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An analysis of a Mars rock sample by the Curiosity rover has unveiled minerals, including hydrogen, carbon and oxygen, that are the building blocks of life, NASA announced Tuesday. “A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, according…

The fatal IAF helicopter crash Monday night appeals to have been caused by technical failure. An initial investigation indicated that the back rotor of the helicopter became detached. The investigation continues. A source in the Air Force told reporters that problems with the rotor are common. “There have been problems with the rotor for years,…

Delivering a historic address to the European Parliament on Tuesday, President Shimon Peres called for the Arab League to intervene in the Syrian crisis, urging the nations “to stop the massacre.” “The Arab League can and should form a provisional government in Syria to stop the massacre, to prevent Syria from falling to pieces. The…

The IDF has released the names of the two pilots who were killed in a helicopter crash tonight. The men are Lt. Col. Noam Ron, 49, of Oranit, and Maj. Erez Flexer, 31 of Haifa. In their final radio communication, the pilots of the IAF Cobra helicopter that crashed Tuesday morning reported that they were…

U.S. President Barack Obama met members of the Arab-American community at the White House on Monday, ahead of his trip to Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, a U.S. spokesman said. During the meeting, Obama reiterated that his trip to the Middle East was “not dedicated to resolving a specific policy issue, but is rather…

Three terrorists who were suspected of planning an attack around the anniversary of last year’s terrorist attacks in Toulouse were arrested in southern France last week, it was reported Monday. French prosecutors said that police found weapons and explosives in one suspect’s home in a town near Marseille. Police also intercepted communications between the men,…

Human rights violations in Iran spiralled in 2012, a United Nations monitor said Monday, spotlighting abuses including repression of freedom of speech, torture and secret executions. “The prevailing situation of human rights in Iran continues to warrant serious concern,” Ahmed Shaheed told the UN Human Rights Council, according to a report by AFP. “The situation…

Syrian refugees might be desperate, injured and even starving – but they won’t accept Israeli aid, as rebels vow to reconquer the Golan Heights. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor says Israel has offered to send humanitarian aid into Syria via the International Committee of the Red Cross, as the desperation of civilians fleeing the violence…

For the third time in a month, security officials have confiscated a large cache of weapons hidden in an educational institution in northern Israel. The haul on Monday in the Arab village of Abu Snan in the western Galilee included handguns, rifles, and even mortar shells. Police believe that the weapons were being stored by…

Israeli and American scientists at Ben Gurion University and the University of Michigan are collaborating on research to develop renewable energy technology. A memorandum of understanding to establish the research partnership between the two institutions was signed late last week, according to officials at both institutions. Each university has pledged half a million dollars to jumpstart…

An updated schedule for U.S. President Barak H. Obama’s visit to Israel next week indicates that he will visit Palestinian Authority-controlled areas twice – but that he will apparently not visit an Iron Dome installation in the field, as had been planned. The Iron Dome visit had been set for Friday morning. A schedule released…

Jewish Temple organizations demanded Sunday that the Prime Minister immediately establish an official commission of inquiry into Friday’s events on the Temple Mount and the way the Temple Mount police handled them.    Friday’s events were worse even than those that took place during the Great Terror War that began in 2000, the groups said.…

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) has slammed the decision by Bezons, a suburb of Paris, to grant terrorist murderer Majdi al-Rimawi “honorary citizenship.” Al-Rimawi was sentenced by an Israeli court to life imprisonment plus 80 years for participating in the planning and murder of Israeli Minister Rechavam Zeevi in 2001. The inscription on the plaque prepared by…

U.S. President Barack Obama’s three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) will begin on March 20, Israel said on Sunday, in the first official announcement of the visit, AFP reported. A statement from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office said Obama was due to arrive Wednesday, March 20, at Ben Gurion Airport and then…

The United States is training Syrian rebels in Jordan, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Sunday, citing “participants and organizers.” Der Spiegel said it was not clear whether the Americans worked for private firms or were from the army but said some wore uniforms. The training focused on use of anti-tank weaponry, according to…

President Shimon Peres met on Sunday with the heads of the Jewish community of France and with a delegation of Imams including the heads of the Egyptian, African, Moroccan and Senegalese communities and heads of central mosques. The meeting took place the day before memorial events in France to mark one year since the terrorist…

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee spoke at the Gush Katif Museum Dinner which was held on Saturday night at the Razag Ballroom in Brooklyn, New York. Huckabee, who brings groups to Israel on a regular basis, said during his remarks that “it is impossible to be Christian and not have a complete relationship with Judaism,…

The number of Syrian refugees, which just passed the million mark, could double or triple by the end of the year if no solution is found to the conflict, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said Sunday. “Now if this escalation goes on and nothing happens to solve the problem we might have in…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a three-way meeting with Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid and Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett for Sunday night, as the politicians attempted to forge a deal that will make it possible to present the new government Wednesday. Former minister Avigdor Lieberman also joined the meeting, according to reports. Negotiating teams…

The United Nations has issued a report with unusual courage and accuracy that plainly tells the tale of Israel’s Pillar of Defense counter terror operation – and exposes the lies of Hamas, told to a grieving father and his BBC bureau chief. In what has become typical of international media, The Washington Post and a…

The PA’s Ma’an news service said Sunday that an Israeli citizen had been arrested over the weekend. The man, according to the report, attempted to infiltrate Sinai through the Taba crossing. He was able to make it across from the Israeli side, but was arrested when he tried to enter Egypt. He did not have…

Within the coalition agreement are numerous sections dealing with the role of the Jewish religion in the definition and life of the state – known as the “status quo” since the early days of the state – and many in the hareidi and religious Zionist community are uncomfortable with some of what is likely to be in the…

Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovich estimated Sunday that there would be more Arab violence ahead of the visit by U.S. President Barack Obama later this month. “The Palestinians have not said the final word yet,” he said, “and we expect that there will be attempts to take advantage of the upcoming events, like the visit…

Mortality statistics from Israel’s Health Ministry released Sunday held good news and bad for residents in the Jewish State.  Cancer has remained Israel’s number one killer over the past two years, according to the data, with heart disease the second-highest cause of death.  But in the period from 2008 to 2010, the mortality rate from…

Several people were wounded Sunday in an explosion in Bandar Imam Khomeini, a port city in Iran, but few details have been released. The city is located some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) southwest of Tehran, in the oil-rich Khuzestan province. Members of Iran’s Arabic-speaking minority have occasionally held demonstrations in recent years in the area,…

IDF forces are on high alert in the Golan Heights, carefully scrutinizing the border with Syria, as opposition forces begin to consider a new target: Israel. Syrian rebels have penetrated the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating Syria from Israel. The status of the area respected by both Israel and Syria since the end of the Yom Kippur…

A court verdict over deadly soccer violence sparked fresh unrest in Egypt on Saturday, with two people killed and buildings torched in Cairo, AFP reports. A Port Said court, sitting in Cairo for security reasons, confirmed death sentences for 21 defendants and handed down life sentences to five people, with 19 receiving lesser jail terms…

King Abdullah II of Jordan reappointed Abdullah Nsur as premier on Saturday and tasked him with forming the new government after talks between his chief of staff and parliamentarians, the royal palace said. “The king has accepted the resignation of the (previous) government and charged Abdullah Nsur to form a new government,” the palace said,…

US President Barack Obama on Saturday expressed his determination to continue outreach to his Republican opponents in order to facilitate approval by Congress of his key agenda items. The pledge came after the president met key Republican lawmakers this week to discuss a range of issues including drastic budget cuts known as “the sequester,” gun…

Sean Penn sat grim-faced at Hugo Chavez’s funeral on Friday — one of a clutch of Hollywood stars who lionized the late Venezuelan leader, in defiance of America’s fierce antipathy to his regime. Following a long tradition of Hollywood liberals, Penn was joined by Oliver Stone, Danny Glover and documentary maker Michael Moore in lauding…

The Head of Central Command in the IDF, Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, gave orders at week’s end to dismantle the fences protecting two Jewish communities, following the High Court’s ruling in the matter. The High Court found that the fences that surround and protect the communities of Ofra and Adam, in the Binyamin region, need…

The 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers who were kidnapped by Syrian rebels earlier this week have been handed over to Jordan, official sources in the Hashemite Kingdom said Saturday afternoon. An initial report said the transfer has been halted as a UN delegation was unable to reach the captives, but soon after Al-Jazeera reported that the…

Sanctions on Iran over its contested nuclear program are biting but need to be strengthened further, President Shimon Peres and French President Francois Hollande said on Friday. Peres was Hollande’s guest for a festive lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris. The two discussed the promotion of peace in the Middle East, including what’s happening…

Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid will likely be Israel’s next Finance Minister, it was reported on Friday, after a meeting between Lapid and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was described by the sides as “good”. The reports in Israel’s media outlets also indicated that Bayit Yehudi chairman MK Naftali Bennett will be appointed as Minister…

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups threatened on Friday that a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Temple Mount during his upcoming visit to Israel will be a declaration of war on the Arab and the Islamic world. A Hamas representative in the Al-Aqsa mosque, Mushir al-Masri, even called for a third…

