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Rabbi David Lau, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, visited Yeshiva University on Thursday. The chief rabbi met with yeshiva deans at YU-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and with YU President Richard M. Joel. He also spoke with YU’s Center for the Jewish Future senior staff about their work around the world with rabbis,…

Hundreds of people gathered in Afula Saturday evening for a protest march in memory of a slain resident of the northern town, and thousands more were expected to join the procession. Shelly Dadon Hy”d, 20, was savagely murdered ten days ago when she was on her way to a job interview in Migdal Ha’emek and…

Israel vigorously denied over the Sabbath that it tried to spy on former vice president Al Gore when he was in Israel. Newsweek cited a senior former U.S. intelligence operative who claimed that “a Secret Service agent who was enjoying a moment of solitude in Gore’s bathroom” before Gore arrived at his Jerusalem hotel room…

Suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked Yemen’s presidential palace on Friday, killing five guards and triggering a fierce gunfight as the jihadists hit back at an army offensive aimed at crushing them, AFP reported. Yemen’s President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi was not at the palace in the capital when the gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by guards outside…

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has received an explanation from Iran about the development of detonators that can help set off an atomic explosive device, and has asked for further clarification, diplomatic sources said on Friday, according to Reuters. How Iran responds to the UN agency’s questions about so-called Exploding Bridge Wire (EBW) detonators is…

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will fly to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel next week for talks that are expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program and Syria’s civil war, officials said Friday, according to AFP. “This trip will be the secretary’s third to the Middle East in just over a year, and it will…

Shots were fired at the religious Kibbutz Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion, located adjacent to Efrat, in the early hours of Friday morning. No injuries or damage was reported; IDF forces searched the area and apprehended two suspects.  This is the second shooting attack on a Judea-Samaria town this week. On Wednesday, terrorists shot into…

“Grandfather helping his granddaughter to plow” in the Jezreel Valley (Library of Congress, 1920s) The Aliya movements — encouraging young Jewish Zionists to move to Palestine — were launched when the Turks ruled Palestine, but immigration increased after the British captured the land in 1917-1918.  The stream of Jews escaping an increasingly hostile Europe became a fast-flowing river until 1939, when Britain shut the…

A 62-year-old Turkish man who murdered his two former wives has made headlines in the country after appearing on a TV marriage program in an attempt to find a new partner, the Hurriyet daily reported on Thursday. Sefer Çalınak shocked the host of Flash TV’s “The Luck of the Draw” and the audience when he…

Reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah is apparently going well, despite the sharp rhetoric flying between the two groups, after Fatah agreed to release all Hamas terrorists in Palestinian Authority (PA) prisons as part of the deal.  Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in an interview with Palestine newspaper on Friday that Fatah had agreed to release all…

“Justice Minister Tzipi Livni announced that she will oppose the law because it will hurt the ability of future governments to maneuver,” he stated. “Tzipi – That is the goal of this bill. To disconnect the release of terrorists from diplomatic issues, there is no connection between them.” Bennett then explained the situation like it…

Jerusalem Councilman Aryeh King, chairman of the United Jerusalem faction, on Friday morning reported a glaring infraction at Jerusalem’s Yafo Gate, the main entrance to the Old City. King posted pictures on his Facebook page of massive posters placed illegally for the Chinese cult Falun Gong, which has been banned in its native China. The pictures…

Tensions in eastern Ukraine refuse to be abated Friday, with pro-Russian militants threatening to push ahead with an independent referendum vote despite a landmark call by Russian President Vladimir Putin against drastic measures.  “Civil war has already begun,” Denis Pushilin, a prominent leader of the self-styled “People’s Republic of Donetsk,” said during a news conference…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday stood side-by-side with Syrian opposition chief Ahmad Jarba in a public show of support, but made no mention of the rebels’ plea for heavy weapons to help end the war, AFP reported. Jarba, head of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), has said he would ask the administration…

An Israeli Arab Orthodox priest has reportedly been dismissed by the Greek Orthodox church in Israel, after publicly supporting IDF service for Christian Arabs. Church spokesman Essa Musleh told AFP on Thursday that the decision was made on Tuesday to fire Father Gabriel Nadaf from his post in Nazareth, and that the decision was only being made…

Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) on Thursday paid a condolence visit to the family of 20 year-old Shelly Dadon, who was found murdered last week in Migdal Haemek in what is believed to be a terror attack. During the visit, Ariel said that terrorist murderers should not be released from prison, adding that doing…

Spring arrived in Israel weeks ago, but winter has returned with a vengeance. Overnight Wednesday, rains fell throughout the country, creating havoc on roads and trapping 70 American tourists in a valley in the Ramon crater in southern Israel. Rains have been falling since Wednesday night throughout the country. As of Thursday morning, 32 millimeters…

Water and Energy Minister Silvan Shalom will likely not run for President, despite the fact that the case against him will be closed, political officials said on Wednesday. According to Channel 2 News, officials close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Netanyahu is unlikely to back any of the presidential candidates, and this will…

Egypt’s former foreign minister said on Wednesday that Hamas must recognize the existence of Israel in order to make it possible to move forward with a Palestinian state, AFP reported. “It is normal for the Palestinians to reconcile,” said Amr Moussa, referring to the unity deal struck between Hamas and its longtime rival Fatah, headed…

The Civil Administration is at it again. On Thursday, Administration tractors knocked down homes in the Neve Eretz neighborhood, next to Michmash, a town in the Binyamin region. Among those evicted from their destroyed homes was a family of seven. Fortunately, the five children were in school when their house was destroyed, but it wasn’t…

London’s former mayor Ken Livingstone has once again hit headlines for peddling anti-Semitic stereotypes, after he claimed that Jews tend to vote for the right-wing Conservative party because they are wealthy. The comments were made Tuesday night in an interview with BBC Newsnight, in which Livingstone, who also served as a Labour MP in the…

Islamist rebels have claimed responsibility for a massive explosion in Syria’s contested second city of Aleppo Thursday morning. The attack which demolished the Carlton Hotel, which was reportedly being used as a military headquarters, was claimed by the Islamic Front via Twitter. The group claimed that it had targeted “what remained of the Carlton Hotel…

Hundreds of El Al passengers on four departing flights were stranded in Ben Gurion Airport Thursday, because the pilots never showed up for work, according to Maariv-NRG. The pilots are not answering their cell phones and their whereabouts are unknown. El Al management said that the pilots appear to be carrying out a protest motivated…

Ori Putterman, a senior at Yeshiva University’s High School for Boys (YUHSB), was announced as a winner of the prestigious 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. The 2,500 winners from throughout the US were culled from a pool of over 15,000 finalists, who were chosen by a committee of colleges admissions officers and high school counselors…

US National Security Adviser Susan Rice assured Israel at high-level bilateral talks on Thursday that Washington remained determined to stop Iran developing nuclear arms, the White House said. “The US delegation reaffirmed our commitment to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” said a White House statement released after talks in Jerusalem between Rice, Prime…

Maj. Col. (res.) Ariel Almog founded the project ten years ago, to integrate disabled youth into the IDF in a three-year program, helping prepare them for independent life in Israeli society. A few months ago the association “Lend a Hand to a Special Child,” founded in 2005 by parents of special needs children, joined the…

A couple from the Shomron (Samaria) community of Psagot came very close to being hurt on Wednesday evening when Arab terrorists from Ramallah fired shots at their home. In fact, Elad and Sherry Yaakobi said following Wednesday evening’s incident, had the bullet landed a few inches further than where it did, Sherry would have been…

Israel is concerned that U.S. President Barack Obama will reach a bad nuclear deal with Iran ahead of the midterm elections in November, an Israeli official told Reuters on Wednesday. “We would be happy to see July 20 pass without a deal,” an Israeli government adviser told the news agency, referring to the deadline by…

The besieged city of Homs in Syria has reverted back to the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad Wednesday, as regime forces continue to make gains in the country’s ongoing civil war.  The last rebels are being evacuated by State-run busses to other rebel-held villages, in a landmark deal struck between regime forces and rebels,…

U.S. school district bosses voiced regret Tuesday for a writing assignment asking teenage students to discuss whether the Holocaust really happened, while saying it aimed to develop “critical thinking skills,” according to AFP. The Rialto Unified School District in California asked 8th graders to write an essay about whether the Holocaust was not actually “merely…

Egypt’s ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has declared that the Muslim Brotherhood movement of ousted president Mohammed Morsi was “finished” in Egypt and would not return if he was elected, AFP reported. Sisi’s comments were made in the same interview in which he revealed that there had been two attempts to…

The Israel Air Force (IAF) displayed its colors on Independence Day with a traditional flyby in the skies of Israel, and about 70,000 people visited the IAF’s bases, according to the IAF Website. On display in the skies were many of the models currently serving in the IAF’s combat jet, helicopter and transport squadrons. The…

Egypt’s ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi declared that if Israel won’t recognize the “state of Palestine,” with its capital in Jerusalem, he will never visit Israel. Speaking in a TV interview on Saturday, Sisi added “Egypt is a country whose policy, history and honor to contracts and treaties is firmly rooted.…

Residents of the capital reported on the vandalism to Arutz Sheva, and one resident of the Katamon neighborhood where the swastikas were scrawled spoke about the incident. The owner of the apartment where the flags were desecrated with swastikas was shocked and immediately contacted the police, who came to the area to collect testimony, reports the…

Syrian insurgents attacked a regime checkpoint with 40 tons of explosives on Monday, killing at least 30 Syrian troops, including two officers. Videos and images posted by opposition supporters online showed an enormous plume of smoke and earth shooting into the air near a small town as men shouted “Allahu akbar”. Rebels fighting to overthrow…

Authorities in Hamas-run Gaza on Thursday executed two Palestinian Arabs for allegedly collaborating with Israel, the territory’s interior ministry said in a statement. “Two collaborators with the Israeli occupation, condemned to death for having given information leading to the martyrdom of two citizens, have been executed,” a spokesman told AFP. He said one of the men, aged 40 and identified by…

