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A meeting between Israeli and Palestinian Authority negotiators scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed, an official said, after the fatal shooting of an Israeli father near Hevron. “The meeting that was planned for tonight between Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams will not be taking place. It’s being postponed,” the Israeli official told AFP on condition…

Traffic ground to a halt on Highway 1 – the main road to and from Jerusalem from the coastal plain – Wednesday morning. The road was blocked in both directions for hours near Neveh Ilan, because of a bus that caught fire. Traffic has since resumed moving but is still doing so slowly near Ein…

Prosecutors filed a death penalty murder charge Tuesday against a white supremacist accused of fatally shooting three people at Jewish sites in Kansas over the weekend, judicial sources said. Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, also known as F. Glenn Miller, was charged with one count of capital murder for the deaths of a 69-year-old physician and…

Terrorists opened fire on a family car near Hevron in Judea, murdering the family’s father as he was driving, mere minutes before the Passover holiday began on Monday afternoon. The man, a police officer in his 40s from the center of the country, was killed instantly by the gunfire. He was from Modi’in, security sources…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday responded to the murder of a police officer near Hevron on Monday, just before Passover began. The man was shot to death by terrorists while driving with his family to a seder meal in Kiryat Arba. “This reprehensible murder of a man who was traveling with his family to a…

Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi Hy”d, a husband and father of five, is the man who was murdered near Hevron on Monday by terrorists right before Passover began. Mizrahi was driving to Kiryat Arba for a seder meal with his pregnant wife and three of his children when a terrorist opened fire on the family car,…

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has spoken separately with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to encourage them to keep alive the faltering peace process.     Ban spoke to the pair individually by telephone on Sunday, amid fears the US-backed peace talks are close to collapse.     The United Nations…

“Stop910,” a website that collects information on terror cells in eastern Asia, reported on Tuesday that the cell was discovered in Thailand, and displayed pictures of three members who had been spying on Israeli sites. The three terrorists include Youssef Ayad, a Shi’ite Muslim from the Philippines working under Hezbollah’s international arm, along with two…

Terrorists opened fire on a family car near Hevron in Judea, murdering the family’s father as he was driving, mere minutes before the Passover holiday began on Monday afternoon. The man, a police officer in his 40s from the center of the country, was killed instantly by the gunfire. His pregnant wife was wounded, and…

Police officers from Ariel in Samaria foiled a stabbing attack Tuesday night while patrolling nearby Tapuach Junction, located near Kfar Tapuach. The police noticed an Arab man acting in a suspicious manner. Upon investigation, the officers found a knife in his pocket. An initial investigation revealed that the man intended to stab an IDF soldier…

Prosecutors filed a death penalty murder charge Tuesday against a white supremacist accused of fatally shooting three people at Jewish sites over the weekend, judicial sources said.   Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, was charged with one count of capital murder for the deaths of a 69-year-old physician and his teenage grandson outside the Jewish Community…

A man was shot and murdered by a terrorist in the Hevron area on Monday afternoon. A father was driving in his car with three young children and his wife when a terrorist shot them. The father was immediately killed while his wife and three  children were wounded and taken to the hospital.  The IDF…

Seventy-one people were killed and 124 injured after an explosion erupted at a Nigeria bus station, official media announced Monday.  The explosion, which occurred at the Nyanyan Motor Park on the outskirts of Abuja, erupted at about 6:45 am Monday, said Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman of the country’s National Emergency Management Agency.  “We’re still treating people with…

President Barack Obama warned Monday that religious violence had no place in US society after a gunman with alleged anti-Semitic ties killed three people at a Jewish center and retirement home. “Nobody should have to worry about their security when gathering with their fellow believers. No one should have to fear for their safety when they go to prayer,” Obama…

Hundreds of Jewish travelers gathered in Kathmandu Monday to attend what organizers claim is the world’s biggest Passover celebration as food supplies, delayed for weeks due to a diplomats’ strike, arrived hours before the feast. Chabad House Nepal, which organizes the celebration every year, usually relies on the Israeli embassy to help import supplies for the feast in the impoverished Himalayan nation.…

President Barack Obama offered his condolences on Sunday night to the families of those killed in the shootings outside a Jewish community center and a retirement village in Kansas. According to The Associated Press, Obama said he has asked his White House team to make sure law enforcement authorities have “the necessary resources to support…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said on Sunday that the war that has torn Syria apart for three years and cost more than 150,000 lives is turning in the government’s favor, AFP reported citing the state news agency SANA. “This is a turning point in the crisis, both militarily in terms of the army’s achievements in…

Ukraine’s ousted president on Sunday accused the CIA of being behind the new Ukrainian government’s decision to deploy armed forces to quash an increasingly brazen pro-Russian insurgency, reported The Associated Press (AP). Speaking late Sunday on Russian state television, Viktor Yanukovych claimed that CIA director John Brennan had met with Ukraine’s new leadership and “in…

Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said on Sunday that his country will need 30,000 of its new generation centrifuges to meet domestic fuel demands, far more than the current number, AFP reports. Salehi’s comments came just days after the latest round of international talks in Vienna aimed at securing a long-term deal over Iran’s…

Kansas police have published the identity of the 73-year-old suspect in Sunday’s shootings at two local Jewish institutions that left three dead. The suspect, Fraiser Glenn Cross Jr., is the former Grand Dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The name Cross is an alias for Fraiser Glenn Miller, former leader of…

Jews in eastern Russia – in Siberia, and along the border with Japan – are preparing for Passover. The area is home to thousands of Jews, and rabbis affiliated with Chabad and other groups are conducting Passover Seders for them. Siberia is about ten time zones east of Israel, so Jews there were already well…

Two shootings have been reported at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas City, and at Village Shalom, a retirement home in Leawood. At least three people are reported dead.  According to KSHB in Kansas City, Overland Park Police confirmed that multiple shots were fired at the community center, which is located at 5801…

Sunday evening, Gaza terrorists fired several mortar shells at an IDF force operating near the Gaza border. No injuries or damage were reported. The attack occurred in the Northwestern region of the Negev, near the Kissufim border crossing. This was the second reported mortar attack on IDF soldiers in the Negev in the past 24…

Police apprehended a suspected gunman from a shooting at two Jewish institutions in Kansas which left three people dead earlier Sunday. Local news outlets reported that the man was heard yelling “Heil Hitler” as police took him into custody. The 70-year-old suspected gunman was not from Kansas, and local police had not encountered him before.  It’s…

 An Islamic terrorist serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli prison has declared an open-ended hunger strike in protest at his solitary confinement, a Palestinian Arab “support group” told AFP Sunday – hours before the strike ended.  The Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said that about 200 other Palestinian Arabs spread across several Israeli jails would fast in solidarity with former Hamas…

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday accused Twitter of tax evasion and pledged to launch a probe against it, reported the Anadolu news agency. Speaking during the inauguration of a biological treatment facility in Istanbul, Erdogan said, “Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are companies established to make profit; these companies are making money.” “Like…

After years of research and a number of High Court cases, the Civil Adminstration on Sunday declared a parcel of 980 dunams (242 acres) of land in Gush Etzion as state-owned land. The declaration of the parcel as state-owned land is the first step in developing plans for eventual home construction. This is the largest…

Israeli and Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiators met on Sunday in a fresh bid to save their teetering US-brokered peace talks, a PA official said. Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erakat was meeting in Jerusalem with his Israeli opposite number, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s special envoy Yitzhak Molcho, he told AFP. There…

A Ukrainian security officer was killed and five more were injured Sunday in clashes that broke out between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk.  Acting Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov stated that there were “casualties on both sides” from the clashes, including many more injured from the separatist side. According to Avakov, about 1,000…

Syrian government and opposition forces have traded blame over an alleged chemical attack in the village of Kafr Zita, Hama province on Friday. “Regime planes bombed Kafr Zita with explosive barrels that produced thick smoke and odours and led to cases of suffocation and poisoning,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the London-based Syrian Observatory for…

Little progress has been made in the official investigation over Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpiur to Beijing on March 8. But an unofficial probe by local newspaper the New Straits Times revealed Saturday that the co-pilot of the jetliner attempted to make a call with his cellpgone shortly after the…

U.S. contractor Alan Gross ended an eight-day hunger strike Friday to press for his release from prison in Cuba, AFP reported. Gross moved to end his protest after a telephone conversation with his mother, who will turn 92 years old on Tuesday, according to defense attorney Scott Gilbert. “My protest fast is suspended as of…

Iran said on Friday that it “regretted” the United States’ decision not to issue a visa to Tehran’s choice as its next UN ambassador, but noted that the decision would not affect the nuclear talks currently underway between Iran and six world powers. The U.S. decision to not issue a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi is…

The United States on Friday said it was against the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) turning to international organizations, but also expressed its displeasure with Israel’s sanctions on the PA. “Unilateral moves by both sides will not accelerate the peace process, but will rather do the opposite,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney, according to Channel 10…

Ukraine’s interim government has accused Russia of orchestrating unrest in the country, after gunmen seized several further government buildings in eastern Ukraine. It comes just days after government buildings in Donetsk were seized by protesters in the majority Russian-speaking east of the country, who are demanding a union with Russia. On Saturday, pro-Russian militiamen stormed…

The Obama administration has officially informed Iran and the United Nations that the U.S. will deny a visa to Tehran’s choice as its next UN ambassador because of his ties to the 1979 hostage crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Iran’s government had chosen Hamid Aboutalebi, who served as a translator for radical…

The Egyptian government has stepped up a campaign to curb Muslim Brotherhood influence over mosques, Reuters reported on Thursday. The government said it has licensed more than 17,000 state-approved clerics to give Friday sermons to stop places of worship from falling “into the hands of extremists,” according to the report. The military-backed authorities have been…