The United Nations called off an effort to secure the release of 21 Filipino peacekeepers held by a Syrian rebel group until Saturday because of darkness in the Golan Heights, a spokeswoman said, according to AFP. “Arrangements were made with all parties for the release of the 21 peacekeepers,” said UN peacekeeping spokeswoman Josephine Guerrero.…

U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Israel this month even if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has not completed the job of forming his new coalition, the White House said Friday. “We’re going,” White House spokesman Joshua Earnest said, when asked to comment on media speculation that the prolonged coalition forming process following Israel’s elections…

President Barack Obama met with Jewish community leaders at the White House on Thursday, in anticipation of his upcoming trip to Israel and signaled that there would be no monumental US-brokered peace initiative on the table when he arrives in the region later this month. While rumors have been circulating regarding whether Obama would use…

Worshippers started throwing rocks at security forces, Friday afternoon, at the end of Muslim prayers at Temple Mount mosques in Jerusalem’s Old City. Police stationed at the Mughrabi gate broke in and began to throw stun grenades to disperse the stone throwers. The rioters responded with firebombs. One policeman was lightly injured and taken to…

The Philippines said on Friday that rebels who are holding 21 Filipino peacekeepers hostage in the Golan Heights are insisting Syrian troops leave the area before releasing their captives, the AFP news agency reported. The refusal by the Syrian rebels to compromise had dampened hopes of the UN peacekeepers being released quickly, and forced the…

Israeli, Greek and US warships began a joint two-week Mediterranean naval exercise on Thursday, IDF spokespeople revealed. The exercise has been codenamed “Noble Dina.” The drill will test a variety of skills, including navigation, search and rescue, fast response to naval crisis situations, medical evacuation and more. According to AFP, there are reports that the…

The Al-Jazeera network broadcast, on Thursday, video of six United Nations observers who were abducted by rebel forces Wednesday in the Golan Heights The Philippine battalion commander said his troops are safe. “We are here because while we were passing from Position [unclear], there were bombings and artillery fires. That is why we stopped and…

Israeli President Shimon Peres urged the European Union on Thursday to formally label Hizbullah as a terrorist organization. Peres told the European body Thursday at a meeting held in its Brussels headquarters that Hizbullah, which so far has remained off its official list of terrorist groups, would only be encouraged to expand its operations unless it…

First Lady Michelle Obama and the U.S. State Department this Friday honor 10 women with the Int’l Women of Courage Award – including one who tweeted her joy about Al Qaeda’s 9/11 attack on America. Samira Ibrahim, a 25-year-old women’s rights activist, was a participant in the January 25 Revolution demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that…

The fugitive suspect in the hit-and-run that killed a young hassidic couple in Brooklyn over the weekend turned himself into police on Wednesday. Julio Acevedo, who for three days had eluded capture by the police, surrendered on Wednesday into the custody of plainclothes New York City detectives in the parking lot of a convenience store…

The Counter Terrorism Bureau issued a warning Wednesday, alerting Israelis to refrain from traveling to Sinai and a myriad of other hostile locations over the Passover holiday. There are currently 33 travel warnings, with particular stress on avoiding traveling to Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Algeria, Malaysia and Indonesia. The…

The United Nations Security Council condemned on Wednesday evening the seizure of 20 UN peacekeepers by Syrian rebels and demanded their immediate release. “The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the detention of a group of more than 20 peacekeepers … by armed elements of the Syrian opposition,” Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, this…

The results of a probe into claims that former Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat was poisoned by polonium will not be known until the end of May at the earliest, the Swiss lab carrying out the tests said Wednesday, according to AFP. “There are two series of tests that have to be carried out. The…

About 20 UN observers have been detained by approximately 30 armed rebels in the Golan Heights on the Syria-Israel border, the international body confirmed Wednesday. The confirmation came in response to a video posted on the Internet that portrayed men claiming to be Syrian rebels standing next to vehicles marked with the letters “UN”. “The UN observers were…

The United States is warning that Iran has taken “further provocative actions” rather than moving towards compromise and cooperation on its nuclear development activities. Speaking at a meeting of the agency’s board of governors in Vienna, the chief U.S. envoy to the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, Joseph Mcmanus said Iran’s unwillingness to halt its activities in…

Israel responded Wednesday to a UNICEF report claiming its prison service “systematically” mistreats Palestinian Authority Arab “children.” Figures from the end of January showed that of the 233 of the “children” currently held in custody, 202 of them were over the age of 16, according to the AFP news agency. The report, entitled, “Children in…

A swarm of one million locusts that was headed north from the southern border of Israel has been stopped dead in its tracks by the Ministry of Agriculture — but first, some of Israel’s residents have made sure to gather sackfuls of what they know can be a tasty kosher treat. The swarm, a small…

Al Qaeda terrorists have been spotted along Israel’s northern border from the Golan Heights, tracking IDF soldiers from the Syrian side of the fence. The operatives, who are fighting on the side of the opposition forces attempting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, are members of a 13-faction radical Islamic coalition, the Islamic Front for…

Syrian state media paid tribute to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez on Wednesday, saying he had taken an “honorable” position on the two-year-old uprising against the Damascus regime. The Venezuelan president, known for his anti-Semitic and anti-American tendencies, passed away on Tuesday following a two-year battle with cancer. Chavez “stood on the side of the Arabs’ legitimate…

Soldiers at the Tapuach checkpoint in Samaria have arrested a Palestinian Authority resident who had planned to commit an attack. The would-be attacker approached the checkpoint late Wednesday morning. When he was around 40 meters away, he began to show signs of stress. Soldiers noticed that he was carrying a bag, which caused them to…

The president of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress narrowly escaped with his life on Monday after he was targeted in an assassination attempt in central Kiev. Vadim Rabinovich, a businessman and president of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress, said a bomb was hurled at his car as it pulled out from an office courtyard. A statement posted on…

President Shimon Peres kicked off a European tour Tuesday with a homage to 22 Belgians honored for their bravery in saving Jews during the Holocaust. Their names are to be added to 1,650 other Belgians named “Righteous Among The Nations,” the highest distinction awarded by Israel for wartime bravery towards Jews in peril. AFP reported…

United States aviation authorities announced Tuesday they had opened an investigation into a pilot’s sighting of a small unmanned aircraft in the air near New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said an Alitalia pilot reported seeing “a small, unmanned or remote-controlled aircraft while on final approach” to land at…

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday, according to CNN. In a national broadcast, Maduro said Chavez died Tuesday at 4:25 p.m. local time. He was 58 years old. Chavez succumbed to cancer after months of treatments in Cuba and after being in power for 14 years. The Venezuelan president…

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) praised Israeli democracy in a speech Sunday at the annual AIPAC conference in Washington.  Cornyn recalled a time in 2001 when former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was heckled by Arab MKs while giving a speech at the Knesset upon being elected prime minister, and recalled a second time one…

A German museum for the first time on Tuesday returned a painting despoiled by the Nazis to the estate of a late German Jewish art dealer, the AFP news agency reports. Concordia University in Montreal, acting on behalf of the executors of the estate of Max Stern (1904-1987), announced Staatsgalerie Stuttgart’s restitution of an early…

Gaza’s third international marathon has been cancelled after Hamas refused to allow women to run, the UN agency for “Palestinian” refugees said on Tuesday. UNRWA officials said more than 800 people, nearly half of them women, had signed up to participate in this year’s race, which runs the entire length of the coastal territory and…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is considering the possibility of approving a “meaningful package of gestures” toward the Palestinian Authority in advance of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel this month, reports Maariv. The newspaper said that the recommendations to cede land were handed to the Prime Minister by “the defense establishment,” which also explained…

A day after a car crash claimed the lives of a young hassidic couple in Brooklyn and their son was born prematurely in an emergency procedure, the baby died on Monday. Doctors at the hospital to which he was rushed had fought valiantly to save his life. The death of the baby, delivered about three months…

If Syria’s chemical weapons fall into the wrong hands, the world may begin to experience terrorist attacks using chemical weapons, researcher Yiftah Shapir of the Institute for National Security Studies warned in an interview with Arutz Sheva. Perhaps surprisingly, Shapir said that Hizbullah is not the biggest threat. Hizbullah already is in possession of most…

Seventeen of the world’s 1,426 billionaires are Israeli, according to Forbes. The business magazine on Monday released its list of “the richest people on the planet,” membership in which requires at least a billion dollars in assets. The richest Israelis is Idan Ofer, one of the heads of the Israel Corporation, along with his brother…

More than 70 flatbed trucks of foodstuffs and other goods are sitting at the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza, locked out by Hamas. The crossing was closed last week following a rocket attack aimed at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon by terrorists in the Hamas-ruled area, but was to re-open Monday. However, the terrorist government…

A day after a car crash claimed the lives of a young hareidi couple in Brooklyn and their son was born prematurely in an emergency procedure, the baby died on Monday, the New York Times reported. The death of the baby, delivered about three months early, elevated the sadness in the couple’s tight-knit Jewish community…

A relatively small swarm of locusts has arrived in Israel, according to Agriculture Ministry officials. By sunrise Tuesday, they’ll be dead, officials vowed. The swarm crossed the border from Egypt, where millions of the insects have attacked fields and farms in the Giza region. Egypt was struck by a plague of locusts – one of…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry released $250 million in financial aid to Egypt on Sunday, with a pledge of more if President Mohamed Morsi implements economic and political reforms. Kerry wrapped up a two-day visit to Cairo with a “candid and constructive” meeting with Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in which he called on the…

