Author: admin

A recent poll has revealed serious mistrust in the current Israeli government’s performance by the public, particularly vis-a-vis the summer’s war with Gazan terrorists, which many Israelis feel was not completed satisfactorily – as well as some interesting statistics regarding the attitude of Arab voters. The results of a Peace Index survey released Tuesday showed…

The global BDS boycott move against Israeli Jewish businesses, such as SodaStream, that operate in Judea and Samaria claims to aim to benefit local Arabs – but according to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) official daily, it is doing just the opposite. The PA paper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, on Sunday published an article reviewing the difference between Jewish…

An Australian man who had been put under surveillance over suspected terror links showed up at a Melbourne police station on Tuesday evening. But upon arrival he threatened to assassinate Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, before stabbing two officers and being shot to death. The 18-year-old had been identified as a “person of interest” amid…

Israel shot down a Syrian aircraft on Tuesday as it attempted to fly over the ceasefire line into the Golan Heights, according to IDF Radio. “This Syrian aircraft, apparently a MiG-21 (fighter jet), which was approaching the Israeli side of the Golan, was shot down by a surface-to-air Patriot missile,” the radio said. The wreckage of the aircraft landed…

The Israel Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan serves as the heart of the country’s diamond trading sector, with thousands of companies offering diamonds of every imaginable variety. Foreign nationals are welcome to purchase diamonds tax-free in Israel. Since members of the public are unable to enter the Israel Diamond Exchange without an invitation from a…

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted a report praising Qatar’s human rights record – despite the Gulf state’s support for ISIS and Hamas. The UNHRC adopted, on Thursday, the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review of Qatar, praising its human rights “improvements.” Among the 78 countries supporting Qatar were Iran, China and Turkey.…

MK Ze’ev Elkin, the Chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, says Israel should hold on to the bodies of Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Eisha, and use them as bargaining chips for obtaining the remains of IDF soldiers Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul hy”d. Goldin and Shaul were killed in…

Minutes after a gag order was lifted, revealing that the IDF had eliminated her son’s murderers overnight, Rachel Frenkel (mother of murdered teen Naftali, hy”d) feels a sense of relief.  “Throughout the period [after the murders], there were two people going around there with two pistols and automatic weapons, who have nothing to lose,” she…

Islamic State (IS or ISIS) is changing the Middle East, Middle Eastern affairs expert Dr. Eldad Pardo told Arutz Sheva Tuesday – and the Arab world’s response to it will ripple into Israeli foreign relations as well.  Pardo first related to the Iranian nuclear question, noting that cooperation with the US on the diplomatic front “is inconvenient…

“Assad is the root cause of ISIS,” stated on Monday Hadi al-Bahra, the President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, at a press conference at UNHQ in New York, under the auspices of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA). Al-Bahra, a 55 year-old, American trained engineer, explained in fluent English the…

Marwan Kawasmeh and Amer Abu Eisha of Hevron, who abducted and murdered three yeshiva boys Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Sha’ar, Naftali Frenkel in June, were located and killed in exchange of gunfire early Tuesday morning. The operation was carried out by the Yamam, a special unit of the Border Police, and the IDF, in Hevron. An attempt…

The two Hamas terrorists who murdered Israeli teens Naftali Frenkel, Eyal Yifrah and Gilad Sha’ar hy”d on June 12 and were shot dead in an exchange of fire with IDF forces in Hevron on Tuesday have been buried, in a funeral that quickly turned into a Hamas rally. The terrorists, Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Eisha,…

The Arab Bank, which was found by a U.S. jury to have provided material support to Hamas will appeal the verdict, the bank’s lawyer said Monday, according to Bloomberg news. The lawyer, Shand Stephens, said the bank will appeal because the judge’s instructions were “erroneous” and mistakes were made in determining which evidence would be…

As a shaky ceasefire continues to hold in Ukraine between government and pro-Russian rebel forces, many civilians caught in the middle of the conflict are still homeless refugees in their own country.  Among them are some 5,000 Jews who fled fierce battles in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, where several community members were killed…

On Monday the High Court struck down key sections of the Infiltrators Law, ordering the closure of the Holot detention center in the Negev within 90 days and taking away powers allowing the state to hold infiltrators for a year without trial. A senior Tel Aviv police source revealed Tuesday just how destructive that ruling will be…

Two young Iranians arrested in Kenya last week trying to fly to Tel Aviv on fake Israeli passports appeared in a Nairobi court on Tuesday, where they pleaded guilty to being in possession of forged documents. The accused were Hesamoddin Hatami, travelling under the false Israeli name Avshalom Tsabari, and Zahra Kolabian, travelling as Adi Larian; they claimed to the…

The picture on the main page and to the right is of a Yemenite Jew blowing the shofar (circa 1935, all photographs are from the Library of Congress archives) Because It Is a Decree for Israel, a Judgment Day for the God of Jacob”  – Psalms 81 Jews around the world prepare for Rosh Hashanna this week, the…

An Algerian Islamist terrorist group linked to the “Islamic State” (also known as IS or ISIS) on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a French citizen, and threatened to execute him if their demands are not met. The “Soldiers of the Caliphate” released a video in which they announced they would execute 55-year-old Hervé Gourdel…

A 23-year-old resident of the northern Israeli Arab city of Umm al-Fahm on Tuesday became the first Israeli citizen to be convicted for joining the brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization in Syria. The man, Ahmad Shurbaji, was charged by the Haifa Magistrates Court with illegally exiting Israel to an enemy nation and taking part…

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas was to meet Arab diplomats in New York Tuesday ahead of a fresh bid at the United Nations to create a new “political reality,” his spokesman said. “This visit is going to be a very important one, a crossroads,” Nabil Abu Rudeina told Voice of Palestine radio. “Settlements must stop.…

American airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets are under way in Syria, according to a Pentagon official quoted by ABC News late Monday. “I can confirm that U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against [IS] terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles,” Pentagon Press…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Monday to present a new timetable for peace talks with Israel when he addresses world leaders at the United Nations later this week, according to AFP. “I say today to Prime Minister (Binyamin) Netanyahu: end the occupation, make peace,” Abbas told an audience in New York. In…

Residents of southern Tel Aviv on Monday evening set up a “mourning tent” at the Habima Square in the city, in a reaction to the High Court’s decision to strike down key sections of the Infiltrators Law that made it possible to detain illegal immigrants without trial for up to one year. Residents of southern Tel Aviv…

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius confirmed on Monday night that a French man has been kidnapped in Algeria by a group linked to the “Islamic State” (IS). The man, Herve Gourdel, was seized on Sunday in the unsettled north-east Kabylie area. Fabius said, according to BBC News, that an online video that showed Gourdel flanked…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, head of the Yisrael Beytenu party, declared on Monday that he would not agree to any changes in the make-up of the current coalition, even if that means holding elections. Liberman’s declaration, made during a Yisrael Beytenu toast in honor of Rosh Hashanah, came amid tensions between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu…

U.S. President Barack Obama will welcome Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the White House on October 1, AFP reported on Monday. The meeting will come as a U.S. drive for a nuclear deal with Iran reaches a crucial point. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden on Monday announced the meeting, likely to highlight U.S.-Israeli divisions…

Just in time for Rosh HaShanah and the Day of Atonement: Issue #3 of an anti-missionary periodical features an interview with a former top missionary who, as a result of reading Issue #1, “saw the Jewish light” and returned to the fold. The magazine, entitled “Searching,” is published by the Yad L’Achim organization, which fights…

Dozens of right-wing activists demonstrated Monday night at the construction site where Netanel Arami, 27, was killed last week, protesting what they say is a police cover-up of Arami’s murder. Both the protestors and Arami’s family are convinced that one of the victim’s fellow workers deliberately cut the cable he was harnessed to at the…

A French man purported to have been kidnapped in Algeria on Sunday appeared in a video on Monday saying he had been kidnapped by an Algeria-based “Islamic State” splinter group, called the Caliphate Soldiers, according to Reuters. The man, who gives his name, age and date of birth, said he had arrived in Algeria on…

A U.S. jury on Monday said that the Arab Bank provided material support to Hamas, Reuters reported. The jury said that the bank must therefore compensate the victims of two dozen attacks the group allegedly carried out in Israel and Palestinian Authority-controlled territories. The judgment, which followed a closely watched six-week trial in a Brooklyn…

Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, Rabbi of Beit El and one of the leading religious Zionist rabbis of this generation, accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of cheating him, when he promised to build 300 housing units in the community in exchange for the destruction of the Ulpana neighborhood. The High Court recently decided to tear down…

Reactions to the High Court decision Monday to annul key sections of the Infiltrators’ Law were divided along political lines. Jewish Home Chairman and Economics Minister Naftali Bennett said the decision reflected the degree of disconnection between the judges and the reality on the ground in southern Tel Aviv, where most of the infiltrators reside.…

The White House believes some Americans who have fought for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (IS or ISIS) and other groups have returned to the US, an unnamed Obama administration official admitted for the first time Monday. Over 100 Americans are believed to have joined Islamist extremists, the official admitted, during a press briefing…

Nick Di iorio, Republican nominee for Congress (NY-12), slammed U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s “poor record on Israel” Monday and what he said was her decision not to speak in a protest against the Metropolitan Opera’s anti-Semitic “The Death of Klinghoffer” production. Offered the chance to speak out against the anti-Semitic production, Maloney first agreed before backing…

Australian warplanes are being deployed to the Middle East to join the US-led campaign of air strikes on jihadist targets in northern Iraq, Defense Minister David Johnston said on Monday. “We will provide a number of military platforms, up to eight Super Hornet aircraft to participate in a US-led coalition in delivering air strikes,” he told reporters in Baghdad after…

Luxembourg will hold a referendum in 2015 on plans to modernize the small but wealthy EU nation, including whether foreigners should get voting rights, the prime minister said Monday. Premier Xavier Bettel, who ended Jean-Claude Juncker’s 18 years in power at the end of 2013, said there would be four questions in the vote to be held in May or…

Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) is looking into the possibility of leaving the government and becoming Head of the Opposition, political sources told Arutz Sheva Monday. The sources revealed that several members of Yesh Atid spoke with members of the Arab parties and Meretz and asked if they would agree to make Lapid Opposition Head. …

The final 140 immigrants of the year 5774 arrived in Israel on Monday from Russia and Ukraine, and were greeted at Ben-Gurion International Airport by Minister of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver, and Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky. Data compiled by The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption…

The High Court struck down key sections of the Infiltrators Law that made it possible to detain illegal immigrants without trial for up to one year. About 2,000 illegal infiltrators from Eritrea and Sudan currently being held at the Holot detention facility in the Negev must be set free in three months’ time. The decision…

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel, together with rabbis of the Derech Emuna organization rabbis of Jerusalem’s Old City, have launched a campaign against a new mass Christian prayer initiative at the southern wall of the Temple Mount. For the first time since the liberation of the Old City in the 1967 Six Day War, the…

Unemployment was up in August during Operation Protective Edge, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Monday – the unemployment rate was 6.4% in August, up from 6.2% in July. However, there was some good news: the number of Israeli men participating in the workforce hit an all-time high in August. Among men 25-64 years old,…

Mike Harari, one of the most distinguished leaders of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, passed away on Sunday at the ripe age of 87 at his home in the Tel Aviv neighborhood Afeka, leaving behind a wife and two children. Harari achieved near-mythological status for his role as the commander of the Mossad special ops espionage…

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the most popular names for newborn boys in Israel this past year was Yosef, followed by Daniel, Uri, and Itai, while girls were most popularly named Tamar, Noa, Shira, and Adelle. But in a story on Monday, Israeli daily Haaretz disputed the accuracy of that data – because…

Tragedy occurred in an agricultural field adjacent to the southern coastal moshav of Lachish Monday morning, as a 35-year-old resident of the south died after suffering intense allergic reactions due to being stung by a swarm of bees. The man was stung on all parts of his body, with the first report of the incident…

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is holding its annual “World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel” (WWPPI) this week, calling on Israel to release jailed terrorists – despite the severity of their crimes and the abundance of terrorists immediately returning to terror. NGO Monitor notes that WCC is a collective of “347 churches, denominations…

Miriam Schwab, a resident of the Maale Zeitim neighborhood that overlooks the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives, is rethinking the neighborhood’s strategy with regard to the terror it faces on a daily basis. Her daughters, aged 10 and 7, were on the school bus that was attacked with paint and rocks Sunday morning.…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Monday visited soldiers wounded during Operation Protective Edge. Ya’alon visited soldiers who are hospitalized Levinstein Rehabilitation Hospital and wished them a good New Year. The hospital, located in Ra’anana, is one of the IDF’s premier rehabilitation facilities. During his defense minister toured the different departments. Defense Minister was accompanied by…

Mohammed Abu Sankara (16) died two weeks ago on Sunday, a week after being wounded while participating in a violent riot in Jerusalem – and evidently nothing could have made his mother any happier. Police say Sankara, whose name is sometimes spelled “Sunuqrut”, was shot in the leg with a sponge round, then fell and…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, after meeting French President Francois Hollande last Friday, claimed a peace agreement between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas would help the “struggle against terror.” Following the meeting, in which Abbas convinced Hollande to turn to the UN to pressure Israel, the PA chairman neglected to explain how exactly a long-term truce…

It’s official: The economic effect of Operation Protective Edge on Israel’s economy was “minor,” according to international ratings agency Standard Poors. In a report Monday, the agency reiterated its high regard for Israel’s economy, affirming its ‘A+/A-1’ rating for the country’s sovereign debt, meaning that investors in Israeli bond issues and government debt are almost…

A prestigious medical journal is under fire on Monday, after its editor-in-chief refused to issue an apology for using the publication to promote anti-Semitic propaganda.  The offending article, entitled “An Open Letter for the People of Gaza,” drew ire from watchdog groups and medical experts alike for calling Israel’s self-defense operation in Gaza “a massacre”…

Children at a school in southern Gaza are reportedly being terrorized by the sounds of Hamas detainees being tortured at an adjacent police compound. Arabic-language Al Hayat Al-Jadida says parents of children attending the school in central Khan Younis have complained to authorities on numerous occasions about the phenomenon, which includes the chilling sounds of…

Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King spoke to Arutz Sheva on Sunday, revealing the governmental policies from the highest echelons down to the grittiest building and population figures that lead him to reach one shocking conclusion: by 2030, Jerusalem will be an Arab capital. King began by discussing the Sunday morning rock attack on a bus filled with 65…

Israeli prosecutors are pushing to extradite a Russian priest linked to top football club Zenit St Petersburg who is wanted back home on charges of sexually assaulting two young girls. The justice ministry said police had arrested Gleb Grozovsky, 35, on Sunday as a first step towards extraditing him after Russia issued an international arrest warrant over an alleged sexual…

The most dangerous street in Israel is Herzl Street in Rehovot, the Or Yarok road safety organization said Monday. The organization cited fata from the Central Bureau of Statistics that showed that 131 of the 309 people killed in road accidents in 2013, or 42%, were killed in Israel’s cities. That’s 11% higher than in…

Some 1.4 million travelers are expected to pass through Ben Gurion Airport into and out of Israel during the High Holiday and Sukkot period. Sunday will be one of the biggest days ever at Ben Gurion, with about 70,000 travelers passing through the airport, officials said. The airport will take on a decidedly Hassidic character…

The Mossad, Israel’s secret intelligence agency, launched a new website on Monday to recruit men and women interested in covertly defending the Jewish state from its myriad of enemies. The new site can be viewed in English here, and also can be browsed in Hebrew, French, Russian, Arabic and Farsi. A statement released announcing the new…

The Palestinian Authority’s ambassador to Iran, Salah Al-Zawawi, recently said that all Israelis, other than “Palestinian Jews” should return to their homelands. Al-Zawawi made the comments in an interview which aired on Kawthar TV on September 16, and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). In the interview, the ambassador thanked Iran…

An Egyptian television host recently said she “understood” Muslims carrying out suicide bombings in Israel, since Israel is “the enemy”, but rejected Muslims doing the same to Christians and fellow Muslims. The host, Rola Kharsa, made the comments on a program which aired on Egypt’s Sada Al-Balad TV on August 30. The remarks were translated…

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said on Sunday that he has been told security threats on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights are not expected to ease soon, dimming hopes that UN peacekeepers can be deployed back to the region in the near future, according The Associated Press (AP). A group of 244 Philippine…

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Sunday that the U.S.-led military campaign plan to retake Iraqi territory held by the Islamic State (IS) calls for attacking the extremists from several directions simultaneously, and its success depends on getting more Arab help. “We want them to wake up every day…

Iran’s judiciary has given the government one month to block WhatsApp and other popular instant messaging services, Reuters reported on Sunday. Chief prosecutor Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei accused the country’s Communications Minister Mahmoud Vaezi of failing to unplug social networking sites and apps “with immoral and criminal content.” “Despite a three month grace period to allow you…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday warned the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad that it would be held to account for using chlorine gas against civilians. According to AFP, Kerry pointed to a report by the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that concluded with “a high degree of confidence”…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met on Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The talks were expected to focus on the prospects of reaching an agreement on reducing Tehran’s atomic activities in exchange for an end to nuclear-related sanctions on Tehran. The meeting Sunday comes on the…

Around 150 people gathered outside London’s Qatar embassy on Sunday to protest Qatar’s funding of terrorist organizations, especially as the Gulf state has been chosen to host the 2022 World Cup. The rally was organized by the Sussex Friends of Israel (SFI) together with the Israeli Forum Task Force (IFTF), which also staged a flash…

Arab terrorists threw rocks at a bus carrying Jewish schoolchildren in the neighborhood surrounding the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem Sunday morning, in the latest terror-related incident in the capital. No injuries were reported, but the bus’s windshield was damaged. Police are currently sweeping the area for suspects.  Jerusalem City Council member Aryeh King, who…

The European Commission said Sunday it has not been told of any specific threat against it, after reports suggested its Brussels headquarters was a possible target for jihadist fighters returning from Syria. Belgian authorities confirmed to AFP Saturday they had made several arrests as they sought to prevent jihadist fighters or sympathizers with the Islamic State terrorist organization from carrying out attacks. There was no…

An outspoken Moroccan poet has angered many of her countrymen by accusing the Arab world of imperialism and defending the Jewish people’s right to a homeland in Israel. In an interview with Med Radio last week Malika Mezzane, who is an ethnic Amazigh (or Berber), challenged the official line in the Arab world, where tiny Israel is…

Ethiopian Aliyah may be at risk, according to IDF Radio, due to the upcoming and sudden resignation of Interior Minister Gidon Sa’ar (Likud).  4,500 people living in camps in the African heartland were still waiting for Sa’ar’s decision regarding their arrival when he suddenly stepped down last week, and some have been waiting for years.…

Chairman of the Jordan Valley Regional Council David Elhayani slammed the Civil Administration Sunday, attributing an agenda to the government office for promoting Bedouin building on Jewish land in Judea and Samaria.  “The Civil Administration promotes this plan on its own initiative, and it will affect our future,” Elhayani warned, in a special interview with…

An improvement in Israeli-South African relations may be on the horizon, MK Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid) stated Sunday, after he made a landmark visit to the South African Parliament after a five-year hiatus. Lipman, who is Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Association in Israel, was invited by Israel’s ambassador to South Africa, Arthur Link, who accompanied…

Two new Supreme Court justices will be selected on Sunday, after nine members of the Judicial Selection Committee meet with the office of Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (HaTnua).  The new justices will replace retiring Justice Edna Arbel and Chief Justice Asher Gronis. The committee will also, in practice, appoint new President and Vice President of…

MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) is convinced that Netanel Arami, a construction worker who fell 18 stories to his death last week, was murdered by Arab construction workers. Feiglin went to pay a visit of condolence to Arami’s parents, brothers, his pregnant widow and two orphan children Saturday evening. Feiglin elegantly skirted a gag order on…

