Category: News

Forty seven years after it disappeared, the Israeli Navy has released all the information it has about the sinking of the Dakar, the submarine which disappeared with its crew in January, 1968. Navy Commander Ram Rothenburg met with bereaved families as the Navy submitted its official report on the tragedy, in which 69 crew members were lost.…

Holocaust denier and self-styled historian David Irving is leading tours of concentration camps, the Daily Mail reports Monday – at the hefty price of £2,000 ($3072) per person.  In September, he is due to take a group of “international guests” to Latvia and Poland to visit four concentration camps, as well as one of Hitler’s fortresses. The tour…

After clearing away villages and farms within 3 to 5 kilometers of its border with Gaza, Egypt on Monday embarked on the second stage of its plan to protect itself from Hamas terrorists and tunnel smugglers – the construction of a medieval-style moat around Gaza. Last October, Egypt conducted its own “disengagement,” forcing residents of…

Heavy flooding in Pakistan has washed away thousands of homes – and the Pakistani government has responded curiously: It has offered aid to homeless Muslim families, but ignores hundreds of Christians facing the same plight. As if that were not enough, Muslim charities then stepped up to the plate with an offer they hoped the Christians couldn’t…

An Egyptian muezzin (prayer caller) who was either trying to appeal to the young set in a village north of Cairo, or who had a sense of humor, is in hot water, after he replaced a traditional line about how “Prayer is better than sleeping” with one that elevated prayer over Facebook use. Mahmud al-Moghazi…

A regional governor in Poland said Monday he had serious doubts about the alleged discovery of a Nazi gold train, days aftera deputy culture minister revealed he was “more than 99 percent sure” one had been found. “There is no more proof for this alleged discovery than for other claims made over the years,” Tomasz Smolarz, governor of the southwestern…

The man who wanted to kill Jews because they have “too much power”, and who admitted to killing three people outside two Jewish centers in Kansas City last year, was on Monday convicted of murder and other charges. According to CBS News, it took the jury of seven men and five women just over two…

IDF troops, accompanied by fighters from the Yamam counterterrorist unit and personnel from the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) were attacked on Monday night as they were arresting wanted terrorists in Jenin. Palestinian Arab sources said that several wanted terrorists were killed in the exchange of fire. The terrorist that the forces were planning to…

President Reuven Reuven and First Lady Nechama hosted ambassadors and diplomats representing over 100 countries, on Monday morning – and his  speech aroused some criticism from nationalist elements. The traditional reception in honor of Rosh HaShanah, the upcoming Jewish New Year, was held at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. President Rivlin told his guests, “The State of Israel…

The Taliban has admitted publicly for the first time that they covered up leader Mullah Mohammed Omar’s death for over two years, in order to keep their ranks.  On Monday, a new biography was posted in five languages online about the new Taliban chief, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, in an apparent attempt to unite discord within the terror…

The Judea-Samaria Unit’s Menashe Brigade simulated a shooting attack on civilians on Monday, in a special exercise on the road leading to the Jewish community of Mevo Dotan in northern Samaria (Shomron).  “The fighters are in a state of constant vigilance – vigilance that we must preserve,” says Menashe deputy brigade commander, Colonel Kfir Edri. “For…

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has deemed the Iranian nuclear deal a “bold stroke of diplomacy” on Monday, as a public relations war over the deal mounts ahead of an expected showdown in US Congress.  Albright penned an opinion piece in CNN drawing on her experiences under former US President Jimmy Carter. “During my time in…

When it comes to Christian Zionism, most people think of the United States – and with good cause. Groups like Christians United For Israel (CUFI) have been among the leading lights in Israel advocacy, with a highly motivated and active grassroots base and support from a diverse range of senior clergymen and women. In terms of numbers,…

  Jaffa Gate and A(braham) Fast’s restaurant.  (Debbas Collection, British Library) We wanted to know more about the store on the left with the sign “A Fast. Restauranteur.”  Was this a tourist establishment of Abraham Fast, who in 1907 took over a large hotel several hundred meters to the west of the building pictured above and renamed…

Parents of pupils in Ashkelon’s School of the Arts are threatening to boycott the start of the school year because of the appointment of a radical leftist principal. Avital Benshalom was approved as the principal of the school, despite opposition from parents and Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni over reports that she signed a petition calling on…

A panel of Supreme Court judges rejected on Monday an appeal by former Balad MK Said Nafaa against his conviction and sentencing for contact with a foreign agent in the course of an illegal trip to Syria, eight years ago. He will serve 12 months in jail. In 2007, Nafaa helped organize a visit by…

Tragedy in central Israel: a 44-year-old reservist soldier collapsed and died Sunday during training at the Adam military facility, reported Channel 10 Monday. The soldier belonged to the Idan formation in Central Command. He had been carrying out physical training when he felt chest pain and collapsed. He was evacuated to the base’s medical clinic…

Republicans intend to “hammer” Senate Democrats next month if they do not allow a vote on a measure disapproving President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, according to The Hill. Republicans, who oppose the deal unanimously, need the support of six Democrats to break a filibuster by Democrats, while the deal’s supporters need 41 Senate votes…

Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma has co-authored an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal urging individual US states to widen sanctions against Iran even as the White House and Congress undo their sanctions against the rogue Islamist republic. President Barack Obama’s deal with Iran “welcomes Iran as a participant in the world community…

Saudi Arabia allowed women to register to stand in local elections on Sunday, a historic first for the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, AFP reports. In a country where women face a host of restrictions, including a driving ban, the move was welcomed as an important step forward. At the same time, noted AFP, it also faced…

While President Barack H. Obama tries to sell his Iran deal to the American people, he is having some trouble selling it to members of his own party. In what political pundits termed an “embarrassment” for the president, a resolution supporting the deal was suppressed over the weekend at the summer meeting of the Democratic…

Iran has sentenced two people to ten years in prison each for spying for the U.S. and Israel. According to Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, a spokesperson for the country’s Justice Ministry, “these two people were sentenced to 10 years in jail by the Revolutionary Court. The Judiciary welcomes and voices full preparation to improve security of…

Outgoing chief military censor Sima Vaknin-Gil has accused Israel’s most widely viewed television channel, Channel 2, and its diplomatic reporter, Udi Segal, of harming national security by divulging a top military secret during wartime. She also made similarly harsh accusations against ultra-leftist newspaper Haaretz. In an interview published by media monitoring website The Seventh Eye Sunday as…

For the first time since the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, which brought the already strained relations between Israel and Turkey to their lowest point, an official delegation from Turkey will arrive in Israel on Monday. The delegation will be headed by Guven Sak, one of the heads of the Turkish Manufacturers and Traders association, and…

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz are blasting the nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers, likening it to the Munich agreement signed in and which paved the way to World War II. The harsh criticism of the deal came in a joint op-ed the two wrote for The…

Egypt will hold its parliamentary election starting on October 18-19, the election commission said on Sunday, according to Reuters. The announcement marks the final step in a process to bring back democracy that critics say has been tainted by widespread repression.  Egypt has been without a parliament since June 2012 when a court dissolved the…

MK Sharon Gal (Yisrael Beytenu) on Sunday night said he was “confident” that the chairman of his party, MK Avigdor Liberman, will one day be prime minister. Speaking at a gathering of the Yisrael Beytenu central committee, Gal attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government and said that it is not a rightist coalition despite claiming…

Ronen Edri, 46, who was wounded in a shooting attack on Sunday as he drove past the Jit intersection, near Kedumim in Samaria, spoke to Channel 20 and recalled the ordeal. Edri was lightly wounded by shrapnel in his hand, but managed to continue driving to a nearby IDF base, where he was treated by…

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned the British ambassador in Cairo to protest comments he made after a judge sentenced three Al-Jazeera English journalists to three years prison, reports The Associated Press (AP). The ministry said in a statement that ambassador John Casson’s comments were “unacceptable interference” in the country’s judiciary, and “incompatible with diplomatic…

A second wannabe prime minister on Sunday expressed confidence that the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would soon fall. Speaking at a party event Sunday, Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman said that he was “positive” that new elections would take place sometime in 2016 – and he told party members and MKs to get…

A report over the weekend said that the United States was likely to remove its Patriot missile defense batteries from Jordan. In a statement, Riki Ellison, Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) said that with the missile threat against Jordan from Syria greatly reduced, there was less of a need for the missile interception…

The Minister of Internal Security, Gilad Erdan, and the Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, have agreed to extend Acting Police Commissioner Bentzi Sau’s term in office by 45 days, pending government approval. During this time, a team in the Justice Ministry will vet Erdan’s candidate for commissioner, Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch. If the vetting is…

President Reuven Rivlin compared Israeli Jews’ fears of their Arab enemies to the unfounded fear people have of bees. While bees sting, he explained, they ultimately produce honey. Rivlin and his wife Nehama hosted the Honey Commission and the beekeepers for a festive Rosh Hashana gathering Sunday. Beekeepers wearing white overalls presented the president with…

Oregon’s Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley on Sunday announced his support for the Iran nuclear deal. This puts the number of supporters of the deal at 31, just three short of the 34 needed to make sure that if Congress passes a resolution of disapproval against the deal and President Barack Obama vetoes it, the veto…

Hundreds of people in Israel have signed a petition against an impending transfer of some 50 million cubic meters of water to Jordan. The transfer, set to occur in the coming days, will be an “environmental tragedy,” according to the petition, which has been signed by farmers, officials of Israel’s national parks, environmental group leaders,…

An Italian exploration firm searching for gas and oil off Egypt’s shores announced Sunday that it had found a huge natural gas deposit – the “biggest ever” find for the Mediterranean ever, according to officials for Eni SpA. According to the company, the find could provide as much as 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of…

Well-known Jewish activist Noam Federman of Kiryat Arba will stand trial for an incident last year in which Arabs ambushed his vehicle with rocks. Federman will be charged with damaging a vehicle. The incident took place when Federman was driving through Hevron with two of his children. They were ambushed at close range. Federman and…