A watchdog group has raised alarm over anti-Semitism in the UK Wednesday, noting that Hamas and Holocaust denial are becoming endemic at British universities – and all in the name of “human rights.”  Counter-extremism group Stand for Peace reports that The Middle East Monitor Online (MEMO), a pro-Hamas publication in the West, is sponsoring an event…

A large majority of the Jewish public in Israel (68%) support the government’s decision to halt peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) following its unity pact with Hamas, a poll revealed Wednesday. The Guttman Center and Evens Program for Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University (TAU) conducted the poll, a monthly “Peace Index” part…

US National Security Adviser Susan Rice met Israeli leaders Wednesday, AFP reports, after the collapse of US-brokered Middle East peace talks and amid allegations Israel was spying on its principal ally. Rice started her visit by meeting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. “They discussed a wide range of regional and bilateral issues, including the United States and Israel’s close security cooperation, which…

The commander of the Iranian Navy stated on Tuesday that his forces were trained to destroy U.S. warships. Speaking to the Fars news agency, the commander, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, threatened the Navy can sink an American aircraft carrier “in less than a minute.” Fadavi added that U.S. air combat power overseas is totally dependent…

An immense explosion has been heard throughout the northern Iranian city of Qazvin, semi-official Fars news agency reported, and many casualties are expected from the blast.  Around 1.1 million people live in the city, which is located about 100 miles north of Tehran.  The blast may be related to nuclear development in Iran, according to the Los…

Fighting between rival jihadist groups in eastern Syria killed 74 people on Monday, AFP reported, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The clashes between Al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have prompted 60,000 people to flee towns in the oil-rich province. The Observatory said 69 fighters…

Two Iranian warships docked in Sudan on Monday, Khartoum’s military said, according to AFP. Sudan’s army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad was quoted as having said that the warships, one of them a navy supply ship, had arrived in Port Sudan. They would refuel and then continue elsewhere, he said, adding that during their port call…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it illegal to justify or deny Nazi war crimes. According to AFP, Putin on Monday signed new legislation introducing harsh punishments for such acts. The legislation makes it a criminal offence to deny facts established by the Nuremberg trials regarding the crimes of the Axis powers and to disseminate…

Beit Haggai, a 100-family Jewish community in the Hevron hills, was cut off from water at 2:00 a.m. Tuesday, as a result of Palestinian-Arab sabotage. The Har Hevron Regional Council’s spokesperson said that there have been more than 2,000 cases of water theft in the region – all by local Arabs – in the course…

The unity pact between the PLO-Fatah and Hamas went into force on Monday as the interior ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said it freed six prisoners from rival party Fatah in a gesture. The move came two weeks after the pact was agreed on by Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and exiled Hamas chief…

Eitan Amos, 18, of Toronto, is the winner of this year’s Bible Contest. He is the first Canadian to win the contest. Amos is a student at Ohr Haim Yeshiva in Toronto. He lived in Karnei Shomron in Samaria until he was 11 and plans to attend a hesder yeshiva in Israel next year. His deputy is…

President Shimon Peres revealed on Monday that three years ago he reached a peace agreement with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Speaking to Channel 2 News in a special interview on the occasion of Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day), Peres said that his contacts with Abbas were made on behalf of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,…

The Hamas-run Gaza government released six prisoners affiliated with the Fatah movement on Monday, an official said, according to the Ma’an news agency. Iyad al-Bazim, spokesman for the Gaza Interior Ministry, told Ma’an that the prisoners had received a pardon from Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh as part of the April 23 PLO-Hamas unity deal.…

A security jeep that was driving through the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan (Shiloach) was attacked on Monday evening by some 30 masked men, who hurled rocks and paint bottles at it. The jeep sustained heavy damage but there were no physical injuries. The incident is not the first in Silwan, which has become a…

Indian security agencies say a suspect has revealed in interrogation that Pakistan was behind planned terror attack on Israeli and American consulates in India. Official sources on Sunday revealed that Sakir Hussain of Sri Lanka admitted in interrogation that he was hired by an official in Pakistan’s high commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to collect…

Nuclear experts from Iran and six world powers are due on Monday to start a week of talks in New York aimed at reaching a permanent agreement that limits Iran’s nuclear program. The talks from Monday to in Friday New York are in preparation for the next ministerial-level negotiations in Vienna on May 13. The…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will face two other candidates in the coming June presidential election, the country’s Supreme constitutional Court announced Sunday, according to The Associated Press (AP). 21 other candidates were found to be ineligible to run, according to court spokesman Majid Khadra said on state television. He did not elaborate. Assad, who is…

Libya’s Congress leader on Sunday rejected the appointment of a new interim prime minister hours after he was sworn in, reports the BBC. Ahmed Maitig thought he had secured the support of 121 deputies after several rounds of voting in Congress, but the process was held in a chaotic session, and acting Congress chairman Ezzedine…

A British Tory council candidate has been forced to resign from the party after posting anti-Islamic comments on Twitter, the BBC reported on Sunday. David Bishop, a candidate in Brentwood South, Essex, apologized after retweeting messages, including one that claimed Islam was the religion of rape. “I have let myself and my party down,” Bishop…

A former Member of Knesset who was forced to flee Israel after it was revealed that he revealed sensitive security details to Hezbollah terrorists will head a new Qatar-based television network. The United Arab Emirates-based The National website reported on Sunday that Azmi Bishara, who now heads the Doha-based Arab Center for Research and Policy…

The Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist group Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis on Sunday claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in Sinai on Friday that left three dead, reports Daily News Egypt. In a statement released to jihadi websites, the group declared, “We will not rest until we achieve retribution for the blood and honor of the Muslims.” The first…

A former New York Police Department (NYPD) officer was arrested on Sunday, after surveillance video apparently captured him on an anti-Semitic graffiti rampage in the religious Jewish neighborhood of Borough Park. The ex-officer, Michael Setiawan, was 12-years-old when his family emigrated to the US from Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the…

Loading… Following this morning’s emotional ceremony honoring Israel’s fallen servicemen and women, Arutz Sheva takes you live to the the official memorial service for victims of terrorism, which began at 1 p.m. at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery. As detailed in a recent report released by the National Insurance Institute (NII), a total of 2,495 Israeli civilians…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the central Memorial Day ceremony at the Har Herzl cemetery Monday. “It is very difficult, and perhaps impossible,” he said, “for someone who did not experience bereavment to understand the full meaning of the grief that struck us; the force of the shock and the feeling of loss and of…

Israel transitioned from sadness to joy Monday, marking the yearly switch from Memorial Day to Independence Day at the traditional ceremony at Har Herzl just after sundown.  Israel juxtaposes the two days to illustrate the outcome of the IDF’s hard work and sacrifice – the freedom to live in a just and democratic Jewish state. …

Students at the pre-military academy of Lod over the weekend met with residents of the Ramat Eshkol neighiborhood in the city, urging them to fly the Israeli flag on Independence Day. It should be noted that the neighborhood is 75% Arab. The students knocked on doors and met families, suggesting that they fly a flag.…

In a message to the Diaspora for Independence Day, President Shimon Peres called Israel “a miracle.” Israelis and Jews should be proud of what they have accomplished, Peres said, but need to realize that they had much more to do. “We are celebrating the 66th anniversary of the State of Israel,” Peres stated. “There is…

The US Supreme Court Monday upheld the right to pray at government meetings, in a divided decision which said the practice did not violate religious freedoms. Voting along ideological lines, the court’s five conservative justices said that “the nation’s history and tradition have shown that prayer in this limited context could coexist with the principles of disestablishment and religions freedom.” At issue…

Hamas and Fatah are continuing to hold talks ahead of the planned elections, as stipulated in the unity pact signed between the sides recently. Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Fatah movement, is scheduled to travel to Qatar later this week, where he will meet with the head of Hamas’s politburo, Khaled…

A delegation of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is scheduled to visit two of Iran’s nuclear sites, the state-run Press TV reported on Sunday. “As the International Atomic Energy Agency has questions and was keen to visit Saghand [uranium] mine and Ardakan [concentration] plant, grounds have been prepared for this inspection and…

Ahiya Klein, the IDF soldier who nearly lost his sight in a clash with terrorists in Gaza, spoke on Sunday at a ceremony in honor of Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) which took place at the Sultan’s Pool in Jerusalem. During the ceremony, Klein gave an inspiring speech as he spoke about the ordeal he had…

Speaking at a 31 March New York conference on the legal issues posed by the question of the Iraq-Jewish archive, American attorney Nat Lewin said that the community should not wait until the archive was returned to Iraq before taking action, insisting that the community would receive a sympathetic hearing in the US. Harold Rhode, who…

Twenty-five French citizens have been killed fighting in the ongoing Syrian Civil War, officials announced Friday, as the phenomenon of foreign nationals fighting in the Islamic holy war mushrooms.  Spanish authorities stated that they had arrested a French citizen of Algerian descent, 24, on suspicions of joining Al Qaeda-linked groups in the war between the…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Saturday urged government bodies tasked with providing relief in war-torn Syria to increase “cooperation” with international and local organizations, state television reported, according to AFP. His statement came after UN chief Ban Ki-moon issued a report saying that foreign aid was still not reaching millions of needy Syrians despite a…

Kiev claimed Ukraine is now “at war” with pro-Russian gunmen late Saturday night, just days after the Kremlin warned that it had received “thousands” of pleas for help from civilians trapped inside eastern Ukraine. Over the weekend, fighting raged around the town of Kramatorsk in the eastern region of Donetsk, as clashes continued in Donetsk,…

The family of fallen IDF soldier Zion Tayeb (of blessed memory), who was killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, opened his grave on Saturday night on Har Herzl without permission – and discovered that it was empty. Tayeb was drafted in May 1973 and served in the Nefach territorial brigade. He was sent to…

Two people were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of desecrating Israeli flags in Jaffa late last week. Police arrested a 30-year-old woman from Jaffa and a 19-year-old male from Ramle. They were caught with spray paint in their possession. It is suspected that both desecrated about 60 Israeli flags that had been flying on…

