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Tragedy in Hevron. Five children aged 3 to 6 died Thursday after being left for a long time inside a closed car, according to Maj. Ibrahim Al-Abasi, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority’s Hevron police. Al Abasi said that the children were from the Al-Fatafta family. Relatives of the children had brought them with them to…

One of Syria’s most powerful rebel groups has issued a statement slamming Hamas leader Khaled Meshal and deriding his group for its relationship with Iran. In a communique released via the Army of Islam’s Twitter account, the group – a recent conglomeration of major Islamist rebel battalions – cited comments made by Meshal at an unspecified “symposium…

Officials in Israel’s intelligence community expressed shock and anger over the report Thursday that Turkey had given Tehran the identities of ten Israelis who were gathering information in Iran. According to the report in the Washington Post Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan deliberately exposed a network of Iranians who had been working with…

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics has published a report entitled “the Face of Israel”, with a long list of statistical data from about the various different sectors in Israeli Society.   The report includes data on the varying trends in the number of births within different groups in Israel. The Jewish birth rate which was measured at…

The cabinet has voted to allow nearly 900 “lost Jews” from India to make aliyah (immigrate) to Israel over the upcoming months. The new immigrants-to-be are members of the Bnei Menashe, a group of Indian citizens who trace their roots to the Jewish tribe of Menashe (Manasseh) – one of the ten “lost tribes” exiled…

Turkey’s army said on Wednesday it had fired on Al-Qaeda-linked rebels in northern Syria after a stray mortar bomb hit Turkish territory, reports Reuters. Fighters from the Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have seized territory in parts of Syria near the Turkish border in recent weeks, leaving the already fragile…

Rebels fighting President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in southern Syria said Wednesday the main opposition National Coalition had “failed” and announced they no longer recognize the Western-backed group, reports AFP. The video statement signed by nearly 70 groups comes after a group of key rebel groups in the north of the country announced their rejection of…

The latest “Israeli bird spy” is an eagle, according to Hezbollah. On Wednesday, the Lebanon-based terror group reported on its television station Al-Manar that an eagle that was caught by recreational hunters in the town of Ashqout was planted with a spy transmitter, and a copper piece that was attached to its leg had captions…

More than 140 people are now confirmed dead after a powerful earthquake struck the Philippines Tuesday morning. The quake, which registered 7.2 on the Richter Scale, struck in the island of Bohol, a popular tourist resort, and in neighboring Cebu, considered the country’s second city. Initial casualty figures were placed at 32, but officials had warned that that…

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have reportedly retaken a key town to the south of the capital Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the Syrian army seized control of the town of Bweida with the help of foreign fighters from Iraq and Lebanon. The push appears to be part of…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu described the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin as one of Israel’s “darkest moments”, during a Knesset memorial event this afternoon. “In 66 years of our independence we have experienced happy times and difficult ones; times of great elation and in contrast times of anxiety, pain and grief,” he began. “But…

As international attention in Syria focuses on efforts to dismantle the Assad regime’s chemical weapons stockpile, British experts are warning of another, potentially more lethal threat. Experts from the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) have issued a stark warning over what they say is the “clear and present danger” of Al Qaeda gaining possession of the Assad regime’s stockpile…

Russian security officials say two radical Islamist terrorists arrested near a chemical weapons storage and disposal facility on Tuesday, were planning a lethal attack on the site aimed at causing maximum damage to the surrounding area. The site in the Kirov region, some 1000 km northeast of Moscow, is being used to store and dispose some…

At least 41 people have been killed in renewed clashes between Kurdish militias and Al Qaeda-linked terrorists. The clashes took place in the oil-rich Hasake province in northern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory claimed that at least 29 Al Qaeda fighters and 12 Kurdish fighters had been killed in the clashes…

After presenting its proposal to break the deadlock with world powers over its nuclear program, Iran on Tuesday held landmark talks with U.S. officials, reports AFP. Senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi and his U.S. counterpart Wendy Sherman met Tuesday evening, after a day of P5+1 negotiations in Geneva. That meeting marked the first direct nuclear…

A hareidi-religious political faction calling itself “Mothers for Elad” may make history if its female representatives are elected to the city council. The primary hareidi political factions – Shas and Gimmel – have historically been all-male. A hareidi woman decided to run for the Jerusalem city council with the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) list, but…

U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah was in attendance on Tuesday at the BrainTech 2013 conference in Tel Aviv. BrainTech 2013 provides a forum for researchers from around the world to meet with investors, entrepreneurs, startups, and international corporations, who will learn about the latest in brain technologies from Israel and around the world. During the event,…

Brigadier-General Motti Almoz has replaced Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai as the chief spokesman of the IDF and head of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. The Spokesperson’s Unit is more involved than ever in IDF operations, Mordechai said. The unit’s soldiers are part of many other units, including some of the most remote IDF posts. Under Mordechai’s command, combat-trained…

Tuesday night, Palestinians Authority (PA) Arabs infiltrated the community of Einav in Northern Samaria (Shomron). Initial findings suggest the infiltrators had climbed over a fence. The PA Arabs were caught by soldiers of the Netzah Yehuda, (Nahal Hareidi) Brigade, stationed in the region. When initial reports of the infiltration were reported residents of the community were immediately called to…

Two police officers were attacked Tuesday during the annual pilgrimage to the grave of the Biblical Matriarch Rachel.(Kever Rachel) Rachel, who features in the book of Genesis (Bereishit), was married to Jacob and mother to two of his sons, Joseph and Benjamin. Each year, on the anniversary of her death, the 11th day in the…

Chechnya’s President Ramzan Kadyrov announced last week the assassination of Rastom Saleef one of the most extremist Islamic fighters, by elite Chechen forces. Saleef, known by his fighting name, Abu Muslim al Shishani, belonged to an extremist Islamic movement that had called for the establishment of  a “Caucasus Emirate” as the basis for the future Islamic caliphate. Chechnya…

Only days after the discovery of a “terror tunnel” in southern Israel dug by Gaza-based terrorists, Israeli security forces are working to demolish yet another similar tunnel early Tuesday morning. The latest tunnel – believed to have been dug during last November’s “Pillar of Defense” counterterrorism operation – contained “barrels of explosives,” according to Channel Two.  IDF engineers are…

Two Turkish university students were arrested at the site of the Majdanik Death camp, after giving Nazi salutes to a group of Israeli students and shouting “Heil Hitler”. The two, identified by Turkish media as Mehmet A. and Mesut T., were arrested after members of the Israeli group filed charges, and are being detained for promoting…

A Libyan Al-Qaeda suspect snatched from Tripoli by U.S. commandos and interrogated on an American warship has been brought to New York to face trial, a prosecutor said Monday, according to AFP. Anas al-Liby is expected to appear in court on Tuesday in New York, where he has been indicted over the 1998 U.S. embassy…

Ahead of a new round of talks in Geneva on Iran’s nuclear program, a U.S. official said Monday that a breakthrough will not happen quickly. “No one should expect a breakthrough overnight,” the senior U.S. administration official told reporters, according to Reuters. Washington is ready to offer Iran rapid relief from economic sanctions if Tehran…

Tens of thousands of Jews are flocking to Rachel’s Tomb on Monday night and are expected to continue to come to the site in large numbers throughout the day on Tuesday. The Egged bus company is running extra non-stop buses from Teddy’s Stadium in southern Jerusalem and from the capital’s religious neighborhoods to the tomb, working…

Swiss experts confirmed over the weekend that they had found traces of polonium on clothes belonging to former Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat. The experts said that the findings suggested that Arafat may have been poisoned with the substance; Arafat’s wife Suha has long insisted that this was the case. The findings were published in the…

An American citizen who was arrested by Egyptian security forces in August in El Arish, in the Sinai Peninsula, has died in jail after apparently committing suicide. James Henry Lunn, a former US Army officer, was detained in the north of the restive Sinai Peninsula on 27th August. He was one of nine foreign citizens detained that month,…

Facebook will acquire Israeli startup Onavo, which developed an application to help users save money on internet data connection charges. The deal is said to be worth up to $200 million. Onavo confirmed that the purchase would take place. “Facebook has agreed to acquire our company,” Onavo co-founders Guy Rosen and Roi Tiger wrote on…

After a long break, the Knesset went back to work Monday for its winter session. Opening the session was Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who spoke from the podium about a variety of issues, including Iran and the possibility of a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu discussed the Iranian nuclear program, saying that it…

Jerusalem’s incumbent mayoral candidate, Nir Barkat, is a born-and-bred Jerusalemite. A successful businessman, Barkat first ran in the Jerusalem mayoral race in 2003, losing narrowly to hareidi candidate Uri Lupoliansky. He became head of the opposition on the city council until the 2008 elections, which he won with 52% of votes, defeating his main rival Meir Porush who…

What looks to be a dry ice explosion in a bathroom cubicle in Los Angeles Airport has caused delays to flights as a police investigation gets underway. NBC reports that the explosion was heard at around 7p.m. in Los Angeles Sunday night in a bathroom cubicle at Terminal 2. The report said that no one had been…

Russia was set to mark Monday the 70th anniversary of a revolt at the Sobibor death camp led by a Red Army officer, the biggest and most successful prisoner escape under the Nazi regime.   Ahead of the anniversary, President Vladimir Putin ordered the defense ministry to come up with a plan to “immortalise the…

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that six of its aid workers and a member of the Syrian Red Crescent had been kidnapped by gunmen in Syria, reported Al Jazeera Sunday. “Six ICRC staff members and one member of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have been abducted in Idlib in northwestern Syria,”…

