Category: News

The Supreme Court decided on Thursday night that the body of the four-month-old baby who died earlier in the day after being hospitalized for several days with head trauma, will undergo a partial, minimal autopsy in order to assist in determining the exact cause of death. The Court also ruled that the autopsy will be…

The semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq’s north reportedly intends to hold a vote this year, on whether or not to secede from Iraq and gain independence. KRG president Masoud Barzani has been said to have told diplomats about the impending referendum in the Kurdish region. “A referendum is the only way for the world to…

The hunt for terrorist Nashat Milhem is on its seventh day, and on Thursday, searches officially ended in Tel Aviv. City police forces returned to routine emergency protocol typical of this time. While many police officers can still be seen patrolling the streets of Tel Aviv, the goal is not necessarily to catch the terrorist, but…

A stabbing attempt took place in the Har Hevron region of Judea on Thursday night, with the attempt occurring near the Arab town of Beit Anun to the northeast of Hevron. The terrorist was shot dead while trying to stab a soldier, and fortunately was unable to inflict any wounds. The attempt is in fact the fourth stabbing…

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein on Thursday gave Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu his professional opinion regarding the appointment of Shas chairperson Aryeh Deri as Interior Minister. Deri, whose appointment will be brought for approval by the coalition government on Sunday, previously served as Interior Minister but abused his position and was forced to resign in September 1993.…

Gideon Levy, a journalist at the leftist Haaretz paper infamous for delegitimizing the IDF’s defensive actions, has been awarded the Olof Palme Prize of 2015 worth $75,000. Levy, who constantly opposes the right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria, received the prize together with Palestinian Lutheran pastor Mitri Raheb, one of the co-authors of…

A stabbing attempt took place at Gush Etzion Junction in Judea on Thursday night, although fortunately no one was wounded. Three terrorists were shot by security forces who quickly responded to the threat, with two of the terrorists killed and the third wounded. The terrorists tried to stab reserve soldiers who were securing the junction, according to…

In recent days Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) has redecorated her office, hanging a famous painting of the artist Baruch Nachshon in a prominent place, and in doing so making a strong statement of Jewish land rights to Israel. The painting features depictions of the Cave of Machpelah in Hevron where the Jewish patriarchs and…

A stabbing attack nearly occurred in Jerusalem on Thursday evening, but was avoided thanks to the vigilant alertness of security personnel who stopped a 16-year-old Arab terrorist armed with a knife from carrying out his heinous designs. The terrorist teen was on his way out of Shuafat, a neighborhood in the northeast of the capital which has…

Addiction…. We hear so much about various addictions — alcohol, drugs, gambling, smoking, sex, food, spending, shopping, internet — that the word “addiction” has almost lost its meaning. Is everyone addicted? The definition is simple. The ultimate distinction between man and animals is not that man is more intelligent, but that animals are creatures that…

Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth Ephraim Mirvis hopes his historic visit to India will act as a catalyst for Jews to support aid, literacy and development programs in Mumbai and Kolkata. During the first ever visit to India by a Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Rabbi Mirvis…

Dr. Yoav Luria, director of the Liver Unit at Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem, spoke with Arutz Sheva about a potential breakthrough in preventative medicine that’s as simple as taking an aspirin. Luria noted that the American medical authorities recently updated their recommendations, and now say that according to new findings, low doses of aspirin pain reliever…

Egypt recently contacted Israel requesting clarification over the rapprochement talks Jerusalem is holding with Turkey, it was revealed on Thursday. Senior clerks in Jerusalem told Haaretz on condition of anonymity that the Egyptian government expressed its displeasure with the notion of Turkey being given an official role in Gaza, and further asked to clarify Israel’s intentions regarding Turkey’s…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is to be questioned sometime next week by members of the office of State Comptroller Yosef Shapira, over the nearly five-year-old case of Netanyahu’s travel spending habits that has been dubbed “BibiTours” by the media. Shapira’s office is preparing to publish a report over the rumors of the Netanyahu family’s improper spending on…

US Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) presidential campaign announced Wednesday the formation of a Religious Liberty Advisory Board, in order to emphasize his commitment to religious liberty as he seeks the presidency. Among the names of prominent leaders to serve on the Republican candidate’s advisory board is Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, Rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel…

Police revealed Thursday morning that Tel Aviv gunman Nashat Milhem disabled the cameras in Amit Shaban’s taxi before murdering him, Channel 10 reports.  According to investigators, Milhem fled the scene of his initial shooting attack – in which two Israelis were murdered and nine others wounded – and jumped into Shaban’s cab.  When the Israeli-Arab cab driver refused to…

Temperatures will be unusually warm on Thursday but wintry weather is expected for the weekend ahead.  Skies during the day Thursday will be partly cloudy and the weather unseasonably dry. Some drizzling may start in the afternoon with full rain storms expected in northern and central Israel by the evening.  The trend will continue overnight and by Friday temperatures will…

In this week’s show David Lev and Dr. Sam urge those worried about making aliyah to a police state that goes against Jewish ideals to take a balanced look at the situation. This is an exciting show that promises to get to the heart of making aliyah to the Jewish Homeland of Israel. Click here…

Police on Wednesday night partially lifted a gag order on the search for Tel Aviv gunman Nashat Milhem, and have officially named him as the prime suspect in the murder of taxi driver Amin Shaban. The publication of the information was quickly followed by outrage from the Shaban family at the police’s handling of the case. “The police…

Enrique Marquez, the former neighbor of the San Bernardino shooters who is accused of buying the rifles used in the attack, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, ABC7 reported. Marquez faces multiple charges in a federal indictment accusing him of conspiring with one of the shooters and to provide material support to terrorists, the news station…

The UN Security Council on Wednesday agreed to prepare further measures against North Korea after it carried out a fourth nuclear test, AFP reports. The 15-member council including China, Pyongyang’s ally, “strongly condemned” the test and described it as a “clear threat to international peace and security,” the news agency said. Uruguay’s Ambassador Elbio Rosselli, this…

A group of American lawmakers on Wednesday sent a letter to President Barack Obama, calling for sanctions against Iran in response to its recent tests of ballistic missiles. The letter was signed by Representatives Nita Lowey (NY-17), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), Eliot Engel (NY-16), Albio Sires (NJ-8), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Susan Davis (CA-53), and Jerrold…

The Obama administration believes that, even in a best-case scenario, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will remain in office through March 2017, two months after President Barack Obama leaves office, The Associated Press (AP) revealed on Wednesday. The news agency obtained an internal U.S. timeline for a best-case Syrian political transition which sets March 2017 for…

The popular video streaming service Netflix on Wednesday finally arrived in Israel, part of a move which saw the service made available in 130 countries.  However, at this stage, the streaming service will be available only in English and Arabic, and there is no subtitled content, according to Haaretz. The newspaper reported that the company…

The Israeli Security Agency (ISA), in cooperation with the IDF and Israel Police, arrested in December a Hamas terror cell composed of Arab residents of Hevron and Jerusalem.  The six-member terror cell was planning to kidnap and murder and Israeli and use his body as a bargaining chip for the release of terrorist prisoners.  The attack was purposely meant to…

A bitter fight over the post mortem of a baby believed shaken to death by one of his caregivers has broken out Thursday between the Jerusalem Magistrates Court and the child’s family.  While the court has ordered an autopsy be performed to determine cause of death, the haredi family of Moshe Rafael Mizrahi vehemently opposes the procedure.  The baby’s father…

Iran has accused Saudi Arabia of intentionally bombing its embassy during an air strike in Sanaa, Yemen. Iranian State media reported that a spokesperson for the country’s Foreign Ministry said that members of his staff had been wounded during a “deliberate” attack against the Iranian Embassy in Yemen. “This deliberate action by Saudi Arabia is a…

Police in Paris shot dead a knife-wielding terrorist who attempted to storm a police station Thursday, on the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack. The man reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar,” before attempting to barge into the station, prompting police to open fire. According to initial reports from the scene the man was wearing what appears…

An Arab was arrested near the Beit Hadassah neighborhood of Hevron on Thursday afternoon in possession of a large knife.  According to security forces, he intended to carry out a stabbing attack on either an Israeli soldier or civilian.  Hevron’s Jewish community quickly condemned the attempted attack, saying, “It has been proven time and time again…

Two Israelis were among a number of tourists targeted by masked gunmen in Cairo Thursday morning, as they boarded a bus outside the Egyptian capital’s Three Pyramids Hotel. There were no casualties in the attack, but some damage was caused to the hotel’s facade. One of the shooters was arrested at the scene by Egyptian security forces,…

The Rationale for Shidduch Coaching Lately, Yocheved has been waking up at night worrying about her daughter, Shevi. Shevi is pursuing a degree in speech therapy. Yocheved knows that Shevi has always been an A student and that she will succeed in all academic areas. She is already doing great work with stroke victims as…

Extremist Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Joint List) has been indicted on charges relating to a confrontation she had with police in her hometown of Nazareth on in July 2014. Zoabi pleaded guilty in December to the charges of insulting public officials, as part of a plea bargain relating to comments she made during the clash, in which she calling the police officers…

US State Department spokesman John Kirby rejected out of hand Wednesday a comparison between an Israeli bill requiring foreign-funded NGOs to declare their sources and US laws mandating the registration of foreign interest lobbyists.  In an op-ed published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked drew parallels between her Government Transparency Law and the US Foreign…

The terror wave that swept Israel over three months ago appears to be on a downward trend, new data released by the Israeli Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) on Thursday revealed.  December 2015 marked the first month with a noted decrease in the number of terror attacks as compared to the previous month.  According to…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership on Wednesday equated the incident in which two Arab passengers were removed from an Israel-bound flight due to security concerns with “apartheid”, and demanded the Greek government take action, reports AFP. The incident took place on Sunday, when two Arab passengers with Israeli documents were forced off an Aegean Airlines…

The White House on Wednesday expressed skepticism over North Korea’s claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. White House press secretary Josh Earnest suggested Pyongyang was lying, according to comments carried by Business Insider. “We’re obviously going to continue to look at this by monitoring the situation, assessing the available data and evidence,” Earnest…

This week we read the Torah portion of Va’era, which features the majority of the ten plagues that were visited upon ancient Egypt. This week’s fascinating episode of Temple Talk explores the parallels between Pharaoh and today’s world leaders and the Torah’s promise of future redemption. Join Yitzchak Reuven and Rabbi Chaim Richman as they…