The Iranian regime has banned access to the WhatsApp messaging application because it is owned by a Jewish “American Zionist”, Fox News reported Saturday. The announcement came some two months after Facebook bought the company for a stunning $19 billion, and a regime official connected the move directly to the founder of Facebook. “The reason…

Bereaved fathers, Ron Kerman Yossi Zur and Yossi Mendelowitz have stepped up their campaign against the national Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, now calling for bereaved families to boycott the public event. The fathers sent a scathing second letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday, in which they “call for bereaved families not to attend…

US lawmakers are to consider a bill banning the US government from funding any international projects which discriminate against Israelis in Judea and Samaria. Republican Congressman Steve Stockman, who represents the 36th District of Texas, tabled the proposal, which “terminates US government funds for any international project that prohibits participation of Israeli organizations operating beyond the 1949 armistice…

The number of Jews emigrating to Israel from increasingly volatile Ukraine has jumped by 142 percent this year so far compared to 2013, the Jewish Agency said Sunday. A total of 762 Jews from Ukraine arrived in Israel in the first four months of the year, compared to 315 in the first quarter of 2013,…

The deaths of 42 people in Odessa that greatly added to the toll of Ukraine’s crisis had its roots not only in the worsening political confrontation but also rampant football hooliganism.   The clashes that culminated in a horrific inferno of a trade union building that killed 38 people – most of them pro-Russian activists…

Israel’s 66th Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut) celebrations kicked off Sunday in New York, bringing thousands of Jews from across the city together at the JCC in Manhattan to celebrate. Events will culminate in a community-wide celebration on Tuesday. Over the course of the festivities, “The UWS (Upper West Side) Celebrates Israel,” which are free and…

Riot police in Brussels Sunday used water cannon to disperse a crowd defying a ban on a gathering of controversial far-right figures including French comic Dieudonne, which critics called an “anti-Semitic hatefest”. Citing a threat to public order, the mayor of the Brussels district of Anderlecht banned both the meeting and any protests connected to…

Between Memorial Day of 2013 and this Sunday, 57 soldiers and terror victims have joined the list of Israel’s fallen, as did 50 disabled IDF veterans who died as a result of their disability, and were recognized during the year as fallen soldiers. The number of officially recognized bereaved families in Israel in 2014 is…

Finance Minister and Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid made media headlines Saturday night, after he insisted in an interview with an American newspaper that Israel could – conceivably – hold negotiations with a Hamas-led government.  “It’s not like it didn’t happen before,” Lapid stated, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “The PLO [terrorist organization…

US diplomats in Nigeria on Friday claimed that “groups associated with terrorism” could be planning to attack a hotel in the financial capital, Lagos, in a travel note to citizens warning of security risks. “As of late April, groups associated with terrorism allegedly planned to mount an unspecified attack against the Sheraton Hotel in Nigeria, near the city of Lagos,”…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has decided to close roads leading into and out of Judea and Samaria  for Palestinian Authority (PA) residents from Sunday evening to Tuesday night, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced Saturday, citing concerns over terrorism close to Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day.  PA residents will be restricted from entering or leaving…

Tunisians are embroiled in a heated debate over allowing Israeli tourists into the country, which does not recognize the Jewish state, before an annual pilgrimage that attracts Jews from around the world, according to AFP.  It is an open secret that Israelis have been visiting Tunisia for years on the quiet. The dispute is not over Jews from third countries,…

Presidential hopeful MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) will undergo a kidney transplant next week, Channel 2 News reported on Friday. According to the report, a suitable donor for Ben-Eliezer, who has been undergoing dialysis treatments three times a week, has been found. The procedure is scheduled for right after Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) which will…

Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk have shot down two Ukrainian military helicopters, during a “counterterrorism” operation ordered by Kiev to clear the area of insurgents. According to the BBC, a pilot and another soldier have been killed, four pro-Russian militiamen arrested and 10 separatist checkpoints seized during the operation so far. In…

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has ordered the group’s official branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, to halt fighting against its rivals in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), after months of bloody clashes have weakened both groups and undermined the rebel movement to overthrow the Assad regime. In an audiotape posted…

U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel threatened tougher and broader new sanctions against Russia on Friday, if Moscow doesn’t quickly change its disruptive behavior. “We will not have a choice but to move forward with additional more-severe sanctions” if Russia disrupts a presidential election in Ukraine scheduled for May 25, Obama said…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Friday became a formal party to five global treaties banning torture and racial discrimination, and protecting the rights of women, children and the disabled, the UN said, according to AFP. Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights office, told reporters that the move followed the PA’s April 2 declaration…

Gaza terrorists opened fire towards IDF soldiers near the Kissufim border crossing on Friday evening. The soldiers returned fire. None of the soldiers were hurt. On Thursday, A Kassam rocket fired by Gaza terrorists exploded in open territory in the Eshkol Regional Council area. No physical injuries or damage were reported. Last Thursday, an explosive charge was…

Israelis, your mail will finally arrive today.  The Israeli Postal Service’s three-day strike ended late Thursday night, after a series of dramatic negotiations between Communications Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud), Histadrut Trade Union Department Chairman Avi Nissenkorn, and Finance Ministry Budgetary Director Amir Levi. Mail services will resume Friday at postal branches across Israel.  Negotiations will…

As the March of the Living commenced Monday in Poland, in honor of Holocaust Memorial Day, another type of march commenced in Ukraine: a march of Neo-Nazis supporting the Waffen, the Ukrainian version of the SS.  Around 500 neo-Nazi supporters marched in Lvov to commemorate the creation of the 14th SS-Volunteer Division ‘Galician’ on April 28,…

Gennady Kernes, the Jewish mayor of Kharkiv in the Ukraine who was critically injured Monday, has regained consciousness, according to Ma’ariv/NRG.  Kharkov municipal spokesman Yuri Sidornko told the daily that Kernes’s son, who has remained by his bedside in a Haifa hospital, sent him an SMS late Thursday night saying “we’ve regained consciousness.”  Kernes was shot in the…

The Helmsley Charitable Trust will fund full-page ads of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in the New York Times and USA Today on Monday, in time for Israel’s Independence Day. The ad, which will run in the major American papers and features the declaration’s opening words “the Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people,” can be…

Taglit-Birthright Israel brings tens of thousands of Jewish young adults to Israel each year, to tour Jewish sites – including the Western Wall and Yad V’Shem – and connect to their homeland. One area is off-limits, however: Judea and Samaria – ostensibly to avoid political confrontations. In addition, it has been argued that tour groups…

Roger Waters has returned to singing his old anti-Israel chorus, the New York Daily News reported Thursday, calling on the Rolling Stones to cancel plans for their upcoming Israel debut concert because of “Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.”  Waters, along with surviving Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, penned a joint statement against the concert earlier this week.…

At least 33 people were killed Thursday in an air strike on a market in a rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, activists said, according to the BBC. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the attack happened in the northern Halak district. The Aleppo Media Center, which put the death…

An IDF soldier was lightly wounded Friday morning, after an explosive was launched at Nahal Brigade soldiers stationed in Shechem. The soldier has been transferred to hospital for treatment. The incident occurred during an operation to uncover weapons in Shechem overnight, according to IDF officials.  A cartel of knives was seized, as well as two…

Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi David Lau visited the Beit Halokhem rehabiliation center for wounded IDF veterans in Haifa on Thursday, ahead of Israel’s Memorial Day next Monday. Rabbi Lau himself is a major in the IDF reserves, serving in the Intelligence Corps. He made the visit upon the request of the IDF Wounded Veterans Organization’s chairperson…

An infant was left with light injuries after stones were thrown at the bus he was riding in on Thursday night. The perpetrators of the rock throwing attack have yet to be located, but the incident occurred near Jerusalem’s Givat Ze’ev neighborhood, which is located in the north of the city and surrounded by Arab…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry admitted on Thursday that the unity deal between Fatah and Hamas had been unexpected. Speaking in Ethiopia, where he said it was time for the United States to take a “pause” in Israeli-Palestinian Authority (PA) peace talks, Kerry said that the deal announced last week took the U.S. by…

Ron Dermer, the Israeli Ambassador to the US, defended US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday from Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon. Danon on Tuesday wrote an article in Politico Magazine denouncing Kerry’s statements in a closed-door meeting with influential world leaders last Friday, in which Kerry warned that if a peace agreement is not reached,…

Iran on Thursday rejected an annual United States report that keeps Tehran on a list of state sponsors of terrorism as reflecting double standards, AFP reported. The Iranian foreign ministry was reacting to a State Department report released Wednesday that kept Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan on its list of so-called state sponsors of terrorism.…

A kassam rocket exploded in open territory Thursday in the Eshkol Regional Council area, bordering Gaza. No injuries or damage was reported from the missile, which was fired by terrorists from the Hamas enclave. The “color red” siren was not sounded prior to the blast. An IDF spokesperson said that more than 100 missiles fired…

Beit Shemesh suffered two syngagogue break-ins overnight Wednesday. Both synagogues were on the same street – Rabbi Tarfon Street, in the Kirya Hareidi section of the city. Thieves made off with a large number of ritual objects, including Torah scroll cases, members of both congregations told Arutz Sheva. “We are in shock,” said one of…

A sapling grown from the tree that Anne Frank wrote about while in hiding was celebrated Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol as a “living testament” to one of the Holocaust’s most cherished victims, AFP reports. The small, leafy chestnut planted on the Capitol’s west front lawn is a sapling grown from the original tree that…

Since last Independence Day, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Thursday, Israel’s population has grown by 157,000, and now totals 8,180,000. Jews account for 75% of that total, with the Jewish population at 6,135,000. There are 1,694,000 Arabs in Israel (Muslims and Christians), as well as 351,000 “others” – non-Arab Christians and members of other…

