Category: News

Israel will be vindicated, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed during his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday morning, ahead of the UN fact-finding mission’s report on the IDF’s conduct during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.  “We will expose the truth: that Israel has not committed war crimes,” Netanyahu said. “We will work everywhere, for as much as it takes, to deal…

Prince William of Britain – second in line to the throne – has praised Jewish unity and commitment to society at large. The prince was speaking this past Thursday at a dinner in honor of the 25th anniversary of Jewish Care, the United Kingdom’s largest health and social care organization for the Jewish community. It runs…

Hundreds of Israeli artists took part Sunday in emergency sessions at Yafo (Jaffa) Port and at the Haifa Port to protest what they claim are illegitimate decisions by the new government affecting their freedom. About 20 leading artists delivered speeches in the sessions, including veteran actress Gila Almagor, musician Hanan Yovel, and representatives of the…

Actor Michael Douglas, winner of this year’s million dollar Genesis Prize, has arrived in Israel to receive his award. The award will be presented to Douglas on June 18, in a special ceremony at the Jerusalem Theater. The prize will be presented by comedian Jay Leno, along with supermodel and actress Bar Refaeli. The Genesis…

The Kfir Brigade Commander, Col. Asher Ben Lulu, has completed an inquiry into the incident Friday in which IDF soldiers overpowered an Arab rioter at the village of Jilazoun, in the Binyamin region. Arabs caught the incident on tape. The video is embedded above and can be viewed by clicking on the center of the…

The government on Sunday authorized for legislation a bill that would allow prison officials to force-feed security prisoners who go on a hunger strike. The approval of the bill by the government means that it can now be submitted to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation for approval, and prepared for its first Knesset reading. The bill’s…

An IDF volunteer’s investigation has found a severe shortage and widespread neglect in the IDF’s mezuzahs – the parchments bearing the Shema prayer that are affixed to the doorframes in Jewish homes and buildings. In many IDF structures, there are no mezuzahs on the doorposts, and in others, the mezuzahs are neglected and halachically invalid,…

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on Sunday called on Israelis to publicize far and wide the report issued earlier on Operation Protective Edge. “This is a professional report, with much serious work done by the Justice Ministry’s International Department,” said Shaked. “The world needs to hear it.” According to the report which Israel submitted to the…

Kurdish forces advanced Sunday to the gates of a Syrian town and clashed with Islamic State jihadists, an upsurge in violence that saw Turkey open its border to fleeing civilians.   Backed by Syrian rebel fighters and US-led air strikes, the Kurdish militia pressed their offensive on the northern town of Tal Abyad, a strategic…

Israel’s justice ministry announced Sunday it was closing the criminal investigation of the police officer whose documented beating of a soldier of Ethiopian origin set off a series of protests. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein decided to accept the recommendation of internal affairs to discontinue the proceedings against the officer, transferring the case to police for…

Commenting on Israel’s report on Operation Protective Edge last summer, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Sunday that it was actually the third report thus far that has confirmed how the IDF had prevented civilian deaths. “I can say without any question that we in the IDF are careful about any and every small detail. We…

Oded Kotler, one of Israel’s best known actors, gave a stomach-turning display of elitism at an artists’ rally Sunday, held to protest the new government’s no-nonsense approach to ultra-leftist artists who suckle funds from the state’s teats yet glorify terrorists. Kotler mockingly addressed Culture Minister Miri Regev, who was not present at the event. “Imagine…

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon appears ready to make good on his promises to lower housing prices – but critics said that the first move he was making on the subject was actually likely to backfire. On Sunday, at Kahlon’s behest, the government significantly increased the purchase tax on apartments and homes purchased for investments. The increases…

Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman praised the report released Sunday by Israel on the IDF’s behavior during Operation Protective Edge, and lashed out at the UN for its double-standards in singling out Israel for opprobrium. “There is no need to wait for the UN report that is due to be released in a few days…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday hit out at critics of his drive for a nuclear deal with major powers, saying they belittled the impact of sanctions on ordinary people, according to AFP. “Those who say that sanctions are not important probably don’t know anything about people’s wallets,” Rouhani said in a televised speech, adding…