Vienna’s Philharmonic Orchestra said Saturday it was returning a painting that was stolen by the Nazis to the descendants of its rightful owners, in the latest high-profile restitution case in Austria. The Philharmonic, famed for its annual New Year’s concert, sent a letter to the descendants of the painting’s former French owner Marcel Koch on Thursday to inform them of the move,…

Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir warned that the IDF’s seizing of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in Samaria’s Yitzhar on Friday morning will not cut down on “price tag” vandalism. According to Ben-Gvir, the move will only encourage more attacks. “Law enforcement authorities would never dare mention seizing Bir Zeit University or any other hornet’s nest,” remarked Ben-Gvir,…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has signed up formally to the Geneva Conventions, which set down the rules of warfare and humanitarian operations in conflict zones, the treaties’ guardian Switzerland confirmed Friday. Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger told AFP that the PA had declared itself party to the conventions on April 2. The PA was registered formally by Switzerland on Thursday, he…

President Shimon Peres eulogized Ron Pundak on Friday, after the 1993 Oslo Accords architect passed away at the age of 59 earlier in the day, following a long bout with cancer. Pundak was a “peace fighter to his last breath,” according to Peres, who “devoted his entire adult life in efforts to achieve peace between us…

A Border Police officer was lightly wounded on Friday evening from a rock thrown by Palestinian Arabs who were rioting near the border fence in Beitunia, north of Jerusalem. The officer was taken to hospital for treatment. Soldiers dispersed the rioters, who were throwing rocks and firebombs towards them. Arutz Sheva has reported on many occasions about…

Bereaved families have filed complaints against the mayor of the Arab city of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, located in northern Israel near Hadera, after discovering signs around the city which show the terrorists who murdered soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984. The signs read, “Today you, tomorrow all the prisoners” and “You returned as heroes.” Moshe’s brother Oren…

The IDF caused new fury in the Samaria town of Yitzhar by stationing a border police unit in Yitzhar’s Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva (Torah academy) building. “Due to the violent events towards security forces that occurred in recent days, and in order to give a response to security needs, it was decided by the IDF to…

Ron Pundak, one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, died Friday after a long battle with cancer. He was 59 years old.  Pundak’s Oslo Accords allowed the PLO terrorist organization to establish an armed presence in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and form the Palestinian Authority (PA). Intifada terror wars following the accords costs thousands of Israeli…

The widow of Egypt’s former president recently blasted the United States’ policy towards Egypt, saying she was “sick and tired” of it. Jehan Sadat, the widow of Anwar Sadat, said in a TV interview that the U.S. was trying to fragment Egypt, just like it fragmented Iraq and Syria. The interview aired on the Saudi-owned…

The IDF released a statement on Friday, announcing that it has placed a border police unit in the Samaria town of Yitzhar due to recent clashes there between residents and the IDF. The unit has been stationed in the Yitzhar Yeshiva (Torah academy) building. “Due to the violent events towards security forces that occurred in recent…

The Canadian government is considering blacklisting the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, Shalom Toronto reports Friday, after a petition submitted by conservative MPs in Ontario province’s Mississauga and Streetsville reached the House of Commons earlier this month.  Egypt began an intense crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in July, after the ouster of former leader Mohammed Morsi.…

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) launched an attack on Thursday against its Al-Qaeda rival, the Al-Nusra Front, and its local Syria allies, AFP reported. The attack, in a town on the Iraqi border, killed dozens of fighters, according to activists who spoke to the news agency. The clashes centered on Al-Bukamal,…

Gaza terrorists fired mortar shells at an IDF force that was patrolling near the security fence early Thursday afternoon. No one was hurt and no damage was caused. The force returned fire in the direction that the mortars were fired from. The IDF Spokesman said that the incident was the third time in two days…

Most people know that Steven Demetre Georgiou – also known as Cat Stevens – converted to Shia Islam at the height of his musical career in 1977, when he was a well-known international rock star, taking on the name Yussuf Islam. Stevens was introduced to Islam by his brother David – who, according to sources,…

Leaders of Yitzhar, the Samaria community where youths destroyed an IDF outpost and set off a firestorm of criticism, issued a letter Thursday appealing to residents to oppose violence against the IDF. The letter acknowledges the frustration of residents, saying that there was no justification Tuesday for the demolition of homes by the Civil Administration,…

  Israel launched the spy satellite “Ofek 10” into space on Wednesday evening. The launch was conducted by the Ministry of Defense at the Palmachim Air Force Base in central Israel. “The successful launch of the ‘Ofek 10’ satellite is additional proof of Israel’s remarkable technological capabilities,” Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Thursday. “The ‘Ofek 10’ satellite will improve the State…

Terror group Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis announced Thursday that it will carry out revenge attacks on the United States and harm its interests in Egypt, following Washington’s decision to add the Sinai-based terror group to its list of terror groups. Voice of Israel‘s monitor of Arabic radio said that the organization vowed to strike US firms…

A disturbing discovery was made in the Polish town of Dobrzyn Nad Wisla on Monday by Johnny Daniels, CEO of Mimaamakim (From the Depths), a group which brought MKs to visit Auschwitz in June for Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Roughly half of the residents of the small Polish town were Jewish before the horrors of the Holocaust.…

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon on Thursday congratulated the Israel Space Agency for its successful launch of the Ofek 10 satellite Wednesday night. “The launch is further testimony to Israel’s phenomenal capabilities in technology,” Yaalon said. “The Ofek 10 satellite will greatly enhance Israel’s intelligence capabilities and help us to better defend the country from threats…

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas says he may be willing to extend talks with Israel beyond their current April 29 deadline, throwing a lifeline to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s floundering diplomatic efforts between the sides. Speaking to pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Abbas denied that his decision to unilaterally apply for membership to 15…

The United States is threatening Russia with more sanctions, not only over the situation in Ukraine but also over a possible oil deal between Moscow and Tehran. Reuters reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told his Russian counterpart on Thursday that any oil-for-goods deal Moscow might strike with Iran could run afoul of U.S.…

Hamas said on Thursday evening that it was against any extension of the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). The group’s spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, made the remarks, following reports of a possible deal between Israel and the PA, whereby Israel would release Israeli-held Arab terrorists in exchange for the extension of…

Who would have rejoiced the most had he been able to attend the joint Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT), Bar Ilan and Yeshiva University Annual Torah and Science Conference held at the JCT Jerusalem Campus on April 9th – Theodore Herzl, Maimonides or Israel’s first Chief Rabbi, Rav Avraham Kook? The jury is out on…

The magnificent Waldorf Astoria is finally ready to open its doors and invite the people of Jerusalem to enter a magical symphony of elegance, tradition, sophistication and up-to-date technology. The Waldorf Astoria has stayed true to its famous brand image and identity in offering everyone an unforgettable experience of personal service and value. A personal…

Dr. Michael Robert Kremer, Harvard University’s Gates Professor of Developing Societies in the Department of Economics, will deliver the annual Alexander Brody Distinguished Lecture in Economics at Yeshiva University on Tuesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. The event, entitled “Improving Health in the Developing World,” will take place at Weissberg Commons on YU’s Wilf Campus,…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) met with US Secretary of State John Kerry Wednesday in Washington.  The two used the hour-long meeting to address various issues, including negotiations with Iran, the situation in Syria, and the US-Israel relationship.  Kerry reiterated to Liberman at the meeting that he had not blamed Israel Tuesday for the…

Israel launched the spy satellite “Ofek 10” into space on Wednesday evening. The launch was conducted by the Ministry of Defense at the Palmachim Air Force Base in central Israel. Upon entering orbit, “Ofek 10” will conduct a series of tests to verify that it is up to the excepted levels of performance. “Ofek 10”…

Iran and world powers said Wednesday that their nuclear talks were now moving up a gear, AFP reported, with Iran’s foreign minister saying both sides agreed on “50-60 percent” of issues. Speaking after the latest round of talks in Vienna, the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the next round from May 13 would…

German authorities said Wednesday they would hand back more than 1,000 works seized from a Nazi-era art dealer’s son as part of a wider deal to ensure restitution to rightful owners, AFP reported. Cornelius Gurlitt, 81, formally agreed with the German government and the southern state of Bavaria Monday to return long-lost paintings and sketches…

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared on Wednesday that Tehran will never give up its nuclear program, the BBC reported. Speaking to a gathering of nuclear scientists, Khamenei said Iran had agreed to talks with the West to “break the hostile atmosphere” with the international community and to show that it was not seeking…

Israel will demand that the UN Security Council sanction Hezbollah, after top Hezbollah terrorist Hassan Nasrallah claimed responsibility for an explosion last month that was set off near an IDF patrol on Har Dov, on Israel’s border with Syria. The attack proves, Israel said, that Hezbollah was violating UN Security Council resolutions. On Monday, Nasrallah…

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, a top IDF officer said that he condemned the violence by youths at Yitzhar against IDF officers, but that he understands the “lack of faith” of residents in the IDF. Colonel Amatzia Chen (Res.) said that there was no excuse “in a civilized country to disobey the law. Without…

Israel’s first Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules “Shimshon” airlifter arrived at Nevatim Air Base Wednesday, on the same day that an office of the aerospace company opened in Be’er Sheva.  Israel ordered its C-130Js through a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) contract with the US Government. This is the first ferry of the C-130Js currently on order for…

A holocaust memorial monument in Odessa, Ukraine, has been vandalized, apparently by neo-Nazi groups involved in the ouster of former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Swastikas and Waffen SS signs were daubed on the memorial, and the words “Death to the Jews” and “Right Sector” were also found painted on the walls of the nearby Jewish…

Two car bombs killed at least 25 people, including women and children, in a government-held neighborhood of Syria’s central city of Homs on Wednesday, AFP reported, citing the state news agency SANA. Another 100 people were wounded in Karam al-Luz, in attacks SANA blamed on “terrorists,” the government’s term for the rebels fighting to overthrow…