In his Friday sermon, an imam at the Palestinian Al-Yarmouk camp south of Damascus gave local residents permission to eat dead cats and dogs. The camp has been under siege for three months, the humanitarian situation there has severely deteriorated and the supply of food has not been steady, reports Shalom Toronto. Palestinians in Syria…

Two car bombs exploded on Sunday near Syria’s state television headquarters in central Damascus, the state news agency SANA reported. The agency said the building located at the Syrian capital’s Umayyad Square was damaged in the blast. Television broadcasts were interrupted for several minutes after the blasts. “Two terrorist car bombs driven by suicide bombers…

Four men have been arrested in London in a counter-terrorism operation, the Metropolitan Police have said, according to the BBC. Scotland Yard said they were held under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Armed officers were involved in the arrests, which took place Sunday evening…

Iran plans to send yet another monkey into space…that is, assuming the last monkey sent into space wasn’t a fake. According to Press TV, the Deputy Head of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli, said on the weekend the Islamic Republic plans to send another indigenous bio-capsule with a live monkey onboard into space.…

Transport Minister Yisrael Katz has decided to name a planned new major entrance road to Jerusalem after Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ztz”l, who passed away last week. The new road, currently referred to as Road 16, will begin near Mevasseret Tzion and Motza Illit, just after the Harel Junction, on the road that leads into Jerusalem…

The Ministerial Law Committee on Sunday approved for a Knesset vote legislation that would increase the penalties imposed for those who attempt to deny women their rights in public spaces. The legislation would widen existing laws against discrimination, to include “exclusion of women” from public spaces, which has been a hot-button topic in Israel in…

Tens of thousands of people, including a large number of well-known hareidi rabbis and yeshiva deans, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, were gathered in northern Jerusalem Sunday night to commemorate the ending of the shiva mourning period for former Chief Rabbi and Shas leader Rav Ovadia Yosef z”tl. Rabbi Yosef, 93, passed away last Monday. The end of the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu informed cabinet members at his weekly meeting on Sunday that Israel is “seeing an increase in terrorist activities in recent weeks.” Referring to the recently exposed terrorist tunnel from Gaza leading into Ein Hashlosha, Netanyahu commented, “I want to commend the IDF for uncovering this tunnel. This is our policy – an aggressive policy…

An Orange County, California resident pleaded guilty on Friday to federal charges accusing him of knowingly providing material support and resources to Al Qaeda. The indictment charges 24-year-old Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen, who also goes by the alias name Hasan Abu Omar Ghannoum, with another count of presenting false information in order to obtain a passport to facilitate an act of international…

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said Islamists in Egypt and Tunisia were in part responsible for their recent political setbacks, accusing them of having been too conciliatory in opting to participate in democratic elections. Agence France-Presse reported Friday that a 16-minute audiotape of Zawahiri released on Jihadist forums focused on his native Egypt, where he said…

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon announced Sunday that Israeli engineering company Elbit Systems had been chosen to co-manufacture hi-tech helmets for pilots of the US F-35 stealth fighter. He said in a statement that Elbit Systems and its US partner Rockwell Collins have been chosen by the Pentagon and F35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin to supply helmets for…

Two Palestinian Authority resident Arab men have confessed to the murder of Israeli man Sariya Ofer late last week, the Shin Bet has revealed. The two were arrested on Friday along with a third suspect. Suspects Ouda Fareed Taleb Haroub, 18, and Bashir Ahmed Ouda Haroub, 21, both from the PA Arab town of Dir…

Imagine the frustration. Sitting, talking to your date, trying to connect, but every time the topic of  living in Israel comes up they get a blank look on their face. You hope to make Aliyah one day, and they like the idea of visiting Israel, once in a while. What a waste of time.  Determined to…

Almost 50 rebel fighters have been killed in three days of skirmishes between jihadists and mainstream rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo, reports Al Arabiya. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that the violence began on Thursday between members of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)…

Economics Minister and Bayit Yehudi party chairman Naftali Bennett issued a statement Saturday evening as a memorial for slain former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was held in Tel Aviv. “On the memorial day for the murder of Yitzhak Rabin z”l,” write Bennett, “I will state the obvious (perhaps it is not obvious to everyone) – the…

An earthquake was felt in Israel on the Sabbath at about 4:15 PM local time. The quake was measured at 6.4 on the Richter scale, and had its epicenter beneath the Mediterranean about 40 kilometers under the sea bed, 70 kilometers west of Crete. In Israel, reports of the tremor were received from citizens in…

The memorial service for Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke will be held in Italy, his lawyer told AFP Saturday after Argentina, where the former SS officer wished to be buried, refused to accept his body. “The ceremony will be held Tuesday” in a church in Rome, said lawyer Paolo Giachini. Priebke died Friday in Rome…

Ten days after publishing a front-page editorial blasting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN General Assembly as “combative” and sarcastic, the New York Times has published an interview-profile that portrays Netanyahu as a “shrill” voice on a one-man “messianic crusade” against Iran’s nuclear weapons program. In the piece, the Times says Netanyahu’s long…

One protester was killed on Friday after security forces shot at a march by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi near Rabaa Al-Adawiya, reported Al-Ahram. Rabaa Al-Adawiya is the site of one of two protest camps that were set up by Morsi supporters and were forcibly dispersed on August 14, leaving hundreds dead. On Friday,…

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan called Thursday’s incident when gunmen kidnapped and released him in the same day as an attempted coup against his government in a national television address on Friday. “This is a coup against national legitimacy,” Zeidan was quoted by Al Arabiya as having said, after recounting how armed gunmen with a…

Iran is going to offer a new set of proposals during the upcoming talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on its nuclear energy program, Press TV reported on Friday. According to the report, Iran will test the other side’s willingness to reach a deal during the negotiations due…

The Syrian government’s shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and launchers could imperil civil aviation if they fall into the hands of terror groups, an independent report examining the global proliferation of portable missiles says. The report released Friday by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and reported on by the Associated Press, warns that some opposition factions…

French President Francois Hollande reassured Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday that France will remain “tough” with Iran on its controversial nuclear program, reports AFP. Hollande told Netanyahu in a telephone call that France would wait to see if the more moderate politics of Iran’s new leader Hassan Rouhani, who replaced hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in…

In a tragic turn of events, it has been revealed that Colonel (Res.) Shraya (Yaya) Opher, murdered last night in his Jordan Valley home of Brosh, was killed on the same day as his brother, who died 40 years ago during the Yom Kippur War.   Major Yitzchak Opher, a pilot, was killed on October 11 1973, when…

Former SS captain Erich Priebke, a Nazi war criminal who never showed remorse for a World War II massacre in Italy, died Friday in Rome aged 100, Italian media reported. Priebke was sentenced to life in prison in 1998 for his role in a bloodbath at Rome’s Ardeatine caves in March 1944 that left 335…

U.S. forces have captured a senior Pakistan Taliban commander, Latif Mehsud, in a military operation, the state department confirmed on Friday. Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the State Department, described Mehsud as a “terrorist leader” and a “senior commander” in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, reported the BBC. She gave no details of the operation, but said…

It was reported by the organisation Human Rights Watch on Friday, that groups of Syrian rebel forces executed at least 190 civilians and seized over 200 as hostages – during a military offensive on August 4. According to the report, a majority of the massacres took place in the city of Latakia, predominantly inhabited by members of Bashar al-Assad’s…

Security forces have arrested five Palestinian Authority Arab men on suspicion of carrying out a brutal attack Friday morning killing Shraya Opher, a retired IDF colonel.  The five were all taken for interrogation by Israel’s internal security forces (Shin Bet). Thursday night, terrorists broke into Opher’s home in the Jordan Valley community of Brosh, brutally murdering him. Yaya…

A car bomb exploded outside the Swedish consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, Friday, causing serious damage to the embassy and damaging adjacent buildings. No casualties were reported from the explosion.  Officials say the car bomb was detonated by remote control in the upscale neighborhood of Benghazi. The official spoke on condition of anonymity…

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was named, Friday, as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013. The Nobel Committee said it was in honor of the OPCW’s “extensive work to eliminate chemical weapons.” An OPCW team is currently working to dismantle the Syrian government’s chemical weapons arsenal, believed to be the…

Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, will visit Iran soon, the movement confirmed on Thursday, according to Kol Yisrael radio. Hamas used to be heavily backed by Iran but the relations between the Islamic Republic and the terror group have been strained for the past two years because of the civil war in…

In one of the most disturbing scenes to emerge from the fighting in Syria, Hezbollah fighters operating under the command of the Syrian army, have been filmed celebrating and rejoicing, as they dragged injured Syrian civilians from a van and executed them. Hezbollah are fighting alongside Bashar Al Assad’s men, in their bitter battle against rebels in the country, where over 110,000 people have been…

Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists broke into a home in the Jordan Valley on Thursday night, attacking a couple who was in the home. The husband was critically injured and died a short time later. The woman was lightly injured, was treated by paramedics at the scene and then taken to the HaEmek Hospital in Afula.…

A Gaza-based news agency, Quds.net, quoted in Maariv/NRG, said Thursday that there are efforts underway to arrange a meeting between Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The Quds.net report cited an unnamed source who said that Abbas has formally told the American leadership that he will be willing to…

A suicide bomber in a car full of explosives rammed into a checkpoint in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing three soldiers and a policeman, officials said. Al Jazeera cited the security officials as saying Thursday’s attack happened outside the city of el-Arish. They said the bomber slowly approached the checkpoint, waited for soldiers and policemen to start…