Police have partially lifted a gag order on the search for Tel Aviv gunman Nashat Milhem, and have officially named him as the prime suspect in the murder of Jerusalem cabbie Amin Shaban. According to investigators, Milhem fled the scene of his initial shooting attack – in which two Israelis were murdered and nine others…

When struck by an infectious pandemic like SARS, swine flu, MERS or Ebola, health officials in dozens of countries turn to the Israeli company Beth-El Industries for its IsoArk biological isolation units, reported Israel21c Wednesday. The line was first developed in response to a request from the Israeli Ministry of Health in 2002, during the…

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced Wednesday that the PLO would officially make a decision next week regarding the upholding of contractual relations with Israel, reported the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency. Abbas made the announcement during a speech delivered in Bethlehem during Orthodox Christmas celebrations. He reiterated past statements made by PA bodies supporting…

Is former US Mideast envoy Martin Indyk lying about statements he alleged Binyamin Netanyahu made to him during the funeral ceremony for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, or is Netanyahu just trying to cover up an embarrassing revelation from the past? Previously classified US government cables may be able to shed some light on the controversy –…

The Prime Minister’s Office has accused former US Middle East envoy Martin Indyk of repeatedly lying over comments Indyk alleged Netanyahu made to him at the time of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral. In an interview with PBS, Indyk – who at the time was Washington’s Ambassador to Israel – related a conversation he…

Police have launched a major nationwide crackdown on illegal weapons, as part of efforts to end rampant gun crime in the Arab sector. A major police operation to net illegal firearms and gun dealers launched this morning (Wednesday), the same day as an Arab lawmaker criticized the government for not taking enough action against the phenomenon of…

Mohammed Assaf, the Gazan winner of 2013’s Arab Idol contest, was answering questions from fans in a Skype phone-in this week when he received a comment from an Israeli caller who said: “You should come to Israel…you have Israeli blood,” the fan said. Assaf replied – “I spit on you and Israel” – before going…

Israeli police and security forces are honing in on Nashat Milhem, the 29-year-old Arab-Israeli terrorist who murdered three people and injured nine others in a shooting spree in Tel Aviv last Friday. Five days after the attack, Police and Shin Bet investigators say they have a new lead regarding Milhem’s movements after fleeing the scene,…

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Wednesday weeks of rumors that the Palestinian Authority could collapse, saying he would “never give up” on it. Abbas, 80, was speaking publicly for the first time since rumors surfaced last week that he was in poor health, which the PA has categorically denied. He did not discuss the matter…

Bahrain announced on Wednesday that it has discovered a terrorist cell linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, reported Al-Arabiya News Channel Wednesday. The cell was allegedly plotting to carry out bombings in the country. According to the report, the interior ministry arrested six members of the cell, but one of the members –…

The US-led coalition that has been carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria killed about 2,500 jihadists last month, a military spokesman said Wednesday. The Pentagon has previously been wary of giving body counts, but Wednesday’s figures come as officials hope to portray ISIS or IS as being on the…

The brother of the Israeli Arab terrorist who shot dead two people and left scores wounded in Tel Aviv last Friday was been released from police custody Wednesday afternoon. Jaudat Milhem was among several relatives of 29-year-old killer Nashat Melhem arrested in recent days, and was released despite recommendations by the Shin Bet security agency that…

A Hungarian man is facing a possible jail term over Holocaust denial comments on Facebook, a sentence handed down under a 2010 law banning public denial of genocides. The man, identified in a court ruling as Norbert Juhos, 38, made the comments on Facebook last August in response to an article published on the social…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon permitted the enlargement of Gush Etzion in Judea by an increase of 40 dunam to the land belonging to the regional council. The land that is being added was purchased by American millionaire Irwin Moskowitz and his wife, and is referred to as “Beit Bracha.” “Beit Bracha” consists of eight buildings…

Ariel University in Samaria has been given 430,000 shekels (just over $100,000) in compensation by the Spanish government, after Spain refused to allow the university’s students to take part in an international competition. It happened six years ago, when the Spanish government gave in to pressure from the BDS movement that seeks to boycott Israel. Spain refused…

North Korea reported that it has successfully tested a new Hydrogen Bomb on Wednesday. The move is considered to be both surprising and defiant, as no mention of new bomb tests had been mentioned by Kim Jong Un during his New Year speech. North Korea claimed in the statement that the test came in an effort…

On Sunday Mordechai Mayer was released after being jailed for five months on an administrative order with no trial or evidence, and with no indictment ever submitted against him. Mayer was arrested during a wave of administrative orders issued against right-wing activists shortly after the lethal Duma arson in July, and no information regarding why he…

Anti-Semitism has morphed into a new form but hasn’t changed its nature. It evolves and is now known primarily as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the Jewish state. Jay Shapiro ask loudly: Why can’t we get rid of this sickness? Click here to download the podcast

A Palestinian website that goes by the name “Shebka Falestin Lalchiwar” has published statistics regarding Palestinian “activities,” meaning terror attacks that were perpetrated during the last three months of what they are terming as an intifada. According to the statistics posted, during the month of December 48 attacks were perpetrated, in which three Israelis were murdered and another 87…

Opposition members in Britain’s parliament on Tuesday criticized the government for failing to prevent the man who could be the “new Jihadi John” from traveling to Syria to join Islamic State (ISIS) extremists despite the fact that he was charged with serious crimes. The accusations, reported by The Associated Press (AP), came after British news media…

The United States State Department said on Tuesday it was in discussions with other U.S. agencies on imposing sanctions against Iran for an October 10 ballistic missile test by Tehran that violated UN Security Council resolutions, Reuters reported. “We are fully prepared to use sanctions with respect to this most recent ballistic missile test (and)…

Federal investigators in California on Tuesday appealed for the public’s help in piecing together the whereabouts of the two San Bernardino shooters during a brief period after the massacre, AFP reports. David Bowdich, head of the FBI office in Los Angeles, said that while investigators had largely determined the movements of Syed Farook and his…

Two online petitions will force Britain’s parliament to debate this month whether to ban leading Republican candidate Donald Trump from entering the country, the legislative body’s petitions committee said on Tuesday, according to AFP. The move comes after almost 570,000 Britons signed an online petition calling for Trump to be barred from Britain for “hate…

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) signed an order on Wednesday allowing the import of 60,000 tons of a wide range of vegetables that would be free from import tax. The purpose of the order, which was done in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture, was to prevent as much as possible spikes in the price of fresh vegetables. The…

Attorney Sami Melhem, a relative of the Arab Israeli terrorist Nashat Melhem, criticized the security apparatus on Wednesday for its continued inability to locate his terrorist relative six days after the lethal Tel Aviv shooting on Friday. Nashat murdered two people in a Tel Aviv pub, and an hour later he apparently murdered a taxi driver as well. Massive police forces…

Journalist Eitam Lachover of Channel 1 went out on Wednesday morning to film a piece about the new anti-stabbing neck guards being distributed by the IDF, to help combat soldiers deal with the constant threat of knife-wielding Arab terrorists. During his reporting, Lachover met with representatives of the company that produces the protective pieces of equipment, both for the…

The Jerusalem district attorney submitted indictments against two Jerusalem minors today to the Jerusalem District Court for Minors. The indictments were filed for the charges of causing injury in extreme circumstance and being in illegal possession of a knife. One of the accused was previously arrested for suspected involvement in the lethal Duma arson affair, before…

Why did the Jerusalem merchant close his shop if the Emperor was coming –  in 1898? The shuttered shop at Jaffa Gate when the German Emperor arrived in 1898. (Ottoman Imperial Archives) The full picture of the Emperor’s arrival The German Emperor’s arrival in Jerusalem on October 28, 1898 was a major news item around the world. The Ottoman…

French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo published a special edition Wednesday on the eve of the anniversary of a jihadist attack that wiped out most of its staff, prompting protests from the Vatican over a cover lampooning God. In typical Charlie Hebdo fashion, the special edition features a bloodstained, bearded God-figure in sandals with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder under the headline: “One year…

Martin Indyk, former US Middle East Envoy for President Barack Obama, has long had his impartiality regarding Israel questioned. On Wednesday, in a PBS interview, he came out with a full broadside attack targeting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Indyk claimed that at the 1995 funeral of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, architect of the Oslo Accords, Netanyahu…

You don’t have to be an immigrant from the United States to know that prices in Israel are in general quite high, and most items are certainly more expensive than what can be found online. eBay Israel released the statistics of what Israelis purchased via the online commerce site over the past year, and some…

A special meeting between 300 representatives from Torah Institutes and educational centers in Brooklyn, New York, and heads of the New York Police Department took place this week. At the meeting, it was decided that the “Shomerim” organizations will work together with the NYPD to increase a sense of security for the students who attend…

The six-year-old girl who tragically drowned at a hotel pool in Jerusalem on December 10 passed away on Wednesday, nearly a month after the incident. Following the failure of multiple systems in her body which were caused by the drowning, the girl was pronounced dead at the Reut Medical and Rehabilitation Center in Tel Aviv. The girl…

Dr. Marina Holz, the Doris and Dr. Ira Kukin Chair in Biology at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women, and her student Sara Leora Wiener, a sophomore from Edison, New Jersey, have been awarded a $1,500 Mindlin Foundation Undergraduate Research Grant to support their study of a potential treatment for bladder cancer. Titled “Combination of…

The semi-official Iranian Fars News Agency on Tuesday published new images showing a convoy of the recently tested nuclear-capable Emad ballistic missiles being transferred to a brand new underground tunnel facility. Pictures in the article show a convoy of numerous trucks bearing the massive missiles through a tunnel in the new “underground missile town,” which the news site reported was…

Rabbi Yaron David, a rabbi for the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, eulogized first sergeant Yishai Rozales on Tuesday after he was killed in a training accident at the Tze’elim Base in the Negev. “I and most of the rabbis in the battalion had the privilege of knowing Yishai well,” Rabbi David said of the 23-year-old soldier from Beit Meir. He…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group has lost around a third of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, according to figures provided Tuesday by the US-led coalition. “In Iraq, it’s about 40%,” said Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the international coalition which carries out daily air raids against ISIS, and also provides training and weapons to local forces fighting…

An IDF officer in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, also known as Nahal Haredi, was killed and another soldier was lightly to moderately wounded on Tuesday in a tragic training accident. The accident took place at the national center for ground drills at Tze’elim Base in the Negev, and involved a mortar round fired as part of a demonstration…