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Riyadh Monday that Washington will work to “empower” Syria’s opposition, while warning arch-foe Iran that time for talk on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions could run out. Kerry, on his first tour to the region since taking office, also met over lunch with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who flew…

The president of the Egyptian Jewish community was acquitted last week of fraud and embezzlement of 3 million Egyptian pounds ($450,000), the Egyptian Independent reported. Carmen Weinstein, who was acquitted by the Abdeen Court of Misdemeanors, had been sentenced to three years in prison in absentia by the Heliopolis Court of Misdemeanors in March 2010 over…

Researchers say they have, for the first time, cured a baby born with HIV — a development that could help improve treatment of babies infected at birth. There is an important technical nuance: researchers insist on calling it a “functional cure” rather than a complete cure, AFP reported. That is because the virus is not…

The Obama administration has been better for Israel than the last eight administrations, Vice-President Joe Biden told a large crowd at the AIPAC conference Monday. “We’ve stood shoulder to shoulder over the past 40 years defending the legitimate interests of Israel,” Biden told an enthusiastic audience, “but no administration, no President has done as much…

While Secretary of State John Kerry will not travel to Israel during his first tour of the Middle East since assuming the top U.S. diplomatic post, he will be meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmud Abbas in Riyadh on Monday, a state department official told reporters. Kerry, who is on his first trip to the…

Gunmen have attacked an Egyptian Coptic church in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi, assaulting two priests, the Libyan foreign ministry said Sunday, days after dozens of Egyptian Christians suspected of proselytizing were arrested. The Libyan foreign ministry said it “strongly condemned Thursday’s attack on the Egyptian church… and the aggression towards Father Paula Isaac and…

U.S. President Barack Obama has demanded a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, according to an unconfirmed report by World Tribune. The report quotes anonymous “Israeli sources.” According to the report, Obama, who is scheduled to arrive in Israel on March 20, wants Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to present him with a…

Arutz Sheva spoke on Sunday with David Kreizelman, Foreign Policy Associate at the Jerusalem Office of AIPAC, who is currently taking part in the AIPAC 2013 policy conference in Washington. The conference will deal with strengthening the sanctions against Iran as well as strengthening the relations between the United States and Israel, Kreizelman explained. “The…

When Israel says that all options are on the table regarding stopping a nuclear Iran, it means what it says, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said at the AIPAC 2013 conference on Sunday night. “It is an indescribable feeling to be surrounded by so many friends in the capital of the world’s greatest democracy,” Barak told…

An Arab terrorist attempted to stab a male and female Border Police team Sunday evening at a checkpoint near Tayibeh, in central Israel. He was arrested and did not succeed in hurting anyone. The man was driving a car that held several other passengers. He aroused the suspicion of the Border Police team and they…

A hareidi-religious man and his pregnant wife were killed on their way to hospital in Brooklyn early Sunday, when a vehicle struck the car for hire in which they were riding, police said, according to AFP. The New York Police Department said the couple’s baby son, delivered prematurely after his mother’s death, survived. The accident…

Diplomats Dennis Ross and Elliot Abrams agreed on a Sunday panel at the AIPAC conference that Iran is successfully deceiving the P5+1 countries in the negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear weapon program. The AIPAC 2013 is being carried live on Arutz Sheva. Dennis Ross termed Iran’s approach as a “rope-a-dope” strategy. Iran, he said, is playing…

Jews have become the main object of hate speech in Turkey, followed by Armenians, Christians, and Greeks, according to a periodic report on hate speech in Turkish media, released by the country’s Hrant Dink Foundation. The study was conducted by scanning 16 newspapers by hand and searching for key words in 1,000 national and local newspapers…

Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Sunday that Israel is closely monitoring the battlefronts in Syria after press reports that rebels had seized Scud missiles from regime forces. However, Yaalon downplayed any threat to Israel from the Scuds — long-range surface-to-surface missiles which Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein used against the Jewish state in…

While Turkey’s prime minister made headlines by calling Zionism a “crime against humanity” at a United Nations conference in Europe, Israeli and Palestinian Authority lawmakers were quietly meeting in Istanbul to find ways to re-start the peace process. Last week at a U.N. conference in Vienna Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan outraged most of the Western world —…

The Simon Wiesenthal Center commended U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday for directly confronting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s slanderous accusation in which he called Zionism a “crime against humanity”. “Secretary Kerry is to be commended for publically objecting to Erdogan’s outrageous attack against Zionism, the bedrock of the Jewish people’s historic…

President Barack Obama has appointed a new coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, the White House announced Saturday. Philip Gordon, a veteran foreign policy expert, will take his post on March 11. The appointment came two weeks before Obama is set to visit Israel—his first to the Jewish state since taking office…

As a reminder to those who thought the account related in the Passover Haggadah might have been an exaggeration – think again. Millions of locusts have swooped down in a swarm from the sky on to the land of Egypt. The locust plague struck over the weekend in the Giza region, home to a cluster of…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah II met in Jordan last week and discussed the Middle East peace process, a diplomatic source told AFP on Saturday. Israel has not confirmed the report. “Last week, Netanyahu travelled to Jordan and met King Abdullah II,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “In the…

Syrian rebels on Saturday hanged two Arabs registered as “Palestinian refugees” at a camp in Damascus on suspicion of aiding the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a rights watchdog said, according to AFP. “Rebels in the Yarmouk camp executed two men accused of cooperating with the regime by identifying targets that were bombed last week,”…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak will be the first foreign counterpart to meet with new U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, it was reported over the weekend. The reports said that Barak and Hagel would meet at the Pentagon on Tuesday. A U.S. official said the talks between the two would include discussions on Iran, but did…

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad referred Saturday to a reported Israeli airstrike in January on Syrian soil, which had allegedly damaged a chemical weapons site, vowing to hit back the Jewish State. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Assad said his country had always hit back at Israel but said it might not be an…

Three mortar shells exploded Saturday afternoon in the southern Golan Heights, near Ramot Magshimim. No one was hurt and no damage was caused. The defense establishment believes that the shells were stray ones, which were fired in the course of the civil war in Syria, on the other side of the border. Israel filed a…

US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Cairo on Saturday to push for a way out of Egypt’s violence-wracked political impasse, underlining the need for a consensus to overcome a crippling economic crisis. As Kerry arrived from Turkey, protesters torched a police station in the canal city of Port Said which is entering its…

President Shimon Peres has granted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a 14-day extension in which to put together a new coalition, after Netanyahu failed to do so in the first four weeks he was given. Netanyahu used the occasion at the Presidential Residence to criticize the Bayit Yehudi party, without mentioning it by name. Religious Zionist…

Spring may not have come yet to Washington, DC, but at week’s end, the unique relationship between the United States and Israel was in full bloom. Several hundred Jewish leaders from across the U.S. journeyed to the capital to offer their gratitude to members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives for their…

For the first since the end of the IDF’s Pillar of Defense counterterrorism operation, Gaza-based terrorists opened fire on Friday afternoon towards the Shaar Hanegev region in southern Israel. No one was hurt but a military vehicle belonging to a commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division sustained damage. While Friday’s incident was the first time…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday rejected Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments against Zionism a day earlier, and called for Turkey and Israel to repair their relationship. Kerry, who held talks in Ankara with Turkey’s leaders on the Syria crisis, said during a press conference, according to AFP, “Obviously we disagree…

Comedian Joan Rivers has no intention of apologizing for a joke she made about the Holocaust, CNN reported Friday. Rivers, while appearing Monday on “Fashion Police” on E!, talked about the dress model Heidi Klum wore to the Academy Awards. “The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu intends to “punish” the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria by freezing all new construction in the region, Channel 2 News reported on Friday. According to the report, the members of the Likud’s coalition negotiation team have made it clear to MK Uri Ariel, who heads the coalition talks on behalf…

The White House condemned on Thursday the remarks made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who compared Zionism with fascism in a public address. “We reject Prime Minister Erdogan’s characterization of Zionism as a crime against humanity, which is offensive and wrong,” White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement. “We encourage people…

The IDF Spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, rejected on Friday statements about an “intifada” that has supposedly broken out in Judea and Samaria. “For the past few weeks, I have been hearing declarations about an intifada that has supposedly broken out in Judea and Samaria,” he wrote in a Facebook status. “The power of prophesy…

Official Palestinian Authority TV broadcast a tribute this past week to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which was responsible for the 1974 Maalot massacre in northern Israel. According to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), the tribute included a poster honoring three Arab terrorists of the DFLP who infiltrated the town of Maalot…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sharply condemned on Thursday evening Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement about Zionism and its comparison to fascism. “This is a dark and mendacious statement the likes of which we thought had passed from the world,” Netanyahu said. Earlier on Thursday, Erdogan used a speech about Islamophobia in Europe at…

A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday introduced a new resolution which says that the United States would back Israel militarily if the Jewish State were to attack Iran in self-defense. The resolution was introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and is co-sponsored by 15 Senators, including Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey), Marco Rubio (R-Florida),…

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz spoke to commanders as they completed two days of training on response to violent riots. “The reality we live in is dynamic and ever-changing,” Gantz said. “We need to predict events in various arenas and put things in the right proportion.” “On any given day, events take place on…

