Author: admin

 Iraq allegedly has agreed to allow 50,000 Iranian Basij militia troops into the country to help suppress riots against the government and seize Arab and other foreign embassies, including that of the United States. The two leaders allegedly agreed to allow the Basij forces to attack and occupy the foreign embassies considered hostile to Iran in…

A court in Egypt on Saturday ordered that video-sharing website YouTube be blocked for a month for hosting an anti-Islam film that triggered deadly outrage across the Muslim world last year, AFP reports. The court ruled that the authorities must take measures to block access to the site for a month, after a complaint by…

Republican opponents of former Senator Chuck Hagel welcomed the decision by the Senate Armed Services Committee last Thursday to postpone the expected panel vote on President Barack Obama’s highly controversial defense secretary nomination after he refused to release additional requested financial information, including details regarding compensation for speeches he delivered since leaving Capitol Hill. While Hagel…

Palestinian Authority factions meeting in Cairo to seal a reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas were to hold a second round of talks on Saturday after the failure of initial efforts, delegates said, according to AFP. The talks are being held under the umbrella of the provisional governing body of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which…

The IDF was able to foil on Saturday yet another attempt by Palestinian Authority Arabs to set up an illegal outpost in Judea and Samaria. Some 30 PA Arabs had arrived at the community of Havat Maon, near Hevron, on Friday night, trying to establish an outpost. IDF soldiers, who were deployed in the area…

Katyusha rockets fired on a camp housing Iranian dissidents near Baghdad killed five members of the Iranian Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) opposition, Iraqi security officials said Saturday. About 40 MEK members were wounded in Saturday’s attack, along with three Iraqi policemen, Al Jazeera reported. MEK calls for the overthrow of Iran’s leaders. It fought alongside Iraqi forces…

MK Uri Ariel, the head of Bayit Yehudi’s coalition negotiations team, said in an interview published Friday that the hareidi leadership is sowing unnecessary panic regarding the plans to enlist hareidi men to the military and national service. Ariel told hareidi newspaper Hamevaser that Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid – Bayit Yehudi’s prospective partner in…

Deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon said Saturday that he does not know why former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed him from his position in the Foreign Ministry. He has since been reinstated, and Lieberman has resigned. When asked why Lieberman does not like him, Ayalon replied: “I don’t know. I was collegial toward Lieberman. He did…

Former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman accused his former deputy, Danny Ayalon, of a lack of integrity, in a Saturday television interview. Ayalon said earlier in the day that the Foreign Ministry under Lieberman “speaks loudly and carries a mini carrot.” Until Ayalon learned that he was excluded from the Yisrael Beytenu list for the next Knesset, Lieberman…

Thousands took to the streets across Egypt on Friday, after opposition groups called for “Friday of dignity” rallies demanding President Mohammed Morsi fulfill the goals of the revolt that brought him to power. Banging on drums, waving flags and clapping in unison, demonstrators marched from several locations in the capital to Tahrir Square and the…

Iran once again denied on Friday that it was involved in a terror attack in Bulgaria that killed five Israelis last July, AFP reported. Iran’s ambassador to Bulgaria reiterated on Friday that Tehran was in no way involved in the terror attack in Burgas, several days after Sofia officially blamed Hizbullah for the attack. “The…

Spanish police arrested a suspect for plotting terrorist attacks in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, authorities said Friday, according to AFP. They arrested Mohamed Echaabi, a 22-year-old Moroccan, on Thursday in the eastern city of Valencia, the report said. A police statement said he had “the same profile” as Mohamed Merah, a French Algerian who…

Cyprus has given the “state of Palestine” an embassy, even though it still says that a “Palestinian state” needs to be established through negotiations with Israel. AFP reported Cyprus said on Friday it has upgraded its relations with the Palestinian Authority to full diplomatic mission status, one of just eight European Union countries to do…

United Nations sanctions experts are investigating the Yemeni government’s claims that Iran supplied a large cache of illegal arms that were found on a ship last month that was intercepted in Yemeni territorial waters in the Arabian Sea. The case was raised at a UN Security Council meeting where UN special envoy Jamal Benomar called…

The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations recently published a recording of a speech given by former senator Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama’s highly controversial nominee for secretary of defense, in which he said that the United States has to “reverse optics” in its relationship with the state of Israel. In order to restore its credibility…

Palestinian Authority security forces arrested more than 25 members of the Hamas terror group over the past 48 hours, a security official told AFP on Thursday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that some of those arrested around Ramallah were in possession of explosives. A Hamas source, however, told AFP that those…

An Egyptian citizen attempted to assault Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Cairo on Thursday evening. According to a report in the website of the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, the assault occurred at the residence of Mojtaba Amani, the acting Iranian ambassador in Cairo, during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the Iranian Islamic Revolution. The…

The Obama administration’s two top defense officials on Thursday publicly acknowledged a policy disagreement with the White House over whether to send U.S. arms to the rebels in Syria, Bloomberg News reports. In congressional testimony, outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both said they…

A Palestinian Authority court on Thursday sentenced a man to a year in prison for “insulting” Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook, AFP reported. The Shechem court sent Anas Said Awad, 26, from the nearby village of Awarta, to jail over a caption he posted next to a picture of Abbas kicking a football saying “a…

Iran’s Supreme Leader on Thursday rejected a U.S. offer to negotiate one-on-one on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, ruling out such contacts so long as Washington keeps up its threats against the Islamic Republic. “I am not a diplomat but a revolutionary and I speak frankly,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told air force commanders in remarks published on…

President Barack Obama will grant lawmakers access to secret documents outlining the legal justification for drone strikes that kill American citizens abroad who conspire with Al-Qaeda. An administration official disclosed the reversal of policy Wednesday on the eve of a Senate hearing on Obama’s nomination of his top White House anti-terror adviser John Brennan to…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made clear Thursday that Israel will not agree to a freeze on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria as a precondition for negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. According to Channel 2, sources close to Netanyahu said that reports regarding this matter “do not reflect reality.” Reports about a possible building freeze…

Iran has recently implemented public amputations as punishment for criminals, in accordance with a court ruling aimed at reducing the country’s theft rate, The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) revealed. The semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on one such public amputation, which took place on January 24 in the city of Shiraz, and displayed images…

Although details of President Barack H. Obama’s visit to Israel remained murky, former Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon is convinced that Obama will be meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas – together. In a post on his Facebook page Thursday, Ayalon said that plans for such a summit meeting…

For MK Tzippy Hotovely, being sworn in for her second term as a Knesset member was nice – but what’s really exciting, she told Arutz Sheva, is the fact that she will be getting married soon. Hotovely was sworn into her second term on Tuesday, an event that by itself one would think would have…

The Senate Armed Services Committee has postponed a panel vote that was expected to take place Thursday on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the next United States secretary of defense. Chairman of the committee, Carl Levin (D-MI), announced the delay after Republicans demanded that the former GOP senator from Nebraska release additional financial…

Two PA Arabs were indicted Thursday for carrying out a terror shooting attack against an IDF base in Samaria and for trading illegally in arms and weapons. The two are being held until legal steps against them are completed. According to the indictment, the two planned a shooting attack against the “Salam” army based in Samaria.…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday evening with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and thanked him for his country’s thorough and professional investigation into the terrorist bombing in Burgas last July. Netanyahu told Borissov, “The findings of the investigation are clear and prove that Hizbullah was responsible for the atrocity in Burgas. This is…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is always touted by the West as a peace partner for Israel, met on Wednesday with the man that has constantly called for Israel’s destruction. Abbas met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of the Islamic summit held in Cairo, the PA-based WAFA news agency reported. According…

United States Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke by phone with his Egyptian counterpart to discuss the tense political situation in Cairo and the “role” of the army amid recent street demonstrations, a Pentagon spokesman said. Defense minister and military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, who has warned that the political upheaval could lead to the…

Egyptian security forces arrested four men outside a mosque in Cairo for trying to attack Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to the country, NBC News reported. The men, including a Syrian, belonging to the ultra-conservative Sunni Salafist movement, attempted to attack the Iranian leader outside the central Al-Hussein mosque in Cairo. One of…

The Iranian people are ready to march on Israel to “wipe it out” if the Jewish state attacks the Islamic republic, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in his latest anti-Semitic diatribe, published Wednesday by Egypt’s state news agency. “The people of Iran are ready to march on Israel to wipe it out if it launches into…

Plane owners in Haifa were informed Wednesday morning that they would need to clear their planes from the parking area until 11 a.m. The order was given for unspecified security reasons. Army Radio (Galei Tzahal) confirmed the report, but did not give a reason for the order. The temporary change to airport security may have…

A manhunt is underway for a Palestinian Authority resident who broke through a checkpoint and attempted to run over Border Police officers. The incident began when officers at the Rantis checkpoint in the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem asked the man to stop for an inspection. Instead of stopping, he sped ahead through the checkpoint,…

The 19th Knesset began work Tuesday with much fanfare. Media coverage of the emotional scenes from the end of the day, as the national anthem Hatikva played, missed one important detail: that many Arab MKs were no longer present. A Knesset Channel camera caught one MK, the controversial Hanin Zoabi, rushing to grab her bag…

The Central Bureau of Statistics published data about family life in Israel on Wednesday in honor of Family Day. There were 1.83 million families in Israel in 2011, compared to 1.5 million in 2000. Of the families 1.47 million were Jewish and 310,000 were Arab. Jewish families included 3.5 people on average. About half of…

