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Two rockets landed near an IDF post in Mount Hermon early Saturday morning. No injuries or damage was reported. An IDF investigation Saturday stated that the rockets are most likely the product of accidental spillover from clashes in neighboring Syria – not a deliberate attack. However, senior security sources told Walla! News Saturday night that the rocket…

An Israel Air Force (IAF) aircraft on Friday evening hit a rocket launcher in northern Gaza. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that the attack “was meant to remove the immediate threat of rocket firing into Israel.” Gaza rocket attacks have been on the increase in recent weeks. Two Fridays ago, the calm of Shabbat was…

Captain Ziv Shilon, who was badly wounded in a Hamas attack near Gaza in October 2012 and lost his arm, moved hundreds of people at the Friends of the IDF (FIDF) annual conference in Miami on Thursday. Shilon, who gave a speech about his injury and the long rehabilitation, surprised his girlfriend Adi at the end…

A 94-year-old man deported from the United States for lying about his Nazi past is unfit for trial on allegations that he was an accessory to thousands of murders as an SS guard at Auschwitz, a German court said Friday, according to The Associated Press (AP). The Ellwangen state court said Hans Lipschis is suffering…

Gunmen on Friday killed an Egyptian policeman who was on a security team guarding the home of a judge in the jailbreak trial of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, security officials told AFP. Attacks on Egypt’s security forces have surged since the army ousted the Islamist Morsi last July, and as the military-installed authorities press a…

The situation in Ukraine escalated on Friday, as armed men took over the military airport in the Crimea region. “Around 400 people are in the airport of Belbek now. They have occupied runway and all plane movements have been stopped,” the Interfax news agency reported, citing a local security source. The Associated Press (AP) reported…

The wanton vandalism of hundreds of copies of Anne Frank’s diaries held in Tokyo libraries is uncharacteristic of Japan, a senior Israeli diplomat said Thursday as he presented 300 replacements, according to AFP. The books, a gift from the embassy and the Jewish Community of Japan, were donated as police hunted those responsible for defacing…

U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on March 17, AFP reported on Thursday, stepping up Washington’s efforts to convince the PA leader to embrace a peace deal with Israel. The meeting will come two weeks after Obama’s planned encounter with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday, which will also…

Police arrested on Thursday evening a 27-year-old leader of a criminal organization on suspicion of involvement in a grenade attack in the Petah Tikva open air market earlier this week. The suspect was being questioned by the Central District of the Israel police and will be brought before a court for a remand hearing on…

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) chief negotiator on Thursday rejected U.S. moves to extend an April deadline for nine months of talks with Israel to culminate in a framework peace deal. “There is no meaning to prolonging the negotiation, even for one more additional hour, if Israel, represented by its current government, continues to disregard international…

Yossi Ashtamkar, 21, became the second Nahal Hareidi officer to receive a prize for excellence in IDF history Thursday at an officers’ course graduation ceremony.  Ashtamkar, one of 14 children and a native of the hareidi community Tifrah in the Negev, was drafted into the Netzah unit of the Nahal Hareidi division in August 2012.…

The IDF has reportedly issued a stern warning to the Lebanese government, clarifying that the government will be held response and be a target for response should Hezbollah carry out its threats to attack Israel. Hezbollah’s menacing announcements on Wednesday were the terror group’s first recognition of an IAF air strike Monday that took out…

About 40,000 runners arrived at Rokah Bridge in Tel Aviv Friday morning to kick off the 2014 Tel Aviv Marathon.  Traffic will be closed from the bridge to Jerusalem Boulevard until about 1:00 pm Friday. Police advise all commuters to use public transportation and avoid traveling to the Tel Aviv area to prevent congestion.  Despite…

The world’s first “smart gun” has been released in the US, going on sale in California this week. Developed by German company Armatix, the .22 caliber “iP1” seeks to revolution the weapons industry with unprecedented levels of security. Featuring a design straight out of a spy movie, the pistol comes with a special watch, without which the…

Jerusalem Arabs set ablaze a police station next to the Lions’ Gate in the capital’s Old City on Wednesday. Aryeh King, nationalist Jerusalem city councilman and member of the municipality’s Emergency and Security Committee, was present at the attack and managed to document it. According to King, police officers fled the scene. “Unfortunately the prime minister…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is setting out for a visit to America next week. In addition to being pressed by US President Barack Obama into Israeli withdrawals as part of peace negotiations on Monday, Netanyahu plans to visit Silicon Valley, America’s hi-tech heartland. During his time in the Californian tech-paradise, Netanyahu is set to meet Jan…

Two Palestinian Arab men robbed and stabbed an Israeli cab driver on Thursday evening near the Ariel junction in Samaria (Shomron). The two forced the driver to a stop by blocking his way forward with their vehicle. The driver suffered light wounds in the attack. The attackers managed to make off with his car. Soldiers…

A United States appeals court on Wednesday ordered YouTube to take down an anti-Islamic movie that triggered protests in the Muslim world, after an actress alleged she had been duped into appearing in it, AFP reported. The 2012 appearance of “Innocence of Muslims” on Google’s video-sharing site provoked deadly violence, but the current legal case…

More than 170 Islamist rebel fighters, including Saudis, Qataris and Chechens, were killed Wednesday in a Syrian army ambush near Damascus, AFP reported, citing the state news agency SANA. The attack, apparently the deadliest against the rebels for months, took place in Eastern Ghouta, a key rebel stronghold targeted in a chemical attack in August…

In a Facebook posting Thursday, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett questioned the wisdom of relying on technology to ensure Israel’s defense, as supporters of an Israeli withdrawal from the Jordan Valley are suggesting. With cameras, electronic alarms, and other gadgets “protecting” Israelis, asked Bennett cynically, “who needs the IDF”? Reports Thursday said that with Secretary of…

Over three thousand people of all religious backgrounds gathered at the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem Wednesday night, to celebrate the upcoming start of the month of Adar, which begins next week. Over the past five years, the Judea and Samaria Council has brought over 100,000 people to pray at Joseph’s Tomb. Security Wednesday was…

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Thursday morning that warplanes will be put on alert on the Ukrainian border, Channel 10 reported. The announcement followed orders Wednesday for 150,000 Russian troops to go on high alert. Troops are planning to hold war games near Ukraine, in what has widely been seen as a warning gesture from Russia…

One of the two Muslims who publicly beheaded British soldier Lee Rigby in London last year was given life in prison and his accomplice was sentenced to 45 years on Wednesday, AFP reports. Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, were dragged from the dock in the Old Bailey court in London after they started…

With John Kerry’s diplomatic efforts stalling and the Palestinians proving far more resistant to making concessions than the United States expected, President Barack H. Obama has decided to take a more “active role” in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the New York Times reports. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is set to meet…

MKs from Shas, United Torah Jewry, Meretz, and Labor all signed on to a letter of support sent by Labor Party MK Eitan Cabel to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro. The letter expresses support for the efforts of the U.S. to negotiate a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Among the signers…

Yesh Atid MK Rina Frankel on Thursday sent an official letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asking him to initiate an immediate aliyah “rescue effort” for Ukrainian Jewry. Frankel sent the letter in the wake of the recent unrest in Ukraine, in which former President Viktor Yanukovych was deposed in a popular uprising. The uprising…

Defense Ministry Moshe Yaalon has come in for sharp criticism, after the State Attorney announced Tuesday to the Supreme Court that a large illegal Arab outpost that has sprung up outside Maale Adumim, to the east of Jerusalem, will not be destroyed. Attorney Betzalel Smutrich, director of Regavim, the NGO watchdog group for Jewish national property…

Arab MK Ibrahim Sarsour, Chairman of the Raam-Taal faction, published an announcement to the media on Tuesday, in which he reported on his meetings with jailed terrorists. Sarsour termed the terrorists “political prisoners.” The “political prisoners” Sarsour met included Dr. Mahmoud al-Rumhi and Malek Behirat, as well as Ibrahim Biadasa and Zaher Jabarin. Sarsour said the…

Torah Mitzion in North America held its annual Shabbaton (Shabbat retreat) last weekend, hosted by the Jewish community of Memphis, Tennessee. Around 40 shlichim (emissaries) of the organization were present at the unique event. The organization Torah Mitzion has gained recognition for its program of sending shlichim, groups of post-army yeshiva students, young singles and newly…

Ukraine interim President Olexander Turchynov warned Russia Thursday not to carry out any “military aggression” by moving troops from its Black Sea Fleet out of their naval base in Sevastopol. The warning comes after gunmen seized Crimea’s regional parliament and the government headquarters of the region, which has a Russian majority population. The men’s identity…

Hareidi leaders predict a huge turnout for a protest on Sunday in Jerusalem that they are calling “the million man protest.” The demonstration – prompted by a series of government decisions that are preceived as hurting hareidim – has led to unprecedented unity among all of the hareidi streams. Police, too, expect a very large…

Israeli troops along the border with Lebanon were on high alert Wednesday night after Hezbollah threatened action over what it said was an Israeli air raid, according to AFP and Army Radio. “The military ordered farmers to stay away from the border… and there was movement of military vehicles around border communities,” Army Radio stated. The army itself did not make any statement. Earlier Wednesday,…

Germany rejected a fresh Nazi-era reparation claim by a Greek city’s Jewish community, according to AFP, but offered the group cooperation on future projects. “With regard to issues of reparations, there are no new developments and all these questions are answered,” a German finance ministry spokesman told a press conference. The Jewish community of Thessaloniki said Tuesday it had sued Germany at the European…

Extreme leftist group Peace Now was forced to delete its Facebook page campaigning against rights group Honenu Wednesday, after it falsely accused a man of being a “terrorist.”   Honenu is a legal rights group which campaigns for the legal rights of Jews from Judea and Samaria, including the right to see a lawyer and the right…

The Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that Israel has successfully completed tests of a new missile defense system for commercial aircraft and plans to start fitting it to its passenger fleet, according to AFP.  It said the automatic laser-based “SkyShield” system detects shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and also scrambles their guidance systems, renderingthem harmless. “The tests, conducted in a test range…