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi told The Associated Press (AP) on Saturday that Cairo would be willing to help the U.S.-led coalition against the “Islamic State” (IS) group. Asked if Egypt might provide airspace access or logistical support for airstrikes, he said, “We are completely committed to giving support. We will do whatever is required.” He…

The man who was the top Marine general from 2006 to 2010 says President Barack Obama’s strategy to defeat the Islamic State in Syria is doomed to fail, reports the Daily Caller. “I don’t think the president’s plan has a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding,” retired Marine General James Conway, who served as the…

Within two years, businesses that employ 100 people or more will be required to hire at least 3% of their workforce from among the disabled population, according to a new measure signed Sunday by Economics Minister Naftali Bennett. The measure codifies an agreement on the matter set three months ago between groups representing Israeli manufacturers…

Just two years ago, Israel Railways was near bankruptcy, but as Rosh Hashana approaches, the organization finds itself in the black – nearly NIS 1.5 billion richer than it was a year ago, officials said Sunday. The turnaround is the result of a new commercial agreement Israel Railways signed with the government and private companies…

Unions representing government workers stepped up their work sanctions in support of Israel Post Office employees, who are protesting an efficiency plan they say is likely to get many of them fired. On Sunday, Israel’s courts were effectively closed until further notice, as court workers refused to accept petitions, complaints, and other paperwork from citizens.…

MK Orit Struk (Jewish Home) on Sunday visited the family of Netanel Arami, h”yd, who was killed in a fall from an a high-rise construction site last week. Police have kept details of the 26-year-old’s death under wraps, but many in the community believe he was killed by Arab workers. “Up until this moment, not…

Tel Hai College, in the upper Galilee, has decided to reprimand a tutor, Gabbi Weinrot, who made inflammatory statements against the IDF during Operation Protective Edge. The accusations against Weinrot were based on quotes from posts that appeared on his Facebook page, such as “You are murdering children in my name, you psychopathic Nazi sons…

Israeli cities have officially entered the 21st century. A Knesset committee on Sunday banned the use of wagons drawn by horses and donkeys in Israeli cities. The new regulation puts an end to several old Israeli traditions, most notably the visit of the “alte zachen” (“old things,” in Yiddish) wagon, whose driver buys and sells…

A demonstration in London Sunday outside the Qatari Embassy demanded that the sponsors of the World Cup change the venue for the 2022 games from Qatar to another location. In Israel, Yesh Atid MK Yifat Kariv has taken a special interest in the issue, and is leading Israeli activity to demand a venue change. Speaking…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu scoffed Sunday at the idea that western powers should go easy on Iran’s nuclear weapons program so that it will cooperate in fighting ISIS. Speaking at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, he said: “I know for a certainty what Menachem Begin would say about something I have been hearing…

In a landmark decision Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced the establishment of a National Authority for Cyber Defense. The new authority will be headed by Dr. Eviatar Mattaniah, head of the cyber-defense staff, and will be responsible for the protection of Israeli civilians against cyber attacks.  Netanyahu’s decision takes the already extensive work and…

Pope Francis warned during a visit to Albania on Sunday that religion can never be used to justify violence, making apparent reference to the bloodshed wreaked by the Islamic State terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). “Let no one consider themselves to be the ‘armor’ of God while planning and carrying out acts of violence and oppression,” the pontiff…

The IDF Armored Corps has begun using the Israel Military Industries (IMI) Hatzav shell (M329 APAM-MP-T), after first deploying it operationally during Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip. The projectile was developed by IMI and the IDF Ground Arm following to lessons drawn from the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead. The 120mm…

Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, successfully used an attack drone in a strike that killed tens of Al Nusra Front members near Arsal, Syria, according to Iran’s Fars news agency. The agency said the armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was used in a combined air and ground strike on the Lebanon-Syria border. Beside the drones, Hezbollah employed…

“Dedication, faith and love – that’s how the Land of Israel is built.” It sounds like a cliché, but with Rabbi Shlomo Raanan, this is not only his motto, it is just his way of life. Consider tomorrow’s Torah dedication ceremony, for instance, in a town down near Gaza that does not yet even have…

Faced with increasingly brazen and numerous daily Arab terror attacks on Jews, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat thinks the media should not talk about the problem too much. The terror wave has become so unbearable of late that even leftist media sources have begun reporting it, after years in which nationalist sources like Arutz Sheva were…

Early comments in the political sphere on the appointment of former Attorney General Menachem (“Menny”) Mazuz and Judge Anat Baron to serve as High Court judges lined up as expected, with MKs on the right criticizing the appointments, while others on the left praising them. In the latter category is Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who…

The UN’s “Palestinian refugee agency” UNRWA on Sunday urged the international community to oppose Israeli plans to relocate thousands of Palestinian Bedouin from the E1 and Maaleh Adumim areas east of Jerusalem, to the area around Jericho, next to the Dead Sea. “If such a plan were implemented this would … give rise to concerns…

The Committee for Selection of Judges has picked former Attorney General Menachem (“Menny”) Mazuz and Judge Anat Baron to serve as Supreme Court judges. They will replace Edna Arbel, who retired three months ago, and current Supreme Court President Asher Grunis, who will retire in January upon reaching age 70. Judge Miriam Naor will become…

With Iran refusing U.S. demands that it gut its uranium enrichment program, the two sides are now discussing a new proposal that would leave much of Tehran’s enriching machines in place but disconnected from feeds of uranium, diplomats told The Associated Press (AP) Saturday. The talks have been stalled for months over Iran’s opposition to…

Fatah and Hamas will hold talks in Cairo next week in an attempt to iron out issues that have prevented the full implementation of a unity deal agreed upon in April, a senior Fatah official said Saturday, according to the Ma’an news agency. The official, Azzam al-Ahmad, said in a statement that talks to finalize…

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Egyptian Defense Minister Colonel General Sedki Sobhy on Saturday to confirm the United States plans to deliver 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt, Reuters reported. The Pentagon said the Apaches are meant to support Cairo’s counter-terrorism efforts, the Pentagon said. Washington said in April it planned to resume some…

The family of British hostage Alan Henning made a dramatic appeal for his release on Saturday night, the Telegraph reported. The appeal follows rumors on social networking sites that the 47-year-old taxi driver from Manchester had become the latest hostage to be killed by Islamic State (IS). His wife Barbara Henning said, “Alan is a…

In a shocking let down of security, two men managed to breach into the White House in two separate incidents within a 24-hour period, causing the building to be evacuated. In the first incident on Friday night, 42-year-old Omar Gonzalez of Coperas Cove, Texas, jumped the fence just minutes after US President Barack Obama, his…

Signs telling women which side of the street to walk on, which were put up by a hareidi group in the northern London neighborhood of Stamford Hill, have been taken down by a London council. The signs, with “women should please walk along this side of the road only” written in Hebrew and English, were…

An extension of truce talks in Cairo between Israel and the Palestinian Arab delegation, which includes the terrorist groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Authority (PA), will reportedly resume on Wednesday and try to address larger issues pushed off in the August 26 ceasefire. AFP cited Egyptian and Palestinian Arab officials on Saturday as placing the…

At least three Hezbollah terrorists were killed on Saturday night in eastern Lebanon by a suicide bombing, apparently carried out by either Al Qaeda or Islamic State (ISIS) linked terrorists. The attack took place in the village of Khreibeh near the Syrian border, reports the Lebanese Daily Star, and comes a day after three Lebanese army…

The Dalai Lama on Saturday condemned violence in the name of religion, claiming the Muslim concept of jihad was being misused and misinterpreted by Islamist extremists. The Nobel Peace prize winner was referring to bloodshed unleashed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Syria and Iraq where it has conquered large swathes of territory, leaving bloodshed and brutal torture in its…

Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s (Yesh Atid) decision to hold a press conference in his Tel Aviv home on Saturday in open violation of the Sabbath has religious and non-religious MKs alike furious, with many waiting to see if the move may spell the end of the rocky coalition government. Lapid called up journalists to his…

After releasing its Hollywood-style trailer last Tuesday night, the brutal Islamic State’s (ISIS) Al Hayat Media Center on Friday came out with a 55-minute feature length film entitled “Flames of War: Fighting Has Just Begun.” The film, shot in a documentary-style, warns of an imminent direct conflict against America, and is narrated by a man…

Egyptian security forces shot a Gaza resident to death and wounded two others on Saturday, after they tried to breach into the Sinai Peninsula through a tunnel at the border town of Rafah. The men, who were spotted by a security patrol, tried to run back into the tunnel after being ordered to stop and were…

An Israeli drone crashed inside Lebanon on Saturday, coming down close to the demarcation line with the Jewish state, according to a military source. “The drone crashed on the Lebanese border, inside Lebanese territory. Lebanese troops are in the area,” the source told AFP. There was no immediate comment from Israel, but the incident is…

The Belgian authorities have prevented several attacks by jihadist fighters returning home from Syria and by sympathizers with the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group, a report said Saturday. The daily L’Echo cited unnamed sources as saying the planned attacks could have been similar to the one on the Jewish Museum in central Brussels in May which left four people dead.…

Iran is taking further action to comply with the terms of an extended interim agreement with six world powers over its disputed atomic activities, a UN nuclear watchdog report obtained by Reuters on Friday showed. The findings in a monthly update by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) may be seen as positive by the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has offered the position of Interior Minister, to be vacated by Gideon Sa’ar, to Communications Minister Gilad Erdan, Channel 2 News reported on Friday. Erdan asked Netanyahu to give him some time to consider the offer, the report said. Netanyahu was quick to offer the post to Erdan since he is…

French President Francois Hollande said on Friday that a “solution to the conflict” between the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs will be put to the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Hollande made the comments after meeting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Paris, reported AFP. “We will have a resolution, to be presented to the…