A more than 50% squeeze on the budget for religious Zionist girls seminaries has threatened tens of institutions with closure, according to a spokesperson for a union representing them. Tzahi Dickstein, CEO of the Union for seminaries Teaching Judaism and Land of Israel Studies, said that this year’s annual budget is facing a significant deficit. Whereas a full budget requires…

Police volunteers are being credited for saving three lives on Wednesday night, on the highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Volunteers Moshe Appelbaum and Shalom Levy were patrolling the highway shortly after dark when they spotted three young people standing at the side of the road behind their car, Channel 10 reports. They pulled over…

A commander from the armed rebels unit, operating in the mountainous region of Al Kabon west of Damascus, has recently announced his enlistment into the “Army of Islam,” a new military coalition comprised of 50 or more rebel combat units seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. A ceremony was held to express their loyalty…

The Obama administration will cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Egypt to register displeasure over the military’s pace of restoring democracy following the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, reports USA Today. The U.S. provides $1.5 billion in annual aid to Egypt, but the State Department did not provide a dollar amount of…

Some 1,000 students at Rutgers New Brunswick campus woke up to an alarming eviction notice, informing the students to vacate within 3 days time or have their belongings destroyed. The Rutgers New Brunswick chapter of “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) posted the eviction notices on Sunday evening on the residence hall doors on all five campuses…

According to the autobiography of Martin Karplus, one of three scientists who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry on Wednesday, Karplus escaped the Nazis and the Holocaust at the young age of eight, AFP reported.  Karplus was born into a Jewish family in Vienna in 1930 and narrowly escaped Austria when Germany took control of the country in 1938, he wrote…

Israel’s enemies are taking a new approach to warfare, and Israel must be ready, Minister of Home Front Defense Gilad Erdan said Tuesday, speaking at a conference at Bar Ilan University. “Our enemies have abandoned the idea of conquering territory in the land of Israel. What remains is their desire to defeat Israel by threatening…

Two Israeli soldiers were slightly wounded by cross-border fire in the Golan Heights facing Syria.  A mortar shell exploded in the northern Golan Heights. It is not known whether the attack was spillover from the ongoing Syrian civil war or intentional. According to preliminary reports, one of the soldiers was injured from shrapnel fragments and the other had…

Making his first speech as the Head of Britain’s intelligence Agency, MI5, Andrew Parker says there are  thousands of Islamic extremists living in the UK who see the British public as a valid target for attack. According to a BBC report, the new head of MI5, also said Islamic terror had become more complicated to track than ever…

Israel condemned on Tuesday the selection of Iran for a high-level position on a United Nations committee dealing with disarmament and international security issues. Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said in a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council that “it is inconceivable” that a country under UN sanctions over its nuclear program…

Report: U.S. to Cut Off Aid to Egypt The United States will cut off aid to Egypt in the wake of the July coup and the turmoil that has followed, says U.S. official. The United States will cut off aid to Egypt in the wake of the July coup against President Mohammed Morsi and the…

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday rejected President Barack Obama’s stance that he’ll talk to Republicans only after the partial government shutdown ends and the risk of default is pushed back. Boehner insisted on immediate negotiations with Obama, after the President warned that the U.S. economy risks a “very deep recession” if Congress doesn’t…

Britain and Iran are taking steps toward restoring ties, two years after Britain cooled ties with Tehran, removing diplomats following an attack on its embassy. Foreign ministers from the two countries met to discuss a rapprochement at a meeting in New York, Monday. Following the meeting, British Foreign Secretary William Hague reported that Britain and Iran would each appoint…

Russian President Vladamir Putin showed a rare display of goodwill after briefly meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Putin reportedly declared that Washington and Moscow had reached a “common understanding on how to eliminate Syria’s chemical stockpile.” Speaking to reporters after chatting with Kerry at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bali, Putin said,…

Syria may split into multiple states, according to recent reports in the Arab-language media. Opposition leaders are weighing the option of establishing their own government, which would rule the territories that rebel troops have conquered in their war against Syria President Bashar Assad. Al-Hayat reports that the heads of the Free Syrian Army, led by…

President Shimon Peres has decided to take up the circumcision battle with the Council of Europe, which adopted a resolution last week against one of Judaism’s most fundamental laws. On Monday, Peres sent a letter to Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland of the Council of Europe urging the council to reconsider its recent decision against circumcision. Echoing a recent…

“Health centers conduct the routine medical check to assess the health of the expatriates when they come into the GCC countries,” Mindkar was quoted as saying by Al Rai. “However, we will take stricter measures that will help us detect gays who will be then barred from entering Kuwait or any of the GCC member states.”…

Israeli developers have introduced the newest parking solution on the market.  Anagog, an Israeli location-based technology company, unveiled on Monday an automatic algorithm that can analyze and identify where and when a parking space will be available. Unlike other services, Anagog company says the technology’s automatic nature will update the user instead of the user having to update…

Iran has given permission to Bashar Assad’s regime to keep his war planes in their territory to protect them from possible attack, according to a report by the German newspaper, Der Spiegel. According to the report, marked “classified,” Iran and Syria had signed an agreement a while back permitting Assad to transfer a large part of his…

At a meeting with leftist MKs Monday, Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas expressed his desire to achieve “peace with Israel. We do not want bloodshed, we want peace,” Abbas told the MKs, members of a Knesset lobby seeking to set up a PA state in Judea and Samaria. Weeks after they were killed, Abbas discussed…

Some 800,000 people – 10% of Israel’s population – were attending the funeral of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Monday night in Jerusalem. Rabbi Yosef, 93, passed away earlier in the day. The crowd, observers said, consisted of a cross-section of Israelis, from hareidi to Religious Zionist to secular. Police raised their estimate of the numbers of…

Cries of mourning could be heard from the halls outside the hospital room in Jerualem where Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, 93, returned his soul to his Maker on Monday, 3 Heshvan, October 7, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. Maran (our rabbi and mentor), as he was called reverently by his followers, was  the Sephardic Chief Rabbi (Rishon…

Hamas on Sunday called on the Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, to stop peace talks with Israel. Instead, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, the PA should work for national unity. Abu Zuhri said that the remarks made by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his speech at the Bar-Ilan University, according to which negotiations…

Hebrew University biochemists Professor Aharon Razin and Professor Haim (Howard) Cedar, who were favorites for the Nobel Prize for Medicine, were disappointed Monday when the list of winners did not include their names. The winners are Americans James Rothman and Randy Schekman and German-born researcher Thomas Suedhof, who won the 2013 Nobel Prize in medicine…

5,549 trucks carrying 155,312 tons of goods entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing in September, according to figures released by the IDF on Sunday. These included 1,519 truckloads of food products, 1,244 truckloads of construction materials, 64 truckloads of medical equipment, 258 truckloads of livestock and 2,464 truckloads of miscellaneous items. 46,130 trucks carrying…

Police swept into the Israeli Arab city of Kfar Kassem in central Israel early on Sunday morning and arrested 18 people in connection with a weapons smuggling ring. Border police were involved in the operation, which followed an investigation into illegal weapons trade in the area. Sixteen of those arrested are men in their 20s,…

Ministers and Members of Knesset reacted Sunday to the terrorist attack in Pesagot on Saturday night in which a terrorist shot a 9-year-old girl at close range. Thankfully, the girl was in good condition Sunday following emergency surgery. Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz warned that the attack does not bode…

Following the terror attack Saturday in which a terrorist shot a nine-year-old girl in the neck at short range, an official Facebook page run by Fatah praised the attacker, and predicted he would strike again. The incitement has been reported by watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch. Fatah is the organization whose chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, is…

U.S. forces have captured a top Al-Qaeda figure wanted for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, a U.S. official told the Reuters news agency on Saturday. Senior Al Qaeda figure Anas al Liby was seized in a raid in Libya, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Liby, believed to be…

Both US and Russian officials have approached Norway with oral requests for help in dismantling Syria’s chemical weapons, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported on its website. Both countries consider Norway a suitable location for the dangerous work, as it is politically stable and has large amounts of water, which is needed for the task, according to…

Magen David Adom paramedics were giving the girl first aid as IDF forces began combing the area. She was then evacuated to Shaarei Tzedek hospital with what was initially described as “a serious injury to her upper body.” She was reportedly conscious. Yoni Hacohen, a paramedic, told Arutz Sheva that she had been hit by a bullet that went…

The United States gave Israel notification on Friday, August 30, that it is about to launch a military strike against Syria within 24 to 48 hours, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Friday. According to the channel’s veteran security affairs correspondent, Ronny Daniel, “in Israel, phone calls were received both by the prime minister and the defense…

Supporters and opponents of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi have called for rival demonstrations on Sunday, after the deadliest violence in weeks left four people dead Friday. Al Jazeera reported that the Anti-Coup Alliance called on Saturday for its supporters to try to reach Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Sunday, October 6, to mark the 40th…

U.S. President Barack Obama says U.S. intelligence estimates show Iran is “a year or more away” from building a nuclear weapon. In an interview with the Associated Press, Obama acknowledged that U.S. estimates were more conservative than those of Israel, which said Iran was much closer that that to building an atomic weapon. President Obama…

Israel is negotiating an unlikely diplomatic alliance with several Gulf and Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, to deal with Iran’s nuclear program, Channel 2 has reported. High-profile Israeli and Gulf diplomats held a series of meetings overseen by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the weeks leading to his speech to the UN General Assembly,…