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came under fire on Tuesday over recordings of a series of conversations allegedly between him and his son, Bilal, were made public. The two men in the recordings discuss in detail how to hide vast amounts of money, reported CNN, and were allegedly made the day after a wide-reaching…

The inter-rebel war in Syria is heating up, after the leader of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated rebel group in Syria on Tuesday gave rival jihadists an ultimatum to accept arbitration by clerics or be expelled. The BBC reported that Abu Mohammed al-Golani of the Al-Nusra Front warned the rival Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)…

Two American lawmakers, Senator Bill Johnson (R-OH) and Congressman David McKinley (R-WV), visited Judea and Samaria on Monday, where they declared that “Israel is the most important friend of the United States.” During the visit, the two lawmakers visited important sites in the region, such as the Ariel University and the Barkan Industrial Zone. As…

Sinai-based terrorists on Tuesday night blew up a pipeline that transports gas to Jordan, security officials said, according to AFP. This is the fourth such attack this year in the restive peninsula and the latest in dozens of attacks on the pipeline since the 2011 ouster of president Hosni Mubarak. The attackers planted explosives under…

Hezbollah on Wednesday finally acknowledged the air strike which reportedly took out its missile convoy from Syria on Monday. The Lebanese based group blamed Israel for the strike, saying it wreaked damage but left no casualties. The claim contradicts reports by Lebanese security officials to the local Daily Star, who said four Hezbollah terrorists were killed…

A senior official in the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Women’s Affairs has reported a rise of over 100% in the number of “honor killings” in 2013 compared to the previous year. The murder of women for tarnishing the “family honor” is still protected under PA law. The official, Nabila Rizq, was referenced in the…

Ukraine is on the brink of a possible civil war between those wishing to ally with the European Union (EU) and those wishing to remain a Russian proxy, but according to US Secretary of State John Kerry, the conflict is “not West versus East.” Massive protests broke out in Ukraine in November when President Viktor Yanukovych rejected…

A new poll released Wednesday shows that a majority of Americans support ‘gay marriage.’ The group with the largest percentage expressing support was practicing Jewish Americans, 83% of whom came out in favor, despite homosexuality being expressly forbidden by Judaism. The survey, which polled 4,500 Americans, was conducted by the non-partisan Public Religion Research Institute.…

A senior member of the Palestinian Authority (PA) electricity committee on Wednesday morning denied talk of Israel cutting off power to the PA, given the PA’s 1.4 billion shekels ($400 million) in unpaid bills to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC). “The electric company hasn’t threatened to cut off the PA from electric supply,” said the senior…

Islamist terrorists murdered 59 middle school students in a pre-dawn attack Tuesday on a northeast Nigerian boarding school, authorities said. The terrorists, thought to be from barbaric Islamist organization Boko Haram, set a locked hostel on fire, before shooting and slitting the throats of those who tried to climb out the windows. Some were burned…

Police Commissioner Yochanan Danino ordered that an investigation be started over incitement attempts against Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett Wednesday, after a picture began making the rounds on social media depicting the ministers as Nazis burning the Talmud.  “Further publications implying an escalation of discrimination, against the hareidi community – which allegedly stems from the…

Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur warned on Wednesday that Jordan might review a 1994 peace treaty with Israel after the Knesset began a debate on allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, according to AFP.  “If Israel wants to violate the peace treaty in this issue, the entire treaty, its article, details and wording will be put on the table,”…

Amnesty International’s new report criticizing Israel, set to be released Thursday, is blatantly biased and aims to foment political warfare against the Jewish state, according to NGO Monitor. The Jerusalem-based research organization charged the leftist human rights group with falsely accusing Israel of “callous disregard for human life” in its new report, which is entitled…

In response to the acts of vandalism in Tokyo that left 121 copies of Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl” ripped and defaced, the Israeli embassy in Japan pledged Wednesday to donate 300 new copies of the book to Tokyo libraries. A total of 308 copies of the diary, biographies of Anne Frank, and…

A single mother of three has come forward as the winner of last week’s lottery prize of four million shekels. The winner, who was not identified by name, is in her 30s and works as a beautician. She said her first step will be to buy a home for herself and her children. “I live…

A record number of dentists from all around the US gathered in New Jersey on Monday to take the Israeli Dentistry Licensing Exam, in preparation for their aliyah (immigration) to Israel. The 20 dentists were the largest number ever to take the test outside of Israel; their testing was held by the organization Nefesh B’Nefesh…

A grenade was tossed in the Petah Tikva open air market (shuk) on Tuesday afternoon, hitting a currency exchange on Guttman street. The explosion wounded five people. Hatzalah and Magen David Adon (MDA) paramedics treated their injuries at the scene; all five were transported to Belinson Hospital in Petah Tivka and are in light to…

The Jerusalem District Court sentenced two Shu’afat residents Tuesday who are convicted of launching firebombs at police forces on the Temple Mount in March 2013.  The two were convicted after confessing to conspiracy to commit a crime, manufacturing weapons and aggravated assault. One was sentenced to  a conditional suspended sentence of six and a half…

Alert yeshiva students prevented a bomb attack in Samaria (Shomron) on Monday. The students noticed a bomb that had been planted outside Homesh, an Israeli community that was demolished in the 2005 Disengagement and was recently turned over to the Palestinian Authority. The bomb was hidden in a pile of rocks next to the main…

The ongoing battles between various crime gangs in Israel made the news again Tuesday with a grenade attack in the Petach Tikva market which injured five people. According to police sources who spoke to Walla! news, the latest attack is yet more proof of a worrying phenomenon: the ease with which Israeli gangs are getting…

Police arrested three Arab rioters Tuesday morning on suspicion of throwing rocks and firecrackers at police on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, right after police opened the Rambam Gate entrance to the Mount. Two police officers were wounded and are being taken to Sha’arei Tzedek Hospital. According to Kikar HaShabbat, dozens of Muslims began throwing rocks and…

The first-ever academic conference studying Israel’s Disengagement from Gush Katif will commence Thursday. In light of the historic event, Arutz Sheva spoke to prominent political strategist Eyal Arad and Samaria (Shomron) Regional Council Chairman, Gershon Mesika.  Arad, who will be one of the main speakers at the conference, noted that the main lesson from the horrors of…

Norway’s intelligence agency said Monday that it fears an increased “terrorist threat” to its country due to dozens of Norwegian nationals fighting in the Syrian conflict, AFP reported. At least 40 or 50 people with links to Norway have fought, or are currently fighting, with forces opposed to the Bashar Al-Assad regime and run the…

A synagogue in eastern Ukraine was firebombed over the weekend amid the mass protests that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych, the International Business Times (IBT) reports. The Giymat Rosa Synagogue in Zaporizhia, located 250 miles southeast of Kiev, was attacked by unknown individuals, the report said, citing the Russian-language Timenews.in.ua news site. No one was injured,…

Education departments in a number of regions in Saudi Arabia have banned female employees and visitors who do not wear a face veil from entering girls’ schools, the Saudi Gazette reported on Monday. The report cited a pamphlet sent by education departments to school principals, in which male and female school guards are instructed to…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday evening welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Israel. Merkel arrived with 16 of her ministers in Jerusalem for government to government consultations with Israeli ministers. In brief remarks with Merkel, Netanyahu said he would like to focus on three issues during his meeting with the German Chancellor – security,…

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was under fire Monday for comments he made about the Holocaust – not by the West, but by Iranian government officials, Yisrael Hayom notes.  The daily notes that, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA, hardline Islamist MPs in the Islamic Republic have upbraided Zarif for calling the Holocaust “a horrifying tragedy” in an…

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah, declared Monday that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is not only not taking a stance on the Syrian civil war, but that he is adamant about sticking to a non-interference policy in internal affairs in the Arab world. According to Abu Rudeineh, Abbas does not…

Aircraft belonging to the Israeli Air Force (IAF) launched two air raids against a Hezbollah post on the border between Lebanon and Syria on Monday evening, a security source told the Lebanese Daily Star. The source said Israeli planes launched four rockets on the Janta area in the mountains separating the Lebanese village of Nabi…

Reuters reported Monday night that Iran has signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth $195 million, according to documents seen by a correspondent. If true, the move breaks a UN embargo on weapons sales by the Islamic Republic. Iraqi President Nouri Al-Maliki signed the weapons deal with Tehran in November, the documents say, just…

Dr. Yunis Al-Astal , a member of the Council of Scholars of Palestine and an MP in the Hamas “parliament,” sharply criticized Sunday the phenomenon of honor killings in Palestinian Arab society. In his statement, Astal argued that honor killings is a more serious crime than the reason behind the honor killings itself, as punishment…

Speaking at a meeting of the Likud-Beiteinu Knesset faction Monday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu discussed the upcoming visit of German Chancellor Andrea Merkel, along with 16 of her government’s ministers. Merkel is set to arrive Monday night, and Netanyahu himself is set to leave for a visit to the United States next week, he told…

The Israeli Police and Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) released for publication Monday that both forces recently uncovered a terror cell of Palestinian Arabs planning to hurl stones and Molotov cocktails at drivers on Route 443.  At least 15 Palestinian Arabs were arrested in the Palestinian Authority (PA) settlement of Beit Ur-Tahta over…

Israel is facing the driest winter since 1927, Ma’ariv reports Monday, leaving experts concerned.  The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)’s water level has dropped by four centimeters since the rainy season began, compared to a 1.97 meter rise over the same five-month period in 2013.  Israel has seen slight rain this month, but apparently it has not been…

Economics Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday led a round-table discussion on the employment situation in the hareidi community. Participating in the event were 80 officials from various government offices, along with business owners, corporate executives, academics, and representatives of the hareidi community. Among those participating were representatives of companies like Intel, Amdocs, Osem, and Teva,…

IDF soldiers with the Netzach Yehuda Brigade on Sunday night discovered two Arab extremists who were planning to carry out a terror attack. They were caught next to the town of Enav in northern Samaria. Several of the platoon’s soldiers were on patrol near the town, observing the area from a guard tower. Other members…

