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Thousands of people are expected to visit the Golan on Thursday and over the weekend to enjoy the snow that remains now that last week’s snowstorm has ended. IDF Lieutenant Roi Gutman spoke to the IDF website about safety while visiting the Golan region. While the region is considered safe despite fighting in nearby Syria,…

Nobel Peace Prize winner and renowned author Elie Wiesel said Wednesday that under no circumstances could Iran be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. In a full page ad in the New York Times, Wiesel said that there could be no doubt as to Iran’s true ambitions. “The words and actions of the leadership of Iran…

IDF soldiers shot dead a Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist and wounded at least five others during a counterterrorism operation in the Samaria (Shomron) region Wednesday. Clashes broke out after Israeli special forces came under fire after being exposed in the course of an undercover operation to arrest local Hamas commander Jamal Abu al-Haija. “Earlier this…

Three members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been killed in a roadside bomb in Iranian-occupied Balochistan, according to Iranian media. The men, who were travelling in a car at the time, were working on a “construction project” near the city of Saravan, in the southeastern “Sistan-Balochistan” province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, according…

Yisrael Katz, Minister of Transportation and Road Safety, announced Wednesday that Israeli airlines would be resuming flights to Turkey after more than a five-year hiatus.  Flights between Israeli carriers to the middle-eastern country stopped in 2007 due to security issues at Turkish airports, which were not up to the special standards set for air travel…

A Kuwaiti newspaper has reported that Iran and Syria are planning to re-route arms supplies to Hezbollah via an Iraqi airport, in order to evade Israeli interceptions, according to Maariv.  The Al-Siyasiya newspaper, which has expressed support for the Syrian rebel forces, quoted a top Iraqi official in the report on Wednesday. According to the anonymous official, Iran…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Wednesday, in ongoing efforts to strengthen the political connection between the two countries.  “My visit to China and your visit here today in Jerusalem express the determination of our two governments to form even stronger friendships between our two countries and much stronger cooperation,”…

IDF soldiers shot dead a Palestinian terrorist and wounded at least five others during a counterterrorism operation in the Samaria (Shomron) region Wednesday. Clashes broke out after Israeli special forces came under fire after being exposed in the course of an undercover operation to arrest local Hamas commander Jamal Abu al-Haija. “Earlier this evening during…

After visiting British branches of Middle Eastern churches, Britain’s Prince Charles reached the conclusion that “Christians in parts of the Middle East are being deliberately targeted by Islamist militants in a campaign of persecution.” The Prince of Wales visited the Egyptian Coptic Church in Stevenage, north of London, and the Syriac Orthodox cathedral in west London.…

Reuven Hoffman passed away at the age of 84 in Jerusalem. He was mourned by countless people including the numerous terrorist attack survivors and victims family members he assisted over the years. Reuven Hoffman was remembered for his ever present smile and easy sense of humor. He left behind his wife of 59 years, Shifra,…

The Knesset’s Internal Affairs and Environment Committee discussed the worrying situation at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University, where students are exposed to daily harassment by local Arabs, who act with apparent impunity. The discussion was convened at the request of MK Yariv Levine (Likud-Beytenu), and presided over by MK David Tzur (Hatnua), a…

The UN announced its funding plan for 2014 on Monday, in which it appealed for a record $6.5 billion in humanitarian aid to war-torn Syria. The appeal was declared by UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos at a Geneva conference. Over half of the $12.9 billion 2014 budget was taken up by the Syrian appeal, which…

Egypt’s military has arrested a jihadist suspected of involvement in an ambush that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers near the border with Israel last year, an army spokesman said Tuesday, according to AFP. Silmi Mohammed Masbah was arrested Monday in Sinai and is allegedly a member of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, an Al-Qaeda-inspired group operating in the…

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Tuesday announced that it settled patent litigation against Teva Pharmaceuticals over the sale of a generic version of blockbuster drug Viagra in the United States. The settlement means Israel-based Teva “will be allowed to launch a generic version of Viagra in the US on December 11, 2017 or earlier under certain circumstances,”…

Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military arm, celebrated 26 years since its founding by publishing the statistical figures on its terror attacks against Israel. According to the organization’s figures, Al Qassam claims to have lost 1,962 terrorists in the time period, and to have killed 915 IDF soldiers. The figures detail the terrorist organization’s attacks. They…

Responding to recent reports revealing that Turkey has shipped over 47 tons of weaponry to Syrian rebel forces over the past few months, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz claimed Tuesday that weapons “without military uses” had been exported. Yilmaz, whose comments came during a speech at the Turkish Parliament’s General Assembly during budget debates for…

Unnamed hareidi leaders expressed their anger Tuesday at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for what they said was his public recognition of the Reform Judaism Movement. Netanyahu addressed the Reform movement’s US conference through a live video link, and said that “Israel needs to be the home of all the Jews, including Reform ones, and I…

Terror movement Hamas has reportedly notified Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the rival Fatah terror organization, of its decision to join a national unity government which will prepare for upcoming presidential and parliamentarian elections. The report is carried by the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency on Tuesday, which cites “sources, allegedly privy to…

The last known man to see retired FBI agent and CIA contractor Robert Levinson alive in Iran now says that Levinson, who disappeared in 2007, was definitely detained by Iranian authorities and is almost certainly still in Iranian custody if he remains alive, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Levinson disappeared in March 2007 during…

“All of the communities that were disconnected from electrical power in the storm were reconnected last night,” the Israel Electric Company (IEC) said Tuesday morning. However, “there are still customers in specific locations in Jerusalem who do not have electricity,” it added. These customers are urged to call the IEC service line at telephone number…

A Lebanese soldier acting on his own accord was behind the shooting and killing of an Israeli soldier on the border with the Jewish state, the Lebanese army said Monday, according to The Daily Star. In a statement quoted by the newspaper, the military said the incident “was a result of an individual act by…

The United Nations Security Council on Monday “deplored” the killing of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border shooting and called for moves to ease tensions with Lebanon, AFP reports. A statement agreed by the 15-nation body welcomed action already taken to investigate the killing on Sunday, which Israel has blamed on Lebanese troops. The Security…

Anwar Abd al-Hadi, director of the PLO Political Department, met with Dr. Faisal Miqdad, deputy Syrian Foreign Minister Foreign Ministry headquarters in Damascus, and briefed him on developments in the negotiations with Israel. According to the Palestinian news agency Maan, Abd al-Hadi stated that negotiations are stalling due to “Israeli intransigence” and Israel’s emphasis on…

  Iranian state television announced Monday that it had launched a monkey into space for a second time, just 11 months after it claimed to have successfully conducted tests with another primate and produced conflicting photos about the test, according to The New York Times.  The state media claimed that the country used liquid fuel for…

After five days in the dark residents of several Samaria communities finally have power – after the Israel Air Force parachuted generators into their towns. After days of round the clock work, Israel Electric Company workers have still not been able to restore power to all those who lost it in the wake of the…

Araleh Pamp, a senior medic with ZAKA, began aiding in delivery after hearing a man calling for help, saying his wife was in labor. Pamp was helped by a midwife who was similarly stuck in traffic. “I was on my way to work in Jerusalem when suddenly I heard a 40 year old man call…

A unique artwork exhibition was unveiled last week in Tel Aviv, showcasing the work of gifted artists currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The “Colors in Rifle Barrels” exhibit is an Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (AWIS) project, in conjunction with the Avni Institute, the Israeli Education and Youth Corps and the Israel…

The Turkish government has supplied Syrian rebel forces with more than 47 tons of weapons in the past few months it has been revealed – this despite the Islamist government strenuously denying such charges in the past. According to official documents filed under UN Comtrade (the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database), Turkish arms have been flowing into…

The European Union on Monday pledged “unprecedented” levels of support to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the event that the two parties reach a final status agreement which would include the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state in Judea and Samaria, along with the ethnic-cleansing of at least 100,000 Jews in communities throughout…

The Lebanese soldier who shot dead IDF First Sergeant Shlomi Cohen in an unprovoked attack Sunday evening is already back at his post on the Israel-Lebanon border, according to reports. According to Lebanese media, after briefly disappearing in the aftermath of the attack and spending the night “hiding in a bush”, the unnamed soldier reported for…

At least 36 people, including 15 children, were killed in regime air raids on rebel districts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP. “An (aerial) attack using explosive-laden barrels over the Sakhur, Ard al-Hamra and Haydariyeh districts (of eastern Aleppo) killed 36 people, among them…

  At a panel discussion held at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) last Wednesday, Justice Minister MK Tzipi Livni delivered opening remarks in which she stressed the need for Israel to fight for diplomatic legitimacy in the face of increasing global opposition. Livni’s speech, themed “Fighting for Legitimacy,” addressed the wave of attacks on Israel’s…

An IDF soldier was killed on Sunday evening after being hit by sniper fire near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. The attack took place near Rosh Hanikra, in northwestern Israel, and was perpetrated by a soldier from the Lebanese army. A military source who spoke with Arutz Sheva said that the Lebanese soldier fired at…

Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, hosted a series of meetings with Israeli officials in which the interim deal with Iran about its nuclear program was discussed, the White House said on Sunday. The meetings, which took place last week, came about as a result of talks between Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin…

A woman whose car was stuck on one of Jerusalem’s snow-covered streets found herself being helped on Sunday by none other than Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. Yaalon and his staff, who happened to pass by the woman in distress, stopped their vehicle, rolled up their sleeves and pushed the car out of the snow. The…

United States Secretary of State John Kerry insisted on Sunday that concrete progress has been made in peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinian Authority (PA), but said details will be kept under wraps, AFP reports. Kerry, who has made nine trips to the Middle East since March and helped launch nine-month direct talks between…

While the situation in Jerusalem has gotten the lion’s share of attention in the wake of the major winter storm that hit Israel over the past few days, there are many other places around the country that were just as profoundly affected. Northern Israel was badly hit by the storm, and in the Marom Hagalil…