Jay Leno, the iconic former Tonight Show TV host comedian, will emcee the first Genesis Prize award ceremony in Israel, a $1 million prize given to outstanding individuals who “embody the character of the Jewish people and values…and the State of Israel.” The first recipient of the new prize will be former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who…

Pictures emerging from the city of Raqqa in northern Syria show how an Al Qaeda splinter group has been carrying out public “crucifixions” in areas under its control. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) – a group considered so brutal it was booted out of Al Qaeda, which was worried about the…

Some 3,000 Israeli worshippers entered the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem Wednesday night, in honor of the new Hebrew month of Iyar. The worshippers were of all religious backgrounds – haredi, Religious Zionist, and secular. The visit was organized by the Judea and Samaria Council. Over the past five years, the Council has brought over…

In advance of Memorial Day, which will take place next Monday, the National Insurance Institute (NII) announced Thursday that 2,495 Israelis had been killed in terror attacks since the establishment of the State. Two people were killed in attacks last year. Since 2000, 996 people have been killed in terror attacks. In addition to the…

The first hareidi hesder yeshiva has been opened in Jerusalem. The ground-breaking program will combine Torah study with IDF army service. While the first hareidi mechina, or pre-army preparatory academy, began operating last August, the hesder program includes actual military service and lasts four years, as opposed to the year or two of pre-army training…

Israeli actor and director Assi Dayan has passed away. He died Thursday morning at his apartment in north Tel Aviv. Dayan was 68, his family said. His funeral is scheduled for Sunday at 4:00 p.m. in the Haifa-area community of Nahalal. Dayan is considered one of the most influential figures in Israel’s cinema industry. The…

Szymon Klug, the last Jewish resident of Oswiecim, Poland, better known by its German name Auschwitz, passed away in 2000. On May 18, Klug’s home, located just a few miles from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, will be opened to the public for the first time, as part of a major expansion to the “Auschwitz Jewish Center.”…

A woman in her 20s was found dead Thursday in a grove near the industrial area at Migdal Haemek, in the Galilee. There were signs of violence on her upper body. A police source told Arutz Sheva that investigators are looking into a possible terror motive for what appears to have been a murder. The…

Israel summoned Jordan’s ambassador Thursday to protest an anti-Israeli article by a former Jordanian foreign minister, in which he based his argument on a Hitler quote, the foreign ministry said. Spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel’s embassy in Amman also sent the foreign ministry there an official protest over an article published on Monday by Kamel…

Support for the Nahal Brigade soldier who was videotaped in an aggressive exchange with Palestinian Arab youths in Hevron reached peak levels Thursday afternoon, as the Facebook page supporting him passed 104,000 “likes.” The soldier, who has been identified as David Adamov, cocked his gun and aimed it at Arab youths who provoked him and…

US Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated Thursday it was time for the United States to take a “pause” in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, after months of efforts stalled last month. “We believe the best thing to do right now is pause, take a hard look at these things, and find out what is possible and…

The US State Department published inflammatory remarks about Israel and “settlers” on Wednesday, just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel could become an “apartheid state.”  The 2013 anti-terrorism report investigated terror activity across the globe in 2013, and was published on its website. The “Israel, West Bank, and Gaza” section, however, focuses…

Former United States President Bill Clinton claimed on Wednesday that Israel had offered the Palestinian Authority (PA) control of the Temple Mount in 2000. Channel 2 News reported that Clinton’s comments were made during a speech at Georgetown University in Virginia, during which he made some revelations regarding the Camp David Summit attended by himself,…

An Israeli startup is poised to bring the printer up to the mobile digital age, by creating a printer that can fit in your pocket. Matan Caspi and Tuvia Elbaum of the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) pioneered the initiative while in college, establishing ZUtA Labs. With the initial funding and support of JCT, the startup…

Despite the failure of his Middle East peace efforts, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has “no regrets”, his spokeswoman said Tuesday. “The secretary has not a moment of regret about every ounce of time he’s spent on this effort,” Jen Psaki told reporters, according to an AFP report. She acknowledged that Tuesday, which Kerry…

In over 3,000 photos reportedly sent in to a small news outlet, thousands of IDF soldiers from all units have expressed their support for a Nahal Brigade soldier who has been dismissed from combat service because he cocked his gun in an incident that was videotaped by Arab youths who threatened and provoked him, in…

The Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet or Shabak) and the Jerusalem District Police nabbed a terror cell in the Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Issawiya, in a report cleared for publication Wednesday afternoon.  The terror cell was responsible for carrying out a number of attacks against Israelis, especially in the nearby French Hill neighborhood and the…

Drinking water in nine Jerusalem neighborhoods may have been contaminated, the Ministry of Health announced Wednesday afternoon.  Affected neighborhoods include Abu Tor, Silwan, Zur Baher, Ras al-Amud, the Old City, Baka, Talpiot, Mamilla, and Morasha (Musrara). About 150,000 people are estimated to be living in affected areas, according to Ma’ariv/NRG. The Gihon water company and the Health Ministry…

The Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet) and the IDF arrested a Hamas terror cell in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kalkiliya; permission to publish the story was granted on Wednesday. In investigations of the cell members, it became clear that the terror cell created improvised explosives, and planned attacks involving shooting and detonating explosives…

A “100 Shofar” protest was held on Tuesday in New York, in front of the UJA-Federation Building in Manhattan, to condemn the invitation of three pro-BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) groups to the 50th annual Israel Day Parade. Arutz Sheva contributor and Americans For a Safe Israel National Director Mark Langfan was on scene to record…

Pro-Russian gunmen tightened their control of eastern Ukraine Wednesday, seizing government buildings in yet another town with little to no police opposition, according to local media.  “They’ve taken them. The government administration and police,” the police official said of Horlivka. The town is just north of Donetsk, the center of recent clashes between Ukrainian forces…

In 2012, a lighting pole collapsed on stage during rehearsals for Israel’s official Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzmaut) ceremony, killing twenty year-old IDF officer Hila Bezaleli.  Now, almost two years later, significant progress was made in the Bezaleli case Wednesday, after the Jerusalem District Court announced that six suspects being tried for negligence in the accident…

US officials warned on Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) may risk losing its American funding, which constitutes $440 million in 2014, if it goes through with creating a unity government with the terror organization Hamas. “Let me be utterly clear about our policy towards Hamas,” Assistant Secretary for the Near East Anne Patterson told a House hearing.…

An Australia exploration company claims it may have found the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 passengers on board. The company, GeoResonance, says it began using over 20 technologies, including satellite imaging and radiation chemistry, in a search for the plane as early as March 10, comparing images…

A British convict who plotted to blow a US passenger plane out of the sky was so determined to die for Al Qaeda that he used the email address sacrifice72@yahoo.com, he admitted Tuesday. Saajid Badat, 35, told the New York trial of British hate preacher Abu Hamza that he used the Yahoo account while researching…

The reconciliation deal between Hamas and Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction last Wednesday may place Hamas in a position of control, according to a Hamas leader. Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas figure and member of the Hamas parliament, told the Arab news channel Al-Khuttab that Hamas leadership decided to take part in the coming…

Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Steven Blaney, announced on Tuesday that the Government of Canada has listed the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy-Canada (IRFAN-Canada) as a terrorist entity, reports Shalom Toronto. In an official statement, Blaney said that between 2005 and 2009, IRFAN-Canada transferred approximately $14.6 million worth of resources to various…

A shocking video taped publicly by left-wing activists on the campus of Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum has provoked a storm of anger in Israel. The video was taken in front of a monument commemorating Holocaust victims, and features an actress dressed as a prostitute calling herself “the Holocaust,” who says the Jewish nation should…

America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has decided to ban Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life, after a recording of racist comments he made about black people was released earlier this week. Those comments provoked a firestorm of outrage, as a string of sponsors either suspended or withdrew their support for the team altogether, and…

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, warned world nations on Tuesday that with the Hamas-Fatah unity pact, any funds they transfer to the Palestinian Authority (PA) may end up in the hands of Hamas and be used for carrying out terrorist attacks. “As we speak, millions of dollars are being channeled to the…

Israel has returned to the Palestinian Authority (PA) the bodies of four terrorists who carried out deadly terrorist attacks against Israelis, including the body of the terrorist who blew himself up in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001. The PA-based Safa news agency reported on Tuesday that the terrorists whose bodies were returned include…

A terrorist “lawyer” from eastern Jerusalem, who had been charged with passing messages to jailed terrorists, committed suicide in his home on Tuesday. The “lawyer,” Safadi Amjad, was on house arrest on a local court’s orders when he put an end to his life. Amjad had been charged for transferring money and messages from Hamas…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry faced harsh criticism from American Jewish organizations on Monday, in the wake of his comments that Israel will become an “apartheid state” if no peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA) is reached. It should be noted that the criticism was made before Kerry clarified his comments. The American…

Meet Tomoho Umeda, who served as the official Polish organizer for the Israeli Knesset visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. But his family history has a Jewish connection as well; it is the story of two brave women – a Jewish great-grandmother and a righteous gentile great-grandmother who risked her life to save Jews. In…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has instructed Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to cancel an upcoming hearing to promote plans for building in Judea and Samaria, IDF Radio reports Tuesday. The hearing, which was scheduled for Wednesday, was for the Planning Council of Civil Administration that approves building tenders in Judea and Samaria. Ya’alon was ordered, however, to…

Moscow accused Washington of bringing back “Iron Curtain” policies in the showdown over Ukraine on Tuesday, as the West slapped fresh sanctions against key figures including Russia’s military chief. The Russian foreign ministry warned the sanctions were “absolutely counterproductive” and were driving the crisis towards “a dead end”.     The sharp language underlined the…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday expressed his regret for saying that Israel would become “an apartheid state” if talks failed. “I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I…

Russia has threatened the United States with a “painful response”, after President Barack Obama announced new sanctions targeting a list of individuals and companies. Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy minister for foreign relations, told CNN the sanctions were “meaningless, shameful, and disgusting.” “It will only intensify all the processes in Ukraine which it intends to change…