The number of mobile telephones worldwide is set to catch up to the globe’s population next year, the United Nations’ telecommunications agency said Thursday. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said mobile subscriber numbers looked set to top seven billion in 2014, AFP reported. “More than half of all mobile subscriptions are now in Asia, which…

The UK is joining the United States in training and equipping opposition forces in their fight to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague met Thursday in Rome with members of the mainstream Syrian National Council (SNC) to discuss the issue, making good on a promise he extended late last…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has announced the United States will provide $60 million to hand-picked Syrian rebel groups. Kerry said the aid, to be provided “immediately in non-lethal assistance” would come in addition to “further steps” to be taken in working with the opposition fighters. The American secretary of state made the statement at…

Croatia said Thursday it will withdraw its soldiers stationed on the Golan Heights as part of a UN force after reports said that Syrian rebels battling the regime of Bashar al-Assad were receiving weapons from the Balkan country. “After talks with President (Ivo) Josipovic I have initiated the withdrawal of Croatian troops from the Golan…

Palestinian Authority resident Arafat Jaradat was not harmed before his death, a team of medical experts has found. Jaradat died in an Israeli prison over the weekend, sparking days of riots as PA Arabs blamed Israel for his death. An initial autopsy confirmed that Jaradat had died of a heart attack, but did not find…

Two people were killed Thursday morning when a car bomb exploded in Rishon Lezion. The incident occurred in the center of the town next to the city’s court building. There was no immediate information on their identity. The two were in the vehicle when it exploded, police said. The incident occured at about 10:30 AM…

The international community must intensify the sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday. Netanyahu, who met with Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, said that Iran “is continuing to defy the international community, doesn’t seem to seek an end to its military nuclear program. Like North…

The Oxford University Students’ Union (OUSU) rejected on Wednesday a motion calling for sanctions against Israel. The OUSU motion calling for the Oxford student union to boycott Israeli institutions, goods and produce lost by a vote of 69-10, with 15 abstentions. The motion would have seen the union joining the international boycott, divestment and sanctions…

President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, Jack Lew, was confirmed Wednesday as the next U.S. Treasury secretary, taking over a key portfolio at a time of deadlock over the budget and debt, AFP reported. According to the report, the U.S. Senate voted 71-26 — with support from 20 Republicans — to confirm Lew, a…

North Korea is threatening the US with a nuclear attack, claiming it has long-range missiles with atomic warheads capable of reaching the American mainland. The open threat appeared in an editorial posted this week on the country’s Uriminzokkiri state news and propaganda website, which recently posted a video depicting a North Korean dreaming of a…

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed shock at a “vulgar and hideous” remark by Joan Rivers on her E! Entertainment Television show “Fashion Police,” in which she commented on a dress worn by German-American supermodel Heidi Klum with the quip: “The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the…

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference next Monday, it has been confirmed. His speech comes just ahead of President Obama’s anticipated visit to Israel later in the month and amid renewed concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program. The 2013 conference, which will be held March 3-5,…

A shell fired from Syria hit Israel on Wednesday. The shell was found after residents of a Golan town reported hearing the whistle of incoming fire near their community. IDF soldiers searched the area and found a shell that had not detonated. Sappers neutralized the device. The IDF believes that the 100-mm shell was fired…

Pope Benedict XVI bade farewell to tens of thousands of the faithful on Wednesday as he delivered his final public address from a balcony at S. Peter’s Square in Rome. The leader of the Roman Catholic Church made history this month by announcing his resignation from office, the first pontiff to do so since the…

A day after a Hamas official called on terrorists to kidnap IDF soldiers in order to force Israel to release their fellow terrorists from Israeli prisons, another Hamas official called on PA Arabs on Tuesday to start an intifada (violent uprising). The official, Izzat al-Rishq, said in a statement he released, “Our Palestinian people will…

The U.S. Senate confirmed Chuck Hagel to be secretary of defense on Tuesday, ending an acrimonious nominations process and giving President Barack Obama a victory as he fills his second-term cabinet, AFP reports. Senators voted 58-41, with four Republicans joining the majority Democrats to confirm the Republican former senator to replace outgoing Pentagon chief Leon…

Stories about the health of the leader of the Hizbullah terror organization continued to circulate in the media on Tuesday. On Monday, Lebanese websites associated with the opposition to Hizbullah reported that its chief Hassan Nasrallah had been transferred to Iran to receive medical treatment due to cancer. On Tuesday the Turkish Anatolia news agency…

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, sent an urgent letter to the UN Security Council and to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday night, following the firing of rockets at the city of Ashkelon on Tuesday morning. “Israel considers Hamas as being responsible for all attacks coming from Gaza,” Prosor wrote. “No country…

Satellite images show that Iran’s Arak heavy-water plan is operational, raising fears that it is trying to produce plutonium for a nuclear bomb, Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday. The newspaper published images on its website which appear to show steam rising from forced air coolers, suggesting heavy-water production at the plant, which has been…

French police on Tuesday arrested two men in the southern city of Toulouse in connection with Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah’s killing spree in March last year that claimed seven lives, a police source said, according to AFP. The pair, aged 23 and 20, were being held in detention and questioned over their links to the…

The Senate voted Tuesday to break a filibuster against the nomination of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense. The decision to end debate was approved on a 71-27 vote, easily clearing the 60-vote threshold, with a final vote is expected later Tuesday afternoon.   Hagel’s nomination had been held up for over a week as several…

The senior Prime Minister’s Office employee whose documents were stolen in a home break-in has been identified as Dr. Shaul Horev. Dr. Horev is  a member of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. The bag the thieves took contained a wallet, as well. It was revealed Tuesday that Horev and his wife were at home and…

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a statement Monday criticizing the “offensive and not remotely funny” sketch at the Academy Awards featuring Seth MacFarlane’s character “Ted.” In the sketch, the animated bear tells actor Mark Wahlberg that if “you want to work in this town” you have to be Jewish.  It was “sad and disheartening” that…

Life continued as usual in the city of Ashkelon on Tuesday despite a rocket attack in the morning, Mayor Benny Vaknin said. “Schools are open as usual, and the city is operating according to routine,” he told Army Radio (Galei Tzahal). However, he said, “We have our hand on the pulse. We’re in close touch…

Gaza terrorists fired on southern Israel on Tuesday morning for the first time since the Pillar of Defense counter-terror operation in late 2012. One rocket hit the city of Ashkelon, but did not cause injury. A second rocket apparently hit an open field near the city. Residents said they had no warning of the impending…

The United Nations confirmed on Monday that a member of the UN peacekeeping force charged with monitoring the ceasefire between Israeli and Syrian troops on the Golan Heights is missing. UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey would not say whether the missing person was a military or civilian member of the international or local staff.…

Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has been transferred to Iran to receive medical treatment due to cancer, a Lebanese website associated with the opposition to Hizbullah reported on Monday, according to Israel’s Channel 2 News. According to the report on the Sawt Beirut International website, Nasrallah’s condition recently deteriorated and he was evacuated to Tehran by…

The Hamas terror group, taking advantage of the rioting in Judea and Samaria, is calling on terrorists to kidnap IDF soldiers. According to the Iranian Fars agency, senior Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil urged terrorists participating in a rally in Gaza in protest of the death of a terrorist in Israeli custody to kidnap Israeli soldiers.…

Arab rioters who are injured when they try to attack IDF soldiers or police are provided an important “health benefit” – they are often taken for treatment to hospitals in Israel. Many of the Arab rioters injured in unrest in Judea and Samaria are taken to Israeli hospitals in ambulances, but on Saturday, for the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday expressed his satisfaction as the successful test of the Arrow 3 (in Hebrew: Hetz 3) anti-missile missile earlier in the day. “The successful test expresses Israel’s high level of technological capability, our ability to defend ourselves, the capabilities of our defense industries and the Defense Ministry, and of our…

North Korea on Saturday threatened the United States with “miserable destruction” if the Pentagon goes ahead with its annual, routine military exercises with South Korea next month. “You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction,” said Pak Rim Su, chief of North Korea’s military delegation…

The U.S. State Department on Monday issued a travel warning to employees, and to all U.S. citizens, to stay out of Judea and Samaria, if it can at all be helped. Employees of the U.S. government in Israel are, at least for now, banned from traveling to Bethlehem, and official travel to the rest of…

UN experts in Yemen on Sunday investigated an Iran-linked arms shipment which authorities intercepted in January, the official Saba news agency reported, according to AFP. The UN team, escorted by army general Nasser al-Taheri, inspected the contents of the ship which Saba said includes surface-to-air missiles, Katyusha rockets, explosives, ammunition and surveillance systems. The Yemeni…

The Ministry of Defense’s Homa Administration successfully carried out a successful flight test Monday of the Arrow 3 (in Hebrew: Hetz 3) anti-missile missile, in conjunction with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The Defense Ministry said that the test was intended to check the flight systems of the missile, which is meant to provide added…

An Iron Dome anti-missile defense system battery will be placed in the Dan Bloc, or greater Tel Aviv region, for several days, beginning Monday, the IDF Spokesman’s Unit said. The Iron Dome battery is undergoing a process of assimilation into the operational array. As part of this process, the battery is being stationed at different…