The Al-Qaeda-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group in Egypt beheaded a man in the Sinai Peninsula for allegedly conspiring with Israel, security officials said Friday, according to The Associated Press (AP). The terrorists dumped the beheaded body on the road in the town of Sheikh Zuweyid, and continue to hold several other men for the same…

Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, said on Friday he will stand down as first minister and Scottish National party (SNP) leader after failing to secure a majority for independence in Thursday’s referendum. According to the Guardian, Salmond told a press conference in his official residence of Bute House that he would stand down as first…

South African president Jacob Zuma has emphasized that his government is committed to combating anti-Semitism, reports The Jewish Daily Forward. Zuma made the comments in a meeting with the leadership of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) on Thursday night. The meeting was held to address anti-Semitism in South Africa in the wake…

The U.S. Senate unanimously adopted the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act on Thursday evening, reports JNS. The bipartisan bill, which declares Israel to be a “major strategic partner,” was authored by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) and had 81 co-sponsors. “America’s long-standing relationship and strong cooperation with Israel dates back to the…

Two different residents of Judea and Samaria this week breached a distancing order issued by General of Central Command Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon. The one, an Arab woman from Ramallah, had her order cancelled – the other, a Jewish teen from Gush Etzion, was arrested. The 17-year-old Jewish resident of Bat Ayin in Judea’s Gush Etzion region…

Two young Iranians in their early twenties were arrested a few days ago in Nairobi, Kenya, Yediot Aharonot reports Friday, carrying forged Israeli passports with the Jewish names “Adi” and “Avshalom.”  The two men were caught after attempting to board a Brussels Airlines flight from Nairobi to Brussels, authorities said, with the intention to travel from…

A crumbling unity pact between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas may not be reconciled, PA unity government “Prime Minister” Rami Hamdallah stated Thursday, amid rising tensions between the various Palestinian Arab factions. According to Hamdallah – whose remarks were recorded by Palestinian Arab Ma’an News Agency – no plans have been instituted to ensure the implementation of…

Diplomatic sources are trying to calm residents of Judea’s Gush Etzion region Friday morning, following the sudden announcement yesterday that the Knesset will vote Sunday on building a security barrier separating the region from sovereign Israel. “In any future peace agreement Gush Etzion will remain part of the state,” the diplomatic sources in Jerusalem released in a…

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Ron Prosor on Thursday night spoke at a UN Security Council emergency session initiated by America, the current Security Council chair, in which he promised Israeli aid in combating the global ebola epidemic. “Israel is ready for the new challenge standing before the world, and has started providing…

The Philippines has pulled its UN peacekeepers from the Golan Heights a month ahead of schedule amid worsening security, a military spokesman said Friday. A total of 244 of the 344 Filipino soldiers and staff will arrive back in Manila later Friday, with the rest flying in the next week or so, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel…

The current coalition may be at risk, according Coalition Chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud), after Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar (Likud) announced his resignation from politics and in light of a rift with Yesh Atid. “From day one, our partners in the coalition have, rather than pursue the interests of their offices and act on behalf…

Scotland’s bid for independence in a national referendum has ended with a resounding “No” vote on Friday, with 30 of the country’s 32 council areas counted and an insurmountable lead given to opponents of independence from the UK. BBC reports that 1,852,828 votes were needed by either side to win; the “No” campaign already reached 1,877,252…

An “alternative” to the Palestinian “unity” government may be in the works, Hamas “political leader” Mahmoud Zahar stated late Thursday night, claiming that the Hamas-Fatah unity pact was only a “temporary arrangement.” According to Zahar, the unity pact signed in April, was “only meant to last six months, and after that, there are choices for…

An Iranian court earlier this week sentenced a blogger to death for insulting the Muslim prophet Mohammed. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said 30-year-old Soheil Arabi was found guilty of sabb al-nabi – “insulting the prophet” – on August 30. He was arrested along with his wife in November of last year, after Revolutionary Guard…

What was a Hamas terrorist doing in a Gaza tunnel that caused him to die now, weeks after the August 26 ceasefire? That question is on the minds of many following the Friday admission by Hamas’s “military wing,” the Al-Qassam Brigades, that one of its members has died in a Gaza tunnel. The terrorist, identified…

“The Met Opera is clearly trying to sell tickets off of an evil Palestinian terrorist who is in the process of murdering a crippled Jew in the back in cold-blood” said Mark Langfan, President of Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI). The group, headed by Langfan and Helen Freedman, is spearheading an unprecedented coalition of…

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat addressed Jerusalem’s “silent intifada” on Thursday night, urging that he will take a hard line against Arab rioters, who have been throwing Molotov cocktails and fireworks at police and civilians.  “I want to clarify this decisively: a heavy and uncompromising hand should be taken against anyone who does violence of any…

Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists not only threaten the current Middle East – according to antiquities officials in Iraq and Syria, the terror group threatens to erase 5,000 years of history and relics in upper Mesopotamia, including one of the earliest Jewish synagogues. Much of northern Iraq and eastern Syria, which is rich in the archaeological…

The brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group has been conquering massive swathes of Syria and Iraq, and recently extended a foothold in Lebanon – now the push of the group’s over 30,000 jihadsts has brought them to the very gates of Turkey in Syria’s north. Fierce fighting between ISIS and Kurdish forces Thursday night ended with the…

The war of words between Hamas and Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction continued to heat up on Friday, after Hamas lashed out at unity government Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri gave Hamdallah a tongue lashing on his official Facebook page Friday, accusing the prime minister of “still being…

Hiva Mohammed Ali Zadeh, a 30-year-old Ottawa resident who headed a terror cell that was nabbed in 2010, was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Friday after agreeing to a plea bargain on charges of possessing explosives and planning a terror attack.  Ali Zadeh was in contact with Kurdish rebels associated with the Taliban Islamist…

International airlines have suspended flights to the Yemeni capital of Sanaa for a 24-hour period Friday amid a worsening security situation, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced. “Arab and foreign airlines have decided to suspend their flights to Sanaa for 24 hours because of developments in the capital,” the CAA said in a statement issued…

The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office filed charges against seven Arab rioters on Thursday, for offenses committed during disturbances that took place in the Abu Tor neighborhood in August. The four young adults and three teenagers, residents of the Abu Tor and Sur Baher neighborhoods in the capital, participated in the spout of unrest which emerged…

A human smuggling ship reportedly was intentionally capsized by traffickers last week off the coast of Malta, killing all but four of the 100 Gaza residents on board who were part of “thousands” of Gazans fleeing the Hamas stronghold in recent months. Osama, who lives in the United Arab Emirates and whose 23-year-old brother Yasser…

The world’s oldest known siddur (Jewish prayer book), an exquisite relic of Jewish history from 1,200 years ago, will be on display to the general public for the first time ever on Thursday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. The 50-page siddur, which hails from the Middle East, is still in its original binding…

One thousand Orthodox Jews crowded into a Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY hall Monday evening for a noble purpose: to raise awareness of, and educate themselves about, child sexual abuse – an issue all too often avoided as taboo within some circles. The highly charged event served as an opportunity to show support to victims of…

The Islamic State (IS) group poses a smaller global threat than Al Qaeda despite its recent beheadings of three Westerners, although battle-hardened fighters returning home remain a concern, analysts said on Thursday.   US President Barack Obama is gathering an international coalition to fight the jihadist group based across Syria and Iraq following the release…

 Pope Francis has warned that Christians in Iraq and Syria face persecution just as Jews have in the past, a prominent American Jewish leader said Thursday. “You have suffered, now it’s our turn,” World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder said the pope told him in a private audience. Francis also repeated his recent warning that…

An officer in the IDF’s Central Command was brought in for investigation Thursday morning, over suspicion that he issued entry permits for Arab residents of Judea and Samaria in return for bribes. According to the suspicions, which first arose around two months ago setting in motion a military police investigation, the officer did not issue…

Yet another Nefesh B’Nefesh flight arrived in Israel this week, just in time for the new year. The flight from North America landed Wednesday at Ben Gurion Airport, bringing some 70 new immigrants to their new homes in Israel. Among them was Jacob Steinberg, a 25 year old immigrant from Lakewood, New Jersey. Steinberg is…

The brutal Islamic State (ISIS), which has committee numerous atrocities and beheaded two American journalists in recent weeks as it conquers Iraq and Syria, has released a new video of a British journalist asking for negotiations. In the video released Thursday John Cantlie, who lists his former employees as the Sunday Times, the Sun and Sunday Telegraph, can…

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to support Israel “through fire and water” on Monday, during a speech at the Ottowa Convention Center.  “Friends, in this fight, we also stand with the democratic State of Israel,” Harper said, “as we have again this year, as Israelis have once more come under attack from the terrorist group Hamas.” “I know there…

The Jerusalem Municipality’s Planning Committee approved a building project giving 2,200 new housing units to Arab residents of the Al-Sawahira Al-Gharbiyya neighborhood, located near the East Talpiyot, in a decision critics warn will have a disastrous effect on the capital. This marks the first time that an Arab building project of this scale has been approved…

There is no evidence that Arab Bank executives supported terrorism, a defense lawyer told a US jury Thursday at the end of a month-long trial. The Jordan-based multinational bank went on trial in New York on August 14, and is accused of aiding terror by transferring support funds to the families of Palestinian Arabs who died while attacking Israel. In more than three…

In advance of the UN Human Rights Council investigation of Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza this summer, the Lawfare Project has compiled a detailed list of “Hamas’s Violations of International Law.” The UNHRC has appointed a three-member committee to investigate “all violations of international humanitarian law” during the recent war in Gaza. It explained its one-sided intentions by “condemn[ing]…

Two Hevron precinct police officers are refusing to uphold the decision of the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, which ordered them to apologize to David Viscot, a resident of Kiryat Arba in Judea. Viscot is a 58-year-old independently employed translator. His daughter and son-in-law lived in Givah 18 adjacent to Kiryat Arba – until police demolished their home…

In the latest shocking example of rising global anti-Semitism, anonymous criminals on Wednesday detonated an explosive in the Jewish cemetery of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Residents living adjacent to the site reported to the police of hearing a strong explosion from the Jewish graveyard. After arriving on the scene, local police discovered the remains of an explosive.…