Canada’s Federal Court of Appeals has supported the government’s decision to cut off funding for an Arab group accused of supporting terrorism and anti-Semitism. The Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) was given one million dollars each year for teaching English to new immigrants until 2009. Former Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney ended the payments at…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi today (Saturday), as part of the former’s first multi-day trip since the March election. Prime Minister Netanyahu praised Prime Minister Renzi, telling him, “Your visit to Israel [last month] made a great impression. All the people of Israel were moved by your historic speech…

Hamas has made an official request to fire United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “in light of his covering up criminal acts by the Israel Occupation Force in the Gaza Strip.” Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said in a Facebook post that an investigation into the missing Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin, which was broadcast on al-Jazeera…

Unbelievable footage has emerged showing an IDF soldier being beaten by Arab women and children in the village of Nabi Salah, Samaria The video is already being seen by some as proof that the army is having its hands effectively tied, both by increasingly restrictive instructions on how to handle violent Palestinian rioters, as well as…

Texas police have arrested a man for allegedly murdering a sheriff’s deputy in cold blood. He suspect has not been named, though a spokesperson for the police say that his mother turned him in, CNN reported. According to Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman, 47-year-old Deputy Darren Goforth had finished filling up his car last night…

Thousands of people took to the streets in Beirut today (Saturday) in order to protest against government corruption. The demonstrations, which began in response to the closure of Lebanon’s main landfill, have been growing in size over the past week. The government still has not found a solution to the problem, and garbage has been…

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani signaled Saturday there would be no quick resolution to the house arrest of the reformist political leaders who said an election was rigged in 2009. Though not mentioned by name, the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi was raised at a press conference to mark the start of…

In solidarity with the Israel Broadcasting Authority, the Histadrut announced a series of worker’s strikes on Sunday at Ben Gurion Airport, the Haifa and Ashdod seaports, all border crossings, Bailiff’s Offices and more.  The strike was scheduled from 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. with 17 departures and 18 arrivals supposed to be affected by the disruption.  The Israel Airports Authority has…

A major industrial union in the United States has voted in favor of supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Citing the Jewish state’s “long history of violating the human rights of the Palestinians,” the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America have reportedly become the first nationwide union to join the…

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced three Al-Jazeera reporters to three years in prison, prompting a condemnation from the United States which called for the ruling to be overturned. “We urge the government of Egypt to take all available measures to redress this verdict, which undermines the very freedom of expression necessary for stability and…

Iran is continuing its verbal attacks on Israel, with the latest remarks coming on Saturday by a close aide to the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The aide, Seyed Mahmoud Nabavi, was replying to British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond’s recent remarks that Tehran has changed its policy on Israel, and underlined that fighting…

Yemen’s exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said on Saturday that his forces were battling Shiite Houthi rebels across the country to check “Iranian expansion” in the region. Hadi was speaking as he made a short visit to Sudan, which was seen as being close to Iran before it joined a Saudi-led coalition against the Yemeni…

An Arab driver on Saturday night tried to run over a group of soldiers who were standing at the Hakvasim junction on Mount Hevron. One of the soldiers was lightly injured in his foot. The soldiers fired back at the vehicle and hit one of its back lights. The driver continued driving towards Hevron. Security…

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home), former President Shimon Peres and Israeli high-tech companies launched on Sunday a national education plan to strengthen the study of mathematics. The program includes such advancements as increasing the number of mathematics teachers and their resources, recrutiting high-tech professionals to meet with and lecture students, and bonus points for college…

Israel has ranked the fourth-best place to raise a family, in a poll conducted by the InterNations expat networking service. The Family Life Index ranks 41 countries according a variety of factors, including availability of childcare and education, costs of childcare and education, quality of education, family well-being, childcare and education options, and leisure activities for children.…

Assaf Shavit, a senior official in the State Prosecutor’s Office, has announced that the office will not open an investigation against MK Oren Hazan (Likud) for alleged threats against Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein.  Shavit noted in the letter sent to Aryeh Avnery, chairman of Ometz: Citizens for Good Governance and Social and Legal Justice, that the decision…

Four people were arrested by police on Saturday in clashes between Arab demonstrators and Jewish residents of the Ilaniya moshav in the Lower Galilee.  Disputes and riots broke out between dozens of Israeli Arabs – who wanted to hold a memorial ceremony for Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali – and Ilaniya residents who argued the event was being held illegally.  Al-Ali, born…

In solidarity with the Israel Broadcasting Authority, the Histadrut announced a series of worker’s strikes on Sunday at Ben Gurion Airport, the Haifa and Ashdod seaports, all border crossings, Bailiff’s Offices and more.  The strike was scheduled from 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. with 17 departures and 18 arrivals supposed to be affected by the disruption.  The Israel Airports Authority has…

A top US Republican Congressman on Saturday blasted the Iran nuclear deal as “deeply flawed” and said the agreement would make the world “less safe.”   Congress is due to vote next month on whether to endorse the deal reached in July between Iran and six world powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.…

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) met with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the latter’s UN office yesterday (Friday). During their meeting, Edelstein told Ban about Israel’s concern over the recent Iran nuclear agreement. “As a member of the Jewish people that experienced the Holocaust, I believe someone when he says he wants to destroy…

The Vatican reaffirmed its opposition to a Palestinian Authority request for the two “observer states” to the United Nations to be allowed to raise their flags at its headquarters, saying the move goes against a longheld tradition at the world body. In a statement released late Friday, the Vatican appeared to be seeking a way to cut short…

Thai police have arrested a suspect they believe was involved in the deadly bombing of a popular tourist attraction in central Bangkok two weeks ago. The suspect is a foreigner, police say, and was arrested in an apartment in a predominantly-Muslim neighborhood on the outskirts of Thailand’s capital. Police also seized bomb-making equipment at the apartment,…

Gal Hirsch claims that reports of an extended FBI investigation into his business arrangements is a “fairy tale.” He added that “every few hours interested parties drip lies and fairy tales to the media, intending to tarnish my name.” Yesterday (Friday), Channel 2 reported that the FBI and the Israeli police have been working together…

A Polish official said Friday he has seen an image made by ground-penetrating radar that seemed to prove the discovery of an armored Nazi train missing in southwestern Poland since World War II, The Associated Press (AP) reports. Local lore says a German train filled with gold, gems and armaments went missing around the city…

The Canadian public is reeling Friday, after several media outlets exposed this week that an Islamist organization had been given a grant by the City of Toronto to only allow Muslim tenants to live in a set of apartment complexes.  According to a report from global television channel CTV, over 12 applications to the complex were…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met in Florence with the heads of the Jewish communities of Italy on Friday, who represent 21 communities totaling approximately 24,000 people. “I am pleased to be with you here, as part of my visit to the World Expo and ahead of my meeting tomorrow with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi,”…

Switzerland’s Foreign Ministry expressed regret Friday, after a Swiss envoy showed a political cartoon of doves defecating on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to a conference promoting Iranian business interests in Zurich.  Guilio Haas, the Swiss envoy to Iran, displayed the image to hundreds of Swiss and Iranian businessmen on Thursday.  The Swiss Federal Department…

A student movement will protest outside the home of Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) on Saturday night, over the continued and escalating harassment of Jews on the Temple Mount.  “First, we note that we welcome recent steps by the Israel Police and Minister Erdan, who have calmed – and by no small amount – the…

Gaza’s “Economy Ministry” has successfully foiled an aid shipment of “settlement goods” through the Kerem Shalom crossing, it announced Friday.  The shipment included 204 multilock doors manufactured in Barkan, a Jewish industrial complex in Jewish areas of Judea-Samaria, all of which carried the Israeli company logo of lock manufacturer “Rav Bariach.”   The doors had been labelled…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has demonized its largest donor, Palestinian Media Watch reports Friday, after a columnist for its main publication painted America as an “occupier.”  “It is possible that the US is the biggest settlement country, since it was established on the ruins of the original inhabitants, wiped out millions of them, enslaved millions of Blacks, and…

Frazier Glenn Cross, the white supremacist charged with killing three people outside two Jewish centers in Kansas last year, on Friday asked a jury to find him not guilty because he was acting on the belief that Jews have “too much power” and must be stopped, Reuters reported.  The 74-year-old Cross, a former senior member…

Israeli-Argentinian conductor Daniel Barenboim had his hopes dashed Friday after Iran’s Ministry of Culture said he will not be allowed to perform in Tehran, Haaretz reported, citing the Iranian Fars news agency. Barenboim, general music director at Berlin’s Staatsoper opera house, had said on Thursday that there were discussions with Tehran over a proposed concert.…

Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday urged Iran to free Amir Hekmati, a former American Marine, from four years of “unjust detention.” Saturday marks the fourth anniversary of Hekmati’s imprisonment on what Kerry called “false espionage charges” while Hekmati was visiting relatives in the Islamic Republic. “We repeat our call on the Iranian government…

Israel promised following Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in summer 2014 that a cessation of hostilities would “bring quiet” to Israel and the region.  One year after the war officially ended, however, a close look at IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) figures reveal that southern Israel has never been “quiet” from…

President Barack Obama on Friday addressed Jewish communities throughout North America about the deal between Iran and world powers. In the webcast, co-hosted by The Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Obama made remarks about the deal before taking questions from Jews around North America. In…

Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware has announced support for the Iran deal between Washington, Tehran, and other global powers on Friday, according to the Associated Press, making him the thirtieth senator to support the deal ahead of an expected Congressional showdown.  “The stakes surrounding this deal couldn’t be higher,” Carper wrote, in a piece he penned…

After Prince Albert II of Monaco made the first official apology of his country on Thursday for its role in deporting Jews to Nazi death camps during the Holocaust, European Jewish Congress (EJC) president Dr. Moshe Kantor said it’s never too late to right past wrongs. To mark 73 years since Monaco police rounded up 66…

There’s a new, even more meaningful way to give charity to the needy. To find out what the Pantry Packers program is all about, Arutz Sheva spoke to Menachem Traxler, director of volunteering at Colel Chabad which manages the program. Pantry Packers runs a packing plant in Jerusalem where visitors and tourists can come help pack food and…

Iran appears to have built an extension to part of its Parchin military site since May, the UN nuclear watchdog said in a report obtained by the Reuters news agency on Thursday. A resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Parchin file, which includes a demand for fresh IAEA access to the site, is…