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed on Tuesday reports in the Israeli media that President Barack Obama would be visiting Israel, for the first time as president. Obama will also visit the Palestinian Authority and Jordan “to continue his close work with Palestinian Authority officials and Jordanian officials,” Carney added, according to a report…

Israel has deployed a third Iron Dome anti-missile defense system in the northern part of the country, Israeli media said on Tuesday. “The deployment of several Iron Dome batteries in the north of the country comes as part of the setting up of the system,” an army spokesman was quoted as saying. Last week, Israel…

Canada confirmed Tuesday that a suspect linked to a bomb attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria is a dual Canadian-Lebanese national, saying it takes allegations of his involvement “very seriously,” AFP reported. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said a suspect identified by Bulgarian authorities as a Hizbullah terrorist involved in the planning of the…

In the wake of a lengthy investigation by the Bulgarian government which revealed that the Lebanese Hizbullah terror organization was behind a July tour bus bombing in Burgas which targeted Israelis, the White House pressed Europe to finally take “proactive action” to stop the terror organization.  “We call on our European partners as well as…

A report Tuesday evening said that a Syrian national had tried to attack Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is on a visit to Egypt. The attack took place outside the central Al-Hussein mosque in Cairo. The report, by the Turkish Anatolia news agency, said that the attacker’s nationality was determined based on his accent. The…

An IDF medical team on Sunday saved the life of a 13-year-old Palestinian Authority dialysis patient whose life was in danger due to the worsening of his condition.   “We received a call around nine in the morning from the Chief Medical Officer of the Judea and Samaria Division informing us that there was a…

Arutz Sheva was at the second annual Wine Seven Two kosher wine exhibition, which took place last week at Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem. More than 80 different wines from dozens of wineries throughout Israel and the entire world were launched during the exhibition, which featured under one roof a collection of hundreds of kosher wines…

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) came under fire Monday after posting a message on Twitter that compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the monkey the Iranian government claims it launched into space last week. On Monday, Ahmadinejad announced that he wants to be the first Iranian astronaut sent into space, saying he was willing to risk…

The number of terror attacks against Israeli citizens was down in January, according to statistics released Monday by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). The Shin Bet noted in its monthly summary that a total of 83 attacks were recorded in January of 2013, showing a decline in the number of attacks, as opposed to…

Iran has denied claims that it was responsible for the ship loaded with rockets and explosives that was intercepted by Yemen’s coast guard, local media reported on Monday, according to AFP.  Tehran “strongly denies claims” by Yemeni officials that the vessel came from Iran and was loaded with arms destined for Shiite rebels in Sunni-majority…

The former head of Iran’s central bank has been found in possession of a check worth $70 million (54 million euros) by German authorities, the Bild am Sonntag weekly reported. Tahmasb Mazaheri, who was in charge of the central bank until 2008, was searched by customs officers at Dusseldorf airport on January 21 after arriving…

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Cairo on Tuesday, marking the first visit of an Iranian president to Egypt in over thirty years. Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi welcomed Ahmadinejad at Cairo airport as he disembarked from the plane, Egyptian television footage showed. Ahmadinejad, who is the first Iranian president to visit Egypt since the…

It might be one month away, but the Jerusalem Marathon is already being hailed as one of the greatest international sporting events to take place in Israel and is expected to see a record number of runners who will infuse the local economy with millions of shekels.  An estimated seventeen thousand runners will take part…

A unique Bar Mitzvah ceremony took place at the Kotel Monday. The ceremony was not for thirteen year old kids, but for a group of senior citizens – the youngest of them 80 years of age – who were in concentration camps or on the run in World War II-era Europe when they were 13.…

A former Egyptian presidential candidate told Al Arabiya TV in an interview on Sunday that the brutal dragging and beating of a naked man near the presidential palace last week was previously planned by the interior ministry in an effort to terrorize the public. Ahmed Shafiq, who lost the presidential race to Islamist President Mohammed Morsi…

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that he is willing to be the first Iranian sent into space on behalf of the nation’s space program. “I am ready to be the first human to be sent to space by Iranian scientists,” Ahmadinejad said on Monday, adding that he is willing to sacrifice his life for the country’s space…

Israel’s judo team won two medals Sunday in the World Judo Championship games being held in Tbilisi, Georgia. Ori Sasson won a gold medal for his performance in the 100 kilo and under group, and Assaf Chen won a bronze medal for his performance in the 81 kilo group. Chen beat competitors from Russia, Armenia…

Israeli experts cast doubt on Sunday about the authenticity of a new radar-evading fighter jet unveiled by Iran over the weekend. In an unveiling ceremony inside a hangar on Saturday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled the futuristic-looking F-313 fighter jet, saying it ranks among the most sophisticated aircraft in the world. Code-named the Qaher (Conqueror) F-313…

Tens of thousands of neo-Nazis rallied in Athens in support of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party, in the movement’s largest demonstration of support since its rise to power in last June’s general election. Men dressed in military uniforms, holding torches, donning swastikas and chanting anti-immigrant slogans, marched through central Athens in what was reportedly a…

The Civil Authority and the IDF has cleared out 20,000 cubic tons of trash from an illegal Arab dump in Samaria, after ongoing appeals from an environmental organization. The Yarok Achshav (“Green Now”) group expressed its satisfaction at the resolution of the issue, preventing further damage to the environment by Arabs in the area. The…

Turkish police arrested 11 people over the murder of an American woman who disappeared while visiting Istanbul last month, police and the local media reported Sunday. The body of 33-year-old Sarai Sierra, a mother of two, was found on Saturday near Istanbul with fatal head wounds, the Radikal daily reported. “We have confirmed that she…

After previously speaking with President Shimon Peres, the United States’ new Secretary of State, John Kerry, phoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening. During the conversation, Netanyahu told Kerry that his new government will be committed to peace and would strive to launch “a sober and responsible diplomatic process.” The two also discussed the…

Egypt received four F-16 aircraft from the United States on Sunday, the Egypt Independent reports. According to the report, the country’s Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised the growing military cooperation between Egypt and the U.S. after receiving the four fighter jets. At a ceremony in honor of the F-16s received from the U.S., Sisi…

Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor released a report Sunday analyzing submissions made by NGOs to the Israeli registrar of non-profits in 2012, as legislated under the NGO Transparency law. The reports for 2012 show that a total amount of 34,355,579 NIS annually was provided to 30 NGOs, from a number of foreign governments. NGO Monitor…

Newly-installed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry isn’t wasting any time in getting started on his new job. After two full days in office, Kerry spoke to officials in Mexico, Canada, Israel, Turkey, and the Palestinian Authority (PA), his office said Sunday. On Sunday, Kerry called PA chief Mahmoud Abbas. According to an Abbas spokesperson,…

Israel intends to declare a buffer zone inside the Syrian border to prevent terrorists from getting too close to its territory when the embattled Damascus regime topples, security sources quoted by the AFP news agency said on Sunday. “There’s a plan in the military’s northern command for the ‘day after’ according to which, when Bashar…

The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Border Guard have foiled another attempt by Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists to kidnap someone within pre-1967 Israel – but the facts were withheld under gag order till Sunday. The attempted attack took place just a few weeks ago – on January first – when members of the Islamic…

New York City Democratic mayoral candidate William C. Thompson joined in the chorus of opposition directed at the Brooklyn College’s political science department, which is co-sponsoring an event aimed at promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the State of Israel. The event, which is scheduled to take place February 7 and is being…

The armies of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are all on high alert, a report in a Lebanese newspaper said Sunday. The report in Ad-Diar said that the alerts were due to Israel’s attack on a Syrian missile transport and, according to Syrian claims, an attack on a sensitive Syrian military installation. The report said that…

Moscow said Saturday it wanted to keep in regular contact with the Syrian opposition, after ground-breaking talks between the Russian foreign minister and the coalition’s leader. AFP reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz al-Khatib met for the first time amid a renewed global push to iron out sharp…

Iran’s currency plummeted to an all-time low on Saturday, registering a more than 21-percent drop in a span of two weeks against the U.S. dollar, currency tracking websites and money changers told AFP. The rial was traded at between 39,000 and 40,000 per dollar on the open market on Saturday, down from about 33,000 two…

Iran has threatened to attack Israel in retaliation for the destruction of a chemical weapons processing center near Damascus, using Syria as its proxy. Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Deputy Chairman, Brigadier-General Masoud Jazayeri condemned last Wednesday’s air strike on the Jamraya Scientific Research Center, which most of the world assumes was carried out…

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu criticized the Syrian government over the weekend, for failing to respond to an alleged attack by Israel inside Syria earlier this week, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reports. Davutoglu claimed that the Syrian stance raises suspicions that there is a secret deal between the two countries. “Why has the Syrian army,…

Iran on Saturday presented a new fighter jet, claiming it is able to evade radar systems, AFP reports. In an unveiling ceremony inside a hangar, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a futuristic-looking fighter jet he said ranks among the most sophisticated aircraft in the world, media reports said. Code-named the Qaher (Conqueror) F-313 and shaped similar…

The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), a group that is outlawed in Turkey, claimed responsibility on Saturday for the terror attack at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on Friday, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported. The leftist group justified the attack as retaliation for American policy in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Libya in a statement published…