The White House envisions a “confidence-building” process with Iran that would involve Iran’s revelation of the pace and scope of its nuclear program, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at week’s end. In return, she mentioned the possibility of easing some sanctions imposed on Iran for…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reiterated on Friday he would take a phone call from Iran’s president, if he called, but warned that he would have tough words for him. “We’re not averse to calling,” Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan in New York, repeating similar remarks he made in a separate interview…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, during his visit to the United States this past week, that the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority are going nowhere. According to a report on Friday in the Maariv daily newspaper, Netanyahu made the comments in closed meetings with the heads of American Jewish organizations. Netanyahu reportedly repeated his…

The Obama administration’s efforts to pressure Iran, Syria and others are inhibited by the government shutdown, White House press secretary Jay Carney suggested Friday. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has had to furlough all but 11 of its 175 full-time employees, “meaning that the office is unable to sustain its core functions,”…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday warned the world not to be tempted by the moderate rhetoric coming out of Iran in recent months. Speaking upon his return to Israel from the United States, Netanyahu said, “We are engaged in a comprehensive international struggle against the Iranian nuclear program. Next week I will meet with…

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement calling on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to immediately rescind its recently adopted resolution against circumcision. On Tuesday the European Council rendered circumcision of children a violation of human rights, and called for legal ban until the child is of age 15. In response, Israel defended the ancient religious tradition…

A majority of Israelis would support unilateral military action against Iran, according to a poll published Friday, after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said his government was ready to act alone. Some 65.6 percent of 500 Jewish Israelis surveyed by the Israel Hayom newspaper said they would support military strikes to halt Iran’s nuclear program, and 84 percent believed the Islamic…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said Friday morning that he has not yet decided whether he will run for re-election next year, the Associated Press reported.  Interviewed by Turkey’s Halk TV, Assad stressed that if the Syrian people are not interested in his serving another term, he won’t run.  Assad says “the picture will be clearer” in the next…

Israel plans to run for a rotating seat on the UN Security Council for the time ever for 2019-2020, its envoy said on Thursday. “We’re going all out to win,” Ambassador Ron Prosor told the Reuters news agency, adding, “It’s about time.” Prosor said Israel will be vying against Germany and Belgium for two seats…

Dozens of “Women of the Wall ‘ arrived at the Kotel, (Western Wall) Friday morning to celebrate the new Hebrew month of Cheshvan. The women did not pray at the ‘Israel Plaza’ recently opened by Minister for Religious Affairs MK Naftali Bennett, (Jewish Home), but instead convened in the women’s section of the Western Wall plaza, surrounded by familiar…

There was a sharp rise in the number of terror attacks in Israel in September, compared to the previous month, according to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). The Shin Bet summary for September counted 133 attacks, compared to 99 in August. Most of the attacks were in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria,…

Russian embassy staff in Libya have been evacuated following an attack Wednesday on its Tripoli compound. The Russian Foreign Ministry said its embassy in Tripoli had been attacked last night by a “group of militants” after Russian national Ekaterina Ustyuzhaninova killed a Libyan officer and stabbed the officer’s mother. One of the Libyan attackers was killed late Wednesday night and another four injured as guards at…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu mixed in a couple of expressions in Farsi, in an interview on BBC Persian Thursday aimed at the Iranian people. Speaking with conviction, Netanyahu said: “I would welcome a genuine rapprochement, a genuine effort to stop the nuclear program, not a fake one, not harf-e pootch [‘nonsense’ in Farsi]. ”We are…

As the bloody stalemate between government and rebel forces rages on in Syria, a rebel battalion east of the capital Damascus has claimed it managed to down an unmanned drone. In a video released online, a rebel motorcade in el-Routa el-Sharqiya paraded the downed drown, hailing it as a significant strategic victory. Indeed, since the start of…

Thousands of people gathered on Wednesday evening at the Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem for the “One State for One Nation” convention. Arutz Sheva was there. The participants, which included the heads of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria as well as prominent MKs, called on the Israeli government to ignore the pressure and threats…

Unknown gunmen attacked the Russian embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Wednesday, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported. The sound of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades could be heard around the embassy, the correspondent added. Russia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the attack but noted that none of its staff was injured. Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on…

A suicide bomber drove a vehicle filled with explosives into the headquarters of a rival terrorist commander in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday, government officials say.  Gunmen first fired shots at the commander’s compound in Balandkhel village, after which the suicide bomber rammed his explosives-rigged vehicle into the compound and detonated it. The powerful blast killed 15 people and wounded six others.…

The large-scale draft of young hareidi men the government is planning has numerous ramifications that legislators are only now starting to grapple with. Among those: The fate of women in the IDF. According to Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat, there is a real danger that the role of women in the IDF will be…

A joint US-Australian citizen has been jailed for 18 years for his part in an Al Qaeda fundraising ring. Between the years 2007 and 2009, 37 year-old Sabirhan Hasanoff helped funneled around $67,000 to Al Qaeda affiliates in various countries, including Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni franchise of the Islamist terror group considered its most…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is returning to Israel from his US trip with a feeling of satisfaction, that he has succeeded in delivering to the world – and especially to the US – the message he wanted to deliver. Netanyahu faced a difficult challenge after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s appearances there a few days earlier.…

Following the speech made by Binyamin Netanyahu to the United Nations General Assembly, White House Spokesman Jay Carney has said in a press briefing, that the US administration understands Israeli fears as it attempts a rapprochement with the Islamic regime. “We’ve said all along, as the president has said, we understand, and it is entirely justifiable,…

The United Nations says around 1,000 people were killed in Iraq in the month of September alone. So far this year, 5,740 people have been killed in the violence. Aside from the deaths last month, 2,000 people were also wounded in a wave of almost daily bombings across the country, the UN has said. The figures make for grim reading, with 887 civilians…

At least 115,206 people have been killed in Syria’s devastating 30-month conflict, most of them fighters from both sides, a monitoring group said on Tuesday. “The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented the deaths of 115,206 people from the start of Syria’s revolution on March 18, 2011 to September 30, 2013,” the Britain-based group…

One of the largest terrorist groups operating in the Sinai Peninsula has joined Al-Qaeda. The group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (“The Army of Islam in the Beit Al-Makdas Region”), has announced its loyalty to Al-Qaeda, and particularly, to the Al-Qaeda leadership in Iraq. The group in question has carried out many attacks targeting Egyptian soldiers in…

The fight against Brit mila: Following proposals of a law to the Swedish parliament that would outlaw brit mila, (Jewish ritual circumcision) Rabbi Shniur Kasselman of the Malmo community, says the Jews of the city will continue to hold fast to Torah commandments even if such a  law is passed. “We all hope the law won’t…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu urged the world to maintain pressure on Iran over its nuclear program in a speech Tuesday to the United Nations. Diplomacy can work, he said, but only if the international community takes a firm stance. “We all want to give diplomacy with Iran a chance to succeed,” he said. “But when it…

A father of eight from central Israel has won Israel’s latest lottery. As the sole winner, he will receive the entire jackpot of NIS 26 million. The winner only buys lottery tickets on occasion. After the holidays he had a good feeling, he said. “I got a wonderful gift from Heaven.” He related that he came…

Holocaust historian Professor Yisrael Gutman passed away Tuesday at the age of 90. Gutman’s considerable contribution to humanity’s knowledge regarding the Holocaust included an encyclopedia of the Holocaust. He also taught at Hebrew University and contributed considerably to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial project. Gutman was not only a scholar, but was a Holocaust survivor…

The Venezuelan government has expelled three senior US diplomats, accusing them of conspiring with the right-wing opposition to “sabotage” the country’s economy. In a typically incendiary and hyperbolic statement, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed to have evidence that Kelly Keiderling, David Moo and Elizabeth Hoffman helped sabotage a power-grid sabotage in September and had bribed Venezuelan companies to cut…

An Al-Qaeda-linked group based in the Sinai Peninsula has denounced the Egyptian army as “an enemy of Allah” because of its crackdown on Sinai terrorists. The Sinai has become increasingly lawless since the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, and the terror attacks have only increased since the removal of his successor,…

Jews in the United States are overwhelmingly proud to be Jewish, yet nearly one in five of them describe themselves as having no religion, according to a Pew Research Center survey published Tuesday. The gap is generational, with 32 percent of Jews born after 1980 identifying as Jewish on the basis of ancestry, ethnicity or…

Iran’s recent conciliatory remarks have to be matched by “transparent, verifiable, meaningful actions,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday. “Iran is committed to Israel’s destruction, so for Israel, the ultimate test of a future agreement with Iran is whether or not Iran dismantles its military nuclear program,” Netanyahu said after…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met on Monday at the State Department with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. In remarks to reporters before the meeting, Kerry said, “Israel, as everybody knows, is a very special friend to the United States of America. And we have just had a very constructive luncheon with the President and…

At the conclusion of his meeting Monday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Barack H. Obama said that Washington would not ease up on its sanctions against Iran unless and until Tehran halted its nuclear arms program. Netanyahu met with Obama on the background of the President’s phone conversation last week with Iranian chief…

Alert IDF soldiers on Monday night prevented a terror attack at the Gaza border fence. The incident occurred near Kibbutz Nachal Oz, Channel Two reported. Several Gaza Arabs approached the border fence, the report said. IDF soldiers patrolling in the area identified suspicious figures near the fence, and ordered them to halt. When they refuse,…

At least 42 people have been killed and scores wounded in a series of car bomb blasts in Baghdad, as the country faces one of its bloodiest years since 2003. In a familiar pattern, neighborhoods with a Shia Muslim majority were targeted by more than a dozen car bombs. The attacks took place during rush hour,…