Political and religious leaders in the Palestinian Authority on Sunday stressed that U.S. President Barack Obama should not visit the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem in a way that might compromise what they called its “Muslim sovereignty,” AFP reports. Obama will be arriving in the region in the spring, and PA media has been speculating…

Work has started on a new “eco-bridge” that will allow wildlife to continue to flourish even as tens of thousands of vehicles travel daily on Road 1, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The bridge is being built over a new roadway that will improve travel time between the two cities, cutting distance and time spent…

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is giving U.S. special forces two weeks to leave a key battleground province after it was revealed that some soldiers in the area tortured and even killed innocent people, the president’s spokesman said on Sunday. Speaking at a news conference in Kabul, the President’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said villagers from the…

The IDF is ready to take on all cyber-challenges, and would survive any hacking attack directed at it, said the army’s top computer officer Sunday. Although it is impossible to be prepared for every possibility – since new types of attacks are being created all the time – the IDF is “reasonably ready” to meet…

Reports have emerged that a neo-Nazi supporter who had been arrested by the FBI in December was allegedly plotting attacks against Jewish and African-American leaders in the Detroit-area. According to ABC News 7, Richard Schmidt, 47, “is facing numerous charges for having guns, ammunition, and body armor.  He also is accused of selling fake Nike,…

Iran announced Saturday that it downed and captured another “enemy drone,” the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. The incident reportedly took place during Iranian military maneuvers in southern Iran. “IRGC’s electronic warfare systems detected electronic signals, which indicated that foreign drones intended to enter our country,” said Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Lt. Gen. Hamid Sarkheili,…

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday called for an international commission of inquiry, after a terrorist in an Israeli prison died. The prisoner, Arafat Jaradat, died suddenly at the Meggido detention center in northern Israel, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prisons Service said. The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a statement that Jaradat had…

An recent Israeli attempt to restore the strained relations with Turkey failed, according to a report on Channel 2 News on Saturday night. According to the report, the head of Israel’s National Security Council, Yaakov Amidror, recently met in Rome with the Director-General of the Foreign Ministry in Ankara. The meeting was held at the…

Syria’s main opposition group said on Saturday that it was pulling out of international talks and demanded world action to stop the slaughter of Syrians, after missiles slammed into the city of Aleppo, killing dozens. The Syrian National Coalition’s decided to boycott talks with world power after announcing plans to form a government to run…

Violent clashed took place Saturday between Arabs from the village of Kusra and Jews at the community of Esh Kodesh in the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem. The IDF intervened. According to the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency, one young Arab man was badly hurt after being shot in the stomach, and another youth was shot…

Arabs ambushed and attacked a convoy of cars driven by Jews on the road leading to the demolished outpost of Yad Yair. No one was reported hurt. The Jews are residents of the Dolev-Talmonim bloc in the Binyamin region. They drive to Yad Yair every year on Purim to read the Megillah there. Usually, the…

Purim, 5773, officially began Saturday evening as the Megillah of Esther is being read in hundreds of synagogues in Israel alone. The holiday celebrates the defeat of one of Israel’s worst enemies, Haman the Wicked, in ancient Persia. In Jerusalem, the Purim celebration will only begin Sunday evening. This has to do with the fact that…

An IDF general revealed Saturday that the Arab enemy’s attempts to abduct Jews have reached unprecedented levels. Major General Avi Mizrachi, who served as the Head of Central Command in 2009-2012, told Channel 2 television’s Meet the Press, “Since November we have foiled 18 attempts by Hamas and Fatah men to abduct Israeli citizens.” This…

About 100 American troops have been deployed to the African nation of Niger, where a US defense official said they would be setting up a drone base for surveillance missions. PresidentBarack Obama announced the deployment Friday in a letter to Congress, saying that the forces “will provide support for intelligence collection and will also facilitate…

Three missiles crashed into residential areas of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on Friday, killing at least 12 civilians, activists said, according to BBC News. Video footage posted online claims to show the aftermath, with people carrying away the wounded and a wide area reduced to rubble, the report said. An activist in Aleppo told…

Thousands of Palestinian Authority Arabs continued to riot and clash with security forces on Friday, following prayer services at mosques in Judea and Samaria as well as on the Temple Mount. According to various reports, dozens of PA Arabs suffered injuries during the clashes. At the same time, one policeman was lightly wounded by a…

Iran on Friday rejected it had committed any “illegal act” in Nigeria after the West African nation’s secret police arrested three Nigerians accused of spying for the Islamic Republic. Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was quoted by AFP as saying he “rejected Nigerian and Western media reports of illegal activities by the Islamic republic in…

The head of the Palestinian Authority’s soccer federation said on Friday it was “too soon” for a match against Israel, as proposed by Barcelona, although he praised the idea. “This idea would cause a quake in the region if it were to take place, but it is too soon and the ball is in the…

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) has warned fellow Republicans they will be held accountable if they vote to end an ongoing Senate filibuster over the nomination of embattled secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel, the Washington Free Beacon reports. “Make no mistake; a vote for cloture is a vote to confirm Sen. Hagel as Secretary of…

A Hizbullah terrorist working in Europe was told to track passenger flights from Israel to Cyprus, the New York Times reports based on testimony the man gave Thursday evening during his trial. Suspect Hossam Taleb Yaacoub reportedly contradicted earlier testimony and admitted that his handler had told him to track landing times for an Arkia…

The Palestinian Authority resident Arab prisoners currently on hunger strike in Israel were jailed for good reason, Israel’s defense establishment said Friday. The reminder came in the wake of statements of concern from the United Nations and European Union. Four PA residents arrested for terrorist activity are currently hunger striking in Israel. Samer Issawi, who…

The IDF is prepared for a new reality in the Golan as Syria continues to descend into chaos, Brigadier-General (ret.) Kobi Marom told Arutz Sheva. “The IDF has prepared for the new reality that will be in the Golan,” he said. “There are fears of an escalation, and serious concern that if there is violence…

Iran is continuing to get closer to the “red line” in its nuclear program that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu set at the United Nations last September, his office warned on Thursday. The comments came in response to the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which indicated that Iran has begun installing next-generation…

A commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) said on Thursday that Syrian rebels had started to attack the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terror group, the Turkish Anatolia news agency reports. The attack comes less than a day after the FSA chief of staff issued a 48-hour ultimatum warning Hizbullah to stop shelling territory held by the…

Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat will meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday afternoon, said a spokesman for the PLO mission in Washington, according to Politico. The spokesman said that Erekat is expected to meet Kerry at the State Department at about 3:00 P.M. Thursday, as the second-term Obama administration seeks to restart…

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Thursday added his voice to the renewed calls for the European Union to designate Hizbullah a terror organization. Earlier this month, Bulgaria announced that Hizbullah was responsible for the July bombing in Burgas, which killed five Israeli tourists and their local driver, bringing fresh calls for Hizbullah to be added…

Nigerian investigators have uncovered a plot by terrorists to attack Israeli and American tourists and businesspeople visiting the country. The group was also responsible for murdering a former top military official. Among their targets was a Chabad House, officials said. The gang of three terrorists were arrested Wednesday night, among them the leader of the…

Hundreds of Arabs rioted Thursday afternoon outside the gates of Ofer Prison, near road 443, outside Jerusalem. They were part of some 1,000 Arabs who marched from the nearby village of Beitounia, demanding that Israel release Arab terrorists being held in Israeli prisons. Arabs were throwing stones and bricks at Israeli security officials, who were…

Israel has given the green light to drill for oil on the Golan Heights. A license to explore for the liquid black gold was authorized for the U.S.-Israeli energy company Genie, headed by former Cabinet minister Effie Eitam. Former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney is an adviser to the project, according to the Globes business…

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Wednesday that defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel “almost had tears in his eyes” as he explained to the former Nebraska senator that the expression “Jewish lobby” is rooted in a negative depiction of Jews, Politico reported. “Look, I had doubts about Sen. Hagel when his name was first floated, and…

 Israel’s military is training for the possibility the Palestinian Authority may soon launch a formal third intifada. A senior IDF officer warned Thursday morning during an interview on Army Radio that army analysts believe it is likely the PA will choose to launch an intifada over returning to the negotiating table for final status talks…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday met with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in Jerusalem. At the start of the meeting, the Prime Minister told Rubio, “I appreciate your support. I appreciate the tremendous support of the American people, bipartisan support for our security and our quest for peace. It’s a daunting task, both security…

Nigeria arrested three people suspected of being members of an Iran-linked terror cell planning attacks on U.S. and Israeli interests in Lagos, the commercial capital, state security police said on Wednesday, according to a report in Bloomberg News. AFP reported that the leader of the Shiite sect in the central city of Ilorin, named as…

The rebel Free Syrian Army on Wednesday threatened to shell positions of Hizbullah in neighboring Lebanon after accusing it of firing across the border into territory it controls. “In the past week… Hizbullah has been shelling into villages around Qusayr from Lebanese territory, and that we cannot accept,” General Selim Idriss, the FSA’s chief of…

The Zionist Federation of Australia denounced the “totally uninformed and mischievous” claims by several media commentators that the purpose of Israel programs serve to recruit Australian Jews into the Mossad. “Contrary to the assertions of these commentators, these programs are aimed at educating Jewish youth about their heritage and about contemporary Israel, and have nothing…