Egypt’s main opposition group on Saturday backed calls to oust the ruling Islamists after deadly clashes, as President Mohammed Morsi scrambled to contain fallout from footage of apparent police brutality, AFP reported. According to the report, the National Salvation Front said it “completely sides with the people and its active forces’ calls to topple the…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is making efforts to bring the leader of a terrorist group to live in the areas assigned to it in Judea and Samaria, the PA-based WAFA news agency reports. The man, Nayef Hawatmeh, is the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), one of the main factions…

About 200 Arabs set up an illegal outpost Saturday near the village of Burin, not far from Shechem, in Samaria. They had put up a tent when the IDF arrived on the scene and dispersed them. The Arabs attacked the IDF force with rocks, and the soldiers responded with riot dispersal gear. No one was…

Israel explained on Friday, unofficially, what happened on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, when its planes allegedly attacked a target in Syria. It also explained why Syria gave a false version of what had happened. According to this unofficial Israeli version, the target was a convoy of SA-17 missiles that was preparing to leave…

The Washington Post disclosed Saturday that it had suffered a cyberattack and suspects Chinese hackers were behind it, joining Twitter and major US media outlets that have endured intrusions. The Post said in a front page story that the attack was detected in 2011. It said Post company officials would not comment on the circumstances,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned Saturday night of the danger of a civil war in Israel, in a speech he delivered after receiving the presidential nod to assemble the next coalition. The unusually harsh terminology is in line with the warnings of hareidim against attempts to coerce hareidi men into military service, and could be…

President Shimon Peres is expected to summon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the Presidential Residence Saturday evening, in order to give him the go-ahead for assembling the next government coalition. Factions representing 82 elected Knesset Members recommended Netanyahu as the next prime minister. Meanwhile, Sephardic hareidi party Shas is concerned that it will be left…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu condemned on Friday the attack on the American Embassy in Ankara. In a letter he sent to U.S. President Barack Obama, Netanyahu wrote, “I am shocked by the attack. Such acts of violence remind us of the danger those who courageously represent us abroad are exposed to, and the threats on…

Protesters and security forces clashed at the Egyptian presidential palace on Friday, as thousands of people rallied in cities across the country against President Mohammed Morsi, AFP reported. The Republican Guard appealed for calm as demonstrators hurled petrol bombs over the palace walls and security forces responded with water cannon and tear gas and troops…

Iran proudly claimed this week that it sent a live monkey into space, but the claims may have been untrue. According to a report in the British Telegraph on Friday, images from a press conference billed as a hero’s welcome for Iran’s first monkey astronaut suggest that the Islamic Republic had made up the story.…

The White House condemned Friday’s suicide bombing outside the U.S. embassy in Ankara as a “terrorist attack.” “We strongly condemn what was a suicide attack against our embassy in Ankara, which took place at the embassy’s outer security perimeter,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Friday. “A suicide bombing on the perimeter of…

The suicide bomber who killed one person and wounded another in an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on Friday is a member of an outlawed leftist group, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, according to the Turkish daily Hurriyet. Erdogan’s statement confirmed reports claiming the bomber was a 30-year-old member of the outlawed…

Former New York mayor Ed Koch died on Friday and the age of 88. Koch, who served as the mayor of New York in the turbulent 1970s and 1980s and credited with rescuing the nation’s largest city from financial ruin, had been suffering heart and other health problems, AFP reported. The current mayor, Michael Bloomberg,…

The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said on Thursday that it had uncovered and apprehended a Hamas terror squad in Hevron, AFP reports. The Shin Bet indicated that, in cooperation with the IDF, it had arrested some 20 members of Hamas’ armed wing in Hevron. The Shin Bet and army arrested “approximately 20 terrorists affiliated…

Two security guards were killed in a blast outside the US embassy in Ankara on Friday, local television reported, amid speculation it was a suicide attack. The force of the explosion damaged nearby buildings in the Cankaya neighborhood where many other state institutions and embassies are also located. NTV television reported that a person detonated…

CleanTech 2013, the 17th annual international event for Clean Technologies, took place this week at the Israel Trade Fairs and Conventions Center in Tel-Aviv. The term “CleanTech” refers to environmental quality, infrastructures and green building, renewable energy and water technologies.  Professional conferences, seminars and symposiums took place during the exhibition. “The exhibition has gained the status of…

Two United States Republican senators introduced legislation on Thursday to halt arms sales to Egypt. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, proposed a bill prohibiting the sale of F-16 aircraft, tanks and other advanced weapons to Egypt’s Muslim-Brotherhood, The Hill reported. “I think it is a blunder of the first proportion to send sophisticated…

The Eighth Annual International Ilan Ramon Space Conference took place this week in Herzliya and was attended by many representatives from around the world. Brig. Gen (res.) Asaf Agmon, CEO of the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, told Arutz Sheva TV that this year’s event was attended by the largest number of…

Students at the “Mishkan HaTorah” Yeshiva in Toronto, Canada, were shocked when they arrived in the early hours of the morning to find that the building was covered with anti-Semitic graffiti. This is the second time in a short period of the time that the building has been defaced. During the last incident, police who…

President Barack Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, faced fire from Republicans on Thursday over his past anti-Israel remarks and his attitude towards Iran. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, in an exchange with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Hagel said during his confirmation hearing at the Senate that he regrets saying there’s no…

The White House on Thursday warned Syria not to transfer weapons to Hizbullah, as tensions mounted following reported Israeli raids on a military research center and a weapons convoy. “Syria should not further destabilize the region by transferring weaponry to Hizbullah,” said Ben Rhodes, a US deputy national security advisor. Syria on Thursday warned that…

The site allegedly attacked by Israel in Syria manufactured chemical and biological weapons, according to a report in Iraqi newspaper Azzaman that appears in London. The newspaper quoted Western diplomats who are close to the regime of Bashar al-Assad. It says that the classified installation, which is located just 12 kilometers (7 miles) from the…

As reports and analyses of what was said to be an Israeli attack on advanced Russian missiles dispatched from Syria to Hizbullah terrorist bases along the border with Lebanon, Syrian rebels said that Hizbullah had already received numerous advanced weapons from Syria – including chemical weapons. A report in a Saudi newspaper quoted Syrian rebel…

Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it planned to speed up its uranium enrichment program, using faster and more advanced centrifuges. A report by Reuters said that the news agency had received a document sent by IAEA officials which said that Tehran planned to upgrade enrichment equipment at its Natanz plant.…

The United Nations says Israel must withdraw all of its citizens from the regions of Judea and Samaria. The recommendation came in a report issued Thursday by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which has a history of passing numerous biased resolutions condemning Israel for various alleged ‘crimes’ each year. “Israel must, in compliance with Article…

By now – after dozens of medical studies and warnings by doctors – everyone knows that high levels of cholesterol (LDL, the “bad” cholesterol that collects in the walls of blood vessels) is a potential killer. Cholesterol, doctors say, jams up arteries and prevents the healthy flow of blood, and is responsible for a range…

To a packed crowd of over 600 people at a JerusalemOnlineU fundraiser at the Palm Beach Synagogue sponsored by William K. Langfan, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, in rare form, thundered “Strength comes before peace, there will never be peace without strength. For as Bibi has said, ‘If the Palestinians give up their arms, there will be…

Hamas’s political chief Khaled Mashaal has apparently expressed his support for a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Arab conflict, the Saudi Al-Sharq newspaper reported on Wednesday. According to the report, which was based on comments from Jordanian officials, during a meeting this week with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Mashaal expressed his organization’s support for an…

Conflicting reports continued on Wednesday night about an air strike in Syria, what exactly was targeted and who carried out the attack. Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that Israel had staged an air raid on a military research center in Jamraya, near Damascus. While the statement by the Syrian military claimed that the target…

Syria and Iran issued threats to retaliate against Israel for its alleged strike on a chemical weapons facility near Damascus Tuesday night. In Iran, the government-run PressTV quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian Thursday as saying the raid on Syria will have significant implications for Israel. He called upon United Nations Secretary General Ban…

The U.S. has broken its silence over Israel’s strike on a Syrian weapons convoy transporting weapons to Lebanon. According to reports published Thursday in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, American officials said overnight Wednesday that Jerusalem had informed Washington about the attack. Israel told U.S. officials it had launched an air…

A $40 million engineering structure belonging to Iran’s South Pars gas field, which was to be used in offshore platforms, sank into the Gulf as it was being installed, media said on Wednesday, as reported by AFP. The equipment was built by Maritime Industrial Company (SADRA), an affiliate of the industrial wing of Iran’s Revolutionary…

The United States would not comment on Wednesday when asked whether Israel had carried out an airstrike in Syria. “I don’t have any comment for you on those reports. I’d refer you to the government of Israel for questions about deliberations or actions that they may or may not have taken,” said White House Spokesman…

The arms convoy that Israel reportedly attacked last night along the Syria-Lebanon border carried SA-17 missiles, among other things, according to foreign sources. The SA-17 is a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile. The sources said that the shipment was intended for Hizbullah and that, had they made it into the organization’s hands, the strategic balance of power…

Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, Commander of the IAF, described the chaotic threat facing Israel from its neighbors Tuesday, just hours before jet fighters under his command reportedly hit a major weapons convoy between Syria and Lebanon. “The example in the north, in Syria, is the most glaring one, of a state that is in a…

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi defended his rancorous anti-Semitic comments, claiming that they were taken out of context. Morsi asserted in September 2010 that peace negotiations are “a waste of time and opportunities” as Arabs and Muslims get nothing out of engagement with “the descendants of apes and pigs.” An Egyptian television shown this month aired…