France’s lower house National Assembly on Thursday approved an “anti-terrorism” bill which will usher in a travel ban on anyone suspected of planning to wage jihad, in light of the growing number of Islamic State (ISIS) recruits from the West. The bill comes as authorities are increasingly wary about the number of French citizens travelling to fight in Iraq…

Knesset ministers are to hold a vote on Sunday to set the path of the security barrier in the Gush Etzion region of Judea, located just south of Jerusalem, according to reports on Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) on Thursday. The barrier’s path was approved in 2006, and after petitions to the Supreme Court it was altered so…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday there is evidence that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is using chlorine gas, “in violation” of a global chemical weapons treaty. “We believe there is evidence of Assad’s use of chlorine,” Kerry testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to The Hill. Chlorine gas is not on…

The first four areas to declare results in the Scottish independence referendum have rejected leaving the UK, the BBC reports. Counting continues across the country. Clackmannanshire was the earliest to declare, with “No” winning 19,036 votes and “Yes” on 16,350 on an 89% turnout, according to the report. Voters in the Western Isles, Orkney and…

Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein spoke on Thursday as the world’s oldest known siddur (Jewish prayer book) was displayed to the general public at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. The 50-page siddur, which hails from the Middle East, is still in its original binding and was placed by carbon dating to be from the…

A candidate for the U.S. Senate in the state of Kentucky has generated some controversy with anti-Semitic signs. According to WLWT television, the candidate, Robert Ransdell, is using signs reading “With Jews We Lose.” Several signs were placed at US 25 and Mount Zion Road in Florence, with about 20 other signs around northern Kentucky.…

The U.S. Senate approved on Thursday President Barack Obama’s plan to train and arm Syrian rebel groups to fight “Islamic State” (IS) fighters, the BBC reported. The vote came a day after the House easily passed the president’s plan by 273 votes to 156, with both Democrats and Republicans voting yes. The Senate voted 78-22,…

Dr. Kamal Al-Labwani, an exiled leader of the Syrian opposition who is currently visiting Israel, on Thursday visited the Ziv Hospital in Tzfat, where many Syrians who were wounded in the civil war are hospitalized. Al-Labwani praised the humanitarian aid that has been given to wounded Syrians and thanked the staff at the Ziv Hospital…

Hamas deputy leader Mousa Abu Marzouq said Thursday the group does not want another war with Israel, but warned more fighting is inevitable unless the blockade on Gaza is lifted. The comments were made in an interview Abu Marzouq gave to The Associated Press (AP). In the interview, Abu Marzouq insisted that Hamas won the…

Israel believes Syria has retained caches of combat-ready chemical weapons after giving up raw materials used to produce such munitions, a senior Israeli official told Reuters on Thursday. The official said Israel believe the Syrians have kept some missile warheads, air-dropped bombs and rocket-propelled grenades primed with toxins like sarin. “There is, to my mind,…

Gazan terrorists appear to have broken the ceasefire with Israel once again, firing rockets at communities in the Gaza Belt region. At around 11:45 a.m. rocket alert sirens were reported in several communities in southern Israel, including the Hof Ashkelon and Gaza belt regions. Police in Lachish, southern Israel, are currently conducting a search for the…

Excavators carrying out an archaeological survey on the foothills south of Beit Shemesh recently stumbled upon an impressive finding which sheds light on a previously unknown, prosperous settlement in the region some 1,000 years ago. The Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) said it “uncovered a large and impressive compound dating to the Byzantine period in Ramat Bet…

With Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar announcing Wednesday that he had decided that he needed a break from politics – and would resign his post – speculation mounted Thursday as to whom Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would nominate for the important post. According to reports, that candidate is likely to be Communications Minister Gilad Erdan, for…

A 29 year old Bethlehem resident was arrested Thursday by the Border Police when he approached officers stationed at the checkpoint next to the tunnels on the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion road. The suspicious-looking character was found to be carrying an axe. Officials said that the man’s suspicious behavior led them to thoroughly check his belongings. The…

An Australian Islamist terror cell planned to behead a random member of the public, as part of an unprecedented campaign of terror in the country. Prime Minister Tony Abbot said that credible intelligence which led to the arrest of scores of terror suspects Thursday morning indicated that the beheading was one of a number of…

Just in time for the last big weekend before Rosh Hashana, when tens of thousands of tourists and Israelis will be passing through Ben Gurion Airport on their way in or out of the country, Airports Authority workers have decided that the time is right for work actions – with the first a wildcat strike…

The Supreme Court has ruled that hareidi high schools need not teach core secular subjects. By a 7-2 margin, the justices voted not to strike down a law exempting the hareidi schools from the requirement to teach the subjects. The court thus rejected a suit filed by former Education Minister Amnon Rubenstein of the far-left Meretz party,…

Using the term “shylocks” to describe unscrupulous bankers who prey on servicemen and servicewomen deployed overseas was a bad idea, US Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday. Biden made the apology a day after Jewish groups blasted him for using the Shakespearean character to draw an analogy with bankers who set up soldiers with loans…

Israel is ready, willing, and able to help the US in the fight against ISIS, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman told US Secretary of State John Kerry. In a meeting late Wednesday in Washington with Kerry, Liberman said that Israel realized the sensitivity of the situation, and that Israel would take on whatever role it could…

Former Minister of Tourism, Stas Misezhnikov, is being investigated over charges of bribery, it was revealed Thursday. Misezhnikov, a Yisrael Beteinu minister who served in the last government, is accused of accepting gifts in order to throw contracts to tour operators and other service providers. Misezhnikov is said to have accepted millions of shekels in…

15 people have been detained and one person charged with terrorism offences, following pre-dawn raids across Sydney and Brisbane, reports the Australian Associated Press (AAP). Authorities confirmed at least one person had been charged and would face court in Sydney later in the day following the largest counter-terrorism in the nation’s history. More than 800…

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday accused the United States of being “obsessed” with sanctions against his country, AFP reported. “We are committed to resolving this issue,” Zarif told a Washington think-tank, but he argued the U.S. was “infatuated” with sanctions and Congress was objecting to any deal “because they would have to…

Opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog responded on Wednesday night to the declaration by Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar to retire from politics, saying the decision was proof that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must be replaced. “The announcement accelerates the disintegration of the Likud. Those closest to Binyamin Netanyahu, those who know him well, [former minister Moshe]…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday denounced the “Islamic State” (IS) for its savagery but also branded the U.S.-led coalition against the terror group as “ridiculous.” Rouhani’s comments were made in an interview with NBC News from the presidential palace in Tehran ahead of his visit to the United Nations. “Are Americans afraid of giving…

Suspected hate crimes against Jewish and Muslim people are up following unrest overseas, the New York City police department said on Wednesday, according to CBS New York. Deputy Chief Michael Osgood said there has especially been an increase since July 1, when reports about unrest in Gaza and the Islamic State group became front-page news.…

Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouq on Wednesday told the Palestinian Authority-based Ma’an news agency that indirect ceasefire negotiations between Palestinians and Israel will restart within the next week. Abu Marzouq said that while the exact date had not yet been set, “it would definitely be before the 24th of the current month.” The Hamas leader…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday evening with Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, hours after Sa’ar unexpectedly announced his upcoming resignation from politics.  “I respect your decision to take a break from public life,” Netanyahu told Sa’ar, adding, “I thank you for your many years of public service in the government, the Knesset and the Likud…

The House on Wednesday approved President Barack Obama’s request to arm and train Syrian rebels in the fight against the “Islamic State” (IS) group, CNN reports. With significant opposition to the proposal in both parties, the vote was 273-156, according to the report. Many Republicans argue the strategy isn’t tough enough to defeat IS; many…

Anat Heifetz, a member of Kibbutz Nirim in the Gaza Belt, told Arutz Sheva on Wednesday night that the region’s residents have been left with a “bad feeling” about the current negotiations in Cairo.  “We hope that it is a one-time feeling, but there’s a feeling that maybe things are starting to deteriorate prior to the expiration…

Shock has rippled through the political scene Wednesday, after Interior Minister and longtime Likud MK Gidon Sa’ar announced his upcoming resignation from politics.  Coalition Chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud), said that he “regretted” Sa’ar’s decision. “I have great respect for Gidon’s work and his contribution to the Likud party and to the State of Israel,”…

Interior Minister Gidon Sa’ar (Likud) will be leaving politics, he announced Wednesday, and will hand his resignation in after the holidays later this month.  First, however, he reflected somewhat on his political career.  “I’m going to address unusual speech,” Sa’ar stated, at the traditional ‘toast for the New Year’ at his Ramat Gan home. “I…

Terror attacks in Jerusalem are becoming too common, angry Jerusalem residents protested Wednesday afternoon – and Interior Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beytenu) has neglected to deescalate the situation.  “There is an enemy here. We are protesting here, in front of the police station [. . .] because we believe that the time has come…

Former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden has accused the US National Security Agency of routinely passing private, unedited communications of Americans to Israel, an expert on the intelligence agency said Wednesday. James Bamford, writing in the New York Times, said Snowden told him the intercepts included communications of Arab- and Palestinian-Americans whose relatives live in Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA)…

Tomorrow evening Scotland will decide whether or not to break away from the United Kingdom and become an independent state. The looming referendum has been fiercely contested, with Scottish nationalist leaders advocating for independence facing off with politicians in London appealing to Scots to preserve “the union.” Adding to the drama, current polls have been…

A crowdfunding initiative to rebuild the Third Temple in Jerusalem has gained steam, the Temple Institute stated Wednesday, and is close to reaching its $100,000 goal.  The indiegogo campaign has reached close to $71,000 in fifty days, according to the Institute, and is expected to surpass the target before the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) next…

Twenty-four (24) hours after construction worker Nathaniel Ro’i Arami, 27, fell to his death from the eleventh floor of a Petah Tikva construction site, it is still unclear what happened in his final moments.  Arami, a husband and father of two children under the age of two, was from the Achiezer Moshav in the Shefela…

