and a half months ago, the Ministry of Education has begun preventive measures to ensure thousands of students from 22 yeshivas and high schools scattered in Judea and Samaria refrain from hitchhiking.    According to a report this morning in Israel Today,…

Was Hamas arch-terrorist Mohammed Deif killed during Operation Protective Edge? Not necessarily, said IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. In what may be one of the last interviews he gives as CoS – he is set to step down in several months – Gantz discussed with Makor Rishon his feelings on the success and failures…

Three of four Israelis do not trust US President Barack Obama to manage American policy in the Middle East, a new poll shows; in a Knesset Channel / Panels poll published Thursday, a full 74% of respondents said they do not trust Obama’s policy. The poll also asked about election preferences, finding that Likud would…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been on a whirlwind American tour, speaking before the UN General Assembly, meeting US President Barack Obama, and starting Wednesday night speaking to several international media networks. That point has raised eyebrows given the fact he hasn’t given Israeli media an interview for many long years. Two issues have caused…

The security situation in Jerusalem continues to be unbearable for many Jewish residents, as every day brings another story of Arab violence against Jews. At around 2:00 p.m. Thursday, a young married woman in her 20s and three girls aged 16-17, all residents of Maaleh Zeitim, were surrounded by a rock-throwing mob in A-Tur. The woman…

Two terrorists in their 20s were prevented from conducting a terror attack on Thursday at Tapuach Junction in Samaria, located just east of Ariel.  Upon arriving the two raised the suspicions of IDF Border Patrol officers stationed at the scene. Upon investigating the two they were found to be in possession of three explosives, an…

In parallel to the so-called “silent intifada” of rock and firebomb terror plaguing Jerusalem, incidents of gunfire in Judea and Samaria have been sharply increasing in recent months, following Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction’s declared “return to terror.” That announcement, which was made by Fatah’s “military wing,” the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, has…

House prices in Israel continue to spike, and it is ranked in the top five countries in the world on a scale of price per meter. The demand for apartments in Israel spans Jewish communities all over the world, in part because of rising anti-Semitism, which has galvanized thousands who can afford it to realize…

Adding his voice to the chorus of Israeli officials slamming the State Department for its comments on Israel’s building plans in Jerusalem, Knesset chairman MK Yuli Edelstein (Yisrael Beytenu) said that the US had other, more important things to worry about right now. “It’s a shame that as the Islamic State (IS) is rising and…

French Jews are facing shocking anti-Semitism, and many feel insecure remaining in France, as the sharp rise in French aliyah figures for the past year show. Tens of thousands of Jews still remain in France, however, but an indication of their future plans can be gleaned from the transfer of Jewish assets out of Europe.…

Arutz Sheva has learned that the White House demanded that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declare, before his meeting Wednesday with President Barack Obama, that he is still committed to the two-state solution. The White House was reportedly dissatisfied with the contents of Netanyahu’s speech at the UN earlier this week as the speech did not…

A group of fourteen diverse organizations have banded together to deliver a letter to more than 2,500 US colleges and universities urging such institutions to protect Jewish students on campus in lieu of rising anti-Semitism across the globe.  The organizations include: Alpha Epsilon Pi, AMCHA Initiative, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, Americans for Peace and…

Shuvu Bonim leader and fugitive rabbi Rabbi Eliezer Berland has been released on bail for Yom Kippur, a Netherlands court announced Wednesday.  Three weeks ago, Berland was arrested at the airport in Amsterdam. The State of Israel immediately put in for an extradition request and asked that bail be revoked. The High Court heard the…

First-degree murder charges were filed against Moore, OK beheading suspect Alton Alexander Nolen on Wednesday – and prosecutors say that it is likely he’ll face the death penalty.  “I have a murder charge, that we will vigorously prosecute, and two other charges that carry up to life in prison,” District Attorney George Mashburn told a…

Hundreds of people protested in the central city of Bat Yam on Wednesday night, demonstrating over the alleged cover-up of the nationalistic motivations behind the death – presumed murder – of construction worker Netanel Arami.  The protest began from Arami’s family’s home and proceeded toward the central police station.  “We demonstrate against the outspoken and…

The Israeli branch of the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Wednesday urged Germany to prosecute alleged members of Nazi death squads during World War II, giving it a list of 80 suspects, according to AFP.  The Jewish rights group said the 76 men and four women whose names it provided to Germany’s justice and interior ministries belonged to “mobile killing squads.”  All…

The parents of soldiers who fought in Operation Protective Edge are seeking to strengthen the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), against the backdrop of criticism following reports of soldiers in need of mental health care following the operation.  In particular, it was reported that three soldiers from the Givati ​​Brigade who fought in Gaza during Operation…

Israel is to press ahead with the planned construction of 2,610 homes in Jerusalem, extreme leftist group Peace Now complained Wednesday to AFP. The housing units, which have been slated for construction since 2012 in the neighborhood of Givat Hamatos, were given final approval last week, Peace Now said in a statement. Peace Now spokeswoman Hagit Ofran told…

Police stated that in the past two days there have been dramatic developments in the investigation of the death of Netanel Arami hy”d, the Jewish construction worker who fell 11 stories to his death two weeks ago while rapelling from a Petah Tikva building project. The details of the dramatic developments remain under wraps in…

The protests in Hong Kong against China’s steps to undermine local democracy are expected to strengthen on Wednesday for China’s National Day, in which hundreds of thousands in the metropolis of seven million will continue their occupation of the business district. Hong Kong’s outrage follows a controversial decision by Beijing only to allow candidates for…

A man who traveled on a commercial flight from Liberia to Dallas on September 20 was diagnosed on Tuesday as being infected with the Ebola virus, becoming the first such case in the US and the first case outside of western Africa in the recent global outbreak. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…

A senior Palestinian Authority (PA) source revealed to Yedioth Aharonoth that a secret channel of communication exists between Israel and the PA in parallel to the Cairo truce talks, through which Israel is negotiating with the PA, Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives. The source exposed that a senior Israeli diplomat who was left unnamed met on…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet in Washington Wednesday with US President Barack Obama – in their first meeting in seven months. Netanyahu will talk to Obama about the current tensions between Israel the Palestinian Authority, and is also expected to ask Obama not to cooperate with Iran as part of the campaign against the Islamic…