The number of Israelis ordering gas masks has more than doubled in recent days, the Post Office reports. The increase comes in the wake of warnings from experts that Syria’s chemical weapons could fall into Hizbullah’s hands. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the defense establishment is following the latest deterioration in stability in…

According to reports, Israeli warplanes carried out a surveillance mission over Lebanon Tuesday night which possibly included a strike on an alleged weapons convoy located near the Syrian-Lebanon border. Lebanese news agencies claimed that the Lebanese Army spotted the Israeli warplanes immediately and closely monitored their flight path. According to a statement by the Lebanese army, four Israeli Air Force planes entered Lebanese…

An IDF officer was injured Wednesday in an accident involving an armored personnel carrier (APC). The officer suffered light to moderate injuries. The accident took place in the Golan. The officer was evacuated to hospital via helicopter. According to initial reports, the APC moved backward and hit the officer. A similar accident in the Golan last…

In recent weeks the IDF has had to deal with the release of several video clips harmful to its image, including films taken by Arabs in Judea and Samaria showing soldiers appearing to run from rioters. In response, the army is bringing “combat documentary” onto the front lines. In recent exercises in the Kfir Brigade,…

Police have nabbed several Palestinian Authority resident Arabs accused of running a car theft ring. The suspects, members of a single family from Hevron, allegedly disguised parts stripped from stolen cars as legal goods and shipped them around the country. The cars stolen were taken primarily from Jerusalem. The crime gang then used fake documents…

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard stunned constituents on Wednesday by announcing that national elections will be held on September 14. Gillard, who holds power by a narrow margin and is trailing in the polls behind the conservative opposition, broke from the country’s tradition of revealing election dates only a few weeks in advance. While Gillard’s…

The bodies of 78 young men, all executed with a single gunshot, were found Tuesday in a river in Aleppo city, adding to the grim list of massacres committed during Syria’s 22-month conflict, AFP reported. The gruesome discovery came ahead of a briefing by peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to the UN Security Council on the…

The outcome of Israel’s elections did not torpedo hopes for peace with the Palestinian Authority, but instead opened up a new chance for dialogue, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday. In one of her final public engagements before stepping down as secretary of state, Cliton chose to strike an optimistic note. “I actually think…

Yemeni authorities working with the United States Navy intercepted a ship carrying a substantial cache of illegal arms that U.S. officials suspect were being smuggled from Iran.  The arms, intercepted aboard the ship in Yemeni territorial waters in the Arabian Sea last Wednesday, included surface-to-air missiles, potent explosives and rocket-propelled grenades, a U.S. official and…

United States Senator John Kerry easily overcame the first hurdle of his confirmation as the next secretary of state Tuesday with a unanimous vote of approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Kerry, President Barack Obama’s pick to replace Hillary Clinton as the nation’s top diplomat, must still be confirmed by a vote of the…

Italy’s first Holocaust museum, a modern $30 million facility, is being built on the site of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s former residence in Rome, if the many financial and bureaucratic obstacles it faces do not hinder its construction. Rome’s City Council approved final plans for the museum last year, but city funding was later blocked…

Egyptian Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sisi warned Tuesday that Egypt could be facing collapse. Al-Sisi explained that military units have been stationed in cities next to the Suez Canal, where riots have broken out, in order to protect the canal. “The continuing conflict between political forces and their differences concerning the management of the…

A US soldier who lost all four limbs in a 2009 roadside bomb attack in Iraq has successfully received a rare double arm transplant, Johns Hopkins hospital said Monday. The infantryman, whose name and age were not released, is one of just seven people in the United States who have successfully received the complex transplant,…

A terrorist stabbed a young Jewish man at a hitchhiking station at Tapuach Junction in Samaria (Shomron) Tuesday. The boy suffered light to moderate wounds and was evacuated to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva. The Judea and Samaria District police said that the terrorist has been caught. The road between Tapuach Junction and Rechelim was…

President Shimon Peres sent a letter on Tuesday to the chairman of the Football Association, strongly condemning the organization for not speaking out against the racism and incitement by fans that has been developing within the league.  The letter comes ahead of today’s game between Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Umm al-Pahem, which Beitar initially requested…

The Jewish divorce rate rose by a full 5% last year, according to statistics from the Rabbinical Courts, while the number of divorce files opened rose by an astounding 9%. A total of 10,694 couples divorced through the Rabbinical Courts in 2012, up from 10,210 in 2011. Various statistical measures indicate that there has been…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met on Monday with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives led by Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA). During the meeting, the Prime Minister said, “We’ve had very close cooperation on all things, including the developing matters in Syria, very close cooperation between our two governments. I think this is…

A protracted surveillance operation led to the capture of three suspects who were caught red handed robbing an ancient grave near Kibbutz Metzer. Inspectors for the Unit for Prevention of Theft in the Antiquities Authority caught the suspects inside a burial cave dating from the 1st century CE. The suspects are Arabs from the town…

The US military plans to set up a base for drones in northwest Africa to bolster surveillance of Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the region and allied Islamist extremists, a US official told AFP on Monday. The base for the robotic, unmanned aircraft would likely be located in Niger, on the eastern border of Mali, where French…

The Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs, Moshe Yaalon, said Monday that the government devoted much of its weekly session Sunday to the danger that Syrian chemical weapons would fall into the hands of terror groups, as President Bashar al-Assad loses ground in the civil war there. “I do not know where it…

Rupert Murdoch apologized on Monday for a “grotesque” cartoon carried in one of his British newspapers, showing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu building a wall with the bodies of Palestinian Authority Arabs, AFP reports. The acting editor of the Sunday Times newspaper, Martin Ivens, is due to meet with members of the Jewish community in Britain…

The White House says President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone on Monday, almost a week after Netanyahu’s ticket won the most seats in Israel’s parliamentary election. Obama reportedly called and congratulated Netanyahu on his success in the election. He said that he looked forward to working with Israel’s next…

An American-Iranian pastor sentenced to eight years in jail by Iran for his role in underground churches in the Islamic republic has vowed to appeal against the verdict, the Shargh daily said Monday. Saeed Abedini, a naturalised US citizen who converted to Christianity, was handed down the jail sentence on Sunday, according to the American…

Iran has arrested and taken into custody nearly a dozen journalists, accusing them of cooperation with foreign news outlets. The Islamic Republic claimed the reporters were collaborating with foreign-based, Persian-language media organizations. The journalists are members of six different news organizations, including four daily newspapers, a weekly and the semi-official ILNA news agency. The chief…

The European Jewish Congress has demanded an apology from the Sunday Times for its abhorrent cartoon that depicted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu building a wall on the bodies of ‘Palestinians’, portraying their blood as cement. Illustrated by Gerald Scarfe and published on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the cartoon includes a caption stating: “Israeli elections –…

Jordan has begun to beef up its border with Syria, sending hundreds of thousands of troops, artillery and armored vehicles to the north, a senior Jordanian security source says. The Hashemite Kingdom is coordinating its military moves with the State of Israel, according to a report published Monday in Lebanon’s Daily Star.  Amman is also…

History was made on Saturday evening as natural gas began flowing from the regasification ship hired by the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to its power stations.  The ship, anchored about ten kilometers from the Hadera coast, was connected last week to the marine buoy and as of Saturday night, natural gas began flowing from the…

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul has taken what very well could be considered his most pro-Israel stance yet, saying in an interview that an attack on Israel should be treated as an attack on the United States, the Daily Caller reports. Paul, who was asked in an interview with Breitbart News whether the United States…

Russia on Sunday unveiled an exhibition honoring its soldiers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, site of the former Nazi German death camp in southern Poland, on the anniversary of the camp’s liberation, AFP reports. The unveiling, which marked 68 years to the day since the Soviet Red Army liberated the camp in 1945, was attended by…

Iran on Monday sent a capsule containing a live monkey into space and later retrieved the “shipment” intact, the Tehran-based Arab-language Al-Alam channel said, quoting an official statement. A previous attempt in 2011 by the Islamic Republic to put a monkey into space failed. No official explanation was given. “Iran successfully launched a capsule, code…

The historic manuscripts of Timbuktu, including one written in Hebrew, are no more. They were destroyed by Islamic terrorists in the African nation of Mali. The radical Islamist terrorists attempting to overthrow the Malian government torched the South African-funded Ahmed Baba Institute where the documents were kept as they fled the ancient city of Timbuktu, Mayor…

A police officer was wounded Sunday afternoon in riots that broke out during the demolition of two illegal structures in Jerusalem’s Silwan (Shiloach) neighborhood, nestled in the valley just south of the Old City. Dozens of Arab residents of the neighborhood, further goaded by leftist activists, gathered around Israel Police and Border Guard officers as they…

President Barack Obama commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday, January 27, by vowing to “to stand in the way of any tyrant or dictator who commits crimes against humanity.” “While this is a time for mourning and reflection, it is also the time for action,” the president said in a statement. “On this day,…

Israel is becoming increasingly concerned that Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons will fall into the hands of terrorist groups such as Hizbullah or into the hands of terrorist groups among the rebels trying to topple President Bashar Al-Assad. On Sunday the IDF said that the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system has been installed in northern…

The Jewish Agency and the Pensioners Ministry will express their thanks Monday night to hundreds of volunteers who work with Holocaust survivors, helping to record their stories and ensure that they receive the rights they are entitled to. The volunteers, who work with the La’ad project, will be treated to a concert in Tel Aviv…