Two Palestinian Authority resident Arab men have been arrested in connection to the kidnapping and beating of an elderly Israeli cab driver. The attack in question took place in January, but was under a gag order until Wednesday. The attack began when the cab driver, 70, picked up three Arab men as passengers. The three…

Two Israeli university professors and a PhD candidate have created a concept for “stealthy fiber optic communications.”  Developed by Ben Gurion University of the Negev’s Prof. Dan Sadot and Prof. Ze’ev Zalevsky of Bar Ilan University together with PhD student Tomer Yeminy, the new encryption method enables stealthy transmission of any optical communications signal.  Currently…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he refused to return a historic but disputed Jewish archive to the United States because doing so would “open a Pandora’s box”, AFP reports. Putin spoke after a U.S. judge slapped a daily fine of $50,000 on Moscow last month for its failure to comply with a 2010…

Anti-Semitism is skyrocketing in France. Last year saw a 58 percent increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents there according to a new report published Wednesday by the security unit of the Jewish communities of France. The report, which called 2012 “a year of unprecedented violence against Jews in France,” noted 614 anti-Semitic incidents last…

Israel denied on Tuesday that a man identified by media as an Australian-Israeli Mossad agent who committed suicide in jail had any contact with Australia’s security services. “Following recent publications, the prime minister’s office stresses that the late Zygier had no contact with the Australian security services and organizations,” the Prime Minister Office’s said in…

A group of Jewish students from Moscow arrived in Israel with the Taglit program just recently, part of a special program called Mahut Yisrael, the Essence of Israel. The program entailed meeting and touring  with a group of 17 IDF officers, and the talk turned to Jewish identity, Russian identity and what Israel is all about. One young participant…

Tunisia’s Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned on Tuesday after failing to form a non-partisan government to end a political crisis exacerbated by the assassination of a senior opposition figure, AFP reports. Jebali, who had warned of chaos if his plan fell through, made a last-ditch effort to push for “another solution” to the long-running crisis…

US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit nine countries in Europe and the Middle East starting Sunday as he undertakes his first foreign trip as top diplomat, the State Department said Tuesday. However, he will be skipping Israel this time, the State Department said, in order to give Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu an opportunity…

Confirming his coalition deal with Hatnu’a, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appeared in a press conference Tuesday night with Tzippy Livni. “We have signed a coalition agreement between the Likud/Yisrael Beiteinu and Hatnu’a,” Netanyahi said. “Livni will serve in my government as Justice Minister.” Israel, said Netanyahu, “faces many enormous challenges, some of them unprecedented. I…

The number of Syrian refuges forced to flee the conflict-ravaged country has topped 850,000, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday. “As of the 17th of February, we have over 850,000 Syrian refugees who are awaiting registration or have been registered,” agency spokesman Babar Baluch told reporters in Geneva, according to AFP. Only a year ago,…

“I am not a monster, the way my enemies try to portray me,” Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad told a Jordanian delegation that met him recently, according to London-based Arab newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi. “All those who talk about me and Syria forget that I am human, made of flesh and blood, and I have feelings. They forget…

The IDF is switching – from Ford to Dodge. The Israeli importer of Dodge Trucks, Machshirei Tenu’ah, has won a NIS 700 million ($180 million) to supply heavy vehicles to the IDF. The Dodge trucks, vans, jeeps and other vehicles will replace the aging Ford models the army currently uses. The vans are being purchased…

EU Foreign Ministers on Monday heard a statement by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov on the results of his country’s probe into the bus bombing in Burgas, which killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver in July. However, reported the European Jewish Press (EJP), despite the fact that the Bulgarian probe links the terrorist…

Former Mossad spy Ben Zygier, aka “Prisoner X,” hanged himself with a bedsheet in his prison cell, according to an Israel Prisons Services (IPS) inquiry report quoted in Maariv Tuesday. According to the newspaper, the inquiry took place in December, 2010, shortly after Zygier’s death. It found that Zygier had planned to end his life,…

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday sent a letter to outgoing Pope Benedict XVI thanking him for his work on behalf of strengthening interfaith ties, the premier’s office said in a statement. “In the name of the people of Israel, I would like to thank you for everything you did as pope for the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned of the dangers posed by a nuclear Iran and by Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, in a speech to the Jewish Agency Board of Governors on Monday. In his speech Netanyahu referred several times to remarks made by Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky in a speech he gave before Netanyahu. Regarding…

For the first time since Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohammed Morsi took office, Egypt will be sending a security delegation to Israel. Channel 10 News reported on Monday that the Egyptian delegation will discuss issues such as the situation in Gaza and other matters of mutual interest with Israeli officials. The delegation is scheduled to arrive…

Russia has sent two aircrafts loaded with humanitarian aid to Syria to evacuate its citizens who are now ready to leave. An Emergencies Ministry spokesperson announced Monday that 46 tons of aid would be sent to Damascus, where a savage civil war has been raging for nearly two years. Russia has blocked numerous attempts to condemn Syria’s…

European Union foreign ministers on Monday stopped short of meeting Britain’s demand to lift an arms embargo on Syria but agreed to allow “non-lethal” aid and “technical assistance” to the opposition. “We would’ve gone further, some were against. This is a compromise,” said British Foreign Secretary William Hague at the close of talks with his…

Recent acts of aggression by Arabs towards Jews in various communities in Judea and Samaria have caused alarm among many residents, fearful that acts of violence such as stone throwing are making way for bolder moves intended on inflicting even more damage.  Incidences of violence such as stones being thrown and molotov cocktails being hurled at Jewish…

Jordan and Israel are negotiating a gas deal, according to officials from the Jordanian government sources. Both countries have in the past faced numerous difficulties with unreliable supplies from Egypt. Jordan’s Arab Potash Company (APC), one of the world’s largest potash producers, “is in contact with its Israeli counterpart through the American oil and gas…

President Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Pentagon, former GOP Senator Chuck Hagel, will likely be confirmed next week, one of his most fierce opponents said on Sunday. Speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said, “I’m confident that Senator Hagel will probably have the votes necessary to be confirmed as secretary…

Democratic and Republican members of Congress are set to unite on February 27, along with prominent leaders of the Jewish community and Ambassador Michael Oren, to pay tribute to the success of the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, at a special event set to take place at the United States Senate. The Iron Dome Tribute event, coordinated…

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that he has accepted a new disclaimer from President Obama’s defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) disavowing one of his many offensive statements about the state of Israel. Graham told “Fox News Sunday” that he received a new letter from the beleaguered nominee in which Hagel claimed he “did not…

Israel will maintain close tabs on its border with Syria and only let people to cross in “exceptional circumstances,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The comments were made a day after seven Syrians who were wounded in the ongoing Syrian civil war were let in to Israel and were taken to the Ziv Hospital…

Three members of the Hizbullah terrorist organization and 12 Syrian rebels were killed in fierce battles near Syria’s border with Lebanon on Sunday, security sources said, according to the Daily Star daily newspaper. The fighting, the worst near the border with Lebanon since the uprising erupted in Syria nearly two years ago, underlined Hizbullah’s increasing…

The English version of the code name chosen for the operations surrounding the upcoming visit to Israel by U.S. President Barack Obama, scheduled for March 20, is “Unbreakable Alliance.” The Hebrew name is “Brit Amim,” which means, literally, “an alliance between nations.” According to Maariv/NRG, the names were chosen carefully by the National Public Information…

A quick IDF operation led to the arrest of two Arabs who fired shots at the kibbutz (cooperative community) of Migdal Oz in the Etzion Bloc Saturday night. The shots were fired from the nearby village of Bayt Fajar. A military source told Arutz Sheva that the source of the gunfire was identified shortly after…

Lebanon is supplying the armed forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with explosives, a Lebanese MP has charged. Lebanon’s Future bloc MP Khaled Daher revealed at a news conference Saturday that trucks have been carrying tons of explosives across the country’s eastern border to Syria for months. “About two days ago, two trucks loaded with…

The Islamization of Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood-backed regime of President Mohamed Morsi continues, with a Cairo court this weekend ordering a TV channel off the air that broadcasts belly dance clips. The judge that ordered the ban said Saturday night that the satellite television station EIT et broadcasts “sexually explicit” content and operates without a broadcast license. …

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) embarked on a trip to the Middle East on Saturday, in a visit that could do much to bolster the possible 2016 presidential candidate’s foreign policy credentials. Rubio plans to visit Israel and Jordan and will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Jordan’s…

 US President Barack Obamas spent $102,000 in taxpayer dollars on his dog handler last year. But a UK newspaper has targeted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for spending less than $2,700 on ice cream.  A report published Friday in The Guardian quoted the Hebrew-language financial daily Calcalist in sniping at the amount of money spent in 2012…

For the first time, Syrian refugees have received medical treatment in an Israel hospital, including one in critical condition who was taken directly into surgery upon reaching the hospital. All seven were rushed on Saturday night to Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat after they were wounded in clashes between opposition forces and  troops loyal to…

The European Union on Saturday called on Israel to respect its human rights obligations towards Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist prisoners, saying it was concerned about the condition of four detainees on a long-term hunger strike. The European Union is “following with concern” the worsening health conditions of Samer Assawi, Jaafar Ezzedine, Ayman Sharawneh and Tareq…