In a sudden move, Egypt’s interim government has stepped down. Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi announced the resignation in a televised statement on Monday, without giving any reason for the dissolution of the government, reports BBC. “Today the cabinet took a decision to offer its resignation to the president of the republic,” said Beblawi in the TV…

US State Department figures from 2013 reveal a sharp 80% rise over the course of the year in Israeli visa requests that were rejected, continuing a trend of Israeli visa rejections over several years. The figures, which were published Monday morning in Yediot Aharonot, show that last year about 125,000 Israelis requested tourist visas to the…

The Education Ministry held a nation-wide defense drill on Monday, meant to sharpen procedures in case of an emergency for students from elementary through high school, as well as at kindergartens. As part of the drill, a siren was sounded throughout the country at 10:05 a.m. The drill is set to end at 12:00 noon,…

Ukraine has issued an arrest warrant for ousted president Viktor Yanukovych as the country’s new rulers launched a probe over the government’s “mass murder” of protesters in Kiev. “An official case for the mass murder of peaceful citizens has been opened. Yanukovich and other people responsible for this have been declared wanted,” acting interior minister Arsen…

Prosecutors in Egypt on Sunday accused deposed president Mohammed Morsi of leaking state secrets to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as part of a plot to destabilize Egypt, AFP reported. The accusations came at the second hearing of the former Islamist president’s trial for espionage. The trial, one of three that are under way against Morsi, is…

Lawmakers from Hamas on Sunday warned Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas against recognizing Israel as part of the ongoing peace process. The lawmakers said that recognition of Israel as a Jewish state would be a “death sentence” against the PA. Ibrahim Dahbour, one of Hamas’s representative in the Palestinian Legislative Council, warned Abbas against…

Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor, said on Sunday she has no regrets about characterizing the September 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi, Libya, as a “spontaneous response” to an anti-Islam video. “What I said to you that morning, and what I did every day since, was to share the best information that we…

“The word peace is foreign to the Palestinians,” Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) said on Sunday. Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Akunis pointed out that senior officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA) have rejected U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposed framework for peace. Akunis noted that he, as do his colleagues in the Likud, are…

Jordan’s King Abdullah II rejected on Sunday the notion that his country was an “alternative homeland” for Palestinian Arabs, the state news agency Petra reports. “Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine and nothing but that, not the in the past or the future,” King Abdullah was quoted as having said in a meeting with…

A Syrian rebel commander who fought alongside Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and was close to its current chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed by a suicide attack on Sunday, Reuters reports. The Observatory for Human Rights in Syria said Abu Khaled al-Soury, also known as Abu Omair al-Shamy, a commander of the Salafi group Ahrar…

A woman believed to be the oldest survivor of the Holocaust died in London at the age of 110, her family said on Sunday, according to Reuters. Alice Herz-Sommer, who is said to have counted writer Franz Kafka among her family friends and is the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary, was a Jewish pianist and…

Russia said on Sunday it was calling its ambassador to Ukraine back to Moscow for “consultations”, AFP reported. The Russian foreign ministry’s announcement came after tumult in Kiev led to pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych being toppled and replaced with a pro-EU leadership from the opposition. “Due to the escalation of the situation in Ukraine and…

Alert IDF soldiers foiled a terror attack on Sunday, when they caught six pipe bombs in the possession of two Palestinian Arabs. The incident took place next to the Arab village of Huwara in the Shomron (Samaria). The head of the 931 Infantry Battalion of the Nahal Brigade, Guy Shadmi, told Arutz Sheva that soldiers…

Knesset Members and public figures took part Sunday in a protest to free Jonathan Pollard outside the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. Over 1,000 people participated in the rally. Esther Pollard, Jonathan’s wife, said: “This is our first official Pollard demonstration in front of the US Embassy and G-d willing, this will be our last.…

The Legal Grounds group, which campaigns for Israel’s rights to Judea and Samaria, presented its case at the Knesset Sunday. The session was held to explore ways for Israel to respond to international delegitimization and boycotts. Dr. Harel Arnon, world-renowned lawyer and co-author of Land Laws and International Law in Judea and Samaria, spoke on…

“The government is to give the private sector the opportunity to handle the technical management of crossing points from the Gaza Strip,” Hamas deputy prime minister Ziad al-Zaza told AFP on Saturday and said that a commission of seven businessmen would be dedicated to the project. “Supervision of all terminals will be under government control,”…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday by addressing two important topics: the ongoing internal conflict Israel faces as a result of the hareidi draft law, and Western powers’ talks with Iran.  “Two years ago, I declared that the government would enact a law which would increase the equal burden of service,…

A national defense drill will be carried out in schools across Israel Monday, for children and teenagers from preschool until high school.  The “code red” siren will sound tomorrow at 10:05 am, signaling the beginning of the intensive drill, which will end at 12:00 pm.  The exercise, which is mandated by the Ministry of Education,…

Authorities were astounded to discover Sunday that the name of a top-secret IDF unit, as well as the commander who heads the unit, had been leaked online for over a year and a half. IDF Radio reported Sunday that the name – which has not been released for publication – was revealed in the text of…

Speaking to reporters on the Golan Heights Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said that while the Golan was relatively quiet, as were other fronts in Israel, the fronts could heat up at any moment – particularly because Iran was involved in all of them. “There is no front that Iran does not meddle…

Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein has been named this year’s winner of the Israel Prize in Jewish Religious Literature. Rabbi Lichtenstein, dean of the Har Etzion Yeshiva in Gush Etzion, is the author of numerous works on Jewish philosophy and Talmud. Several of his major works have been translated into English, most notably Leaves of Faith. The…

CleanTech 2014, the 18th annual international event for Clean Technologies, took place last week at Air Port City, and focused on environmental quality, infrastructures and green building, renewable energy and water technologies. The 18th International Summit and Exhibition for Renewable Energy and water Technologies, Recycling and Environmental Quality, Infrastructure and Green Building.   CleanTech has…

Hezbollah-controlled Al-Manar television last week broadcast its latest “discovery” – that the Jews control Hollywood, and are using it to mind-control hapless Americans. According to a series of reports broadcast on the station last week, American Jews invented Hollywood and the motion picture business because they felt persecuted in America. The purpose of the movie…

The Syrian opposition thanked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over the weekend for his visit this past week to an IDF field hospital where wounded Syrians are being treated. Leaders of the opposition who spoke to Kol Yisrael radio said that Netanyahu’s public support for wounded Syrians sends an important message to the Syrian people, particularly…

The Lebanon branch of the Nusra Front, a Syrian jihadist group, has claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing in the northeastern town of Hermel, reported The Daily Star. On its Twitter feed, the Al-Qaeda-linked group said the bombing was part of a “series of vengeful attacks.” A car bomb near a Lebanese Army outpost…

A Kurdish group captured a town in Syria from Islamists on Saturday, in a battle in which at least 28 fighters were killed, most of them Islamists, Reuters reported, citing a monitoring group. If the Kurds can keep hold of Tal Brak, on a highway between the cities of Hassaka and Qamishli, it would mark…

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was received on Saturday night by thousands of opposition supporters in central Kiev after being freed from detention, the BBC reports. She has suffered from a back injury and addressed them from her wheelchair. “You are heroes,” she told the crowd on Independence Square, the focus of protests against…

The Jewish Agency has pledged emergency humanitarian relief to Ukraine’s Jewish community Saturday night, in light of both general unrest and reports of an upswing in anti-Semitism.  Aid will include securing Jewish community buildings and organizations in the embattled country. “The Jewish community of Ukraine, which counts some 200,000 members, is one of most vibrant…

Channel 2 reports Saturday night that the US Congress House Appropriations Committee is debating cutting off aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) unless its ongoing incitement against Israel stops or is significantly curtailed.  Under the new law, aid to the PA will be frozen until a reliable report is released proving that it has begun cutting…

The UN Security Council adopted a unanimous resolution Saturday calling for rebel groups and regime forces alike to allow humanitarian aid convoys access across Syria, according to Al-Jazeera.  Resolution 2139 (2014) gave some analysts new hope for the humanitarian situation in Syria, which has seen over 130,000 people killed and millions displaced since 2011. Russia and China, which…

Ukraine’s political situation is dissolving into controlled chaos Saturday night, as thousands of protestors storm the Presidential palace, according to the Washington Post.  Meanwhile, local reports note that government offices across Ukraine had shut down and that workers at the public prosecutor’s office were destroying documents. Protestors across Ukraine have also taken down statues of Vladimir…

An economy facing default, a splintered opposition and regions with separatist tendencies: Ukraine’s new government will face an uphill struggle to stabilise the country, according to AFP, as the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych looms. Under intense pressure from the international community and protesters reeling from violence in Kiev, Yanukovych signed a peace deal Friday after clashes between anti-government activists and security…

A car bomb near a Lebanese Army outpost in the northeastern city of Hermel Saturday has killed three soldiers and wounded six others, including four soldiers, according to the Daily Star.  A suicide bomber driving a Grand Cherokee detonated the bomb after soldiers grew suspicious of him at a checkpoint on the city’s outskirts, a security…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday she will fully support efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to relaunch the Middle East peace process during her upcoming visit to Israel, according to AFP. “We need, as soon as possible, a stable two-country solution, with a Jewish state of Israel and at the same time a state for the Palestinians,”…

Hope and uncertainty reign in Kiev Saturday, after the downfall of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. Opposition leaders, declaring that “the dictatorship has fallen,” have prepared the populace for the possibility of a batter future.  But one thing is clear: that while protests may be beneficial for Ukraine as a whole, they have only led to…

In the wake of the recent unrest in Ukraine, Jewish residents of Kiev have received threats by anti-Semites in recent days. Arutz Sheva’s Russian-language website reported on Friday that Jewish Ukrainians were threatened by local extremists that they would be harmed. Local authorities have been made aware of these threats, the report said. In recent…