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Sunday declared a state of emergency in three provinces hit by rioting which has left dozens dead, warning he was ready to take further steps to confront threats to Egypt’s security. Emergency measures would come into effect in the provinces of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia “for 30 days starting…

A Border Police force arrested three Palestinian Authority residents Sunday evening at Tapuach Junction in Samaria after finding seven explosive charges in their bags. A knife was also found in their possession and confiscated. The three suspects are residents of the village of Balata, near Shechem. They were taken to interrogation, where they admitted that…

Arab terrorists threw rocks on a bus traveling in the Binyamin region Sunday evening. There were no injuries reported. The incident was mistakenly reported as a shooting attack at first. The number 172 bus, traveling from Jerusalem to the town of Anatot, was hit by rocks at as it passed near the Arab town of…

This weekend, Israel police prevented Palestinian Authority Arabs from carrying out a terror attack on the Jewish town of Elon Moreh, located in hills of Samaria (Shomron). But Arabs succeeded in carrying out a massive rock attack against a Jewish daycare center in the heart of the ancient holy Judean city of Hevron, home to the…

As Israelis in the town of Netzer in Gush Etzion attempted to participate in a tree-planting event organized by Women in Green, a mob of Arab thugs and international anarchists rioted, attempting to physically prevent the tree-planting from taking place. After an extended face-off, with a major riot nearly breaking out, the Arabs and anarchists…

The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system has been installed in northern Israel, according to the IDF, due to the escalating civil war in Syria. The move comes in response to increasing concerns that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may lose control over the chemical weapons arsenal in the country. Should that occur, the lethal arsenal held by Israel’s…

Violence has returned to Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square, birthplace of the January 25 Revolution that toppled the 31-year regime of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.  Tensions were high as the second anniversary of the revolution came around, with the general populace realizing that although a new Islamist government is in power — comprised of those…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned Sunday in remarks to the Cabinet that regional security threats are not “on hold” as he works to form the next government coalition, which he vowed would be as “broad and stable as possible.” In his opening remarks at the start of the regular weekly Sunday Cabinet meeting, the prime…

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) condemned the vote by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to approve the nomination of Tamas Gaudi-Nagy, a member of the Hungarian neo-Nazi Jobbik party, to its Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination and its Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. The vote was taken after the assembly…

The United States has plans for surgical strikes against Iran as a last-ditch measure if Tehran refuses to stop its development of a nuclear weapons capability, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday. In a televised interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Christopher Dickey of Newsweek and The Daily Beast noted the American…

For the first time in history, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Academy Award-winning Holocaust documentary has been broadcast to Iran with Farsi subtitles. “Genocide,” a Holocaust film that won the best documentary feature Oscar in 1982, aired on Iran’s NTV Simay Azadi on Friday, as well as on satellite broadcasts and streaming online. Also known as…

The British Foreign Office has included the state of Israel as “a country of concern” in its report on human rights violators, alongside Iran, Bahrain and Belarus. Israel appeared on a list of 28 countries accused of perpetrating human rights violations, published in a quarterly report issued Thursday, according to The European Jewish Press (EJP).…

Hospital brain scans have appeared to give a glimmer of hope for some improvement in the condition of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma since suffering a stroke seven years ago, a former aide said on Friday. Sharon was taken from the Tel Hashomer Hospital where he has lain since…

A report on anti-Semitic trends in 2012 that was prepared by the Ministry of Information and Diaspora indicates that in the past year there has been “an alarming rise in the number of terrorist attacks and attempted attacks against Jewish targets and an escalation in violent incidents against Jews throughout the world.” The report will…

An app offering daily quotes ascribed to Adolph Hitler has been removed from Google’s Android App Marketplace. The International Memorial Day for the Holocaust will be marked Sunday. The World Zionist Federation marks the Day against Anti-Semitism at the same time. “In view of the constant, worrisome rise in anti-Semitic events, attacks and expressions all…

Regime warplanes launched a wave of deadly raids across Syria on Saturday, including one that killed eight children, a watchdog told AFP. The strikes targeted areas of Aleppo province, which borders Turkey, as well as nearby Raqa province, Daraa in the south, Damascus’s Jobar district and Eastern Ghuta on the capital’s outskirts, said the Syrian…

A British lawmaker apologized Saturday after he accused “the Jews” of “inflicting atrocities on Palestinians on a daily basis”, sparking a flurry of condemnation, AFP reports. In a post on his website Friday, Liberal Democrat David Ward said he had signed a book in Britain’s House of Commons “honoring those who died during the Holocaust.”…

The regime of Bashar al-Assad planned to execute a terror attack in Mecca several months ago, according to a person who served in the Syrian consulate in Saudi Arabia. The former diplomat, Imad al-Haraki, told Arab newspaper Al Hayat that Saudi security forces learned of the plot on October 23. The Saudis found that 20…

In a move nationalists find exasperating, the Likud government is about to vote Sunday to approve a land grab by Bedouins, based on the recommendation of Minister Benny Begin. Writing in Maariv, Kalman Libeskind says that the vote has the hallmarks of a last-minute move, timed for the first cabinet session after the elections, and before…

More than 40% of France’s population believe that Jews have “too much power in the business world,” according to a survey on anti-Semitism in France conducted by the World Zionist Organization ahead of the International Day for Countering Anti-Semitism, which will be marked on January 27. The poll also shows that 47% think French Jews…

At least 27 people were killed and over 200 people were wounded Saturday, as violent riots swept through Port Said, Egypt. Security officials in the city confirmed that those killed in clashes with Egyptian security forces died in assaults on the governor’s office, and the local courthouse and prison. They said two policemen also were…

Egyptian protesters on Friday stormed a regional government headquarters and clashed with police, as mass rallies shook the country on the second anniversary of an uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak and ushered in Islamic rule. Emergency services said, according to an AFP report, that more than 100 people were injured in Friday’s clashes, in which…

The Arabs are continuing their disturbances: a 20-year-old Palestinian Authority Arab was hit in the face by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli forces in northern Gaza, the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency reported on Friday. Medics told the agency that the man, Adham ad-Dabaji, was wounded when Israeli forces fired high-velocity tear gas canisters…

The door is closing on the chances of a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and will be firmly shut by the end of U.S. President Barack Obama’s second term, Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned on Friday. “If we’re not too late, the two-state solution will only survive as long…

A Liberal Democrat MP in Britain faces expulsion from the party for saying Jews had not learned from the murder of six million in the Holocaust in their treatment of Palestinian Authority Arabs, the Daily Mail reports. David Ward, MP for Bradford East, wrote on his own website that he was “saddened” that Jews “could…

Rabbi Yehuda Haimov of Sderot has died of injuries sustained in a car crash on Thursday night. Rabbi Heimov was critically injured in the crash, which occurred at a junction a short distance from Sderot. He was a leader of the Bukharan Jewish community and served as a community rabbi in Sderot. Rabbi Haimov, 49,…

The Regavim organization filed an urgent appeal to the Supreme Court on Friday over a government decision regarding Negev land that is expected to be made official on Sunday. According to Regavim, outgoing minister Benny Begin is heading a last-minute plan to give away huge swaths of Negev land to Bedouin tribes in the area.…

The Palestinian Authority is hoping that Yair Lapid’s achievement in this week’s election will lead to the resumption of peace negotiations, AFP reports. Lapid, who describes his Yesh Atid party as a centrist party, surpassed all the achievements that polls had predicted throughout the campaign and won 19 Knesset seats, making Yesh Atid the second…

Iran asserted on Thursday that the United States has no other options to pressure the regime over its nuclear program, other than war, and it is chooses to embark upon such a path, Tehran would have no qualms about closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, its envoy to Baghdad told AFP on Thursday. Ambassador Hassan…

The Shin Bet’s 2012 report on terror had a highly positive finding: no Israelis were murdered in terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria for the first time since 1993. However, the report found that terrorists have not stopped murdering Israelis, but rather, have switched their focus to less heavily-guarded Israelis abroad. It noted three high-profile…

Senator John Kerry hinted Thursday he has a plan up his sleeve to rekindle the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority but warned he was worried the door for a “two-state solution” may be closing, AFP reports. If the opportunity is lost, it would be “disastrous,” Kerry told U.S. lawmakers meeting to confirm…

The Unites States has declared that Israel should take part in a United Nations review of its human rights situation despite the Jewish state’s decision to cut ties with the council that carries out the process. “We have encouraged the Israelis to come to the council and to tell their story and to present their…

The New York Police Department is testing a new device that can detect firearms concealed beneath layers of clothing. Dubbed “T-Ray,” the machine detects terahertz radiation, a high-frequency electromagnetic natural energy that is emitted by people. It also detects the presence of hidden metal from a distance, The Wall Street Journal reported. “If something is…

President Obama’s choice to be the next secretary of state said Thursday that Iran must comply with inspections of its nuclear facilities. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry testified before Congress as part of the process to confirm his appointment. According to Voice of America, there is broad bipartisan support for Senator Kerry’s nomination, “so the Senate…

At least 400 Christian leaders will travel to Capitol Hill next week to lobby senators against the nomination of Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense, pro-Israel group Christians United for Israel (CUFI) announced Wednesday. The delegation has nearly doubled in size since the emergency lobbying call, CUFI officials said, according to the Washington Free Beacon.…