The mayor of the east Ukraine city of Kharkiv, who was wounded critically after being shot in the back by an unknown assailant, has been flown to Israel for treatment, local officials and the Israeli hospital treating him said Tuesday. Yury Sydorenko, director of information at Kharkiv city council, said Israeli doctors decided after examining…

There can be no peace with Israel without first defining the borders of a future Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday. “We are determined to know our borders and theirs, without that there will be no peace,” he said as Washington’s nine-month deadline for reaching a peace deal expired, leaving the…

Hundreds of postal workers staged a mass protest outside the Tel Aviv postal service branch Tuesday morning, over plans to fire over 2,000 postal service workers.  Demonstrators called for the government to intervene immediately to save the workers’ jobs, as well as the postal service as a whole, and for CEO Haim Almoznino to take…

A group of jurists has petitioned the UN, BBC News revealed Tuesday, demanding that they deliver aid to starving Syrian civilians immediately “with or without consent” from Syria.  The letter, signed by 35 prominent lawmakers, insists that aid is being withheld arbitrarily.  Jared Genser, one of the legal experts who signed the letter, told the BBC that…

The White House condemned on Monday the death sentences handed in Egypt to 683 supporters of former Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi and said it was “deeply troubled” by them. “While judicial independence is a vital part of democracy, this verdict cannot be reconciled with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law,” the White House…

Congressional Republicans lashed out on Monday at Secretary of State John Kerry, over his remarks that Israel could become an “apartheid state”. According to Fox News, the number two House leader said that Kerry should apologize for the comments, while another senator called on the top diplomat to resign. “Reports that Secretary Kerry has suggested…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s comments that Israel will become an “apartheid state” if a peace agreement is not reached with the Palestinian Authority (PA) have been met with outrage, and his spokeswoman had trouble explaining them on Monday. The Washington Free Beacon noted that State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, stumbled when asked to…

Yeshiva University (YU) announced on Monday that Elliot Steinmetz will be its head men’s basketball coach. Steinmetz, a 2002 graduate of YU’s Sy Syms School of Business who lettered on YU’s basketball team for three seasons from 1999-2002, will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the men’s basketball program while ensuring the academic success…

Israel has begun implementing the recently announced sanctions on the Palestinian Authority (PA), a senior diplomatic official told the Hebrew-language Walla! news website on Monday. According to the official, Israel has started to deduct the PA’s debts from the tax money it collects on its behalf. The official added that this sanction “is just the…

Syrian President Bashar Assad announced his official entrance into the presidential race on Monday, running for a third seven-year term in the June 3 elections.  Parliament speaker Mohammad al-Laham announced the news Monday, according to Reuters.  “I … Dr Bashar Hafez al Assad … wish to nominate myself for the post of president of the…

Microsoft warned Windows users operating Internet Explorer (IE) versions 6 through 11 to switch browsers on Monday, after US and UK authorities warned that a major bug in the system could breach their users’ cyber-security.  The bug is the first of its kind to emerge after Microsoft announced that it would stop providing updates and…

 The Jewish mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Gennady Kernes, has been shot in the back by unidentified gunmen, the city council’s press service reports. RT reported that at about 11:30 am local time, Kernes was taken to the local hospital. The City Hall’s website says that doctors are fighting to save his…

The March of the Living is an annual educational program, which brings students from all over the world to Poland to study the history of the Holocaust and to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate – and more importantly, to declare that such unimaginable atrocities will not be allowed to happen again. Since…

US President Barack Obama announced that new sanctions against Russia will be imposed on Monday. As has been reported, they will target a list of individuals and companies in an effort to pressure Moscow to rethink its military intervention in the Ukraine. High-technology exports to Russia’s defense industry will be affected, the president said. The U.S. sanctions…

In what may be a sign of his frustration over the failure of his peace efforts, The Daily Beast revealed on Sunday that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become ‘an apartheid state,’ like the old South Africa. The comments were made by Kerry…

Menachem Sandovsky, a survivor from the Lodz Ghetto, discussed with Arutz Sheva on Monday the importance of survivors traveling with IDF officers who toured the concentration and death camps in Poland. “When I come here with soldiers who proudly protect the homeland and each and every Jew, my pride is so great.” Sandovsky is one…

The Jewish Home party has scheduled an urgent meeting for Monday morning to discuss Arab nationalist violence in the Galilee region. The meeting will also deal with the planned Arab provocation on the upcoming Independence Day (Tuesday, 6.6) at the Lavie Forest next to Golani Junction, where Highways 65 and 77 meet. The head of…

The Union of Israel Postal Service Employees has decided not to distribute mail in Tel Aviv and central Israel from Monday, as part of a protest against a streamlining plan that would see employees fired. The Postal Service management recently began implementation of the streamlining plan, which is designed to cut 113 million shekels from…

A court in Minya, Egypt, has passed death sentences on 683 supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi, including leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The charges are related to violent riots in the central Egyptian city of Minya in August, including the murder of a police officer. In the second case relating to 529 Muslim…

A group of Arabs in the coastal city of Lod chose to mock Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day Sunday evening, by launching fireworks at Jewish homes just before the somber nationwide ceremonies began. However, the provocation met a determined personal response by the city’s mayor, Yair Revivo. Revivo and Municipality Director Aharon Atias were…

As they stood contemplating the meaning of Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Memorial Day at 10 AM local time Monday, as sirens sounded around the country, thousands of Israelis were jarred by a text message that appeared on their phones – at that very moment. The message, from Israel Railways, was a reminder to monthly pass…

On a lobbying trip to Washington DC, Dani Dayan, Chief Foreign Envoy of the Council of Judea and Samaria, slammed US Secretary of State John Kerry for remarks he made about how Israel would turn into an “apartheid state” if it stopped making concessions to the Palestinians. “John Kerry has outdone himself this time, demonstrating…

Hamas called on all Palestinian Arab organizations on Monday to cease any activities bound to disrupt the reconciliation efforts between the terror organization and Fatah so that a unity government may be formed in five weeks – under Hamas’s leadership.  Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, criticized all Palestinian Arab organizations or parties calling for…

The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) central council on Sunday adopted a plan to pursue attempts to join 60 United Nations bodies and international agreements. The council, under the auspices of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, “affirms the need for the Palestinian leadership to continue membership of UN agencies and international conventions, under the Palestinian…

Hungary’s annual “March of Life” commemorating the Holocaust drew a record 25,000 people on Sunday as part of events marking 70 years since the start of mass deportations of Hungarian Jews in World War II, AFP reported. According to the news agency, there was an open-air concert in front of the House of Terror museum…

The United States will impose further sanctions on Russia on Monday over the crisis in Ukraine and they will include high-tech exports to Russia’s defense industry, a White House official said on Sunday, according to Reuters. White House deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken said the sanctions are designed to punish Russia for not living…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu compared the existential danger posed by Iran to Israel with the Nazi war machine, and vowed that a Holocaust will not take place again. This is the text of his speech at the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem on Sunday: “The last time I visited Yad…

Arutz Sheva discussed Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Memorial Day with Carol Nuriel, a senior researcher at the Anti-Defamation League, and asked her for her opinion on recent increases in the levels of anti-Semitism around the world. Nuriel said that there had never really been a fall in the level of anti-Semitism. “It’s always there in…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met one-on-one on Sunday with two survivors of the Holocaust, ahead of Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day. Pella Raviv, 82, of Lodz, Poland, was seven when the war broke out. Her family moved to Krakow, and then to the Radom ghetto. She used to slip out of the ghetto and…

Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day will be officially inaugurated at 8 PM Sunday night, in a ceremony at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.  In the official ceremony at Yad Vashem, six torches will be lit by six Holocaust survivors, followed by the reciting of the “Kel Maleh Rachamim” prayer, which is recited for the…

MK Yoni Chetboun (Jewish Home), who serves as the Chair of the Knesset Caucus for French Immigration, left for France on Sunday to represent Israel as part of the Jewish Agency’s Holocaust Memorial Day presentation there. Before his departure, the MK emphasized the importance of fighting French anti-Semitism in light of the horrors of the Holocaust. Chetboun…

The government approved Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid)’s financial plan to assist Holocaust survivors in Israel on Sunday, to the tune of some one billion shekel ($287,894,000) per year, according to Walla! News.  The aid package, which is designed to support the 200,000 Holocaust survivors estimated to be living in Israel in 2014, will be…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) applied to over fifteen international agencies earlier this month, in a unilateral move which torpedoed peace talks with Israel.  But on Sunday, according to Ma’ariv, PA officials announced that they had finished the application process for a different agency entirely: the International Criminal Police Organization, or INTERPOL. If accepted, the PA police force would…

The United States and Germany received top marks for their efforts to track down Nazi war criminals, in a report published today by the Israeli branch of the the Simon Wiesenthal Centre – one day ahead of Israel’s official Holocaust Memorial Day.     It placed both countries in its Category A, of states which “have…

The President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, spoke at the official commemoration ceremony for the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem. President Peres spoke about the horrors of the massacre of Hungarian Jewry which took place 70 years today and of the destruction of the community in his home town…

China should act to ensure religious freedoms, a top US opposition lawmaker said at the close of an Asia trip held as President Barack Obama also visits the region. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the number-two Republican in the lower chamber of the US Congress, was speaking in China as a bipartisan congressional delegation he was leading concluded. “Religion…

A molotov cocktail was hurled at an Israeli car on Friday afternoon, right before the start of Shabbat, just outside of Yitzhar, the Samaria community that has recently witnessed clashes between residents and the IDF. The molotov cocktail exploded on the car, setting it on fire but fortunately not leaving any major damage. The owners…

Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon (Likud) denounced on Saturday night the speech by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas before the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Central Council. Danon particularly took issue with Abbas’s claim in the speech that a unity government with Hamas is not a terrorist government. “Abbas is on his way to becoming…

Syrian President Bashar Assad dismissed concerns over the upcoming presidential race in Syria on Saturday, claiming that the race will be democratic amidst a chorus of foreign criticism.  “The Syrian presidency… maintains an equal distance from all candidates in order that Syrians can choose their… president freely and transparently,” Assad maintained, in a statement translated…