Bus service to and from Jerusalem on Highway 1 was halted Sunday evening, and public transport inside Jerusalem will be halted later in the evening, IDF Radio reported. The reason for the decision is ice that has built up on the roads, which is causing the buses to skid dangerously. Public transport to Jerusalem and…

Still facing the fallout of one of the region’s biggest snowstorms in memory, residents of the Binyamin “Gav Hahar” (Samarian Foothills) communities, from Har Bracha near Shechem, to Beit El outside Jerusalem, were digging out Sunday, as rescue forces helped some 700 families who had no power, water, phone or other services find shelter in…

Schools, kindergartens and day care centers in Jerusalem will not open Monday, because storm damage has made some of the institutions unsafe, and because of the danger posed by icy roads and sidewalks. The Jerusalem Municipality said that its employees, together with IDF soldiers and volunteers, will thoroughly inspect the institutions and fix the damage…

A soldier from the Lebanese army opened fire at an IDF force near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon on Sunday evening. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement that the incident occurred near Rosh Hanikra, in northwestern Israel. Israel has filed a complaint with the UN over the incident. “The IDF continues to investigate…

The Magen David Adom (MDA) first response group responded to more than 10,000 calls for help since last Thursday, as Israel faced one of the heaviest snow storms ever to hit the country. MDA head Eli Bin addressed the group’s volunteers during a special meeting Sunday to assess the situation. “I am aware of the…

The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) has risen by over 10 centimeters in the aftermath of this weekend’s storm. The news is a kernel of good tidings after the brutal barrage of bad weather, which saw thousands stranded and without power from Thursday evening until early Sunday in the Jerusalem and Judea/Samaria areas.  Since the beginning…

A family from Nokdim, in the Gush Etzion area, spent the Sabbath with a loved one’s body after the heavy snow in the region made it impossible to remove the body or to call for help. On Friday evening, a 78-year-old man from Nokdim died of a heart attack. Electricity was out in the town,…

An IDF unit on Sunday came to the aid of a snowbound woman who was set to give birth in the town of P’nei Kedem, at the far eastern reaches of Gush Etzion. The region has been snowed in since Thursday, and transportation has been near impossible, with many areas – incluing P’nei Kedem –…

Nearly 3,000 families in the Shilo and Binyamin regions have been cut off from both electricity and water for three days. Entire communities have been snowed in, leaving the families with nowhere to go. One family that was in particular desperate straits was rescued from a town in the Binyamin region by helicopter on Sunday…

Israel’s historic snowstorm over the weekend has caused millions of shekels of damages to agriculture, Maariv reported Sunday. Much of the damage affected vegetable farms and greenhouses.  Farmers are hoping not to lose their profits and to receive compensation from the state to make up for the loss.  The Secretary of the Vegetable Farmers’ Association, Meir Ifrah,…

While some Israelis complained about what they perceived as Israel’s lack of preparedness for the intense winter storm which hit the country over the weekend, President Shimon Peres has chosen to highlight the positive. Like many residents of Jerusalem, Peres was stranded in his home over the weekend, along with many members of his staff who were…

Thousands of IDF soldiers spent the weekend and Sunday helping those left without power by the heavy snowstorm that hit late last week. The IDF’s Logistics branch supplied 1,000 warm blankets, 20,000 prepared meals, 31,000 heating packets and 20,000 water bottles to those in need. The branch also contributed 18 buses to rescue efforts. IDF…

A woman living in the snowbound hilltop community of Yitzhar in the Shomron (Samaria) phoned the town’s crisis center on Shabbat (Saturday) morning and informed them that she is in labor. The community’s medical team was rushed to the house and advised that she be taken to the hospital immediately. Within minutes, the IDF joined the Shomron Authority and…

MK Orit Struk (Jewish Home) on Saturday evening approached Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit and the Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea and Samaria, General Eitan Dangot, and updated them on the grave situation of some of the communities in Judea and Samaria which have been cut off from electricity, water supply, and means of communication…

Israel will allow the import of 450,000 liters of industrial diesel to Gaza on Sunday morning in order to allow the region’s sole power plant to begin working again, an official told the Ma’an news agency on Saturday evening. The president of the committee for the import of goods, Raed Fattouh, confirmed the planned entry…

Large parts of Jerusalem were still without electricity Saturday evening, as a snowstorm of rare severity continued to punish Israel for the fourth day. Snow continued to fall on Saturday but the storm was reportedly weakening. About 9,000 homes were without electricity in Jerusalem and another 1,000 were cut off from electricity in Tzfat at…

At a ceremony attended by more than 2,000 employees and guests, Lockheed Martin celebrated the production of its 100th F-35 Lightning II, . Defense leaders Gen. Robin Rand, Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, and Brig. Gen. Michael Rothstein, Commander, 56th Fighter Wing, Luke AFB, Ariz., joined the employees who…

President Shimon Peres recently returned to Israel from Mexico, where he had been on a state visit. Mati Tuchfeld of Israel Hayom reported that in the course of the visit, Peres and his entourage entered a restaurant called Au Pied de Cochon, in the hotel where he was staying, and ate a meal. The name…

Bus traffic to and from Jerusalem, as well as inside it, resumed Saturday evening but was halted again, because of slippery road conditions. The last train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was scheduled to depart at 10:30 p.m. The last train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv was scheduled to leave the Malha station at 11:30…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu praised first responders, the Israel Electric Company (IEC) and government bodies on Saturday for the way they have been functioning in the heavy snow storm of the last four days. Netanyahu credited the emergency teams with saving many lives. “Saving human lives was our first and top priority,” he stressed, at…

MK Ayelet Shaked, the Jewish Home faction whip, told Arutz Sheva Saturday evening that the governing Coalition is not as shaky as it seems to be. “It does look like that from the outside, but from within it is much less bad,” she said. “There are disagreements between me and Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) and…

Robert Levinson, the former FBI agent who went missing in Iran in 2007, was secretly conducting an unapproved investigation for the CIA, according to new reports. On Thursday it was revealed that an Associated Press report has tracked the connections between Levinson’s trip and the CIA, in direct contradiction to the US government’s public denials of him…

A Palestinian Authority (PA) source on Friday told AFP that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas formally rejected US proposals for Israel to keep troops in a future Palestinian state along the Jordan border. The source further formally stated Abbas’ position of refusing to recognize Israel as the Jewish state. Abbas’ rejection of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposals in Ramallah Thursday…

Washington on Thursday blacklisted a dozen overseas companies and individuals for evading sanctions on Iran, AFP reports. Under the designations, U.S. citizens or companies are barred from engaging in transactions with any of the targeted firms and individuals whose assets will be frozen in the United States. “Today’s actions should be a stark reminder to…

In Saskatoon, Canada, Muslim taxi drivers are refusing to give rides to blind people with seeing-eye dogs. The drivers have been citing religious grounds, saying dogs are considered “unclean” animals in Islam. Mike Simmonds, who has been blind for close to 10 years, requires a guide dog with him at all times. He reported to…

Chemical weapons have been used at least five times during the Syrian conflict and in some cases children and civilians have been slaughtered, according to a UN report released Thursday and cited by AFP. The report cites “credible evidence” and “evidence consistent with the probable use of chemical weapons” in the Syrian districts of Ghouta,…

Holocaust survivor Paul Argiewicz passed away at the age of 88 on Wednesday in Chicago. Argiewicz frequently spoke at schools and other groups, telling his story and educating about the Holocaust. A native of the Polish town of Bielsko, just next to Germany and Czecholovakia, Argiewicz tells that he used cunning and determination to survive…

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, made a final decision Thursday to accept Israel as a full member. Israel is the first non-European member of the group. It has been a provisional member of the group for the past two years. The decision will make it possible for Israel to more speedily become a…

An IDF patrol came under fire Thursday afternoon in the northern Galilee, near the border with Lebanon. The soldiers returned fire. No IDF soldiers were hurt in the incident. Additional troops were called to the scene. It is not yet clear who opened fire on the soldiers. It is believed that Lebanese hunters may have…

The “fake” sign-language interpreter who baffled audiences at a memorial event for Nelson Mandela has claimed he was not faking at all – but suffering from a schizophrenic episode. In an interview which will raise further concerns over security arrangements and vetting procedures at the Johannesburg event, 34 year-old Thamsanqa Jantjie told the Johannesburg Star…

Vice President Joe Biden has announced that the Obama administration is working to help Holocaust survivors in the United States, many of whom live in poverty, according to The Associated Press (AP). This is done by coordinating assistance, working with aid groups and using diplomatic means to help recover property confiscated during the Nazi era,…

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Haim Avraham, the father of IDF soldier Benny Avraham, who was one of three soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah in 2000 and killed by the terrorist group, praised the army’s decision to resume the search for missing soldier Guy Hever. The search will focus on the areas where Hever was…

The first major winter storm for this year is in full swing, and snow began falling Wednesday night in Gush Etzion, Hevron and the area. The snow is expected to reach Jerusalem by Thursday morning and, if it does, schools will be closed for the day. Forecasters have predicted that up to 20 centimeters of…

Northwestern University School of Law Professor Eugene Kontrovich visited the village of Shdema on Friday, and spoke about the importance of preventing a two-state solution at an events sponsored by Women In Green (Nashim B’Yarok).  Kontrovich, who is also Senior Fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum, stated that the “bottom line” is that “we [Israelis] can…

A Romanian television station is under fire after broadcasting an anti-Semitic Christmas Carol performance earlier in December, according to United Press International.  The state-operated TVR3 Verde, a channel directed to rural communities, began broadcasting December 3 with a program that included a Christmas carol with anti-Semitic lyrics.  The Jewish Telegraphic Agency revealed the horrific lyrics Wednesday, which include…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has granted a post-mortem honor to arch-terrorist Abu Jihad, who was responsible for the murder of at least 125 Israelis in numerous terror attacks that he planned, including a bus hijacking in 1978, in which 37 civilians were murdered. Official PA TV News reported that Abbas, in order “to…