Syrians will starve this year and probably for years to come without international assistance, the United Nations warned Wednesday. The international body said the country’s farming and infrastructure has been utterly destroyed in the savage civil war that has raged for the past 22 months. More than 60,000 Syrians have been killed, and another 2.5…

A doctor at Tel Aviv University has come up with a new treatment for stroke and other issues that can restore significant neurological function even years after the initial event. Dr. Shai Efrati, a member of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, theorized that high levels of oxygen could reinvigorate dormant neurons in brain tissue chronically…

Regardless of the coalition that is to be formed, Israelis have seen the last of Ehud Barak, at least for awhile. In an interview with CNN, Barak said that he would not be returning to the post of Defense Minister. “I have already told the public and the prime minister — many people do not…

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has lifted the official military ban on women in combat at the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The move, which comes as Panetta is poised to leave his post, overturns a 1994 Pentagon ruling restricting women from combat roles that include infantry, armor and artillery. “The time has…

World powers hope to resume talks with Iran “as soon as possible” and are “very flexible” on a venue, an EU spokesman said Wednesday, according to AFP. At the same time, the report said, Iran appears to be trying to delay the process, according to the spokesman. “We want to see Iran come back to…

Visitors to the Tomb of Yosef in Shechem were shocked to discover Wednesday night yet another instance of major Arab vandalism to the holy site. Arabs trashed furniture, destroyed books, and defaced the site with anti-Semitic graffiti, and there was evidence that they had tried to burn the structure down. In addition, human and animal…

As the world begins to lend international support to a French-led military intervention against Islamic terrorists in Mali, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday brought the issue home, comparing the situation in northern Africa to Israel’s fight against terrorism in Gaza.  “France’s foreign minister said this month that his country was fighting to…

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi warned visiting U.S. senators to beware the Jews who control U.S. media, The Cable blog reported. The report indicated that a group of seven senators, led by John McCain, met with Morsi last week and urged him to distance himself from remarks he made in 2010, when he referred to Jews…

Amid the rise in hate crimes aimed at the Jewish community in France, the World Zionist Organization conducted a survey to calculate the level of anti-Semitism among French citizens The survey revealed that more than 40% of the French population holds some kind of anti-Semitic beliefs, the most common one being that Jews “have too…

The Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET, which is Hebrew for “truth), held a series of discussions on Capitol Hill Thursday, to a standing room only crowd of over 80 Congressional staffers, foreign diplomats and citizen activists, focused on the geopolitical and ideological threats facing the nation of Israel. The talks were part of EMET’s…

Israelis are preparing to celebrate the unique Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat – the New Year of Trees – with planting and celebrations all around the country.  The holiday marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees in their fruit-bearing cycle in the Land of Israel. It is a time in which the earliest-blooming…

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak visited Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers on Tuesday, angering Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s rival Fatah movement. AFP reported that Razak pledged solidarity with Palestinian Authority Arabs and threw his support behind reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah. Najib, who entered Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt with his Foreign…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who will head a large but weaker Likud party in the new Knesset, gave a victory speech at his party’s headquarters on Tuesday night. “You have once again proved that Israel is a vibrant, dynamic, exemplary democracy, and I am proud to be your Prime Minister, and I thank you for…

The United States Library of Congress, repository of the world’s largest collection of books, has begun the enormous task of archiving Americans’ billions of tweets. The venerable institution is assembling all of the 400 million tweets sent by Americans each day, in the belief that the mini-messages reflect a small but important part of the…

In addition to its surprise showing in Tuesday’s election, the Yesh Atid (Future) party will also be making history: For the first time, a female Ethiopian MK will be entering the Knesset. Pnina Tamano-Shata, number 14 on the Yesh Atid list, made aliyah from Ethiopia at the age of three. She is a lawyer who…

More than 30 MPs in the European Union Parliament stood in protest Monday to express support for a request to keep representatives from anti-Semitic parties out. The request, filed by Italian MP Fiamma Nirenstein, seeks to challenge the membership of Greek representative Eleni Zaroulia of the Golden Dawn party, and Hungarian MP Tamas Gaudy-Nagy of the…

While the winner of Israel’s elections has yet to be announced, the big winners Tuesday were the country’s malls, restaurants, beaches, and parks – with nearly all filled to capacity as Israelis took advantage of a rare weekday off, not connected to a religious celebration, with stores, businesses, and places of entertainment wide open. Retailers…

Exit polls from Tuesday’s elections, released at 10 p.m. as the polls closed, showed Likud Beytenu winning with 31 seats. Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party surpassed all its achievements in previous surveys and earned 18 seats, putting it in second place. The Labor party was in third with 17, Shas was fourth with 13, and…

Voter turnout for Israel’s elections was high Tuesday morning, with 38.3% of voters exercising their right to vote by 2:00 p.m. The turnout for this hour was 4.4% higher than in the last elections, in 2009. Turnout remained high into the afternoon, with 46.6% voting by 4 p.m. In comparison, in 2009 the turnout at…

Top Jewish organizational leaders met with President Obama’s controversial defense secretary nominee, Chuck Hagel, and Vice President Joe Biden, in what seems to be an effort to placate widespread Jewish concerns regarding the nominee’s worrisome record regarding Israel and Iran. The hour-long session on January 18 in Washington was “an important opportunity for a serious…

A suicide car bombing in central Syria killed at least 30 people on Monday, a watchdog said, also reporting a powerful blast in Damascus, AFP reports. Meanwhile, the Arab League said UN efforts to end the conflict had failed to bring even a “glimmer” of hope. The United Nations said it would conduct a major…

Russia announced Monday that it was sending two airplanes from its emergency services fleet to Beirut, Lebanon, to evacuate about 100 Russian citizens from Syria. The decision reflects Moscow’s belief that President Bashar al-Assad is losing control of the country after nearly two years of civil war. The New York Times reported that it was…

Gunshots were fired on Monday evening towards a security guard’s post at Kibbutz Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion. Locals reported that they heard the sound of gunfire coming from the nearby Palestinian Authority Arab village of Beit Fajr. A search by IDF and Border Police found a bullet casing near the kibbutz. There were no…

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has sought the assistance of the Jewish rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center after the organization had alerted the acclaimed celebrity that his name is being displayed on a poster of historical figures and celebrities at a prominent mall in Istanbul, Turkey, that also prominently displays Adolf Hitler. The poster,…

The veteran American television reporter Barbara Walters has been hospitalized after falling and hitting her head, her employer ABC News said Sunday. “Barbara Walters fell on a stair (Saturday) evening while visiting the British Ambassador’s residence and the fall left her with a cut on her forehead,” ABC News Senior Vice President Jeffrey Schneider said.…

President Barack Obama issued an impassioned call for national unity and equality on Monday, warning political “absolutism” must not thwart change and renewal, as he was inaugurated for a second term. Obama was publicly sworn in for another four White House years before a crowd of hundreds of thousands on Washington’s National Mall, and delivered…

The Israel Air Force on Monday conducted a successful test of an upgraded Iron Dome rocket system. The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the new, upgraded system would enable the placement of Iron Dome systems in more parts of the country, including areas where deployment had been problematic because of topography and other…

The bodies of two Canadian Islamist terrorists were found Monday at the remote gas complex which played host this past week to a four-day hostage crisis that has left at least 81 people dead, lending to sentiments that the radicalization of Islam continues to reach beyond the Middle East.  Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal claimed Monday that a Canadian…

Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in Algeria have threatened more attacks in Algeria if France does not cease its military assistance to nearby Mali, which is fighting a coup attempt by Islamic jihadists. The Masked Brigade terrorists, led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former leader of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), last week attacked the In Amenas…

The State of Israel “remains the region’s only Free country,” according to the latest annual report by Freedom House, a democracy watchdog organization based in the United States. The report,  “Freedom in the World 2013,” discussed the state of global freedom, including the impact of the Arab Spring uprisings on the Middle East and on other…

Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood is continuing to get closer to Iran. According to a Sunday report in PressTV, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will soon visit Cairo in order strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. Khalid al-Said Ibrahim Amari, identified in the report as the head of Egypt’s Interest Section in Tehran, said that…

Islamists in Britain, who protested outside the French Embassy in London last week, threatened that Islam will dominate France and England, and called to implement Islamic sharia law in all of Europe. The Muslims, who had been protesting against the French military campaign in Mali, also called French President Francois Hollande a “Son of Pharaoh”.…

A report Sunday said that Israel had made a deal with South Sudan to purchase oil from the country, which is the newest country in Africa. The report by several news agencies said that South Sudan’s oil minister was recently in Israel on a visit, and met top government officials, who worked out the deal…

While Election Day has been getting all the publicity, another, more traditional event takes place this week as well – Tu Bishvat, the Mishnaic New Year for Trees which has become Israel’s Arbor Day. It has become customary to plant trees around the country on Tu Bishvat. This year, the holiday comes out on Shabbat,…

Advocates for Israel across the United States are using the upcoming elections as an opportunity to educate their peers about democracy in the Jewish State via “I Vote Israel.” The project is an interactive web campaign where visitors can learn about Israel’s political parties directly from Israeli students via short YouTube videos. The viewers can…

The Arab League issued a call for Israeli Arabs to vote on Tuesday’s elections. The League, the umbrella group of Arab states in Africa and the Middle East, most of which do not have elections for national leaders, said that the Arab vote was needed “in order to prevent the far Right, which does not…

The United States has issued a travel alert warning its citizens not to travel to Algeria following massive attack by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in which seven Americans were taken hostage. On Saturday night, Washington issued a severe travel warning, reminding Americans there is a high risk of abduction and terrorism in Algeria at the present…