MKs from right and left on Sunday evening sharply criticized remarks made by actor Oded Kotler against the right and particularly against Culture Minister Miri Regev. Kotler, one of Israel’s best known actors, mocked Regev at an artists’ rally that was held to protest the new government’s policy that no funding would go to artists…

The United States military confirmed on Sunday night that Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar was indeed the target of an airstrike in Libya, Reuters reports. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren did not, however, specify if Belmokhtar had been killed. “The strike was carried out by U.S. aircraft. We are continuing to assess the results of the…

The Hamas terrorist group on Sunday called for the immediate release of hunger-striking prisoners held by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to the AFP news agency. Gaza’s former Hamas premier, Ismail Haniyeh, appealed for the release of Khader Adnan, who was imprisoned by Israel and has been refusing food for about 40 days.…

Thousands of Syrian refugees poured into Turkey on Sunday to escape the battle between Kurds and Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists for the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, as the Turkish authorities reopened the border after days of closure. The Syrians, many carrying sacks of possessions and small children, flooded through the Akcakale border gate onto…

The UN’s peace envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said Sunday he would visit Damascus soon while renewing his criticism of the use of barrel bombs by President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, AFP reports. Without specifying when the visit would be, de Mistura’s spokesman the envoy “intends to raise with the Syrian Government the issue of protection of…

In this week’s episode Jay Shapiro claims that the contention by the US Administration that recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would prejudice peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, shows a chosen blindness to the realities of the conflict and perpetuates Arab refusal to recognize and compromise with Israel. Click here to download…

In its first comments on the IDF report on Operation Protective Edge, Hamas said Sunday night that Israel, and not it, would pay the price for the “lies” the report includes. Top Hamas terrorists Izzat al-Rishq called the report “a lie that is being spread to cover up (Israel’s) war crimes. It is a blatant…

Libya’s recognized government said on Sunday that Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar had been killed in a U.S. airstrike inside Libya as part of a counter-terrorism cooperation, Reuters reported. Earlier, the U.S. Department of Defense said the military conducted a counterterrorism strike against an Al-Qaeda-associated target in Libya on Saturday night, but were assessing results before…

The historic Christian Syrian town of Maalula celebrated Saturday as a new statue of Mary, worshiped in Christianity as the mother of Jesus, was erected in its center, replacing the figure destroyed in rebel attacks in 2013. Dozens of families gathered alongside government officials and religious dignitaries in the main square, which was adorned with government flags and a giant portrait of Syrian…

“Freedom Flotilla 3,” a maritime challenge to Israel’s legal naval blockade on the coastal enclave of Gaza which is controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization, is preparing to embark in the final week of June and threatens to potentially cause a flare-up like the infamous 2010 Mavi Marmara. Mazen Kahil, head of the European Campaign to…

Yet another senior Iranian general has been killed fighting in Syria to prop up President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Iranian news agencies revealed late on Friday. Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj. Gen. Hadi Kajbaf was killed in April around 60 miles south of Damascus, near the rebel-hold town Busr al-Harir, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim as cited by Reuters.…

High heels, fatigues and gold rifle-shaped rings – singer Helly Luv’s blend of bang and bling has made her the most popular cheerleader for the Iraqi Kurds’ war against jihadists. She visits peshmerga forces fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) group, which overran a third of Iraq last year, and says she filmed her latest music video in Al-Khazr, not far from the…

The Arab poet Marwan Makhoul, a 36-year-old citizen of Israel and resident of the Galil, is currently visiting in Lebanon according to the Lebanese paper An-Nahar – and in doing so is breaking the law meant to prevent inroads for Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah. “Makhoul succeeded in breaking the blockade of the enemy and arriving in Lebanon,” wrote…