Ukraine’s leader and opposition have signed a deal to end the splintered country’s worst crisis since independence after three days of carnage left nearly 100 protesters dead, AFP reported on Friday. President Viktor Yanukovych’s dramatic decision to hold early elections and form a new unity government was met with caution by the tens of thousands…

Channel 2 News on Thursday provided an inside look at the team which is tasked with preventing a scenario in which a flight is hijacked and forced to crash in the heart of Tel Aviv. The team operates out of an airport security operations center in central Israel. Each passenger plane approaching Israel’s airspace must…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that U.S. attempts to forge an agreement on a framework for peace talks with Israel had so far failed but that the efforts are “extremely serious,” AFP reported. Speaking in Paris after talks this week with Secretary of State John Kerry, Abbas told journalists, “So far the Americans…

Syria has submitted a new 100-day plan for the removal of its chemical weapons after failing to meet a February 5 deadline, Reuters reported on Friday. However, the international mission overseeing the operation believes it can be done in a shorter time frame, according to diplomats quoted by the news agency. The Organization for the…

Germany is to offer Israeli citizens consular assistance in states such as Indonesia or Malaysia where Israel has no official diplomatic representation, Reuters reported on Friday. The new deal is expected to be signed by Chancellor Angela Merkel when she visits Jerusalem next week. Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Yakov Hadas-Handelsman, said the offer was “a…

Jordan is turning to Israel for its natural gas supplies, according to Al-Ahram, after Egyptian pipelines have become unreliable.  Noble Energy, the United States based company that runs the Tamar natural gas field off the coast of Israel, signed a $771 million deal with Jordanian gas suppliers on Wednesday. The Arab Potash company and the Jordan Bromine…

US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro declared Friday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) will be obligated to recognize Israel as a Jewish state under the US framework agreement – despite the PA’s ongoing defiance over the issue.  “[The PA] recognizing Israel as Jewish state is a key sign that the conflict is ending,” Shapiro stated…

Scores of copies of Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl” kept in public libraries across Tokyo have been vandalized, officials said Friday, sparking alarm amid a rightward shift in Japan’s politics, AFP reports.  Pages in at least 250 copies of the diary or publications containing biographies on Anne Frank, Nazi persecution of Jews and related materials havebeen torn, the council of…

The UK has formally resumed ties with Iran, AFP reported Thursday, after three years of diplomatic silence.  “The UK has agreed with Iran that from today bilateral relations will be conducted directly through non-resident charge d’affaires and officials,” a Foreign Office spokesman told AFP. “We will no longer have formal protecting power arrangements in place. This is the…

Jibril Rajoub, one of the top officials in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) ruling Fatah party, openly supports Hamas’s efforts to kidnap Israeli soldiers, Palestinian Media Watch reported Thursday.  “If Hamas wants to kidnap Israeli soldiers, they should go ahead and kidnap Israeli soldiers,” Rajoub stated earlier this month in a live PA television broadcast. “They should kidnap…

Anti-Israel activist Judith Butler’s scheduled speaking event at the New York Jewish Museum has been cancelled, according to the Forward. Butler, a literary professor and sociolinguistics expert, is a high-profile supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. While the scheduled event was due to be about Franz Kafka – not the Jewish state…

The ongoing political talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have been stalling, recent reports indicate. But despite their differences, Israel and the PA have been able to unite successfully over a noble cause: helping the environment.  The staff of the Ministry for Environmental Protection met with their PA counterparts Thursday in Tel Aviv,…

Confusion reigned in Ukraine Friday as President Viktor Yanukovych declared that a peace agreement is imminent, but declined to make a formal announcement after all-night negotiations with the Opposition. The negotiations were mediated by foreign ministers from Germany, Poland, and France.  Meanwhile, diplomats stated Friday morning that a compromise drafted overnight involved appointing a transitional…

Islamist rebels in eastern Syria have ordered women to put on the Islamic veil, warning that anyone not doing so would be held to account, Reuters reports. According to the report, an organization calling itself the Islamic Law Council of Deir al-Zor said in a statement released Wednesday that women have until Saturday to don…

A third suspect has been identified in the bombing of a bus that killed five Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian city of Burgas in 2012, Reuters reported on Thursday. The tourists arrived on a charter flight from Israel and were in the bus in the airport car park when the blast tore through the vehicle,…

President Shimon Peres on Thursday hailed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace efforts. Speaking to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Peres reiterated that the goal of the talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) should be to keep Israel a Jewish state, something which he had also told Arutz Sheva a…

Three men aged 88, 92 and 94 have been detained by German authorities on suspicion of being guards at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, the BBC reported on Thursday. The homes of a number of men were raided in three German states, months after prosecutors investigating Nazi-era war crimes announced they were recommending charges…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held “constructive” talks in Paris with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, an American official said Thursday, according to AFP. The two met twice in less than 24 hours as they seek to hammer out a peace deal between the PA and Israel. Abbas and Kerry met “to continue…

Former Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Kazakhstan Thursday, according to Walla!, to strengthen Israel’s economic ties with the Sunni Muslim-majority nation. Barak met with President Nursultan Nazarbiib in the presidential palace in Astana, according to the daily. They reportedly sat for about an hour and discussed the possibility of further cooperation in regard to agriculture, health services, and industrial…

US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Thursday, for their second round of talks in two days. The men met for two hours with their teams in an upscale Parisian hotel, where Abbas hosted Kerry for dinner and late night talks on Wednesday, US officials said. The top US diplomat has…

Next Tuesday, President Shimon Peres is scheduled to award German Chancellor Angela Merkel Israel’s Presidential Medal of Distinction, Israel’s highest civilian honor. Spokespeople from the Presidential Residence disclosed that the German Chancellor is receiving the award for her “unwavering commitment to Israel’s security, her promotion of educating the public against anti-Semitism and racism, and for…

A law proposed by MK Adi Kol (Yesh Atid) would allow children as young as 10 to apply for a name change in court, Israel Hayom reports. Children could seek to change their first name even against their parents’ wishes. The bill would also prohibit parents from changing a child’s name without his or her…

A delegation of 14 leaders from the Presbyterian clergy, a church that in the past supported boycotting Israeli products manufactured in Judea and Samaria (Shomron), arrived last week to visit Israel. The visit was organized by the America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL); the delegates’ goal was to discover Israel personally and to better understand the Israeli-Palestinian…

A senior PLO official was quoted as saying that Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas was prepared to recognize Israel – this time, for real. A story in Maariv Thursday quoted Nabil Amaro as saying on PA television that Abbas would agree to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, as part of the negotiations being conducted…

Muslim clerics have issued a religious ruling (“fatwa”) forbidding any Muslim from traveling to Mars. The ruling, published in the UAE’s Khaleej Times, says that space travel in general, and to Mars specifically, is too dangerous. “Such a one-way journey poses a real risk to life, and that can never be justified in Islam,” the…

Instead of a projected decline, Aliyah (immigration) from North America to Israel actually showed signs of a slight upswing in 2013, according to a new release from the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption.  The statement corrects an error in the Ministry’s statistics for global immigration into the Jewish state, which mistakenly stated in December that Aliyah…

At least 70 people have reportedly been killed after police fired live rounds at anti-government protesters near Independence Square in Ukraine’s capital Kiev. The claim was made by doctors working with the activists, and cited by news agencies. Hundreds more demonstrators have been injured. Meanwhile, protesters have taken 67 police officers hostage, according to the…

The Hungarian government said Wednesday it had postponed the inauguration of a controversial monument which Jewish critics say glosses over Budapest’s active role in the Holocaust, according to AFP.  The monument, to be unveiled as Hungary marks the 70th anniversary of the start of mass deportations of Jews when the Nazis took power in 1944, willalso be renamed, according to a…

Canadian passengers will have more options to travel to Israel and back, according to Shalom Toronto, due to a new business deal between Porter Airlines and El Al Israel Airlines. The airlines will use their operations at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, as the connecting point between Tel Aviv and Billy Bishop…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is trying to push Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to sign a peace agreement, is hinting that Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria may not be evicted from their homes when an agreement is signed. In an interview with journalist Ilana Dayan on Channel 2, Kerry was…

Nuclear talks towards a final agreement between Iran and six powers appeared to make modest progress on a second day Wednesday, with Washington saying the negotiations were “constructive and useful,” according to AFP. Iranian state media said both sides were close to agreeing a framework agreement on how negotiations would proceed in future rounds over…

US Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Jordanian counterpart Wednesday, according to AFP, for talks focusing on the Middle East peace process and the Syrian conflict. “We are at an important point in the negotiations where we are engaged with narrowing the gaps between the parties on a framework for negotiations,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.  US…

Pro-Palestinian and leftist Jewish groups are spearheading a campaign to prevent former Defense Minister Ehud Barak from visiting Canada, according to Shalom Toronto. Barak is currently set to visit Surrey, British Columbia, on February 27. However, the groups sent a strongly worded letter to the mayor and members of the city council asking that the visit…

President Shimon Peres said on Wednesday that he was against any initiative to extend his term in office. Peres “is determined to end his term according to what is stated in the existing law, at the end of July 2014,” said a statement from his office. The statement came in the wake of a report…

The United States on Wednesday expressed concern over comments against Israel by the chief Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator, Saeb Erekat. “We are of course concerned about the recent comments by Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters, hinting that Secretary of State John Kerry would raise the issue during his…

U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday discussed the normalization of ties between Turkey and Israel. “The President and Prime Minister spoke about the importance of quickly concluding the normalization agreement with Israel,” said a White House readout of the telephone conversation between the two leaders.  The statement further…

Facebook said Wednesday it was buying the fast-growing mobile messaging service WhatsApp for more than $16 billion in cash and stock, AFP reported. The deal bolsters the world’s biggest social network by adding the 450 million users of WhatsApp, which will be operated independently with its own board. It is Facebook’s biggest acquisition and comes…

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych threatened to crack down with full force on anti-government protesters after the bloodiest clashes in the country’s three-month standoff killed at least 25 people on Tuesday. A BBC correspondent noted that the violence was in fact the worst the country has seen in almost 70 years, since World War 2. Police…