Islamist terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula have claimed the killing of three Egyptian policemen. One of Monday’s attacks targeted a police station in El Arish in North Sinai, killing two policemen as they sat eating breakfast outside. A third police officer was also gunned down, as he walked along a street in the city. A video of one of the shootings was published…

For the first time, Holocaust memorial center Yad Vashem has recognized an Egyptian national, the late Dr. Mohamed Helmy, as a “Righteous Gentile,” for the assistance he gave Jews during the Holocaust, at great personal risk. Helmy, born in Khartoum in 1901 to Egyptian parents, went to Germany in 1922 to study medicine and settled…

A study released by the Steinhardt Social Reseach Institute (SSRI) and Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University has yielded some interesting and somewhat unexpected information about the size of the Jewish community in the United States. According to the study, in 2012 there were an estimated 6.8 million Jews in the US – significantly more…

Israel was among those who warned Kenya’s government of the high risk of an attack before the deadly assault on a Nairobi mall by Islamist terrorists, security sources have told the AFP news agency. Cabinet ministers and Kenya’s army chief had received information warning of a plan to carry out a major attack, the officials…

Hebrew University biochemists Professor Aharon Razin and Professor Haim (Howard) Cedar are considered favorites to win 2013 Nobel Prize in the fields of medicine or chemistry for their research on the DNA sequence, according to numerous media reports. The two have been named the leading candidates for their research on the DNA sequence. Official announcement…

At their meeting on Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will discuss the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and the recent developments in Iran and Syria, the White House announced Sunday night. “The visit of Prime Minister Netanyahu is proof of the deep and ongoing connections between the United States and…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has arrived in New York. He is scheduled to meet U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday, and to address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. In addition, Netanyahu is reportedly planning to give a series of interviews to various press outlets,…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has rejected calls by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for a so-called “third intifada” in Judea and Samaria, saying it would “not allow the West Bank to become an arena for chaos to serve a private agenda.” Asharq al-Awsat, an Arabic international newspaper headquartered in London, reports that the calls came…

Channel 2‘s website says that Indian security forces have arrested a Global Jihad terrorist who they believe planned to carry out terror attacks against Jewish targets in India. The investigation revealed that he is part of a cell that planned terror attacks in Mumbai and other locations. Chabad houses were reportedly on the list of planned…

Islamist gunmen have stormed a school in northern Nigeria, massacring at least 50 students, in the latest attack by Islamist terrorists in the region. Coming just days after a deadly attack on a Kenyan shopping mall by Somalian Islamists, the attack – blamed on terrorists from the Al Qaeda-linked “Boko Haram” group – underlines the…

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, the head of Israel’s negotiating team in talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA), spoke Saturday night at the opening of a conference organized by the left-wing American group J Street. Livni won applause for her defense of the “two-state solution” and the creation of a PA state in Judea, Samaria (Shomron),…

As fighting continues in Syria, 43 Islamist groups have united to form a joint “Army of Islam.” The groups have agreed to act under the joint leadership of Sheikh Mohammed Zahran. The Army of Islam’s creation was officially announced in a ceremony Sunday. The Al-Qaeda affiliated group Al-Nusra, along with ideologically similar groups such as…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans to tell the United Nations General Assembly that Iran has enough uranium to produce nuclear weapons, according to the Sunday Times. An unnamed senior Israeli official was quoted as having told the newspaper that Netanyahu will say in his speech on Tuesday that Iran currently has 219 kilograms (482 pounds)…

IAF fighter jets were scrambled into Israel’s skies twice Saturday, for reasons that are unknown. Such events usually occur when it is believed that a foreign aircraft is invading Israeli airspace. The IDF has refused to say why the jets were scrambled. Two jets were scrambled in the morning – one of which, according to…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has told his government ministers not to grant any interviews to the press regarding diplomatic matters – including the efforts currently being made by the United States to resolve the problem of Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Several ministers had to cancel scheduled interviews because of Netanyahu’s instruction. In political circles, the…

A telephone call Friday between US President Barack Obama and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is being hailed as a historic development. The call is the first of its kind between an American and Iranian president in more than three decades. After the Iranian leader rebuffed an American request to meet Obama when the two were…

A French diplomat who physically attacked an Israeli soldier during a demonstration in support of illegal Bedouin squatters will be deported from Israel, an official has told the Israel Hayom paper. He added, however, that it was “an isolated incident that does not characterise relations” between Israel and France. Marion Fesneau-Castaing, France’s cultural attache to its consulate in Jerusalem, punched…

Western diplomats have hailed a “significant shift” in Iran’s attitude towards its nuclear weapons program, following the highest-level of talks between the United States and Iran in six years. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met along with diplomats from the UN Security Council members from U.S, Russia, Britain, France and China and Germany (known as the…

Three Arab rioters were arrested for throwing rocks Friday, following disorders at the Damascus Gate (Shaar Shechem in Hebrew) to Jerusalem’s Old City.  Another youth was arrested following a disorder next to the Church of All Nations on the Mount of Olives. At the same time, additional disorders broke out in the area of the Rockefeller antiquities museum, across…

UN weapons inspectors are launching investigations into three additional alleged chemical weapons attacks, in addition to their investigations surrounding a series of attacks in Damascus suburbs on August 21 which killed more than 1,000 people. The additional alleged attacks took place between March 19 and August 25. This latest development comes as a team of UN experts…

Four members of the Fatah affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades group have been arrested by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.  The arrests were reported by the PA-based Maan news agency, who said the four, yielding weapons, delivered a vitriolic press conference from the Al Ghafri Tower in Gaza City. The report said after journalists left, Hamas…

Officials say at least 23 people have been killed in blasts targeting outdoor markets in Iraq’s capital Baghdad. Al Qaeda are thought to be behind the attacks.  Three bombs exploded simultaneously in the Shiite village of Sabaa al-Bour, located almost 20 miles north of Baghdad. Police have reported that bombs went off at the entrance to the…

Official Iranian news agency FARS said Thursday that CNN misrepresented Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s statements in an interview with the network’s Christiane Amanpour, saying the network added the words “Holocaust” and “reprehensible” to its translation. “The CNN aired its interview with Rouhani on Tuesday but the news channel added to or changed parts of his…

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has urged Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, is his second speech at the UN General Assembly this week. Rouhani called for a world disarmament conference that would establish a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. “As long as nuclear weapons exist, the threat of their use exists,” Rouhani said,…

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a scathing broadside Thursday against the UN’s High Commissioner of Human Rights, Navi Pillay, following a statement by her office regarding the demolition of illegal Bedouin structures. “Once again, Ms. Pillay, via a statement issued by the High Commissioner’s spokesperson on 24 September 2013 has published a misconceived, inaccurate…

Synagogues and town centers across Israel are set to be filled with a second night of dancing with Torah scrolls in the customary conclusion to the Sukkot and Simhat Torah festivals, known as hakafot shniyot.  In Jerusalem, the hakafot shniyot will take place in the Liberty Bell Park sponsored by US based Holocaust survivor Eugen Gluck,…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to intensify their peace talks with greater participation by the United States. “We have agreed now, in the last week, when I have met with both [PA Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas and Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu, we have agreed…

A hareidi-religious family from New York was the victim of a serious attack by rioting Arabs Wednesday afternoon, asthey were making their way to pray on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem’s Old City. One of the passengers in their rented car was taken to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital with wounds to the head and one of his…

The eight day festival that consists of Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah will come to an end Thursday night, bringing an end to the month long holiday season and starting the regular year. In Israel, a popular expression is “Acharei Hachagim” – lets’ wait till after the holidays – as the entire country seems to…

Kenya said on Wednesday that Israel was helping it with a forensic investigation into the weekend attack on a Nairobi shopping mall. The country’s interior minister, Joseph ole Lenku, told reporters that the United States and Britain were also taking part in the investigation. “We have moved to the next phase,” Lenku was quoted by…

The Jewish community in Mumbai, India is on alert in the wake of a threat by a terrorist organization, the Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday. According to the report, a prominent body that represents the Jewish community in the city has sent out advisories to all synagogues and members to be on alert, especially during…

Hours after he called on Israel to “end the occupation of the West Bank”, U.S. President Barack Obama met Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday. During the meeting, reported the Associated Press, Obama said that no one is under the illusion that peace between Israelis and Arabs will be easy, but claimed PA…

French President Francois Hollande met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday, becoming became the first Western leader to do so, reports Reuters. France has been a strong advocate of sanctions to pressure Iran over its nuclear program but has been cautious in its statements since Rouhani, a relative moderate, was elected in June. Hollande, who…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly was “cynical and full of hypocrisy,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday night. In a statement he released shortly after Rouhani’s speech, Netanyahu said that the speech reflects the Iranian plan, namely to “talk and buy time in order to promote the ability of…

United States President Barack Obama sent a message of reconciliation to Iran in his speech to the United Nations on Tuesday. While Obama reiterated American opposition to the idea of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, he expressed support for an Iranian civilian nuclear program. The mistrust between America and Iran has “deep roots,” he began,…

As Kenyan troops battle to end the bloody siege at Nairobi’s Westgate mall, which has already killed at least 62 people and left nearly 200 wounded, report have been circulating that a team of Israeli military advisers were flown in as early as Sunday morning to help Kenyan security forces root out Islamist terrorists and…

IDF commanders have ordered the closure of part of the old Highway 60, which runs near the Israeli community of Beit El in the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem. The road connects the Arab cities of Ramallah and Shechem, and is used by PA resident drivers. The decision was made after Arab rioters made life…

Following the slaying of two IDF soldiers in three days, dozens of Knesset members, including deputy government ministers, have signed a letter calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to cancel all planned releases of terrorist prisoners as part of a series of “goodwill gestures” to the PA. 26 out of a list of 104 convicted…