Yesh Atid chairperson Yair Lapid backed his erstwhile ally Jewish Home chairperson Naftali Bennett in a TV interview over the latter’s decision as Education Minister to cancel funding for the play “The Parallel Time,” which tells the story of Arab Israeli terrorist Walid Daka who abducted and mutilated IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984. Speaking on the show…

Turkish security forces on Saturday used water cannon and fired warning shots to push Syrians back from the frontier as thousands massed at a border crossing to escape escalating fighting, an AFP photographer said. The Syrians were being held behind barbed wire fences around the Turkish crossing of Akcakale in the southeast of the country. They are fleeing a looming battle…

Al Qaeda’s Syria affiliate said on Saturday it would prosecute members involved in an shoot-out in northwest Idlib province that killed at least 20 members of the country’s Druze minority. In an official statement published on Twitter, Nusra Front sought to allay fears of further attacks on minorities, saying that some of its members acted “in clear violation of the leadership’s views,” reports AFP.…

Egypt on Saturday opened the Rafah crossing in both directions and is expected to keep the crossing open for the next three days, the Ma’an news agency reported. The Gaza Ministry of Interior announced the opening, noting it was the first time the crossing was opened since Egyptian authorities had allowed Palestinian Arabs stuck in…

Iranian officials with access to classified information will be forbidden from using smartphones in connection with their work because of fears of espionage, a security official said Saturday, according to the AFP news agency. Such phones are not secure as “data entered on to them is backed up, cannot be removed and can be accessed,”…

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday he would not put state secrets at risk in the country’s nuclear negotiations, becoming the latest senior official to express reservations about intrusive inspections sought by world powers, and the talk’s nearing deadline. The question of inspectors’ access to Iran’s nuclear sites and military bases is a major…

Russia said on Friday there has been a “very worrying” slowdown in progress in nuclear talks between Iran and six major powers, after a diplomat told a local news agency the talks are “virtually stalled”, AFP reported. “The rate of progress… is progressively slowing down,” Russia’s chief negotiator, Sergei Ryabkov, was quoted by RIA Novosti…

UNESCO on Friday condemned the destruction of ancient houses described as a “jewel” of Islamic urban landscape in an alleged Saudi-led air strike on the Yemeni capital’s old quarter that killed five people, AFP reports. The incident occurred before Yemen’s warring factions are to meet Sunday for UN-sponsored talks in Geneva. The coalition led by…

The buzzword these days is BDS: the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, fronted by a variety of anti-Israel groups and, by implication, anti-Jewish pressure groups. This program discusses whether we are devoting too much time and effort to “a flash in the pan,” an imaginary danger, or if BDS is becoming a serious threat that must be…

Representative Danny Davis (D-IL) was a key ally of US President Barack Obama, backing him in 2004 when he ran for the Senate, but now he and all other Chicago Democrats but one are turning their back on the lame-duck president as he makes possibly his last big request for support. Obama is calling for Democrats to…

The virus hackers used to surveil the servers of three European hotels being used to host talks between Iran and the West are capable of far more than just peeking at information, an expert revealed Thursday.  The virus, Duqu 2.0, can actually steal a wealth of information far beyond a run-of-the-mill virus, according to Treadstone 71 CIO…

Alongside its breaches of UN sanctions in sending nuclear-capable rocket parts to Iran, North Korea has also been apparently violating the sanctions by sending weapons and military training to Angola in Africa. Asian diplomatic sources were cited by the Washington Free Beacon on Friday making the revelation, and divulging that the North Korean company Saengpil Associated Co.…

Iran is concerned over the security of nuclear talks with six world powers after reported cyber-attacks on venues linked to the negotiations, Reuters reported Friday, citing Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Israel attempted to use a sophisticated virus to spy on nuclear talks between Iran and P5+1 by hacking into…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to be released from the hospital after undergoing successful surgery on the broken leg he fractured nearly two weeks ago, an official said Friday, according to The Associated Press (AP). The official said Kerry will be discharged from Massachusetts General Hospital on Friday but would remain in Boston…