A mortar shell was launched from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday evening, and landed in Sha’ar HaNegev. No one was hurt and no injuries have been reported.  Earlier Wednesday, the “code red” siren sounded near Hof Ashkelon. A rocket had been fired at Israel, but landed on Gaza’s side of the border.  Terrorists in Gaza shot…

A senior official from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Office (PMO) told the New York Times Wednesday that Israel is “deeply disappointed” at the blame game instituted by US Secretary of State John Kerry, after he accused Israel of torpedoing negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) during a meeting with the Senate.  The official said that the PMO…

Arab foreign ministers met with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday to discuss floundering US-brokered peace talkswith Israel, ahead of a looming deadline. Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi accused the Israelis of dragging their feet in the talks, telling reporters: “Gaining time is a strategic objective for Israel.” After a dramatic series of negotiations, Israel officially cancelled the fourth release…

A tense standoff continues in eastern Ukraine Wednesday, where pro-Russian separatists have been demonstrating for the right to secede. Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Luhansk are at the center of the standoffs, which acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov insisted will end in 48 hours – whether by negotiation or by force.  “There are two opposite ways for resolving this…

The US State Department announced Wednesday that it had blacklisted Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis as a “terrorist organization,” citing the many recent attacks the Salafist group has launched on Egypt and Israel.  The Department stated that the blacklist outlawed interactions with the group entirely, including against anyone “knowingly providing, or attempting or conspiring to provide, material…

While conducting anti-terror activities in Judea and Samaria on Tuesday night, IDF forces located two pipe bombs in Jenin, where soldiers were arresting a terror suspect. The charges were neutralized by the IDF in a controlled detonation, with no reported damage or injuries to the IDF, according to Walla!. In the course of the anti-terror activities,…

Life is renewed amid the remnants of tragedy, as the donated organs of a South African tourist who tragically died last Tuesday in Jerusalem from an allergic reaction to tahini, a Middle Eastern sesame paste, saved the lives of four others. Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Hospital reported on Tuesday that the organs of the tourist, who died…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is not worried about the ongoing civil war in his country. In fact, Assad told a former Russian prime minister on Monday that much of the fighting in the war will be over by the end of the year, reported Reuters. “This is what he told me: ‘This year the active…

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) strongly on Tuesday criticized U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for placing the bulk of the blame on Israel for the stalled peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Kerry, who spoke before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “Israel didn’t release the Palestinian prisoners on the day they were…

Terrorists in Gaza shot at IDF soldiers near the Israeli “kibbutz”-type community of Kissufim, close to the security fence with Gaza, Wednesday morning. No soldiers were injured from the shots. In response, soldiers fired in the air. The attack took place near the road leading from Kissufim checkpoint into Gaza, which used to lead to…

In a protest action Tuesday, hundreds of people in Hungary’s capital city of Budapest prevented work on a monument seen as whitewashing the country’s responsibility in the Holocaust. Roughly 300 people broke down a cordon put up by workers and seized control of the site where the monument is planned. For now, police are reportedly…

A sapling grown from the tree that Holocaust victim Anne Frank wrote about while in hiding will be planted this month on the US Capitol grounds, congressional leaders announced Tuesday. “The Anne Frank memorial tree is an offspring of the horse chestnut tree that was featured in Anne’s diary writings,” House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader…

Gaza terrorists fired a rocket at Israel on Wednesday but it apparently fell short of its mark, exploding inside the Hamas-enclave of Gaza. The ‘code red’ siren was sounded in the Ashkelon Coast Council area; however reports of explosions or damage in Israel have not been received, with indications being that the lethal projectile never…

Critics and supporters alike did not waste time responding to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s instructions on Wednesday to cut off all governmental ties with the Palestinian Authority (PA), excluding Defense Ministry links with PA security forces, and diplomatic links related to the peace talks, which are expected to stagger on until the end of April.  The…

A series of car bombs hit several mostly Shiite neighbourhoods in Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and wounding 46, according to police officials. The deadliest of the day’s attacks took place in Baghdad’s central Nidhal Street, where four civilians were killed and 11 were wounded, police officials said. In the Kazimiyah district, three…

A 3,300 year old Egyptian coffin, an important ancient artifact, was found in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel during a natural gas pipeline excavation, according to a statement published by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) on Wednesday. During the natural gas salvage excavation, a burial site from the Late Bronze Age (13th century BCE)…

At a packed Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI) meeting that was held at AFSI National Chairman Mark Langfan’s Manhattan home last Wednesday, former Ambassador Yoram Ettinger and Langfan debunked the “Arab demographic time bomb” claims used to pressure Israeli withdrawals. “There is no machete at the throat of the Jewish state, there is no…

In an attempt to recover after US Secretary of State John Kerry blamed Israel for peace talk failures on Tuesday, US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki quickly stated Kerry did not intend to point the finger at the Jewish state. “Secretary Kerry was clear when he said that both sides took unhelpful steps, and at no point…

Five people were injured on Tuesday evening in a fire at a coffee shop in the city of Ramle, located in central Israel, some 22 kilometers south of Tel Aviv. Eyewitnesses said that two unknown persons arrived at the cafe, poured a flammable substance and then set it on fire. Police are still investigating the…

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, threatened on Tuesday that the PA would join more international organizations, reported The Associated Press (AP). Last week, the PA  applied to 15 international organizations in breach of the conditions of the peace talks. Israel responded  by cancelling the fourth terrorist release “gesture”. Mansour told a…

An Israeli startup said on Tuesday that it was working to develop a bio-organic system that can recharge a smartphone battery in just 30 seconds. Tel Aviv-based StoreDot’s prototype battery and charger is currently being tested with Samsung’s Galaxy phones, but the startup’s founder and CEO Doron Myersdorf told AFP that a product compatible with all makes of smartphone should be on…

It was not a booby-trapped safe that killed Jamal al-Jamal, Palestinian Authority (PA) Ambassador to the Czech Republic, on January 1. Rather, new investigations reveal the explosion was caused by a “Semtex” explosives charge hidden in two books. The new breakthrough was reported on Tuesday by the Czech daily Mlada Fronta, citing a source close…

For years, former Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Yasser Arafat would condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis, but there was a question mark regarding the authenticity of his claims. Now, Arafat’s former bodyguard has confirmed that the late PA chairman would lie when he condemned suicide bombings in Israel. The bodyguard, Muhammad Al-Daya, made the comments in…

President Shimon Peres refuses to give up hope on peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), stating in an interview Tuesday that Israel should “do everything possible” to continue negotiations. “There are still budding hopes [for talks],” Peres stated, in an interview with IDF Radio. “We should encourage [negotiations] and work hard for them…

Nine people registered as “Palestinian refugees” were killed Monday in clashes between two armed groups in the Mieh Mieh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, local sources told AFP. A source in the camp said the groups involved in the clashes were not officially affiliated with any major faction. He named them as the Ansar Allah…

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Monday expressed support for the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) move to seek membership in international organizations, reports the Ma’an news agency. “The decision by the Palestinians to exercise their right to join international organizations should not be seen as a blow to the peace talks,” Carter said in a…

Two U.S. senators, who led a push for more sanctions on Iran during negotiations over its nuclear program, on Monday called on President Barack Obama to impose more restrictions if Tehran pursues an energy barter agreement with Russia, Reuters reported. Last week it was reported that Tehran and Moscow had made progress toward an oil-for-goods…

Egyptian police have arrested a senior Islamist close to Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, security officials said on Monday, according to the AFP news agency. Thirwat Salah Shehata was arrested in a Cairo suburb, the sources said, adding he had been sentenced to death in absentia in the 1990s for an attempted assassination of a minister.…

Clashes between the IDF and Yitzhar residents Tuesday morning ended with four homes demolished, but also an IDF outpost destroyed. Arutz Sheva spoke to a commander from the Judea and Samaria division, who was at the scene, about the details and causes behind the incident.  “We have already been deployed here for three weeks,” the officer explained.…

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) said on Monday that the success of the openly anti-Semitic Jobbik party in the elections in Hungary was “a source of grave concern for Europe.” “The gains made by Jobbik, an unashamedly neo-Nazi political party, should serve as a wake-up call for the whole of Europe,” said EJC President Moshe…

Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir weighed in on the dramatic demolitions and rioting in Yitzhar on Tuesday, and noted that there is no legal precedent for the State to destroy homes in the small Samaria community.  “IDF forces have no legal precedent to exact its own ‘price tag’ on Yitzhar residents,” Ben-Gvir stated, “but more than that,…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) emphasized the need for order on Tuesday, in light of dramatic demolitions and rioting in Yitzhar.   “Unlike the rest of the settlements, there are violent elements in [Yitzhar],” Ya’alon stated. He was quick to clarify, however, that “not all residents of Yitzhar are violent” and that the statement was…

German authorities banned a group Tuesday accused of raising money for the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and staged raids across the country on homes and offices used by the organization, AFP reports.  Around 150 police officers searched premises across six states and confiscated cash, computers and around 40 boxes of files. Two bank accounts with a total of around 60,000 euros ($82,572)…

Speaking to members of the Jewish community in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn – which has a preponderance of Russian immigrants – Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said that he foresees a day when Israel will have a Russian-speaking Prime Minister. A report in Ha’aretz had Liberman praising the immigrants from Russia to Israel, many of whom have…

A 75-year-old Jesuit priest was beaten and shot dead by armed men in Homs, Syria on Monday, after he had insisted on staying in the war-torn country to help the poor and feed the hundreds starving in the beleaguered city.  Father Frans van der Lugt, a Dutch national who had worked in Syria since 1966,…

Nearly 100 members of the ancient Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, are expected to attend a first-of-its-kind traditional Pesach (Passover) Seder that will take place next Monday, April 14, at the start of the holiday in Kaifeng. The Seder, which is being sponsored by the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel organization, will be conducted for the first time by 28-year-old Tzuri (Heng)…