Police are investigating a prior incident after revealing Tuesday they suspect that Netanel Arami hy”d, a Jewish construction worker who fell 11 stories to his death on a Petah Tikva building project two weeks ago, was murdered by an Arab co-worker,  Another nearly fatal incident occurred also two weeks ago not long before the time of…

Hesamoddin Hatami and Zahra Kolabian, two Iranian citizens arrested in mid-September for attempting to leave Kenya with forged Israeli documents, were sentenced today. A Kenyan court ordered them to serve two years in jail or pay a substantial fine after they pled guilty to being in the possession of and using fake Israeli passports. Nairobi Resident Magistrate Hannah…

The IDF Civil Administration ordered the expropriation on Tuesday of land between the Samaria communities of Hizmeh and Adam, both of which are located just north of Jerusalem, so as to widen the local road there to have two lanes and ease traffic congestion. However, Arutz Sheva has learned that just hours after the order was given, the…

Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino convened an emergency meeting of senior staff Wednesday, in yet another measure to address political turmoil among his ranks.  Danino stated that the situation is not simple. “These are difficult times for the police, and when the eyes of the public look to us for guidance, it is our responsibility to…

The Ministry of Education has cancelled a school trip to Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem (Nablus) at the last moment, frustrated parents revealed Wednesday afternoon – ostensibly for political reasons.  No fewer than five hundred yeshiva (Torah academy) high school students were scheduled to make an emotional trip Thursday night – or Yom Kippur Eve –…

Many Jewish leaders expressed concern about the results of the 2013 Pew Research Center Survey, which found high rates of intermarriage and assimilation among American Jews.  But amid the doom and gloom some more positive trends went largely unnoticed. For instance, nearly a quarter of Jews from the millennial generation (born after 1980) are keeping…

The Housing Ministry on Wednesday published figures showing that the price of apartments in Israel rose in the second quarter of 2014 by another 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year, as the ongoing housing crisis only continues to grow more serious. The jump in prices during the period, which stretched from April to…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that if the United States vetoes the resolution that he will bring before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), he will “re-examine” the PA’s security cooperation with Israel, reported Voice of Israel public radio. Abbas has called on the UNSC to support a resolution setting a clear…

In spite of the summer’s conflict with Gaza terrorist groups and the knock to tourism during that period, Israel had maintained its sterling A1 credit rating, according to the Moody’s international credit rating agency. The report based its findings on Israel’s resilient growth model and effective government. Unsurprisingly for the so-called “Start Up Nation”, the key…

When Iranian nuclear physicist Ardeshir Hosseinpour was murdered in 2007, Israel was the main suspect. Now, his sister claims he was murdered by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) because he would not cooperate with its efforts to divert nuclear work from peaceful purposes to building an atomic bomb, reports the Canadian National Post’s Media Line.…

MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) sharply condemned Interior Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovich (Yisrael Beytenu) on Wednesday, accusing him of covering up the terrorist murder of Jewish construction worker Netanel Arami hy”d. “There’s a long chain of events here, in which the system, the police, and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) are trying to cover up…

Hamas terrorists Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu Eisha, who abducted and murdered Israeli teens Naftali Frenkel, Eyal Yifrah, and Gilad Sha’ar on June 12, were lauded with the highest status in Islam – martyrdom – by official Palestinian Authority (PA) press and leaders. The official PA news agency WAFA praised the two as martyrs last Tuesday after the…

Yeshiva University announced that it will introduce a new Master of Science degree program in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) in Fall 2015. Students enrolled in the new program will have the opportunity to learn from the experienced clinicians and faculty of the Montefiore Health System and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and will have access…

At a weekly Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government meeting on Tuesday, it was announced that Israel had agreed to allow Arab residents of Gaza to travel to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The move comes as part of a general increase in the number of Gaza residents allowed to travel into Judea and…

Arutz Sheva was at the scene as hundreds of concerned Jews gathered on Tuesday in the Samaria town of Givat Assaf, located north of Jerusalem near Beit El, to join in a prayer rally to save the community from destruction. The far-left group Peace Now seven years ago petitioned for the town’s destruction claiming it was built on…

Britain conducted its first airstrikes against the Islamic State terrorist group (IS) in Iraq Tuesday, as part of international efforts to support local Kurdish, Shia and Iraqi government forces push back against the jihadi advance. The British parliament had voted to join the US-led air campaign against IS on Friday, but Royal Air Force (RAF)…

The “Islamic State” (IS or ISIS) group on Tuesday freed more than 70 Kurdish school children its fighters kidnapped in northern Syria in May, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to AFP. The Britain-based group said parents had reported the release of the children, who are believed to be aged between 13 and…

An Egyptian court sentenced 68 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to jail terms on Tuesday, judicial sources said, according to Reuters. They were convicted in a case related to deadly violence a year ago after the army’s ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. All were found guilty of killing 30 people and intending to kill others in…

A former psychologist has been executed for heresy in Iran after eight years in detention, human rights groups said Monday, according to Reuters. The execution is the latest example of what activists say is a worrying rise in the use of death penalty by the Islamic Republic. The man, Mohsen Amir Aslani, was hanged in…

Iran on Tuesday rejected as baseless accusations levelled by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that it poses a greater threat to the world than the Islamic State jihadist group. Speaking on Monday at the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu said that “to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear state power is to win…

The Algerian government has identified the suspects in the beheading of Frenchman Hervé Gourdel, Algerian Justice Minister Tayeb Louh said Tuesday, according to the International Business Times. Soldiers of the Caliphate, or Jund al-Khilafa, claimed responsibility for the beheading, which was recorded and distributed last week. Gourdel was kidnapped while hiking southeast of Algiers on…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday told United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Hamas commits a double war crime by using civilians as human shields and firing rockets at Israel. Netanyahu’s comments were made in a meeting with Ban at the UN headquarters in New York. Also attending the meeting was Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.…