Criminal charges were filed on Friday against two alleged supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) group, who authorities said were linked to a third man fatally shot last week by Boston police, according to AFP. The Justice Department charged David Wright, 25, of Everett, Massachusetts, with providing material support for ISIS. Also charged was Nicholas…

The family of four Palestinian Arab children killed in an Israeli airstrike on a beach during last summer’s Gaza war expressed anger Friday over the closure of a probe into the incident, AFP reported. The IDF, which launched the investigation after the 50-day July-August war ended, announced late Thursday that the attack had not violated international…

Orange CEO Stephane Richard on Friday told Channel 2 News that he “admires” Israel. The interview with Richard aired hours after he met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in order to explain his comments last Wednesday in Cairo that he wanted to “dump” Israel “tomorrow” if he could without taking a financial loss. A day…

Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers have virtually stalled and the June 30 deadline for a final deal may have to be postponed yet again, Reuters reported on Friday, citing a diplomatic source who spoke to the Russian news agency TASS. Iran and the six major powers reached a framework nuclear deal on April 2…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is continuing its efforts to initiate an international boycott against Israel so as to force the Jewish state to unconditionally withdraw to the 1949 Armistice lines, giving up its Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria as well as eastern Jerusalem. Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI)…

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas inaugurated a Palestinian embassy in the Serbian capital of Belgrade on Thursday, the Ma’an news agency reported. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic as well as several Arab ambassadors and the PA ambassador to Serbia attended the opening. After the meeting, President Nikolic reportedly announced that Serbia “would like to see…

The United States State Department said on Thursday it was confident there had been no security breach in the talks between Iran and six world powers, AFP reports. Spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters that the government was aware of the investigations that had been opened, and that Washington had “close working relationships” with both countries.…

World powers are prepared to accept a nuclear agreement with Iran that does not immediately answer questions about past atomic weapons work, American and Western officials said Thursday, according to The Associated Press (AP). After a November 2013 interim accord, the Obama administration said a comprehensive solution “would include resolution of questions concerning the possible…

In this week’s episode we’re remembering the sin from more than 3,300 years ago, but find that, sadly, the sin is alive and well and repeated today. And a comment or two about the US not recognizing Israeli sovereignty over any of Jerusalem. Click here to download the podcast

A court in Madrid on Thursday shelved a five-year-old investigation into the IDF’s raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010, Reuters reported. The probe could potentially be re-opened if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ever visits Spain. Nine Turkish activists died after Israeli commandos staged a pre-dawn raid on the six-ship flotilla, which claimed to be…

The IDF said on Thursday that it was dropping proceedings over a bombing of a Gaza beach where four children died during last summer’s war, AFP reported. “The… case has been closed following the completion of a criminal investigation,” the IDF said in a statement quoted by the news agency. Two other cases involving Palestinian…

Rabbi Eliezer Krakover grew up in Bnei Brak, where his parents wanted their children to get an excellent Torah education with good values. One of Rabbi Krakover’s strong school memories is not about the learning, rather than about the attitude of his teachers. Even when his feet were in excruciating pain, he trudged on and…

Recent research done by the Ariel University sheds some light on the relationship between Palestinian Arabs and their Jewish co-workers in the industrial area of Judea and Samaria. “We went to the factories and we interviewed Palestinians and Jews and we listened to what they had to say, and we also conducted questionnaires,” Idit Miller…

Iran’s envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog agency on Thursday said his country was “not surprised” by reports that a cyber-espionage campaign targeted hotels that hosted nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Reza Najafi was quoted as having told Iran’s state TV that Iranian nuclear negotiators took “precautionary measures”…