Two people were killed in clashes on Friday between protesters and police in the Egyptian city of Fayoum, AFP reported, citing local security officials. Supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi have pressed a protest campaign since his overthrow last July, despite an extensive crackdown that has killed more than 1,400 people and imprisoned thousands.…

Pope John XXIII, who will be canonized on Sunday, was “the best pope in history for the Jewish people,” says one of the founders of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.     John XXIII, who will be made a saint along with John Paul II at the Vatican, is credited with saving thousands of Jews…

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, head of the Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, expressed satisfaction on Friday over a New York court ruling which allowed the U.S. administration to seize ownership of a Manhattan building linked to Iran. The ruling, handed down last week, said that the Iranian companies that own 650 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan must forfeit…

The United States denied on Friday that Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to secure a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have failed. Rather, claimed State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, the talks are in a “moment of transition” and Kerry’s team is adopting a “holding period” as the sides decide their…

Israeli officials slammed Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s speech before the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Central Council on Saturday, criticizing him for reiterating one-sided ultimatums and dealing a death blow to the peace talks. The officials told AFP that Abbas “administered the coup de grace to the peace process today. (He) recycled the same conditions, after he…

Iran welcomed Saturday a reconciliation deal between the the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Hamas, which it said amounted to a coalition against the “Zionist regime,” a reference to Israel.   “The Islamic Republic of Iran salutes the reconciliation of the Palestinian groups against the Zionist regime… and against the excessive demands and aggressions of the…

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Thursday said it supported Israel’s decision to suspend peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA). In a statement, the ADL said that the suspension was fully justified in light of the unity pact between the PA and Hamas. “With its embrace of Hamas, a terrorist organization which unabashedly continues to…

Egypt’s former defense minister and presidential candidate, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is Jewish, according to Egyptian journalist Saber Mashhour. Mashhour’s comments were posted to the internet on April 20 and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). He claimed that Al-Sisi grew up next to Israel’s former Chief of Staff and Defense Minister, Moshe…

Over 2,000 students of New York University (NYU) reportedly woke up on Thursday to mock eviction notices under their doors, in another anti-Semitic “dorm storm” initiated by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).  “Dorm storming,” as defined by Legal Insurrection, is the now-growing practice of pro-Palestinian groups sliding “eviction notices” under students’ doors overnight, allegedly to…

Armed separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk on Friday seized a bus carrying international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the interior ministry said, according to Reuters. The group, which included 7 OSCE representatives and five members of the Ukrainian armed forces, was being held in the building…

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah offered to step down on Friday in a move which may pave the way for a unity government agreed between PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, Al Jazeera reports. “I present my resignation, and the government is in your excellency’s hands whenever you wish,” the PA-based WAFA…

A Virgin Blue Airlines passenger jet has been hijacked on its way from Bali to Brisbane Friday morning, and forced to make an emergency landing at Bali’s Denpasar airport.  According to Indonesian officials, a passenger attempted to enter the cockpit in a hijacking attack. Virgin officials have now announced that the passenger, who was allegedly…

US President Barack Obama on Friday summarized Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s unity deal with the terrorist organization, sealed Wednesday, as being “unhelpful.” “The fact that recently President Abbas took the unhelpful step of rejoining talks with Hamas is just one of a series of choices that both Israel and the Palestinians have made which are…

Several weeks ago, a vigilante by the name of “Buddhax” made waves when he exposed the true faces – and names and passwords – of several anti-Israel hackers who participated in the #OpIsrael project to launch a cyber-attack against Israel.  Now, nearly one month later, Channel 2 revealed Friday the existence of another party responsible for keeping…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday that he will not negotiate with the Palestinian Authority (PA) so long as it is part of a unity government with the Hamas terrorist group. Netanyahu gave a series of interviews to the BBC, NBC and Fox News, after his cabinet decided to suspend peace talks with the…

Syria has nearly completed surrendering its chemical weapons stockpile, a joint task force in charge of the operation said Thursday, according to AFP. “Today’s operation brings the total of chemical material removed and destroyed to 92.5 percent,” the combined Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-UN task team said in a statement. Damascus had…

An Israeli film called “Life Sentences” has won the top award at an international documentary film festival. The film, produced and directed by Nurit Kedar and Yaron Shani, won the “Golden Lens” prize at the Millenium Documentary Festival earlier this week in Brussels. The Israeli film competed against 11 other documentaries from around the world,…

US Secretary of State John Kerry responded to the suspension of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) nine months ago on Thursday, calling for “compromises” from both sides. “There’s always a way forward, but the leaders have to make the compromises to do that… if they’re not willing to make the compromises necessary…

The United States would have to reconsider its assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if Fatah and Hamas form a government together, a senior U.S. administration official said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Hamas and PA-Fatah head Mahmoud Abbas announced a unity pact on Wednesday, complicating his U.S.-brokered peace talks with Israel that were already…

The Air Force conducted a rehearsal last week for an event in which an enemy Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) infiltrates Israeli airspace. Both jet fighter and combat helicopter squadrons took part in the rehearsal, and practiced interception of a UAV near Israel’s border, reported the Air Force website. The IAF sees the threat as a…

During a six-hour security cabinet meeting on Thursday, ministers decided to respond to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) unity deal with Hamas, reached on Wednesday, by suspending the peace talks ahead of their April 29 deadline. Further, it was decided to implement various sanctions on the PA, such as financial sanctions, and the cutting of diplomatic…

A three-year-old infant boy miraculously escaped death on Thursday, after falling from a third-story window in his home on Jerusalem’s Rachel Imenu Street. Despite the massive distance of the drop, the infant was left with only moderate wounds. United Hatzalah and Magen David Adom (MDA) medics who arrived on the scene gave the infant boy…

Even as Israel suspended the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Thursday after it signed a unity deal with Hamas, the European Union (EU) saw fit to praise the alliance. “The EU has consistently called for intra-Palestinian reconciliation behind” PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said EU spokesperson Michael Mann, warmly welcoming the PA and…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) shot back on Thursday night that it is considering “all options” in response to the suspension of peace talks. A security cabinet meeting on Thursday decided to suspend the talks following a unity deal reached between the PA and Hamas on Wednesday. It further imposed financial sanctions on the PA, in…

The government plans to implement a new education program on the Holocaust in Israeli schools, changing the focus of teaching the genocide that claimed the lives of six million Jews. The new program will be implemented beginning with the coming school year, and will include content for older children, as well as for elementary school-aged…

An explosive charge was detonated by Gaza terrorists on Thursday night, targeting IDF forces in the area. The bomb was placed on the Gaza security fence, in the northern area of Gaza. No injuries or damage was reported as a result of the attack. Earlier on Thursday, the IDF uncovered two explosives near the border…

Prime Minister Binymain Netanyahu announced Wednesday evening that he would be convening the inner diplomacy-security cabinet Thursday morning, to discuss the agreement between Fatah and Hamas and whether or not to continue contacts with the Palestinian Authority (PA), reports Maariv-NRG. Earlier Wednesday evening, Netanyahu called US Secretary of State John Kerry and presented Israel’s position…

A woman was lightly wounded on Wednesday evening after terrorists threw rocks at a bus near the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem. The woman received treatment from paramedics at the scene and was subsequently taken to the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital for further treatment. Arutz Sheva has reported on many occasions about rock attacks targeting Jews in Jerusalem,…

The United States is sending Egypt 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt to help counterterrorism efforts, reports the Oman Observer. US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel called his Egyptian counterpart, Colonel General Sedki Sobhi, and informed him of the decision, according to a statement. The choppers are to help Egypt’s counterterrorism operations in the Sinai. Hagel…

Hamas and Fatah have signed a landmark reconciliation pact Wednesday, having agreed upon the terms of the deal at a meeting in Gaza. The agreement addresses key issues such as presidential and parliamentary elections, the formation of a unity government, and the restructuring of the PLO and the freeing of political prisoners held by the…

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed reports that Turkey has sent 300 troops into neighboring Syria to guard the tomb of a leading Turkish figure believed to be under threat from radical Islamist rebels, according to Today’s Zaman. The Turkish military force, which also included several armored vehicles, is being sent to bolster a…

An Israeli warplane struck the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday wounding six people, one very seriously, the territory’s Hamas rulers said. The raid came as thousands took to the streets of Gaza City to celebrate the announcement by Hamas and the PLO of an agreement to form a unity government to end seven years of…

Israel has canceled a planned session of ‘peace talks’ with the Palestinian Authority (PA) that was scheduled for Wednesday evening, following the announced Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal. Initial Israeli reactions to the deal came from the nationalist side of the map. Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin (Likud-Beytenu) said that the PA “once again has exposed the true unity of…

Israel-based SodaStream International stocks took their biggest leap in two years after daily newspaper Globes reported Starbucks Corp. is in talks to buy a 10 percent stake in the maker of home soda machines. Shares of SodaStream soared 14 percent to $46 in New York, in a rally that cut SodaStream’s loss this year to 7.6…

A tragedy was narrowly averted Tuesday, after the pilots of an El-Al Boeing 737 forgot to drop their landing gear before landing at London’s Heathrow airport, according to Channel 10.  The pilots were supposed to deploy the landing gear about six miles before reaching their destination, according to the report, and conduct tests to make sure…

The annual report from the Holocaust Survivors Fund (HSF) was released Wednesday – and revealed that a shockingly high percentage of survivors live in poverty. According to the report, 60% of survivors are “troubled” by their economic situation, and about 50,000 of Holocaust survivors in Israel today live under the poverty line.  66% of survivors…

The United Nations Security Council admitted Wednesday that humanitarian aid missions to war-torn Syria have failed – and that the situation is bound to get worse. Leaders of five UN agencies responsible for humanitarian relief painted a grim view of the hunger, poverty, and oppression in Syria in a joint statement Wednesday.  “The war escalates…