The heir of a Nazi-era art dealer said Monday he had struck an accord with the German government setting a one-year deadline on provenance research for his vast hoard of paintings. The agreement more than two years after their shock discovery in a customs probe means that Cornelius Gurlitt, 81, will likely get back many of thehundreds of artworks…

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban won a clear victory in elections on Sunday, and the openly anti-Semitic Jobbik party increased its share of the vote. “We can say with absolute certainty that we won,” Orban told cheering supporters in Budapest, according to AFP. “These elections were free. Organized in a free country.” With 89 percent…

In what is very similar to a Gaza style “work accident”, at least 29 rebels died in a blast on Sunday in the central Syrian city of Homs as they primed a car bomb for an attack. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group told AFP that at least 29 people were killed, most…

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s brother is to stand trial with 67 others for forming a “terrorist group” and plotting attacks after Islamist president Mohammed Morsi’s ouster, AFP reported Sunday, citing Egyptian state media. Mohammed al-Zawahiri was arrested last August, a month after Morsi’s ouster by the army, and has been called to go on trial…

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese-based terrorist group Hezbollah, took responsibility on Monday for the explosive detonated on the Lebanese-Israeli border in mid-March. The explosive was set off as an IDF jeep passed by, sending three soldiers to the hospital to be examined for shock from the blast. In acknowledging Hezbollah was behind the attack,…

Police say they have made an arrest in connection with yesterday’s incident in which unknown assailants slashed the tires of a jeep belonging to the IDF’s Samaria Brigade Commander in the town of Yitzhar in Samaria (Shomron). The suspect is currently a student at a yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Old City, but is believed to originally…

Residents of the French Hill neighborhood in Israel’s capital are increasingly threatened by their Arab neighbors in the neighborhood of Issawiya, and have experienced a slew of firebomb attacks – the most recent of which occurred Saturday night. Although initial reports said that the firebombs targeted a nightclub or dance hall, it now turns out…

Israeli and Palestinian Authority negotiators were to meet again on Monday in a fresh effort to salvage the teetering US-brokered peace talks, US and PA officials said.   The meeting came as US Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled to rescue negotiations he kick-started in July, and less than a week after PA leader Mahmoud…

Speaking Sunday, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez said that it was unacceptable for Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas to continue refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. “Notwithstanding any hopes we may harbor, one thing is certain, set in stone: President Abbas must recognize the Jewish state as a Jewish state…

Colel Chabad in Jerusalem will host on Monday a mega bar mitzvah celebration for 113 orphaned boys and their families. The youngsters come from throughout Israel and will gather at the Western Wall (Kotel), where they will receive their own set of tefillin and be called up to recite the blessing on the Torah as…

The leader of the Hezbollah terror group said Sunday that the government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is no longer in danger of falling, reported The Associated Press (AP). Hassan Nasrallah was quoted as having said in an interview with Lebanon’s daily As-Safir newspaper that the danger of the Syrian government’s “fall has ended.” “The…

Former Knesset Member for Balad, Saeed Nafaa, has been convicted of visiting an enemy country and meeting a foreign agent, when he met a top official from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) while on a visit to Syria in 2007. The MK – who promotes a combined Arab-Druze anti-Israeli identity among…

In his latest column, the New York Times‘ Thomas Friedman depicts billionaire Sheldon Adelson in much the same way that anti-Semites have depicted Jews for centuries – a “swaggering oligarch” using huge sums of money to control the US, or more specifically – the Republican party. Adelson — “the foolhardy Las Vegas casino magnate and…

Tel Aviv University cancelled on Sunday the planned speech by convicted Hezbollah terrorist Mohammed Canaana, who was to address stuents in the course of Land Day activities Monday. Land Day is an occasion in which extremist Arabs protest the Jewish victories in the wars the Arabs have started, since 1948, and the expropriation of some…

Terrorists threw a firebomb at a Border Police jeep Sunday evening, as it traveled near Hawara, in Samaria. No one was reported hurt. The firebomb struck the vehicle and began to catch fire. The Border Policemen immediately began a manhunt for the firebomb throwers. In the course of search, one of the fighters identified a…

US lawmakers have called on Congress to increase funding for Israeli missile defense projects. Last Thursday, Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, urged a key House of Representatives panel to increase funding for Israel’s Iron Dome, Arrow, Arrow…

Bereaved families are clinging to new hopes that missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 may be found Sunday, after search teams reported that a series of “pings ” were heard in the Indian Ocean – and may be from the crucial black boxes holding the key to the flight’s fate.  Ships hunting for the Boeing 777,…

Hackers have reiterated the call for a mass cyber-attack on Israeli websites – dubbed OpIsrael – for April 7, according to Yediot Aharonot.  “On April 7, we urge our brothers and sisters to break, to destroy and take over websites and leak data – to eliminate Israel’s cyberspace,” the hackers threatened Sunday. “We will not stop…

Minister of Pensioner Affairs Uri Orbach (Jewish Home) insisted Sunday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has not approached the UN for legitimacy to establish a Palestinian State – but rather for something more sinister.  “As I said on Channel Two Friday, the Palestinians are not interested at all in an independent Palestinian state,” Orbach stated…

The Muslim Brotherhood’s most senior leader in the UK has threatened that a ban on the Islamist group in the UK could trigger terrorist attacks. Ibrahim Mounir claimed that a British government probe into the Brotherhood’s activities in the country was the result of pressure from Saudi Arabia – which has itself banned the group…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned Sunday that the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s torpedoing peace talks will not go unnoticed by Israel – and clarified that it is PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, not Israel, who is responsible for jettisoning talks.  “Throughout these negotiations, we’ve made tough measures and demonstrated a willingness to continue the difficult moves in…

Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) called for the official and immediate end to all negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Sunday, until the PA’s Palestinian unilateral statehood bid to over fifteen international organizations was stopped.  “The Americans think that [PA Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas bluntly violated the agreements for talks,” Ariel stated,…

Arab terrorists on Saturday night hurled four firebombs towards a nightclub in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem. One of the firebombs burst just outside the nightclub. No one was hurt. Police have arrested three Arabs suspected of involvement in the attack. The attack comes just several days after Jerusalem resident Raphael Delarosa was attacked…

South Tel Aviv residents have called on High Court of Justice judges to visit their crime-ridden neighborhoods, after a dramatic court hearing on the fate of infiltrators flooding the city convened last week.  Attorney Navon Katzav, a South Tel Aviv resident. spoke to Arutz Sheva on Sunday morning to reveal the true extent of the violence he…

Bulgaria’s Chief Prosecutor, Sotir Tsartsarov, has confirmed that the identity of the perpetrator of the 2012 Burgas bus bombing that killed five Israeli tourists has been discovered. Tsartsarov was quoted on Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) saying Friday that while he could not yet divulge the identity of the suicide bomber who targeted Israeli tourists at Burgas’s Sarafovo Airport, investigation…

An attempted terrorist attack in the city of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, was thwarted Friday, it has been cleared for release this evening. On Friday afternoon Jerusalem police received reports that a local security patrol had stopped a suspicious-looking man, who appeared to be “drunk”, standing at the entrance to the city. Police dispatched…

A senior official in the Palestinian Authority (PA) declared on Friday that terrorists in Israeli prisons will begin protesting next week against Israel’s decision to cancel the release of the fourth batch of terrorists, Kol Yisrael radio reported. According to the report, Ziad Abu Ein, the PA’s deputy minister of prisoner affairs, said that the…

Human Rights Watch has called on the United States not to resume military assistance to Egypt until its military-backed government ends human rights abuses and holds violators accountable, reported Reuters. In October, the United States announced it would cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Egypt over its displeasure with the military’s pace of restoring…

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be questioned next week over suspicions of obstruction of justice, Channel 2 News reported Friday. The new suspicions are based on recordings provided to the police by Olmert’s former bureau chief and close associate, Shula Zaken. Last week, it was reported that Olmert was suspected of obstruction of justice…

Ankara’s provincial election body on Friday rejected the main opposition’s appeal against the results of the March 30 local election, reports the Turkish Anadolu agency.  Zeki Alcin, the chairman of the opposition Republican People’s Party in Ankara, said the board did not offer any justification for rejecting the appeal. The party is expected to appeal…

The White House on Friday defended the “tireless” efforts of Secretary of State John Kerry to secure peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to AFP. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that Kerry’s Middle East peace bid had not been a waste of time because the stakes were so high. The administration…

A U.S. official said on Friday that world powers and Iran will start drafting a comprehensive nuclear agreement next month, according to The Associated Press (AP). According to the report, the official said the sides are making progress in talks. The official was not authorized to speak for attribution and demanded anonymity. Under a six-month…

Syrian opposition activists have once again accused President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces of using chemical weapons, Reuters reported Friday. The alleged attack took place in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus on Thursday. The opposition showed footage of an apparently unconscious man lying on a bed and being treated by medics. The footage could not be independently…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) tried to do some damage control on Friday, after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he would “evaluate” his next steps regarding the peace talks. Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath said Friday evening, according to Channel 2 News, that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas “did not mean to upset Kerry” when…

In the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, to the east of Moscow, an historical synagogue re-dedication and Torah scroll inauguration ceremony was held by the local Jewish community, marking 130 years to the community’s ancient synagogue. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of the city’s Jews, as well as honored guests including Rabbi Berel Lazar,…

Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), met with the Ruderman Fellows Knesset Mission on Thursday.  During the meeting, Foxman – as well as several MKs – attempted to campaign for the release of longtime captive, Jonathan Pollard. Foxman maintained that the US’s motives in not releasing Pollard are suspect. “The only explanation…

A hareidi IDF soldier and two Nahal Hareidi foundation rabbis were miraculously saved from an Arab terrorist shooting at them last Tuesday at Adam Junction, located north of Jerusalem in Samaria. The terrorist tried to shoot at the three, but somehow his weapon jammed; after realizing he was powerless to harm the soldier and rabbis,…