A misspelling put a damper on an official memorial ceremony for the victims of the terror attack at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris last year.  French President Francois Hollande was in the process of unveiling a plaque commemorating the 11 victims of the shooting by Islamists on Tuesday when the error was discovered.  Journalists attending the ceremony at…

A harsh sentence was imposed Tuesday evening on an Etzion Regional Brigade corporal convicted of disclosing classified military information.  Elad Sela was sentenced to 45 months in prison, will be on probation after his jail term, and was demoted to the rank of private.  He was indicted in April for allegedly tipping off Jewish extremists that they were about to…

The family of Netanel Arami, a Jewish construction worker who was murdered by Arab coworkers in September 2014, have turned to the new police chief Roni Alsheich asking him to “bring in new energy” to renew the investigation of the still unsolved murder. Arami’s death was only recognized as a terrorist attack in November 2014 after much public protest;…

A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck northeastern India early Monday morning, killing at least nine people and injuring over 90 more.  The Bnei Menashe (sons of Manasseh), who claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, reported extensive damage to their community in the Indian state of Manipur.  “The earthquake struck early in the morning…

A resident of Herzliya alerted police to the location of terror suspect Ahmad Khatib on Tuesday, after the Arab from eastern Jerusalem threatened to carry out an attack in the coastal city. Police and Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) forces spent a tense morning in hot pursuit of Khatib before finally capturing him with the help of the Israeli,…

Ron Kehrmann, whose 17-year-old daughter Tal was murdered in a suicide terror attack on Egged Route 37 in Haifa in 2003, is calling on the Israel Prison Service to reject a request for an early release by one of the accomplices to the attack. Munir Rajabi, an Israeli Arab who was convicted of assisting the suicide…

Leave it to Kabbalah to fill in the blanks. On one hand, everyone seems to know that the Land of Israel is special, and some of the simpler differences can be articulated by most. But there is this “other-worldliness” about the Land that many sense, even on a soul level, but which they don’t understand.…

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday condemned Hezbollah for attacking IDF troops near the Lebanon-Israel border a day earlier, but also criticized Israel for retaliating. In a statement, Ban said he “condemned yesterday’s attack against two Israel Defense Forces vehicles in the general area of the Shebaa Farms south of the Blue Line, which was…

Israel has been in an uproar since video from a controversial wedding was leaked to the press late last month three weeks after it took place, with the groom and various guests arrested in the aftermath. In the video, a number of youths are seen waving knives and guns, including toy guns, in the air to…

The father of fugitive terrorist Nashat Melhem spoke with his son shortly after he conducted a deadly shooting attack at a Tel Aviv pub, it was revealed on Tuesday night.  Mohammed Melhem’s attorney Nahmi Feinblat dropped the bombshell in an interview with Channel 10, several hours after his client was arrested on suspicion of aiding his son.  According to Feinblat, Mohammed Melhem spoke…

An Israeli humanitarian aid agency has dispatched a disaster relief team to assist flood victims in northern England, the UK-based Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported Tuesday.  Four volunteers from the IsraAID charity arrived in London on Monday and set off for Leeds to begin work on repairing homes and distributing necessities to the hardest hit areas. Shachar Zahavi, IsraAid’s founding director, told the JC, “the…

The two female Border Police officers who accidentally shot dead Ofer Ben Ari while eliminating two terrorists during a stabbing attack in Jerusalem met for the first time with his family on Tuesday evening.  “I have no anger toward you,” Ben Ari’s widow, Yifat, told the officers. “You did exactly what you needed to do to save lives. You…

The Supreme Court will give its decision on the appeal submitted by Rabbi Yoshiyahu, the head of the Shuva Israel institute. In his appeal, Rabbi Pinto asked for the sentence of a year in prison to be replaced with six months of community service, out of concern for his health. The assigned prison term had been…

The forecast for Tuesday is mostly clear, with slightly overcast skies throughout the day. In the northern part of the country, isolated rainfall will continue throughout the day. The temperature will increase slightly and climb back to normal for the season. Clear skies, with only sparse cloud cover, are expected during the night. On Wednesday the skies…

A large force of police and border police officers are conducting an extensive search this morning for a resident of eastern Jerusalem who reportedly told his family that he intends to perpetrate a terror attack in Herzliya. Early reports indicate that the potential terrorist broke through a police barrier near Jerusalem and drove in the direction of…

Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home) used the Knesset plenum to accuse the Zionist Camp party of attempting to smear the name of the Jewish community in Judea and Samaria. He was responding to the non-confidence vote of submitted by the head of the opposition Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Camp) regarding the issue of illegal…

About 3,500 students from Bnei Akiva and the Noam Zvia educational system took part in a “march of longing” in memory of Gush Katif yesterday (Monday). “Longing” in Hebrew is Kissufim, also the name of a kibbutz on the Gaza border. During the march, which began in the afternoon, the students paused at vantage points and received…

Ever since a jihadist attack on a kosher store left four people dead a year ago, France’s Jews have grown used to soldiers patrolling their neighborhoods and schools. While a comfort to some, the fact that the large Jewish community is forced to live under armed guard only heightens the sense of being a target, AFP reports. “I don’t feel…

Saudi Arabia’s mission to the United Nations on Monday defended the execution of 47 men, including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, saying all of the accused had been granted fair trials. “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia reiterates that all convicted persons were granted fair and just trials without any consideration to their intellectual, racial or…

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his first television ad of the presidential election campaign, in which he reiterated his call for a temporary ban on Muslim entry to the United States over security concerns. The video also sparked fresh controversy, AFP reported, by incorporating footage of migrants fleeing Morocco into a Spanish…

The non-profit Shurat Hadin-The Israel Law Center organization has conducted an investigation which proves unequivocally that Facebook discriminates against Israelis. The investigation included an experiment in which two fictitious Facebook pages were set up, with one inciting against the Palestinians and the other inciting against Jews and Israelis. But after complaints were filed with Facebook…

A fact-finding mission by the UN chemical weapons watchdog has found that some people in Syria may have been exposed to sarin or a sarin-like gas, according to a report released Monday. The mission by the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it was investigating 11 incidents of the use of…

The father of an eight-year-old boy from Ofakim claims that, while his son was undergoing ear surgery in Be’er Sheva’s Assuta Hospital, the anesthesiologist left the room in the middle of administering the anesthesia. The father claims that he had previously agreed to be present while his son was put under. “At the beginning of the…

Professor Yaacov Katz, the president of Jerusalem College for religious women, known in Hebrew as Michlalah, eulogized Rabbi Dr. Yehuda Cooperman, the founder of the college who passed away at age 87. Rabbi Dr. Cooperman was laid to rest yesterday in the Sanhedria cemetery in Jerusalem. In an interview with Arutz Sheva Professor Katz described Cooperman…

The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was in Riyadh Tuesday for talks with diplomats and Syrian opposition representatives on efforts to end the nearly five-year war, an Arab source said. His visit comes amid heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia, the main Sunni power in the region, and Shiite-dominated Iran over Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and dissident. There are…

Following yesterday’s incident on Israel’s northern border, Russia has asked Hezbollah to calm down. According to Al-Arabia reports, Moscow, which assists the terror organization in Syria, has made a direct request to desist from further “igniting the wick of confrontation” between the terror organization and Israel. Israel and Russia are in direct communication regarding the airspace…

Dr. Dmitry Shumsky of Hebrew University published an article in Ha’aretz Monday in which he pointed out alleged differences between Arab terrorism against Jews and the attack on the Dawabshe family in the village of Duma, which Israeli security forces found to have been perpetrated by Jews. Shumsky is a former director of the university’s Bernard Cherrik Center…

MK Roy Folkman (Kulanu) warned that his party will oppose the so-called “Shabbat Law,” submitted by MK Mickey Zohar (Likud), should it come to the plenum for a vote, as it is planned on Wednesday. Zohar responded that he may consider removing the discussion of the bill from the daily schedule and instead pose it for discussion to the…

According to official police statistics, which were transmitted to the Knesset by the Knesset’s own Information and Research Center, and confirmed to Arutz Sheva, a total of eight women were murdered by their partners and ex-partners in 2015. This is the lowest number of murders of women by partners since 2009, when there were seven…

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is keeping his post-election promises and planning to put an end to the participation of the Canadian Air Force in the allied bombings of ISIS. Instead, he is moving Canadian efforts towards training local forces and towards providing humanitarian aid in Syria and Iraq. In an interview with Global News, Trudeau said…

Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran on Tuesday, after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan did the same and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) downgraded diplomatic ties with Tehran. The growing rift between Iran and the Sunni Arab states follows attacks mounted on Saudi missions Sunday by Iranian protesters, who are upset over the execution of…

A joint effort between police and the Israel Security Agency (SA, also known as the Shin Bet or Shabak) has led to the capture and arrest of Ahmad Khatib. Khatib, a resident of eastern Jerusalem, told his family that he intended to carry out a terror attack in Herzliya. He then drove through a police barricade…

The UN expert on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories on Monday resigned from his post, complaining that Israel had never granted him access to areas he is meant to monitor, AFP reported. “The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Makarim Wibisono, today submitted his…

Florida has become the fifth American state to pass a resolution condemning the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel BDS movement. On Dec. 21, Florida legislators followed the lead of Tennessee, whose state legislature was the first to pass a similar resolution against the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement targeting Israel. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam became the first state…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday appointed a special team, headed by Tourism Minister Yariv Levin and Minister of Immigrant Absorption Ze’ev Elkin, who will ensure that the various Arab local authorities in Israel will meet a series of conditions before benefitting from the five-year plan approved last week to advance a systematic and structural…

UNIFIL, the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon, on Monday urged Israel and Lebanon to “exercise utmost restraint” after Hezbollah detonated an explosive device near IDF troops in Har Dov in northern Israel, prompting the IDF to return fire. In a statement issued by her office, the Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag, expressed concern over…

Arab leaders accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of “encouraging bloodshed” in his condemnations of the deadly terror shooting at a Tel Aviv pub on Friday afternoon.  Netanyahu, speaking at the scene of the attack on Saturday night, said he was “not prepared to accept two States of Israel, a state of law for most…and a state within…