Islamic countries top the list of states which routinely discriminate against and persecute atheists and agnostics as well as members of other religions, according to a newly-released report. The 2013 Freethought Report was published by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) – an organization of religious skeptics, agnostics, and atheists. The study was released ahead of…

A masterpiece by Marc Chagall found in an art trove hidden in a Munich flat was stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish family, a newspaper said Wednesday. According to AFP, the top-selling Bild daily cited documents it found in Berlin official archives and said it had contacted the sons of the original owner who had fled the Nazis to…

A meeting of the Knesset’s Committee for the Equal Burden of Service Law, headed by MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home), revealed Wednesday that the enlistment of hareidi-religious men to the IDF may help Israel’s Mossad, Shin Bet, police, fire department and other bodies address an expected shortage of manpower.  Major General Gadi Agmon, the IDF…

The United States and Britain have both rescinded funding for Syrian rebel groups, news outlets reported Wednesday.  According to Time, a US official stated to the press that it would stop providing military equipment to rebel factions after more extreme Islamist groups took over a base run by more “moderate,” Western-backed groups. The decision would not…

Israel was hit by its first major winter storm this year as rain and snow continued falling from Tuesday night on into Wednesday morning. The storm changed flight patterns and led to traffic difficulties, as heavy rains were accompanied by a strong cold and 55 kilometer per hour (35 mph) winds. On Mount Hermon snowploughs…

The president of the Hillel International Jewish campus organization, Eric Fingerhut, responded to inflammatory and anti-Zionist statements by the Hillel at Swarthmore College Tuesday, warning the that anti-Zionist activities cannot continue under the Hillel name.  The Swarthmore Hillel Student Board’s vote to allow anti-Zionist speakers at Hillel-funded events, and its declaration that it publicly defies…

On Monday, a Spanish duke presented a document of apology in Spanish and Hebrew to the President of the Jewish community of Gibraltar, in which he apologized for the atrocities committed during the 1474-1476 expulsion of Jews from the island. The historic apology was read by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, Alonso González de Gregorio y Álvarez de Toledo before the…

A new poll conducted by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal this week found that US President Barack Obama’s approval rating continues to be at its lowest yet. 54% disapprove of Obama’s job as president, the highest that figure has ever been. The poll, conducted among 1000 respondents, found that 58% disapprove of Obama’s handling of…

United States Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday appealed to Congress to “hold off” on new sanctions against Iran, Fox News reports. Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that such legislation would be “gratuitous” and could give Tehran an excuse to “flout” the recently struck nuclear deal. “We’re asking you to give our…

Two Israeli-American chemists were officially awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry on Tuesday. Professors Arieh Warshel and Michael Levitt were given the prestigious award in a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. The two, along with Martin Karplus, won the award “for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.” Each of the three received a…

Republicans were left steaming on Tuesday, after President Barack Obama shook the hand of Cuban leader Raul Castro at the memorial ceremony in Johannesburg for late South African leader Nelson Mandela, with one senior lawmaker likening the act to appeasement of the Nazis, according to AFP. A White House official said the handshake was not…

PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Tuesday called on the NBC network to halt production of a drama series due to be filmed in eastern Jerusalem, the Ma’an news agency reports. The upcoming drama, “DIG”, is an action-adventure series set to be filmed entirely in Jerusalem. It was developed by the Israeli Keshet Media Group and…

At a memorial ceremony held in Johannesburg on Tuesday for late South African leader Nelson Mandela, US President Barack Obama made a surprise move on his way to the podium by greeting Cuban President Raul Castro with a long handshake and smile. Relations between the US and Cuba have been frozen since after Raul’s brother Fidel…

The disagreements between the Jewish Home and Yesh Atid parties were in the headlines again Tuesday as Yesh Atid decided to prevent the transfer of funding to Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria (Shomron). In response Jewish Home MK Nissan Slomiansky, who heads the Finance Committee, threatened to withhold funding from Taglit (Birthright) and Masa…

The Israel Pediatric Association has issued a strong warning against the use of vaporizers (humidifiers) in children’s bedrooms, Kikar Hashabat reports. Many parents use such machines during the winter in hopes of easing or preventing coughs and other respiratory illness. Doctors warned that not only is there no proof that the machines are effective, but…

Four soldiers were injured in the Golan on Tuesday afternoon in what appears to have been a training accident. Their injuries were reportedly caused by an explosion in a tank during a drill. The IDF is investigating the accident. Two of the injured were evacuated to hospital in serious condition, and the other two are…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is the greatest threat to a peaceful Middle East. Speaking with visiting Guatemalan President Otto Fernando Perez Molina, Netanyahu reiterated his stance that a final nuclear deal with Iran should include the complete dismantling of its nuclear program. “We share a desire…

Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) will represent Israel at Tuesday’s memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela, it was announced on Monday evening. Edelstein will be accompanied by a delegation of five MKs: Hilik Bar (Labor), Penina Tamanu-Shata (Yesh Atid), Ronen Hoffman (Yesh Atid), Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid), Gila Gamliel (Likud) and…

Iran on Tuesday dismissed an offer from Israel’s president to meet his Iranian counterpart as a “propaganda ploy”, and reaffirmed its opposition to the Jewish state’s existence.    “This propaganda to help the regime out of isolation will prove fruitless,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told reporters.     She said President Shimon Peres’s offer…

Syrian cities under rebel control are being ruled by a strict interpretation of Islamic, or Sharia, law – as a video surfaced this week showing a man being served with lashes demonstrates.  Sharia courts are run by groups associated with Al Qaeda, including the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Authority of…

He was just in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but United States Secretary of State John Kerry will be making yet another visit to the region this week. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday that Kerry would be leaving Washington on Wednesday to return to the region for more talks with both Prime Minister…

Israel is to allow construction materials for UN projects back into Gaza after reaching an agreement with the world body, UN officials confirmed Monday, confirming statements made by a senior PA official on Sunday. The ban on building materials was put in place on October 13 after troops discovered a sophisticated “terror tunnel” running under…

An Al-Jazeera reporter was fired last week for questioning the objectivity of the investigations surrounding the death of PLO leader Yasser Arafat, according to The Washington Free Beacon. The reporter was part of the network’s investigative team into the death, which was controversially declared a “poisoning” by Swiss officials in October.  Al-Jazeera has been one of…

The ballroom of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square was packed wall-to-wall on Tuesday night Dec. 8 as over a thousand people came out in support of the small but vibrant Jewish community of Bet El, located in the Judea and Samaria region of Israel, more commonly referred to in the media as the “West…

Egyptian sources said Monday night that Egyptian Army soldiers had eliminated Ibrahim Abu Atiyeh, a terrorist belonging to the Al Qaeda-linked Ansar Beit al-Makdis terror group. Abu Atiyeh was a leader of the group, which has claimed responsibility for a recent rocket attack on Eilat in August. Abu Atiyeh  was killed in a shootout with…

Hamas has “resumed” relations with Iran after a temporary falling out over the Syrian conflict, according to AFP. “Relations between Hamas and Iran have resumed,” senior official Mahmud al-Zahar told reporters at a Monday news conference in Gaza. Ties had been “affected by the Syria situation, and Hamas has withdrawn from Syria so that it can’t be identified with…

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Monday visited Pakistan to meet with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other officials. His visit, the first by a US Secretary of Defense in 4 years, aims to soothe tensions over US drone strikes and raise cooperation regarding Afghanistan. During their meeting, Hagel and Sharif vowed to work…

The IDF is currently close to stopping gas mask production and distribution, according to one senior official, due to developments indicating a lowered threat to Israel of spillover from the Syrian Civil War.  A senior official from the Home Front Command stated Sunday that in light of new realities in the region – including the…

Jewish groups in Canada, and foremost among them the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), are trying to advance a parliamentary committee’s recommendation calling on the government to recognize the refugee status of Jewish refugees as part of its policy around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Roughly 800,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries around the time of…

Kissin, a two-time Grammy Award winner and widely regarded as one of this generation’s greatest classical pianists, was given an Israeli identification card (teudat zehut) and Israeli passport. After receiving citizenship Kissin said “I would like to use this occasion to appeal to other Jews who live in the diaspora to join my example. If…

On Monday, Energy Minister Silvan Shalom announced that representatives of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) will sign an “historic” agreement to cooperate in linking the Red Sea with the shrinking Dead Sea. Under the agreement, which is to be signed at the World Bank in Washington, AFP reports that water will be drawn from…

The Iranian Fars news agency claimed in a report on Sunday that the head of the Saudi intelligence service recently met with several senior Israeli security officials, including the head of the Israeli Mossad. According to the report, the meeting took place in Geneva on November 27. Fars based its claims on a whistleblower with…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke Sunday at the Saban Forum and said that stopping Iran’s nuclear program is not enough – Iran’s policy of genocide must change, too. Netanyahu quoted incendiary statements by Iran’s leaders, who called Israel “a rabid dog,” among other things. The Iranian regime, he said, “is committed to our annihilation and…

A visit to Israel by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte Sunday was marred by a dispute over a new security scanner on the Gaza border, an Israeli official said. Rutte was to have inaugurated the scanner on the frontier with the Hamas-ruled enclave, but the ceremony was put off because of the row. Installation of…

Ukraine’s opposition has threatened to march on President Viktor Yanukovych’s presidential palace and seal him inside if he does not give in to their demands, the BBC reported Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of people filled Kiev’s Independence Square and the surrounding streets on Sunday, chanting “Ukraine is Europe!” and calling on Yanukovych to resign. The…

The Secretary of the Hamas government in Gaza, Abd el-Salam Siam, said Sunday in a press release marking 26 years since the outbreak of the First Intifada that the Gaza government supports all forms of the struggle against “Israeli occupation,” including popular struggle, struggle through peaceful methods and armed struggle. Siam said that the Palestinian…

A top military commander of Hezbollah, which is helping Syrian troops battle rebels, has died in fighting in Syria, a Lebanese security source said. “Ali Bazzi, a high-ranking Hezbollah military commander, was killed today in a combat zone,” said the source on Sunday, without specifying the location. Sources have confirmed the death of Bazzi to…