29 Republican senators wrote to President Barack Obama on Thursday, urging him to deny a visa to a former hostage-taker who is Iran’s choice for ambassador to the United Nations. According to The Associated Press (AP), the senators said that the United States should not allow entry to an individual who participated in an act…

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud Beytenu) on Thursday said that Israel should re-arrest all the terrorists it freed in three previous “gestures” to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Katz spoke as Israel officially cancelled the fourth planned release of terrorists, after the PA violated the conditions of the peace talks by unilaterally turning to the United…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) said on Thursday that a “radical change” was required in the approach to the talks with Israel, in the wake of Israel’s decision to cancel the fourth release of terrorists. “Israel has a habit of evading agreements and conventions it has signed,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, general secretary of the Palestine Liberation…

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that it was time for a “reality check,” reporting that he would “evaluate” his next steps regarding the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), which he began last July. Kerry said he would be speaking with US President Barack Obama about the future…

A new tourism center was approved on Thursday night for the City of David National Park, located just 20 meters (65 feet) south of Jerusalem’s Old City walls, a short walk from the Western Wall. After hearing objections, the Jerusalem Regional Planning and Building Committee gave the green light to plans for the new Kedem…

Sirens were sounded in the Ashkelon region Friday. According to Channel 2, only one rocket has been fired and no one was reportedly hurt in the attack. The sirens sounded less than 24 hours after skirmishes broke out between the IAF and Hamas. Four Kassam rockets were fired into southern Israel on Thursday night; there were…

Yeshiva University (YU) continues to prove that Jewish observance and secular academic excellence can go hand in hand. A student at YU-affiliated Stern College for Women has won the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Kayla Applebaum, now in her junior year, was awarded the scholarship that provides tuition, fees as well as room and board…

A salvo of kassam missiles was fired from the Hamas-enclave of Gaza on Thursday night towards Sderot and the surrounding communities. As of now, three rockets have been identified as having fallen in open fields, with no damage or injuries reported. The ‘Code Red’ warning siren was sounded in Sderot and the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional…

Israel on Thursday informed the Palestinian Authority (PA) of a series of punitive measures against it, following the PA’s request to join 15 international conventions. According to Kol Yisrael radio, these measures include a suspension of high-level contacts between ministers and CEOs, and any contacts with the PA will now be led by the Coordinator…

An IDF soldier was killed, and another soldier wounded lightly, as the military vehicle they were driving in crashed and flipped over on Thursday. The soldier’s name has been released by the IDF: Corporal Sheetrit Elhai z”l, a 19-year-old from Ashkelon. He will be buried tomorrow (Friday) at 12 p.m. in the Ashkelon military cemetery.…

Arab snipers in Gaza shot at IDF civilian workers working near the security fence on Thursday. None were injured in the attack, although engineering equipment was damaged by the gunfire. The shooting comes just three weeks after terrorists in Gaza unleashed a barrage of rockets on Israel, raining down at least 100 missiles in three days.…

American legislators have expressed disappointment with Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’s latest gambit – applying for membership in United Nations organizations as the “state of Palestine.” Both Republican and Democratic leaders said that the U.S. should seriously consider cutting aid to the PA if Abbas continues with the process. Rep. Kay Granger, (R-Texas), the chairwoman…

The Obama administration said on Wednesday that Iran’s nomination of a former hostage-taker as its ambassador to the United Nations is “extremely troubling”, the BBC reported. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said at Wednesday’s daily briefing, “I will say that we think this nomination would be extremely troubling.” She added, “We’re taking a close look…

The UN’s special envoy on Mideast peace, Robert Serry, confirmed on Wednesday that he has received requests from Palestinian Authority (PA) officials to join 13 international conventions and treaties, according to AFP. The treaties include the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, the convention on the rights of the child, the convention against torture, and the…

Four people, including the shooter, have been killed and 14 injured after a gunman opened fire Wednesday afternoon (local time) at Fort Hood, the large military post in Texas, reports the New York Daily News. Earlier reports said there were two shooters involved, but now authorities are saying that there was one shooter involved, and…

US Secretary of State John Kerry has admitted there is little he can do to salvage disintegrating talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, challenging Israeli and PA leaders and saying that now was the time when they had to choose whether to make peace.     “You can facilitate, you can push, you can…

Finance Minister Yair Lapid is setting out to fix one of the biggest problems faced by small businesses in Israel – the long delay that most face before getting paid. To rectify the situation, Lapid is making an example of the government, which, he promised Wednesday, would from now on make sure to pay bills…

An IDF soldier has been lightly injured by gunfire from suspected smugglers along Israel’s southern border with Egypt. The IDF’s spokesperson’s office would only confirm that the soldier was injured whilst travelling in a jeep near the Sinai Desert, but refused to say in what circumstances. However, several sources have claimed the soldier was hit…

The new road connecting the neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev and Neve Ya’akov Highway 443 was dedicated a few months ago by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Transportation, hoping that the road would help both Jews and Arabs in the area. Instead, as it turns out, the road is also becoming a hotbed of…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is still trying to save the faltering peace talks, on Wednesday phoned Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the PA-based Ma’an news agency reported. According to the report, the two agreed to continue speaking in the coming days, and Abbas emphasized that the PA was “committed to international…

Bereaved families, along with the Almagor Terror Victims’ Association and the ‘My Israel’ grassroots organization, are staging a march against the fourth batch of terrorist releases in Jerusalem Wednesday evening.  The families say that the concept of releasing Palestinian Arab terrorists is “intolerable” and unworthy of “being exchanged” even with “compensation” from the US or…

Bombings outside Cairo University killed an Egyptian Brigadier-General, the Egyptian interior ministry has said, and also wounded seven bystanders, some of whom were members of security forces outside the institution. Al-Jazeera and other outlets also report that at least one more person was killed in the blast. Two of the bombs were planted outside the university; a…

Apparently, Washington DC has taken to heart US President Barack Obama’s statements in January, when he claimed marijuana was no more dangerous than alcohol and acknowledged smoking the drug in his youth. A new bill in the American capital dramatically lightens repercussions for drug users. The new bill, signed by Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray on…

Roughly 20 extreme-left activists and Arab protesters arrived at Hevron in Judea this week, but their plans to spark a confrontation with Jewish residents of the ‘Peace House’ and IDF soldiers were upset, as local Arab residents kicked them out of the city. The activists had arrived with cameras and the flags of the Palestinian…

A senior source in the Palestinian Authority (PA) claimed on Wednesday that the organization wanted US Secretary of State to continue the peace talks, despite PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s breach of talk conditions Tuesday by requesting to join 15 international UN institutions. “We hope Kerry’s efforts will be renewed in the coming days,” Palestine Liberation Organization…

Local Arabs broke into an abandoned building in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Karem, located in the southwest of the capital. In response, residents of the neighborhood turned to Jerusalem Councilman Aryeh King, who quickly took action to seal the building from further intrusion. King, of the United Jerusalem faction, arrived Wednesday afternoon to inspect…

The death toll in the three-year-old Syrian civil war has topped 150,000, a monitoring group said on Tuesday, according to AFP. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 150,344 people, 51,212 of them civilians, including nearly 7,985 children. The group said 37,781 members of the armed opposition had been…

The United States Congress on Tuesday easily passed an aid package for Ukraine that includes sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea, AFP reports. The House of Representatives voted 378 to 34 to approve the bill, which the Senate green-lighted last week, meaning the bill, including $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine, now goes to…

A single shot from a British marksman’s rifle killed a suicide bomber in Afghanistan and five of his fellow terrorists, as they were about to launch a bloody attack, The New York Post reports, based on the British Telegraph. According to the report, the British sniper, who was firing from an amazing 930 yards (850…

British Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood over concerns the group is planning radical activities from a base in London, his Downing Street office said Tuesday, according to the AFP news agency. The intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 have been tasked to gather information on the “philosophy and activities”…

Israel reissued a call for tenders on over 700 housing units in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo on Tuesday, according to the extreme-left group Peace Now. Gilo is over the 1949 Armistice line being discussed as possible borders in the US-led peace talks. The precise number of housing units being put up for tenders…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday for the first time made matzah, the traditional unleavened bread eaten on the upcoming Jewish holiday of Pesach (Passover). The matzah-making experienced occurred during a visit to Kfar Chabad’s matzah factory located in central Israel, to the south east of Tel Aviv. There, Netanyahu received a thorough tour of…

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) slammed political leaders in the Canadian province of Quebec on Tuesday for not condemning Louise Mailloux, a candidate for Quebec’s National Assembly, over her anti-Semitic comments. Mailloux recently gave lip service to the classic anti-Semitic trope of a “kosher tax,” a conspiracy theory alleging that money collected to certify that food…

A spokesman for Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction has admitted that the PA is “blackmailing” Israel into releasing terrorist prisoners. The revelation comes as the US is reportedly attempting to push Israel to release another 400 terrorists to continue peace talks. Spokesman Ahmad Assaf revealed on official PA TV two weeks ago,…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas breached the conditions of the peace talks Tuesday by signing a request to join several United Nations (UN) agencies. Abbas obligated himself to refrain from such unilateral moves for international recognition during the course of the peace talks, restarted last July by US Secretary of State John Kerry. “The…

Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) spoke at the Calcalist Negev Conference 2014 at the Science and Hi-Tech park in Be’er Sheva on Tuesday, and praised efforts to boost infrastructure in the Negev.  “This park, as well as the entire Negev, is one of the greatest opportunities we have in the Middle East today,” Bennett stated. “I’m…

An Idaho man who pleaded guilty to firing an assault rifle at the White House in 2011 was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison, reports The Associated Press (AP). Prosecutors initially charged Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 23, with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama but agreed to drop the charge as part of a plea…