A US citizen killed fighting for Kurdish forces against Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists in the Kobane region of northern Syria was celebrated by his Kurdish brothers-in-arms, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) said Friday. Keith Broomfield, 37, was killed on June 3 in an operation to take the village of Qentere in the Kobane region from ISIS, the YPG said…

Graffiti claiming Islamic State (ISIS) is planning an assault on Israel was found in a Be’er Sheva playground on Friday morning, hours after terrorists in Gaza fired a rocket in the direction of the Ashkelon area.  “Islamic State will attack Israel soon,” the graffiti stated, in both Hebrew and Arabic.  Sirens sounded in the Ashkelon region Thursday…

In a surprising revelation, Walla! exposed on Friday that a senior Israeli official held several meetings in Western countries between 2012 and 2014 with members of the secular Syrian opposition, despite Israel’s official stance of neutrality regarding the internecine civil war. The secular rebel forces have been fighting both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as well…

Orange Telecom CEO Stephane Richard met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday, where he attempted to do further damage control after calling to stop service in Israel last week.  “I deeply regret the impact resulting from the context and interpretation of those statements,” he said, according to an Orange press release.  Richard claimed that Orange…

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) met with Reform Rabbi Brian Lurie in Washington last week, over a discussion on how to integrate Israeli Arabs into Israeli society. Brian Lurie is the president of the extreme leftist New Israel Fund (NIF) – a fact Shaked only found out upon entering the meeting. According to a Haaretz report, Lurie greeted Shaked and shook…

The former head of Al Jazeera America‘s documentary unit announced a lawsuit against her former employer on Thursday, charging the American branch of the Qatar-based news network with a vitriolic bias against Israel, as well as discrimination against non-Arabs and women. Shannon High-Bassalik, who formerly worked with CNN, NBC and MSNBC, sued the company for discrimination after being fired in February…

The world celebrates International Falafel Day on June 12 – and this year’s event is bigger than ever before.  Falafel, typically associated with Israeli cuisine, consists of deep-fried patties made from chickpeas served in a pita or laffa, a soft, fluffy flatbread. Popular toppings include Israeli salad (cucumbers and tomatoes with salt, pepper, and often onions), hummus (chickpea…

The US’s war on Islamic State (ISIS) carries a hefty price tag, the Pentagon and Defense Department announced Friday. Since the war – named Operation Inherent Resolve – was announced last August, the US has spent some $2.7 billion in 10 months alone, according to the Associated Press.  Of that figure, $1.8 billion has been spent by the US Air…

The Chinese military on Sunday conducted the fourth successful test of a hypersonic vehicle capable of delivering nuclear strikes, and in the test conducted “extreme maneuvers” that intelligence officials say are meant to test the ability to dodge US anti-missile defense systems. The Wu-14 hypersonic strike vehicle was launched on a ballistic missile in western China,…

MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) blasted Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) and Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev (Likud) Thursday and called them “Netanyahu’s natural allies in nationalistic brainwashing.” She referred, in her Facebook page, to Bennett’s recent actions against state funding of a play based on an Arab terrorist’s musings, and to Regev’s…

A tech-savvy US teen pleaded guilty Thursday to using social media to aid the Islamic State (ISIS) group, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison, the Justice Department said. Ali Shukri Amin, 17, a resident of Virginia, admitted to providing advice and encouragement to ISIS and its supporters, US prosecutors said, according to AFP. Under the Twitter handle @Amreekiwitness, the…

Bar Ilan University, ostensibly an Orthodox-religious institution, has caved in to “politically correct” pressure and allowed a “gay pride” event to be held in the campus’s central square in honor of “gay pride month.” “The event will take place with regard to the university’s special character,” according to a statement issued Thursday. The reversal comes…

Genderist (radical feminist) MKs and activists pressured the Likud party and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Wednesday to take action against MK Oren Hazan, who has been accused – in a television report – of arranging prostitutes and drugs for guests at a casino he ran in Bulgaria before entering the Knesset. MK Hazan has been…