An archeological dig south of Highway 44 has turned up the foundations of a home and garden believed to be 900 years old. The home was built from hewn stone. The fountain included a mosaic and a system of ceramic pipes. The remains of a large well and irrigation systm were found nearby. About 20…

Israel held its first join conference between the Defense and Energy industries in Herziliya Thursday. Arutz Sheva had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Gal Luft, Conference Head of Steering Committee and Co-Director of Institute for Analysis of Global Security. “This is the first time in Israel that we are trying to create a meeting of the minds between the…

President Shimon Peres expressed willingness to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Sunday, at the opening session of the Globes 2013 Israel Business Conference.  “I don’t have enemies; it’s not a matter of a person but of a policy,” Peres stated, in response to a question about the issue by CNN’s Richard Quest. “The purpose is to…

Protest marches and sit-ins took place across Jordan on Friday, with demonstrators calling for security and safety in light of a recent wave of crime to hit the country, reports Al Arabiya. The protesters highlighted the need for social reform, urging the government to fight against corruption in all its forms and to reject the…

U.S. President Barack Obama said at the Saban Forum on Saturday that there must not be another Gaza in the Palestinian Authority-assigned areas of Judea and Samaria. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, as part of the “Disengagement”. This resulted in Hamas taking over the region and escalating rocket attacks at southern Israel. Obama…

An 80 year-old man fell into a water cistern at an Akko construction site Saturday, prompting a 4-hour wait for rescue by police forces.  The man was first reported missing by his wife, who told local police that he was not answering his cellular phone after repeated attempts at contact. Akko police tried multiple times…

UN nuclear inspectors arrived in Iran on Saturday to visit the Arak heavy water plant for the first time in more than two years, AFP reports, citing the Iranian ISNA news agency. The visit comes just weeks after Iran clinched a landmark nuclear agreement with world powers, under which it will freeze or curb some…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday defended the nuclear deal signed in Geneva between the West and Iran. Speaking at the Saban Forum in Washington, Kerry said his country would “not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Not now, not ever.” Kerry said that Iran with a nuclear weapons posed a “real”…

President Barack Obama spoke at the Saban Center for Middle Eastern Policy in Washington Saturday, advocating diplomatic options with Iran.  “It is in America’s national security interests – not just Israel’s or the region’s – to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” the President declared. “Iran cannot and will not advance its nuclear program or…

The 17 year-old son of Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek Orthodox Priest who supports the State of Israel as well as IDF recruitment of non-Jewish Israelis, was violently attacked in Nazareth Friday night.  Channel 2 reports that a 21 year-old suspect approached the youth outside his Nazareth home at about 7:00 p.m. Friday night, spewing insults…

Two Kassam rockets were fired into Israel Saturday from Gaza, Channel 10 reports. The rockets landed in an uninhabited areas; no injuries were reported.  The news follows various reports that Hamas has been stepping up its preparations for another clash with Israel during the relative calm. In recent weeks, Hamas has threatened genocide against Israel; claimed that…

Germany is to sell two destroyers to Israel for one billion euros ($1.3 billion), the Bild daily reported Saturday.     The torpedo-carrying war vessels will be used to protect Israeli pipelines, the paper said, without citing a source.     The report added that Israel’s national security adviser, Yossi Cohen, was in Berlin last…

The IDF said Saturday that a blast the previous evening on the Golan Heights was from a bomb detonated as patrolling troops passed by, but that there were no casualties.     An investigation of the incident, which took place near the Syrian border, concluded that “the explosion was caused by a concealed explosive device…

A powerful explosion was heard on Friday evening in the Golan Heights, near an IDF vehicle that was on routine patrol along the Syrian-Israeli border, near the slopes of Mount Hermon. No one was injured as a result of the explosion, but damage was caused to the rear window of the military vehicle. The explosion…

The international chemical weapons watchdog said Friday it has verified the destruction of all of Syria’s unfilled munitions, another milestone along the road to eradicating President Bashar Al-Assad’s chemical weapons program by mid-2014, reports The Associated Press (AP). The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a statement quoted by AP that its…

The UN General Assembly on Friday elected Jordan to the Security Council seat that Saudi Arabia rejected in an unprecedented act, reports The Associated Press. Jordan was elected to the two-year term on the council with 179 “yes” votes in the 193-member General Assembly, according to the report. Jordan was selected by Arab countries and…

The widow of former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat pledged on Friday to challenge a French inquiry which found his death to have been from natural causes, reports AFP. “A request for further expert opinion will be submitted in the next few days to investigating judges in (the Paris suburb of) Nanterre,” Suha Arafat’s French…

An overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews believe that the current negotiations with the Palestinian Authority will not lead to a peace agreement, a new poll by the Israel Hayom daily newspaper has found. The poll, conducted by New Wave Research and released Friday, found that 87.5% of Israeli Jews do not believe that the talks…

US Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the third time in 24 hours on Friday for talks regarding Israel’s security, AFP reports.  The news comes on the heels of unconfirmed reports that the US is responding to the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s refusal to cooperate by inching closer to Israel’s position on issues regarding the region’s…

Algerian officials killed a high-ranking Al Qaeda leader Wednesday in a high-speed chase through the Southern Algerian desert, Al Arabiya reports.  An official from the city of Tamanrasset spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity and claimed that two four-wheel-drive vehicles – one of which was carrying Khalil Ould Addah, also known as Abu Bassen –…

US Secretary of State John Kerry praised Moldova on Wednesday for signing agreements for greater trade with the European Union (EU), and expressed support for Ukraine making a similar shift from Russia to the EU.  However, the Los Angeles Times noted that his 4 hour Moldova visit came after a decision to skip a planned Ukraine trip.…

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that a peace deal could be imminent as he wrapped up his Israel visit, according to an AFP report.  “I believe we are closer than we have been in years to bringing about the peace and the prosperity and the security that all of the people of this region deserve,” he told reporters…

The United States military has raised its alert status in Yemen, following a deadly terror attack in the capital Sanaa. A suicide bomber and gunmen wearing army uniforms attacked Yemen’s defense ministry, killing 52 people including foreign medical staff, government sources said, according to Reuters. It was the country’s worst militant assault in 18 months.…

Orot College, which has a program for American students, has been selected as the winner of the Jerusalem Prize. The prize is to be presented at the upcoming 11th Jerusalem Conference set for February 3-4 in 2014 under the auspices of the newspaper Besheva. The college, headed by Prof. Rabbi Neria Gutel, was selected by the prize committee,…

Former South African president Nelson Mandela died on Thursday, the country’s current President Jacob Zuma has announced, according to CNN. He was 95. The former president battled health issues in recent years, including a recurring lung infection that led to numerous hospitalizations. Mandela’s defiance of white-minority rule and his incarceration for fighting against segregation focused…

President Barack Obama on Thursday defended his nuclear diplomacy with Iran before an audience of Israeli diplomats and senior members of the U.S. Jewish community and officials, reports AFP. Speaking during a White House Hanukkah reception, Obama said that it was important for the United States to test Iran’s intentions, and pledged to keep working…

In response to a petition to reinstate academic courses for jailed terrorists in Israeli prisons, the state released a document noting the most popular course among jailed terrorists in 2011 was “Genocide.” Jailed terrorists were allowed to study at Israel’s Open University from prison until 2011, when the benefits were cancelled during negotiations to free Gilad Shalit, who…

A Palestinian Authority (PA) official involved in talks between the PA and Israel said Thursday that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has rejected every offer put forth by United States Secretary of State John Kerry regarding security in the Jordan Valley. The source said the security arrangements Kerry proposed were unacceptable because they would not prevent…

A ceremony honoring the Mossad intelligence agency’s best officers took place Thursday evening at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. President Shimon Peres gave citations of excellence to 12 of the espionage agency’s finest, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Mossad Head Tamir Pardo in attendance. The officers honored received the citations for standing at the…

Pastor Terje Ligerod, head of the Norwegian delegation of roughly 40 Christian leaders visiting Israel this week, told Arutz Sheva that his group came to ask forgiveness for Norway’s antagonism towards Jews, and to pledge support for the Jewish state. Ligerod noted “we believe we are called as a nation to be an ally and to support…

Western states have held their first “face-to-face” discussions with Syria’s main Islamist rebel groups, according numerous media reports. The meeting between western states, including the US, and the Syrian Islamic Front (SIF), was attended by Turkish and Qatari representatives and was held in the Turkish capital Ankara. It marks a shift in policy for US…

The ESET company has revealed the top three threats to Israeli computer-users for the month of November. All three are viruses that have been spread primarily on Facebook and YouTube. The top-ranked threat was the JS/FBOOK virus, a Trojan horse virus spread over links on YouTube and Facebook. The virus is spread via links on…

US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Thursday that Israel’s security was a top priority in talks with Iran on its controversial nuclear program after an initial deal was signed.     “I can’t emphasize enough that Israel’s security in this negotiation is at the top of our agenda,” Kerry told reporters after a meeting…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel on Wednesday for the first time since world powers struck a nuclear deal with Iran that angered the Jewish state, and amid renewed efforts to broker Israeli-Palestinian Authority (PA) peace talks, reports AFP. The two issues are expected to dominate Kerry’s meetings on Thursday with Prime…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman met on Wednesday in New York with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The two discussed the recent agreement signed between Iran and world powers, the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), other events in the Middle East and issues pertaining to the relationship between Israel and the United Nations.…

Roughly 250,000 Syrians in the besieged communities of the war-torn country are beyond the reach of humanitarian aid, according to UN humanitarian affairs coordinator Valerie Amos. Her closed-door Security Council briefing was “chilling” in one participant’s words, reports Al Jazeera. In November, Amos told the council that 9.3 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance,…

A week after North Korea reportedly restarted its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, retired NBA star Dennis Rodman announced he would make his third visit to the isolated regime on December 18. “The Worm,” as Rodman was nicknamed, will spend several days training the North Korean basketball team, and then bring other former NBA players for an…