A young Jewish couple from the town of Beit El, along with their four year-old son, narrowly escaped death after an Arab lynch mob attacked their car near Jerusalem’s A-Tur neighborhood. Asaf and Naama Bruchi were travelling through the largely Arab neighborhood when their car stopped in traffic. Suddenly, they were pelted by rocks and other…

Eight people were killed in three terrorist attacks in Iraq on Tuesday, continuing a wave of violence that has sparked fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict. Two attacks targeted police stations, one in the town of Rawa and the other in the town of Aana, both located on the highway to Syria. Seven…

Kenya’s foreign minister said Monday that the Al-Qaeda terror group is responsible for the attack in a mall in Nairobi that has killed at least 62 people. In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said that Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, was not acting alone and that it was part of…

More than 2,500 visitors from across the spectrum – national-religious, secular, hareidi, soldiers, kabbalists and others – prayed at the Tomb of Joseph (Kever Yosef) in Shechem last night, amid scenes of unity and joy. The visit was held in honor of the festival of Sukkot, and was coordinated with security forces, and in conjunction with…

Kenyan troops are “in control” of Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, the Kenyan interior ministry announced overnight Monday, according to AFP. “We’re in control of Westgate,” the ministry said in a post on Twitter, some 60 hours after Islamist terrorists stormed the complex and killed at least 62 people. “Our forces are combing the mall floor…

Hundreds of children and teenagers are expected to arrive at the Temple Mount Tuesday in what has become an annual event – the ascending of groups of children to the Mount, coordinated and organized by the Women for the Holy Temple Organization. Speaking with Arutz Sheva, Ya’el Kabilio, one of the event’s organizers, said that…

In what will be the highest-level talks between the United States and Iran since the 1979 revolution, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes has confirmed. Kerry and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will join their counterparts from the six major powers…

Infighting among Syrian rebel groups continued to rage Monday amid reports that a senior Al Qaeda commander had been killed in clashes with a rival rebel brigade. The commander – said to be of Libyan nationality – was killed along with a dozen other fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), according…

Fistfights and clashes broke out at Bir Zeit University on Ramallah Monday, as staff were prevented from entering the university building by students who are striking in protest of poor management by the university’s administration. Students locked the gates of the school’s buildings and formed a human chain to prevent anyone from entering. Several staff…

Thousands attended Monday the funeral of IDF soldier Gabriel (Gal) Kobi of Tirat Hacarmel, who was killed Sunday after an Arab sharpshooter targeted him while he was on patrol in Hevron. The funeral took place at the military cemetery in Haifa, and was attended by dozens of members of Kobi’s Givati unit. Speaking at the…

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that his regime will allow international inspectors full access to its chemical weapons sites, but added that rebels could prevent them from reaching certain locations. “I’m referring to places where gunmen exist. Those gunmen might want to stop the experts’ arrival,” Assad told Chinese state TV in an interview recorded…

IDF soldiers carried out intensive search operations in the city of Hevron overnight and Monday morning, following the murder on Sunday of a soldier, First Sergeant Gal Kobi Hy”d, by a sniper. The forces combing the city found two hunting rifles in the course of their operations. Two Arabs were arrested and handed over to…

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon promised Monday morning, that the IDF would catch the Palestinian Authority (PA) sniper who murdered Israeli soldier Gal Kobi Sunday in Hevron. “I join the grief of the Kobi family after the death of their son. The IDF and security forces will lay their hands on the terrorist and those who sent him and hold…

At least 60 people were killed at a funeral in the mainly Shiite Muslim Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on the weekend. The BBC reported that a tent where mourners were gathered was hit by two explosions, one of them a suicide car bomb. A third explosion followed as police, ambulances and…

Kenyan troops, including commando teams and military helicopters, are carrying out a major assault against al Shabaab terrorists in Kenya in an attempt to end the horrific two-day stand-off inside a Nairobi shopping center. According to Sky News, at least three loud explosions and heavy and rapid bursts of fire have been heard Monday morning coming…

Israel should stop talking peace with the Palestinian Authority so long as its chairman continues to incite to terrorism, said Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon (Likud) on Sunday. Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Danon said that Israel should demand that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemn the murders of two soldiers over the past two days before…

The United States on Sunday condemned the killings of two Israeli soldiers in separate incidents in Judea and Samaria. “Such violence and terror are unacceptable,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. These types of violent incidents “undermine efforts to establish the positive atmosphere the parties need to progress in peace negotiations,” Psaki added in a…

Kenyan security forces said Sunday night that most of the hostages being held by Al-Shabaab terrorists in a shopping mall in the capital Nairobi have been rescued, Al Jazeera reports. The terrorists belonging to the Somali group stormed the Westgate shopping center on Saturday using grenades and assault rifles. The attack has left at least…

An international anti-Israel group that has sponsored several flotillas to Gaza is now taking aim at Egypt, accusing the new government there of imposing a blockade on the area. Since the deposing of President Mohammed Morsi by the Egyptian army, Egyptian soldiers have cracked down hard on the Muslim Brotherhood – arresting scores, including most…

Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired a mortar shell that hit the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel on Sunday night, causing no casualties or damage. “A mortar shell fired from Gaza exploded in an open area near the southern part of the Strip,” an IDF spokeswoman told AFP. Last Wednesday, a projectile fired from Gaza…

Fatah’s military wing, the Al Aqsa Brigades, on Sunday took responsibility for the murder of IDF soldier Tomer Hazan Friday. According to Israeli officials, Nadal Amar, the terrorist who killed Hazan, was not affiliated with any terror group. Hazan was abducted Friday and murdered in Samaria by Amar, with the motive said by IDF officials…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has suggested his country could send a small contingent of military personnel to monitor the handover of Syrian chemical weapons to international observers. Under the terms of a Russian-brokered deal, the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad would avoid western military strikes in response to a chemical weapons attack in the…

Hundreds of people attended the funeral of murdered IDF soldier Tomer Hazan H”yd Sunday aftenoon. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Holon. Hazan was abducted Friday and murdered in Samaria by an Arab terrorist, with the motive said by IDF officials to be a plan by the terrorist, Nadal Amar, to…

A double bombing at a historic Christian church in northwestern Pakistan has killed at least 75 people. The bomber struck as hundreds of worshipers walked out of church toward a food distribution area on the lawn outside. The attack is one of the deadliest to target Pakistan’s Christian minority in years. No group has claimed…

The United States Air Force nearly detonated a nuclear bomb over North Carolina in 1961, the Guardian has revealed. The bomb which nearly went off carried a payload of 4 megatons, making it 260 times more powerful than the bomb used in Hiroshima. The report is based on a previously classified report on the incident…

Israel security forces have joined their Kenyan counterparts in the fight to rescue hostages captured by Islamist terrorists at a Nairobi mall. “The Israelis have just entered and they are rescuing the hostages and the injured,” a security source said on condition he not be named. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny…

Lebanon’s government has announced that it will send the national army to secure Hezbollah-dominated suburbs in the south of the country, including the terrorist movement’s stronghold in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut. The decision to send soldiers into Lebanese cities comes in the wake of multiple recent bombing attacks. The attacks have left more than…

In a show of force which contrasts with the relatively consilliatory statements by Iran’s new president, the Iranian military has paraded its arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of hitting Israeli and other western targets, at a state parade on Sunday. Iran paraded 30 missiles with a nominal range of 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) – the first…

An IDF soldier was badly injured in a shooting attack in Hevron Sunday night. The attack took place in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood near the Machpelah Cave in the city. A Magen David Adom crew treated the victim, who was struck by bullets in his upper body. He was later taken by helicopter to Hadassah…

Syria has handed over complete data on its chemical arsenal to the world’s watchdog, meeting a Saturday deadline to avert military strikes, AFP reports. There were indications on Friday that the Syrian government would not make the weekend’s deadline. The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it was examining the Syrian…

In Nairobi, Kenya, at least 30 people are reported dead in an apparent terrorist attack in a shopping center. A BBC reporter said that a photojournalist who fled the mall reported that he saw about 40 bodies inside the mall. One Israeli, who operates a stand selling Dead Sea products, was reportedly slightly wounded. Three…

An Israel Defense Forces soldier, Sergeant Tomer Hazan of Bat Yam, 20, was abducted Friday and murdered in Samaria by an Arab terrorist. The victim’s family has been notified. The motive for the murder was the terrorist’s plan to trade the body of his victim for the freedom of his brother, a Fatah terrorist who…

An IDF officer from Central Command told Channel 10 Saturday evening that the IDF had no way of preventing the abduction and murder of Sergeant Tomer Hazan. “We couldn’t have done anything to save his life,” the officer said. “This is a serious incident. The forces took action in time and located the body within…

IAF combat jets were scrambled into the skies over greater Tel Aviv Saturday morning, after suspicious movement was detected on the radar screens of an IAF monitoring unit. The suspicious movement turned out to have been a flock of birds, and the jets returned to their base. Some alarmed residents reported running to safe rooms…

Military sources in Yemen have said that at least 40 policemen and soldiers have been killed in the south of the country in simultaneous attacks by Al Qaeda.  One Al Qaeda assault targeted a special forces camp at Maifaa in the Shabwa province, killing eight policemen, at the same time as gunmen attacked two army posts 15 kilometres (9…

Arab States will continue in their push to single Israel out for criticism at this week’s UN nuclear agency meeting, defying western calls to refrain from doing so, according to a senior Arab League representative. Frustrated over the indefinite postponement last year of an international conference on banning atomic arms in the region, Arab states…