Israel’s coalition government took the time on Sunday to remember Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman, 70, who succumbed over the weekend after a long, fierce battle with cancer. In his opening remarks at the weekly Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu noted that this is the week in which the Jewish nation marks the holiday of…

There has been a surge in the death toll in the attack by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists on a gas installation in southern Algeria, authorities say. The Algerian government previously informed journalists that 32 hostages and 23 terrorists were killed in the siege by Algerian special ops forces intended to free nationals from ten different countries taken…

The Palestinian Authority Arabs who set up an illegal outpost north of Jerusalem on Friday do not intend to back down. The Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency quoted the Arabs as having said on Saturday they will erect more tents in the outpost, which they have called “Al-Karamah (Dignity).” The illegal outpost was set up in…

Saudi Arabia will contribute $20 million each month to the Palestinian Authority, a Saudi official said Saturday, according to a report in the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency. The Kingdom’s envoy to the Arab League, Ahmad Qattan, told the Saudi daily al-Wafd newspaper that the country had originally decided to give the PA $14 million monthly,…

The 2013 elections began in Israel on Saturday night. The elections opened quietly, with some IDF soldiers stationed in the Kirya base in Tel Aviv casting their ballots. Voting among IDF soldiers is to continue Sunday at Navy bases in Haifa and Ashdod, in Border Police bases and in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. On…

“History will not forgive those who do not stop Iran’s nuclear program,” was Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s message during a meeting with top U.S. senators on Saturday evening. The delegation is led by Sen. John McCain of the Senate Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees and the 2008 Republican Presidential candidate and also includes Senator…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces used non-lethal chemical weapons against rebels in Homs in late December, the French daily Le Monde reported on Saturday. The report cited intelligence service sources. According to the Western intelligence sources, who were not named, the weapons were used in four rockets fired on December 23. Le Monde quoted French…

A three-year-old toddler was seriously wounded on Saturday night, after being hit on the head by a rock at the community of Geva Binyamin-Adam in the Binyamin region, northeast of Jerusalem. A spokesman for the Judea and Samaria (Shai) District of the police said the toddler was playing in a garden when a rock from…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attacked Bayit Yehudi in televised interviews Saturday night, and mentioned the “exclusion of women” as a point of contention with the religious Zionist party. Netanyahu told Channels 2 and 10 that he is not ruling out adding any party to the coalition. “Our principles are very clear,” he stated. Regarding Bennett,…

Tzipi Livni, leader of Hatnua, harshly attacked Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett, in a behind-the-scenes incident that took place just before a televised interview pitted them against each other at week’s end. According to Walla! News, the two rode the elevator together before appearing on Nissim Mishal’s show on Channel 2. Bennett initiated the conversation, telling Livni…

A man put a gun to the head of Ahmed Dogan, the leader of Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish party, during a televised conference. Dogan, who leads the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), pushed the gunman’s hand away and was unharmed. Security guards wrestled the unidentified gunman to the ground and kicked him. The incident happened…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed his deep sorrow Friday over the passing of his friend, Ariel Mayor and former MK Ron Nachman. “Today, I have lost a dear friend. Ron was a great Zionist patriot. I loved him very much. In his vision, he established and built up the city of Ariel. He was entirely…

A sniper killed an Al-Jazeera reporter in southern Syria on Friday, the pan-Arab television network said, in the second such shooting of a journalist in two days in the conflict-swept country. The killings take the death toll of reporters who have died in Syria’s 22-month conflict to at least 20, according to AFP. “Mohammed Hourani…

Ariel mayor Ron Nachman died on Friday at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva after a long battle with cancer. He was 70 years old. He is survived by his wife, four daughters and ten grandchildren. Funeral details will be announced later. Nachman, one of the most prominent Jewish leaders in Judea and Samaria, was…

A group of Palestinian Authority Arabs on Friday set up an illegal outpost in Beit Iksa, a PA Arab village located north of Jerusalem. Residents of the village, which is located between the Ramot and Mevasseret Zion neighborhoods, reported that IDF forces arrived at the outpost shortly after it was set up. It is believed…

Algeria has begun a second military operation to rescue some 30 foreign hostages still captive by Al-Qaeda-affiliated group at a gas facility in the country’s southeast, Al Jazeera reports. The second round of rescue efforts on Friday come as Algerian state media reported that more than 650 hostages had been freed as part of the…

A UN nuclear agency team returned Friday from Iran without a deal on additional inspections, as diplomats briefed afterwards voiced skepticism that more talks next month could bridge the differences, AFP reports. Dampening hopes of progress in parallel talks with world powers that might take place in late January, the International Atomic Energy Agency told…

With Bayit Yehudi breathing down his neck, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed in an interview published Friday not to tear down any Jewish communities in the next four years. “Supporters of the settlement enterprise and of the Land of Israel could make a historic and fatal mistake, as they did in ’92 and ’99,” he…

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov paid an unannounced visit to Israel on Thursday. Mladenov updated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres on Bulgaria’s progress in investigating the terrorist attack in Burgas last year in which five Israelis and one Bulgarian were murdered. According to Channel 2, the report found the Hizbullah was behind…

The White House said on Thursday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s latest warnings on the state of Iran’s economy, proved the “profound impact” of nuclear sanctions, AFP reports. Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Tehran needed to tailor the economy to subvert Western sanctions, saying the current approach would be a “losing strategy.” White House spokesman…

30 hostages and at least 11 Al-Qaeda linked terrorists were killed on Thursday when Algerian forces stormed a desert gas plant in a bid to free Western and local captives. The official Algerian news agency, APS, reported on Thursday evening that the operation had ended. According to sources in Algeria, two Japanese, two Britons and…

Hamas is once again trying to punish the residents of Gaza by attempting to reduce the scope of Israeli goods entering the region. Hamas’ Ministry of Economics announced this week its decision to ban the import of certain types of goods into Gaza through the Israeli crossings. These include office furniture, various types of foods,…

After being endorsed by American billionaire Donald Trump, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday received another surprising endorsement – this time from famed actor Chuck Norris. Just like the endorsement from Trump, the man behind Norris’s endorsement is Jonny Daniels, an Israeli public relations agent who counts among his clients many American celebrities and business…

More than 100 civilians have been killed in a new “massacre” in Syria, a watchdog said Thursday, according to AFP. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths came on Tuesday, when the army swept through farmlands north of Homs city, where it said around 1,000 people had sought refuge from fighting in the…

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has criticized a ruling by a United States judge to fine Moscow $50,000 a day for its failure to return a historic but disputed Jewish library to the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish group. Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court ruled Wednesday that Russia should pay the fine until it complies with…

A trove of about 4,300 rare vintage advertising posters that were seized, and feared to have been destroyed, by the Nazis in 1938 will go to auction in New York on Friday. The collection, which originally belonged to Hans Sachs, a Jewish dentist in Berlin, has been recovered by his son Peter and will be…

For the first time since its establishment, the European Union has incorporated International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27, into its official calendar. “I am delighted that, with our partners in the European Parliament, we have managed to place such an important event on the official EU calendar,” said EJC President Moshe Kantor. “Remembering the Holocaust…

At least 35 hostages and 15 terrorists were reportedly killed Thursday afternoon in a rescue attempt by the Algerian army at the In Amenas gas field installation. Troops surrounded the gas facility and helicopters bombarded the terrorists and their vehicles from the air, as they tried to move their hostages, the Mauritanian ANI news agency…

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites, issued a plea Thursday for protection for Jewish worshipers. He turned to police commanders in the Jerusalem region and asked them to take immediate action to restore calm and safety to Jewish holy sites. Rabbi Yosef Shwinger of the National Center for Development of…

The United States has quietly asked Turkey and Jordan to keep an eye on Syria’s chemical weaponry, and to step in to take responsibility for the ordnance, should the need arise. With an arsenal estimated between 350 to 400 metric tons of chemical agents spread out at sites across the country and a raging civil…

Twin car bombs killed at least 22 people in the Syrian city of Idlib on Wednesday, as universities nationwide held a day of mourning for 87 people killed in explosions on the student campus in Aleppo, AFP reported. The bombings had the hallmarks of operations staged by the jihadist Al-Nusra Front, a rebel group which…

The United States on Tuesday brushed aside a report of a leaked State Department cable indicating that Syria had used chemical weapons in its brutal crackdown on a nearly two-year-old rebellion. Foreign Policy Magazine said it had acquired a leaked State Department report by American diplomats in Turkey that made a “compelling case” that President…

Islamist terrorists have abducted at least two foreign nationals in eastern Algeria, according to the UK Foreign Office.  One person was killed during the attack on an oil in the town of In Amenas, according to local media reports. The installation is jointly operated by BP, Algeria’s Sonatrach state oil company, and Norway’s Statoil firm. There…

The Palestinian Authority, facing its worst financial crisis ever, will receive financial assistance from Saudi Arabia, it was announced Wednesday. According to the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency, the PA’s finance minister, Nabil Qassis, said that Saudi Arabia has pledged $100 million to the PA to ease the government’s financial crisis. Nabil Qassis told Ma’an that…

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said on Wednesday that his virulent anti-Semitic comments, which he reportedly said prior to his election and which were condemned by the United States on Tuesday, were taken out of context. “The president stressed they were taken from comments on the Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and stressed…