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has challenged his successor, Hassan Rouhani, to a debate intended to defend his eight-year record in office, reports the British Telegraph. In his first political intervention since stepping down last August, the former president expressed outrage at a recent televised speech in which Rouhani took aim at Ahmadinejad’s stewardship of…

The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists on Tuesday sent a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, asking him to condemn recent hateful remarks about Israel made by Iran’s supreme leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month that Israel is a “regime doomed to collapse,”  and referred to Israel as “the rabid…

Hezbollah on Wednesday said one of its leaders had been assassinated near Beirut and accused Israel of being behind the killing. “The Islamic resistance announces the death of one of its leaders, the martyr Hassan Hawlo al-Lakiss, who was assassinated near his house in the Hadath region” east of Beirut, Hezbollah television channel Al Manar…

Israeli actor and comedian Sefi Rivlin passed away on Tuesday evening at the age of 66. Rivlin, who for years battled throat cancer and lost his voice to the disease in the past year, had been hospitalized in recent weeks at the Tel Hashomer Hospital, where he was connected to a respirator following a deterioration…

Alert Border Police officers foiled a stabbing on Tuesday near the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Maarat Hamachpelah) in Hevron. The would-be attacker was a 21-year-old man from the Palestinian Authority Arab town of Tzurif, known for its animosity to Israel and the number of terrorists who came from the town, located on the road leading south from Gush…

German-based NGO Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index on Tuesday. The index, which ranks corruption of countries on a 0 to 100 scale, with the lowest scores indicating the most corruption, based on perceptions of experts and analysts, found 8 Arab countries were among the 10 most corrupt nations. Those surveyed in compiling the results include…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Tuesday announced that Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Syria during a visit to the Golan, reports AFP. “We’ve sent food, water, baby food and other humanitarian products,” said Ya’alon, adding “we cannot remain idle when civilians are being confronted by a humanitarian crisis.” The Defense Minister’s visit came after IDF soldiers…

A local Palestinian Authority (PA) official on Tuesday told AFP that Israel has bulldozed land slated for the construction of 255 new Jewish homes in Samaria northwest of Ramallah. The official, Abdallah Lawadeh, said the land had already been bulldozed and temporary houses have been set up for Israelis. The 255 homes to be built in the…

Brigadier-General Tamir Yadai, Commander of the IDF’s Judea and Samaria Division admitted this week that terrorism in Judea and Samaria is on the rise, and becoming more lethal.  “In Judea and Samaria there is a new operational reality, which can be described as a threat to our forces’ freedom of operation,” the commander told Central…

Police have arrested five Palestinian Arab teenagers on suspicion of hurling rocks at an Israeli family last week in southern Jerusalem. The attack caused serious injury to a two-year-old girl. All five suspects are residents of the PA-controlled town of Tzur Baher near Jerusalem. They have confessed to the attack, which they reenacted for investigators.…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has warned that the PA will “take action” against Israel via international bodies if peace talks fail, ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry.     “The talks are going through great difficulties because of the obstacles created by Israel,” Abbas told visiting Arab journalists late…

U.S. senators opposed to the nuclear deal signed between Iran and the West are hard at work on new sanctions on the Islamic Republic and are not buying the president’s warnings against new sanctions, reports The Washington Post. According to the report, published Sunday, a bipartisan group of senior senators is spending the remaining week…

Egyptian forces defused a bomb placed in a car and primed to explode on a roadside near the capital Cairo on Monday, security officials told AFP. The interior ministry said the stolen car was detected near a petrol station on the road to the city of Suez. An employee at the petrol station, which local…

Arabs hurled rocks at a bus as it approached a stop in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday afternoon. A police investigation into the incident has found that the Egged Route 32 bus was making its way to the stop when suddenly there a crashing sound was heard as rocks shattered the windows of…

Syrian rebels, including jihadist groups, captured the historic Christian town of Maalula north of Damascus on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP. Rebels assaulted the town by rolling explosive-filled tires down the hills onto regime forces and were able to reach the city center after three days of intense fighting, with clashes…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement following his meetings with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta Monday. The statement addresses key issues including peace talks with the Palestinian Authority and a nuclear Iran.  “We want peace, we pray for peace, we are working for peace. We hope that we have a partner for peace…

The United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights has for the first time said that war crimes by pro-regime forces in Syria were authorized “at the highest level,” including by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is the first time Navi Pillay has directly accused Assad of crimes against humanity, and could pave the way to…

Syria has reportedly appealed for international aid in order to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal safely and correctly, according to the New Zealand Herald.  Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad stated to reporters Monday that Syria needs armored vehicles and other equipment to move the chemicals for destruction, and warned that if such equipment was not…

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has rejected the country’s new constitution, nearly half a year since the ouster of Brotherhood-backed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. 138 of the 247 articles of the draft new constitution, which has been deemed controversial even by secular opponents of the Brotherhood, was approved by a panel of 50 yesterday. The panel included…

The Syrian war continues to spill over into Israel: IDF forces on the Golan Heights near the Syria border were shot at from a Syrian army outpost Monday. The IDF returned fire and identified a direct hit on a Syrian soldier. No IDF soldiers were injured. The clash followed a mortar shell fired into Israel…

Israel’s new state-of-the-art “Cyber Gym” was opened this month by the Israel Electric Company (IEC) to train IT and infrastructure company employees to defend against cyber attacks, reports AFP. Cyber Gym director Ofir Hason discussed the threats Israel faces. “Israel, we believe, is the most-attacked country,” Hason states, adding that IEC, “the most-attacked civilian company in…

The Israel Police’s elite Yamam anti-terrorist unit received a certificate of honor Monday at a meeting of the police’s top commanders, for its successful operation against an extremely dangerous terrorist cell that was about to carry out a large-scale terror operation last Tuesday. In a complex operation by the Shin Bet and Yamam, three terrorists…

Israeli hi-tech startups have sparked a flurry of mergers, acquisitions and investment bids unseen since the dotcom bubble burst in 2000, reports AFP. In the third quarter of 2013, Israeli new ventures raked in $660 million, up from $488 million the year before, according to IVC Research Center. Yosi Vardi, a prominent Israeli hi-tech enterpreneur, praised…

On Sunday an Israeli official told AFP that Israel has been approved to join the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Western European and Others Group (WEOG), and that a formal invitation is expected to come soon. UNHRC announced last week it would accept Israel as a member state, an about-face for the organization which in its 5…

Palestinian Authority security forces arrested 20 Salafists on Sunday, AFP reported, citing a senior source. The report of the arrests came hours after a Gaza-based group affiliated with Al-Qaeda confirmed it has infiltrated Judea and Samaria as part of its war against “the Jews,” Christians, infidels and the Palestinian Authority. The Ramallah-based source denied that…

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Sunday night that he would make his first visit to Israel since becoming Prime Minister in January of 2014, Shalom Toronto reports. Harper’s announcement was made at the Jewish National Fund (JNF) annual fundraising gala Negev dinner which was held in Toronto. Prior to the speech, it was…

President Shimon Peres secretly addressed 29 foreign ministers from Arab nations last month, Yediot Aharonot reported Sunday – and they applauded him after his speech about Israel, a nuclear Iran and the fight against radical Islam.  Peres spoke two weeks ago to the Gulf States Security Summit in Abu Dhabi from his Jerusalem office via livestream,…

Australia recently changed its position and abstained on two UN resolutions against Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. A spokesman for Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the shift comes because Australia will not support “one-sided” resolutions that “pre-judge the outcome” of peace talks. Sharyn Mittelman, senior analyst at Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council, noted in…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu clarified on Sunday evening that he has no intention of stopping his warnings against a nuclear Iran. Netanyahu’s comments came shortly after he was criticized by his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, who accused Netanyahu of “declaring war” on the United States administration. “In contrast to others, when I see that interests vital…

Hundreds of pro-Arab, anti-Israel activists protested on Sunday night outside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where the Jewish National Fund (JNF) was holding its annual fundraising gala Negev dinner. The protesters were carrying signs and banners protesting against what they called Israel and the JNF’s “apartheid policies”. Some were also holding up signs in protest…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has ordered his intelligence chiefs to find evidence that Iran is breaking the interim deal to curb its nuclear program, the British Sunday Times reports. The newspaper cited Israeli defense sources who said that both Mossad and AMAN, Israel’s main branch of military intelligence, will search for proof of subterfuge before…

Majlis Shura al-Mujahideen Aknaf Bayt Al-Makdas, or Holy Warriors’ Assembly in the Jerusalem Region, which is identified with Al Qaeda, has announced that it has infiltrated Judea and Samaria as part of its war against “the Jews,” Christians, infidels and the Palestinian Authority. The group said in a published statement that the three men eliminated…

Tehran has announced that it is building a second nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Fars news agency reported Sunday.  “Our first nuclear power plant is active in the (Bushehr) province which will develop, God willing,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said to provincial officials late Saturday.  “Based on our estimates, the second nuclear power plant will be built…

Israeli soldiers clashed with residents of a Palestinian Authority-controlled Arab town near Jenin on Saturday night, according to the Bethlehem-based Maan news. Soldiers reportedly entered the town of Al-Shuhada to distribute summons to two local men who are wanted for questioning. According to the report, clashes broke out when soldiers entered a local car dealership.…

Four people died Sunday morning when several Metro North cars derailed in the Bronx borough of New York City, police sources and officials told the New York Daily News. Two of the passengers were killed when they were ejected from the train near the Spuyten Duyvil Station, sources told The News. Twenty people were injured,…

The United States will destroy the most dangerous of Syria’s chemical weapon stockpile on a ship at sea, AFP quoted the world’s chemical watchdog as having said on Saturday. “The neutralization operations will be conducted on a U.S. vessel at sea using hydrolysis,” the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OCPW) said in a…

The Washington Post has come out against the deal that was signed between Iran and the West in Geneva last weekend. In an editorial published Thursday, the newspaper noted that the fact sheet distributed by the Obama administration about the agreement with Iran “is notable for its omissions.” “What the White House didn’t report is…