Two weeks after Jewish construction worker Netanel Arami died after falling 11 stories, Arutz Sheva has learned that police suspect he was murdered, thus confirming what Arami’s family and nationalist politicians have been saying from day one. Police investigators think an Arab co-worker at the site cut the rope that Arami was connected to as…

The world’s largest PR firm, Burston-Marsteller, made the headlines last week when it was discovered that the firm had rejected Israel as a client. Although the PR firm attempted to rebut the story, it had to backtrack and Ronn Torossian, a frequent contributor to Arutz Sheva who exposed the company’s rejection of the Jewish State,…

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and the parents of the three abducted and murdered youths have announced a new prestigious and generous annual prize highlighting efforts for national unity. The parents of Gil’ad Sha’ar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach, together with Barkat, announced yesterday [Monday] the launching of an annual prize to be granted for work…

The terrorist to civilian ratio of Palestinian deaths in Operation Protective Edge is an unprecedented 1:1, a news study released last week reveals – supporting earlier findings regarding the so-called “civilian casualties” Hamas touts to international media.  According to the highly respected Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC), 49% of the “martyrs” listed on…

Hamas and Israel may be on the verge of a terrorist swap deal, sources said Tuesday – trading convicted murderers for the bodies of fallen soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, hy”d. According to Israel Hayom, Hamas official Mushir al-Masri stated that such a deal is close to being concretized with Israeli officials.  Goldin and…

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Tuesday that Israel needs to “sober up” and learn a lesson from the recent war with Gaza – namely, that a similar situation must not be allowed to arise in Judea and Samaria. “Once the area turns into Hamastan, it won’t just be Hamas,” he warned, at the Institute for…

A sting operation by an undercover prison guard at the Ramon Prison in the Negev has resulted in the arrest of an Israeli Arab on suspicion of helping terrorist prisoners smuggle SIM cards into the jail. The cards were to be used by the terrorist prisoners for communicating with the outside world. In the course…

Top officials in a new German party are rushing to expel one of its members, the Bild reports Tuesday, after he posted an anti-Semitic cartoon on his Facebook page. The Alternative for Germany, or AfD, recently won several seats in regional legislative bodies. However, at least one member will not be participating, the party’s branch in…

The Pentagon said on Monday there was no evidence of any civilian casualties from airstrikes targeting Islamist terrorists in Syria, The Hill reported. The clarification came after human rights groups claimed that civilians were killed in airstrikes in Syria’s Idlib province last week. In addition, the groups said the airstrikes were also costly to civilians’…

Just over a week since the High Court controversially shot down the so-called “Infiltrator Law”, which sought to tackle the problem of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from Africa residing in Israel, the Interior Ministry appears to be pushing back by announcing plans to initiate new legislation in its place. The High Court’s decision was widely…

Ahmad Shurbaji (23) last Tuesday became the first Israeli citizen to be convicted of joining and fighting for the brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization in Syria; in a follow up trial this Tuesday at the Haifa Magistrates Court he claimed he “made a mistake.” Shurbaji, a resident of the northern Israeli Arab city of Umm…

Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonvitch (Yisrael Beytenu) vowed to bring a “different spirit to the police force” on Tuesday, following the sudden retirement announcement of Jerusalem District Police Commander Yossi Pariente. “These are difficult times for the Israel police, but I have complete and total confidence that we will move past this crisis,” Aharonovitch stated.…

Minister of Foreign Affiars Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) met with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Al-Hussein of Jordan on Monday, at the United Nations headquarters in New York. FM Liberman and Prince Zeid discussed the working relationship between Israel and the Commission, the MFA stated, with Liberman reportedly stressing a “fundamental…

All police officers will be required to take polygraph tests before joining the police force, Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino announced Tuesday, as part of a proactive program to ensure extra integrity among police staff. An office specifically dedicated for administering the tests will be created as well, Danino added.  Before now, the Israel Security Agency…

The Jerusalem Police have instructed Citipass, the company that runs the capital’s Light Rail system, not to inform the media and the public of rock attacks on its railway lines, unless it receives police approval to do so. According to Voice of Israel public radio, the Commander of the Zion Precinct, Brigadier General Amnon Alkalai,…

With the world concentrating on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s hard-hitting remarks at the UN General Assembly on Monday, the Zionist Organization of America turns attention to President Barack Obama’s address to the UN – and what it calls his “baseless and offensive claim” that “the violence engulfing the region today has made too many Israelis…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, in a bid to refute the smear campaign launched by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas claiming Israel is guilty of “genocide.”  “Distinguished delegates, I come here from Jerusalem to speak on behalf of my people, the people of Israel,” Netanyahu…

Airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have totaled $780 million dollars, a think tank influential with the Pentagon reports Monday – and that is the low end of the estimate.  According to the Center on Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), the US’s resurged “war on terror” has already cost between between $780-$930 million…

Speaking to the UN General Assembly Monday a bit before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took the stage, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem appealed to the world to fight back against the Islamic State (ISIS). Muallem said that his country supported all efforts to fight terror. “The Syrian Republic stresses that it stands by the side…

The average senior citizen 75 years or older in Israel spends about NIS 7,400 per month, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Monday – and about half of them asked for assistance from authorities last year. The CBS released the data prior to United Nations’ International Day of Older Persons, set to take place on…

Israeli courts of law will strike Tuesday, the Histadrut announced, in a continuation of several ‘solidarity strikes’ with the Postal Workers’ Union.  Administrative staff, secretaries, court transcriptionists, and Criminal Law staff in courts across Israel, the notice said – along with separate strikes at the postal service itself. The move will see a temporary halt…

A year after the passing of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a memorial service was held for him Sunday night. Attending the event were Israel’s chief rabbis, as well as leaders of the hareidi Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities. About 15,000 people attended the memorial service at the Jerusalem Pais Arena. Maran (our rabbi and mentor), as he…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, in a bid to refute the smear campaign launched by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas claiming Israel is guilty of “genocide.”  “Distinguished delegates, I come here from Jerusalem to speak on behalf of my people, the people of Israel,”…