Egypt will arm low ranking policemen with pistols, a security source said on Saturday, after they held protests demanding weapons and better work conditions amid a spike in violent crime, AFP reported. Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim agreed to import 100,000 pistols, the source said, after almost a week of protests by policemen. Egyptian police officers…

The State Prosecutor is considering making public the report which determined that “Prisoner X” Ben Zygier committed suicide while in prison, it was reported on Saturday night. The report in question was authored by Justice Daphna Blatman-Shragai, president of the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, and it concluded that the cause of Zygier’s death was suicide.…

The European Union is unlikely to designate Hizbullah a terrorist organization, despite the fact that its member Bulgaria has fingered the group as being behind the attack in Burgas last year, Kol Yisrael radio reported on Saturday. Sources in the EU told the radio station that if the necessary evidence to prove that Hizbullah was…

Israel allowed five Syrian civilians into its territory through its border with Syria on Saturday. The group showed up in the early afternoon at the border fence in the northern Golan Heights. Some of the people in the group were seriously injured. They were taken to Tzfat’s Ziv Hospital for treatment. Syrian opposition sources said…

Unidentified vandals caused damage to the tomb of Second Temple era sage Yonatan Ben Uziel Saturday. The tomb is located near Amuka, in the vicinity of Tzfat, in the Upper Galilee.   The vandals smashed a sink and tore down a mechitza that separates men and women’s prayer sections. The walls of the structure that holds…

Pro-Israel media activist group HonestReporting Canada welcomed news on Saturday that global satellite communication provider Intelsat had removed Iran’s state-funded propaganda mouthpiece PressTV from its broadcast platform in Canada and the United States. The NGO expressed its concern, however, that PressTV is still accessible over Intelsat’s Galaxy 19 platform. HonestReporting Canada Executive Director Mike Fegelman issued…

US astronomers looking for life in the solar system believe that Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, which has an ocean, is much more promising than desert-covered Mars, which is currently the focus of the US government’s attention. “Europa is the most likely place in our solar system beyond Earth to possess …. life,”…

Seven Syrians hurt in battles between Syrian army forces and rebels were taken to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed Saturday. One of the men is in critical condition. The seven made their own way to the border area in the northern Golan Heights. “An IDF force administered medical care…

Dozens of people were wounded on Friday afternoon, as Palestinian Authority Arabs around Judea and Samaria staged solidarity events for terrorist prisoners held by Israel and on hunger strike, challenging IDF troops who came to disperse the riots. Near Ramallah, some 3,000 PA Arabs held a protest march to the Ofer military prison that erupted…

The West plans to offer to ease sanctions barring trade in gold and other precious metals with Iran in return for Iranian steps to shut down the Fordow uranium enrichment plant, officials told the Reuters news agency on Friday. The officials said the offer will be presented to Iran at upcoming talks with world powers…

Israel has been holding secret negotiations with the Hamas terror movement since the end of its Operation Pillar of Defense, Channel 2 News reported on Friday. According to the report, the Egyptian-mediated talks are being held as part of the ceasefire reached between the sides at the end of counterterrorism operation in November and which…

Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov reiterated on Friday his belief that two of the attackers in the July 2012 bombing in Burgas are part of the Hizbullah terror group, the Sofia News Agency reports. “The Burgas bombers were maintaining part of Hizbullah’s structures in Canada and Australia and had contacts with other representatives of this…

A meteorite shower hit Russia early Friday morning. Meteorite fragments hit the Urals region, 900 miles east of Moscow, and caused damage and injury. Pictures of the event showed a streak of smoke across the sky, followed by blasts of flame. Witnesses said they saw explosions as chunks of meteor hit. Several hundred people were…

One of the Labor party’s new Members of Knesset was called away this week for tank duty. MK Itzik Shmuli missed his planned first speech in Knesset to go serve. “I was already counting down to my first speech in Knesset,” he wrote on his Facebook page. His commander told him, “You may be a…

France will return seven paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries to the heirs of two Jewish families whose artworks were stolen during World War II, the French culture ministry told AFP on Thursday. Six paintings by Italian and German artists will be returned to Thomas Selldorff, the octogenarian grandson of Austrian textile magnate Richard…

Israel has agreed to pay millions in compensation to the family of Ben Zygier, the Israeli-Australian who died in an Israeli prison, a source involved in the affair told Haaretz. Zygier committed suicide in a Ramle prison in 2010. An ongoing investigation is examining the possibility that his jailers were negligent in failing to prevent…

Jordan’s health system is beginning to crack under the strain of caring for 340,000 Syrian refugees. Amman is seeking help with the effort. “The pressure is beyond the health sector’s strength to continue providing services for the refugees,” Jordanian Health Minister Abdul Latif Wreikat said bluntly on Thursday, according to Bernama, the Malaysian national news…

U.S. Senate Republicans successfully blocked Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be President Barack Obama’s next Pentagon chief on Thursday, forcing a 10-day delay in his confirmation vote, AFP reported. By a vote of 58-40 with one member voting present, Democrats failed to overcome a procedural roadblock put up by Republicans who had demanded more time to…

A four-man Israeli security delegation arrived in Cairo on Thursday afternoon, the Jordanian-based Al Bawaba website reported. According to the report, the delegation will take part in talks about the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The members of the delegation, who flew in using Israeli military aircraft, were received by members of…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday the death toll in Syria may have reached 90,000, citing figures given to him by his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal. “I had occasion … to speak this morning with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia. The first thing he mentioned to me was in his…

The White House raised the stakes Thursday in its battle to appoint a new defense secretary, accusing Republican lawmakers blocking the appointment of sending a bad signal to US war allies. President Barack Obama’s choice for the post, former senator Chuck Hagel, must be confirmed by the Senate and a senior Democrat told AFP he…

Congress has overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan-backed bill to force FEMA to help houses of worship with disaster assistance in the wake of last year’s Hurricane Sandy, as the agency does with secular nonprofit organizations. Many of the religious organizations have been helping victims of the superstorm that wiped out numerous homes and neighborhoods, but have been unable…

The International Atomic Energy Agency has failed to reach a deal with Iran on investigation suspected nuclear bomb research, let alone halting – or even slowing down – the country’s nuclear development activities. Herman Nackaerts, deputy director-general of the United Nations agency, told reporters the IAEA delegation had failed to convince Iran to allow the inspection…

Israeli officials have expressed serious concerns over the safety of the Jewish community in Tunisia. Some 2,000 Jews still live in the country, and the Foreign Ministry’s office for fighting anti-Semitism said that instability in the country could have serious negative effects on the country’s Jews. The recent murder of leftist opposition leader Chokri Belaid…

An Arab tried to jump a police roadblock in Samaria Thursday afternoon, continuing to speed ahead after police ordered him to stop – and was shot after he tried to run a police officer down. The incident occurred on Road 55, outside Karnei Shomron. In recent weeks, the road has become a focus for protests…

A United Nations official on Wednesday expressed concern about the well-being of Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist detainees in Israeli prisons and in particular about the condition of hunger striker Samer Issawi, AFP reports. A UN statement quoted in the report said that Humanitarian Coordinator James W. Rawley met in Ramallah with the PA’s prisoner affairs…

Government officials on Wednesday pointed fingers at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Tamir Pardo over the way they dealt with the “Prisoner X” affair. Speaking to Channel 10 News, a government minister charged that “Netanyahu is causing a chain of errors which are just as serious as the affair itself.” The same minister…

Israeli soccer star Itay Schechter was forced to miss his British team’s visit to Dubai as a result of ongoing political tensions between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, The Jewish Chronicle reported. Schechter, 25, who plays for Swansea City, was prevented from attending the six-day group training session, as the UAE does not recognize…

The Home Front Command and Education Ministry are carrying out a simulation of a missile attack in the nation’s schools this morning (Thursday). The exercise will help authorities assess the level of readiness of each educational institution in the country, including those in both the public and religious sectors. The drill, set to launch at 10:00…

The United States believes there may be a way to rekindle stalemated Middle East peace talks, but wants to hear ideas first from regional leaders, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday, the AFP news agency reports. “I believe that there are possibilities,” Kerry said after talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, adding…

Iran agreed on “some points” in talks with UN atomic experts in Tehran on Wednesday, AFP reported, two weeks ahead of negotiations with world powers aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to end a standoff over its nuclear ambitions. “Some differences were resolved and agreement on some issues in the modality was reached,” Ali Asghar…

Young Israel of Jamaica Estates celebrated some of America’s top Jewish activists during its 34th Annual Gala on Sunday night. The gala, which was held at the Sephardic Temple of Cedarhurst, was a veritable who’s who of Jewish leaders from near and far. Among the former were New York State Assembly Members Dov Hikind and…

A Syrian man attempted to reach the Israeli border on Wednesday for reasons that remain unclear. The man was shot by IDF soldiers after he ignored calls to stop. Soldiers fired at the man’s legs in an attempt to stop his approach without killing him. A United Nations force took the man for treatment in…

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has expressed outrage that a group of participants in the UNESCO-affiliated Aalst festival dressed as Nazi SS officers and paraded through the streets of Aalst, Belgium on a rail car reminiscent of those used to deport Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust. Photos in the Belgian media showed the men…