Pope Francis will visit Jordan during a trip to the Holy Land next year, the state Petra news agency reported on Saturday, citing a senior Vatican source. “During his (August) visit to the Vatican, King Abdullah II invited His Holiness to visit Jordan,” Petra quoted Vatican foreign affairs official Dominique Mamberti as saying in Amman. “We are currently looking at the…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took a tough line regarding his country’s nuclear facilities over the weekend, insisting Iran will not dismantle them. In an interview with the Financial Times, Rouhani responded, “One hundred percent [no],” he said when asked about dismantling nuclear facilities as part of a permanent deal with the West. Rouhani said nuclear…

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Friday of “increasingly dangerous” tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority which could threaten peace talks, AFP reported. “I am alarmed by the increasingly dangerous situation on the ground. There has been an escalation of violence and incitement,” Ban said in a message in honor of the UN’s new…

At least six people have been killed in renewed fighting in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, between supporters and opponents of the Assad regime in neighboring Syria. Lebanon’s second city has long been riven by sectarian strife, but has seen tensions strained beyond breaking point since the onset of the Syrian civil war. Regular gun…

On Friday Alireza Bikdeli, Iranian ambassador to Turkey, announced that the two nations would launch “improved cooperation” between their intelligence services following the Iranian nuclear deal. The two countries have been at odds over the conflict in Syria, as predominantly Sunni Turkey has sharply criticized President Bashar Assad’s regime while Shi’ite majority Iran has backed…

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to announce his his first trip to Israel at the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) annual dinner tomorrow (Sunday) in Toronto, according to Shalom Toronto. Harper, who has been Prime Minister since being elected for the first of his two terms in 2006, has been a staunch supporter of Israel,…

Over 1,000 Bedouin and leftist activists protested in the Negev Saturday night over the “Prawer-Begin Plan” to organize Bedouin residence in the area, where many illegal Bedouin settlements have sprung up on state land. Similar protests occurred in Haifa, Samaria and Gaza during a “day of rage.” The bill, which has generated much friction from…

One year after it unilaterally turned to the United Nations and received recognition as a non-member observer state, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is not planning to back down from any of its demands from Israel. While no official ceremony was scheduled Friday in the PA to mark the November 29, 2012 vote of the UN…

A local deputy from Switzerland’s populist Geneva Citizens’ Movement (MCG) was excluded from the regional party on Friday for supporting Israel’s destruction, AFP reports. Denis Menoud wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday that following Iran’s historic nuclear deal with the West, “the key thing is that Israel is on the path to being incinerated.” His…

Three Lebanese nationals suspected of being Hezbollah members were cleared of terrorism charges in Nigeria on Friday, AFP reported, but one of the accused was convicted of a weapons offence and jailed for life. Mustapha Fawaz, Abdallah Thahini and Talal Ahmad Roda were arrested in May after the discovery of an arms cache in a…

Wednesday, with the start of Hanukkah, the largest hanukkiah (festive menorah lamp) in Europe was lit at the Brandenburg Gate (Victory Gate) in Berlin for the first time. Lighting ceremonies were held worldwide for the first night of Hanukkah, including in Moscow across from the Kremlin. Rabbi Yehuda Teichtel, Chabad emissary and rabbi of the Berlin…

Iraq’s bloody path to a sectarian war continues, as Iraqi police found the bodies of 18 men who were kidnapped from their homes and killed execution-style, NDTV reports Friday.  The corpses were found grouped together and shot in the head in Meshahda, a predominantly Sunni Muslim area, around 32 km (20 miles) north of Baghdad, police and…

Relating to the holiday of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday called Iran “the greatest darkness” threatening the world and said that Israel would be the “light to the nations” when it came to Iran’s nuclear program. The comments were made at the Western Wall, where Netanyahu…

In the latest atrocity of the Syrian civil war, Reuters reports that Al-Qaeda-linked rebels have executed the commander of a rival rebel faction and six of his men. An amateur video of the public execution was posted online, the news agency reported. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a jihadist group fighting…

At least 40 people were killed Thursday in an explosion at a weapons depot in southern Libya, local officials said. According to the BBC, the blast is believed to have occurred after a group of people, reportedly including African immigrants, were trying to steal copper. A hospital near the depot in Brak al-Shati, located near…

For decades the region of Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, has been home to memorials to the more than 100 Jews who were killed there in 1948, when the region was overrun by invading Arab armies. Now residents of the region have created a new memorial for the 21st century: a professionally produced film that…

U.S. President Barack Obama has reportedly asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to stop being so vocal with his criticism of the deal reached between Iran and the West, reports The Washington Post. The newspaper’s columnist David Ignatius wrote on Thursday, “Obama has asked Netanyahu to take a breather from his clamorous criticism and send to…

A Minnesota man working in the United Arab Emirates has been detained for over six months after posting a lighthearted spoof video about youth culture in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), rights groups claimed Wednesday.  According to Fox News, Shezanne Cassim, 29, was arrested in April on allegations of violating a late 2012 law that toughens…

German authorities Thursday published more than 100 additional works from the likes of Picasso, Cezanne and Degas believed to have been looted by the Nazis on an official provenance website, AFP reports.  The latest batch of priceless artworks come from a trove discovered in a Munich flat in February 2012 which only came to light this month in a magazinearticle. A task…

Chabad Rabbi Berel Lazer, fulfilled the commandment to publicize the miracle of Hanukkah in a big way Wednesday night: by lighting a giant hanukkiah outside of Moscow’s Red Square in Russia. Lazer made the blessing over the miracles “in those days and in these times,” a traditional Hanukkah blessing over the candles, in front of a symbol…

A court in Egypt has sentenced 21 female supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi to 11 years in prison, reports the BBC. They were found guilty of multiple charges, including belonging to a terrorist group, obstructing traffic, sabotage and using force at a protest in the city of Alexandria last month. Seven are under 18…

President Shimon Peres, ever the optimist, said Wednesday that peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA) was urgent and possible amid faltering negotiations between the two sides. Peres, speaking during a visit to Mexico City, said he welcomed the new round of talks, revived in July with the aim of reaching an agreement within nine months,…

Iran could be armed with a nuclear weapon within just over a month, Maariv reports Thursday. The report was forwarded to diplomats and international experts this week.  Israeli experts have estimated that Tehran’s schedule for nuclear enrichment has only been delayed for up to two weeks, according to the report, less than one week after a deal…

In what is supposed to be a message to Iran, Israel and the United States plan a joint military drill in the coming months, TIME magazine reported Wednesday. A high-ranking Israeli officer told the magazine that the joint drill will take place in six months, just as the interim agreement signed between Iran and the…

Hanukkah has begun in Israel, as most of the Jewish people across the globe prepare to light the first candle Wednesday night. Also known as the Festival of Light, the holiday commemorates the defeat of the Greek army by the Maccabees, a small group of Jews who were dedicated to preserving Jewish religion and autonomy…

The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday began an examination of France’s prohibition on the wearing of full-face veils, the so-called ‘burqa ban’ that is seen by critics as a breach of religious freedom. By coincidence, the Strasbourg-based court began studying the contentious issue on the same day that an appeal court in Paris…

Iranian collaboration with North Korea on a new rocket booster for long-range missiles undermines the recent deal with Tehran on its nuclear program, key Senate and House Republicans said on Tuesday, according to the Washington Free Beacon. “While the president was undertaking his secret negotiations—which Congress wasn’t informed of—he had to know Iran and North…

Thousands of people came to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv to pay their last respects to legendary singer Arik Einstein, who passed away Tuesday night. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also passed by the casket and shook hands with the late singer’s relatives and friends. “We all love you so much,” said Netanyahu at the ceremony.…

US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Israel next week and meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in an attempt to appease the Jewish state over the Western power’s controversial deal with Iran, AFP reports.  Kerry will also travel to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as he tries to keep delicate Israeli-Palestinian…

On Tuesday a rare copy of the Book of Psalms (Tehillim) printed in 1640 was sold in an auction at Sotheby’s in New York for $14.16 million, making it the most valuable printed book in the world. The ‘Bay Psalm Book’ is the first book ever printed in what is now the US. The auctioned…

The largest menorah (candellabrum) in the world will be lit in Tel Aviv on the eighth and final night of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday commemorating the Maccabean revolt which ended the Greek Empire’s occupation of Israel over 2,000 years ago. Following Greek edicts outlawing Judaism the Maccabees rebelled, successfully expelling the Greeks, rededicating the Second…

Americans back the newly brokered nuclear deal with Iran by a 2-to-1 margin, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found. U.S. citizens are also very wary of their country resorting to military action against Tehran even if the diplomatic effort falls through, the poll found. According to the survey, 44 percent of Americans support the interim…

On Sunday Minister of Religious Affairs MK Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home) held a meeting with the Chief Rabbis of Israel, in which it was agreed that women coming to immerse at mikvaot (Jewish ritual baths) would not undergo inspections by attendants unless they so requested. Following the meeting Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau and…

A large IDF and Border Guard force operating in the southern Hevron Hills killed three wanted terror suspects Tuesday evening. The first two terrorists – part of a independent cell of Salafist jihadis – were shot dead in the vehicle they were travelling in, after opening fire on security forces operating in the Arab settlement of Kfar Yatta. Upon inspecting…

New York has recently witnessed a spate of anti-Semitic attacks, as part of a wider phenomenon known as the “knockout game,” in which gangs of black youths sucker punch innocent passersby – particularly targeting Jews in parts of New York. In response, police have arrested the alleged attacker of a 12 year old Jewish boy…

Legendary Israeli singer Arik Einstein passed away on Tuesday evening at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. Einstein, 74, was hospitalized in serious condition at the hospital earlier in the evening. He had reportedly complained of shortage of breath and was rushed to the hospital, where he was taken for surgery which was unsuccessful. Professor…