President Reuven Rivlin paid a condolence visit Monday evening to the family of Ganedi Kofman, who passed away last week from injuries sustained in a stabbing attack outside the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron on December 2. Kofman’s wife, Veronica, and their son David, spoke with Rivlin and shared with him concerns about the security situation over the…

A record 1.72 million people visited Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2015, 70 years after the Soviets liberated the former Nazi German death camp, according to the museum at the site in southern Poland. Museum director Piotr Cywinski said in a statement Monday that a visit to the camp was not just “a history lesson” but also a moment of reflection “on our own…

Right-wing activist Pinhasi Braun is convinced accused murder Amiram Ben Uliel did not commit the July 31 arson attack in Duma.  “After all the torture he underwent for weeks, anyone would confess,” Braun asserted to Arutz Sheva. “They created a scapegoat.” According to Braun, even if Jews were behind the arson, ongoing Arab terror and lackluster responses…

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has filed an official complaint with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council after a bomb set by Hezbollah detonated near IDF forces along the Lebanese border.  “This is a blatant violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” Danon charged, adding that “the UN must…

Dani Dayan, Israel’s candidate for envoy to Brazil, began a course this week at the Foreign Ministry for new ambassadors, despite not receiving official approval for his appointment.  As Jerusalem waits for a response from the Brazilian government, Army Radio revealed Monday that Foreign Ministry officials have grown increasingly uneasy about the situation and recommended Prime Minister Binyamin Netanayhu appoint Dayan…

Three days have passed since Nashat Melhem opened fire on a Tel Aviv pub and security forces are still in the dark as to his whereabouts.  The manhunt for the terrorist who murdered Alon Bakal (26) and Shimon Ruimi (30), and likely also taxi driver Amin Shaban, entered its fourth day on Monday, and at this stage…

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon emphasized to parliamentary reporters on Monday that his Kulanu party would not allow itself to be subsumed into the Likud.  “I didn’t leave Likud to go back to it,” asserted Kahlon, a former minister for the ruling party. “We will run as ‘Kulanu’ in the next [election]. We will not merge with any party.…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on all of Israel’s Knesset members Monday night to condemn Arab terror, also urging MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) to denounce Jewish terror.  “We are in the midst of a wave of terror attacks and murders and I expect all parliamentarians to condemn these criminal acts,” Netanyahu demanded. “Just two hours…

Nashat Melhem’s father arrived at the Haifa Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon after another family member was arrested for helping the terrorist conduct a fatal shooting at a Tel Aviv pub.  Melhem murdered Alon Bakal (26) and Shimon Ruimi (30) in the Friday attack on Dizengoff Street before fleeing north, and likely also killing taxi driver Amin Shaban. He remains on the…

A Michigan-based pro-Palestinian activist has posted a video online defending the “stabbing of Jews by Palestinians,” and comparing Jews to animals. Lina Allan posted the three-minute Arabic rant under the title “Is Stabbing Jews Haram [Forbidden]?” The monologue was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Notably, throughout the video Allan uses the…

A 15-year-old Israeli girl was lightly injured Monday afternoon in the wake of an attempted stabbing attack on Bar-Lev Boulevard in Jerusalem. A 29-year-old man standing nearby suffered shock.  Magen David Adom paramedics at the scene provided first response treatment to the victims and transported them to Hadassah Medical Center in the capital.  The terrorist was shot and neutralized. He…

The ISIS terrorist group has once again featured a masked, British-accented jihadi in their latest execution video, threatening the United Kingdom for taking part in the anti-ISIS air campaign and mocking the British prime minister as an “imbecile.” But while it took many months for his predecessor – known as “Jihadi John” by the media…

A team of IDF programmers and engineers is developing a digital battle command system that will take the IDF’s ground troops into the future, reported the IDF Blog. “Noked,” as the hi-tech, interactive mapping system is known, is an acronym for the Hebrew words “digital battle procedure.” With it, said the developers, commanders will have a…

The Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Aryeh Stern, has called for an ‘independent inquiry’ to ascertain the claims made that Israeli Security Agency (ISA, also known as the Shin Bet or Shabak) tortured suspects in the Duma arson case. According to the suspects’ lawyers, their clients’ confessions were elicited by torture and therefore invalid as…

Amiram Ben Uliel, who has been accused of involvement in the Duma case, told investigators during his interrogation that that he committed the crime out of vengeance for the murder of Malachi Rosenfeld. Rosenfeld’s family, however, was shocked by the statement. The grieving mother, Sara Rosenfeld, told Channel 10: “This is a slap in the face to…

IDF forces and Border Police entered the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber Monday morning, in order to begin demolishing Alaa Abu Jamal’s house. This past October, Jamal, an employee of Bezeq, ran over civilians standing at a bus stop in the capital city’s Malchei Yisrael Street. He then got out of the car and proceeded…

The manhunt for Nashat Melhem, the Arab citizen who murdered two Israelis Friday afternoon in a shooting attack at a pub on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv, will continue on Monday, four days after the attack on one of Tel Aviv’s busiest streets. Alon Bakal (26) and Shimon Ruimi (29) were murdered in the attack and several…

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday criticized Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 people, including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, saying the move raises “serious questions” that the U.S. needs to ask the country’s government. “Clearly this raises serious questions that we have to raise directly with the Saudi government,” the leading Democratic presidential…

Iran has found the guilty parties in Saudi Arabia’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr: The United States, Israel and Britain. This bizarre comment was made on Sunday by Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, commander of the Basij militia of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Naqdi declared that Sunni and Shiite Muslims alike will avenge Nimr’s…

Lawyers for former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer are planning to ask the Attorney General to delay the start of his corruption trial due to health concerns, Channel 2 News revealed on Sunday. Ben-Eliezer, who also served in the past as head of the Labor party, is suspected of receiving money related to his public activities…

Will spying on Israel be fair game with Donald Trump as president? Maybe. In an interview on Sunday with CBS’ “Face the Nation”, the leading Republican presidential was asked about last week’s report in The Wall Street Journal, which said that President Barack Obama continued to spy after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, even after he…

Israel approached the Palestinian Authority (PA) and submitted a request that the PA help supply Israel with information regarding the hiding place of suspected terrorist Nashat Melhem. Israeli security forces have begun to reason that Melhem has not only left the greater Tel Aviv area, but that he has left Israeli controlled territory and possibly…

Bahrain said Monday that it is cutting its diplomatic ties with Iran and called upon Iranian diplomats to leave the kingdom within 48 hours. Isa al-Hamadi, the Bahraini minister of media affairs, made the announcement on Monday, one day after Saudi Arabia similarly gave Iran 48 hours to remove its diplomatic mission from Riyadh. Sudan…

A Palestinian arrived on Monday afternoon at the Tapuach junction in Samaria, and roused the suspicion of the Border Police soldiers who were stationed at the location.  The soldiers told him to stop. In spite of their orders he continued to approach the position of some of the soldiers. They responded by performing the proper…

Security forces destroyed the homes of three terrorists who committed two deadly attacks on the same day in Jerusalem in October. IDF forces and Border Police entered the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber Monday morning, and demolished the homes of Baha Alian and Bilal Abu Ganam, who carried out a shooting and stabbing attack on…

MK Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, arrived on Monday at Ma’aleh Adumim to participate in the second annual business conference taking place in the largest city in Samaria. Lapid met with Mayor Benny Kashriel, as well as business owners, following which he gave a speech in front of a crowd of more…

The American Conservative Judaism Movement is embarking on a major PR campaign as it attempts to counter rapidly dwindling numbers in the United States. Conservative Judaism has tended to market itself as something “in between” halakhic or Orthodox Judaism, and the Reform Movement. Despite its name, Conservative Judaism is decidedly liberal; it has “annulled” the Torah’s ban…

Last week, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) published the list of most popular names  given to children born in Israel in 2014. The Yad L’Achim organization examined the data and discovered to its surprise that no less than 45 Jewish children were given the name of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. The organization also found that…

The leadership of the Arab sector in Israel has denounced the Tel Aviv terror attack that murdered two Jews and one Arab, but the most prominent Arab MK, Ahmed Tibi, also used the opportunity to call Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a “racist” and “colonialist.” The Supreme Monitoring Committee of Israel’s Arabs, headed by ex-MK Muhammad Barakeh,…

The police and ISA released on Monday a 2013 photo of Tel Aviv terrorist Nashat Melhem, after public criticism over the failure to do so earlier. It is still not clear why the authorities took so long to distribute a relatively clear and up-to-date photo of the murderer, who is at large, armed and dangerous.…

Police arrested three additional participants in the controversial wedding whose video was shown far and wide in the Israeli media and displayed participants waving weapons in the air as well as picture of the dead baby from Duma, while the hebrew song “Zochreini Nah” was played by the band. The arrested are two adults and one…

Unnamed Americans have contacted Iran for a deal to swap Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian for other unspecified detainees, a senior Iranian official said on Sunday, according to Reuters. “Some Americans contact us sometimes, asking us to exchange him with other detainees, but the sentence has not been announced yet,” said judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni…

The family of Gilad Shalit issued a statement on Sunday night, hours after Hamas published a video showing the kidnapped soldier participating in a barbecue with his captors in Gaza. “The miscreants who were the captors of the soldier Gilad Shalit are using all means to present a distorted picture,” the Shalit family said. The…

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on Sunday brushed aside the fact that a terrorist group used his remarks against Muslims in a recruitment video. On Saturday, the SITE Intelligence Group reported that the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, the Somali affiliate of Al-Qaeda, used a soundbite from Trump’s speech in December calling for a temporary ban of…

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday it was cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, over attacks on its embassy facilities in Iran by people protesting the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, The Wall Street Journal reports. The kingdom has requested that all members of Iran’s diplomatic mission leave Saudi Arabia within 48 hours, Saudi…

The anonymous Arab terrorist who shot a female soldier outside the Cave of Machpelah in Hevron on Sunday is being hailed as “the sniper from Hevron” by Arab youths, and according to sources the elusive sniper has plagued the region for a long time. In the shooting Sunday, the 19-year-old victim suffered moderate wounds after…

Documents and testimony revealed by Channel 10 on Sunday night throw light on the personality of Nashat Melhem, the Arab Israeli terrorist from Wadi Ara who gunned down two Israelis on Friday at a pub in Tel Aviv and wounded several others before fleeing. A police officer from the north, who guarded Melhem following his arrest in 2007,…