A draft UN report has revealed that UN peacekeepers routinely flout a ban of the international organization and pay for sex with money, dresses, jewelry, perfume, cell phones and other items in a flagrant exploitation of poverty-stricken populations they are meant to protect. Reuters received a copy of the draft report, which was conducted by the UN…

An Iranian general has urged volunteers to travel to Syria to fight Sunni rebels, as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad continues to lose ground. Speaking to members of Iran’s Basij paramilitary, Major General Rahim Nowi-Aghdam, a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, denied reports that Iran had sent soldiers to fight alongside Assad forces. “The…

Syrian Kurdish fighters advanced towards the Islamic State (ISIS) group-held town of Tal Abyad on the Turkish border on Thursday, backed by US-led coalition strikes, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces backed by Arab rebel fighters “stormed the town of Suluk and took control of the eastern part of it,” reports AFP. Fierce…

British police are investigating the vandalism of a Jewish monument by a neo-Nazi gang, just weeks before a Nazi rally is set to take place targeting the heart of London’s Jewish community. West Midlands police say they are examining a video posted on YouTube by a group called National Action, which shows several fascists vandalizing a Menorah set…

It is time for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to take action against the rocket fire from Gaza, MK Haim Yellin (Yesh Atid) said on Thursday evening, following yet another rocket attack. “Color red” rocket sirens were sounded in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon, as well as throughout the Ashkelon Coast regional council, on Thursday…

Late on Thursday night “color red” rocket sirens were sounded in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon, as well as throughout the Ashkelon Coast regional council. At least one rocket was identified as having been fired from Gaza, but IDF officials said it is believed the rocket exploded inside Gaza. No rockets were found in Israeli…

Yeshiva University continues to shine, with over 90% of the university’s graduates either employed or in graduate school within six months of completing their studies. What’s more, U.S. News World Report recently ranked YU second in the US among colleges with the highest percentage of graduates pursuing advanced degrees within one year of graduation. And even more astounding…

“We convened the general assembly of the University of Ariel today, combined with the Research and Development Institute of Judea and Samaria,” Ariel University President Prof. Yehuda Danon told Arutz Sheva Thursday. “The BDS movement bothers all eight universities in Israel and the government of Israel,” he said. “It starts from the tomato or pepper grower in the desert, who…

Arutz Sheva got a chance to speak with former Defense Minister Moshe Arens at a conference at Ariel University in Samaria, and learned from him about the real impact of the BDS movement aiming to boycott the Jewish state. Arens began by speaking about the event at the university, noting it was an annual meeting of the…

Col. (res.) Gershon Hacohen, the religious officer who was placed in charge of the “Disengagement,” as the expulsion of Jews from Gaza in 2005 was called, says the move was a mistake, but that he did the right thing by obeying orders to carry it out. In an interview on Channel 10, marking ten years after…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group Thursday released a propaganda documentary marking a year since it captured Mosul and recounting its surprise at how easily it took over Iraq’s second city. The film glamorizes the founding moment of the “caliphate” ISIS proclaimed less than three weeks later as an epic conquest but it also further documents the collapse of Iraq’s security forces, reports AFP. The…

Police announced Thursday that seven Arab residents of Haifa, all members of the same family, were arrested for abusing and assaulting elderly Holocaust survivors. The seven reportedly physically struck the residents of a home for survivors in the Hadar neighborhood of Haifa, and likewise stole from them, verbally abused them, and made them walk in…

Arab arsonists on Thursday evening set fire to the Gevaot Forest in the Gush Etzion region of Judea – the incident caps off a three-day consecutive run of rampant fires set to the same exact forest. In response to the repeated arson, Gush Etzion regional council chair Davidi Perl said, “the ongoing situation cannot continue. Arson…

Democratic presidential hopeful  Bernie Sanders was visibly irritated on Wednesday when longtime NPR host Diane Rehm asserted he has “dual citizenship with Israel.” While the Vermont senator is Jewish and has spent time in Israel in the past, he made abundantly clear that he did not hold citizenship to the Jewish state.  “No, I do not have dual…