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, agreed on Monday to pardon or reduce the sentences of 920 people, Reuters reported, citing the official Iranian IRNA news agency. The move is a customary gesture to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Republic. It was the second large-scale pardon this year, and it comes after Khamenei pardoned…

US officials confirmed Tuesday that the release of long-time captive Jonathan Pollard is on the negotiating table with Israel. The catch: Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) would be forced to resume peace talks, and Israel would have to make “significant concessions.”  IDF Radio reports that American media has already been briefed on the possibility of…

Thousands of twelfth graders from across the country are marching Tuesday and Wednesday in Gush Etzion, in a demonstration honoring IDF combat soldiers and units. The march is being held in the region for the first time, after being held for years in the Golan Heights.  The Social Security branch of the Ministry of Defense…

US Secretary of State John Kerry left Israel Tuesday morning without meeting personally with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, leaving analysts scrambling to figure out what it all means for the future of talks.  US Secretary of State John Kerry has scrambled to save talks in the wake of Israel’s standing firm to prevent…

The High Court of Justice will hold a hearing Tuesday on a petition submitted to the Immigration Policy Center by 100 Tel Aviv residents asking to deport the infiltrators raising crime in their neighborhoods.  The petition initially reached the Court in December. However, controversy regarding new laws preventing illegal immigration – including a smear campaign…

An Israeli official has confirmed to Arutz Sheva that a deal to secure Jonathan Pollard’s release over the next two weeks has crystallized, in a bid to exchange him with over 400 Palestinian Arab terrorists – arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti among them.  While both the US and Israel have now admitted that Pollard’s release is on…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ended with no progress on Monday evening, Army Radio reported. Kerry, who is on a sudden visit to the region in attempt to save the failing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), was also scheduled to meet with PA Chairman…

Over 3,000 schoolchildren marched in Samaria on Monday, in a demonstration organized in the memory of Rehavam Ze’evi.  Ze’evi was the head of the Moledet party, and advocated paying Arab residents of Israel to emigrate and take up residence in new countries. He was murdered while leaving a hotel in Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus. Arutz Sheva spoke to…

President Shimon Peres warned on Monday that a nuclear armed Iran could lead to “another Hiroshima”. The comments were made during Peres’s meeting in Vienna with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano. “It’s time to put the facts on the table and realize that nuclear weapons by the Iranian leadership…

The Turkish military fired back into Syria on Monday, in retaliation for mortar shells and a rocket from over the border that hit a mosque in the town of Yayladagi, Reuters reported. The Turkish Dogan news agency reported that three mortar rounds landed on Turkish soil. They were fired during fighting between the Islamist rebels…

Members of families who have lost loved ones to terror attacks protested on Monday night outside the Metzudat David Hotel in Jerusalem, where US Secretary of State John Kerry is staying the night.Kerry arrived in Israel Monday on an “emergency trip,” in yet another attempt to save the failing peace talks between Israel and the…

Middle-Eastern countries have a tendency to hold a grudge against Israel, whether over Israel winning the 1967 war or daring to establish independence in 1948.  But, as of earlier this month, an Egyptian columnist has called for Israel to pay Cairo reparations – and this time, it’s Biblical.  “We want compensation for the [Ten] Plagues…

The Palestinian Authority on Monday gave US Secretary of State John Kerry 24 hours to get Israel to release the fourth batch of terrorists, according to AFP, after which they will resume moves to seek international recognition. “If we don’t get an answer from John Kerry on the prisoners tonight, we’ll begin to ask for membership in all UN agencies tomorrow,”…

Top-ranking Israeli and American defense officials met in Jerusalem to discuss regional security Monday, and held a press conference discussing the talks’ goals.  “We see very extreme organizations and radical elements fighting in this area, especially in the Northern arena,” IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz stated. “I believe that the dialogue that we are…

Rabbi Yousef Hamadani Cohen, the former chief rabbi of Iran’s tiny Jewish community, died on the weekend of a prolonged illness, media reported on Monday. English-language state media Press TV said Cohen had been ill for several years and was buried on Sunday in Tehran. Semi-official Fars news agency said Cohen had been the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Iran since…

Live fire was exchanged between North Korea and South Korea on Monday, after a North Korean maritime drill strayed into South Korean waters.  The semi-official South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the North had begun the drill just after 12:15 pm local time. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed that North Korean artillery shells landed…

J Street, an American Jewish group that claims to be pro-Israel, has been embarrassed by revelations that two of its activists wore T-shirts glorifying an infamous PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) terrorist to a screening of anti-Israel film “Five Broken Cameras” in April 2013 at Washington University. However, according to The Tower,…

President Shimon Peres began a state visit to Austria on Sunday, where he attended, along with Austrian President Heinz Fischer, a Holocaust memorial service in the Judenplatz in Vienna. The service was attended by members of the Jewish community of Vienna. “I begin my visit to this country by bowing my head before this memorial.…

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday night declared victory for his party in local elections, and also took the opportunity to warn his rivals that they will “pay the price.” Erdogan’s party took a strong lead in the early counting of the votes, which was enough for the embattled prime minister to declare…

Economy Minister and Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett on Sunday criticized the Israel Hayom newspaper and referred to it as “Pravda” – a reference to the press organ of the communist party in the Soviet Union, which was famous for its lies in the service of a dictatorial government. The comments were made in an…

The Antiquities Authority and police cooperated last Friday to arrest suspects who allegedly stole ornate stone ossuary burial chests, which were used by Jews in Israel during the Second Temple period roughly 2,000 years ago. The suspects were caught while in possession of eleven ossuaries, some of them still containing skeletal remains. The suspected grave…

Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier who was kidnapped and held by the terrorist group Hamas for five years, wrote to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a heartfelt request to demand Jonathan Pollard’s release in the framework of the peace talks. “I turn to you in this my third Holiday of Freedom (another name for Passover)…

US Secretary of State John Kerry will be making another visit to Israel on Monday, in yet another attempt to save the failing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). The sudden visit was revealed to AFP by State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki. Kerry was reportedly considering the visit while in Paris on Sunday, and later…

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to have scored a victory in Sunday’s local elections, as his party took a strong lead in the polls, AFP reports. If the national trend holds up, it would considerably brighten the outlook for Erdogan, who had gone on a weeks-long campaign marathon ahead of the vote widely…

Senior lawmakers in the United States said on Sunday that investigators had found no evidence thus far pointing to terrorism in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 three weeks ago, according to Reuters. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, speaking on Sunday talk shows, said they had…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is considering yet another visit to the Middle East in order to save the failing Israel-Palestinian Authority (PA) peace process. American officials who spoke to The Associated Press (AP) on Sunday said that Kerry, who is currently in Paris, was weighing a return to the region to find a…

A court in Egypt on Saturday sentenced to death two supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi, who were convicted of throwing youths off an apartment block roof, AFP reported. One of the young men thrown from the building in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria was killed. The court submitted its verdict to the mufti,…

Saudi princesses Sahar, 42, and Jawaher, 38, plead for their freedom over Skype on Friday, confirming to Britain’s Channel 4 News that they are being held against their will in a royal compound in Jeddah. “This is a risk we’re taking, we’re happy to do it, we understand full well the repercussions, but we don’t know what’s going to happen,”…

Israeli-made products – including those made by Jews living in Judea and Samaria – are back on the shelves of Dutch stores, just in time for Passover. A boycott declared by chains in Holland has backfired, as Christian Zionist groups demanded that they halt their boycott of products from Judea and Samaria – or face…

Antwerp, Belgium, a center of the world diamond business, has a substantial hareidi community, and has the reputation of being a “quiet” city when it comes to anti-Semitism. But that quiet was broken Sunday, when members of the community found anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on a building containing a Jewish school. The school, operated by the…

The first-ever archaeological excavations at the Nazi death camp Treblinka in Poland have revealed new mass graves, as well as the first physical evidence that this camp held gas chambers. The camp had been bulldozed in 1943. To cover their tracks, the Nazis went so far as to plant crops and build a farmhouse on…

Thousands of Jews in France attended a special Aliyah fair that took place in the heart of Paris Sunday. The fair was sponsored by the Immigration and Absorption Ministry and the World Zionist Organization. Dozens of representatives of Israeli housing projects, businesses and corporations, government agencies, and schools were on hand to answer questions about…

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has come under fire from various quarters for ignoring and even whitewashing human rights abuses in authoritarian states while focusing almost all of its efforts on criticizing Israel. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attacked what he described as a “procession of hypocrisy” after the UNHRC passed a…

Iran has named as its next ambassador to the United Nations, a member of the militant group that held 52 Americans hostage in Tehran 34 years ago. Bloomberg news reported Sunday that the Iranian government has applied for a US visa for Hamid Aboutalebi, Iran’s former ambassador to Belgium and Italy, who was a member of the…

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist group was not looking to start a war with Israel, despite recent clashes along Israel’s northern border. In a televised speech marking the official opening of a Culture and Literature club in the southern town of Ainata, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah – whose military strength is…

A suicide bomber killed three Lebanese soldiers and wounded several others Saturday, in an attack on a Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) checkpoint in the flashpoint town of Arsal, on the border with Syria. According to Lebanese media the bomber drove up to the recently-erected checkpoint in the Baalbek region before detonating the explosives, killing the…

The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff is heading to Israel for talks on mutual strategic interests after Israel’s defense minister upset Washington with remarks criticizing US foreign policy.   “General Martin Dempsey will be departing this weekend for a visit to Israel,” an Israeli military statement said.   The focus of discussions…

Minister of Intelligence, International Relations and Strategic Affairs, Yuval Steinitz, says that it depends on Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas – aka Abu Mazen – whether or not the fourth and final tranche of the release of Palestinian Arab terrorists takes place. Steinitz pointed at statements by Abbas’ senior negotiator, according to which he is…