Minister of Education and Jewish Home chairperson Naftali Bennett went on three-mile jog Sunday evening through the streets of Tel Aviv, arriving at the scene of Friday’s shooting attack on Dizengoff Street. Bennett was joined by dozens of joggers in a gesture meant to give a message that Tel Aviv will remain a city that never sleeps, and…

Huge police forces continue to hunt for Nashat Melhem, the Arab citizen who murdered two Israelis Friday afternoon in a shooting attack at a pub on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv. Yet as the third day of the manhunt winds down, Melhem still remains elusive. Alon Bakal (26) and Shimon Ruimi (29) were murdered in the attack and several others were wounded,…

Anne Frank’s iconic diary, written while the Jewish girl and her family were in hiding from the Nazis, was made freely available online despite threats of legal action over copyright. The Anne Frank Foundation, founded by Anne’s father Otto Frank, is threatening to sue University of Nantes lecturer Olivier Ertzscheid and French parliament member Isabelle Attard…

The Movement for Governability and Democracy (Meshilut) sent a letter to Attorney General and Chief Legal Adviser Yehuda Weinstein on Sunday, asking him which government body is charged with investigating his conduct in the lethal Duma arson case. Meshilut noted that Weinstein allegedly authorized the use of torture against the suspects, despite the lack of…

Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shabak) sources admit that it is possible that Amiram Ben Uliel, who has been charged with burning down an Arab home last July, killing a baby and his parents, did not carry out the attack alone despite what the charges against him say. According to the charges filed Sunday, 21-year-old Ben…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group threatened Britain in an Internet video Sunday showing the killing of five “spies” it said worked with the international coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The SITE Intelligence Group said the video shows five men from Raqa, capital of the self-declared jihadist “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq, confessing to carrying out acts of espionage. The British foreign…

Ryan Mauro, national security analyst for the Clarion Project, sums up the top five non-Islamic State (ISIS) terror threats for the coming calendar year, in answer to a query from Fox and Friends. Most tellingly, four of the five threats on the list are Islamic. Number 5 on the Clarion Project list sums up all…

Egypt’s insertion of forces into Sinai to fight Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists there violates the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and poses serious dangers to Israel, warned two experts who were interviewed in the weekend’s Makor Rishon. Operation Eagle, launched by Egypt on August 14, 2011, saw 1,000 troops as well as APCs and tanks entering…

Khalil al-Haya, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, declared on Saturday that Hamas will not participate in meetings of the preparatory committee of the Palestinian National Council, the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), because the group is not part of the PLO. Al-Haya said Hamas was ready to join the preparatory committee within…

Angry Iranian protesters stormed Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran in the early hours of Sunday, smashing furniture and starting fires before being removed by the police, Reuters reports. The protesters gathered outside the embassy to protest against Saudi Arabia’s execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent cleric from the kingdom’s Shiite minority, on terrorism charges that…

The Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality has announced that, due to the security situation and Friday’s attack, it is preparing special security measures. Security patrols in educational institutes and municipal facilities will be upgraded, with a special emphasis on patrols near kindergartens and educational institutes, as well as crowded areas. A command and control center will work…

The security establishment suspects that Nashat Melhem, the terrorist who killed two people yesterday, was also involved in the murder of a taxi driver from Lod. Amin Shaban’s body was found with bullet wounds, about an hour after the attack on Dizengoff Street occurred. He is survived by his three wives and 11 children.  Authorities are…

Israeli prosecutors will file charges Sunday against four Jews for their involvement in “severe terror against Arabs and their property”, the justice ministry said. Security officials told AFP Saturday night the charges are linked to the July firebombing of a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of Duma, which resulted in the death of three members of the Dawabsha family. A…

Police say that they arrested the brother of Nashat Melhem, the terrorist who carried out yesterday’s attack in Tel Aviv. The suspect, Jodat Melhem, is believed to have assisted in the attack. He was arrested last night on charges of intentionally causing death and of being an accessory to a crime. A court has extended his preliminary sentence by five days.…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a document which declares, for the first time, that the United States is a threat to his country’s national security. Reuters reports that the statement claims Russia’s “international and domestic” policies have resulted in “counteraction from the USA and its allies, which are striving to retain their dominance in global affairs.” This…

The Ottoman Imperial Archives continues to share its digitized photographic treasures online. These important historical pictures were recently released.  We will be providing the background to these pictures in the near future. Ottoman Rabbis of the 19th century.   The German Emperor arrived in Jerusalem in 1898.  All of the city turned out to receive…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is currently at the scene of yesterday’s terror attack in Tel Aviv. “Yesterday there was a heinous and unbelievably vicious murder here,” he said. “Young people, whose entire lives were ahead of them, the ages of my own children, were innocently sitting celebrating a birthday and were murdered in cold blood. I…

The Histadrut notified Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, that they will be opening a grievance which will include over 9,000 city workers, with special focus being placed on the 1,100 sanitation workers in the city. The grievance comes following the city’s decision to layoff 170 sanitation workers due to necessary cutbacks that came at the…

While security has been set to increase in schools around the Tel Aviv Metropolitan area, some parents have decided they will not be sending their children to school until Friday’s terrorist has been apprehended. It is believed that Melhem is armed and still poses a continued threat to the city. While the city council has decided to…

The manhunt for Nashat Melhem continues Sunday, two days after he murdered Israelis Alon Bakal and Shimon Ruimi in a shooting attack at a pub in the heart of Tel Aviv.  While Bakal, 26, and Ruimi, 30, did not know each other, they shared the same fate Friday afternoon when Melhem began to spray bullets at the Simta…

The White House expects that Iran will finish the work it needs to trigger implementation of the nuclear deal with world powers in the coming weeks, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said on Saturday, according to Reuters. Rhodes said Iran still had a number of important things to do after having shipped…

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States was used by the Somali Al-Shabaab terrorist group in a jihadist recruitment video, a U.S. monitoring group said Saturday, according to AFP. The SITE Intelligence Group said that the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab used an excerpt from Trump’s December 7 speech to…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is “tired” and has nothing else to offer, opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) charged on Saturday. Speaking in Tel Aviv, Herzog predicted that 2016 will be an election year and explained that “the coalition has 61 members, some of whom act as if they do not have a god.…

The United States expressed concern on Saturday that Saudi Arabia’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr could exacerbate sectarian tensions, and urged all leaders in the Middle East to “redouble efforts” to de-escalate regional tensions, Reuters reports. “We reaffirm our calls on the Government of Saudi Arabia to respect and protect human rights, and…

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein will probe the Education Ministry’s decision to disqualify Dorit Rabinyan’s novel “Borderlife” from Israel’s high-school literature curriculum.  Weinstein’s decision to investigate, Haaretz reported Sunday, came after the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) protested the Education Ministry’s move.  Although the ministry’s advisory committee recommended including “Borderlife” in the curriculum, Dalia Fenig, head of the ministry’s pedagogical secretariat, overruled…

A shooting attack took place shortly after 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron.  It appears the attack was conducted from the Abu Sneina neighborhood of Hevron with a sniper rifle. The terrorist has not been caught and IDF troops have begun a manhunt for him.  Magen David Adom (MDA)…

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) brought for government approval Sunday the appointment of government secretary Avichai Mandelblit as Israel’s next attorney general.  All but one minister voted in favor of the appointment, paving the way for Mandelblit to take office on February 1 and serve as A-G for the next six years. He will replace current Attorney General…

Cable Channel 20, the Jewish Heritage Channel, is asking the public to show its support for allowing it to broadcast “balanced, fair news”, which is “for the nation of Israel and not against it.” It has received more than 19,000 “likes” in 19 hours. The channel is associated with a nationalistic spirit that is quite…

Extensive searches continue Sunday in the Tel Aviv area for Nashat Melhem – the Arab-Israeli who murdered two Israelis Friday afternoon in a shooting attack at a pub on Dizengoff Street.  Residents of the Ramat Aviv in north Tel Aviv told Channel 2 on Sunday that Melhem had previously been employed at a vegetable shop in the neighborhood.  Despite claims…

For the first time in over three years, Egypt will be stationing an ambassador to Israel in Tel Aviv. Ambassador Hazem Khairat landed in Israel last week and will take the position to the head the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv. Former president Muhammad Morsi removed the previous Egyptian ambassador in protest of Israel’s November 2012 Operation…

Only half of the usual number of students arrived at schools and kindergartens in northern Tel Aviv on Sunday. The missing students reportedly stayed home out of fear of terrorist Nashat Melhem, who is still at large. Melhem is suspected of carrying out the terror attack Friday at the ‘Simta’ bar on Dizengoff street which took the lives of…

Education Minister Naftali Bennett intends to show that the Jews cannot be cowed by Arab terrorism, by leading citizens on a jog through the streets of Tel Aviv Sunday evening. The jog will set out at 8:00 PM, from Rabin Square. Bennett announced on Facebook that it will pass through the scene of Friday’s terror…

The Ben Uliel family, whose son Amiram has been charged as the prime suspect in the Duma arson case, responded to the murder indictment on Sunday, stressing his innocence.  In a video message, the Ben Ulliel family said: “We the parents of Amiram are shocked and appalled by the news that has been associated to our beloved…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is currently at the scene of yesterday’s terror attack in Tel Aviv. “People were sitting innocently and suddenly murdered in cold blood. I wish to extend my condolences to the families of the victims and my hope for a speedy recovery to the wounded,” he said. “We pray for their wellness. Israel…

Saudi Arabia’s execution Saturday of a prominent Shi’ite cleric and 46 other men prompted outrage in parts of the Middle East, with Iran warning Riyadh would pay a “high price.” But several Saudi allies offered their support after Riyadh implemented death sentences against cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Shiite activists and Sunnis accused of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber…

The Likud’s newest Knesset member, Amir Ohana, responded to yesterday’s terror attack in Tel Aviv by calling on the government to ease the restrictions on gun licenses. “I decided to take upon myself the issue of easing the permissions for citizens to carry firearms. If there is not yet a lobby for this, I will…

Turkey must accept that it needs Israel, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday, as the two countries seek to thrash out a deal on normalizing ties. NATO member Turkey was a key regional ally of Israel until the two countries fell out over the deadly storming by Israeli commandos in 2010 of a Turkish aid ship, the Mavi Marmara, bound…

Terrorists from Gaza fired two rockets at Israel last night (Friday), and more this morning. No one was harmed and no damage was caused. In response, the Israeli air forces attacked Hamas sites in Gaza. The Israeli army said its “aircraft targeted two Hamas military training facilities and two military sites in the Gaza Strip,” though…