The Vatican has pledged 100,000 euros ($125,000) towards preserving the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz in southern Poland, the site’s museum said Monday. “Given our limited resources, the amount is small,” Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin told AFP.  “But it is an expression of our full support for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation” that oversees the upkeep of the former camp, where…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, where he responded to Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s accusations of Israel committing “genocide” and “war crimes” during its self-defense operation, Operation Defensive Edge in Gaza.  “Mr. Mahmoud Abbas has lost his way,” Liberman stated. “Because he failed with…

Most Palestinian Arabs would favor resuming rocket fire at Israel if it does not lift its Gaza blockade, although support for armed confrontation is dropping off, according to a poll published Monday by AFP. “An overwhelming majority of 80% supports the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israel if the siege and blockade…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, responded on Monday evening to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations, saying that the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict should be based on the decisions of legitimate international institutions, on the Arab Peace Initiative and on the UN General Assembly resolution of…

While Knesset Members from the leftist side of the political map rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly as having “missed the mark”, nationalist MKs welcomed Netanyahu’s comments on Monday. MK Ze’ev Elkin (Likud), chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said, “I congratulate the Prime Minister on…

Hamas claimed Monday night that photos that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu displayed during his UN General Assembly speech showing Hamas terrorists setting up rocket launchers and firing rockets at Israel from areas containing civilians were fabricated. Hamas, terrorist group spokesperson Sami Abu-Zuhri said, would never place rocket launchers next to children, as depicted by the…

Israel was browbeaten internationally over its recent counter-terror operation against Hamas targets embedded in the Gaza population. Now, the world seems to be largely unperturbed by a similar American campaign against terrorists in Syria and Iraq, despite the heavy cost to civilians. America has been conducting airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and since…

Driving one’s car to the Old City of Jerusalem has become increasingly less convenient over the years – but all that is now behind us. The Municipality of Jerusalem has announced a new arrangement for visiting the Old City. Motorists can park near the old train station, hop on a shuttle to the Old City,…

A prayer rally will be held on Tuesday in Givat Assaf, located near Beit El in Samaria, in a call to save the small community from destruction by the government. A letter organizing the rally was sent to residents, and warned of impending demolition despite the declarations by the government that it would work to recognize the…

Members of the Gur (Gerrer) Hassidic sect will hold a prayer and protest session in the Gerrer section of the Mount of Olives cemetery, following the desecration of dozens of graves by Arab vandals. The damage and sacrilege were discovered just after the Rosh Hashanah holiday ended, when hassidim  came to pray at the graves…

Arutz Sheva spoke with Rabbi David Stav, a prominent religious-Zionist rabbi and head of the Tzohar rabbinic institute, ahead of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), about how the Jewish state has developed in the past year. According to the rabbi, last year was a “unique” one in terms of religion and state thanks in part to…

A man fired a BB gun and shouted “Jews, Jews, Jews” at three Jewish teens leaving a synagogue in Baltimore Thursday, reports JTA. No one was reported hurt. One of the pellets struck a window of the Bais Hamedrash and Mesivta of Baltimore, an institute of religious learning. The gunman, described as being “possibly of…

Middle East experts Dr. Mordechai Kedar and Prof. Eyal Zisser recently sat down with Arutz Sheva ahead of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), and recapped the tumultuous and bloody events of the Arab world over the past year. Kedar, a senior lecturer at Bar Ilan University, began by noting the current warfare is the continuation of a trend of…

As part of a special set of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) interviews, Arutz Sheva visited Bat-Galim Sha’ar in her home in Talmon, a community in Samaria, to speak about the abduction and murder of her 16-year-old son Gilad and two other teens by Hamas terrorists in June. Speaking last week before the elimination of the two terrorists Marwan…

Leaders of the Negev Bedouin fired back immediately Sunday at Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir (Yisrael Beytenu), who called Sunday for an end to polygamy in the Bedouin sector. Shamir, who heads the Committee on Regulation of Bedouin Settlement, told a Bedouin group that he is considering reviving a plan proposed in the past to place limits…

A Jackson, Mississippi Reform rabbi says he was thrown out of a restaurant after the owner made an anti-Semitic remark and then found out he was Jewish. Ted Riter of the Beth Israel Congregation wrote on his Facebook page that he went to Wraps in Maywood Mart last Tuesday for lunch, and ordered a salad.…

Officials in Egypt are demanding an immediate and total boycott of Turkish goods, and even a breakoff of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Egyptian media reports said. The call is the latest chapter in the steady and ongoing decline in relations between the two countries, with Turkey accusing Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of…

The Defense Ministry and the IDF have decided to build a fence enclosing the Gaza Belt region, after both a survey of the long-term damage of Operation Protective Edge on the bloc and in light of two terrorist infiltrations there within a 48-hour period.  But the fence is no ordinary fence. Security sources told Walla! News Monday…

A group of Jews were subjected to a vicious assault in broad daylight after being ambushed by an Arab gang on Rosh Hashanah, in the latest of a spate of violent anti-Semitic incidents in Jerusalem. Hanan Kupietzky, a 23-year-old councilor at the Old City’s Hakotel yeshiva, was walking with his 16-year-old brother and a friend…

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) is making an official visit to Austria Monday, to warn Vienna of the dangers of getting too close to Iran.  To this end, Edelstein will meet with the President of Austria, Heinz Fischer; Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz; and with the Chief of Parliament, Doris Bures.  “In an era of global…

Reports Monday said that Islamist fighters for ISIS, the Islamic State, which has already conquered large areas of Lebanon and Iraq, are at the gates of Baghdad. Despite the aerial attacks being carried out by the US and its allies, the group’s fighters have been steadily progressing, and are said to be barely a mile…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon praised the contributions of religious Zionism to the IDF on Monday, even as he criticized Givati Brigade Commander Col. Ofer Winter for religious statements he made in Operation Protective Edge. Winter was embroiled in a media storm after in a call-up message sent to members of the brigade he wrote that they…

Continuing his visit to France, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday wrote on his Facebook page that he was emotionally moved by his visit to sites where Jews experienced anti-Semitic attacks in the country. “Israel is the home and defender of the world’s Jews,” Bennett wrote. “I have been on a 24 hour trip to…