The EU has rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s compromise attempts over its boycott of Israel beyond 1949 Armistice Lines, AFP reports. The move comes following a midnight debate late Monday at the Knesset, during which Netanyahu called an emergency meeting with ministers over the losses the boycott may cause the Israeli scientific community.  “The compromise solution we…

On Monday, in an emotional ceremony in New York City, Israeli President Shimon Peres awarded his Presidential Medal of Distinction to Elie Wiesel. The ceremony was conducted in the presence of Peres; Ron Prosor, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations; Ido Aharoni, Israel’s Consul General in New York; and, of course, Elie Wiesel and his wife. The opening…

After treating more than 2,500 patients, the IDF humanitarian delegation to the Philippines will depart back to Tel Aviv on Wednesday. The delegation, composed of both medical professionals and Home Front Command search and rescue experts, focused on providing medical treatment to casualties of Typhoon Haiyan, and repairing damaged Infrastructures such as schools and water…

Saudi Arabia has said that the interim deal on Iran’s nuclear program could be a step towards a comprehensive solution – and hoped it could lead to the removal of weapons of mass destruction from the Middle East, according to Al Jazeera. “The government of the kingdom sees that if there was goodwill, this agreement…

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday hit back at those who criticized the deal that was reached over the weekend with Iran. Speaking in San Francisco, Obama praised the talks that led to the deal with Iran, calling them “clear-eyed and principled” and saying that the United States “cannot close the door on diplomacy.” “Tough…

Canada will not lift sanctions on Iran until proof has been given that the Islamic Republic is indeed in the process of freezing its nuclear program, Shalom Toronto reports.  On Monday, Foreign Minister John Baird praised the efforts of the international community, noting that Canada has always held that every diplomatic effort should be exhausted in pursuit of…

Israel is hosting a major air defense drill, called Blue Flag, in which the air forces of five countries – the U.S., Greece, Poland, Italy, and the IAF – will conduct advanced exercises. For several intense weeks over 100 planes will ply the skies over the Negev, conducting exercises independently and in coordination with each…

The African nation of Angola has reportedly become the first country to ban Islam and Muslims, reports On Islam. Concerning the ban, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said Sunday “this is the final end of Islamic influence in our country.” Angola’s ban was first announced last Friday, when Angolan Minister of Culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva said “the…

Norway’s new Foreign Minister Børge Brende assured senior officials of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) that “the Norwegian Government recognizes the importance of ritual male circumcision for the Jewish community in Norway…[and] it will not propose a ban on ritual circumcision.”  The Wiesenthal Center raised concerns over Norway’s proposed ban on ritual circumcision (brit milah). The…

French intelligence services planned to assassinate a leading Islamist cleric in Britain and disguise their operation as a neo-Nazi attack, according to an explosive report by anti-extremism group Hope Not Hate. The plan to kill the infamous hook-handed hate-preacher Abu Hamza al Masri, was the result of growing frustration by French security services over the inaction of British authorities in…

After a discussion with U.S. President Barack Obama Sunday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at a meeting of Likud ministers Monday that he still thought the deal with Iran to limit its enrichment of uranium was a bad deal – but that an Israeli team would have an opportunity to officially weigh in on…

More than 11,000 children have died in Syria’s civil war, including 128 killed by chemical weapons in a notorious attack and hundreds targeted by snipers, a British think-tank said Sunday, according to AFP. The Oxford Research Group, which specializes in global security, said in a new study that there were 11,420 recorded deaths of children…

Geneva, 24 November 2013 Joint Plan of Action Preamble The goal for these negotiations is to reach a mutually-agreed long-term comprehensive solution that would ensure Iran’s nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful. Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek or develop any nuclear weapons. This comprehensive solution would build on these initial…

U.S. President Barack Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss an international nuclear deal with Iran that has threatened to raise tensions between the close allies, the White House said. “The two leaders reaffirmed their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” deputy White House spokesman Josh Earnest…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening reiterated that the deal reached between the West and Iran over its nuclear program was dangerous and a mistake. “As we learn more and more details about the agreement that was achieved last night in Geneva, it becomes increasingly clear how bad and dangerous this agreement is to…

Despite a deal reached between Iran and the West, Canada said on Sunday it has no plans to remove the sanctions it has placed on the Islamic Republic. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, said he was “deeply skeptical” of the newly brokered nuclear deal with Iran, adding that Canada’s sanctions will remain in “full…

Iran’s Foreign Minister and the other members of the country’s nuclear negotiating team returned home to a hero’s welcome on Sunday. According to a report in the British Guardian, a group of jubilant Iranians, including family members of nuclear scientists assassinated in recent years, gathered at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, carrying placards and chanting slogans in…

A fierce two-day battle in the eastern suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus has killed more than 160 rebel and regime forces, activists said on Sunday. The latest fighting in the Eastern Ghouta area followed regime advances in the region that have cut rebel supply lines to the capital. The region has been under siege…

A group of top senators vowed Sunday to impose more sanctions on Iran, one day after the US and other P5+1 countries agreed to ease sanctions on the country in exchange for Iran’s curbing its nuclear-enrichment program. “A nuclear weapons-capable Iran presents a grave threat to the national security of the United States and its…

A smiling Hassan Rouhani declared his country the victor in the deal reached with western powers in Geneva Saturday, echoing the very same assessments that Israeli leaders made regarding the agreement. “World powers have recognized the nuclear rights of Iran,” declared Rouhani to reporters at his presidential palace in Tehran. “The confirmation from the great…

As homes continue to fetch a high price in Israel, many homeowners who were thinking of “buying up” – selling their current homes for a bigger or better place – find themselves unable to afford a “next level” home. Instead, they are fixing up their current homes, a spokesperson for the Israel Home Improvement Association said…

Republicans reacted to the deal signed by six world powers and Iran with skepticism Saturday, reports The Hill. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said shortly after the deal was announced that it fell short, since it did not require the dismantling of any existing Iranian nuclear facilities. “Unless the agreement requires dismantling of the Iranian centrifuges,…

United States Secretary of State John Kerry held a news conference Sunday in which he praised Iran for its willingness to enter talks over its nuclear program, and answered critics of the deal the “P5+1” reached with Iran. “I know that there are those who will assert that this deal is imperfect. Well, they too…

Mohammad bin Nawwaf, the Saudi ambassador to Britain, warned at the weekend that the kingdom would not “sit idly by” if Iran acquired a nuclear weapon. According to the British Guardian, diplomats predict that the Saudis and their Gulf neighbors, especially the United Arab Emirates, may seek to obtain security guarantees from the US in…

One of the two suicide bombers who targeted Iran’s embassy in Beirut was a “Palestinian with links to a militant Islamist preacher”, according to the Lebanese Daily Star. Saturday’s report comes a day after Lebanese authorities said they identified the other bomber as a man from the southern port city of Sidon. Both suicide bombers…

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UK has declared the kingdom would not “sit idly by” if world powers fail to halt Iran’s nuclear program, reports Al Arabiya. Ambassador Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, who was speaking to the British Times, called the Obama administration’s “rush” to embrace Tehran as “incomprehensible.” “We are not going…

The deal between the West and Iran regarding the latter’s nuclear program is a “bad” agreement, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday. “This is a bad agreement that gives Iran what it wanted: the partial lifting of sanctions while maintaining an essential part of its nuclear program,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office…

Iran and six world powers have reached a deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program, after hours of talks in Geneva. The European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief, Catherine Ashton, announced early Sunday morning that an agreement has been reached between Iran and the group known as the P5+1. France’s Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, confirmed as well that…

The new chairman of the Labor party, MK Yitzchak Herzog, said on Saturday evening that he was “in no rush” to join Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition. “If Netanyahu goes for a bold diplomatic move [vis a vis the peace talks] – I’ll be there to help him, either from the government or outside the…

Congress celebrated over 360 years in of Sephardic Jewry in America Wednesday, paying tribute to the contributions of the Sephardic community to the United States and Jewish culture. This historic event brought together Sephardic leaders from across the United States. The first Jews to arrive to the United States of America were Sephardim, Jews of…

As talks between Iran and six world powers over Iran’s nuclear program continued, the Islamic Republic announced on Saturday it plans to construct two more new nuclear power plants in the near future. “The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has put construction of the second and third (nuclear) power stations on its agenda due…

Syrian opposition fighters, including members of the Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist Al-Nusra Front, seized the country’s biggest oil field on Saturday, reports Al Arabiya. “Fighters from Al-Nusra and other groups have taken the Omar oil field in Deir Ezzor province after clashes overnight,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.…

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on December 2, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Saturday. “Pope Francis will receive Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu in an audience on December 2,” the agency said, citing “well-informed Vatican sources”. At Netanyahu’s first meeting with Francis, the two leaders are expected…

Only “narrow” gaps separate Iran and P5+1 world powers from reaching agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Saturday. Hague was among the foreign ministers who joined the talks Saturday after hints a final agreement could be reached. The US State Department announced Friday that “after consulting with EU High Representative…

Israel Prize winning industrialist Dov Lautman passed away on Shabbat, aged 77. Lautman was born in Tel Aviv in 1936. He studied mechanical engineering at MIT and returned to Israel, where he was appointed Director of textile firm Sabrina at age 27. In 1975, he established the first Delta textile factory in Carmiel, and was…

Egypt on Saturday expelled the Turkish ambassador to Cairo and downgraded diplomatic relations with Turkey, prompting Turkey to declare Cairo’s ambassador a “persona non grata,” reported Al Arabiya. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said his country took the step due to Turkey’s continued “interference” in Egyptian internal affairs. Turkey was “attempting to influence public opinion against…

Israeli soldiers opened fire on Arab rioters north of Beit El on Saturday, wounding four of them, Palestinian Authority (PA) medical sources said. The shooting happened near the Jalazoun neighborhood, the sources said. Beit El is located in the biblical heartland of Samaria, north of Jerusalem. An Israeli military spokesman told AFP that troops fired…