Headlines in Israel Wednesday were dominated by Yitzhak Rabin – not the assassinated Prime Minister, but a brave Arab teenager of the same name.  18-year-old Rabin – whose full name is Yitzhak Rabin Ramsy – was born in Jordan to an Arab Muslim family, two months after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination. His parents…

MK Basel Ghattas (Balad) appealed to Pope Francis Wednesday, asking him to personally intervene to stop Christian Arabs from recruiting into the IDF, according to Ha’aretz.  Ghattas submitted the request to Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, the Vatican’s representative in Jerusalem, at the Holy See’s office on the Mount of Olives. The MK linked the timing of the request with the…

The US team in the negotiations for peace between Israel and the “Palestinians” has demanded that Israel agree to an “informal” freeze of settlement activity outside the large settlement blocs, according to IDF Radio. The freeze will go into effect immediately after the signing of a framework agreement. Israel will have to commit not to…

At least four people were killed Wednesday in blasts in the southern suburbs of Beirut near an Iranian cultural center, the Red Cross and security sources said. The explosions hit about 50 meters apart in the Bir Hassan neighbourhood on Wednesday. At least 35 people were injured. A group affiliated with Al Qaeda said that…

The Knesset passed Wednesday, in the preliminary reading, a bill proposed by MK Yariv Levin (Likud-Beytenu) that would cancel the eligibility of certain terrorists freed from Israeli jails to receive National Insurance payments. The terrorists affected would be those who are Israeli citizens and who were released before the end of their jail terms in…

A joint press release by Israel’s financial establishment’s leading institutions warned Wednesday that the new currency known as Bitcoin is fertile ground for fraudulent activities, and highly volatile. This is the full text of the statement by the Bank of Israel, the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Department, the Israel Tax Authority, the Israel Securities…

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, was nominated on Tuesday to chair the elections for the UN Human Rights Committee. 170 countries unanimously nominated Israel for this position, which comes a short while after the Jewish state rejoined the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The Human Rights Committee (HRC) is the UN…

Hungarian Jewish leaders said Tuesday they had begun talks with Russian authorities over the return of a huge collection of religious items looted by the Red Army during World War II, AFP reports. The collection, which includes 103 Torah scrolls, was found last year in a museum in Nizhny Novgorod in western Russia. Rabbi Slomo…

Christian leaders reportedly pressured Israel to turn over control of Mount Zion in Jerusalem during a clandestine meeting of senior city officials. The meeting took place Tuesday in the office of Attorney Amnon Merhav, the director-general of the Jerusalem municipality. It was attended by officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, President’s Office, Tourism Ministry, Police,…

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission (EC), said on Tuesday that Europe would not tolerate any harm to fundamental religious Jewish rights. Barroso’s comments were made during a meeting with a delegation of leading European Rabbis, headed by Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the President of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER). Rabbi…

The strike at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem has ended, it was announced on Tuesday night, after marathon talks between management and the striking employees resulted in an interim agreement. Nurses and non-medical staff are expected to return to work on Wednesday morning. Doctors, however, remain on strike and Hadassah is hoping to meet with…

Riot police in the Ukraine advanced onto a central Kiev square occupied by protesters, after at least 14 people died in the worst day of violence since demonstrations erupted against President Viktor Yanukovich 12 weeks ago, Reuters reports. Protesters on Independence Square responded with petrol bombs, fireworks and stones, as police moved slowly forward, hours…

Egyptian prosecutors have charged two Egyptian men with spying for Israel. In addition, they are charging two alleged Israeli Mossad agents in absentia, Channel 10 reports. The prosecution named “Shmuel Ben-Zev” and “David Weisman” as Mossad agents who had spied against Egypt. The Egyptian accused have been identified as Ramsi Mohammed and Sahar Ibrahim. Ramsi…

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, has flatly denied reports that it offered investors a portfolio that excluded Israel’s Bank Hapoalim. In fact, a spokesperson for the bank told Arutz Sheva that far from boycotting the Israeli bank, Deutsche Bank has a number of actively managed funds which invest in Bank Hapoalim. Earlier Tuesday it was reported that…

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammed Ali Jafari, has warned that an attack could be imminent. Jafari warned that “the enemy” is weighing an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. The attack would be carried out via an aerial attack, with missiles pointed at sensitive nuclear installations, he said. The Iranian army is aware of…

With billions of dollars at stake, Israel and Western energy majors are closely watching renewed Cyprus peace talks that could clear the way for major gas projects with a role for Turkey.     Export plans for the eastern Mediterranean have been taking shape over the past five years since US firm Noble discovered the…

Over 5,000 people attended the Monday funeral of the families killed in Sunday’s gas explosion in the northern Israeli city of Akko, according to Walla!.  The procession began outside the Al-Jazzar mosque in the city’s Old City neighborhood, where the local Mufti gave a eulogy. Former MK Abbas Zakour (United Arab List) was also present at…

The remnants of a rural settlement that was occupied for approximately two centuries during the Second Temple Period were uncovered in this season’s archeological digs near the ‘Burma Road’ that leads to Jerusalem. The find was made during an Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) archaeological salvage excavation, before the start of work on a natural gas…

Two rockets fired from war-torn Syria struck the Golan Heights in northern Israel Tuesday, shortly after a secret visit to the area by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the army said.     “Two rockets fire from Syria struck the central Golan without causing injuries or damage,” a spokeswoman told AFP.     The incident…

Almost 30 years after the Jonathan Pollard affair was uncovered, and 20 years since her own release from a five-year prison stint for her part in the case, Jonathan Pollard’s ex-wife, Ann, has asked for official recognition by the State of Israel as an operative who was working in the State’s interests. In a conversation…

The Canadian government issued a new passport and identity to a Mossad agent now living there, according to Shalom Toronto. The alleged agent is accused of participating in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior official of Hamas’s military wing who was killed during his stay at a Dubai hotel in 2010.  The claim, which remains…

Israel accepts medical patients from Gaza for treatment on a regular basis, often as many as 70 patients per day.  But even the most seasoned Israeli doctors were surprised earlier this month when two separate, rare high-risk pregnancy cases were admitted to the same hospital, just days apart.  H., 35, was the first to arrive.…

President Shimon Peres on Monday hailed remarks by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on the issue of the “Palestinian refugees”, AFP reported. Peres, who said Abbas’s comments showed his “seriousness about reaching peace”, was referring to what Abbas said during a meeting Sunday with more than 300 Israeli university students at his Ramallah headquarters. At the…

The European Union signed over 12 million euros to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Monday, to help pay for the dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons program, AFP reports. The funds had been pledged to the OPCW in December by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to help cover the 25-million…

The Labor party on Monday officially endorsed MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer as the party’s candidate for Israel’s President. All of Labor’s MKs voted in favor of the endorsement, Channel 2 News reported, with the exception of MK Shelly Yechimovich who abstained. Ben-Eliezer served as an IDF Commander in the 1967 Six Day War and in the…

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the Al-Qaeda linked terror group behind the terror attack on a bus carrying Korean tourists in Taba, threatened on Monday that it would carry out more attacks. According to Reuters, the group confirmed that the bus bombing was a suicide attack carried out by one of its men. “Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has successfully…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lashed out on Monday at those in Europe who are encouraging a boycott of Israel, calling their actions “an outrage.” “In the past, anti-Semites boycotted Jewish businesses, and today they call for the boycott of the Jewish state,” he told a gathering of the Conference of Presidents. “The boycotters must be…

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said on Monday that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is “the 21st century form of 20th century anti-Semitism.” “It is the same manifestation, except [it is] attacking the collective Jew – Israel – rather than the individual Jew…

Atrocities committed by North Korea against its own people are “strikingly similar” to those perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II, the head of a United Nations panel said Monday after publishing an unprecedented report. The investigators addressed a letter to Pyongyang’s leader, Kim Jong Un, in which they informed him that they were…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu kept up the rhetorical pressure Monday on the six world powers – known as the P5+1 – that are about to resume talks with Iran over its nuclear weapons program, demanding as he has countless times that tougher measures be taken against the rogue Islamist theocracy. In an address to the Conference…

ORT Israel, which manages a network of high schools and after school programs in Israel, will be exporting its curricula and teaching methodology to the U.S. ORT will be teaming up with the Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education (CIJE), a non-profit group that helps day schools with curriculum and materials, to help kids in…

Security sources have confirmed that the explosion on the Egyptian side of the Taba crossing on Sunday was carried out by a suicide bomber. Four civilians were killed and 15 were injured in the incident. A fifth body, that of the suicide bomber who set off the explosion, was also found in the rubble. According…

Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett distanced himself Monday from a recent statement by a party Knesset member, MK Moti Yogev, who said that the pressure that US Secretary of State John Kerry has been placing on Israel to soften its stance in the Middle East peace talks is “obsessive” and possibly contains “anti-Semitic overtones.” Bennett…

Police on Monday were conducting a citywide search for a yeshiva student who disappeared Sunday night in Jerusalem. Concern has been mounting over the whereabouts of the student after a “goodby note” was discovered. The student did not specifically say how he intended to “disappear,” but police and family members are gravely concerned he may…

For the first time in Saudi Arabia, a woman has been named editor-in-chief of a daily newspaper published in the kingdom, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Sunday. According to the report, the English-language Saudi Gazette announced on its website that Somayya Jabarti will take the helm at the newspaper. Her predecessor Khaled Almaeena wrote…

Two people were killed and ten others were injured in an explosion in a residential building in the old city of Akko on Sunday night. Magen David Adom said that two victims were in serious condition, one in moderate condition, and seven in light condition. They were evacuated by ambulance to the hospital in Nahariya…

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced in a national TV booadcast that he will be expelling three American consulate officials, as his government faces unprecedented protests by opposition groups. He described the unnamed US officials as “a group of US functionaries who are in the universities.” Maduro, who has repeatedly cited a shadowy foreign conspiracy…

Sensational accounts of the cultlike behavior of the Lev Tahor group were published in the Canadian media Sunday, as police there continue to investigate the activities of the group that has taken refuge in the country. The Toronto Star on Sunday published testimony of the group’s doings based on documents presented by police in an…