Republican presidential candidates Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are teaming up in opposing the Iran nuclear deal. According to NBC News, Cruz has invited Trump to Washington for an upcoming rally against the deal. The two are set to appear at an event organized by the Tea Party Patriots, the Center for Security Politics,…

The Israeli public approves of Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s work more than it does Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s, a new poll released Thursday found. The poll, conducted by Panel Politics for the Knesset Channel, found that only 27% of the Israeli public is satisfied with Kahlon’s performance, compared to 53% who is dissatisfied with him.…

Switzerland’s ambassador to Iran on Thursday called the Islamic Republic a “pole of stability” in the Middle East and urged companies to make the most of a lucrative market about to re-open after years of crippling sanctions, Reuters reports. The ambassador, Giulio Haas, was addressing some 500 Swiss business people as Europeans race back to…

A senior American Treasury official will travel to Israel this week to discuss the nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers with senior Israeli officials, the Treasury Department said on Thursday, according to the Reuters news agency. Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin will travel to Israel from Friday through…

This Thursday marked a full year since a ceasefire was sealed between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization last August 27, bringing Operation Protective Edge to a close – but the ceasefire has been anything but quiet. Gaza terrorists marked a year since the end of Hamas’s third terror war seeking to destroy Israel by…

A billboard in central Tel Aviv announcing the opening of an Iranian embassy that met with disbelief and curiosity turned out to be a hoax, organizers of the eye-catching stunt have revealed. “Opening here soon – Embassy of Iran in Israel,” proclaimed the five-storey tall sign emblazoned with the Iranian and Israeli flags this week. Posts on Facebook suggested that…

Analysts revealed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) launched an unofficial war on Kurdish forces last month as a ploy to make up for its historic failure in June elections – but new polls on Friday show Erdogan may have shot himself in the foot ahead of snap elections. After an…

Rabbi Sampson Raphael Hirsch asks the question why G-d Almighty did not destroy Amalek instantaneously as he had done to the Egyptian army at the Splitting of Yam Suf. Hashem in his infinite wisdom preferred instead that we actively wage war against Amalek from one generation to the next. The struggle against anti-Semitism requires continual…

Parshat Ki Teitzei is the most mitzva-rich of all sedras, with 74 of the Torah’s 613 mitzvot – slightly over 12% of all the mitzvot in this one of the 54 sedras. Parshat Ki Teitzei also has the most parshiyot in the Torah – 44. Let’s focus in on one specific parsha, one with two…

Two French journalists were arrested on Thursday and remained in detention on Friday, after they tried to extort 3 million euros ($3.4 million) from Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Eric Laurent and Catherine Graciet have been named as the two reporters, reports Associated Press. Eric Dupont-Moretti, a lawyer of King Mohammed…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon condemned the increase in threats and violence against haredi IDF soldiers and their recruiters on Thursday, just after reports surfaced that dozens of threatening phone calls had been made to IDF recruiters within the cloistered community.  “Verbal and physical violence directed at religious and haredi soldiers and their recruiters – both [recruiters] from the social arm…

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) was “stunned” by the “stridency and personal nature” of attacks against him, after he announced his support for the Iran nuclear deal, reported the Jewish Week Wednesday. But NY State Assemblyman Dov Hikind was unimpressed by Nadler’s feelings of shock. he sent Nadler a stuffed teddy bear and a card Thursday, telling…

The key suspect in a 1996 bombing that killed 19 US airmen in Saudi Arabia was arrested this month at Beirut airport on arrival from Tehran, a Lebanese security official said Thursday. “Internal Security Forces (ISF) arrested Ahmed al-Mughassil at Beirut airport on August 8 after he arrived from Iran on a forged passport,” the security official told AFP. “He…

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the U.S. Representative for New York’s 12th congressional district, said Wednesday she will vote against President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. “There are strong arguments for and against the agreement but, as a matter of conscience, I have decided to oppose it,” Maloney said in a statement to the New York…

Haredi soldiers and recruiters are receiving threatening messages from extremists within their own community, victims revealed to the Israeli press on Thursday, as part of an ongoing incitement and hatred campaign against the IDF’s religious staff.  Victims have received such insults as “Israel hater,” “burner of souls,” and been told to check into mental health…

Eleven Jewish former members of Congress signed an ad in Thursday’s New York Times urging their former colleagues to support the nuclear deal with Iran. “We championed the U.S.-Israel alliance as members of the House and Senate, and we all strongly support this agreement because it will enhance the security of the U.S., the State…

President Reuven Rivlin visited Christian sites in the Jordan Valley on Thursday, and met with Church and community leaders, ahead of his upcoming visit to Italy and the Vatican next week. As part of the visit, the President also visited Tabgha, and the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes on the banks of the Sea…

Terrorist forces threw a firebomb at a Border Police vehicle in the neighborhood of A-Tur in eastern Jerusalem Wednesday, and succeeded in setting it ablaze. The policemen who were inside the vehicle managed to escape with their lives but one of them, aged 23, suffered smoke inhalation and was hospitalized in light condition at Shaare…

Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders have set September 15-16 as the dates for their first congress in nearly 20 years after Chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced his resignation as head of a top executive body. The meeting of the Palestine National Council (PNC), a congress representing those in the PA and abroad, is to be held in Ramallah. “It has been decided to ask…

Spain public radio RNE said Thursday it had removed an episode of a program that linked Jews to Satanism from its website after receiving complaints from Jewish groups, AFP reported. “The director of Spanish National Radio (RNE), given the controversy and annoyance caused be the program, has removed this episode from the Internet,” a spokesman…

An Arizona man has been charged with supporting the Islamic State (ISIS) by helping a New York college student get terror training in Syria, NBC News reported Thursday. Ahmed Mohammed El Gammal, also known as Jammie Gammal, 42, of Avondale, Arizona, was indicted for providing material support to ISIS. Prosecutors say Gammal posted comments on…

Hamas on Thursday published a new propaganda video which, it claims, sheds new light on the circumstances surrounding the death and kidnapping of the body of IDF soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin during Operation Protective Edge. In the video, which aired through the Al-Jazeera television network, Hamas denies it violated a ceasefire on the day of…

The High Court for Justice decided Thursday to temporarily block a new IDF order that forbids secular soldiers to grow beards, as the court reviews a motion filed against the order. Attorney Lior Shteltzer, who filed the motion, argued Thursday that the High Court “determined 18 years ago that the right to grow a beard…

Jewish reggae singer Matisyahu defiantly played a concert just outside of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on Thursday, days after a Spanish music festival had cancelled – and then reinstated – his concert on the basis that he was Jewish.  “Played in the last remaining Synagogue outside of Auschwitz in the city Oświęcim,” Matisyahu announced on…

The United States will be isolated on the world stage and its influence diminished if Congress rejects the Iran nuclear deal, the US ambassador to the United Nations has warned. In an editorial published by Politico, Samantha Power argued that a “no” vote from Congress would make it more difficult for the United States to drum up support for sanctions…

Israel wants to use its leading edge in agricultural innovation to help improve food production across Africa, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in Milan on Thursday. Visiting Israel’s pavilion at the World Expo on the outskirts of the city, Netanyahu said cooperation with Italy in Africa would be top of his agenda at talks with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi…

The Internal Security Ministry reacted angrily to the attempts of several former police commissioners to block the planned appointment of Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch to the position.  Five former police commissioners as well as some 30 former police major generals gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night blasting Hirsch as an “unsuitable” candidate and accusing Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan…

In an op-ed in the Washington Post, two former Obama administration officials urged for Israel to be provided with bunker-buster bombs, in order to be able to make a credible threat against Iran if that country gets too close to developing a nuclear device. Dennis Ross, a former Middle East envoy, and David Petraeus, who directed…

A group of nearly 200 retired generals and admirals sent a letter to Congress Wednesday urging lawmakers to reject the Iran nuclear agreement, The Washington Post reported. The letter is the latest in a blizzard of missives petitioning Congress to either support or oppose the agreement with Iran. So far, letters have been sent by…

Iran on Wednesday dismissed British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond’s recent remarks that Tehran has changed its policies on Israel, stressing that the “Zionist regime” had no place in diplomatic talks between Tehran and London. “We have rejected such media hype (before) and during Mr. Hammond’s trip to Iran, we just discussed potentials of bilateral relations,…

Democratic presidential candidate Doug Shreffler talks about his campaign, which follows the motto ““as good as it gets”.” What are the main issues that he would deal with, if elected, and what are his reasons for running for president? Click here to download the podcast

The black man who allegedly shot to death two journalists during a live broadcast on Wednesday before taking his own life has apparently claimed he was sent over the edge by the recent massacre of black worshippers in South Carolina, AFP reports. ABC News had said it received a rambling 23-page manifesto two hours after…

The Israel Air Force on Wednesday night launched an airstrike against a weapons manufacturing site belonging to Hamas in central Gaza. According to a statement from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, the airstrike was retaliation for a rocket attack by Gaza terrorists several hours earlier. “The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for the…

Yaakov Litzman will officially take on the position of Israel’s Health Minister – a job he has been doing for the past several years in the current and previous governments of Binyamin Netanyahu, if not under that title. Litzman said Thursday he was prepared to accept the High Court’s ruling and take the position, after his…

Residents and politicians of Herzliya are up in arms over a new plan by the municipality to operate “Shabbat shuttles” – minibuses that will transport riders from outlying neighborhoods to the city’s beaches and the Arena shopping center on the Jewish day of rest.  The shuttle is expected to go into operation next April, city officials…

Israeli-Argentinian conductor Daniel Barenboim is hoping to take one of Germany’s top orchestras to Iran to perform a concert, the Berlin State Opera said Thursday, drawing outrage from Israel.  Barenboim, 72, who is general music director of the German capital’s flagship opera house, the State Opera, “is in talks with Iran about a possible concert in Tehran by the Staatskapelle…

The Movement for Quality Government filed an appeal on Thursday requesting an additional High Court hearing on the appointment of Shas chairman Aryeh Deri to a ministerial position.  The petition argues that the High Court changed existing law when it allowed a man convicted of bribery to serve as a senior minister.  The request comes after the…

Fifteen years after the infamous “Ramallah lynching,” in which Arabs brutally murdered two IDF soldiers, a military court has decided that that one of its participants isn’t a murderer, after all.  Marwan Ma’adi was convicted on Thursday of assault for his role in the murders, after his attorney successfully argued that Ma’adi “could not predict the final…