A 30 year-old Yemenite man was charged in a US court Wednesday on conspiracy of attempting to help the Islamic State terror group, becoming the second US citizen in one week to make media headlines for his terror connections. Mufid A. Elfgeeh was named in the seven-count federal indictment, which also included separate charges of attempted…

The Israeli Airport Authority (IAA)’s employees have chosen to identify with postal workers threatened with dismissal on Wednesday, according to Channel 2, and have announced a general strike at Ben-Gurion International Airport Thursday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.  IAA Workers’ Committee Chairman Pinchas Idan announced the strike Wednesday afternoon. During the strike, flights will…

The Jewish population in Judea and Samaria grew by an impressive 2% in the first half of 2014, according to statistics released by the Yesha Council. The Council, which represents Jews in the Judea-Samaria region, said that between the end of December 2013 and the end of June of this year, the Jewish population rose…

Kurdish Peshmerga forces claim to have killed a senior Islamic State (IS) military commander Tuesday. According to Kurdish news outlet Rudaw, 39-year-old Yasin Ali Suleiman Shlash, also known as Abu Abdullah, was IS’s top military commander in the Mosul region.  “He was killed with a number of other terrorists during a military operation by Peshmerga forces in…

A woman in her fifties from the Golan Heights was arrested on Wednesday, after police received information that she had stolen thousands of shekels from an elderly man she cared for over the past nine years. The woman, who is suspected by police on crimes of fraud, stole a full 250,000 shekels (over $68,000) over…

Police began forcibly evicting around 20 families from the Tel Aviv suburb of Givat Amal Bet on Wednesday morning, despite the Tel Aviv Municipality’s request to wait on the action until after the upcoming Jewish High Holidays. Large police forces and Yassam police special forces arrived on scene early in the morning, where they faced…

Amos Shocken, the publisher of ultra-leftist newspaper Haaretz, met a few days ago with about 100 former readers of the newspaper who cancelled their subscriptions to the paper because they were fed up with its extreme content during Operation Protective Edge. The single item that caused the most outrage was an article by rabidly leftist…

“I’m going to hold the holidays elsewhere with friends,” said Silvia Orshovsky of Ein Hashlosha, who owns a local market that was hit by a mortar round during the operation. “We’re worried about what might happen on Rosh Hashana. It’s a fact that the firing started yesterday. In this way trickles (of rocket fire) start. People…

Former Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin took the side of Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) in the current flap between Bennett and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon over information that Bennett obtained from the IDF during Operation Protective Edge. Ya’alon said that the information was obtained improperly and that Bennett used it against the defense…

According to several senior US analysts, the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist jihadi danger not only threatens western Europe – the presence of hundreds of Chechen fighters in the ISIS ranks puts Russia squarely under the cross-hairs as well. The New York-based Soufan Group intelligence firm said in June that roughly 200 Chechens are fighting in…

Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal has reportedly become a persona non grata in his erstwhile home of Qatar, after the Gulf state decided to expel the terrorist group’s leader due to international pressure. However, Hamas spokesperson Ismail Radwan responded by claiming the reports were not true, and were only meant to “sow tension and confusion,” distancing…

Twenty-four (24) hours after construction worker Nathaniel Ro’i Armi, 27, fell to his death from the eleventh floor of a Petah Tikva construction site, it is still unclear what happened in his final moments.  Armi, a husband and father of two children under the age of two, was from the Achiezer Moshav in the Shefela…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction has exposed that Hamas is running a human trafficking network, smuggling Gaza residents to Europe for $2,000 to $3,500 per person. The charges come following reports that dozens of Palestinian Arabs drowned last week after leaving Gaza for Egypt, where they boarded an ill-fated ship bound for…

Algeria will impose more government control on training for the country’s imams in a bid to fight Islamic extremism, its religious affairs minister said in comments published in local media on Wednesday. The former French colony in North Africa has a difficult history with religious fundamentalism, having fought hardline Islamists during a bloody civil war…

Israel’s Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz on Wednesday urged the European Union (EU) not to make a “bad deal” with Iran over its nuclear program, ahead of crucial talks. Steinitz suggested outgoing EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton may be in a rush to conclude a deal before she steps down at the end of this year. He also said the…

Hamas this morning denied claims that its Political Bureau chief, Khaled Mashaal, was being expelled from longtime ally Qatar. The initial report came just days after seven leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were expelled from the country, having sought refuge from an Egyptian government crackdown. That move naturally lead to speculation that Qatar might take a…

The owner of the Migdal Insurance company, Shlomo Eliyahu, donated an elaborate Torah scroll in the memory of murdered Israeli teenagers Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Frenkel, and Gilad Sha’ar (hy”d) Tuesday, in an emotional ceremony attended by both the Yifrah family and Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau.  Eliahu, as well as his son, Migdal…

MK Amnon Cohen (Shas), chair of the Knesset’s State Control Committee, ordered State Comptroller Yosef Shapira on Wednesday to investigate the government and Security Cabinet’s decisions during Operation Protective Edge – with a special emphasis on readiness for Hamas’s terror tunnels. In a committee meeting with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Cohen argued that the whole government, and…

A mortar shell from Syria exploded in the Golan Heights early on Wednesday afternoon, landing on the Israeli side of the Quneitra crossing that is the only point of access between the two countries. The shell landed in open territory and according to reports did not cause damage or injury. Apparently the mortar shell was…

Interior Minister Gideon Saar has instructed the Population, Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA) to allow the registration of a new nationality – Aramaean – in the identity cards of Christian citizens who were registered as Arabs until now. In a letter to PIBA Director Amnon Ben-Ami, Saar wrote that he has “received three opinions according…

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told the Congress on Tuesday that he recommends deploying US ground forces against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, in a direct contradiction of US President Barack Obama’s largely hands off approach. Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Dempsey backed the coalition being…

MK Orit Struk (Jewish Home) sharply criticized Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon for cracking down on suspected unauthorized leaks of IDF information to Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) on Tuesday – the same day that a mortar shell from Gaza breached the ceasefire. “Hamas fired a multi-rocket salvo in honor of the agreement to reconstruct…

Brig. Gen. (res.) Yehiam Sasson, former head of the Israeli National Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau, told Arutz Sheva that the Bureau’s issuance of a travel warning to western Europe signals an innovation that hasn’t occurred before. “The travel warning of course also includes the traditional countries like Jordan, Morocco, Egypt and to a grave degree Sinai which has turned…

Residents of the Eshkol Regional Council reported Tuesday night that a rocket was fired from Gaza, falling outside of one of the local communities. The IDF in the last few minutes confirmed that a mortar shell fired from Gaza and landed on the Israeli side of the security fence, in the first such attack by…

Syrian rebels linked to Al Qaeda have seized UN weapons, uniforms and vehicles from peacekeepers in the Golan and set up a “safe zone” to wage attacks, the Syrian ambassador said Tuesday. The United Nations on Monday was forced to pull back hundreds of peacekeepers to the Israeli side of the Golan after Syrian rebels…

It’s being dubbed the “silent intifada” by Israelis, with many perplexed as to why authorities aren’t acting more firmly against the massive explosion of violence by Arab extremists in Jerusalem. Rock attacks, molotov cocktails, lynch-mobs, physical assaults, vandalism, firecrackers and even live gunfire have all been reported, against police and Jewish residents alike, as figures revealed an alarming, exponential…

The United Nations has brokered an Israeli-Palestinian deal on imports of construction materials to Gaza to ensure they will not be diverted by Hamas terrorists, a UN envoy said Tuesday. The agreement on monitoring the supply of materials “must get up and running without delay,” said Robert Serry, the UN envoy for the Middle East.…

As Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas made the somewhat outlandish claim that his Fatah lost 17 times more members than Hamas in the recent Operation Protective Edge, Fatah praised one of its Gaza rocket commanders in a special video. A week ago Abbas said in a meeting in Cairo that Hamas only lost 50 terrorists,…

Ya’akov Hagoel, head of the Department for Activities in Israel and Countering anti-Semitism of the World Zionist Organization (WZO), told Arutz Sheva that regardless of the claims of Belgian officials, the Brussels synagogue arson attack on Tuesday was no “criminal” act. “This is an arson incident that occurred at 5 a.m. in Brussels at the Anderlecht…

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, on Tuesday claimed he is doubtful that the real objective of the United States against the “Islamic State” (IS) is to eliminate the group. According to the Iranian Shafaq News website, Jafari said in a news conference that America “feels despair” over what IS…

The White House insisted on Tuesday that the U.S. would not deploy ground forces against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, despite comments otherwise by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey. Dempsey said earlier Tuesday he recommends deploying ground forces against IS in Iraq “My view at this point is…

A court in Athens, Greece, on Tuesday found a member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party guilty of inciting racist violence, the To Vima Greek newspaper reported. The man, Alexandros Plomaritis, was given a three-year suspended sentence, according to the report. Plomaritis was accused of making racist comments in a documentary by director Konstantinos Georgousis,…

Al-Qaeda’s branches in Yemen and North Africa on Tuesday issued an unprecedented joint statement calling for jihadists in Iraq and Syria to unite against the common threat from a U.S.-led coalition, AFP reported. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) urged their “brothers” in Iraq and Syria to “stop…

International basketball’s governing body, FIBA, said on Tuesday that players will be allowed to wear religious head coverings, such as hijabs or turbans, on a trial basis in some competitions, according to The Associated Press (AP). FIBA’s central board met over the weekend at the men’s world cup and voted to allow a two-year testing…

Jordan arrested a senior member of the country’s Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday on charges of “incitement” against the authorities, AFP reported. Mohamed Said Bakr, a member of the Brotherhood’s consultative council, was detained for 15 days by prosecutors after criticizing the government at an event marking the end of the conflict in Gaza, a judicial…

Speaking to reporters in the UN Security Council hall, at the UN’s New York headquarters, Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari warned Tuesday that the “Israelis are playing with the fire, they are escalating the situation.” He was referring to the rebel Syrian Al-Nusra Front’s takeover of the UNDOF Bravo Line on the Syrian side of…