The Al-Qaeda inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis terror group on Sunday night claimed responsibility for the terror attack on a bus carrying Korean tourists in Taba. Army Radio quoted a Twitter statement by the group which said, “We will continue to hurt the leaders in Egypt, the economy, the tourism and the gas.” The Sinai-based Ansar…

The Hamas terror group which controls Gaza slammed Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, over his meeting in Ramallah with Israeli students, NRG/Maariv reports. During the meeting, Abbas who heads Hamas’s rival Fatah, claimed that Hamas had “renounced extremism” and would accept a future peace deal between Israel and the PA. The PA…

U.S. Secretary of State on Sunday blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the breakdown of talks between the Syrian government and rebel groups. Assad, he said, was “intransigent” and “obstructionist,” and his current attitude precluded any chance of reaching a settlement in Syria, now in its third year of civil war. “None of us are…

Israel faces a severe crisis if urgent measures are not taken to address the country’s growing water scarcity, according to experts. January passed with barely a drop of rain, and February hasn’t been much better, despite last weekend’s rainstorm, said Avshalom Vilan, chairman of the Israeli Agricultural Federation, a group representing farmers and agricultural families.…

A rare meeting between hundreds of Israeli left-wing student activists and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took place Sunday. The event was jointly organized by MK Hilik Bar (Labor) and the One Voice association, with the aim of promoting a “Two-State Solution” which would see a Palestinian Authority-ruled Arab state in Judea and Samaria. Arutz…

CNET News reported Sunday that internet giant Google has acquired SlickLogin, an Israeli security startup that uses smartphones and high-frequency sounds for identity verification at websites. SlickLogin’s three-person team revealed the acquisition in an announcement posted to the company’s Web site. “Today we’re announcing that the SlickLogin team is joining Google, a company that shares…

Avi Noam, head of the Beit Aryeh local council and director of security for the Local Authorities Organization, said Sunday that the country needed to hire hundreds more police officers, and that they needed to be on the street, not behind a desk or the wheel of a car. “I cannot remember the last time…

Egypt has refused to allow Israeli Magen David Adom ambulances and emergency teams to Taba, where four people are dead and 33 injured after a terror bombing Sunday. Three of the dead are tourists from Korea and one is a bus driver. An Egyptian security official told Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm a-Saba that Egypt is on…

A bomb ripped through a tourist bus in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula near the Israel border Sunday, killing three South Korean tourists and their Egyptian driver and reportedly wounding 33 others. The attack was the first on tourists since a wave of unrest blamed on Islamists erupted across the country after the army overthrew president Mohamed…

Withdrawing to the indefensible pre-1967 borders is like jumping off a skyscraper, Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) said on Saturday. Speaking in Ramat Gan, Akunis predicted that in the upcoming meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama, the two will agree to extend the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian…

Egypt is continuing its crackdown not only on Sinai terrorism but on Gaza’s Hamas rulers as well. The Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency reported that Egyptian border forces destroyed 10 tunnels and seven homes in the Sinai on Saturday, as part of new campaign to create a buffer zone along the border with Gaza that would…

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday vowed to step up pressure on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and also pledged to provide Jordan with more aid, AFP reports. Obama’s remarks came as he hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II in California, to address issues including the flood of Syrian refugees into Jordan. He said…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s suggestion that NATO forces be deployed in the future Palestinian state is not well-received by his rivals, the Hamas rulers of Gaza. A spokesman for Hamas said Friday that the faction would regard any international military presence within a future Palestinian state as “occupation” forces, reported the Ma’an news…

A committee at the District Building Center in Jerusalem’s Interior Ministry approved on Sunday a plan to extend the route of the Jerusalem Light Rail to Giv’at Sha’ul. The route introduced would extend from the corner of Herzl St. and Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda St. and extend along Kanfei Nesharim, until the entrance to Har Nof,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday with more words of warning to the West over Iran.  “The major powers’ talks with Iran will resume this week. Until now, it must be said, it is Iran which has gained without giving anything significant,” he began. “It has received a major easing of…

After 315 days of talks, Lebanon has a new government. AFP reported that Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Saturday unveiled a compromise government, capping 10 months of political wrangling during which the war in neighboring Syria exacerbated sectarian tensions. The 24-member government, including only one woman, brings together Hezbollah and its allies with the…

Hosni Najar, a Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist who is serving time in an Israeli jail, told police that he planned a terror attack in order to be caught and arrested by Israel, and thus gain a monthly salary from the PA, which rewards terrorists jailed by Israel. Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) obtained a copy of…

Former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi stood trial in Cairo for the third time since he was toppled Sunday – this time, on terror and spying charges, according to BBC News.  Morsi is on trial with 35 others accused of working with Lebanese and Palestinian Arab groups to carry out terror attacks in Egypt. The trial is yet another…

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted Sunday in favor of the bill to prevent Israeli Arab terrorists released in deals or “gestures” to the Palestinian Authority from receiving the “acclimation stipends” that are paid to newly released prisoners, and make them ineligible for basic social security stipends. MK Yariv Levin (Likud-Beytenu), who proposed the bill,…

Police are questioning four men in connection to a murder Saturday in Tel Aviv, Walla! news reports. They are hoping to shed light on the execution-style slaying of Taher Lalah, who was shot in his car in broad daylight on a busy street in Tel Aviv. Lalah, 29, of Yafo, was known to have ties…

More than 300 Israeli students from across Israel met with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Sunday in Ramallah, as part of an initiative by the Kol Echad (‘One Voice’) group and Labor MK Yehiel ‘Hilik’ Bar.  Much of what was said was unsurprising. Abbas reiterated his position at meeting in the Muqakta compound, that he…

Iran continues to present technological achievements in the field of military industry. The Commander of the country’s Air Defense Forces, Farzad Ismail, said that the missile “Bawer ” (Faith) made ​​in Iran, has reached the operational phase of development and that it features more advanced capabilities than the S-300 Russian-made missile. The S-300 is a…

Secretary of State John Kerry’s brother took the unusual step Sunday of writing an op-ed defending him against accusations by some Israeli politicians of being anti-Semitic. Cameron Kerry, who converted to Judaism, wrote in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth that “such charges would be ridiculous if they weren’t so vile.” The pressure that John Kerry…

Hundreds of Islamists rallied in Jordan on Friday against a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), The Associated Press (AP) reported. The largest protest in months came hours before Jordan’s King Abdullah was scheduled to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in California. The 1,200 protesters affiliated with Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, who…

Germany’s parliament on Friday debated a law to help return Nazi-looted art to their rightful owners or their heirs, following the recent shock discovery of a stash of long-lost masterpieces, AFP reports. The draft bill brought by the southern state of Bavaria, where the art hoard was found in a Munich apartment, would remove a…

Eight Israelis were injured on Friday in a car accident in the Koh Phangan island in Thailand, Channel 2 News reported. The accident occurred when the driver of the cab in which the eight Israelis were riding lost control of the vehicle and overturned. Seven of the eight suffered light injuries and were taken to…

The calm of Shabbat was interrupted in southern Israel on Friday evening, as terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired a Kassam rocket at the region. The rocket, fired shortly after 9:00 p.m. local time, exploded in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no physical injuries or damages. Only an hour earlier, a…

A car bombing outside a mosque in southern Syria killed dozens of people on Friday, monitors told AFP. At least 33 people, including 12 rebel fighters, were killed when the car blew up in front of the mosque in the rebel-held village of Yaduda in the southern Daraa province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman denied in a weekend television interview that he has executed the U-turn toward the left that some nationalists are accusing him of, but was willing to concede a slight decline in his general “vigorousness.” Speaking on Channel 2‘s Ulpan Shishi Friday evening newscast, Liberman said: “I do confess that at my…

In the latest incident of Arab provocation, Palestinian Arabs on Friday attacked IDF soldiers with rocks near the border fence in northern Gaza. The troops responded by firing tear gas and live bullets. Local medics told the AFP news agency that 17 Gazans were wounded in the clashes, which are common on Fridays, when Arabs…

Terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza fired a rocket at southern Israel on Friday evening. The rocket exploded in an open area in the Hof Ashkelon Region. There were no physical injuries or damages. The “Red Alert” siren was heard in surrounding communities before the explosion, forcing local residents into shelters. Rocket attacks have been on the…

A political rally by the Hungarian far-right party Jobbik in a former synagogue sparked protests Friday by anti-fascist demonstrators, who accused the group of “provocation”.     Around 100 protesters, some wearing yellow stars pinned to their coats, held candles outside the building in the town of Esztergom, 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Budapest.…

The United States has become ‘almost adversarial’ towards Israel under the Obama administration, according to Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ). Speaking to Arutz Sheva at a Washington D.C. security conference, Franks contradicted a recent claim by Israel’s ambassador to the US that US Secretary of State John Kerry wasn’t threatening Israel when he warned of boycotts…

King Juan Carlos I of Spain met with sixty leaders from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Thursday, in the umbrella organization’s first official visit to Spain. The visit comes after Spain announced citizenship for descendants of expelled Spanish Jews last Friday. During the meeting, which took place at Zarzuela Palace,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Thursday evening with British Prime Minister David Cameron and offered assistance in dealing with the storms affecting Great Britain. The two agreed to coordinate a new date for Cameron’s visit to Israel, which was due to take place next week but has been postponed because of the aforesaid storms.…

The Rolling Stones are being urged to boycott Israel, days after it was reported that the band was planning to perform in the Jewish state. A new Facebook page entitled “Rolling Stones: Boycott Israel” was opened on Monday, the day reports surfaced that the famous British rock band was in the final stages of finalizing…

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday endorsed Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s undeclared bid to head his country, sparking outrage from the United States. AFP reports that Putin’s announcement was made as the two leaders negotiated a massive Moscow weapons deal. Sisi came to Moscow with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy for talks aimed…