Manhattan prosecutors on Wednesday started the process of retrying the Etan Patz case, NBC News reported. The six-year-old Patz went missing May 25, 1979. Pedro Hernandez, 54, confessed in 2012 to kidnapping and killing the child, more than three decades after the boy disappeared, but his lawyers argued Hernandez was mentally ill and his statements…

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday called to “review” the political, economic, and security agreements with Israel, according to the Ma’an news agency. Speaking at a news conference with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic in Belgrade, Abbas said, “Israel must stop violating agreements and commit to them. They should stop settlement activity, ‘Judaization’ activities…

An official in the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday threatened Israel with violence if it continues its “settlement building”. Walid Assaf, who heads the PA’s “Commission Against the Wall and Settlements”, warned against what he described as “settlement plans more serious than can be described in words.” “We are witnessing today the beginning of a…

MK Oren Hazan (Likud) on Wednesday evening participated in a gathering of Likud Central Committee members, where he dismissed the reports about him this week as a “targeted assassination attempt”. Channel 2 News’ Amit Segal reported this week that, who spent several years managing a casino hotel in Burgas, Bulgaria, also did business with a…

The United States Treasury on Wednesday placed on its sanctions blacklist three Lebanese men and companies they are tied to, calling them part of a “key Hezbollah support network.” According to the AFP news agency, the Treasury placed asset freezes and restrictions for doing business on real estate businessman Adham Tabaja and his Al-Inmaa group…

The next round of nuclear negotiations with Iran will be “pretty tough,” a senior United States official told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday. Iran and the six major powers reached a framework nuclear deal on April 2 in Lausanne, Switzerland, and are seeking to reach a final agreement by a June 30 deadline. “As…

The prophets, when speaking about the End-of-Days, talk about a major war called “The War of Gog and Magog”.  The Midrash speaks of three such wars and the Chofetz Chaim witnessed one and predicted the next two, including World War II. Now, as the world heats up and chaos threatens the peace of daily life, especially…

The UN’s peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has extended wide-ranging talks in Geneva by another month until July, his spokeswoman said Wednesday, according to the AFP news agency. The spokesman, Jessy Chahine, said the talks, launched on May 5 to allow separate consultations with regional and domestic players in the hope of reviving…

150 of the Jewish world’s leading change makers from 32 countries convened in Jerusalem this week for the 2015 ROI Summit, ROI Community’s flagship program. ROI Community is an initiative of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. ROI Community is an international network of activists and change makers who are redefining Jewish engagement for…

Spanish lawmakers were set Thursday to give final approval to a law to right a “historical mistake” and ease the path to citizenship for the descendants of Jews it expelled in 1492.   The measure, championed by the center-right government, grants dual citizenship rights for Jews with Spanish ancestry, who are known as Sephardic Jews.…

French telecoms group Orange said its boss Stephane Richard was heading to Israel Thursday for a two-day visit after his plans to cancel ties with a local firm sparked a boycott row. Richard was invited by Israel to “clarify the misunderstanding” after he said last week that Orange was going to withdraw its brand from the Jewish state. His comments were…

Continuing a well-worn theme in the Palestinian Authority, a top diplomat in the PA on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of using “Goebbels tactics of the big lie” to smear the reputation of PA chief Mahmous Abbas. Israel Radio quoted Nimar Hamad, a top security advisor to Abbas, as saying that “Netanyahu is using…

At least 20 members of Syria’s Druze minority have been killed in an unprecedented shoot-out with Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front in northwestern Syria, a monitor said on Thursday, according to AFP. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths came Wednesday in the village of Qalb Lawzah in Idlib province, most of which is now controlled by an alliance including Al-Nusra.…