Former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari is leading the charge against a High Court decision last Monday that overruled key sections of the Infiltrators Law, ordering the closure of the Holot detention center and taking away powers allowing the state to hold infiltrators for a year without trial. In a video post on his Facebook page…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that his country cannot stay out of the international coalition fighting the “Islamic State” (IS), AFP reported. Turkey has for months frustrated the West with its cautious position against IS, but there appears to have been a sea change in its policy following Erdogan’s trip last week to…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met on Sunday with India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in New York, marking the first meeting between an Israeli Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of India in more than a decade. During the meeting, Netanyahu and Modi spoke of the danger of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, and the threat posed…

Saeb Erekat, senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, on Sunday condemned statements made by the U.S. State Department against Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s speech at the UN General Assembly. In his speech, Abbas accused Israel of “genocide” and “war crimes” and State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki responded by saying that the…

The head of Syria’s Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front on Sunday said U.S.-led air strikes will not defeat Islamists in Syria and warned against retaliatory attacks against Western countries, Reuters reports. Abu Mohamad al-Golani, in an audio message posted on pro-Nusra jihadi forums, urged European and U.S. citizens to denounce the U.S. actions if they wanted to…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is promising a “razor sharp” speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday. Speaking to reporters who accompanied him on his flight to New York, Netanyahu said the speech would be made up of two parts: a response to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s speech and a response to the speech…

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is known for his hawkish views in regards to terrorism, said over the weekend that the “Islamic State” (IS or ISIS) group is a direct threat to Canada and the world, and therefore Canada will take part in the coalition against the group. Harper noted that the fight against…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Sunday that Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has become irrelevant following his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. Liberman’s comments came in a meeting in New York with the foreign ministers of Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece, Austria and Rwanda. Abbas’s speech “has made him…

Israeli youths educated in the secular school system are shockingly ignorant of Jewish concepts and history, said MK Menachem Eliezer Mozes, head of the UTJ (United Torah Jewry) party. Mozes made the statement after meeting Sunday with President Reuven Rivlin. The two discussed a number of issues, including the political situation, and the place of…

US President Barack Obama said US intelligence officials failed to appreciate the gains made by Islamic State (formerly ISIS) extremists in Syria during the last few years of that country’s civil war. “I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” Obama said in an interview with CBS‘s 60 Minutes program. “Over the…

Israel  comes to a standstill on Yom Kippur. Just about every adult fasts, but not everyone fasts easily. For  those with type 2 diabetes, the decision to fast on Yom Kippur is not a simple one and can even be dangerous, although almost all of them wish to do so. “Some patients”, says Dr. Noa…

On a visit to France Sunday, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett urged Jews still living in the country to come to Israel. “Just this week we saw what hatred of Israel looks like,” Bennett told a crowd in Paris. “ Our enemies fire rockets at our children and we defend ourselves, and then they get on…

Travelers leaving from Ben Gurion Airport will soon be able to use small electronic devices on flights, after Israel’s Aviation Authority said Sunday it was lifting the ban on most small electronic devices during flight takeoffs and landings. Users will be able to do work on tablets and other devices, including cellphones that are set…

The IDF is plowing ahead with its gender-mixng experiment and establishing a new mixed-gender battalion called Bardelas (cheetah), according to the IDF Website. The battalion will mostly be in charge of routine security in the Central Command region, which includes Judea and Samaria. It joins the mixed-gender Karakal battalion, which has been in existence for…

Once again, Israel is hoping to hold down the explosive growth of the Bedouin population of the Negev by developing a plan to limit the number of women a Bedouin man may marry. Speaking Sunday to a Bedouin group, Agricultural Minister Yair Shamir, who is also the government’s point man on Bedouin population group, said…

The Health Ministry on Sunday placed tanning beds on a list of products and devices that “definitely” cause cancer. Individuals who lie on the beds that are equipped with ultraviolet lamps designed to enable users to quickly get a tan are much more likely to get cancer, the Ministry said. The beds were transferred to…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) will establish a police presence in Gaza, Palestinian Arab sources told Walla! News Sunday morning, after Hamas and Fatah’s renewed declaration of faith in the “unity” government was made last week.  Three thousand PA policemen will be deployed in Gaza, according to the agreement, and will guard Gaza’s border area, including crossings into…

A Haaretz reporter was ejected from a pro-Palestinian conference at Birzeit University on Saturday, reporter Amira Hass said – simply for being an Israeli Jew.  Hass attempted to attend the “Alternatives to Neo-Liberal Development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – Critical Perspectives” conference at the university, which is located near Ramallah where she lives. But she was ejected…

Loading… Speaking just before takeoff on his way to New York, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reiterated his pledge to “refute the lies” against Israel at the UN General Assembly. “In my speech to the General Assembly, I will refute the lies that are being told about us and I will tell the truth about our…

A British soccer team deleted a message from its Twitter account wishing Jewish fans a happy new year after the tweet sparked a torrent of anti-Semitic abuse. Liverpool Football Club posted the message on Friday, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, which read: “Liverpool FC would like to wish all our Jewish supporters around the world…

Mahmoud Abbas’s accusations of Israeli ‘war crimes’ and ‘genocide’ in Gaza have finally pushed the Palestinian Arab independence bid off the international community’s agenda, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) stated Sunday.  “Abbas has proven, once again, that he is not a partner for anything; he has managed to exhaust them all,” Liberman fumed, in…

Islamic State (ISIS) executed a prominent human rights activist in Mosul, Iraq last week, the United Nations (UN) said late Saturday – over one critical Facebook post.  Samira Salih al-Nuaimi criticized IS’s destruction of monotheist and Muslim religious sites in Iraq earlier this month in Facebook comments, after reports surfaced that the terrorist group had…

Al Qaeda splinter group Ansar al-Sharia claimed responsibility for an attempted rocket strike on the US embassy in Sanaa on Saturday, saying it was in retaliation for US drone strikes in northern Yemen Friday. On Saturday, the attacker fired an M72 light anti-tank missile from a passing car before speeding away, security sources told Reuters. The rocket…