Israeli police used force on Saturday to break up a riot by Arab extremists in Jerusalem, injuring several people including two journalists, news photographers said.     Several rioters and four journalists – among them a photographer from Agence France-Presse and another from Reuters – were slightly injured by projectiles fired by police during the…

A senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official said a release by Israel of imprisoned Arab terrorists would not go ahead on Saturday as envisaged but he hoped there would only be short delay.     “Today the prisoners will not be released… maybe in the coming days,” Issa Qaraqae, the minister of prisoner affairs, told AFP.…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) really likes Israeli-made products and even prefers them over those of other countries, according to newly released statistics. In fact, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported Friday, the PA has seen an increase in both importing from Israel and exporting to Israel. According to the statistics, in January, the PA’s…

The Obama administration is considering allowing shipments of new air defense systems to Syrian rebels, a U.S. official said Friday, according to The Associated Press (AP). President Barack Obama’s possible shift would likely be welcomed by Saudi Arabia, which has been pressing the White House to allow the man-portable air-defense systems, known as “manpads,” into…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) said Friday that Israel would regret its decision not to go through with the release of the fourth batch of terrorists it undertook to release as a “gesture” to the PA. Fatah official Hazem Abu Shanab told the PA-based Ma’an news agency that the release of the final group of terrorists…

IDF soldiers were able to prevent two terrorists from infiltrating into Israel in the Golan Heights, near the border with Syria, on Friday night. According to the IDF, the soldiers identified two suspects tampering with the security fence along the border. It is believed they also tried to place an explosive device. The troops open…

U.S. President Barack Obama reportedly promised Saudi King Abdullah that the United States would not accept a “bad deal” with Iran, an American official said Friday. According to Reuters, the official said that Obama and the King discussed “tactical differences” in their approach to some issues during a meeting in Riyadh on Friday, but agreed…

Four people, including an Egyptian woman journalist, were killed in Cairo Friday as police clashed with Islamists protesting against ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s presidency bid, a security official told AFP. The violence erupted in a deeply polarized Egypt as supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi took to the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other…

An Indian Air Force transport plane crashed Friday, killing all five crew members, in the latest of a string of accidents at the country’s armed forces. The C-130J Super Hercules plane, which was on a training mission, crashed in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, said an air force spokesman. This was the first crash of…

The United States on Friday denied that the peace effort it has led between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) had failed, despite earlier reports that Israel had announced it would not go through with the fourth and final batch of terrorist releases, which was scheduled for Saturday night. “Any reports that suggest the talks…

A court in the Canadian province of Newfoundland this week ordered the expulsion of a Saudi Arabian citizen who was convicted of assaulting his daughter and threatening to kill her, Shalom Toronto reports. According to the report, the incident began at a restaurant and then continued at the family home. The 30-year-old daughter asked her…

Although the Chief Rabbinate has ruled against religious girls signing up for the IDF, figures show that many religious girls continue enlisting. Sharon Brick, who heads the “Serving in Faith” program of the Aluma Association which has worked to help religious women adjust to Army life for over ten years, noted that 1,616 religious women have enlisted…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Thursday that it is granting a $14-18 billion bailout for the embattled country of Ukraine, to help it stabilize and recover from debt, and unlock financial credits worth up to $27 billion.  “The mission has reached a staff-level agreement with the authorities of Ukraine on an economic reform…

Egypt’s new armed forces chief and defense minister was sworn in on Thursday, a day after Abdel Fattah el-Sisi resigned so he could stand for the presidency. The BBC reported that Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour confirmed General Sedki Sobhi’s appointment at the weekly cabinet meeting in Cairo. General Mahmoud Hegazi was named the army’s…

Arab states are continuing to pressure the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) regarding the replacement for Richard Falk as the “human rights expert” who probes Israel’s conduct towards Palestinian Arabs. A day after it exposed that Arab countries were seeking to appoint Indonesia’s former UN ambassador, Makarim Wibisono, to the position, the Geneva-based UN…

Ukraine’s deposed president, Viktor Yanukovich, called for each of the country’s regions to hold a referendum on its status “within Ukraine” on Friday, following the successful move for Russia to annex the Crimean peninsula. “As a president who is with you with all my thoughts and soul, I urge every sensible citizen of Ukraine: Don’t…

Days after the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds University in Jerusalem held a rally supporting the Gaza-based terror group, the president of the university has announced his resignation. According to JTA, Sari Nusseibeh will step down at the end of the academic year. However, the announcement on the university’s website said that the resignation was simply a retirement.…

A senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official announced Friday that Israel has told the PA it will not go through on the fourth and final batch of terrorist releases, which was set for Saturday night. “The Israeli government has informed us through the American mediator that it will not abide with its commitment to release the fourth…

Speaker of the Knesset, MK Yuli Edelstein, officially launched on Thursday the Limmud FSU conference in the United States, the largest annual gathering of young Russian Jews in North America. Edelstein joined a special kickoff event in New York City with Limmud FSU leaders and participants. Limmud FSU US will take place March 28-30 in…

Police announced Thursday that a 16-year-old girl from the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva had embarked on a campaign of violence – issuing death threats, engaging in threatening behavior, and slashing car tires – all over 200 shekels (under $60) that another girl her age allegedly owed her. The girl reportedly claimed that the…

Turkish authorities have banned YouTube, in the latest blow to free speech in the country and just one day after Turkey’s Supreme Court overturned a ban on the social media site Twitter. Turkey’s Telecommunications Directorate has blocked access to the popular video sharing platform hours after users leaked an audio recording of a private conversation…

The IDF Northern Command on Thursday announced that it was changing its orders regarding opening fire in areas along the Golan border fence. Anyone from the Syrian side who comes near the fence should expect to be shot, the IDF said. The new orders were issued in response to a terror attack attempts that took…

Turkey has already blocked Twitter and YouTube, and more could be on the way. According to the Reuters news agency, government sources in Ankara said on Thurday the country could block access to other social media platforms if users publish recordings or documents which “threaten national security.” Earlier, Turkish telecoms regulators moved to block YouTube…

Assuming Pope Francis makes it to Israel on his planned trip in May and is not delayed by the ongoing strike by Foreign Ministry workers, his stay will include visits to the Church of the Nativity, a Catholic site, as well as to the Temple Mount, where he will visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the…

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday promised to increase Russia’s isolation, as the United States and the European Union agreed to work together to prepare possible tougher economic sanctions in response to Russia’s behavior in Ukraine. Speaking after a summit with top EU officials and quoted by Reuters, Obama declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin…

Cornelius Gurlitt, the art collector who hoarded works looted by the Nazis, has instructed his court-appointed adviser to hand back items looted from Jewish owners, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. “If there are works under justified suspicion of being stolen art, then please give them back to their Jewish owners,” Gurlitt instructed lawyer Christoph Edel, according…

A senior member of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction spoke at a televised ceremony in support of Abbas last Monday, where he declared Fatah is on the brink of leaving peace talks and returning to armed combat. Tawfiq Tirawi, a Fatah Central Committee member, said at the Jericho ceremony “we in this…

Jerusalem Councilman Moshe Lion, who ran for the post of Jerusalem mayor last October and lost to incumbent Nir Barkat, had stones thrown at him by Arab residents on Wednesday while touring in eastern Jerusalem. On the tour, Lion and his group were shown through Kfar Hateimanim and Beit Yonatan in the City of David, located…

While fans of the legendary rock band the Rolling Stones rejoiced over the official announcement of their upcoming Israeli performance, religious fans received a harsh disappointment over the concert’s timing. June 4, the day of the concert, is also the major Jewish holiday of Shavuot, commemorating the day the Jewish people received the Torah at…

On Thursday night Israel switches onto summer time; at 2 a.m. local time, the clocks will move forward to 3 a.m. Israelis are reminded to set their clocks accordingly. Cell phones and computers should be set to update automatically as long as the time zone region is set to “Jerusalem, Israel.” During the switch to…

Three young Arab terrorists carried out a stabbing attacking Thursday morning, targeting a soldier in Jerusalem’s northern neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev. The soldier was left with light stab wounds in his leg, after being attacked on Nativ Hamazalot Street in the capital city. Magen David Adom (MDA) crews treated the soldier, and evacuated him to…

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un has enacted a new order: all North Korean men must have Kim’s “Dear Leader” haircut. Bizarre as it may seem, the Korea Times on Tuesday reported that the new edict went into effect in the capital of Pyongyang two weeks ago, and is now being enforced nation wide. However, not all North…

Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi resigned on Wednesday as defense minister and announced his plan to run for president, following a high-level meeting with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). In a televised statement, Sisi said it would be the last time he wears his military uniform. “I give up…

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, 48, former Al Qaeda spokesman and Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, was found guilty Wednesday in a New York City courtroom of conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and providing support to terrorists. The jury returned its unanimous verdict after about five hours of deliberation. In the months…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Wednesday, in a bid to save the peace talks, AFP reported. Flying in to Jordan from an interrupted visit to Rome, he first held talks with King Abdullah II as he pressed his bid to “continue to narrow the gaps” between…

Haifa-based Elbit Systems announced on Wednesday that it was awarded a contracted by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) to supply its Hermes 900 Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), a highly advanced drone. The drone carries a new and advanced intelligence gathering system, and will be used in security and safety missions in the 2014 FIFA World…

Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas announced Wednesday that the blockaded territory’s border with Egypt would open after a 50-day closure, and told Palestinian Arabs wishing to travel to present their passports.     Egypt has severely restricted access through the crossing in the border city of Rafah since July, when the army deposed Hamas’s ally,  president…

At the conclusion of the two-day Arab League summit in Kuwait on Wednesday, Arab leaders announced their rejection of Israel’s request for recognition as the Jewish state. The final statement of the summit declared its “total rejection of the call to consider Israel a Jewish state,” reports AFP. The summit further stated “we hold Israel entirely responsible…