An Ankara court on Saturday remanded in custody pending trial two Turkish men suspected of belonging to ISIS and planning a double suicide bombing in the capital on New Year’s Eve. Musa Canoz, 28, and Adnan Yildirim, 40, who were detained in a raid on Wednesday, were placed under arrest on charges of “possessing explosive materials” and “membership of a terrorist organization”,…

The Vatican’s first accord with the Palestinians — an agreement that Israel has attacked as counter-productive to the Middle East peace process — has come into force, the Holy See announced Saturday. The accord was signed in June, just over two years after the Roman Catholic Church recognized “Palestine” as a sovereign state in February 2013. The accord covers the…

Thousands of police officers are still searching for the terrorist who murdered Alon Bakal and Shimon Ruimi on Dizengoff Street yesterday. The searches are now focused on abandoned buildings and construction sites. The assumption is that the terrorist has not managed o distance himself from the scene of the attack, and is on foot. Authorities have announced…

The Hamas terrorist group on Friday welcomed the shooting attack on a pub in Tel Aviv in which two people were murdered, though it did not claim responsibility for the act. “The shooting attack in Tel Aviv at the start of the new year is a clear sign that the entire Zionist entity will be…

A soldier guarding a mosque in France shot and wounded a driver who rammed him with a car on Friday, as the country remains on high alert after the Paris attacks, local authorities said. Police said the driver deliberately drove his Peugeot into the soldier in the southeastern city of Valence. The soldier is among…

David Bakal, father of 26-year-old Alon Bakal who was murdered in Friday’s shooting attack in Tel Aviv, told reporters on Friday his son “loved life” and “made everyone laugh”. Alon, who was originally from the town of Karmiel in northern Israel, had just recently moved to Tel Aviv and was studying to become a lawyer.…

Israel is continuing to return bodies of terrorists to the Palestinian Authority (PA), even as the current terror wave continues. On Friday, Israel handed over the bodies of 23 more terrorists, the IDF told AFP, in an apparent bid to ease tensions. Palestinian medical sources in Hevron said 17 bodies to be buried in the…

Details are emerging about the identity of the terrorist who carried out Friday’s shooting attack in Tel Aviv. Police have identified a 29-year-old Israeli Arab from the northern town of Wadi Ara as the suspect in the shooting attack on the Simta Pub on Dizengoff Street.  According to a report in Haaretz, the suspect stole the gun…

Two people have been killed and nine others injured in a shooting along Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street. Magen David Adom paramedics at the scene provided first aid treatment to four seriously injured victims – including two in critical condition – and three in moderate condition, as well as the fatally injured victim, who they were forced to pronounce dead at…

The controversy over the upcoming re-publication of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” in Germany is having particular resonance in Israel, where memories of the genocidal Holocaust run deep and many survivors or children of survivors still live. Hitler’s murderous anti-Semitic rant, which he wrote from prison in the early 1920s, loses its copyright in Germany on Friday, and the country’s first release…

After a week of daily protests following the reopening to Arab drivers of a road in which a couple was brutally shot by Arab terrorists, the IDF has agreed to limit Arab traffic on the Avnei Hefetz access road in Samaria. Prior to last Thursday’s decision, the road had been closed to Arab motorists for two weeks, following a shooting attack on Shaul…

German police are hunting Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists in Munich, after receiving information about “concrete” plans to launch suicide bombings at major train stations in the city at midnight Thursday, timed for the height of New Year’s Eve celebrations. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said Friday morning that Germany had received information from a foreign intelligence…

Israel has been bracing for its first massive snowstorm of the year, and on Friday the weather did not disappoint, with gale force winds and heavy rains visiting upon various regions, and Mount Hermon in the north already under heavy snow since late Thursday. As of 7 a.m., Mount Hermon, Israel’s only ski site, had…

Iran denied on Thursday that its Revolutionary Guards launched rockets near an American aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, Reuters reports. Earlier this week, an American military official said that the Iranian navy test fired several rockets near three Western warships, including the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, noting that  the United States viewed…

New American sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile program? Not so fast. The White House has delayed its plan to impose new financial sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program, American officials said Thursday, according to The Wall Street Journal. The announcement comes just one day after it was reported that the Obama…

Hamas’s ban on New Year’s Eve celebrations in Gaza sparked anger among local residents, who took to social media to express their frustration. In announcing the ban, the Islamist group claimed such parties offend the territory’s “values and religious traditions” and were “incompatible with our customs, traditions, values and the teachings of our religion”. Gaza…

MK Motti Yogev (Jewish Home) is unfazed by the left’s criticism of a new civics textbook that was recently approved. The book was written by, among others, Dr. Assaf Malach who is head of the professional committee on civics, and was approved by Education Minister Naftali Bennett. Many of the political left have claimed the…

Egypt said Thursday that the country’s new parliament will convene on January 10, for the first time in three years and weeks after a legislative election that was marred by a low turnout in the absence of any opposition, AFP reported. The first parliamentary election since the army ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi of the…

One person has been killed and nine others injured in a shooting at a restaurant along Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street. Magen David Adom paramedics at the scene are treating one critically injured person, along with at least three others in serious condition. It is not yet clear whether the incident was a terrorist attack or criminal-related. The shooting…

An IDF soldier from the Netzah Yehuda Battalion was sent to 21 days of incarceration starting Friday, after he apparently let his personal weapon be taken and danced with by participants during a controversial wedding. The weapon was one of several firearms,as well as toy guns, and knives waved in the air during a dance apparently celebrating the…

Despite weeks of denials by the Israeli Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) and leading politicians, sources close to the lethal Duma arson investigation revealed on Thursday that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein “personally and concretely” approved torture against the Jewish suspects. The order to torture the young suspects was given three weeks ago according to…

Xinjiang in western China, home to the Uyghur Muslim minority, has long been the site of clashes with the Chinese government, but a top local official on Friday claimed the Islamist extremism has been “weakened markedly.” The Turkish army announced last month that of the 913 Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists captured illegally crossing the border with Syria…

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been under fire for using a private, unsecured email server during her stint as secretary of state, and on Thursday the US State Department released another 3,105 of her emails from the server. The State Department has fallen short of its mandate to release 82% of the emails by the…

A full 12 hours after a massive fire began engulfing Dubai’s upscale The Address Hotel at 9:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, the smoke continued rising from the still smoldering building on Friday morning. United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities are investigating the huge conflagration that broke out on the 20th floor of the 63-storey five-star luxury hotel and…

A new survey published on Friday reveals that the overwhelming majority of the Israeli public feels the coalition government has failed them, by not taking the correct measures in confronting the current wave of Arab terrorism. The research was conducted for Walla by Prof. Camil Fuchs of “Panel Project Hamidgam” and the statistician Yosef Miklada of…

A new poll by the Midgam Institute on Friday revealed that the Knesset’s largest parties have dropped sharply, with Likud falling from its current 30 seats to just 25 mandates. The poll, conducted for Yedioth Aharonoth, found that if elections were held today, the leftist Zionist Union would also take a hit, dropping from 24 seats…

The Book of Shemot is the Dawn of a New Age for the Jewish People. Parshat Shemot starts us off with a bang! “A new King arose over Egypt, who did not know Yosef”. Rashi says he acted as though he did not know Yosef. The Mayanah Shel Torah quoting the Imrei Aish LaZaddik Hakodosh…

Many users have reported a bug with the WhatsApp application on Thursday evening amid New Year’s Eve. Complaints included users’ inability to receive or send messages. However, the error was resolved and the application retuned to operate normally. A similar malfunction occurred last May when the popular app briefly collapsed for an unknown reason. Last February,…

The Defense Ministry handed over to the Palestinian Authority (PA) the bodies of eight Arab terrorists who carried out recent terror attacks and were neutralized by security forces. Seven bodies were transferred to the PA at the Bethany (Al-Eizariya) checkpoint, as the terrorists were residents of the Ramallah area of Samaria. The body of another terrorist…

Passengers on Air India Flight 131 from Mumbai to London on Wednesday were held hostage by an illegal stowaway on the plane, who forced the pilot to turn around and return to their point of take-off. The tiny stowaway was remarkable for one very blatant reason – he was a rat. Flight AI 131 was making its…

The FBI revealed on Thursday night right ahead of New Year’s Eve that a Muslim who pledged loyalty to Islamic State (ISIS) was arrested on Wednesday, for planning a bombing or machete attack on revelers. The would-be attacker, 25-year-old Emanuel Lutchman of Rochester, New York, is an ex-con Muslim convert with mental issues according to NBC, and he…

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed on Wednesday that the plans to switch from a parliamentary to a presidential system would not turn Turkey into a “dictatorship” under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Davutoglu made the comments while speaking to NTV just after a lengthy meeting with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), about the…

While it may not be 2016 in the United States and Europe just yet, some countries in the Southern Hemisphere have already begun their New Year celebration. Samoa and Kiribati were the first countries to ring in the New Year. New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and parts of Russia have since joined in celebration. The Israeli…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction has begun celebrating 51 years since it’s first terror attack on January 1, 1965, when it tried to bomb Israel’s National Water Carrier. That first attack, known as Intilaqa or “the launch,” came two years before the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel liberated the territories Fatah…

An indictment was filed Monday against a 15-year-old Arab girl for two counts of attempted murder and two counts of possession of a knife, after she tried twice to carry out deadly stabbing attacks against Jews in Jerusalem. According to the indictment, on December 6 the terrorist minor decided to carry out a deadly stabbing…

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas blasted Israel on Thursday, claiming that it was the Israeli government which refuses to work towards a peace agreement with the PA and wishes to perpetuate “the occupation”. Speaking at a speech marking the 51st anniversary of his Fatah movement, Abbas turned directly to the Israeli people and charged,…

Germany will reinstate individual interviews for Syrian asylum seekers from Friday, the interior ministry said on Thursday, essentially tightening an official procedure that had been relaxed for citizens of the war-torn country. In a bid to swiftly process a million migrants who have arrived in Germany this year alone, Berlin had earlier simplified the asylum…

The Education Ministry on Thursday backed away slightly from its disqualification of a novel depicting a love story between an Israeli and Palestinian which it earlier deemed inappropriate for study by high school students, Haaretz reported. At the same time, Education Minister Naftali Bennett unequivocally backed the ministry’s decision to ban the book from the…