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) activists blocked an Israeli ship from docking at an Oakland, CA port on Saturday, as part of an anti-Semitic protest campaign to “Block the Boat” across the West coast of North America.  Roughly 200 people held signs and shouted slogans at dock workers in Oakland’s Shanghai port Saturday, according to…

Visitors to the ancient Mount of Olives cemetery on Saturday night reported major damage to several parts of the cemetery, especially the area used by Gerrer Hassidim. Many headstones were toppled or broken, and brass lamps and other items of value were stolen, they said. This is not the first time this section of the…

One out of every six IDF soldiers drop out of their service before it is completed – not by going AWOL, but by getting themselves discharged for a variety of physical, and more commonly psychological, ailments. Among soldiers of Ethiopian background, that number is one in four. According to IDF statistics, 16.5% of male soldiers…

A terrorist from Gaza, armed with a knife and spike, was caught Sunday by the Security Coordinator of Moshav Shokeda, not far from the religious agricultural community, in the Sdot Negev Regional Council. The terrorist had infiltrated near Nahal Oz and was caught about seven kilometers from the Gaza security fence. He is being interrogated…

One of the Islamist “activists” who attacked IDF soldiers aboard the Mavi Marmara flotilla in 2010 has reportedly been killed in a US airstrike in Syria, as he was fighting alongside Islamist terrorists. 40-year-old Bulent Alniak was killed in a US airstrike in Idlib, northwestern Syria, on a target identified as belonging to the “Islamic…

The Muslim convert who allegedly beheaded a female colleague during a deadly rampage in Oklahoma Thursday was “screaming Islamic phrases” during the attack, eyewitnesses said Sunday – and details about events leading up to the massacre are even more troubling. Alton Alexander Nolen, 30, had been trying to convert his co-workers at Vaughan Food processing…

In his speech at the United Nations’ General Assembly Wednesday, President Barack Obama pleaded with Iran to do a nuclear deal before he would be forced to make even more concessions to “meet” Iran’s “energy needs.” And, on Israel-Palestinian conflict, Obama seemed to say that not only the “region,” but also, the entire “world” would…

According to documents filed with the American government, WPP-owned Burson-Marsteller has recently been hired by the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood – yet refuses to represent Israel for their public relations needs.  An op-ed by Ronn Torossian in The NY Observer cites European news reports indicating that Burson-Marsteller refuses to work with Israel, yet proudly represents Muslim Brotherhood.   As the Al…

MKs from across the political spectrum have begun to react to Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s incitement-laced speech against Israel at the UN General Assembly Saturday, after he accused Israel of “war crimes” and “genocide” for protecting itself during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.  “Mahmoud Abbas has again proved his only expertise is spreading…

The time is now to release longtime prisoner Jonathan Pollard, Effie Lahav of the Non-Government Organization (NGO) Task Force for the Release of Pollard said Saturday – when US-Israel relations are finally improving.  “In a short time, Jonathan will mark his thirtieth year in American prison,” Lahav noted Saturday. “His physical and mental condition is…

A Canadian court sent a strong message against so-called “honor killings” and related crimes last week, after sentencing three family members over threats they made to their daughter and sister for “violating traditional Pakistani values.”  Judge Monique Metivier ordered Iqval Bibi, a 49-year-old Pakistani woman who speaks no English, to learn the language and Canadian…

The US has identified the man behind the brutal decapitations of Western journalists James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and David Cawthorne Haines, FBI Director James Comey said Thursday. Comey stated that the man, known informally as “Jihadi John” or “John of London,” had been identified – but refused to name names.  He did indicate, however, that…

US-led airstrikes against the Islamic State terrorist group (IS or ISIS) in Syria continue Saturday night, but are failing to slow the jihadis’ advance on the Kurdish border town of Kobane. Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Unit (YPG), backed by fighters from the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), have been engaged in a fierce…

A senior Al Qaeda official has urged jihadists to “rescue the ship of jihad” from Islamic State (IS or ISIS) Saturday, according to an audio message released Friday and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.  Muhammad al Bahtiyti, also known as Abu Dujana al Basha, does not mention IS by name in the speech, but…

Three Frenchmen arrested in Turkey after traveling to Syria were charged Saturday with planning terrorist acts, one of their lawyers said. The men, who were the subject of a high-profile judicial bungle this week after their arrest in Turkey, were being charged with “criminal association with the aim of planning terrorist acts,” lawyer Pierre Dunac told AFP. The trio include the…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s attempt to blame western states for the rise of radical Islam in his speech to the UN General Assembly nearly backfired awkwardly when he used a racist Farsi expression – but was saved by a quick-thinking translator. During the speech on Friday, Rouhani claimed that “certain Intelligence agencies have put the…

A resolution proposed by Arab states expressing concern about Israel’s alleged nuclear arsenal was defeated on Thursday at a meeting of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The measure, brought by 18 Arab member states, was rejected by 58 votes to 45, with 27 countries abstaining at the annual general conference. Israel is widely assumed to have…

Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached a “comprehensive” agreement Thursday for the return of their “unity government” in Gaza after two days of talks in Cairo, negotiators from both sides said. “Fatah and Hamas have reached a comprehensive agreement for the unity government to return to the Gaza Strip,” Jibril Rajoub of Fatah told AFP. Senior Hamas official…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Friday of a “genocidal crime” in Gaza, telling the United Nations negotiations had failed and the time for Palestinian independence had come, and drawing a sharp rebuke from Washington, AFP reports. Abbas vowed to seek war crimes prosecutions against Israel over what he called the 50-day “war of genocide” in Gaza…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed to fight back against the “lies and slander” leveled against Israel when he addresses the UN General Assembly next week. Speaking Saturday night as he prepared to depart for New York, Netanyahu said he saw it as his responsibility to stand up for the people of Israel, following a…

The US believes there are about 12 Americans fighting alongside extremist groups in Syria, not more than 100, as has been cited for months. That’s not to say there is no concern about these other 88 or so Americans who officials say have been killed, arrested, traveled or attempted to travel to join the fight.…

The old trunk was locked when it was found by auction house workers clearing a long-vacant home in Alaska that was about to be listed for sale. The collection crew’s members couldn’t find the key, so they broke the lock. Inside were yellowed papers and blankets. Personal stuff, they figured. Only back at the warehouse…