An Arab man, aged 21, behaved wildly and threatened to harm passengers on a British Airways flight from London to Tel Aviv Saturday, reported Israel Hayom. The plane was about 30 miles away from Ben Gurion Airport when its pilots radioed in the report about the incident. At about 6:00 a.m., the plane landed and was…

Riyadh has urged Saudi Arabian citizens to flee Lebanon in light of Tuesday morning’s bombing on the Iranian embassy, according to statements released Thursday.  “Given the danger of the situation in Lebanon, the Saudi Embassy has urged its citizens to leave the country for their own safety,” Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Awad Asiri stated, to the Lebanese National News…

US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power appeared on CNN‘s “New Day” on Thursday, revealing that Iran is being offered “moderate” sanctions relief in the ongoing Geneva talks worth around $6 billion. Power called the proposals “a very good deal” in which the US would offer “very modest, temporary and very reversible relief in exchange for being able…

Egypt’s state-owned General Authority for Cultural Palaces has recently released a book on Jews in Egyptian cinema, the local Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported on Thursday. The book, entitled “Jews and cinema in Egypt and the Arab world” was written by critic Ahmed Raafat Bahgat. It examines the role of Jewish cinema makers and artists in…

Members of the Hamas terrorist group that controls Gaza have threatened Israel with genocide. According to Jonathan Dahoah Halevi of the Alternative Angle blog, the comments were made last week as Hamas marked the first anniversary of the IDF’s counter-terrorism Operation Pillar of Defense which took place in November of 2012. According to Halevi, Hamas…

MK Yitzchak Herzog has won the Labor primaries Friday morning, winning by a 16% margin.   The 125 polls which allowed Labor members to choose between current Labor party leader MK Shelly Yechimovich and Herzog closed at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday evening. The party said 52.73 percent of its eligible voters took part in the balloting. Both the…

A truck bomb exploded in a fruits and vegetables market in Iraq late Thursday, killing at least 48 people.  ABC News reports that witnesses told police that a man parked the truck containing the bomb in the market and asked workers to unload the vegetables before leaving the vehicle. The officers originally said that the blast killed 31…

Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas member of parliament and senior figure in the terrorist organization, threatened increased Hamas missile range in the next confrontation, saying that if Israel struck Gaza, Hamas would fire missiles at “targets north of Tel Aviv.” Al-Masri, who spoke at an event organized by Hamas students to commemorate a year since the IDF’s counter-terror Operation Pillar…

Officials in the United States condemned on Thursday the extremely hateful remarks against Israel made by Iran’s supreme leader, but not before Israeli officials expressed disappointment at the fact that the U.S. had taken so long to do so. In an interview on CNN, Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, condemned what…

A bipartisan group of 14 senators vowed on Thursday to craft a new set of sanctions on Iran, reports Politico. The senators said that it is a top priority of theirs to slap a new round of economic penalties on the Islamic Republic sometime after the Thanksgiving holiday, when it will be clear whether Secretary…

Abdulrahman al-Khayyal was arrested by Saudi religious police after offering free hugs in the capital city of Riyadh. He apparently was inspired by a viral Youtube video of a fellow Saudi, Bandr al-Swed, offering free hugs. The clip has garnered nearly 1.5 million views in three days. Al-Khayyal announced on Twitter that he was going to offer free…

The increasing frequency of rock and firebomb attacks targeting Israeli motorists in Judea and Samaria has led the IDF and police to crack down on “road terror.” This week, 21 Palestinian Arab suspects were arrested on suspicion of throwing rocks or firebombs. Sixteen remain in custody following questioning, while five who were detained in the…

An Israeli university’s online course in Arabic has drawn interest throughout the Arab world, Maariv/nrg reports. The Technion is offering an online course on nanotechnology in Arabic with Professors Hossam Haick and Russell Berrie. So far the course materials on the Technion’s website have been viewed by 1,243 people in Syria, 1,865 from Kuwait, 5,595…

A drone attack on an Islamic seminary in Pakistan, likely carried out by the US, left 5 dead on Thursday. The attack comes despite Pakistan’s opposition to US drone strikes. The leader of the Afghan Taliban-linked Haqqani terror network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, paid a visit to the seminary just two days earlier, reports Al Jazeera. According to…

An Iranian citizen was recently arrested in Azerbaijan after he was observed looking at the Israeli embassy in Baku in a suspicious manner. According to Channel 10, which reported the incident on Wednesday, the arrest took place two weeks ago. The man has been identified as 31-year-old Hassan Faraji. After several hours of interrogation it…

Swedish Jew and outspoken opponent to anti-Semitic violence Annika Hernroth-Rothstein has filed for asylum in her own country, Elder of Ziyon reports. The move is a public statement of dissent against the Scandinavian country’s anti-Semitic policies, which include a ban on ritual slaughter (shehita) and circumcision (brit milah), two major laws central to Jewish law and life.  Hernroth-Rothstein…

More Israelis die from cancer than from other causes, data from the Central Statistics Bureau reveals, with heart disease as a close second.  Maariv reports that the data, released Wednesday, analyzes over 40,000 deaths in Israel throughout 2011 – over 0.5% of the population at the time. 49.3% of the deaths that year were men, and 50.7% were women. …

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted on Wednesday on the need for a “real” solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis, after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, AFP reports.  Putin said that the two men discussed the Iranian nuclear standoff “in detail” at Kremlin talks which ran several hours past their original schedule. Netanyahu insistent that only the strongest…

A Kuwaiti newspaper reported Wednesday that Russia was set to transfer billions of dollars worth of arms to Egypt before the end of the year. According to the report in the Al Rei newspaper, the Russian arms package is designed to specifically enable Egypt to at least achieve parity with the IDF. Egyptian media on…

Iran supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s latest controversial comments on Israel are”unacceptable” and “complicate” ongoing negotiations on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, a French government spokeswoman said Wednesday.   “Khamenei’s comments are unacceptable and complicate negotiations,” Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told reporters.     She was referring to Khamenei’s references to the Jewish state earlier Wednesday as being “doomed…

Two IDF soldiers were injured in an operational accident on Tuesday evening on Israel’s northern border. The soldiers were hurt in an explosion in the Har Dov region. According to initial reports, the blast was a controlled detonation carried out by the military. IDF sources confirmed that the incident was not a terrorist attack. The…

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s granddaughter was returned to Gaza on Tuesday after being hospitalized in Israel. Doctors at Petah Tikva where she was treated determined that it was impossible to save her, reports AFP. On Monday, one year old Amal Haniyeh crossed into Israel for treatment on a serious digestive tract infection. Amal was returned to the Al-Nasser…

An ongoing archaeological dig in the ancient Jewish village of Shilo in Samaria (Shomron) has turned up a stone altar dating back thousands of years. The altar is believed to date back to the period from roughly 1,200 BCE to 600 CE known as the Iron Age. More specifically, archaeologists dating it to what some…

The IDF carried out multiple airstrikes Tuesday evening in the Khan Younis area in Gaza. IDF sources say the strikes hit their intended targets – a weapons factory and two tunnels built by terrorist groups. So far, Gaza media outlets have not reported casualties as a result of the attack. The airstrike came in response…

At odds with Washington over terms of an emerging international nuclear agreement with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will on Wednesday take his campaign against the deal to Moscow.     “We’d like them to have a better understanding of our concerns and the need to prevent Iran from having a breakout capacity,” an Israeli official…

Top US military leader and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, said on Monday at a regional summit of international business executives in Washington that the US would still back Israel in the event of a strike on Iran.  According to the International Business Times, Dempsey noted that the US still has a…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, at an Israeli-French technology conference Tuesday, contrasted Israel’s goals with those of Islamic radicals as a matter of modernity and anachronism.  Referencing the scientific studies before him, Netanyahu stated, “What we are seeing is the future. I think where radical Islam is trying to take us is the past.” He elaborated, “We are for…

An IDF photographer was the target of a Molotov Cocktail attack this week, according to the IDF’s official blog – and so was a bus full of schoolchildren.  The photographer, Shoval, recounts, “I was traveling on a road in Samaria (the Shomron). A bus full of children returning from school came down the opposite lane.…

The United States will keep two Patriot missile batteries in Turkey for another year to help bolster the country’s air defenses against threats from Syria’s civil war, the Pentagon said Monday, according to AFP. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Turkey’s visiting Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, of Washington’s decision. The two met at the Pentagon for…

The IDF’s hareidi combat battalion has won a coveted IDF prize for excellence and is a candidate for four more prizes. The battalion was selected for the IDF Department of Technology and Logistics’ Award. It has also been nominated for the Chief of Staff’s prize for Extraordinary Operational Achievements, an award for Excellence in Maintaining…

A granddaughter of Gaza’s Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been hospitalized in Israel in critical condition, according to AFP.  Amal Haniyeh, 1, suffers from a serious infection of the digestive tract which has affected her nervous system, according to Gaza medical sources. “Amal has crossed the border with Israel now, and I call on God to grant her health,” Abdessalam Haniyeh, the premier’s…

Burak Kran, a former player on the German national soccer team, has been killed in Syria after joining the Syrian rebel forces, German and Turkish media sources report. He fought alongside the Mujahideen group.  At 26, Kran left the world of soccer to convert to Islam. He moved with his wife and young children to Turkey,…

U.S. Secretary of State of John Kerry said Monday that Israel has “every right” to voice opposition to a potential nuclear deal with Iran. At the same time, he told reporters, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s fear that a deal would leave Israel vulnerable is unfounded. “I have great respect for his concerns about his country,”…

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday paid homage to Holocaust victims at the former Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, AFP reported. Ban, who last week announced his visit to Auschwitz, pledged to “build a world of equality and dignity for all.” He was joined by a former Polish prisoner, 87-year-old Marian Turski, and the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday invited Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to address the Knesset and publicly recognize Jewish history and heritage in the Land of Israel, AFP reports. “I call on him from here today: let’s break the deadlock,” Netanyahu said in a special address to the Knesset, in honor of French President Francois Hollande’s visit.  “Come to the Israeli Knesset…