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told forces on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf Thursday that the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) group was starting to bear its fruit. “The war (against ISIS) is being played out here,” he said aboard the Charles de Gaulle, which is participating in the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes on ISIS in Syria and…

Rabbi Chaim Druckman, head of the Bnei Akiva yeshivas and a leading religious Zionist figure, on Thursday harshly criticized the impending decision to close the IDF Rabbinate’s Jewish Consciousness Department. “Harming the Jewish Consciousness Department is the same as seriously harming the IDF and the fighting spirit of IDF soldiers,” said the rabbi. “It is forbidden…

The Canadian government said Thursday it had welcomed more than 6,000 Syrian migrants by the end of 2015, falling short of its pledge to take in 10,000 but vowing to meet that target next month. New Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had initially promised to resettle 25,000 Syrian migrants by December 31. But his Liberal government then pushed the target date to…

The Syrian regime army launched an attack on Thursday in order to try and regain control of south-western territory that the government has lost over the last three years. The rebels claim that the attack began at dawn, when the army stormed the town of Samdaniya al Gharbiya near the Israeli border. Both sides claim that…

French President Francois Hollande said in his New Year’s Eve address to the nation Thursday that France “has not finished with terrorism yet.” Speaking six weeks after Islamic State (ISIS) gunmen and suicide bombers murdered 130 people in Paris, Hollande said the threat of another attack “remains at its highest level.” After a year in which jihadists also attacked the French satirical newspaper…

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah met with a German dignitary just days after Samir Kuntar’s assassination and told him that Hezbollah would extract a heavy price from Israel for Kuntar’s death.   The German emissary had reportedly traveled to Lebanon after the hit in an effort to calm tensions. According to the report, Nasrallah said in response: “Hezbollah’s…

Prosecutors filed indictments with the Be’er Sheva District Court on Thursday against two Arabs originally from Jerusalem accused of planning a bomb attack on a hotel in Eilat.  The pair, identified as Khalil Nimri and Ashraf Salaima, had been residing and working in Eilat for several years when they plotted to plant explosives inside one of the…

Following yesterday’s arrival of “Breaking The Silence” at Tel Hai College, located near the city of Kiryat Shmonah, one enterprising pizzeria owner from the town promised a free pizza to anyone who interfered with the extremist left wing organization. Eran Bitton posted on the internet that he would give a free pizza to any student who…

The Kremlin published on its official website Wednesday Christmas and New Year’s greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin to numerous other heads of state. In his message to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Putin noted with satisfaction that Russian-Israeli relations have “retained their positive dynamics,” even improving in the last year.  Putin added that these positive dynamics are an…

The two Arab children detained in Jerusalem Wednesday carrying knives in their pockets have denied police accusations they were planning to carry out a stabbing attack in the capital.  The Jerusalem Magistrates Court extended the 12-year-old pair’s remand by two days on Thursday, though their lawyer claims the court understands police mishandled the case.  Although found in possession of…

The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) began intensive bombardment near the Gaza Strip this morning in the area surrounding the Egyptian town of Rafah. According to Palestinian media reports EAF planes entered into the airspace of Gaza itself. The target of the air raids are positions belonging to ISIS’s Egypt branch, known as “Sinai Province.” Arabic language Sky…

Six inebriated men reportedly shouted anti-Semitic slurs at a group of people they identified as Jewish in Budapest’s historic Jewish quarter on Tuesday. Citing Hungarian watchdog, the Forum against anti-Semitism, JTA reported the incident occurred between 12 and 1 a.m. (local time) on Dob Street in the center of Hungary’s capital.  The six men began screaming “dirty Jews” at the…

With year-end Top Ten lists filling newspapers, magazines, TV shows and the internet, one of the most important concerns the way in which the media portrays Israel. Entitled “Top Ten MidEast Media Mangles for 2015,” it was compiled by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), as part of its proactive…

An IDF soldier in his 20s was been injured in a car-ramming attack near the Arab village of Huwara in Samaria. The terrorist was shot dead at the scene by security forces. The injured soldier was evacuated by IDF medics to Beilinson hospital with light injuries. Huwara and its environs have been a focal point of Arab…

According to estimates by the Central Bureau of Statistics, as of December 31, 2015, the population of Israel stands at 8.462 million people.  An approximate 6.335 million people are Jews, making up 74.9% of the population. Arabs make up 20.7% percent of the population, with an estimated 1.757 million people.  Another 370,000 Israeli citizens do not fall…

Two British teenagers, fined in June on charges of stealing artifacts from the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, will now face trial for the same offense, a Polish prosecutor said Wednesday. The two, back in England, were given a one-year probation along with the fine after pleading guilty in June, then released by Polish authorities. But they have since reversed their…

Israel’s Education Ministry has disqualified a novel which depicts a romance between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man from use in high schools across the country, Haaretz reported Wednesday.  Dorit Rabinyan’s “Gader Haya” (known in English as “Borderlife”) was rejected because of the need to maintain “the identity and heritage of students in every sector” and…

Loading… Efrat Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin has announced his opposition to Jews celebrating the secular New Year, known as “Sylvester” in Israel. In a special interview with Arutz Sheva, Riskin asserted that secular New Year’s festivities are not compatible with the Jewish spirit.  He explained that Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, has far-reaching spiritual meaning throughout the year,…

A new ticket price reform for public transportation will be taking place beginning January 1st, 2016. The reform will affect the majority of the Israeli population and be focused on Israel’s metropolises and their surrounding areas. Under the new reforms, single rides and the use of monthly passes will stay the same, but the cost will…

Knesset Finance Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) launched an unusually harsh attack on MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) Wednesday during a discussion of budgetary transfers.  “We hate you,” Gafni blasted, apparently in reference to religious Zionists. “You are greedy Sicarii.” The Sicarii were a group of extremist Jews that carried out assassinations shortly before…

As part of his campaign against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for leadership of the Likud party, freshman MK Oren Hazan has circulated among members of the ruling party a list of his achievements since being elected to the Knesset.  But, according to Channel 10, the list is filled with initiatives stolen from other Knesset members or, worse still, accomplishments simply invented by…

Just hours after Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot paid a visit to Israel’s northern border with Syria, IDF forces in the Golan Heights have been placed on high alert over the possibility of a Hezbollah attack in revenge for the assassination of senior terrorist commander Samir Kuntar last week. In light of intelligence assessments gauging…

The coalition faced another tough loss in the Knesset on Wednesday after a vote on a bill it supported ended with a tie.  At the end of a stormy debate, the Knesset rejected a preliminary reading of a bill proposed by MK Yifat Shasha-Biton (Kulanu) to lower the minimum age at which children can begin working…

An Israeli minister and close ally of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sought Wednesday to play down revelations the United States spied on the premier’s private communications. “I didn’t fall off my chair from The Wall Street Journal report,” Yuval Steinitz, minister of energy and a former intelligence minister, said on public radio. The WSJ revealed…

President Barack Obama’s administration is preparing new sanctions on international companies and individuals over Iran’s ballistic missile program, sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday, according to the Reuters news agency. According to the report, the potential sanctions would target about 12 companies and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates…

Russia on Wednesday slammed as “absurd” accusations by the United States that Russian air strikes in Syria are killing hundreds of civilians. Russia has come under growing criticism from the West as well as human rights groups and Syrian rebels for inflicting civilian casualties in its two-month bombing campaign in the war-torn country. The State…

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said Wednesday his committee will look into a report that the United States spied on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and in the process swept up communications with Congress. Speaking to The Associated Press, Nunes said he had asked the director of National Intelligence and…

The Jewish youth held for nearly a month in connection to the deadly Duma arson spoke out Wednesday a day after after his release from Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) custody.   “I didn’t understand what they wanted from me,” he recounted to Channel 2. “I went into the interrogation room and they started yelling at me, ‘We…

The Cabinet approved Wednesday Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel’s proposal to advance a systematic and structural economic development plan for Israel’s Arab sector.  The plan includes structural corrections to government allocation mechanisms in order to reduce disparities between Israel’s Jewish and minority populations.  It also allocates resources for implementing a…

Ronen Shoval, the Chairman of the Academic Council for National Policy, told Arutz Sheva that recent criticism leveled at Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked from Hebrew University professors has exposed the widely held belief Israeli academia is dominated by the Left.  “When I did my doctorate at Hebrew University, two lecturers who had seen my dissertation topic came up to me…

The Municipality of Jerusalem sent pink slips to 170 sanitation workers in the city on Thursday morning. The move is part of a larger scale plan to cut down on city spending by laying off close to 2,000 city employees over the coming months. The layoffs will hit almost all sectors of employment under the…

Noted Israeli authors have joined leftist politicians in outrage over the Education Ministry’s decision to to disqualify a novel depicting a romance between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man from being taught in Israeli high schools. Dorit Rabinyan’s “Gader Haya” (known in English as “Borderlife”) was rejected out of fear the book would promote assimilation.  “I am so…

Head of the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) told Israeli press Wednesday that the newly developed ‘Barak 8’ system which will be installed on Israeli naval ships will be able to protect Israel’s offshore gas assets. Following the successful tests of the new system in India, Yossi Weiss, CEO of the IAI, said that part of the…

The peak of Israel’s first major winter storm will hit only on Thursday night – but rain, wind and cold are expected all day.  Local rains are expected to fall throughout the day from northern Israel to the northern Negev, intensifying during the afternoon. Toward the evening, snow will also begin to fall in the north. …

Israel said Thursday it has apologized for the “deplorable behavior” of a junior diplomat at its embassy in the city-state who allegedly used a Singapore flag as a table cloth during a party. Local media said Singapore’s foreign ministry had summoned the Israeli ambassador after a police report was filed about the incident on Sunday and the identity of the diplomat was revealed.…

Something new just began in the United States. Something that until yesterday, this reporter had never fathomed would come to be. A Hassidic alternative girls rock band, which goes by the name of “Bullet Proof Stockings” just finished their first US national tour, which came complete with sold out performances across the country, and even some…

The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned what it called the “extreme statements” made by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about the Jewish connection to Hevron. At the start of a cabinet meeting earlier in the day, Netanyahu spoke about the murder of Ganedi Kofman, who passed away after being hospitalized for over three weeks struggling…

The former neighbor of the couple who carried out the massacre in San Bernardino, California, was indicted on Wednesday on charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, Reuters reports. Prosecutors say Enrique Marquez, 24, supplied assault rifles to the couple. Marquez was charged with conspiring with gunman Syed Farook in 2011 and 2012…