US media have reported that at least one person has been killed and ten more wounded after a shooting at a Chicago basketball court. In a twitter feed, the Chicago Fire Department relayed the news that ten adults and one child had been shot. A 3-year-old is among those receiving hospital treatment according to various news agencies.…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reacted Thursday to Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s latest interview, in which he sounded a moderate tone, and said – “Let us not be fooled by the Iranian president’s words of deception.” “The Iranians are creating media spin in order to keep the centrifuges spinning,” a statement from Netanyahu’s bureau said. “The…

German police quoted in local media say they have located the body of Yam Levy, 23, an Israeli woman who went missing last week. Levi was last seen Tuesday near Immenstadt, a Bavarian town near the German Alps and Swiss border, last Tuesday. Police have been searching for her and her parents joined the search,…

France’s interior minister revealed Thursday that hundreds of homegrown Islamist militants were signing up to fight in Syria and warned they could pose a security threat when they come back. More than 300 French nationals or residents are either currently fighting in Syria’s civil war, planning to go and fight or have recently returned from…

Rabbi Naim Yosef, 92, passed away Thursday morning. Rabbi Yosef was the brother of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. He left behind nine children, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The rabbi was initially hospitalized after he tripped and fell in his home. His family said that he also suffered from a serious infection in his whole body,…

Alert Border Police prevented two Arab terrorists from carrying out an attack Thursday evening at the Tapuach Junction in Samaria (Shomron). The two Arabs, who are in their twenties, carried a backpack and advanced toward the checkpoint at the junction in a way that aroused the policemen’s suspicions. They searched the men at a secure…

Turkey warned Damascus on Wednesday it would “face the consequences” if it sought to avenge the downing of a Syrian military chopper this week, AFP reported. At the same time, Turkey said it did not believe a border attack was a retaliatory strike. A car bomb exploded at Syria’s rebel-held Bab al-Hawa border crossing into…

The 16th Palestinian Authority government headed by Rami Hamdallah will be sworn in before PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday evening in Ramallah, the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency reported. The government’s formation will remain unchanged, the report said. Fatah lawmaker Azzam al-Ahmad told Ma’an that a meeting was held between Abbas and Hamdallah on Wednesday,…

Iran will never develop nuclear weapons, its president claimed on Wednesday. Speaking to NBC News in his first interview with a U.S. news outlet since his election, President Hassan Rouhani also said he has full authority to make a deal with the West on the disputed atomic program. Rouhani also spoke to NBC’s Ann Curry…

A Saudi newspaper has claimed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is using tunnels to smuggle chemical weapons to Hizbullah. The report by the Al-Watan daily said the regime had made the move to avoid being spotted, moving the deadly weapons before the arrival of international inspectors. Last week, the Syrian regime agreed to a Russian brokered deal to hand over…

Iran denied on Wednesday that it plans to shut down the heavily fortified underground Fordow nuclear facility, reported Fars news. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, strongly rejected western media reports claiming that Tehran had proposed to the West to close the underground uranium enrichment facility in exchange for…

The family of an Arab-Israeli confirmed on Wednesday that their relative has died while fighting in the Syrian civil war, AFP reported. According to the family, 28-year-old Muayyed Zaki Jumaa Ighbariya was fighting on the side of the Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group Al-Nusra Front. Ighbariya left his village near the Arab-Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm in…

Over 5,000 Christian pilgrims from around 100 nations will take part in the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem’s (ICEJ) annual Feast of Tabernacles this week.    The festival which will generate some $16 million in revenues is the largest annual tourist event in Israel. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was founded during the first Christian celebration…

The United States said on Tuesday that an Arab push to single out Israel for criticism over its assumed nuclear arsenal would hurt diplomatic efforts to ban weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Arab states have proposed a resolution at the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressing concern about “Israeli nuclear capabilities”,…

United Nations investigators are planning to return to Syria to follow up on more allegations of chemical weapons use, CNN reported Wednesday. Ake Sellstrom, the head of the inspection team that visited after an August 21 attack, told the network that the next visit could take place as early as next week. Sellstrom told The…

The government on Tuesday authorized establishment of a committee that will examine ways to eliminate cash from the Israeli economy – the better to prevent citizens from cheating on their taxes. The committee will be chaired by Harel Locker, director of the Prime Minister’s Office. Cash is easily passed from individual to individual, and transactions…

The newly instated British Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis has announced that he will attend the educational cross-communal conference. The Previous Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks had stayed away from Limmud after being appointed to the position. Limmud was created in 1980 modeled on the Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education of North America and brought…

“Where is the honor in this crime?  The victim was completely insane and could not be held responsible for her body and mind.” This is the twentieth such “honor killing” so far this year in PA-controlled territory. In so-called “honor killings,” victims – usually women – are slain following perceived sexual misconduct or immodest behavior, usually…

The Dollar has continued to drop in value against the shekel and was traded at a two year low of 3.5328. The Euro also dropped slightly by 0.35% and was traded at 4.7209 NIS. The announcement of Larry Summers decision not to stand for the soon to be vacated position of head up United States Federal…

Israel’s economy is likely to see an increase of 3.4% this year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), which revealed on Monday that Israel’s gross domestic product will rise above the NIS 1 trillion mark for the first time.  Haaretz reports that in preliminary assessments of this year’s economic performance, the CBS projects Israel’s growth rate will be be higher…

In an attempt to convince the West to lift international sanctions on Iran, President Hassan Rohani is reportedly willing to dismantle the nuclear facility in Fordo, a site which is widely considered to pose a grave threat to Israel and the West.  The report was made by the German news source, Spiegel Online. Intelligence sources quoted in the…

Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, nearly ended in tragedy for the Fairman family of Jerusalem. In the middle of the night, the family was targeted with firebombs in an attack that destroyed many of their children’s things, and nearly burned the entire house. The Fairman family lives in a predominantly Arab…

Turkish warplanes shot down a Syrian helicopter on Monday, AFP reports. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc was quoted as confirming the incident. The Syrian helicopter was detected two kilometers within Turkish airspace, Arinc said. “It was continuously warned by our air defense but as the violation continued, it fell on Syrian soil, having been…

President Bashar Al-Assad has smuggled part of his chemical weapons arsenal to Hezbollah in a bid to evade international inspection, the Saudi newspaper Al Watan reported Monday. The report quoted Syrian National Coalition member Kamal al-Labwani as claiming that: “The Syrian regime has transferred some of its chemical weapons arsenal to its ally Hezbollah aboard trucks used to transport vegetables.”…

Extensive searches are underway for Yam Levy, 23, who went on a trip to Germany on her own. Levy sent a friend pictures of herself from Immenstadt, a Bavarian town near the German Alps and Swiss border, last Tuesday. “I’m having fun – everything is OK,” was her last message – which she sent through messaging application Whatsapp.…

Philanthropist Dr. Irving Moskowitz announced Monday that he supports Aryeh King and his “Seam Line Neighborhoods” list in Jerusalem’s municipal elections. In a letter signed by Dr. Moskowitz and his wife Cherna, they tell of their long acquaintance with King and “his activities for strengthening Jerusalem.” “King has proven himself in caring for the security of…

French President Francois Hollande warned on Sunday that a deal to eradicate Syria’s chemical arms was “not an end point” and kept the option of military strikes open, as he maintained pressure on Damascus, reported AFP. Speaking live on TF1 television, Hollande stressed that the international community must prepare for the possibility of sanctions “in…

Egypt’s armed forces have seized a stockpile of anti-aircraft missiles in the Sinai, military spokesman Ahmed Ali said in a press conference on Sunday. The spokesman also said the army will continue operations in Sinai until “terrorism” is defeated, according to a report in Al Arabiya. “Egypt’s national security has been under a threat because…

New York City police have arrested a ring of suspected drug dealers who had been selling heroin, oxycodone and other drugs in southern Brooklyn – but had been shutting down operations every Friday evening to observe Shabbat. The five defendants were charged as part of a six month probe dubbed “Only after Sundown,” New York City…

India has successfully test-fired for a second time a nuclear-capable missile that can reach Beijing and much of Europe. “The missile hit its target in the Indian Ocean in 20 minutes – all desired mission objectives of this developmental test were met,” Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spokesman Ravi Gupta said. The DRDO is…

United States President Barack Obama declared in a weekend interview that the US is still prepared to act militarily to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, despite the decision to hold back on striking Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons. Obama spoke in interview broadcast Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” taped…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that he hopes to see real results from the United States agreement with Russia to eliminate Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons. Netanyahu’s remarks, made during the memorial ceremony for fallen soldiers of the Yom Kippur War, come a day after the deal was reached following three days of talks in Geneva between U.S.…

The State of Israel held an official memorial Sunday for those who fell in the Yom Kippur War, 40 years ago. The ceremony took place at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery. Among those who took part were Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, Knesset Speaker…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Jerusalem Sunday to hold talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the progress made in the Middle East peace talks and on Syria. The two men will discuss “the final status negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, following on the secretary’s meeting with [Palestinian Authority Chairman]…

A video has been released showing Border Police unit coming under attack during a routine patrol on Yom Kippur. The unit was driving through the Arab town of Anata, near Jerusalem, when local young men attacked with concrete blocks, bottles, and buckets of paint. A local man filmed the attack and uploaded footage. The video shows the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to freeze the controversial Governance Bill put forth by Yisrael Beytenu, according to the Israeli daily Maariv. Netanyahu reportedly opposes one of the more controversial parts of the bill: the increase of the vote threshold from two percent to four percent, meaning that only parties that received at least 4…