Only the people of Israel can decide who will represent their best interests, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday in remarks directed at President Barack Obama a week prior to the general election. “I think everyone knows that the citizens of Israel are the only ones who can decide who will faithfully represent the…

Palestinian Authority Arabs hurled rocks at Israeli motorists in another road terror attack on a road in eastern Gush Etzion Wednesday afternoon. The attackers targeted vehicles with yellow Israeli license plates as they passed near the Jewish town of Tekoa. The community, which is located next to the Arab village of Tuqua, is also close…

About 50 Arabs mounted an assault on Rachel’s Tomb, just outside Bethlehem, Wednesday evening. They threw pipe bombs, fire bombs and rocks at the security forces guarding the compound, injuring one soldier lightly. The soldier, who was hit by a rock, received medical treatment on the spot and did not require hospitalization. The IDF Spokesman said…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has named a new Fatah chairman for Gaza. The appointment comes as Abbas is seeking reconciliation with Hamas, which took over Gaza in a bloody coup in 2007. The new chairman will be Ahmed Nasser, a man with a rich background in terrorism who previously served time in an Israeli…

New York on Tuesday passed what supporters called the toughest gun ownership law in the country, becoming the first US state to impose new restrictions in the wake of last month’s elementary school massacre in Connecticut. Lawmakers in the lower house of the State Assembly voted 104-43 in favor of the measure, which had been…

The Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party has found support in new places, with activists finding a positive response in Bedouin and Druze communities in the Galilee. Activists Aryeh Yitzchaki and Khaled Fares held a Jewish Home rally Tuesday in Nahariya aimed at reaching out to the many Druze, Muslim and Christian Israelis who have joined…

Facebook has apparently caved in to pressure from pro-Palestinian Authority activists, temporarily banning Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh and setting up what may be a structure for anti-Israel support in future posts. Abu Toameh is an internationally-known Arab journalist who publishes in numerous media outlets around the world. He often writes controversial pieces that raise eyebrows…

It is time for the United Nations Security Council to act, and not just talk, over the threat of Syrian chemical weapons, Israel’s UN ambassador said on Tuesday. Speaking at a special meeting of the UN Security Council on terrorism, ambassador Ron Prosor said that he was concerned about the possibility that Syria’s stockpile of…

Young men from Judea and Samaria are most likely nationwide to enlist as combat soldiers in the IDF, according to new data on army enlistment. Other localities led in overall youth enlistment due to low female enlistment in Judea and Samaria. The top place went to the Upper Galilee, which had 92.3% enlistment among youth,…

The United States on Tuesday condemned the venomous anti-Semitic remarks made by Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi prior to his election, and urged him to immediately clarify his views. “The language that we’ve seen is deeply offensive,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, adding, “We think that these comments should be repudiated, and they should…

Twin blasts ripped through the university campus in Syria’s second city Aleppo on Tuesday, killing at least 82 people and wounding scores more, the provincial governor said, according to AFP. There were conflicting accounts of the cause of the explosions in a government-controlled area of the battleground northern city. Opposition activists said government jets carried…

Sources close to Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the Prime Minister would remain solid in his policies, especially regarding Israel’s determination not to return to the 1948 armistice lines, despite the comments President Barack H. Obama reputedly made. The comments, published Tuesday by The Atlantic magazine, have Obama slamming Israeli decisions to build in Judea…

President Barack Obama’s controversial nominee for secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, has sought to temper the concerns of pro-Israel lawmakers by backtracking on comments he made in 2006 about a “Jewish lobby” in Washington, and clarifying his position on Iran and Hizbullah. Hagel sent a letter to California Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Jewish Democrat, in which…

The revival of past video interviews given by Egypt’s President, in which the leader calls Jews “blood-suckers,” and “the descendants of apes and pigs” and calls on Palestinian-Arabs to drive Israeli-Jews out of their land, has enforced the position that Israel’s Arab neighbors are unwilling to agree to peace with a Jewish state and has…

Italy temporarily closed its consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday and pulled its staff out of the country following a failed gun attack on the consul in eastern Libya, the foreign ministry said. “The Italian government has temporarily suspended activity at the consulate in Benghazi for security reasons. The staff will return to Italy in the…

Researchers at the Hebrew University Institute of Medical Research Center have discovered a mechanism by which breast cancer cells switch on their aggressive cancerous behavior. The discovery provides a valuable marker for the early diagnosis and follow-up treatment of malignant growths. In normal cell reproduction, a process of RNA splicing takes place. RNA (ribonucleic acid) is…

The United States is considering removing requirements for Israelis to acquire visas for tourist visits. A bill is scheduled to set to be introduced in Congress this week to allow Israelis to enter the United States for 90 days without needing to obtain a visa. The bill is sponsored by Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman and…

HaTnua chairwoman Tzipi Livni responded Tuesday to news reports which stated that US President Barack Obama said numerous times in private conversations that recent actions by the Israeli government and PM Binyamin Netanyahu give the impression that “Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are.” At a press conference, Livni called for a “citizens’…

The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg, writing in Bloomberg View, has revealed that U.S. President Barack Obama said repeatedly recently that Israel does not know what its own best interests are. When informed about the Israeli decision to approve construction plans in the E1 area, “Obama, who has a famously contentious relationship with the prime minister, didn’t even bother getting…

New York has taken a big step toward becoming the first US state to enact tough new restrictions on assault weapons in the wake of the elementary school massacre in Connecticut exactly a month ago. Lawmakers in the state Senate voted by a 43-18 margin on Monday in favor of what were billed as the…

Jordan’s King Abdullah met a delegation of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Monday, warning that the stalemate in peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and failure to revive the process would add to tensions in the Middle East and plunge the region into the unknown. The Jordan Times reported that…

Egypt is set to host another meeting between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction and its rival Hamas, the Egyptian Al-Ahram daily reported on Monday. According to the report, an official from Fatah announced that the meeting would be held on Wednesday in Cairo. Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah’s central committee, said the…

A U.S. court has ruled that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has the right to cover up a document linking it to a 2002 suicide bombing that killed two Americans and one Israeli teenager. The paper was mistakenly given to lawyers representing the teens’ parents as plaintiffs in a $300 million lawsuit against the PA. The…

A shaft to a smuggling tunnel into Gaza was discovered Monday afternoon by IDF forces who were engaged in combat near the security fence in southern Gaza. The IDF has launched an investigation in an effort to figure out when the tunnel was built.  IDF airstrikes during Operation Pillar of Defense destroyed dozens of smuggling…

The youngest of 1,100 Jews saved from the Nazis by righteous gentile Oskar Schindler has died in Southern California at the age of 83. Leon Leyson died Saturday in Whittier from lymphoma, his daughter, Stacy Wilfong, told The Los Angeles Times. Born in Poland, Leyson was about 10 years old when the Nazis invaded the…

A Viennese court has sentenced a leading neo-Nazi figure in Austria to nine years in prison for his role in launching an extreme-right website that glorifies Nazism. Gottfried Kussel, 54, is “a leading figure in the extreme-right scene” and had previously been convicted on similar counts, including an 11-year conviction in 1994, said presiding judge,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday said he does not believe that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is serious about reaching a peace agreement with Israel. “In the reality of the Middle East, any areas we will pull out of will be taken over by Iran,” Netanyahu told Channel 2 News in a special interview.…

At least 26 children were killed in violence in Syria on Monday, a watchdog said, fuelling international calls for a war crimes probe into the 22-month conflict. Reports of the child deaths came as Human Rights Watch accused President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of expanding its use of banned cluster bombs, AFP reported. Eight of the…

President Barack Obama’s half brother, Malik, announced that he will be running for the governorship of Siaya, a county in western Kenya, as an independent candidate. Malik Obama, 54, made the announcement Sunday, telling a crowd he would use his relationship with the U.S. president to address poverty and unemployment, Bloomberg reported. “Siaya county is…

Oil exploration companies got the green light to go ahead with drilling of wells off the coast of Herzliya Monday, after the Tel Aviv Regional Building and Planning Commission withdrew its objections to the exploration of the Gabriella oil field off the coast of Tel Aviv and Herzliya. The Gabriella field is about 25 kilometers…

Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family have been living on a warship, with security provided by Russia, intelligence sources told Saudi newspaper Al Watan. The report has not been confirmed by other news sources. According to the report, the family and Assad’s aides live on the ship, which is floating in the Mediterranean Sea, and…

Population data for 2011 released by the Central Bureau of Statistics Monday revealed that while the growth rate of the Arab population in Israel continues to decline, it is still increasing at a rate that is faster than that of the Jewish population in the country.` With the addition of 141,500 people in 2011, Israel’s…

Angry activists poured scorn on prosecutors Sunday for leading an overzealous campaign against Internet freedom fighter Aaron Swartz, with his family suggesting it contributed to his suicide. Swartz, who was just 14 when he co-developed the RSS feeds that are now the norm for publishing frequent updates online and went on to help launch social…

Hamas is already preparing for the next clash with Israel and its military wing recently test fired improved long-range missiles, the Yisrael Hayom daily reported on Sunday. The report in the Israeli newspaper was based on sources in the Palestinian Authority media. According to the reports, based on information from senior sources in Hamas’s military…

In a large scale project which began about two weeks ago, the Jerusalem municipality is in the process of installing the country’s largest and most advanced network of sensors designed to warn of potential earthquakes in the region.   Israel lies on the Syrian-African fault line, and the Jordan Rift Valley is part of an active fault zone.…