A new clip published by Hamas on Wednesday night depicts terrorist fighters training for attacks against Israel inside terror tunnels.  These underground tunnels, which connect Hamas-controlled Gaza to Israel’s southern Gaza belt, have been preserved or rebuilt since Operation Protective Edge last summer.  The terrorists of the so-called “tunnel unit” are seen practicing organized action,…

An Arab terrorist attempted to attack a group of Border Policeman on Wednesday evening near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem.  The Arab approached the policemen, shouting “Allahu Akbar” and lunging when he got close. The policemen managed to take control of the Arab but in the ensuing scuffle the terrorist managed to stab one in the leg…

Has former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar once again hinted at a return to politics and even a future prime ministerial bid? Sa’ar spoke Wednesday at a conference in Netanya, Channel 10 reported, offering a statement that could very well be perceived as his personal vision for Israel’s future.  “There were days when Israel’s prime minister also wanted to hold the…

For the first time, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has published data on how much Israelis recycle – with Jerusalem bottoming out all lists for 2014.  Most Israelis are conscientious about recycling their plastic bottles in state-provided bins or redeeming smaller bottles for cash as mandated by law. 67% of Israelis nationwide recycle their…

President Reuven Rivlin praised on Wednesday the decision to appoint Gal Hirsch as the Israel Police’s new commissioner amid a wave of outrage over the appointment.  Hirsch commanded the Galilee Division in the Second Lebanon War and resigned from the IDF in the wake of criticism heaped upon him by the Almog Committee that investigated the war’s…

This week’s thought-provoking edition of Temple Talk provides much food for thought for this month of Elul, as Yitzchak Reuven and Rabbi Richman speculate on the ups and down of the human condition and man’s potential for self-awareness and spiritual growth or conversely, abandonment to his lowest instincts. through the eyes of this week’s Torah…

Iran urged the United States Wednesday to release 19 Iranians detained on sanctions-related offences, a day after ruling out a prisoner swap with a Washington Post reporter accused of espionage, according to AFP. “We call on the American government and their judicial authorities to put an end to the detention of these individuals,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said. “None of the…

Members of the Ethiopian community in Israel have alleged on Wednesday that they were forced to bribe government officials to speed up the process of bringing their loved ones still in Ethiopia to the Jewish state.  Their testimony – which includes the name of a Jewish Agency employee accused of involvement in the affair – was first brought to the attention…

Two journalists have been shot and killed while on the job near Roanoke, Virginia, on Wednesday morning. The reporters have been named as WDBJ7 reporter Allison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27.  Both were covering a story at local shopping and sports center Bridgewater Plaza when an unknown gunman began shooting at approximately 6:45 am local time (1:45…

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stood beside American Jewish leaders at a news conference on Tuesday, blasting US President Barack Obama and urging Congress to vote against the nuclear deal with Iran.  “Not only is this a bad agreement, but we have the president of the United States directly lying to the American people to try to…

Syrian insurgents, the Syrian army and the Lebanese group Hezbollah on Wednesday agreed on a 48-hour ceasefire in the rebel-held town of Zabadani near Lebanon’s border and two Shiite villages in Idlib province, Reuters reported. The ceasefire would begin Thursday at 6:00 a.m. local time, sources on both sides said. This marks the second time…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia is planning to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt, the Turkish Anadolu agency reports. Speaking at a joint press conference in Moscow with visiting Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Putin said that Russia and Egypt have agreed to take steps to bolster bilateral economic cooperation. “Among…

Gaza terrorists on Wednesday night fired a rocket towards southern Israel. The rocket exploded in an open area in the Gaza Belt region, near the border fence. There were no injuries. Sirens did not sound in nearby communities. Despite a ceasefire which was agreed upon at the conclusion of last summer’s Operation Protective Edge, terrorists…

The Obama administration is focused on building enough support for the Iran deal to keep Congress from “spoiling” the agreement, the White House said on Wednesday. “There are several indications that we are succeeding in our effort to build support in Congress,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, according to the Reuters news agency.…

Two journalists have been shot and killed while on the job near Roanoke, Virginia, on Wednesday morning. The reporters have been named as WDBJ7 reporter Allison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27.  Both were covering a story at local shopping and sports center Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, VA when the gunman began shooting at approximately 6:45 am local…

A brawl broke out at Barzilai Hospital on Wednesday night between the family of Islamic Jihad terrorist Mohammed Allan and the family of another patient in the hospital ward.  Allan, who recently ended a 65-day hunger strike in protest of his administrative detention after the High Court agreed to discontinue his detention, is recuperating in the hospital under security. …

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) will leave for New York Wednesday night, as a representative of Israel for the Fourth Global Conference for the Chairmen of Parliaments, part of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) of the United Nations (UN).  Edelstein is expected to address the UN podium to present the “Green Knesset” conservation project. He will call on more than 100 parliamentarians…

Five former police commissioners as well as some 30 former police major generals gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night to brainstorm how to thwart Gal Hirsch’s recent appointment as police commissioner.  The families of soldiers slain in the Second Lebanon War of 2006 also plan to hold a protest against Brig. Gen. Hirsch’s appointment to the…

Several Holocaust survivors joined New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, New York State Senator Simcha Felder, and New York State Senator Jesse Hamilton to oppose the Iran nuclear deal on Wednesday, as part of Hikind’s ongoing campaign to lobby against the deal in Congress. The group of survivors chose to voice their concerns in front…

After the Palestinian Authority (PA) mission to the UN presented a resolution asking for its flag and that of the Holy See to be flown at the UN headquarters in New York, the Vatican on Tuesday asked the PA to remove it from the request. The PA’s new resolution asks for non-member observer states to…

The internal Palestinian Arab violence in Lebanese “refugee camps” continues to heat up, and according to UNRWA, the UN agency established for “Palestinian refugees,” up to 3,000 Palestinian Arabs have been displaced due to the escalating clashes. UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness said Tuesday that the displacement has been taking place in Ain al-Hilweh, the largest…

The fate of two brothers from Kabul, one grievously wounded, the other killed fighting in Syria, spotlights Iran’s covert but active recruitment of Afghan refugees to buttress President Bashar al-Assad’s steadily depleting forces. Shi’ite Iran, Assad’s key military and financial patron, denies enlisting Afghan mercenaries to fight alongside Syrian forces in the four-year conflict against opposition Sunni rebels that has left more…

A key Republican committee chairman acknowledged on Tuesday that the White House lobbying campaign for the Iran nuclear deal has generated results, and said he doesn’t know if opponents of the deal can prevail, according to The Associated Press (AP). The comments from Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee and…

An Iranian diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran has no plans to swap detained Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian for prisoners held in the United States, The Associated Press (AP) reported. This marks the first time a high-level official has alluded to the possibility of such a trade. Rezaian awaits a verdict in his closed-door espionage…

The UN atomic watchdog chief sought Tuesday to ease concerns in the United States about its investigation into Iran’s alleged past nuclear activities following July’s landmark deal with major powers, AFP reports. “The arrangements made with Iran are technically sound and consistent with IAEA safeguards practices. They do not compromise our standards in any way,”…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group on Tuesday published images showing the destruction of the Baal Shamin temple in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, AFP reported. The series of images showed ISIS jihadists placing barrels and small containers, presumably containing explosives, into the temple, as well as similar containers placed on parts of its columns. The…

Doctors Without Borders said on Tuesday it had treated four patients showing symptoms of exposure to chemical agents, Newsweek reports. The patients, an adult man and woman, a three-year-old girl and a five-day-old girl, were all from the same family, the charity said. The family lived in Marea, Syria, a town about 45 kilometers (approximately…

Washington Senator Patty Murray, the fourth-ranking Senate Democrat, has officially endorsed President Barack Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran, Politico reported Tuesday. Though Murray had long been expected to line up behind the agreement, her formal announcement brings the Obama administration closer to the 34 votes needed in the Senate to sustain any veto of the…

Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) head Ali Akbar Salehi left for Beijing on Wednesday, in an official visit to sign an agreement by which China will redesign Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor and purchase the construction of several new small nuclear reactors for the Islamic regime. Salehi is to be in China for three days according…

Two bereaved parents whose sons were killed in Lebanon in 2006 have expressed their opposition to the decision by Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan to name Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch as the new police commisioner. Moshe Muskal, whose son Refanael Muskal hy”d was killed in the war, called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to…

The Tel Aviv Religious Council on Tuesday sent a letter to the management of the Gindi Holdings Group that runs the Sarona Market compound in the coastal city, protesting fines issued by the company against the owner of a kosher store who refused to open his shop on Shabbat. In the letter, the religious council noted that…

Cantor Yigal Han, an Orthodox Jewish convert of South Korean descent, rallied to the cause in a planned protest last week against the Supreme Court demolition order on the Ayelet Hashahar synagogue in Givat Ze’ev, located northwest of Jerusalem. Han, who released his debut album just earlier this month, was asked to lead a mass prayer against…

Jerusalem is under a full-blown massive terror onslaught – or “intifada,” as Arabs call it – official statistics prove. The statistics were compiled by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, which operates a security service in the area known as the “Old City Basin.” The area includes the Old City quarters inside the city’s ancient walls, as well as the…

IDF forces on Tuesday night made a highly unusual discovery while they were searching the home of a Palestinian Arab terror suspect in an Arab village in Samaria to the east of Shechem (Nablus). The Samaria Regional Brigade (known by the Hebrew acronym ‘Hatmar’), which is tasked with providing logistical ground support to combat units,…

The incoming police commissioner, Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, appears to have a well-formed opinion regarding Arab rock attacks and the proper way to deal with them. Two months ago, when Binyamin Regiment Commander Israel Shomer aimed lethal fire at an Arab who had thrown rocks at his vehicle, Hirsch wrote: “Following the incident this…

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas is building a $13 million palace for himself in Ramallah, the PA governmental seat in Samaria, as revealed in an official website recently. The Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR) official website published an announcement of the massive construction project.  PECDAR, established by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terror…