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday attacked those behind recent leaks as being a “parallel state,” and in doing so revealed they hold numerous recordings of key officials in Erdogan’s government – including himself. “They have tapes to blackmail people. They have tapes about the president and also about the chief of general…

Hamas’ police force in the Gaza Strip chose a rather strange way of exhibiting its skills at “keeping the peace” earlier this week, as policemen in military fatigues took part in a public drill simulating the seizure and destruction of an IDF lookout tower. Tens of armed fighters wielding assault weapons took part in the…

Moshe Zar, 76, a legendary redeemer of land and Samaria pioneer, discovered Tuesday morning that the memorial to his slain son, Gilad, had been burnt and defiled. He shared his feelings with Arutz Sheva in an exclusive interview. “They murdered my son with 20 bullets and verified his death,” he recalled. “We set up the…

Reports indicate that a massive US military operation in Yemen on Saturday and Sunday killed well over 55 Al Qaeda terrorists. Among the dead reportedly is Ibrahim al-Asiri, the chief bombmaker of the terrorist organization. A 4×4 truck which the 32-year-old al-Asiri was thought to be in was ambushed by US special forces over the…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas repeated his threats to disband the PA on Tuesday if peace talks remain stuck in their current dead-end. He further demanded his price for continuing the talks: a three-month construction freeze. Speaking to Israeli journalists at his offices in Ramallah ahead of the April 29 deadline for the nine-month…

Two Jewish synagogue-goers, including a former IDF soldier, have been hailed as heroes after saving a baby and an elderly man from a car just moments before it was engulfed by flames outside a synagogue in north London. The Israeli man, identified as “Shlomo” by locals, and fellow worshipper Moses Kuperman, jumped to the aid…

The mayor of the hometown of Kansas City killer Frazier Glenn Miller resigned Monday, after voicing support for the anti-Semitic gunman and former KKK leader’s views. Dan Clevenger’s resignation as mayor of Marionville, Missouri, which was handed in late Monday night, took effect at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. He was forced to resign over comments…

Tova Richler of New York flew to Israel to attend her father’s funeral at the Mount of Olives Friday, but an ambush by local Arabs prevented her from attending it. Richler, 59, drove to the funeral Friday afternoon in a car with her sister, her brother-in-law and her young nephew, reports Israel Hayom. Near the…

The push to increase the growing number of Christian Arab IDF recruits advanced Tuesday, after the IDF made a landmark decision to send out “voluntary draft notices” to Christian Arabs of recruitment age. Jewish Israeli teens receive their draft orders at the age of sixteen and a half, and are required by law to report…

Israel and Ukraine are attempting to rekindle diplomatic relations, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) announced Tuesday, ahead of the embattled country’s May 25 elections.  Liberman will be meeting with Ukrainian MP Petro Poroshenko in Jerusalem Wednesday, according to Walla! News. The move will be one of Israel’s first forays into the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, which began…

Activists of the Toronto Palestine House marked “Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Day” in series of events in front of Israeli consulates and at event halls in Toronto, Canada, over the past week, shouting slogans that incited against Israel. The events included a demonstration in front of the Israeli consulate in Toronto (April 17), a vigil dedicated to…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon strongly condemned Hamas’s attacks on Israel during the post-Passover mimouna celebrations on Monday night, and vowed the IDF’s continued defense of Israeli citizens. “Even today, our enemies rise up to destroy us,” he said at a mimouna celebration in Modi’in, paraphrasing the Passover haggadah, “and we see that the IDF responded immediately, to send a…

Jews who visited Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, in recent days were astonished to find that the tomb of Dov Ber Schneerson, brother of the late Lubavicher Rebbe, Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson, had been vandalized. Unknown vandals spray-painted swastikas on the tomb, which was erected six years ago as a memorial to the man, who was murdered by…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of breaking the Geneva Accords Monday, in the latest set of hostile barbs between Moscow and Kiev.  Lavrov accused the new government, which was established last month after a coup by pro-European protestors, of not weeding out extremists during the recent revolution.  “Extremists are calling the tune,” he…

Secular residents of Ashdod were up in arms Monday night because of a “men’s only” Mimouna celebration taking place in the city. The event was being attended by Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, along with top officials in the Shas party. Mimouna, the post-Passover spring festival associated with Moroccan Jewry, has been adopted by many…

The Syrian presidential elections will be held on June 3, current President Bashar Assad announced Monday, just one week after he claimed the three-year civil war was going in his favor.  Western and Gulf Arab countries that back Assad’s opponents have called plans for an election a “parody of democracy” in the wake of the…

Over the Passover holiday, over 2 million Israelis visited national parks, nature reserves, and outdoor sites around Israel. According to the Jewish National Fund, the top sites were the Hula Reserve in northern Galilee, the “interactive forest” in the Ilanot Forest, and the water reservoirs in the Besor region in southern Israel. Also very popular…

MK Yoni Chetboun (Jewish Home) attended the traditional Mimouna celebration in the southern Israeli city of Sderot Monday night. Residents of Sderot, like in many other communities in southern Israel, were on alert throughout the day Monday, as rocket attacks by Gaza Arab terrorists rocked the region. Many residents of the city spent much of…

The Israel Air Force struck three terror targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday afternoon, in response to rocket fire at southern Israel earlier Monday. The IDF Spokesman’s Office said in a statement that “IAF aircraft attacked two terror targets in the south of the Gaza Strip and an additional target in the center of…

Frazier Glenn Cross, who has been indicted in the shootout at a Kansas Jewish community center last weekend in which three people were killed, threatened Jewish leaders in Ukraine last month, said Rabbi Dov Bleich, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine. Speaking to haredi newspaper Hamevaser, Rabbi Bleich said that Cross made the threat through a…

A freak spring wind storm downed trees in Israel’s southern resort city of Eilat as tens of thousands of Israelis were enjoying the last days of the Passover holiday. Dozens of cars were damaged by downed trees. Police and municipality crews were dispatched to help evaluate and clean up the damage. The wind storm began…

The Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Religious Trusts, Mahmoud al-Habash, cancelled a planned visit to Tulkarm Sunday for the dedication of a new mosque, after many dozens of residents demonstrated against him. The protesters were angry at him for an interview in which he denounced the terror attack in which an Israeli police officer was murdered and said…

Authorities are still searching for nine Hezbollah-linked suspects in Thailand on Sunday, just days after two suspects in a planned terror attack against Israelis were arrested in Bangkok.  While Thailand’s Jewish leaders reassured the public not to panic following the arrests, and stressed that threats are ‘business as usual’ in Bangkok, Israeli authorities are taking…

US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro addressed the US visa crisis for the first time late Saturday night, stressing that the White House is working diligently to increase the number of visa applications accepted for young Israeli tourists.  “In a letter to members of Congress this week, the State Department announced the decision of the…

At least five people have reportedly been killed in Slaviansk Sunday morning, after Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russian demonstrators clashed in another skirmish overnight. Russian Times places the death toll at six thus far.  Slaviansk, a town in eastern Ukraine which has been seized by armed pro-Russian protestors, has been a flashpoint for clashes over the past week. …

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik’s tour of the Temple Mount was cut short this morning when violent rioting broke out at the holy site. It was the first time that the Temple Mount had been open to Jews since the beginning of the observance of Passover this year. The riots forced Rabbi Meir Soloveichik and his family,…

President Shimon Peres on Sunday made his traditional Pesach visit to the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzchak Yoseph. During his visit, Peres stressed the importance of maintaining unity among the Jewish people. “We are not a big people, and we have known much suffering and destruction,” Peres said. “We cannot let the differences…

Is there a secret deal between the Vatican and Israel to transfer control over King David’s Tomb to the Catholic church? An investigative report in Makor Rishon cites La Stampa Vatican Insider journalist Andrea Tornielli as saying that the deal has been nearly completed, and that Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin is in charge of…

Ukraine’s prime minister voiced outrage at reports that masked men in east Ukraine’s main city handed out leaflets demanding Jews register or be expelled, NBC News reported Saturday. Members of the Jewish community in the pro-Russian protest hub of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine said Friday that they were left shaken by the distribution of tracts demanding the registration of Jews. Prime Minister…

Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, said Saturday that a dispute with world powers over the Arak heavy water reactor has been “almost resolved,” the Al-Alam Arabic-language television reported. “Iran has made a proposal to the P5+1 (group of world powers) to make certain changes in Arak and they have accepted.…

Iran is continuing its process of military armament, which is largely based on domestically-manufactured weapons including satellites, fighter planes, helicopters, missiles, radar systems and more. Iranian Navy Commander Habib Allah Siari announced Saturday that Ghader-type cruise missiles would be placed on Iran’s destroyers. The Ghader was unveiled in 2011, and can be launched from ships…

American film producer and screenwriter Boaz Yakin is best known for successful movies like Remember the Titans, Fresh, and 2013’s Now You See Me. But his latest release isn’t a movie, but a graphic novel based on his own family’s experiences. The trials and tribulations of the pre-1948 Jewish resistance groups Irgun (also known by its Hebrew…

Islamist terror organization Hamas has attacked the latest statements by Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas, regarding possible reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas. It noted that by speaking in threatening terms, Abbas was not creating a positive atmosphere. Hamas stressed that the PLO Central Committee does not represent the Palestinian people and that it…

Egypt has foiled an attempt to smuggle out of the country Jewish antiquities used during religious ceremonies, the antiquities ministry said on Friday.     The artefacts were discovered in the Mediterranean city of Damietta as they were about to be shipped to Belgium, a ministry statement said.   Among them are 11 wooden cases…

Thousands of Christian pilgrims thronged the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City Saturday amid tight security to celebrate the Holy Fire ceremony on the eve of Easter.     Christians believe that a divine fire from heaven ignites a flame in the church, built on the site where they say Jesus was…

US President Barack Obama made clear his “disgust” at anti-Jewish leaflets handed out in east Ukraine’s main city, his top national security aide said Friday.     The pamphlets telling Jews to register or be expelled were distributed in the city of Donetsk and sparked global outrage and fears of a Nazi-style pogrom.    …