The head of Syria’s rebel Free Syrian Army rejected on Saturday a U.S.-Russian deal to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons by mid-2014. “We cannot accept any part of this initiative,” General Selim Idriss told reporters in Istanbul, according to the AFP news agency. He preceded that by saying, “We in the Free Syrian Army are unconcerned…

About 400 people prayed on Yom Kippur at the new synagogue in Itamar, Samaria, which was built following the slaughter of five members of the Fogel family inside their home in 2011. The synagogue and study hall, Mishkan Ehud, is named after Ehud Fogel, the father of the family, who murdered along with his wife,…

A few minutes before Yom Kippur, large forces of Border Police raided the outpost community of Ramat Migron in Binyamin, and arrested seven residents for violating a Closed Military Zone order. The seven were taken to Shaar Binyamin Police Station where they were forced to spend the first hours of the high holiday. They were…

No extraordinary security-related events were reported on the high holy day of Yom Kippur, as hundreds of thousands flocked to synagogues throughout Israel. Magen David Adom teams took 1,973 people to hospitals. A total of 130 people fainted, mostly as a result of the heavy heat and the fact that so many people were fasting…

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have reached an agreement on a framework for securing Syria’s chemical weapons, according to which Syria’s chemical weapons must be destroyed or removed by mid-2014. The agreement was reached after three days of intense negotiations in Geneva. Syria must hand over a full list…

A four-year-old girl drowned on Yom Kippur at a mikveh – or ritual immersion pool – on Neufeld Street in Bnei Brak, in central Israel. An initial investigation shows that the entrance gate to the mikveh had been left open, and the girl entered the mikveh with her two small brothers. A passerby extricated the…

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Bashar Al-Assad has begun scattering his massive stockpile of chemical weapons to as many as 50 different sites across the country. The US newspaper claimed in a report Friday that a secretive military unit at the center of the Syrian chemical weapons program had been charged with moving the…

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is developing a new version of the “Arrow” missile that will be quicker and more accurate than its predecessors, an official said Thursday, according to Kol Yisrael radio. Speaking at a program as part of the annual Researchers’ Night at Tel Aviv University, the director of the Arrow 3 program at…

Iran’s new envoy to the UN atomic agency said on Thursday that Tehran had a “strong political will” to engage with the international community over its nuclear program, reported AFP. But, speaking at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Reza Najafi said diplomacy was a two-way street and that Iran would never give up its…

Bulgaria is planning to open a trial by April for a bomb attack that killed five Israeli tourists at an airport last year, the chief prosecutor said Thursday. “Our ambition is to go to court… by the end of the first three months of next year at the maximum,” Sotir Tsatsarov told journalists, according to…

Thousands of Muslims are expected to riot after Friday prayers on the Temple Mount as Fatah’s armed branch, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, has declared war and announced that it would give the “green light” to terrorist attacks targeting Israelis beginning on the eve of Yom Kippur.  While Fatah head and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas negotiates with Israel for the…

The United States on Thursday once again called on Egypt’s interim authorities to lift a state of emergency which has been in force since August. The call came after Cairo announced it would extend the state of emergency for two months. “We remain opposed, as we have from the beginning, to the state of emergency.…

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is seeking action from the United Nations over the new president of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) membership in an organization that encourages boycotts of Israel. In a letter to the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP), Wilfried Lemke, the center’s Director for International…

Syria became a full member of the global anti-chemical weapons treaty on Thursday, the country’s envoy to the United Nations said. The government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad hopes this move will prevent U.S. air strikes. “Legally speaking Syria has become, starting today, a full member of the [chemical weapons] convention,” Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar…

Omar Hammami, an American-born jihadi and one of the most notorious faces of Al Qaeda, has reportedly been killed in Somalia. According to the Guardian, Hammami was ambushed by fellow Islamist fighters from Al Shabaab in southern Somalia. Hammami had been fighting in Somalia on behalf of Islamist forces since November 2006, rising quickly through the ranks…

The IDF has confirmed two mortar shells fired from Syrian territory hit the Golan Heights earlier today (Thursday). The incident, which caused no injuries, was described by the IDF Spokesman as a likely accidental spillover from the violence in Syria. The incident is the latest in a series of cross-border incidents. Last month Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor sent…

US intelligence officials have expressed their concern over the still small but slowly-increasing presence of American citizens among Islamist rebel groups in Syria, according to a report by The Daily Beast. Out of the estimated 1,200 rebel factions battling the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, only a handful are either formally linked with Al Qaeda – such as the Al…

A would-be terrorist from Ramallah was indicted in a Jerusalem court on Thursday on a string of charges relating to a plot to bomb the Mamilla shopping center in Jerusalem. The accused, 22-year-old Hamdi Rumana, allegedly planned to fire rockets at nearby Israeli communities as well, and had sought to purchase a gun for use…

An Israeli delegation arrived at the Cairo airport on Wednesday on a private jet, an airport official told the Palestinian Authority-based Ma’an news agency. According to the official, the Israeli delegation discussed the recent events in the Sinai. The delegation was greeted by Egyptian security officials, Ma’an reported. It will meet other Egyptian officials to…

Soldiers caught four young terrorists on Wednesday night, just moments before they could attack Israelis on a nearby highway. The dramatic capture took place in the Hevron Hills. Soldiers with the Kfir Brigade noticed four suspicious figures hiding near a heavily used junction. They approached the four, who attempted to escape into the nearby Arab…

A large contingent of worshipers who visited the Tomb of Joseph (Kever Yosef) in Shechem Wednesday night were attacked by gangs of Arabs, who threw rocks and bricks at them. The worshipers were accompanied by a large number of IDF soldiers. The Arabs attacked the soldiers with rocks as well. Troops used anti-riot techniques to…

A powerful car bomb ripped through the largely Shia neighborhood of Kasra district in Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding another 27, police and medical sources say. It is unclear as to who is responsible for the deadly attack, although Al Qaeda-linked Sunni terrorists are carrying out near-daily strikes against Shi’ite neighbors in the region. Apart…

As the US government pushes for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), a recently-released poll by the Pew Research Center suggests that the Obama administration’s apparent optimism over the prospects for peace may be somewhat misplaced. In a survey held across 11 different nationalities with large Muslim populations, Muslim respondents were asked about their…

Russian President Vladimir Putin will offer to supply Iran with S-300 air defense missile systems, and to build a second reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, Russia’s Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday. Citing a source close to the Kremlin, the publication reported that Putin will renew an offer to supply Iran with five S-300 ground-to-air…

Archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who unearthed what is widely considered one of Israel’s greatest historical finds, has been speaking to Arutz Sheva about the emotional moment of the discovery. In summer excavations at the foot of the Temple Mount, Mazar unearthed two bundles of treasure containing thirty-six gold coins, gold and silver jewelry as well as a gold…

The United States has begun distributing some weapons to the Syrian rebels, a spokesman for the Syrian Coalition of groups opposed to President Bashar Al-Assad said on Tuesday, according to the Reuters news agency. White House officials suggested in June that President Barack Obama had decided to provide military aid to the Syrian rebels, but…

In yet another thinly veiled threat to Israel, Iran said Tuesday that in the event of a U.S. attack on Iranian ally Syria, some groups may retaliate by striking the Jewish state. The Associated Press quoted Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as having said at a briefing Tuesday that if the U.S. launches…

The Obama administration has eased restraints on humanitarian and good-will activities between Iran and the United States. The U.S. Treasury announced Tuesday that it would permit private organizations to support humanitarian program in Iran, and sports groups to hold exchanges with the country. Opening up a window of cooperation in its tight sanctions crackdown on…

This is the full text of US President Barack Obama’s speech on Syria, as provided by the Federal News Service: My fellow Americans, tonight I want to talk to you about Syria, why it matters and where we go from here. Over the past two years, what began as a series of peaceful protests against…

The QS World Universities 2013/14 rankings, published today, saw M.I.T in the U.S. maintain its position as the top-ranked university worldwide. Meanwhile three Israeli universities made the top 200. Hebrew University in Jerusalem topped the Israeli trio ranked in 141st place with the Technion coming in at 183rd place and Tel Aviv University ranked at…

An Israeli car dealer escaped injured but alive after driving into an ambush planned by Palestinian Authority resident thieves posing as clients seeking to buy vehicles. The attack took place at the Doar Junction between the communities of Talmo and Harsha in the region of Binyamin. The dealer, a resident of Hadera, had made an…

President Barack Obama on Tuesday asked Congress to delay votes on authorizing military strikes against Syria in order to give Russia time to get Syria to surrender any chemical weapons it possesses, Reuters reported, citing senators. “What he (Obama) wants is to check out the seriousness of the Syrian and the Russian willingness to get…

As tensions north of the Israeli border mount, the country’s tourism industry is proving surprisingly resilient, showing only a minor drop compared to August last year, and even a slight increase in tourism figures for the year so far. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, there has been a mere 5% decrease in the…

El Al, Israel’s leading national airline, has suspended all daytime flights to the resort city of Eilat. The announcement comes on the heels of Israel Aviation Authority (IAA) guidance regarding the flight path, landing and take off procedures at Eilat airport. Arkia and Israir flights to Israel’s southern most city are set to continue as planned. El Al’s response…

As of yesterday, Turkey has enforced a controversial law placing limits on the sale and advertising of alcoholic beverages throughout the country, despite ongoing criticism, the Hürriyet Daily News reported. According to the new bill, retailers will no longer be allowed to sell alcoholic beverages between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and cannot sell alcohol in…