Nine Japanese nationals have joined Islamic State, Japan’s former air force chief, Toshio Tamogami, quoted a senior Israeli government official as saying, but the government’s top spokesman said on Friday it had not confirmed the information. Meanwhile, a senior US military commander said that around 1,000 recruits from the vast region stretching from India to…

The UN Security Council unified behind the international attempt to fight the Islamic State group and demanded on Wednesday that all states make it a serious criminal offense for their citizens to travel abroad to fight with militant groups, or to recruit and fund others to do so. At a meeting chaired by US President…

Israel said on Wednesday that Iran has used its Parchin military base as the site for secret tests of technology that could be used only for detonating a nuclear weapon. The Jewish state has been a severe critic of six big powers’ negotiations with Iran on restraining its nuclear program, suspecting Tehran is only trying…

British Prime Minister David Cameron sought to win cooperation from Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani against jihadists in Syria on Wednesday in the first meeting between the countries’ leaders in 35 years. Later, Cameron also said he would ask Parliament to approve joining international airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq, he announced the move…

ISIS allies in Algeria behead French hostage Soldiers of the Caliphate releases video swearing allegience to ISIS, beheads French mountaineer in retaliation for French airstrikes in Iraq. Algerian extremists allied with the Islamic State group have decapitated a French hostage after France carried out airstrikes in Iraq, according to a video that appeared online Wednesday.…

Iraq has received “credible” intelligence that Islamic State militants plan to launch attacks on subway systems in Paris and the United States, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday. “Today, while I am here, I am receiving accurate reports from Baghdad where there was (the) arrest of (a) few elements and there are networks…

Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached an agreement on Thursday by which the unity government run by President Mahmoud Abbas would take “immediate control” of the Gaza Strip, negotiators in Egypt-mediated reconciliation talks told reporters. “Fatah and Hamas have reached a comprehensive agreement for the return of the unity government to the Gaza Strip,”…

The Syrian army has taken full control of a formerly insurgent-held area northeast of Damascus, Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said on Thursday, as battles rage across war torn nation. Meanwhile, as France and the UK mull their roll in a US-led military campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria, scores of the group’s members were…

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said on Wednesday that Iran had conducted experiments with nuclear weapons at the Parchin military base, where the West believes suspicious nuclear activities have taken place based on satellite evidence. According to a statement from Steinitz, quoted by the Reuters news agency, Iran used the Parchin military base as the…

British Prime Minister David Cameron held talks with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday at the United Nations, the first meeting between the countries’ leaders since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, AFP reported. The meeting took place at the British mission office at the United Nations as the General Assembly got underway, according to the report.…

Talks in Cairo between rival Palestinian Arab factions Hamas and Fatah on reviving their unity government were taking place in a “positive atmosphere” on Wednesday, officials said, according to AFP. The two-day talks, which began early Wednesday, come after a joint Palestinian Arab delegation and Israel agreed to hold separate indirect talks in late October…

French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday confirmed the execution of Frenchman Herve Gourdel, who was held hostage by Algerian terrorists linked to the “Islamic State” (IS). “Our compatriot has been murdered cruelly and in a cowardly way by a terrorist group,” Hollande told reporters ahead of his speech to the UN General Assembly in New…

88 senators are urging the Obama administration to act to take Gaza away from its Hamas terrorist rulers and hand it over to the Palestinian Authority (PA), The Daily Beast reports. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry obtained by the website, the 88 senators write, “We must support efforts to enable the…

Algerian extremists allied with the “Islamic State” (IS) group have decapitated a French hostage after France ignored their demand to stop airstrikes in Iraq, The Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday. A group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah, or the Soldiers of the Caliphate, said after abducting Herve Gourdel on Sunday that he would be killed within…

The head of the Al-Qaeda splinter group Khorasan has been killed by an airstrike in Syria, a U.S. official said Wednesday, according to Sky News. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States suspects Musin al-Fadhli was killed during one of its strikes. “We believe he is dead,” the official told Reuters.…

“Too many Israelis are ready to abandon peace”, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday, as he addressed the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. “The situation in Iraq, Syria and Libya should cure anyone of the illusion that this conflict is the main source of problems in the region; for far too long, it has…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid agreed on Wednesday afternoon on a compromise regarding the state budget for 2015. According to the compromise, the defense system will receive another 6 billion shekels as an addition to the 2015 budget (the defense budget in 2015 will be 57 billion shekels) and another 7-8…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said Tuesday he has asked for $3.8 billion in urgent aid to help rebuild Gaza following the fighting this past summer. Hamdallah told The Associated Press (AP) that Saudi Arabia has pledged $500 million and other nations have indicated they would join in. He spoke at the end…

Jordan’s central bank said Tuesday it still supports the Jordan-based Arab Bank, which was found liable in a U.S. court of supporting Hamas a day earlier. AFP reported that the Jordanian bank said Arab Bank had been unable to defend itself adequately. A New York jury found the multinational lender liable on Monday on 24…

British Prime Minister David Cameron told NBC News on Tuesday that he is certain that the “Islamic State” (IS or ISIS) is plotting attacks in Europe. “These people want to kill us,” Cameron said. “They’ve got us in their sights and we have to put together this coalition … to make sure that we ultimately…

Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, said on Tuesday that airstrikes by the U.S. and a group of allies against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria are illegal, The Wall Street Journal reported. Rouhani said military action could only be justified if authorized by the United Nations Security Council or if the measures were conducted with the…

Nigeria’s military on Tuesday said that some of the schoolgirls abducted in April by the Islamist Boko Haram group had been freed, but later retracted its statement, according to the BBC. Army spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade earlier told the BBC there was an ongoing exercise to release the schoolgirls taken from the city Chibok…

Hezbollah leader Hassan Narsallah declared on Tuesday that the group is against the intervention of the United States in Syria, the Lebanese-based Daily Star newspaper reported. Nasrallah’s comments in a televised speech came hours after the Pentagon confirmed that the U.S. had begun airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria. “Everyone knows that Hezbollah…