Israel has conditioned a return to peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) on an end to the current wave of terror, Walla! News reported on Wednesday, citing senior Palestinian officials. According to the sources, during several recent high-level security-related meetings between Israeli representatives and PA representatives, the PA representatives raised the possibility of resuming…

Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers have banned public New Year’s Eve parties in the region because they offend the territory’s “values and religious traditions”, AFP reported Wednesday. “The interior ministry and police department did not give permits to any restaurants, hotels or halls for end-of-year parties” after several venues requested permission, police spokesperson Ayman al-Batinji told…

On Wednesday evening in a local community theater setting in Jerusalem, one of the most amazing cultural experiences will take place. Three groups of improvised theater, two comprised of native Israelis and one group comprised of Anglophones, will take the same stage and perform 90 minutes of completely unscripted improvised theater in Hebrish! The event…

The game of baseball in Israel just got a face lift. And it came from MASA Israel of all places. According to a new agreement between the MASA program, Destination Israel and the Israel Association of Baseball (IAB), former minor league players from the United states and Canada will be able to participate in a six…

A senior Belgian counterterror official revealed on Wednesday that the two men arrested the day before for planning terror attacks on “emblematic sites” in Brussels during New Year’s celebrations are members of a Muslim biker gang. The official told CNN on condition of anonymity that the two are part of the Kamikaze Riders gang, and spoke about…

In the world of technological breakthroughs, two superpowers are combining forces to help each other progress, further and faster. China and Israel are partnering on a number of projects that are aimed to help both countries excel in research, both academic and practical. In early January, representatives from large technology companies from both Israel and…

Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized investigators in the nationalist crime department of the police on Tuesday night, after they arrested his client for taking part in a wedding in which Jewish extremists appeared to celebrate the deadly Duma arson while waving weapons. A total of five people, including the groom, were arrested on Tuesday, after video from the event was…

An Israeli company by the name of ‘Simply Green’ [in Hebrew ‘Pashut Yarok’] recently received authorization, and began to export foam safety surfaces for children’s playgrounds to countries throughout the European Union. Simply Green, is an frontrunner in creating safety surfaces for children’s playgrounds and open park spaces, complete with plastic foam shockpads that are placed…

Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem announced on Wednesday morning that Ganedi Kofman, who was stabbed by an Arab terrorist outside the Cave of Machpelah in Hevron just over three weeks ago on December 7, has died from his wounds. Throughout his hospitalization Kofman remained in serious condition in intensive care, suffering from life-threatening wounds. Dr. Ofer…

The United States is seeking to destroy Islamic civilization and Iranians should be aware of that, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Tuesday. “One of the main tools used by the enemies to prevent the birth of modern Islamic civilization is through creating divisions among Muslims,” he told a meeting of Muslim…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office distanced itself on Tuesday night from reports that Minister Uri Ariel, in his previous role as Housing Minister, had planned construction of homes in the E1 area which connects Jerusalem to Ma’aleh Adumim. On Monday, the Peace Now organization said that the housing ministry was seeking to build 55,548 units…

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced on Tuesday that he decided not to open a criminal investigation against former Defense Minister Ehud Barak over him possibly exposing confidential information about a possible Israeli attack on Iran. Barak, in interviews with the authors of a biography on him, revealed that Israel was ready to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities…

Israel is anticipated to come under a winter storm this Friday with possible snow falling in the capital of Jerusalem, but the wintry weather started showing signs already on Tuesday night with rain in the coastal plains. Local rains are expected on Wednesday, from Haifa in the north to Be’er Sheva in the south, accompanied by…

Deputy Attorney General Attorney Raz Nizri, who paid a visit to the suspects being held over the deadly Duma arson attack, has forcefully rejected claims by their attorneys of torture. According to Nizri, the detainees were in good physical and emotional condition when he met with them, and he accused the defense team of greatly…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday about the murder of Ganedi Kofman, who passed away earlier in the day after being hospitalized for over three weeks struggling to recover from an Arab terrorist stabbing attack at the Cave of Machpelah in Hevron. At the start of a Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu sent his condolences to Kofman’s…

The copyright of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” expires Friday, with plans by several publishers for annotated reprints sparking fierce debate over how one of the world’s most controversial books should be treated seven decades after the defeat of the genocidal Nazis. The southern German state of Bavaria was handed the copyright of the book in 1945, when the Allies gave…

Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) excavations ahead of the construction of a new neighborhood in the coastal city of Rosh Ha’ayin to the east of Petah Tikva have uncovered an ancient farmhouse, along with an ancient monastery. Dozens of teenagers from preparatory programs and youth villages are taking part in the excavation, which has unearthed an ancient…

The lawyers of one of the minor Jewish suspects being interrogated in the lethal Duma arson case photographed his wrists, to prove his claims before the court that he attempted to commit suicide to put an end to the alleged brutal torture by the Israeli Security Agency (ISA). After the minor revealed last week that he tried…

Freshman Likud MK Oren Hazan indicated on Tuesday night that he is weighing running against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for leadership of the ruling party in primaries. While voting in elections that appointed the new head of the Likud center and moved up primaries on the Likud leadership, Hazan on Tuesday night said he is considering…

The Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning ordered to release on bail Daniel Pinner, who was arrested the night before for taking part in a wedding in which alleged Jewish extremists appeared to celebrate the deadly Duma arson while waving weapons, and also to release the groom. A total of five people were arrested on Tuesday, after video from the event was…

A top aide to Chicago’s mayor was assault by a man hurling anti-Semitic abuse, at a vigil protesting the shooting of 19-year-old college student by police. Vance Henry, who is not Jewish, serves as Deputy Chief of Staff to Chicago’s Jewish Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Henry was assaulted on Sunday as he attended the vigil for 55-year-old Bettie Jones and…

President Barack Obama’s administration continued to spy after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, even after he announced two years ago he would curtail the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping program on friendly heads of state, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Current and former officials who spoke to the newspaper said that the White House decided to…

The United States expressed concern on Tuesday at what it said was the heavy civilian toll of “indiscriminate” Russian air strikes in Syria. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and conveyed Washington’s worries, AFP reported. State Department spokesman Mark Toner, citing reports from what he…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu secured a victory at the Likud Central Committee on Tuesday evening, as members of the committee voted to approve his proposal to hold early primaries for the party’s leadership. The vote on the identity of the Likud leader is scheduled for February 23, 2016. Netanyahu was seeking to move up the…

The Am Yisrael Foundation and the North Central Synagogue of Tel Aviv dedicated a new Torah scroll on Sunday, in honor of the 72 IDF soldiers who fell during Operation Protective Edge. During 2014 over 1,000 long range rockets were fired by Hamas at cities across Israel, including Jerusalem, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Tel Aviv endangering the majority of Israel’s population. In response, the IDF targeted…

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will apparently enjoy deluxe conditions in jail, after being sentenced to 18 months in prison for receiving a 60,000 shekel (over $15,000) bribe when he was Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism. He had been sentenced to six years in jail for two bribery charges, but the Supreme Court partially accepted his…

Border Police officers came under fire by Arab terrorists on Tuesday night near Beit Horon in Samaria, to the northwest of Jerusalem. Reportedly the officers identified several Arab terrorists armed with guns driving in a car adjacent to the village of Tira along Highway 443, in a section of the road in Samaria to the northwest of…

A son of the Syrian-born radical cleric Omar Bakri has been killed in Iraq fighting for the Islamic State (ISIS) group, security sources said Tuesday. The Popular Mobilization, a paramilitary group, said that it and the security forces had killed Bilal Omar Bakri. He was “leading a group that tried to attack one of our units” in Salaheddin north of Baghdad,…

Leading a new wave of incitement, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction has called on Palestinian children to “water (the ground) with blood” to destroy Israel. Security Forces official spokesperson Adnan Al-Damiri put a post on Facebook last week from the Fatah Shabiba youth movement addressed to Palestinian children, as translated and revealed by…

The Honenu legal aid organization argued on Tuesday that despite the Lod District Court ruling earlier in the day to release one of the Jewish suspects in the lethal Duma arson to house arrest, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) is refusing to let him go. According to the organization, IPS representatives told the suspect’s family…

Police in Jerusalem on Tuesday arrested the groom from a wedding three weeks ago, after video from the event was leaked to the media showing Jewish extremists appearing to celebrate the deadly Duma arson while waving weapons. Aside from the groom, three other participants in the wedding were also arrested, and will be brought on Wednesday for a…

Ukrainian lawmaker Artyom Vitko, who is on a committee to improve Ukraine-Israel ties, sang a pro-Hitler song in a video that appeared online over the weekend. The footage shows Vitko, a member of Oleg Lyashko’s Radical Party, wearing camouflage fatigues and singing along with a song praising the genocidal Nazi leader. “Adolf Hitler is with us, Adolf Hitler…

An Islamic State (ISIS) leader with “direct” links to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, ringleader of the lethal Paris attacks, was among 10 senior figures in the group killed in Syria and Iraq this month, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Baghdad-based US military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told reporters that Charaffe al Mouadan had been killed on December 24. Mouadan had been actively plotting further…

An Egyptian court has reduced the jail term for a Muslim scholar convicted of “insulting Islam” on his television show from five years to one, judicial officials and his lawyer said Tuesday. Islam al-Behairy faced an uproar in April after remarks he made on his program “With Islam,” in which he called for reforms in “traditional Islamic discourse.” On his show on private…

The Lod District Court on Tuesday issued a ruling providing legality to the agreements reached between the state attorney’s office and the lawyer of Uri Baram, who published videos against State Attorney Shai Nitzan. Attorney Adi Keidar is representing Baram, who said he published the provocative videos “to expose the discrimination that Nitzan has in investigating complaints over incitement,”…

A two-year-old infant boy was hospitalized in serious condition on Tuesday, after being diagnosed with the H1N1 virus commonly known as swine flu. The boy is receiving treatment at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, with doctors noting he suffered from background illnesses, a factor which heightens the risk of coming down with the virus. After arriving at…

Banknotes printed to look like $100 bills with Arabic on them and the picture of Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi were found Tuesday morning at several Jewish towns in northern Israel, after being apparently placed by pro-ISIS Arab citizens. The ISIS bills were discovered at Yesud Hama’ala, Hulata, and even at the entrance to a…