Far-left Israeli NGO “Peace Now” has come under fire for taking part in a conference organized by some of the world’s worst human rights abusers, including the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Peace Now’s campaigns manager Yaniv Shacham delivered a speech in Ecuador as part of a two-day anti-Israel symposium sponsored by a wide range…

The United States on Tuesday slammed Saudi Arabia for refusing a visa to a an American journalist working for Israeli media who planned to cover President Barack Obama’s visit to the kingdom, AFP reported. The Jerusalem Post’s Washington bureau chief, U.S. citizen Michael Wilner, was the only journalist to be denied a visa to Saudi…

Vadim Rabinovich, president of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress and founder of the European Jewish Parliament, announced on Tuesday that he will run for the presidency of Ukraine, reports the Jewish Daily Forward. According to the report, Rabinovich told the Russian Interfax news agency that he was running to “destroy the myth about anti-Semitism in Ukraine.”…

Two Palestinian Arabs were wounded on Wednesday when Israeli navy vessels destroyed two Gaza-bound boats “smuggling cigarettes” from Egypt, Palestinian Arab media told AFP.  Palestinian Arab witnesses and medical sources said the navy opened fire at the vessels as they were heading towards Rafah, moderately wounding two people, while the rest of the crew managed to escape. An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the…

Ukraine fired its Defense Minister late Tuesday night, after the parliament deemed him responsible for losing Crimea to Russia.  Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh has tendered his resignation over the crisis.  “Knowing that someone does not like what I did as acting defense minister, as well as due to disagreements in the issues that were offered…

Hamas is taking another step towards the full implementation of strict Islamic Sharia law in Gaza, and is planning to introduce a penalty of lashes for certain criminal offenses. Nafez Al-Madhoun, the secretary of Hamas’s parliament in Gaza, said on Tuesday that the government is working on passing a new law pertaining to lashes. Speaking…

The United States warned Egypt on Tuesday that executing supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood may affect the aid that Washington provides to Cairo. Speaking one day after an Egyptian court sentenced 529 supporters of the movement to death, Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf called the sentencing “shocking.” “The imposition of the death penalty for 529…

Israeli officials on Tuesday evening played down reports that Israel and Turkey will soon sign a compensation deal over the infamous “Mavi Marmara” incident. Reacting to remarks made earlier by Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister, Bulent Arinc, officials in Jerusalem told Channel 2 News that no agreement on a deal has yet been reached. Arinc had…

US officials knew about the potential danger of Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, according to a soon-to-be-released Congressional report – but a spelling error led them to miss his frequent flights out to Dagestan for terror training.  Russian officials warned the US that Tsarnaev was armed and dangerous as much as a year and a…

The White House reacted Wednesday to reports that it has offered Israel a deal, in which Jonathan Pollard would go free in exchange for the release of terrorist murderers in the fourth tranche of the releases being carried out by Israel as a “gesture” toward the Palestinian Authority (PA). The reports say that the US…

Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, welcomed last week to Zarzuela Palace in Madrid Dr. Abraham Haim, the head of the Sephardic Community Committee in Jerusalem. Dr. Haim briefed the King on the history of the Sephardic Jewish community in Jerusalem, which is one of the longest-standing communities in the Holy City and has been…

This week at Yeshiva University, a special ceremony was held in which hundreds of new rabbis were ordained at New York’s Yeshiva University. Watch the full video:

The Rolling Stones, the iconic British rock band from the 1960s, announced plans on Tuesday to perform in Israel in June, confirming reports on the planned show from February. The announcement has sent opponents of Israel fuming. As part of its upcoming European tour, the band will appear in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park on June…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas launched a tirade against Israel on Tuesday, accusing the Jewish state of being responsible for the peace talks not progressing. Speaking at the Arab League summit in Kuwait, Abbas also accused the Israeli government of trying to get out of releasing the fourth batch of terrorists that it agreed…

A Ukrainian ultra-nationalist leader was shot dead on Tuesday, in what officials describe as a special forces operation. Oleksandr Muzychko, better known as Sashko Bily, died in a shoot-out with police in a cafe in Rivne in western Ukraine, the interior ministry said, according to the BBC. He was a leader of Right Sector, a…

The latest impasse in the talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) is enough to cause U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to interrupt a visit to Italy to meet with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan. Kerry’s surprise trip to Amman, which will take place on Wednesday, aims “to continue to narrow the…

At the same time that it is demanding a fourth and final release of terrorists and a Jewish construction freeze as “gestures” to extend the peace talks, the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to escalate its praise of terror against Israel. Israel transferred five bodies of terrorists to the PA on March 11, to which official…

Yariv Oppenheimer, director of the far-left group Peace Now, is in hot water for his Twitter comments on the IDF’s fatal shooting of an Arab terrorist last Wednesday. The terrorist, identified by Ma’an News Agency as 19-year-old Yousef Shawamrah, but reported in other sources as 15-years-old, was shot while sabotaging Israel’s security fence near Hevron with two accomplices. Shawamrah…

IDF forces discovered two explosives planted against the security fence on the border with Gaza on Tuesday, during routine activities in the area. The explosives were neutralized without causing any damage or injuries. Terror sources continue using the area adjacent to the security fence to plan attacks against Israeli citizens and security forces, noted the IDF…

Israel and Turkey will soon sign a compensation deal over the infamous “Mavi Marmara” incident according to Turkish officials. Nine Turkish Islamists were killed after violently attacking IDF soldiers during an attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza four years ago. The May 2010 incident triggered a severe diplomatic crisis between the two countries.…

Death threats and anti-Semitic epithets were reportedly issued by pro-Palestinian activists at the University of Michigan against students who oppose a resolution to divest from Israel. The Washington Free Beacon reported that University of Michigan police were first contacted last week after two anti-Israel activists shouted “threats of violence” at a student who refused to…

Syria’s opposition called for “sophisticated” arms at an Arab summit in Kuwait Tuesday while Saudi Arabia stressed the need for a change in military balance to “end the impasse”.   UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, however, insisted on the need for a “political solution” to the three-year conflict, urging an “end to the supply of…

The Palestinian Arabs are apparently on board with their leader’s demands that peace talks be extended in exchange for Israel releasing more terrorists, AFP reported on Monday. The report is based on a new poll which found that a majority of Palestinian Arabs would support extending peace talks with Israel beyond the April deadline, on…

Despite a European ban on Hezbollah’s “military wing”, the Hungarian ambassador to Lebanon recently paid a visit to a southern Lebanon “monument to jihad” belonging to the group. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported about the visit, and said that the ambassador “expressed his admiration at Hezbollah’s great achievement for Lebanon, at liberating the land and the…

Arab leaders meeting Tuesday in Kuwait are expected to back a Palestinian Authority (PA) refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, according to AFP.  The summit stresses a “categorical rejection” of the demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, according to a draft statement endorsed by foreign ministers. The statement also rejects “all pressures exerted on the Palestinian leadership” to…

The G8 group of leading industrialized nations became the G7 on Monday, as leaders decided to end Russia’s role in the group, CNN reports. The move to suspend Russia’s membership in the G8 is the latest direct response from major countries allied against Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the White House said in a statement quoted…

Two more cousins of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have been killed in a town near Turkey, sources told Al Arabiya on Monday. The two cousins were identified as Ali and Kifah Al-Assad. Their deaths come one day after Hilal Al-Assad, another cousin of the Syrian President, was killed along with seven of his fighters during…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to extend peace talks with Israel, but only if certain conditions are met, a PA official told the Ma’an news agency on Monday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that during a recent meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Abbas agreed to extend peace negotiations…

Hundreds of rabbis from across Europe gathered on Monday in Budapest, Hungary, for a memorial ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the murder of the Hungarian Jews by the Nazis. The ceremony, organized by the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) as part of its annual conference, took place on the banks of the Danube River…

The Syrian conflict takes center stage at an Arab summit starting Tuesday in Kuwait, where a regional rift over Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has been kept off the agenda because it is too hot to handle. The dispute which broke out in the runup to the summit pits Qatar against Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the…

White City Shabbat, a non-profit organization dedicated to building Jewish life in Tel Aviv, has announced Monday that it will attempt to set the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Shabbat Dinner. The dinner, which is scheduled for June 13, 2014, will be held at the Tel Aviv Port. The organization aims to host 1,000 people at…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to financially support terrorism, and families of terrorists were set to receive a great deal of that financial support, as PA official Rami Hamdallah pledged another $74 million from the PA budget to the families of ‘martyrs’ for the Palestinian Arab nationalist cause.  On Sunday, Hamdallah said that his government…

The majority of the Israeli public does not want to see Judea and Samaria relinquished to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as result of peace talks, according to a survey by the Madgem institute.  The survey, which was featured on the Knesset Channel this week, noted that only 39% of respondents believed that Israel must withdraw in order…

An Al Qaeda linked group has called to assassinate French president Francois Hollande, according to terrorism monitoring group SITE, as revenge for France’s interventions in Africa.  The al-Minbar Jihadi Media Network, an Islamist terrorist web site, has called for Muslims worldwide to stage attacks in France and on French institutions and interests in support of the Muslim…

The US is “deeply concerned” about the death sentences Egypt handed down to 529 Muslim Brotherhood Islamists on Monday, according to AFP. “While appeals are possible, it simply does not seem possible that a fair review of evidence and testimony consistent with international standards could be accomplished with over 529 defendants after a two-day trial,” a…

  Bastiaan Belder, a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament, said Monday that anti-Israel sentiment is “mostly on the Left.” Belder is a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament with the SGP, part of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group. He spoke to Arutz Sheva about anti-Semitism in his country.…

Dancing down Amsterdam Avenue along with their esteemed Roshei Yeshiva, mentors, family and friends, more than 230 new musmakhim [ordained rabbis] celebrated their ordination from Yeshiva University-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) at its March 23rd Chag HaSemikhah. Representing the largest cohort in RIETS history, the graduates of the 2011-2014 classes joined more than…