US President Barack Obama on Monday let loose with a condescending insult against opponents of the Iran nuclear deal he is trying to force through Congress, claiming those who are critical of the controversial agreement are “crazies.” Obama arrived in Las Vegas on Monday after a two-week vacation in the posh Martha’s Vineyard. He spent Monday evening…

The massive aliyah of French Jews immigrating to Israel is at its peak, and in order to respond to the rapidly growing demand for child care during summer vacation Bnei Akiva has launched a chain of summer camps. Arutz Sheva visited to find out how the young new olim are acclimating. Bnei Akiva, aided by the Immigrant Absorption…

Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan announced his choice for Israel’s new police chief: IDF Brigadier General (Ret) Gal Hirsch. The announcement comes two months after the previous Israel Police Chief, Yohanan Danino, stepped down amid a tide of corruption scandals wracking the force. 51-year-old Hirsch grew up in the southern city of Arad, and is married…

As I think about what just happened – my move to America, to study for an MA in Religious Studies at the Florida International University – I just can’t help but think of another operation that was far more grand and significant than my move, but which shares more than a few similarities with my own. In…

Dozens of Iranian students opposed to the nuclear agreement with world powers gathered in front of parliament Tuesday, urging lawmakers to reject the deal, several local media reported. Both the Iranian parliament, as well as the US Congress, are currently reviewing the deal before voting on it and potentially implementing it. Congress is expected to pass a resolution next month opposing…

A senior Iranian official has reiterated that Iran views the annihilation of the State of Israel as its most central foreign policy, despite warming relations with western powers. The Iranian Parliament Speaker’s Adviser for International Affairs, Hossein Sheikholeslam, made the comments in a speech to reporters in Tehran, during which he also attacked the British Foreign…

History will be made next Sunday, when the Israeli national American football team takes part in its first official international game against Spain. If Israel wins, it will qualify to compete in the International Federation of American Football’s B-Group International Tournament in 2016. The best players of the Israeli Football League (IFL) are represented in the…

US Army veteran Ryan O’Leary returned to Iraq earlier this year with the goal of helping Kurdish Peshmerga forces battling Islamic State (ISIS), but there he found the greater threat to the Kurds to be Iran, not ISIS. O’Leary served in Iraq back in 2007-8, and then in Afghanistan from 2010-11. This year he went back to…

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Hussein on Tuesday condemned Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan’s (Likud) call the day before to ban the Islamist organizations that routinely riot on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Hussein claimed that Israel prevents Muslims from fully controlling Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Islam claims its founder Mohammed “ascended…

The United States and Turkey have finalized technical details on an agreement to include Turkey in an international effort to bring down the Islamic State (ISIS), fully integrating Turkey into the international coalition’s airstrikes against the group, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. “It could take a few days to put these…

Saudi officials on Tuesday said that King Salman will visit the United States early next month, for the first time since ascending the throne, and will meet with President Barack Obama. The diplomats told The Associated Press that the Saudi king is expected in Washington on September 5 for a visit that could last two…

Dr. Sudi Namir, who was fired from the Israel Medical Association Ethics Committee for controversial comments he made about homosexuals on an internet forum, has defended his comments in an exclusive interview with Arutz Sheva. In the post during a discussion regarding gay surrogate parents, Dr. Namir said: “I feel sorry and pray for all those…

Ayoub El Khazzani, the 25-year-old gunman from Morocco who opened fire on a train in France last week, intended to murder everyone on the train as part of a Muslim terrorist attack before being stopped by citizens, revealed French Prosecutor Francois Molins on Tuesday. El Khazzani, who lived in Spain where he was flagged as a…

A leading Islamist preacher in the UK has been left red-faced after his details were included on a batch of leaked user IDs from the Ashley Madison website. Private details of 33 million users of the site, which encourages people to cheat on their partners by matching adulterers anonymously, were stolen by hackers, who have subsequently begun…

Heinz tomato ketchup is a household name around the world, including in Israel. But now, thanks to a court ruling, that’s about to change… sort of. Osem, Israel’s leading food brand and top producer of ketchup, has succeeded in its bid to knock out its lead rival, by banning it from being called “ketchup.” In…

After announcing construction on two new nuclear facilities in a southeast region on the Indian Ocean late last month, Iran continues to seek new nuclear sites after the nuclear deal that was struck last month. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) deputy chief and spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi on Tuesday revealed that his organization is currently…

The good news in the annual report by the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) is that there is a surge in pro-Israel activity in the US. The bad news is that anti-Israel activities are also up. During the 2014-2015 academic year ICC tracked 1,630 anti-Israel events at 181 colleges and universities nationwide and 3,753 pro-Israel…

Hael Daud, the Jordanian Minister for Sacred Properties and Islamic Holy Sites, has announced the Jordanian government’s intent to enlarge the number of Waqf guards at the Al Aqsa mosque by 200, thus bringing their total number to 500. Daud’s announcement followed a letter signed by 52 parliamentarians – out of 150 – demanding that…

Sir Nicholas Winton, also known as “Britain’s Schindler” for saving hundreds of children from the Holocaust, will be immortalized on a Royal Mail stamp after a petition attracted more than 105,000 supporters, the BT.com news website reported on Monday. Campaigners had called for Winton, who arranged for eight trains to carry 669 mainly Jewish children…

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday he plans to travel to Iran in October, the latest sign that Europe’s largest economy wants to quickly rebuild economic and political ties with the Islamic Republic, reports the Reuters news agency. Steinmeier’s visit follows a three-day trip last month by Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who became…

A white supremacist wanted to explain to jurors on Monday his motive for killing three people at Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City, but a judge told him the first phase of the capital murder trial was to focus solely on whether he committed the crimes and not why, reports The Associated Press (AP). Frazier…

Iran-backed rebels in Yemen fired rockets into a residential district of Taez, killing 14 civilians, mostly women and children, officials told AFP on Monday. The bodies of those killed, including seven women and four children, were taken overnight to the morgue at a public hospital in Taez, said the medical officials. Several other civilians were wounded and…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for fresh parliamentary elections, his office said on Monday, according to Reuters. The move was widely anticipated after two months of coalition talks failed to produce a coalition government ahead of a deadline. Sources from Erdogan’s office said he would meet Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at 11:00 a.m.…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said on Monday that fighting the “terrorists” in his country takes precedence to fighting Israel. “Terrorists” is the term the Syrian president routinely uses to describe the anti-regime rebels trying to topple him. Speaking in an interview with Hezbollah’s Al Manar television, Assad hinted that Syria would not retaliate for last…

A preview of Bonfils’ photographs includes the one of Rachel’s Tomb as it used to look. The photo is repeated and explained below. Three thousand pictures taken by the Maison Bonfils photographers of Beirut from 1867 to the 1910s are part of the private Fouad Debbas collection in Beirut. Last year, the collection was digitized and posted online by the…

It has been cleared for publication that the Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet), with assistance from the IDF, arrested a four-man terror cell that planned to attack Jews who enter the Joseph’s Tomb area in Shechem. The terrorists are from Tulkarm, Shechem, and Jenin, and belong to the Islamic Jihad group. They planned…

Jewish land rights group Regavim and the community of Kfar Adumim filed a motion to the High Court Monday in an attempt to halt illegal construction of structures by the European Union in Judea and Samaria. In recent years, foreign diplomatic elements – and most prominently, the EU – have been heavily involved in building…

The most likely scenario in the congressional fight over the nuclear deal with Iran is that Congress will pass a measure of disapproval against the deal, but will not be able to override a presidential veto of that bill, according to Washington website Politico. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid acknowledged on Monday that it’s a…

About 1,200 infiltrators will be freed Tuesday and Wednesday from the Holot open detention center in the Negev, following a High Court decision two weeks ago that the Law for Prevention of Infiltration was too harsh, and determined that the infiltrators may only be kept at Holot for one year and not 20 months. About…

Right-wing groups, including Im Tirzu, are up in arms over an event planned to honor a new book published by the United Kibbutz Movement and the Jerusalem-based Van Leer Institute that conflates and equates the Holocaust with what Arabs term “the Nakba” – the decision by hundreds of thousands of Arabs to leave their homes during…

A prominent rival of Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas called for the ouster of the veteran leader on Monday, as the PA seeks to organize a congress for the first time in nearly 20 years. Mohammed Dahlan, once a leading figure in Abbas’s Fatah party but now in exile in Dubai, took to his Facebook page to…

Following a negative report from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on the Israeli economy last week, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) summoned his top officials to an emergency meeting to discuss ways to promote growth. But unfortunately for him – and Israel – there is little Kahlon can do to promote growth, said Kristin…

A strike by teachers and personnel in Gaza kept more than 200,000 children from returning to school for the new term Monday, as the UN agency that employs them struggles financially. Several thousand teachers, assistants and administrative personnel protested in front of the headquarters of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.  The UNRWA is the body tasked with…

Lebanese officials are said to fear that Hezbollah will take advantage of protests in Lebanese cities about how the garbage is collected to engineer a coup. The “trash crisis,” as the London-based Al-Araby newspaper calls the protests, is an opportunity for Hezbollah to overthrow the government of Tammam Salam – and the terror group is…

A joint security operation has broken up a terrorist cell targeting Israeli motorists in the Samaria region, it has been cleared for publication Monday. Israel Police, the IDF and the Shin Bet internal security services arrested the members of the terrorist cell, which was based in the village of Beita, near Shechem (Nablus), in a…

Israeli triple-jumper Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko has won the silver medal for her sport in the World Athletics Championship in Beijing on Monday, perhaps paving her way to the upcoming Olympics in Rio, 2016. Knyazyeva-Minenko jumped 14.78 meters (48.49 feet) in her second jump, breaking her previous record by 7 centimeters.  This is the third medal for an…

In its latest travel warning, the National Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau has published a list warning Israelis on dangers they could face in no fewer than 41 countries – including in Western and Northern Europe. Joining the “traditional” countries on the list, such as Egypt, many African countries, and several in the Far East, are…

There’s a major problem with the emergency call-in hotline system in Judea and Samaria, said Yossi Dagan, head of the Judea and Samaria Council. Speaking Monday, Dagan revealed that calls made to the emergency number dedicated to residents of the region (reached when dialing 1208 on a cellphone) don’t always get answered – and in…