Major General Khalifa Haftar, a leading figure in the 2011 Libyan revolution against Muammar Qaddafi, released a videotaped statement Friday announcing the suspension of the parliament until elections can be held. A presidential committee representative of Libya’s many minority groups will rule instead in the meantime, according to the official.  “The national command of the…

If true, it’s a serious accusation.  Al-Arabiya quoted Free Syrian Army sources Friday in a report stating that the regime forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad are operating a network of doctors and military officials, responsible for illegally harvesting organs and selling them for highly inflated prices.  According to the report, physicians across Syria are collaborating…

Scare on the runway: an Israeli passenger was shocked Friday morning to find a grenade safety catch aboard his plane at Ben Gurion Airport. The flight’s 143 passengers were evacuated from the Ukrainian International Airlines plane immediately by airport security officials upon discovery of the rogue weapons part. All 143 passengers and their baggage were…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has gone over the heads of Israel and the US, according to Walla!, by unilaterally turning to UNESCO, despite terms against such a move in the US framework laid out by US Secretary of State John Kerry.  The PA reportedly turned to the international body over two weeks ago and requested the Palestinian…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced last week that it will give an extra $46 million a year to released terrorists. US taxpayer dollars will inevitably go towards funding the reward for terror, as US President Barack Obama has reportedly pledged the PA $440 million in 2014. PA Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake made the announcement…

Denmark on Thursday joined the growing list of European countries to ban kosher slaughter. The ban is to take effect next week, after Denmark’s Agriculture Minister signed the order Thursday. The ban is largely symbolic, because there are currently no kosher slaughterhouses in Denmark. Nearly all meat for the country’s small Jewish community is imported.…

Yuval Steinitz, who is Minister of Intelligence, International Relations and Strategic Affairs, said Thursday that European Parliament President Martin Schulz made “a serious error” in his address to the Knesset Wednesday. Schultz quoted Palestinian incitement without even checking its veracity, Steinitz told Voice of Israel public radio. Regarding the differences in water consumption between Israelis…

Actress Scarlett Johansson thanked her supporters this week for standing behind her during the recent SodaStream controversy. Johansson faced criticism from left-wing groups for agreeing to represent SodaStream, which has a factory in the Israeli city of Maaleh Adumim, east of the 1949 armistice line. Within Israel Maaleh Adumim is widely viewed as a “settlement…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has weighed in on the controversial issue of punishment for hareidi men who do not enlist in the IDF. The Prime Minister declared that he is against sending yeshiva students to jail – putting him on the side of the Jewish Home party, which favors non-criminal sanctions, and against the position…

Alert soldiers in Samaria recently managed to stop a massive sheep heist that could have dealt a serious blow to a local Jewish couple’s livelihood. Orna Hirshberg, who along with her husband owns the sheep, expressed gratitude at the soldiers’ fast action. She warned that Jewish farmers are being targeted in a crime wave that,…

A doctor at Maayanei Hayeshua hospital has discovered a new strain of bacteria. The surprise discovery came as he was examining a patient’s blood culture. Dr. Itai Amir, 34, was testing an elderly patient’s blood when he noticed something unusual. “In the blood culture, we found that this bacteria was not of the type we…

Adva Biton appeared in a military court on Thursday, bearing testimony against the suspects thought to have thrown the rock that critically wounded her three-year-old daughter Adelle last March. Adelle has yet to regain consciousness. Speaking at the court in Megiddo, Adva testified that although her daughter miraculously survived the direct-hit from the rock on…

Deputy Finance Minister Mickey Levi (Yesh Atid) spoke at the Knesset on Wednesday, after European Parliament head Martin Schulz delivered a speech in which he leveled several accusations against Israel, triggering a firestorm of criticism. In response to the denigration, Levi noted the archaeological proof refuting the aspersions of “occupation.” “I can’t ignore what happened in the…

Another altercation occurred along the northern section of the Gaza security fence on Thursday, ending as IDF soldiers fatally shot a suspected terrorist. Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP the 26-year-old man was Ibrahim Suleiman Mansur, and claimed he was shot by “Israeli occupation forces while he was collecting gravel…east of Gaza City.” Despite the…

Russia on Wednesday rejected U.S. President Barack Obama’s criticism of its stance on Syria, a day after Obama criticized Moscow for threatening to veto a UN Security Council resolution that would impose sanctions against the Syrian government. On Tuesday, during a press conference with French President Francois Hollande, Obama slammed the Russians over their threat…

Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have reached a compromise in a dispute that saw medical patients from Gaza denied entry to Israel for treatment because their travel documents said “State of Palestine,” officials told AFP on Wednesday. Earlier Wednesday, a senior PA official said the “Israelis have prevented 70 sick people who need to…

Horrific accounts of life in Homs have surfaced Wednesday, as the mass exodus from the besieged Syrian city continues.  Fox News reports that about 1,300 people have fled the city so far, which has been under siege for over 18 months. UN officials announced that of those, 500 were children and 20 were pregnant women; many…

The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday it expects Israel’s GDP growth to remain stable at 3.4 percent in 2014, but noted that social disparities pose a threat to the economy, according to AFP.  “Israel’s economic fundamentals remain strong. GDP growth is solid, unemployment is low and inflation remains firmly anchored within the one-three percent target range,” the International Monetary Fund said…

In the speech Wednesday commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani once again turned on the “charm offensive” against the US, insisting that Iran does not want to attack any country. In the same breath, however, Rouhani warned that Iran would issue a harsh response against any attackers – including the…

The Lebanese Army arrested a senior Al Qaeda leader Wednesday – Naim Abbas, who is the deputy chief of the Al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades.  “After he came out of the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilwen near Sidon in the south, the army intelligence in Beirut made the arrest of Naim Abbas, who is being…

Staff and students at a religious Jewish school in Be’er Sheva were horrified to discover Wednesday morning that the building had been defaced with swastikas. Police officers were called to the scene and began an investigation. Police commanders in the region told Arutz Sheva that it was not the first time that the school has…

A speech in Knesset Wednesday given by the head of the European Union Parliament caused outrage, and ultimately sparked a walk-out. Several MKs expressed upset as EU parliament president Martin Schulz, who spoke in German, repeated as fact Palestinian Authority claims of Israeli discrimination regarding allocation of water in Judea and Samaria, and of a…

A website owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp, the world’s largest casino, was vandalized Wednesday by hackers who were apparently targeting CEO Sheldon Adelson over his criticism of Iran’s nuclear program, Bloomberg reports. The hackers temporarily took over the home page of the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and posted what appeared to be criticism…

A Belgian train announced two weeks ago that Jewish passengers should get off at Auschwitz, according to Walla!, sparking complaints to local police.  According to Luxembourg broadcast network RTL, the perpetrators – probably local teenagers playing an anti-Semitic prank – gained access to the speaker system at about 5 p.m. on a train from Namur to Brussels.…

The European Union has no plans to boycott Israel, according to Martin Schulz, President of the EU parliament. Schulz addressed the issue of a potential boycott while taking questions from journalists following an event Tuesday evening at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “Boycott is a very tough word. To boycott means to completely block cooperation and…

The top U.S. intelligence chief said on Tuesday the war in Syria had created an “apocalyptic disaster,” Reuters reports. According to the report, National Intelligence Director James Clapper was asked by Senator John McCain during a Senate hearing whether he had seen recently published documents that offer evidence that Syrian government officials committed serious war…

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday he was cancelling a planned trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) next week to deal with devastating floods in England, AFP reported. Cameron was due to make the trip on February 18 and 19 although it had not officially been announced for security reasons. At a…

U.S. President Barack Obama promised tough action on Tuesday against firms violating sanctions against Iran, AFP reported. Obama made the comments during a joint press conference in Washington with visiting French President Francois Hollande. Last week, a delegation of French business figures visited Tehran, hoping to explore ways of resuming trade with Iran after a…

For the first time since being admitted as a member of the United Nations, Israel on Tuesday participated in JUSCANZ, a UN grouping which advises the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and some other UN bodies. Israel was admitted to the group in Geneva in 2010, and has now officially joined its deliberations in…

Minister for Internal Security Yitzchak Aharonovich wants to bring “administrative orders” to Israeli cities, MK Miri Regev has confirmed. Regev revealed Aharonovich’s request during a special session of the Knesset’s Internal Affairs Committee. The committee met to discuss organized crime, following a series of fatal mob-related attacks. Administrative orders, a remnant of British Mandate law,…

A new trove of artwork likely stolen by the Nazis has been discovered in the possession of reclusive collector Cornelius Gurlitt, after an initial hoard of over 1,400 valuable paintings was found in his Munich apartment in February 2012. The new lode of over 60 paintings, including works by the famous artists Monet, Renoir and…

Boycotts against Israel solve nothing, the president of the European Parliament said on Tuesday. Speaking after a ceremony at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he received  an honorary doctorate, Martin Schultz said that there is no support in the EU parliament for a boycott of Israel. He then added that a boycott on Israel…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday slammed Iran as being a “warmongering” regime, despite Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s “charm offensive.” The criticism follows Iran’s massive celebrations and posturing for the 35th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Iranian semi-official news agency Fars reported that two new missiles were tested on Monday, on the eve of the anniversary.…

Donald Duck will be getting a new voice in Arabic — Egyptian voice artist Wael Mansour was fired by the Walt Disney Company over his ranting on Twitter last August, in which he expressed his virulent hatred of Israel and earnest desires for the Jewish state’s destruction. Mansour’s tweet read “I truly wish #Israel is demolished,…

The Interior Committee discussed a bill presented by MK David Azulai (Shas) on Tuesday, which addressed the “continuous harassment of Jews visiting Kever Rachel,” the tomb of the Jewish matriarch Rachel from the Torah. During the course of the discussion, which was moderated by MK Zevulun Kalfa (Jewish Home), Azulai explained he had raised the…

In honor of 50 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany, the two countries announced Sunday that they would be launching a joint project for humanitarian relief in developing countries, specifically in Africa. According to Channel 1, the project, entitled “the Africa initiative,” will see Israel pledge 24 million shekel ($6.8 million) toward humanitarian relief…