Senior defense officials said on Tuesday night that Hamas has arrested the terrorists who were responsible for the mortar fire on the Eshkol region earlier in the evening. According to the officials, Hamas had passed a message to Israel after the shooting that it would arrest and punish those responsible for the shooting, and did…

In arrests carried out Monday and early Tuesday morning, Jerusalem Police and Border Police officers have arrested 22 Arabs, many of them minors, on suspicion of rioting and attacking Jews over the last few days. Those arrested include six children aged around 12 who are suspected of throwing firebombs at the homes of Jewish families…

The last person injured in the course of Operation Protective Edge has been released from hospital. Gadi Yarkoni, 47, of Kibbutz Nirim, left Soroka Hospital Monday and is beginning a protracted period of rehabilitation at Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer. Yarkoni, a father of three, was very seriously wounded when a mortar shell fired by…

Despite the high-profile and shocking nature of the so-called “Islamic State” and its push through Iraq and Syria, the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad is still responsible for the majority of war crimes being committed in that country, according to the author of a special UN report into the Syrian civil war. With no end…

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has released a video of an imam in Gaza who was filmed during a Friday sermon while brandishing a gun and saying that weapons were the Palestinian Arabs’ only means to establish a caliphate. MEMRI noted that the cleric, Sheik Iyad Abu Funun, was released to the Palestinian…

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has instructed IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, to initiate an inquiry against a senior reservist officer who is suspected of leaking unauthorized information to Minister Naftali Bennett during Operation Protective Edge. The senior officer has already been dismissed from his position because of passing on the information, in…

Research conducted by over 800 rabbis of the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) and European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC) has revealed that assimilation in the European continent has reached a shocking rate of 80%. RCE clarified that the appalling figures were clarified through an analysis of the amount of Jewish weddings compared to the…

A fire broke out in a synagogue in the Belgian capitals of Brussels Tuesday, in what appears to be a “criminal” act, according to reports. Belgian daily La Dernière Heure said that several people broke into synagogue, which is located in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Anderlecht, and ignited several fires on the fourth floor of the…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Tuesday morning spoke about the replacement for IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, who will step down from his post next February 15, and clarified he does not intend to appoint Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yoav Galant who almost had the post in 2011. Speaking at a Jewish New Year (Rosh…

The Islamic State terrorist group downed a Syrian air force jet for the first time today, in signs the terror group also known as ISIS is improving its military capabilities. “IS fighters fired on a military aircraft which crashed,” said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “It is the first aircraft shot down since…

MK Pnina Tamano-Shata (Yesh Atid) reacted Tuesday to the violent assault on two Ethiopian Jewish men in Petah Tikva at week’s end. “I am ashamed and shocked by this hate crime,” said MK Tamano-Shata, who was born in Ethiopia. There is no need to try and prettify the ugly truth. The violent attack was only…

Shevah Stern, Chairman of the Likud’s ‘Mate Leumi’ faction, said Tuesday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s absence from Monday’s Central Committee convention is a result of poor planning – and does not indicate major tension within the party. Netanyahu, he said, could have reached common ground with MK Danny Danon, the Convention Chairman, but both…

Philanthropist Kenneth S. Abramowitz has issued a call to “save western civilization from itself” by shutting down the United Nations, among other measures. As part of a general effort to fight the false narratives and terminology propagated by the left wing, Abramowitz says that the UN should no longer be portrayed as an important advance…

The United States launched airstrikes in Iraq on Monday in what defense officials said is the start of an expanded action against Islamic State extremists, USA Today reports. Central Command, based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, said both fighter and attack aircraft conducted separate airstrikes Sunday and Monday in support of Iraqi forces…

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday said his country had rejected a U.S. request for cooperation against the “Islamic State” (IS) because Washington has “dirty hands”. “Right from the start, the United States asked through its ambassador in Iraq whether we could cooperate against [IS],” Khamenei said in a statement on his official…

Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) warned on Monday that a “two-state solution” will endanger the security of Israeli residents and will bring rockets and missiles to the heart of the country. Akunis’s comments came in a meeting with Likud members in the Sharon region city of Kfar Saba. “This year, we learned what we had…

Mohammed Badie, top leader of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, was sentenced to life in jail along with 14 others Monday on charges of murder and inciting violence during clashes near Cairo last year, Reuters reported. The session had been summoned for witness statements but the judge surprised journalists and others present by issuing a verdict,…

House Republicans want to keep the Obama administration on a short leash when it comes to arming and training Syrian rebels, Politico reported on Monday. The legislation that the GOP is drafting to give the White House authority to provide military support to the Free Syria Army will require the Obama administration to send a…

A senior official with Hezbollah declared on Monday that the group will not leave Syria, citing the threat of the “Islamic State” (IS) and other radical groups, reports the Lebanese-based Daily Star. Speaking at a ceremony in the southern village of Aita Shaab, Nabil Qaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s executive council, said, “There could…

Hamas has executed a Palestinian Arab officer for spying for Israel, the Turkish Anadolu agency reported on Monday, citing a security website close to Hamas. “The 59-year-old officer, who is working for the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatus, has been executed by the security agencies belonging to the resistance factions,” the Hamas website said. According to…

The Palestinian Authority on Monday condemned the “Islamic State” (IS) group over its terrorism, but also took advantage of the situation to take a jab at Israel. A statement from the PA’s foreign ministry quoted by the Ma’an news agency hinted that Israel’s actions should also be treated as terrorism. According to the statement, the…

For the first time Likud head Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has publicly referred to MK Moshe Feiglin, leader of the Manhigut Yehudit faction of the Likud. Feiglin has been a formidable force in the party over the past several years, but until now Netanyahu has chosen to ignore his membership in the Likud, and in…

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on the Ebola crisis Thursday to find ways to scale up the global response to the epidemic that started in March, the US ambassador announced. “It is crucial that council members discuss the status of the epidemic, confer on a coordinated international response and begin the…

During Operation Protective Edge, many of the social issues plaguing Israel were put on the back burner – but with the war over, unresolved issues have resurfaced, seeking a solution. Among those issues remains the preponderance of illegal African migrants in many parts of Israel, especially in south Tel Aviv, where tens of thousands are…

Hundreds of Likud members took part in a meeting of the party’s Central Committee in Ashkelon on Monday, where they passed a party proposal obligating the toppling the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza in the next counter-terror operation. “We must rehabilitate our deterrence, and in the next round destroy Hamas – there must be a…

In a move that is likely to further jeopardize his coalition, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday suspended further discussion of the “zero VAT law” of Finance Minister Yair Lapid. The news was unlikely to ease the already troubled relations between the two – quite the opposite, observers said. The bill would allow first-time homebuyers…

A proposed sale of Israeli weapons including drones to Ukraine has been blocked for fear of antagonizing Russia, according to Israeli news reports on Monday. A Ukrainian delegation had visited Israel with a view to acquiring military hardware including drones to use against pro-Russian separatists, said the report on Channel Two television. It was not reported when the visit took…

Police on Monday arrested five Arab children aged 12 to 13 from the mixed Jewish and Arab neighborhood of Abu Tor in eastern Jerusalem, after they threw molotov cocktails at Jewish homes in the neighborhood. The five perpetrators admitted under investigation to hurling the firebombs at the homes of Jewish families on several different occasions…

Oskar Groening, a 93-year-old former guard at the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, was charged by German prosecutors with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder over his role in the genocidal Nazi war machine. Groening has acknowledged that he witnessed atrocities in his role as a death camp guard, but claims he didn’t actively commit…

Among its other effects, Operation Protective Edge apparently has put a dent in Israel’s economy. As a result of the losses of work hours and productivity during the war, Israel’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth has been revised downwards. Instead of the 2.9% expected at the beginning of the summer, growth will be only 2.4%,…

US Secretary of State John Kerry has waffled on his position from last Friday, when he ruled out Iran’s participation in a global coalition against Islamic State (ISIS) – on Monday, he said in an interview that he would be open to military cooperation with Iran. Asked in a Yahoo interview whether the US would cooperate militarily…

‘Color Red’ sirens sounded in Hof Ashkelon region in southern Israel Monday morning. There were no reports of explosions, however, causing speculation that the sirens were the result of a false alarm. Security forces later confirmed that the sirens were indeed a false alarm. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on August…

Mark Langfan, Chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel and Arutz Sheva strategy analyst, delivered the keynote lecture to a packed-house crowd of over 500 attendees at the UN last week at the historic counter-anti-Semitism conference there. Langfan’s presentation demonstrated graphically how Israel is protecting Cyprus, “the Achilles Heel of Europe,” and how Islamic terrorists will…

“Global Zionism” is apparently behind the jihadist terrorist organizations – at least according to a senior Egyptian cleric. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar and president of al-Azhar University, which is considered a prestigious Sunni Islam title, made the comments in a statement that aired on Egypt’s Channel 1 on September 8. The…

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars and considered the leading decisor on Sunni Muslim religious law, opposes an American military operation against the Islamic State (IS). Qaradawi tweeted: “I oppose ISIS (the Islamic State) in its ideological path and its methods of action, but I will never agree that the…

According to Bethlehem-based news agency Ma’an, Palestinian Authority (PA) chief Mahmoud Abbas will ask French president Francois Hollande to recognize the “state of Palestine” when Abbas meets Hollande in France Friday. According to the report, Abbas will then ask additional European countries to recognize “Palestine” even before he heads for the annual United Nations General…

Kutiman, an Israeli artist who samples music videos and pastes them together ingeniously, has another viral hit. Musician, composer, producer and animator Kutiman, or Ophir Kutiel, 32, is best known for creating the online music video project, ThruYOU, and a self-titled album. The newest hit is “Give it Up,” from the Thru You Too project. In its…

Researchers from Ben Gurion University, Barzilai Hospital and the Gertner Institute have found different birth patterns in Sderot, the city most often targeted by Hamas terror rockets, than elsewhere. The differences include more premature births, more underweight births – and more female births than male births, reported Israel Hayom Monday. The researchers compared births in Sderot…