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met separately Friday with US peace envoy Martin Indyk, a Palestinian Authority (PA) source said, a day after five hours of three-way talks failed to bring agreement. Indyk first met chief PA negotiator Saeb Erakat in the city of Jericho, but no details of their talks were given. Israeli officials did…

Arab terrorists tried to set an IDF pillbox-type guard position on fire Saturday, at Rachel’s Tomb, near Bethlehem. No soldiers were reported hurt. An IDF outlook unit identified smoke coming from the pillbox post and alerted ground forces to approach the position. The soldiers identified about ten suspects who had set fire to the post.…

Israel has responded angrily to a statement by the EU’s leading foreign diplomat in which she exclusively blamed Israel for the collapse of peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. On Firday, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton called on Israel to halt construction projects in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria in order to revive…

Local Christian Arabs and pilgrims from around the world made their way down the cobbled Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem Friday, where Jesus is believed to have walked to his crucifixion, according to AFP.  Thousands of worshippers, some bearing wooden crosses, walked through the walled Old City to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site where they believe Jesus was…

Many Israelis have long maintained that conditions for Arab terrorists in jail are far too comfortable and do not provide enough of a deterrent, citing numerous incidents of Palestinian Arabs who have carried out attacks purely in order to receive the perks that Israeli jails afford them, including free higher education. A recent interview with…

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton called on Israel to reverse recent announcements regarding construction in Judea and Samaria in order to advance peace talks.   Ashton said she viewed with “great concern” an Israeli decision to declare an area near the Gush Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem as state land and the recognition of…

Syrian fighter jets struck villages and sites associated with the opposition forces late Friday morning, in the Quneitra region of the Golan Heights. The attacks on Quneitra, the only crossing along the Israeli-Syrian border in the Golan Heights, raised concerns in Israel, reports Channel 10. In response, the IDF stepped up preparations along the border, and…

Armed pro-Russian separatists declared their intent to stay at their posts Friday, in defiance of an international deal which they claim does not apply to them.  A landmark deal reached Thursday night between Russia, the US and the European Union (EU) called for the separatists, who have been seizing government buildings in eastern Ukraine for…

Efforts to extend the collapsing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) past their April 29 deadline have failed, according to a PA source. The latest meeting, which was held in a Jerusalem hotel late Thursday with US envoy Martin Indyk, included five hours of “very difficult discussions,” the source told AFP. “The gap (between…

The Syrian Army reportedly killed a number of foreign nationals fighting in Syria earlier this month, in a special operation conducted in the southern rural area of Idlib. The operation, which was first reported in the blog Alternative Angle, saw six foreign nationals killed in the villages of Kafr S’jina and Al-Hamdiya.  Killed in action,…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s office wasted no time on Wednesday in denying reports that he condemned the terrorist attack the occurred near Hevron on Monday. The attack left Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi dead and two others, including his pregnant wife, wounded. Leftist MKs who met with Abbas on Wednesday as Mizrahi was being buried…

US Secretary of State John Kerry will be investigating the sudden rise in the number of US visas rejected for young Israelis, after an initial report saw that the visa rejection rate has doubled since 2009.   Kerry announced the move in a letter Thursday, published by Al-Monitor, to House Representative Nita Lowey (D – NY). The…

Two suspects, thought to be linked to the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah, were arrested in Thailand last week. In investigation one of them has admitted a planned bombing attack on Israelis during Passover. The two suspects, French-Lebanese Daoud Farhat and Lebanese-Filipino national Youssef Ayad, were exposed by a counter-terror website “Stop910” as being part of…

Following intelligence information received by Jerusalem police on plans by Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount to disrupt the public order at the end of their prayers, entrance to the holy site was limited to Muslim visitors. The decision to only allow Muslim men over the age of 50, and women of any age, to…

Dozens of Arab youth rioted in Jerusalem on Friday, as they tried to break through police barriers by the Shalem police station near the Damascus Gate, located on the eastern end of the Old City’s northern wall. Police used riot dispersal means to push them back; no injuries were reported on either side. Hundreds of…

The Haifa-based defense company Rafael is planning several enhancements to its Iron Dome missile defense system. A company official identified only as Gil S told IHS Jane’s in early April that the enhancements would include various improvements, but that details and timelines are largely classified at the moment. “There is something in the pipeline, both in terms…

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday condemned notices which were sent to Jews in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, asking them to identify themselves as Jews. Kerry called the move “grotesque.” “In the year 2014, after all of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable,…

Iran is complying with the terms of its temporary nuclear agreement with six world powers, a monthly update from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showed on Thursday. The secret report was obtained by Reuters and the Associated Press. Under the January 20 deal, Iran curbed some parts of its nuclear program in exchange…

Poll: Many Americans Consider Obama a ‘Liar’ Global Agenda 7:53 AM 4/17/2014

Nearly 100 members of the ancient Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, attended a first-of-its-kind traditional Passover Seder Monday. The Seder, was sponsored by the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel organization, which sent Kaifeng all of the traditional Passover items including: Kosher Matzah packages from Israel, Kosher for Passover wine, Passover Haggadahs (traditional book used on Passover that explains the…

While thousands of Arab residents of Hevron marched through the city on Thursday afternoon to mark “Prisoners’ Day,” dozens of them rioted, throwing rocks at IDF soldiers and border patrol officers.  Security forces responded by using riot control gear, lightly wounding one of the rioters in the process. On Prisoners Day, Arab residents of Judea, Samaria…

A technical malfunction caused a carousel ride in Tel Aviv’s Luna Park amusement park to stop suddenly Thursday, lightly injuring 21 children. Medics and paramedics from Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services gave the children medical treatment on the spot and then evacuated them to hospitals. An MDA paramedic told IDF Radio that the children…

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli visitors have inundated Judea and Samaria during Chol Hamoed, the intermediary days of Passover, reports the tour group Mishkefet (‘Binoculars’). “The demand for visits to Judea and Samaria rose beyond our expectations,” noted Mishkefet, adding that it had broken a record by holding over 100 tours in the region so…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took his wife, Sarah, and sons, Yair and Avner, on a Pesach holiday trip to the Galilee.  The photos place them at the Manara Cliffs near the Lebanese border and overlooking the Hula Valley. Loading… Photos: Haim Tzah, GPO

Over 1,000 Jews are expected to gather in Moscow between April 24 and 27 for the “Limmud FSU Moscow” conference, one of the largest gatherings of Jews in the former Soviet Union (FSU). The conference is organized by local volunteers and held by Limmud FSU, a nonprofit founded eight years ago to serve Russian-speaking Jews worldwide.…

Russia, the US and the European Union said Thursday that they have agreed to steps to “de-escalate” the crisis in Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that a deal has been reached with Ukraine, the US and the EU to ‘de-escalate’ dangerously high tensions in the former Soviet republic. Lavrov, US Secretary of State…

Crime boss Charlie Abutbul was found dead, shot in the head, in his Netanya home on Thursday. He was in house arrest pending a 16-month jail term, after being convicted of abduction. Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics who were called to the scene evacuated Abutbul to Laniado Hospital in Netanya, where doctors were forced to…

Speaking Thursday on a tour of Druze and Circassian villages in northern Israel, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said that the terror attack on Monday night, in which police officer Baruch Mizrahi was murdered by an Arab terrorist, “reminds us, for those who may have forgotten, that Israel is faced with a large group of neighbors…

A modern “exodus” story took place in recent months, as one of the last Jews in Sudan managed to make her way to Israel – more than 30 years after she had planned to make i Takla’s story (her real name is a secret, for her safety’s sake) begins in 1980, when as an 18…

Twelve Israeli tourists were injured late Wednesday when a bus overturned in Argentina. The Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires is in touch with the victims and has contacted their families in Israel. All 12 are said to be suffering from light injuries. The Israelis have been taken to a local hospital for treatment. According to…

Thousands of police and IDF troops will be on duty Thursday, as tens of thousands of Jews arrive at the Kotel (Western Wall) for the Birkat Cohanim (Blessing of the Cohanim) ceremony, a special feature of the Jewish festivals. Troops will be on special alert following the unrest on the Temple Mount Wednesday. Police will…

For the second time, Israelis of all religious stripes – secular, haredi, and National Religious – will march on Thursday from secular Ramat Gan to haredi Bnei Brak, in an annual “march of unity” designed to reduce tensions and disagreements between the groups, and to provide an example of a better way to conduct relations.…

If, eventually, the “fourth round” of terrorist prisoner releases takes place, the list of those to be released is set to include ten arch-terrorists whose families live in Judea and Samaria – and they are deemed to be too dangerous to be allowed to return to their homes by Shabak security agency chief Yoram Cohen.…

Hungary began 70th anniversary commemorations of the Holocaust on Wednesday, amid boycotts and protests by Jewish groups which accuse the government of whitewashing the country’s role in the mass deportations of Jews in 1944. Marking the day when Hungarian Jews were first placed in ghettoes in 1944, ceremonies were held around the country as part of “Holocaust 2014”, a program of events…

A Jewish merchant was stabbed by a Muslim man on the Tunisian island of Djerba on Monday, hours before the Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover) and just one month before the annual pilgrimage to the island’s El Ghriba synagogue. 38-year-old Lasaad Tounsi caused minor injuries to Morris Bachiri, a Jewish merchant from El Hara El Kabira,…

Among those wounded in the terror shooting near Hevron Friday was a nine-year-old boy, Almog Mizrahi of Beit Shemesh. While sharing the same last name with Baruch Mizrahi of Modiin, the police officer who was killed, Almog was in a separate car with his mother and his sister, Lotam. He was released from hospital Wednesday…

Birkat Hakohanim, the traditional priestly blessing ceremony, is expected to bring tens of thousands of Jews to the Western Wall (Kotel) Plaza Thursday, but the Temple Mount itself has been closed off to Jews and will likely remain that way on Thursday, too. The Western Wall is a remainder of the outer perimeter wall that…