The family of British hostage Alan Henning on Tuesday said they have received an audio file of him pleading for his life, the BBC reported. In a “further message for Islamic State (IS)”, Henning’s wife Barbara said IS “continue to ignore our pleas to open dialogue.” “I and people representing me continue to reach out…

The European Union (EU) counter-terrorism chief on Tuesday revealed that since declaring itself an Islamic caliphate in June, the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group has seen a surge of European jihadists whose numbers jumped from 2,000 to 3,000. EU counter-terror head Gilles de Kerchove told AFP that the boost in numbers comes following the declaration of Islamic statehood…

Captain Ziv Shilon, who was badly wounded in a Hamas attack near Gaza in October 2012 and lost his arm, on Tuesday married his fiancée, Adi, in the city of Ofakim. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recorded a video greeting for the newlyweds which was shown during the wedding ceremony. “I am very excited. I remember visiting you,…

India on Wednesday became the first nation to successfully put a satellite in Mars’ orbit, in the process becoming the first nation to succeed in its first attempt and the first Asian country to reach the planet. The Indian Mars Orbiter Mission, known as the Mangalyaan, managed to complete the complicated maneuvers to enter orbit…

A group of Danish Muslim extremists sympathetic to the “Islamic State” terrorist group (IS) planned to murder an entire family and film it as a “warning” to Western states intervening against IS in Iraq and Syria. According to Norway’s NRK TV channel the group of Islamists intended to break into a random home, slit the…

Over a thousand protesters demonstrated Monday against the Metropolitan Opera’s anti-Semitic “The Death of Klinghoffer” production, including the father of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl who was murdered by Al Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. The words of Judea Pearl were delivered to the crowd in front of the Opera by Dr. Paul Brody, a leading member of the…

Dozens of Arab rioters began shooting fireworks at police on the Temple Mount on Wednesday morning, just hours before the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) began, and as soon as the holiest site in Judaism was opened to Jewish visitors. The rioters fired at police at the Mughrabi Gate, which is the only point of…

Ya’akov Argantero, a resident of Kfar Aza located in the Gaza Belt just outside northern Gaza, told Arutz Sheva he intends to stay at his home for the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) starting Wednesday evening despite great unease. “The feelings are really difficult, there’s still a lack of certainty and an insecurity, a fear of what…

A senior member of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction said that Abbas will “drop a bomb” against Israel at the UN General Assembly on Friday. The senior official, Jibril Rajoub, said in an interview on Palestinian Arab media that the move would be an integration of the international community into “the strategy…

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem recently said that his country would welcome foreign airstrikes against the “Islamic State” (IS, or ISIS) or the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front. The comments were made in an interview which aired Monday on Russia Today TV and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “We are the people…

A police search has been launched Wednesday for a man who spewed anti-Semitic comments on a London bus full of Jewish schoolchildren, the Evening Standard reports – but only after the incident was published in a Jewish paper. Rosa Doherty, 27, a journalist for the Jewish Chronicle, was traveling on the 102 bus last week in…

In another strong sign of the warming of ties between Israel and the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, President of the Republic of Cyprus, inaugurated a photo and video exhibition at Park East Synagogue in New York City this week entitled “Jewish Refugees in Cyprus en Route to Israel.” In President Anastasiades’ warm keynote speech,…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon continued to levy criticism about the conduct of the security cabinet during Operation Protective Edge on Wednesday, noting that the Cabinet’s infighting likely prolonged the war. “After two weeks they understood and internalized that there was a ceasefire,” Ya’alon, referring to Hamas, stated in an interview with Galei Yisrael radio.  “But someone…

Terrorist and hate preacher Abu Qatada was acquitted – and released – by a Jordanian court on Wednesday, on charges of plotting the 2000 “millennium plot” on American and Israeli tourists. This is the second acquittal for Abu Qatada. The terrorist, who was deported from Britain in July 2013 after a 10-year legal battle, was acquitted last month…

Likud Central Committee Chairman MK Danny Danon spoke to Arutz Sheva on Wednesday ahead of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana), slamming the leadership of his party – primarily Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – for stifling criticism. Netanyahu fired Danon from his role as Deputy Defense Minister in July during Operation Protective Edge, after Danon criticized Netanyahu’s decision to…

Rival Palestinian Arab factions Hamas and Fatah began talks in Cairo on Wednesday aimed at resolving internal disputes and reviving their unity government.   The two-day talks will focus on “the return (of the unity government) in the Gaza Strip and the implementation of its authority without obstacles,” said the head of Fatah’s delegation, Azzam…

Western Africa is currently suffering a lethal Ebola epidemic, but according to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report released Tuesday, the spread of the virus is liable to leap to frightening proportions by as soon as next January. The report forecast that unless serious action is taken to stem the tide…

A new opinion poll released by Globes shows the right-wing and religious Knesset bloc growing significantly in the next elections – but also illustrates a slight comeback for Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s secularist Yesh Atid party. According to the survey, conducted by pollster Rafi Smith, if elections were held today the results would be as follows (current…

The Filipino terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf, which recently pledged loyalty to the Islamic State (ISIS), is holding two German citizens captive and demanding 250 million Philippine Pesos (over $5.6 million) from Germany within 15 days – or they will kill the hostages. The two Germans, aged 55 and 71, were abducted in April from their sailing…

Israel continues its push for allies in the Far East in a landmark visit next week by Vietnamese Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan, in the first visit by a Vietnamese high-ranking official since the two countries established diplomatic ties 20 years ago. Quan will lead a large delegation of senior Vietnamese government officials…

The family of Netanel Arami hy”d gave a shocking insight into the police investigation during Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Eli Ben-Dahan’s (Jewish Home) condolence visit on Tuesday. Their son fell to his death last week from a building site in what is suspected as an act of terrorism. Police have yet to release a gag order…

Confusion reigned Tuesday over the fate of the brother-in-law of a notorious jihadist whose 2012 killing spree shocked France, after the interior ministry said he had been arrested at a Paris airport but police and his lawyers later denied this.   The man – who is married to the sister of Mohamed Merah, an Al…