Security officials on Monday interdicted two incidents of smuggling at Ben Gurion Airport, preventing passengers from surreptitiously loading drugs and weapons on a plane. According to officials, a passenger tried to check onto a flight with a bag that contained a doll which was stuffed with a bullet cartridge. The bullet-stuffed doll was found in…

After a happy ending last week to 14 years of a husband’s refusal to grant a get (Jewish divorce), Attorney Batya Kahane-Dror says she welcomes the “new spirit” that Rabbi David Lau has brought to the Chief Rabbinate. The case at hand involved an Orthodox man from Jerusalem who demanded, for 14 years, that his…

A special event was held on Sunday marking ten years since the murder of Gush Katif residents Tali Hatuel and her four daughters, and nine years since the founding of the Tali B’Yad Rama Organization established in their memory. At the event Tali’s husband David spoke to Arutz Sheva about the organization he founded to help families with fertility…

In a recent speech, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) condemned Hamas and noted that it was no better than the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) group. Reid’s speech to the Senate was made last Thursday but excerpts were published Sunday by JNS. According to the report, Reid affirmed U.S. support for Israel, calling the…

The debate over how much Operation Protective Edge cost Israel is having a practical effect on the state budget. A report on Israel Radio Monday said that as a result of its lower estimates of the war’s costs, the Finance Ministry is unlikely to give the Defense Ministry all of the money it is demanding.…

With the Hebrew month of Tishrei fast approaching – and with it the gastronomic festive period of Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot – many people will already be worrying about how to avoid piling on the pounds. But if you’re thinking about skipping dessert, one rabbi says you should think again. According to Rabbi Efraim Zalmanovich…

Jerusalem Councilman Aryeh King on Sunday exposed how Mayor Nir Barkat in a two week period has given the green light on numerous Arab building projects while ignoring illegal Arab construction – a fact he warns threatens the demographics of the Israeli capital. In the past three months Barkat’s administration has not demolished a single…

Flags of the Al Qaeda terror group are flying atop the Kotel Hakatan (“Small Kotel”), a remnant of the retaining wall of the Temple Mount that is a continuation of the Western Wall, located in the Muslim Quarter. The Kotel Hakatan is adjacent to one of the entrances to the Temple Mount. Meanwhile, said Avichail…

An unusual briefing by a senior IDF Northern Command officer caused concern throughout northern communities Sunday. The officer described scenarios for a possible war with Hezbollah in alarming detail, and said it was possible that Hezbollah would capture some Israeli territory before being repulsed by the IDF a few hours later. He also said that…

In what may establish a groundbreaking legal precedence, the United States Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear the case of American biologist Alan Bauer, who filed suit in 2011 in the Federal court in Manhattan seeking to impound 14 vessels which were outfitted to be used in the 2010 Mavi Marmara Flotilla – which set…

Ali-Akbar Salehi, head of the Iranian Nuclear Energy Organization, recently claimed that the West, including “the Zionist regime” sought to sabotage Iran’s nuclear industry. The comments came in a speech that aired on August 25, on the Iranian news channel IRINN. The speech was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “The [nuclear]…

Several Arab countries have offered to carry out airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, senior State Department officials told The New York Times on Sunday. The offer was disclosed by American officials traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry, who is approaching the end of a weeklong trip that was intended to…

The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Sunday condemned the “heinous and cowardly murder” of British aid worker David Haines by the “Islamic State” (IS). “This crime is a tragic reminder of the increasing dangers humanitarian personnel face every day in Syria,” the council emphasized in a statement, adopted unanimously by its 15 members and…

An Egyptian official said on Sunday that Cairo will hunt down exiled Muslim Brotherhood leaders and seek their arrest, according to The Associated Press (AP). The declaration came a day after Qatar ordered leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and allied clerics to leave country. The tiny Gulf nation’s expulsion of the Brotherhood, branded a terrorist…

Seven jihadists were killed in a shootout in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula during a joint operation by police and the army, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said Sunday, according to AFP. The seven men were among “the most dangerous elements of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis” and had taken part in a July attack on a border post with…

Yaron Avraham, a reporter with the Knesset Channel who served in the elite intelligence Unit 8200, lashed out on Sunday at the leftist reservists who signed a letter indicating they would refuse to serve “in the occupied terrorists”. Avraham suggested that those who signed the letter should simply remove Unit 8200 from their resume. “This…

“Islamic State” (IS) terrorists publicly executed eight Sunni men in a small northern Iraqi village on the weekend for allegedly plotting against the group, an eyewitness from the village told Reuters on Sunday. The killing began on Friday night when a pair of masked IS gunmen openly murdered a police officer in Al-Jumasah village after…

According to data recently released by the Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD) and analyzed by content outlet 24/7 Wall St., Israel is in fourth place in the world in terms of education. In Israel, the percentage of the population with tertiary education is 46.4%. Tertiary education spending per student is at $11,553, the 18th…

The Israeli tourism industry was one of the biggest victims of Israel’s war-centered summer, and to prevent the collapse of many of the smaller tourist-related businesses that are unlikely to recover anytime soon, the Tourism Ministry on Sunday announced an aid package that, it is hoped, will help those businesses get back on their feet.…

The Jerusalem Police have arrested four Arab youths aged 15-17, residents of the neighborhood of Issawiya in Jerusalem, on suspicion that they set parts of the French Hill gas station on fire and tried to blow up the fuel tanks there. The Magistrates’ Court in the capital extended their remand until Wednesday. The police intend…

Professor Rafi Israeli, an expert on Islam and the Arab world, told Arutz Sheva Sunday that while the world is appalled by Islamic State’s decapitation murders of western journalists, we must not forget that Islam kills hundreds of people daily in various hotspots throughout the globe. “We ignore this cruelty which is an everyday occurrence,”…

Once riding high in the cellphone industry, Nokia is now just an afterthought – and as its fortunes have fallen, so has its income, and its resources. It turns out that Nokia can no longer afford to attach its name to centers, foundations, and sports arenas. That affects Israel directly, because one of the country’s…

The media in Israel tends to treat Rosh Hashana as a long weekend, and this year, with the New Year festival falling adjacent to Shabbat, observant Israelis who will not have turned on the radio or television for three days straight are likely to hear all about how many people had picnics in national parks…

The IDF estimates that in a future war, Hezbollah will be able to grab small parts of northern Israel, like the Ramim or Hasulam ridges along the border, but the IDF will take them back “within a few hours.” “At present, the understanding is that we are not headed toward war,” a senior IDF officer…

Authorities in Holland released Rabbi Eliezer Berland last week, but his passport has been confiscated, pending a decision on his extradition back to Israel. He was arrested at Amsterdam Airport on September 11 at the request of Israeli authorities.  Berland, the founder and head of the Shuvu Banim community located in the Old City of Jerusalem,…

The Islamic State group on Saturday released a video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines in the same grisly manner as the murder of two American journalists in recent weeks, The Washington Post reported. The video, titled “A Message to Allies of America,” appears to show Haines clad in an orange jump-suit…

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday that any global coalition against terrorism should battle not just “Islamic State” (IS, formerly ISIS) but other groups as well, Reuters reports. Egyptian security officials have said Islamic State has established contacts with Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the Sinai-based terrorist group…

Qatar, which has been blamed for stirring up much of the violence in the Middle East and is a well-known backer of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, reportedly expelled some members of the Muslim Brotherhood from its territory. The Associated Press (AP) reported on Saturday that leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and allied clerics said…

The backlash in Israel continues to grow at the decision by 43 leftist reservists in a unit IDF intelligence unit to call for insubordination. Political and military figures from Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to Opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog – who is himself a reservist officer in Unit 8200 – have flocked to condemn the calls,…

Around 930 French citizens or residents, including at least 60 women, are either actively engaged in jihad in Iraq and Syria or are planning to go there, the interior minister said Sunday. In an interview with Le Journal de Dimanche weekly, Bernard Cazeneuve said: “930 French citizens or foreigners usually resident in France are today…

A Gazan man was arrested by Israeli security forces as he attempted to infiltrate into Israel Sunday morning armed with a knife. The would-be infiltrator was spotted by a security lookout post close to the community of Kibbutz Kisufim, along the border with Gaza. Guards quickly informed the military, which responded quickly and apprehended the…

The IDF has vowed to respond firmly to calls for insubordination, after a group of leftist reservists in an elite intelligence unit accused their unit of spying on “innocent Palestinians” and said they would “refuse to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to continue serving as tools in deepening the military control over…

The cabinet meeting planned for today (Sunday) was cancelled by the Cabinet Secretariat. The purpose of the delay, they explained, was to allow Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Lapid to meet to resolve the financial crisis.  Following Operation Protective Edge, Netanyahu has argued for increasing the security budget and decreasing Israel’s deficit. Lapid, who…

For nearly two weeks, there has been no mail delivery in most of Judea and Samaria – and residents of Gush Etzion have had enough, Gush Etzion Regional Council head Davidi Perl said Sunday. The lack of mail delivery is the result of an ongoing strike by postal workers in the “Doar-Na” service, which serves…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has blocked an attempt to push for the prosecution of Israel for war crimes in Gaza at the International Criminal Court (ICC), a senior Palestinian Arab official said over the weekend. Hasan Khreisha, the second-deputy speaker of the Palestinian parliament, told the Ma’an news agency that the PA’s decision…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Jewish leaders will speak Sunday at a Berlin rally against anti-Semitism after the latest Gaza conflict sparked an upsurge in hate crimes against Jews. Under the banner “Stand Up: Jew Hatred – Never Again!” political and religious leaders and thousands of people are expected at the rally from 1300 GMT…

In a move which will likely boost relations between the two countries considerably, Israel’s ambassador to Belarus, Yosef Shagall, has announced that the requirement of an entrance visa to Belarus for Israeli citizens is to be cancelled. The decision was reached after negotiations between the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and the government of Belarus. The…