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) posthumously honored Varian Fry, an American journalist responsible for aiding thousands of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, with the ADL Jan Karski ‘Courage to Care’ Award. The award was presented posthumously to Fry on February 8 during the League’s National Executive Committee Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, where it was accepted…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak held talks on Tuesday with Pentagon chief Leon Panetta that were expected to focus on the conflict in Syria and on Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. officials said, according to AFP. The meeting comes shortly after an alleged Israeli air raid against a Syrian regime target, which renewed debate in Washington over…

A Jewish Star, the singing competition which looks for the next male Jewish star singer, is returning for a fourth season. With the goal of providing a platform for talented individuals to shine, A Jewish Star has teamed up this year with the National Council of Young Israel of America to make Jewish music exciting…

A drone strike in the eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa last month killed the top religious cleric for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a source close to the group said on Tuesday. “A drone strike had targeted Sheikh Adel al-Abab’s vehicle but he escaped and fled to a mountainous region where a raid by…

The Hamas government has issued an order to demolish 75 “illegally” built homes belonging to Palestinian Authority Arabs in a Gaza City neighborhood. There has been no comment from the United Nations. Members of the Abu Amrah family – affected by the order – protested the decision on Tuesday in a demonstration in front of…

In the annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama dared Republicans to help build a “thriving middle class,” reform immigration and curb gun crime. Obama, wagering political chips he won in November’s election, told Americans he will halve the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan within a year and gave…

A U.S. Senate committee approved on Tuesday the nomination of ex-Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to be President Barack Obama’s secretary of defense, BBC News reports. The full Senate is expected to take up the nomination this week, though Republican critics have threatened to block a vote. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 14 to 11…

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, hit out at the European Union on Tuesday for its failure to add Hizbullah to its list of terror organizations. Speaking at a discussion of the UN Security Council, Prosor sarcastically referred to the fact that Hizbullah is defined by the EU as a charity organization and…

The Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden broke his silence, recounting the night he shot the Al-Qaeda leader three times and the financial anxiety he now faces as an unemployed civilian. The commando kept his identity secret in the Esquire magazine interview, but revealed his role in the daring May 2011 raid for the…

The United States launched its latest Earth observation satellite Monday, enhancing an array of orbiting “eyes” that help with everything from climate change study to urban planning. The satellite was launched into space atop an Atlas rocket fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA said. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or Landsat 8,…

The US government was capable of eavesdropping on whispered conversations between the suspected plotters of 9/11 and their lawyers in court at Guantanamo Bay, a witness testified Tuesday. Maurice Elkins, the director of technology for the hearings at the US Navy base on the southeastern tip of Cuba, said more than 20 microphones had been…

Israel is finishing the preparations for United States President Barack Obama’s planned visit in March. Plans for Obama’s visit include a trip to Yad Vashem and to Rabin’s grave, and dinners with Netanyahu and Peres. Obama will apparently not speak in the Knesset. His staff has requested that the venue chosen for his speech be…

The Shin Bet, Israel Police and IDF have exposed and arrested a terror cell whose members infiltrated an IDF base on December 21, 2012, attacked a soldier on sentry duty and stole his weapon, an M-16. The cell belonged to the Fatah movement, which is headed by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Its members are…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is fighting to send the Palestinian Authority nearly $700 million in aid, despite major budget cuts and a fierce debate over where existing money should go. “The Secretary feels extremely strongly that it is time now to get this support to the Palestinian Authority,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria…

Basketball player Jim Boatwright (“Jimbo”), who was on the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team that won Israel’s first-ever Euroleague championship in 1977, died Monday of liver cancer. Boatwright graduated from Minico High School in Idaho in 1970, and received a scholarship to play at Utah State University, where he was named top athlete in 1974,…

North Korea announced on Tuesday that it had conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date, in a striking act of defiance that drew condemnations from around the globe. The nuclear test Tuesday, which follows previous detonations by the North in 2006 and 2009, had greater explosive force and utilized a smaller, lighter device, the…

Israel’s chief rabbis responded on Monday evening to the surprise announcement by Pope Benedict XVI, that he will be resigning from his post on February 28. Rabbi Yona Metzger, the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi, said following the announcement, “During his tenure we had the best relationship between the Church and the Chief Rabbinate, and we hope…

The Defense Ministry on Monday gave final approvals for the reconstruction of the five buildings that were evacuated and sawed in the Ulpana neighborhood of the town of Beit El last June and for the building of 90 new housing units in the town. The decision was made in accordance with the agreement that was…

Islamist jihadists killed 14 Syrian intelligence officials Monday in a suicide car bombing attack on their offices in the northeastern province of Hasakeh. The victims were members of state security and military intelligence units, according to sources quoted by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the AFP news agency reported. “At least 14 members of state…

Andrei Pashnichikov, the Israeli who was arrested in Egypt in December, has been sentenced to two years in prison, Egyptian media reported on Monday. Pashnichikov was arrested after he was caught taking photographs of security equipment, and had been in prison ever since. According to the reports in the Egyptian media, the two-year sentence was…

Hamas is making at least a million dollars a day in “tax” money from Gaza smugglers, a senior IDF officer said Monday. Colonel Wael Tafesh, who is a top IDF officer in the IDF’s coordination unit with the Palestinian Authority, said that Hamas provided “protection” to smugglers and collected payments for the service, and often…

Israeli firms Delek Drilling and Anver Oil and Gas Exploration signed an agreement Monday to acquire a 30 percent stake in exploration rights for gas and oil off the southern shore of Cyprus. The drilling is to be carried out by U.S.-based Noble Energy. Both Delek and Anver own majority rights in Israel’s own mammoth…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Bayit Yehudi Chairman MK Naftali Bennett held their first meeting in five years Monday. The meeting started shortly after 12:00 noon in the government offices in the Kirya district in Tel Aviv, and lasted two hours. Bennett refused to comment on the meeting and said only that he hopes the…

The international Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs has teamed up with Bridge Houston to counter an anti-Israel billboard that has been erected in Texas. The new ad encourages the public to “Tell Congress Not to Support Palestinian Groups Like Hamas Because They Don’t Want Peace” and directly opposes the anti-Israel that calls for an end to…

Pope Benedict XVI announced on Monday that he will be resigning from his post on Feb 28, as he no longer has the strength to fulfill the required duties. The 85-year-old pope said he had noticed that his strength had deteriorated over recent months “to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity…

One of the goals of U.S. President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Israel is to deliver a message to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, not to carry out any “military surprises” against Iran while the U.S. in engaged in negotiations with it. Voice of Israel public radio, which reported the matter, says this is what senior…

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced Sunday that the French government will be taking steps in the coming days to deport several radical Muslim clerics from the country in an effort to counter the rising tide of radical Islam and prevalent threat of “global jihadism.” “Many radical preachers of foreign origin will be deported in…

In another terror incident that was mostly ignored by mainstream Israeli media, Arabs hurled three firebombs at a building that houses Jewish families in the Abu Tor neighborhood of southern Jerusalem on Saturday night. The firebombs nearly set the whole building on fire, but miraculously missed. Baruch Pross, a local resident, recalled the attack in…

Palestinian Authority factions meeting in Cairo wrapped up two days of talks aimed at reconciling rival groups Hamas and Fatah late on Saturday, although divisions remained over how exactly to apply the deal, an official said, according to AFP. The talks, which began on Friday, were held under the umbrella of the provisional governing body…

Iran and Hizbullah, its Lebanese terror proxy, are building a network of militias inside Syria to preserve and protect their interests in the event that President Bashar al-Assad’s government falls or is forced to retreat from Damascus, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials told The Washington Post on Sunday. According to the sources, the militias are…

Yemen on Sunday demanded an explanation from Tehran over an Iran-linked arms shipment seized last month and rejected interference in its internal affairs, state news agency Saba reported. “The Yemeni government will not allow interference in its internal affairs from any party, or for its territories to become a site for proxy wars,” Foreign Minister…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett will meet Monday at noontime in the government compound at Tel Aviv’s Kirya district. This is the first time the two will sit together and talk since Bennett quit as Netanyahu’s chief of staff five years ago. Senior sources within Likud said Sunday that Netanyahu…

The “first lady of the IDF,” Sarah Braverman, who parachuted into Europe with famed Jewish heroine Hanna Szenes, fought in the Palmach, and established the IDF Women’s Corps, passed away Sunday at age 95. She will be laid to rest Monday at Kibbutz Shamir, where she has lived for decades. She was born in Romania in…

The death of a resident of the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Ata is being investigated, after he keeled over and suffered an apparent heart attack – as police handed him a traffic ticket. The 64-year-old man died on the spot Saturday evening. His funeral was set for Monday. The man suffered the attack as…

Jordanian police were forced to fire tear gas at a mob of Syrian refugees Sunday after they rioted at the storehouse of a Norwegian charity in a northern refugee camp. Staff members from the charity were distributing aid when 200 refugees at the Za’atari camp started rioting “and tried to attack the organization’s storehouse,” Anmar…

David Hartman, director of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and author of numerous works on modern Jewish philosophy, passed away on Sunday. He was 81. Hartman, ordained as an Orthodox rabbi, was considered a leading light of the liberal wing of Orthodoxy. Under his leadership, the Hartman Institute ran hundreds of programs designed to…