Sarah Steelman, professor in the Economics Department of the Missouri University of Science and Technology and a former State Treasurer of Missouri, battled to introduce state legislation preventing Missouri from investing tax payers’ dollars in companies working with countries who sponsor terror. Find out how the new Iranian deal affects anti-terrorist legislation, which has been…

A judge in New York on Monday ordered the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to post $10 million in cash or bond while they appeal a jury’s finding that they supported terrorist attacks in Israel, Reuters reported. At a court hearing in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge George Daniels said the defendants…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has responded with vehement criticism against former Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday night, after Channel 2 leaked recordings of Barak blaming Netanyahu for the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014.  “Barak is pathetic,” the Likud party stated Monday night. “His attempts to return to the public…

Former Defense Minister Ehud Barak has threatened to sue the media over the publication of recordings used for his upcoming biography Monday, after a second set of audio files reveals he blamed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the kidnapping of three Israeli teens in 2014.  “If the recording will not be returned immediately as he already…

A Hamas military court in Gaza on Monday sentenced a Palestinian Arab to death for allegedly providing information to Israel said to have led to Palestinians being killed, judicial sources said. The 28-year-old man was identified only by the initials N.A. and no other details on the accusations against him were provided by Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, according to AFP.…

An Arab community leader on Monday gave an interview to the Hamas-backed Palestine newspaper complaining about a new Israeli “settlement.”  “We will fight this ‘Judaization’ of our area,” said Abed al-Khader Sattel. “This settlement will attract settlers, and the worst of them. We will not allow it to happen.” The “settlement” Sattel is referring to is not…

The conduct and remarks of former Defense Minister Ehud Barak are unsurprising, former Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel stated in a special Arutz Sheva interview on Monday night – noting that the leaked recordings about sensitive security issues are part of the frankness prevalent in Israeli culture.  “I smile to myself and ask: why is the public surprised?” he…

Minister of Internal Security Gilad Erdan (Likud) sent Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) a letter Monday, asking him to urgently declare the Arab organizations that create mayhem on the Temple Mount as illegal. If the defense minister signs a declaration to this effect, security forces will have a freer hand against the rioters. Erdan has been carrying out…

Over one hundred prominent haredi rabbis and Jewish educators from across the United States have signed a landmark public pronouncement, urging the public to help combat the scourge of sexual abuse. The kol koreh (public pronouncement) has already garnered 108 signatures, affirming the obligation under Jewish law to immediately report and notify secular law enforcement when a reasonable suspicion of child…

MK Oren Hazan (Likud) on Monday called for a thorough investigation following the fire last night, which burned a house in the Arab village of Duma belonging to the brother of a resident whose house was the target of lethal arson attack last month. Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces who investigated the home in Samaria,…

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Monday that Iran is “too important a player” to leave it in isolation with sanctions on its controversial nuclear program – even while admitting there is no guarantee the Iranian regime won’t seek nuclear weapons. Hammond made the comments to BBC just before meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a meeting…

Loading… Acting Police Commissioner Bentzi Sau awarded certificates of appreciation to four members of the Border Police Monday, for eliminating terrorists who attacked them in two recent incidents in Samaria. The ceremony was held at a meeting of the Police’s top command staff. Two weeks ago, a Palestinian terrorist reached Tapuah Junction in Samaria and began…

The entire Maccabi Petah Tikva youth soccer team came down with severe food poisoning over the weekend while in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, causing all members of the team to be hospitalized. Several of the players are still hospitalized while others have been released, reports Sport 5, noting the team was in the country for…

Hamas is attempting to use a fire which broke out in the village of Duma in Samaria early this morning to incite a violent escalation in Judea and Samaria, security sources told Arutz Sheva. Palestinian Authority security forces who investigated the fire, which took place in the same village as a deadly arson last month, said it…

Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists have destroyed a temple at Syria’s ancient ruins of Palmyra, activists said Sunday, according to The Associated Press (AP). The move realizes the worst fears archaeologists had for the 2,000-year-old Roman-era city, after the extremists seized it and beheaded a local scholar. Palmyra, one of the Middle East’s most spectacular archaeological…

Hasidic musician Yosi Piamenta passed away on Sunday night at the age of 64, after a long battle with cancer. Piamenta was born in Jerusalem, Israel in 1951. His family moved to Tel Aviv when he was 12 years old, where he received his first guitar from his uncle, Albert Piamenta, an Israeli saxophonist. Piamenta…

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on Sunday announced he would back the nuclear deal with Iran, a key boost that provides continued momentum for preventing Congress from blocking President Barack Obama’s pact, according to The Washington Post. Reid said the deal, which lifts economic sanctions against the rogue nation for pledges to limit its…

The High Court recently ruled that the government needed to appoint a Health Minister within sixty days – other than the current official Health Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu – but the court did not relate to the other posts Netanyahu currently holds. Netanyahu is also Minister for Regional Development, as well as Foreign Minister. Although Sunday’s…

The Knesset Officer, who is in charge of Knesset Members’ security, has decided to increase the security around MK Avi Dichter (Likud) after information was received regarding a tangible threat to his life. According to NRG, the threat came from Arabs, but there are no further details regarding the background for the threats or their content.…

IDF and police forces raided the Hazon David Synagogue compound in Kiryat Arba Sunday and declared it a “delimited zone.” In the past, the High Court ruled that the synagogue is located on private Arab land. However, the congregants rebuilt the synagogue time and time again, each time it was torn down. Nationalist activists claimed…

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has single-handedly enrolled thousands of new members into the Likud since the recent Knesset elections – and according to a report on Channel Ten Sunday, it’s time for political payback. Barkat is set to make a bid to take the leadership of the Likud, in order to prepare himself to run…

Palestinian Arab factions in Israel have long shown bloody rivalries, such as the long-standing one between Hamas and Fatah, but the factionalism and violence is just as common among Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon. A “ceasefire” was agreed upon in a meeting on Sunday in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian “refugee camp,” Ain al-Hilweh, located in Lebanon’s south,…

China is heavily promoting Shanghai’s role sheltering European Jews from the genocidal Nazis as part of its commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Japan, which will culminate in a huge military parade. As the “port of last resort,” China’s commercial hub provided a home to tens of thousands of Jewish refugees who fled persecution and eventually genocide in Europe during the 1930s…

Iran’s defense minister, Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan, on Sunday said that Russia will deliver the S-300 missile system to his country by the end of the year, the Mehr news agency reported. “The previous contract had been canceled but after the recent negotiations Iran and Russia have reached an agreement to deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile…

The number of signatures on an online petition calling for the arrest of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his visit to the UK in September has nearly doubled to reach almost 80,000, Haaretz reported Sunday. The e-petition, uploaded to the UK Government’s official website earlier this month, calls for Netanyahu to be arrested under international law…

French President Francois Hollande will present three Americans and a Briton with the country’s top Legion d’Honneur medal on Monday, in recognition of their bravery in stopping a gunman on a packed train last Friday, AFP reports. A French citizen who also tackled the suspected jihadist, but wishes to remain anonymous, is to receive the…

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Sunday that it was too early to talk about reopening the American Embassy in Tehran, Reuters reported. The comments came as Britain restored its diplomatic mission in Tehran, four years after protesters ransacked the British ambassador’s residence. Zarif was asked if Tehran would now countenance a restoration…

More than a year after the end of Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s hotel industry has not yet fully recovered, according to statistics released Sunday. While the Israel Hotel Association reported an eight percent increase in incoming tourism compared to July of last year during the counterterrorism operation, it also reported a decline of 17% in…

Israel has imported as much as three-quarters of its oil from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish north in recent months, The Financial Times reported on Sunday. The move provides a vital source of funds to the cash-strapped region as it fights Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists, according to the report. The imports highlight the significant inroads that oil…

Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Tzahi Hanegbi (Likud) announced Sunday that he will probe whether information divulged by former Defense Minister Ehud Barak on a possible Iran strike was properly cleared for publication.  He will also examine why such classified information was released to the public in the first place.  According to Barak, Israel made…

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has petitioned the Attorney General to order Haifa’s mayor to rent out municipal halls for the Zochrot organization’s film festival.  Zochrot, an ultra leftist NGO which has previously accused Israel of ethnic cleansing, hosts “48 mm – The International Film Festival on Nakba and Return” annually.  ACRI, which represents Zochrot, claims that all…

An indictment was submitted on Sunday morning to the Jerusalem District Court against Yasser Tarwa, a 20-year-old Arab resident of Hevron in Judea, who stabbed a police officer in Jerusalem two months ago and nearly murdered him. The indictment charges Tarwa with attempted murder, as well as illegal entry into sovereign Israeli territory. According to the indictment,…

The nine-foot menorah outside the Chabad Jewish Center at the University of Illinois (UI) was vandalized for the second time this year after being upended by a single assailant. University and local police are investigating the incident with the help of security footage which caught the culprit on tape at around 6 a.m. last Wednesday. …

The British Foreign Office announced on Sunday that a British hostage was released from Al Qaeda in a military operation in Yemen, reports Sky News. The as yet unidentified hostage was freed by United Arab Emirates (UAE) forces in Yemen’s key southern port city of Aden, according to the UAE state-run WAM. “The British national is safe and…

The Iran nuclear deal sealed last month stipulates that the UN embargo on conventional weapons will continue another five years, and missile sanctions will remain for another eight years – but Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed Saturday to breach those conditions of the deal. “We will purchase weapons from wherever we deem necessary and we are…

A new study published by a group of American scientists has found a link between the trauma suffered by Jewish Holocaust survivors during World War II and genetic differences in their children, Maariv reported on Sunday.  A team of researchers, led by Rachel Yehuda of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, traced the stress hormone of 32 Holocaust survivors…

The identities of the five-man Islamic Jihad terror cell directed by Iran that fired four rockets at northern Israel last Thursday was released on Sunday, showing they were Palestinian Arabs living outside Damascus in a stronghold of the terror group, and a key hub for Iran. The cell fired two rockets at the Golan Heights…

After setting off a firestorm over the weekend when recordings of him saying that Israel had three times been on the verge of attacking Iran – only to cancel its plans due to either opposition in the cabinet or alleged IDF unpreparedness – more Barak comments surfaced Sunday. In the recordings, Barak said – when asked about…