Israel took another step towards becoming the world’s innovation capital for hi-tech on Monday by exploring the possibilities for a new market: the developing world.  The initiative to bring new technology to modernizing countries was launched through the Pears Challenge, a one-of-a-kind competition being offered in Israel to test proposals for moral and technological developments…

The Simon Wiesenthal Center sent a strongly-worded letter to Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Frans Asscher Tuesday addressing a major degradation of the attitude in the Netherlands toward Jews and the State of Israel.  The specific issue the letter addresses is a statistic from the University of Bielefeld showing that 39% of Dutch citizens believe Israel…

Sha’adi Halul, the spokesman for the Forum of Christian IDF Soldiers, filed a request to the Attorney General’s Office asking for the removal of immunity for MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad). The request, which was submitted by legal representative for the forum Attorney Uri Shenhar, calls out Zoabi for turning to Halul in a Knesset Committee…

Syria transferred its third shipment of chemical weapons for destruction on Monday, the first sign of advancement in the international effort since the US and other Western powers upbraided the Assad regime for dragging its feet on the project over 10 days ago.  “The Joint Mission confirms that in-country destruction of some chemical materials has…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon participated in the opening ceremony of the International Air Show in Singapore Tuesday, where Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) presented a number of new military aircraft on the cutting edge of defense technology.  “From the technology displayed here at the booths of the Defense Ministry, I can say that Israel is a…

A special MKs’ session Tuesday at the Conference for the Welfare of the Child in Be’er Sheva turned into a debate on gay marriage. During the conference MK Adi Kol (Yesh Atid) mentioned a complaint from two men who were denied tax credit for their child, who they are both raising. Tax credit for young…

A soldier’s parachute failed during a training jump last week, Channel 2 news reports. The incident was revealed only this week. The soldier was jumping as part of an exercise to complete training in a particular course. During the jump, his parachute failed to open. Thankfully, the quick-thinking soldier was able to successfully activate his…

American film icon Shirley Temple Black died Monday night at the age of 85. Temple died of “natural causes” in her Woodside, California home, according to the New York Times; she was surrounded by family members and caretakers. Temple is survived by a son, Charlie Jr.; two daughters, Lori and Susan; a granddaughter and two great-granddaughters.…

Iran’s official IRNA news agency announced Monday that it had successfully tested two missiles, according to Xinhua, and quoted “moderate” President Hassan Rouhani as congratulating the military on the news.  Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan stated that the tests were are a “new generation” of ballistic missiles, designed to evade radar detection systems. The missiles are designated for…

Gaza-based terrorists fired a rocket at southern Israel on Monday evening. Shortly after 11:00 p.m., the “Color Red” siren was heard in the Shaar HaNegev and Sdot Negev Regional Councils. The rocket exploded in an open area of Shaar HaNegev, causing no physical injuries or damages. The attack was the second rocket attack on southern…

The problem of foreign jihadists in Syria blared across headlines again Monday after a disturbing video surfaced on YouTube showing British Muslims in the war-torn country savagely beating a man from a rival rebel faction.  The video shows two men beating another with an iron bar. The force is so much that the bar breaks…

At least 22 Iraqi terrorists died Monday during a training exercise after a commander instructing would-be suicide bombers accidentally detonated himself. Some news outlets had initially reported Iraqi security sources as saying the blast was the result of a car bomb which prematurely exploded on a desert road about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the…

The Pentagon said on Monday it was not concerned by an Iranian announcement that it would send naval vessels toward U.S. maritime borders. The Pentagon has no information the ships are approaching the Atlantic yet, spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said, according to Reuters. He added that “to our knowledge, this is an announcement only at…

Iran has developed a new generation of centrifuges which are 15 times more powerful than those currently being used to enrich uranium, its atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday, according to AFP. “We unveiled a new generation of centrifuges that surprised the Westerners … This new machine is 15 times more powerful than…

A British convicted criminal who converted to Islam was jailed for three years on Monday for plotting to kill Prince Harry, the AFP news agency reported. Ashraf Islam, 31, said he had a “moral right to judge” the royal because he fundamentally disagreed with the work of the British military, of which Prince Harry is…

The famous British rock band Rolling Stones are in the final stages of finalizing their first performance in Israel. The show is planned to be held sometime in early summer at Tel Aviv’s Park Hayarkon. According to Yediot Aharonoth, the legendary band is in discussing the show with Israeli promoters Marcel Avraham and Gadi Oron, and apparently…

Even amid reports that Israel and Turkey are close to “normalizing” relations again, it appears that the long-term impact of years of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement since the souring of relations in 2010 will be far more difficult to roll back.  Arutz Sheva has seen an email by a Turkish Jewish businessman, relating a harrowing anti-Semitic…

Despite Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s “charm offensive,” which has sealed an interim nuclear deal and lifted US sanctions, the Islamic regime remains brutal as ever. An Arab-Iranian poet and human rights activist was executed in late January for being an “enemy of G-d.” Hashem Shaabani, an ethnic Arab and popular composer of Arabic and Persian…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to glorify terror and martyrdom – specifically to its impressionable youth, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reports Monday.  At a ceremony last week, Governor of Ramallah Laila Ghannam called suicide bomber Ayyat Al-Akhras – at age 17, the youngest female Palestinian suicide bomber – and other terrorists “brave heroes.” “Yesterday, we received more [bodies] of our…

Spain’s government approved a bill on Friday that makes it possible for Sephardic Jews to receive Spanish citizenship and retain their existing citizenship. The bill was proposed by the ruling Popular Party. The bill has yet to be voted upon by lawmakers in Spain’s Congress of Deputies. Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon said the measure smooths…

Speaking to MKs of his Yesh Atid party, Finance Minister Yair Lapid said Monday that he understood the anger in the hareidi community over the legislation that will require yeshiva students to serve a full term in the IDF, or face penalties. “This is not going to be easy,” for Israelis or for members of…

Terrorists fired a Qassam rocket from Gaza into Israel Monday afternoon, sparking the “red alert” alarm along the Ashkelon coast and surrounding communities. The rocket landed in an open field near the Ashkelon coast; no injuries or damage was reported. It came after a barrage of rockets hit the country over the past several days.  Saturday…

Hungary’s largest Jewish organization, Mazsihisz, said Sunday it was pulling out of a Holocaust memorial year, accusing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government of “ignoring” the sensitivities of survivors, AFP reports. “Under the current circumstances, Mazsihisz (Federation of Hungarian Jewish Faith Congregations) is withdrawing from the government’s Holocaust 2014 program,” the group said in a statement…

An Istanbul court on Sunday charged a Ukrainian man over his failed attempt to force a Turkish airliner to land in Sochi where the Winter Olympics opening ceremony was underway, AFP reported. The man had been placed in provisional detention, but the charge against the 45-year-old Ukrainian identified in Turkish media as Artem Kozlov was…

Rock attacks by Arabs against Jews are no longer restricted to Judea and Samaria. Last Thursday, dozens of yeshiva students in the lower Galilee were attacked by stone-throwing Arabs as they attempted to visit the tomb of a Jewish sage near the village of Ilabun. The students had gone to visit the tomb of Rabbi…

The past six months have seen a significant rise in the number of Arab Christians joining the Israel Defense Forces, according to a report Sunday in Haaretz. The report said that last Tuesday evening, Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek-Orthodox priest active in a group founded in 2012 and which supports and works toward more Christian…

Iran agreed Sunday to provide additional information sought by the UN nuclear agency in its long-stalled probe of suspicions that Tehran may have worked on nuclear weapons, reports The Associated Press (AP). The announcement came just hours after Iran denied International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors access to the Parchin military base, which has long…

Police do precious little to defend Jews who wish to visit the massive Jewish cemetery at the Mount of Olives, and Jewish activists have had enough of police inaction over attacks by Arabs on Jews attempting to visit graves or pray at the site. Activists Jeff Dabah and Harvey Schwartz met Sunday with MK Reuven…

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Sunday that his country and Israel are the closest they have been to a normalization of bilateral relations since the Mavi Marmara incident, the Turkish Hurriyet reports. “There has recently been a momentum and new approach in compensation talks. We could say that most of the differences have been…

The entrance to the synagogue at the start of Shabbat was a joyous occasion, accompanied by dancing and singing. The new synagogue can seat 700, including in the plush women’s section. Both on the inside and the outside, the new synagogue’s tent-design resembles the community’s synagogue in Ganei Tal that was destroyed in 2005. Even…

A 12-year-old girl who was on traffic safety duty outside her school at Haarayot Street in Holon reported witnessing an abduction Sunday. The girl said that she saw an elderly man shove a girl into the trunk of his car and drive away. Police forces have been combing the area, which is located south of…

Another Israeli product beat the ongoing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign against Israel Sunday. A real-time translation app made it to the Telegraph UK‘s top five apps for following the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.  The app, titled “One Hour Translation,” provides free real-time translation to users during the games. To gain real-time translations, users simply need…

A Gaza terrorist named Abdullah Harti, 29, was seriously wounded Sunday morning, in a joint operation by the Shin Bet and IDF. The IDF Spokesman’s Unit said that Harti had taken an active part in the firing of rockets at Israeli communities, and in planning additional rocket attacks. He was reportedly a senior member of…

Egypt has concluded an arms deal with Russia worth $2 billion, a senior official source told Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, noting that the Egyptian and Russian sides reached agreement on all details of the agreement over the past few weeks. The source, who asked not to be named, said the two Gulf kingdoms of…

Iran has made it quite clear that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will not be visiting the Parchin military base as part of the interim agreement reached over the Islamic regime’s nuclear program. Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman of Iran’s atomic energy organization, announced Sunday that “visiting Parchin is not included in the seven steps” of…

Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah has vowed to continue fighting alongside the Assad regime in Syria’s bloody civil war, as the conflict looks approaches its fourth year. At a ceremony in Beirut suburb and Hezbollah stronghold of Ouzai, the Iranian-backed group’s second-in-command, Sheikh Naim Qassem, struck a familiar chord, branding Syrian rebels “takfiris” – a derogatory word…