The former National Security Advisor, Dr. Uzi Arad, said Sunday that the recordings in which former prime minister Ehud Barak spoke about the aborted plans for a strike on Iran’s nuclear program appeared to expose a scandalous failure. It is unacceptable, he said, for the prime minister and senior ministers to support an attack, and for…

After Jewish-American reggae singer Matisyahu boldly snuffed attempts to have him banned from the Rototom Sunsplash festival, it has become known that media mogul Oprah Winfrey also turned away a BDS request earlier this month. The New York Post revealed Sunday that a BDS “delegation” showed up at her magazine’s offices, carrying a letter urging…

Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas confirmed that he would soon be traveling to Iran. After announcing over the weekend that he would resign as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the octogenarian Abbas said that while he would definitely travel to Iran, no date for the visit has yet been set. Based on his remarks,…

In a dramatic ruling which could have serious ramifications for the current governing coalition, Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that United Torah Judaism (UTJ) MK Yaakov Litzman must be appointed as a full minister or be forced to vacate his post as Deputy Health Minister. The UTJ party has traditionally not accepted ministerial positions for…

The ongoing rivalry between ISIS and Al Qaeda has reached new heights this week, with ISIS distributing “Wanted Dead” posters for several key Al Qaeda commanders – including the group’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri The posters began circulating earlier in August and were apparently the work of ISIS’s official branch in Libya. ISIS has been fighting various other…

The High Court has demanded that the state release hundreds of illegal African migrant workers from an encampment in Israel’s Negev – but that doesn’t mean that the illegals will be able to return to their old “haunts.” The state intends to issue temporary permits for the illegals to remain in Israel – but they…

The Israeli market reacted Sunday to the weekend global downturn in stock markets, with sharp drops of its own. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 4.08%, to 1,625.97 points and the Bank Index sank by 4.8%. The Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 4.10%, to 1,416.39 points; and the BlueTech Index fell 4.63% to 338.89 points. The…

Hamas has been forced to apologize for a graphic cartoon depicting a Jew “raping” the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria) – because it offended Arabs in the area. The cartoon, which was highlighted and translated by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) incitement watchdog, once again underlined the ongoing culture of incitement within the Palestinian media,…

A slew of top academicians and doctors have signed a public petition condemning the Israel Medical Association for its refusal to countenance the force-feeding of terrorist prisoner Mohammed Allan. “We strenuously oppose the Israel Medical Association’s position, according to which it is forbidden for a doctor to act to save the life of a hunger…

Iran unveiled on Saturday its new Fateh 313 surface-to-surface missile with a 500 kilometer (300 mile) range, as well as its massive 27-meter tall Simorgh satellite launcher, which one expert says may pave its way to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Tal Inbar, Head of the Fisher Institute for Air Space Strategic Studies’ Space Research Center, told Arutz Sheva on…

Another administrative order was submitted on Saturday night to a Jewish youth living in Ma’ale Adumim to the east of Jerusalem, in a move that follows three highly controversial administrative detentions against Jewish youths in recent weeks. According to the order, the youth is forbidden for the next six months from entering Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria aside…

Violent clashes broke out on Saturday morning between Arabs and Jews near Esh Kodesh in the Binyamin region of Samaria, just north of Jerusalem, after an apparent Arab arson attempt to set the town’s fields on fire. IDF forces arrived on the scene to break up the clashes by firing in the air, and used…

Islamic Jihad terrorist Mohammed Allan, who got his administrative arrest canceled last week through a hunger strike, gave an interview to the Hamas journal saying he will hunger strike again if Israel rearrests him in the future. Allan, who is suspected of recruiting and directing suicide bombers and aiding fugitive terrorists during the Second Intifada, spoke to…

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani unveiled the country’s latest domestically produced surface to surface missile on Saturday, saying such weapons are necessary for “defense” – despite his nation’s active offensive actions throughout the region, most recently in proxy rocket attacks against Israel on Thursday. The Fateh (Winner) 313 ballistic missile has a 500-kilometer (300 miles) range and features more advanced sensors and…

Ruth Maman, a 57-year-old resident of Beit Shean in northern Israel near the Jordanian border, spent the weekend with her family in the Ganei Huga natural spring water park in the Beit Shean Valley – when she was suddenly shot in the head by an unknown assailant in Jordan. Miraculously, despite suffering a bullet wound…

Economy Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) has threatened Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) over a “serious desecration of Shabbat” concerning the clearing of the Ma’ariv Bridge site.  In an angry letter sent to Netanyahu and Katz, Deri wrote that after the bridge’s demolition on Friday morning, construction workers spent both Friday and Saturday clearing…

American Jewish singer Matisyahu performed at a Spanish music festival late on Saturday, three days after organizers apologized for canceling his appearance due to pressure from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.  While he faced catcalls from some pro-Palestinian protesters, Reuters reported, the concert passed calmly despite its tense build-up. Video from the event shows Matisyahu singing his…

“Jihadi John”, the London man who appeared in at least five Islamic State (ISIS) videos in which he beheaded Western hostages, is back, The Daily Mail reports. In a new one-minute 17-second video, the knife-wielding fanatic vowed to continue “cutting heads”, then promises a triumphant return to Britain with the terror group’s self-styled leader. The…

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday resigned as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee in a bid to force new elections for the top body, an official told AFP. The official, Wassel Abu Yussef, said that more than half of the 18-member committee had also stepped down. “The resignation of the…

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, on Saturday night called on the Security Council to condemn Thursday’s rocket fire from Syria on the Golan Heights. “Following the events on the Syrian border, the UN, as usual, called on both sides to exercise restraint. How is it possible that even while Iran’s fingerprints and…

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond officially announced he would reopen the UK’s embassy in Iran on Sunday, four years on since it was trashed by a mob, AFP reported on Saturday. Iran’s embassy in London will reopen at the same time, Hammond said, initially at charge d’affaires level, with a view to installing the two…

French investigators were on Saturday interrogating a man who was overpowered by three young Americans after he opened fire with a Kalashnikov on a train between Amsterdam and Paris. The suspect is thought to be a 26-year-old of Moroccan origin who had lived in Spain, said sources close to the investigation. He was known to the French authorities after being flagged as…

Iran on Saturday claimed that America’s divergence of opinions regarding the Iranian nuclear deal is damaging American foreign policy, in an attack on US warnings of military action should nuclear diplomacy ultimately fail. The comments in Tehran came after US President Barack Obama said in a letter that all options remain on the table against Iran. Congress…

It’s time for the Jewish community to shift focus away from the Holocaust, American-Israeli actress Natalie Portman opined Friday, stating that such focus has detracted from atrocities committed around the world.   “I think a really big question the Jewish community needs to ask itself, is how much at the forefront we put Holocaust education,” Portman stated…

Islamic Jihad  has directly threatened Israel on Friday, after the IDF eliminated 14 terror targets in Syria after terrorists fired rockets on the Golan Heights and Upper Galilee – and possibly eliminated a senior Syrian army commander as well.  The IDF reported late Thursday that the hit may have been ordered by the Iranian Al-Quds…

Jewish American singer Matisyahu confirmed his participation in a Spanish music festival on Friday, two days after organizersapologized for cancelling his appearance following pressure from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, according to AFP. The decision by the Rototom SunSplash festival to pull Matisyahu, who fuses reggae and hip-hop with Jewish influences, from its line-up was criticized by Jewish groups,…

The United States will respond firmly if Iran fails to honor the accord aimed at curbing its nuclear program, President Barack Obama said Friday, as he works to win over undecided US lawmakers. “We have a wide array of unilateral and multilateral responses that we can employ if Iran fails to meets its commitments,” Obama said in a letter…

Turkey will go to snap elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Friday, after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu returned the mandate to form a government earlier this week. Elections are expected to be held on November 1, 2015.  Davutoglu, who is also the chairman of the Islamist Justice and Development (AK) Party, told Erdogan that despite his…

An American citizen has been named as one of four terrorists who conducted a suicide bombing for Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, ISIS claimed on a social media posting Thursday.  The terrorist, only identified as “Abu Abdullah al-Amriki,” was one of the terrorists killed in an attack in Baiji, after he detonated explosives rigged to…

Two-thirds of British Jews are “concerned” over the potential for Labour front-runner Jeremy Corbyn to win the party primaries, according to a poll released Thursday, after Corbyn has been linked to numerous anti-Semitic activities.  Far-left MP Jeremy Corbyn is currently seen as favorite to be elected Labor leader, despite his disturbing links to a wide…

Egyptian authorities on Friday closed the Rafah crossing with Gaza, after it had been open for four days to allow emergency cases through. Iyam al-Bazem, spokesperson for the Gazan Ministry of Interior, told the Ma’an news agency that 2,579 humanitarian cases left Gaza while 3,178 people entered the coastal territory. Egypt prevented 146 Palestinians from…

Sources in the Pentagon have confirmed that the second-in-command of Islamic State (ISIS) has been killed in a US-led airstrike in Iraq, CNN reports Friday.  The official has been named as “Mutazz,” a top deputy to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi believed to be the financial leader for the group as well. ISIS is believed to be the…

A Hasidic man who was severely beaten after leaving a bank in Montreal on Thursday evening is in intensive care in a hospital, local police said Friday, according to the Montreal Gazette. The attacker, who police said is a white male in his 20s, was outside the bank in the Outremont area of the city…

The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group has demolished a monastery founded more than 1,500 years ago in central Syria, near a town where the extremists abducted dozens of Christians earlier this month, activists said Friday, according to The Associated Press (AP). The destruction of the Saint Elian monastery near the town of Qaryatain comes days…

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D – Brooklyn) promoted an anti-Iran parody ad campaign Friday, by riding a bus with #AyatollahThanksAmerica ads throughout New York.  Hikind made stops at the offices of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Jerrold Nadler, both of whom recently declared support for the deal between the West and Iran, as part of satire tour “thanking” members of Congress and…

Concerns flared Friday that the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group has its hands on chemical weapons, after a senior American military official confirmed preliminary tests show traces of sulfur mustard on mortars fired by ISIS militants. According to Fox News, U.S. Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea, chief of staff for the military operations in Iraq and…

A heavily armed man opened fire on a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday, injuring at least two people before being overpowered by passengers. The motives behind the attack were not immediately known, although a spokesman for the interior minister said: “It is too early to speak of a terrorist link.” Despite this, as of 9:00 pm,…

Former Defense Minister Ehud Barak is claiming that Israel was ready to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2011, but Ministers Moshe Ya’alon and Yuval Steinitz refused, and the plan was nixed. Barak’s comments were made in recorded interviews with the authors of a newly published biography on him. The recordings, which were aired by Channel…

Anti-Semitic vandals desecrated a Jewish memorial in London on Thursday morning, peppering the structure with raw meat – including a pig’s carcass.  The memorial and fountain, located in Whitechapel, is a testament to Edward VII, former king of the United Kingdom (UK) from 1901-1910. “In grateful and loyal memory of Edward VII, Rex et Imperator, Erected…

As intense discussions regarding the Iran nuclear agreement continue, President Barack Obama will address the North American Jewish community next Friday, August 28, at 2:10 p.m. Eastern Time. Obama will participate in a live webcast to deliver remarks to and take questions from participants across the United States and Canada in an event co-sponsored by…

A Palestinian Arab researcher wrote in a policy brief published Thursday in Ma’an News Agency that Palestinian corruption is deeply ingrained and has been since before the Palestinian Authority (PA) was even formed – but that Israel is to blame for it. Tariq Dana, a senior research fellow at Birzeit University, first published the policy brief this week on…

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un has ordered his front-line units to enter “wartime state,” after his troops launched artillery shells at South Korea on Thursday sparking a response. The state-run KCNA reported an emergency meeting late Thursday in which Kim ordered “front-line large combined units” to “enter a wartime state to be fully battle ready to launch surprise…

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) pressed the lever on Friday morning to detonate the Ma’ariv Bridge in Tel Aviv, clearing the way for a station of the new light rail system now being built in the coastal city. The new light rail stop to be built on the site of the bridge will be called…

How can a young soldier’s assignment change the course of her life? How did a short stay in America help her change the face of special education in Israel?  Yael Lehman revolutionized the mainstreaming of autistic children in Israel before becoming the mother of a child with Asperger’s Syndrome. It was then that she developed…

The State Department in Washington on Thursday said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would “in no way” hand over responsibility for nuclear inspections to Iran. “That is not how the IAEA does business,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement quoted by Reuters, in reference to a report on Wednesday which implied…

A growing majority of Americans are turning against the nuclear deal with Iran and believe Congress should reject the deal, a new poll released Thursday found. 56% of Americans now say they think Congress should reject the deal with Iran, up from 52% less than a month ago, according to the CNN/ORC poll. 6-in-10 Americans…

Judges to clarify the law (and try cases) and agents of the court to enforce the law are to be appointed throughout the Land, and they are to carry out their duties fairly. They must not slant the law, nor show favoritism, nor take bribes which blind and pervert even the fairest and most righteous…

President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran continued to pick up crucial support from swing-state Senate Democrats on Thursday, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The latest Democrat to declare her backing for the deal became Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri. “This deal isn’t perfect and no one trusts Iran, but it has become clear to…

Iran on Thursday welcomed a UN peace plan aimed at ending the four-year war in its ally Syria, saying President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime needed to be directly involved, AFP reports. “This new plan is seen as a step by regional and international players toward a better understanding of the reality on the ground and on…

A bus carrying Jews on their way for a night of Torah study on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem was pelted by rocks on Thursday night. No one was hurt. The driver of the bus, which was full of passengers who were planning to take part in a Torah study in memory Rabbi Avraham…

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said Thursday he was “disturbed” by inaccurate claims that inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities will be the responsibility of the Iranians themselves. “I am disturbed by statements suggesting that the IAEA has given responsibility for nuclear inspections to Iran,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said in…

Turkey has killed at least 770 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey over the last month as part of a brutal crackdown, reports the state-run Anadolu Agency on Friday. While the figures could not be independently confirmed, the paper said among the dead were 430 militants killed in airstrikes on PKK camps…

The IDF reported on Friday morning that it had eliminated the Islamic Jihad terrorist cell that the day before launched four rockets from Syria into the Golan Heights and Upper Galilee – according to reports a senior Syrian colonel is among the dead. A senior officer said, “this morning we struck a vehicle in Syria…

Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal has claimed that his terrorist organization is holding negotiations with Israel for a long-term five to ten year ceasefire deal that recent reports have indicated – even as Jerusalem denies such talks are taking place. Speaking to the London-based Arabic paper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the terror chief who lives in Qatar’s Doha said…

The Torah is very explicit in what is demanded of our Leaders. I will delve deeply into that point but first I would like to comment on the Posuk from Shoftim that I believe gets to the very heart and essence of Torah. “Thou shalt be whole-hearted with Hashem your G-d” (18:13). Rashi explains Tamim…

In one of the IDF’s airstrikes on a Syrian army position in the Golan Heights on Thursday night, which came in response to four rockets fired from Syria, one soldier was killed and seven others wounded according to a Syrian military source on Friday. “The enemy aircraft struck a military position in the area of Quneitra at 11:30 p.m., martyring one…

That’s what you call a jolt of a take-off: a rare lightning strike on a Delta Airlines plane waiting in line for takeoff at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Tuesday was captured on camera. ​ YouTube user Jack Perkins posted the video on Wednesday, and it has already garnered over a million videos. Perkins wrote, “while filming…

Hamas accused Egyptian intelligence of abducting four residents of the coastal enclave after they entered Sinai on a bus on Wednesday night – after Egypt learned that the four were senior Hamas naval commandos, reports Walla! on Thursday. The four commandos were on their way from the Rafiah Crossing to the airport in Cairo, where they planned to set…

Mohammed Allan, the Islamic Jihad terrorist whose 65-day hunger strike led the High Court to suspend his administrative detention Wednesday, was involved in the recruitment of suicide bombers, according to Makor Rishon editor Haggai Segal. “According to an official Shin Bet publication, Allan was arrested and imprisoned in the course of the previous decade, due…

After four rockets were fired at northern Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights on Thursday, the IDF responded with artillery fire just hours later. Sources in Syria report that the 90th Brigade of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime army is coming under fire, reports Channel 2. Israeli security sources said that the rockets were fired by the…

The haredi councilors in the Jerusalem Municipality are not assuaged by Mayor Nir Barkat’s plan to enforce Shabbat laws against eight minimarkets operating in central Jerusalem. Barkat reportedly took the step in order to assuage haredi anger over the opening of a new cinema complex on Shabbat. The haredi leaders are not playing along, however…

Four rockets hit Israel Thursday afternoon in the Upper Galilee region in the north near the Lebanese border after “color red” warning sirens were sounded in the area – in an attack that comes even as the IDF is preparing for rocket attacks from Gaza. The rockets were fired from Syria. It remains unclear who fired…

BDS Pais Valencia, the Spanish organization that led the campaign which had Jewish reggae star Matisyahu banned from a local festival, issued a truly confusing statement after the festival apologized and re-invited the singer. The Rototom Sunsplash European reggae festival apologized this week for demanding Matisyahu publicly support the Palestinian Arabs against Israel as a…

Soccer players who appealed to the Labor Court against a decision by the National League management to hold games on Shabbat scored a victory Thursday. Labor Court Judge Arielle Giltzer-Katz decided in favor of the players and informed management that since it lacked a permit for working on Sabbaths, it would be breaking the law…

Britain will reopen its embassy in Tehran during a visit to Iran by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond due to start on Sunday, an Iranian foreign ministry official told AFP on Thursday. The official said Hammond, who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal in July, “will travel Sunday to Iran for the reopening of the British embassy.” The embassy has been closed since 2011 after it…

Hamas’s media arm, “Al Aqsa,” has released a feature-length drama to mark one years since last summer’s war.  The 55-minute, slickly-produced film is entitled “Ambushes of Death,” and intersperses testimonies from terrorists who took part in fighting against the IDF with dramatizations of their battles during Operation Protective Edge. The film portrays the war as a…

Two people who were identified as suspects in the lethal Monday bombing at a shrine in the Thai capital of Bangkok turned themselves in to police on Thursday, before being released later in the day. The two were caught on security camera footage just before the explosion at Erawan Shrine sitting on a bench at…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Thursday night that the rocket fire from Syria on the Golan Heights, which Israel believes was a direct order of Iran, was a “promo” for what will happen once the sanctions on Iran are lifted. “The shooting toward Israel this evening was carried out by a terrorist cell of…

The IDF announced on Thursday night that it had attacked 14 targets belonging to the Syrian regime in the Golan Heights. According to the statement, the attacks were a joint operation of the Israel Air Force, the artillery corps and the armored corps. The attacks were retaliation for the firing of four rockets towards Israeli…

Iran was behind the firing of rockets from Syrian territory onto Israel, a senior IDF officer said on Thursday evening. The officer said that the directive to fire the rockets was personally given out by the head of the Palestinian department in Iran’s Al-Quds force. Four rockets hit Israel Thursday afternoon in the Upper Galilee…

After getting thousands to protest the Iran nuclear deal in New York City’s iconic Times Square last month, the Stop Iran Rally is back with a protest planned for September 1, focusing on Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). The rally is expected to get a large turnout, and will take place in Manhattan at 780 Third Ave on 49th…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday gave credence to an old libel to attack Israel, falsely accusing it of a 1969 arson attack against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Rouhani referenced the libel at a meeting for International Mosques Day on Thursday, reports the semi-official Fars News Agency. Speaking about the…

Jean-Marie Le Pen, France’s elderly, far-right master provocateur, was booted out of the National Front (FN) he founded on Thursday after a high-profile feud with his daughter and party leader Marine. The party said 87-year-old Le Pen would be “notified shortly” of the dramatic decision, which came after the FN’s executive committee questioned him for hours and voted to exclude him…

Loading… Police closed off the road from Issawiya toward Ma’ale Adumim Thursday, as it raided the northeastern Jerusalem neighborhood and carried out arrests. The raid follows extensive rioting and disturbances in recent weeks that emanated from the area, which has been a trouble spot for years. The riots included rock throwing, firebombs and rolling burning tires onto the road…