Israel’s Cultural Institutions Forum said it would convene an emergency meeting regarding freedom of speech on Sunday after cabinet ministers imposed sanctions on two Israeli Arab theaters.  According to a Channel 2 report on Thursday, the family of IDF soldier Moshe Tamam has requested to speak at the emergency meeting, but claims that its petition has so far been…

Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, considered one of the deans of the haredi yeshiva world and head of the Eida Harechedit of Jerusalem, advised a well-known haredi businessman to sell all his holdings in the Big Shopping Centers Group. The company, the Kikar Shabbat quoted Rabbi Sternbuch as saying, is a “serial public Sabbath violator,” and observant…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met Thursday morning in Jerusalem with US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey. “You’ve been a wonderful friend and a grand champion of America and of America-Israel relations,” Netanyahu greeted Dempsey warmly. “We appreciate it.”  “I want to take this opportunity to also express our respect and deep…

Fourteen original works of art by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler will go up for auction in southern Germany later this month, AFP reported on Tuesday.  The watercolors and drawings date to between 1904 and 1922 with many bearing the signature “A. Hitler,” the catalogue of Nuremberg-based Weidler auctioneers displayed on its website. The pieces are expected to be sold…

Israel has officially denied any connection to allegations that it spied on Iran and Western powers discussing Tehran’s nuclear program. Speaking to Army Radio Thursday, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotlvely said “there is no basis for the reports on Israel’s involvement in this. It is much more important to us to prevent a bad agreement from being signed.…

Turkish authorities have reportedly asked a senior Hamas commander to scale-back his activities in Turkey, in order to avoid Ankara being accused of abetting terrorism. According to Haaretz, Turkish intelligence transmitted the request to Salah al-Arouri, who was expelled from Judea and Samaria by the IDF after being released from prison in the 2011 Schalit Deal, but who…

Lebanon last week received a shipment of U.S. arms worth $146 million. The arms consisted of AGM-114 Hellfire II missiles, the third major arms shipment the country has received this year. Sources in Lebanon said that the weapons would be used to battle Islamic State and Islamist groups in Syria that have been conducting skirmishes…

A Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) donated to the Knesset has disappeared just one day after the event, Arutz Sheva discovered in an independent investigation Wednesday, based on what may be a double standard about accepting gifts.  The dedication ceremony for the Torah scroll, which was donated to the Knesset official synagogue, was held Tuesday night. The scroll was written in…

Even though they are legal, police in Israel most definitely do not want you riding electric bikes – and are coming up with creative ways to discourage their use. In the Tel Aviv suburb of Kfar Saba, for example, cops are giving teen miscreants who use their phones while riding fines of NIS 1,000 ($270)…

US President Barack Obama’s antipathy to Israel is not only a matter of public perception, former Ambassador to the US Michael Oren will reveal in a new tell-all book: it truly is a matter of his administrative policy.  Oren’s book Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide, documents in detail Oren’s experiences from 2009-2013.  Unlike other…

Although no longer in the government, Yisrael Beytenu supports the efforts by Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) to shut down an anti-Israel play, and remove it from the “cultural basket” for events funded by the government. MK Robert Ilatov, the party’s Knesset chairman, said that there was no place for the government “to fund…

Israel attempted to use a sophisticated virus to spy on nuclear talks between Iran and P5+1, according to a report released Wednesday – by hacking into the servers of hotels where talks were being held.  Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab ZAO found the hotels on a list of European servers hacked by the virus, identified as a…

The US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State group must do more to target the jihadists’ command centers, French army chief Denis Mercier said Wednesday, according to AFP. He compared operations in Iraq, where French warplanes are carrying out air strikes, and Syria, where the US is bombing jihadist positions, to the 2011 international intervention in Libya. “In…

In a letter to Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), Orange CEO Stephane Richard again proclaimed his “affection” for Israel, and said that he had been “badly hurt by the firestorm that was created, and by the many aggressive comments” made by Israelis on the matter. “These comments were based on something I didn’t even…

This week Ira and Rod share more of their personal stories. Ira speaks about the obstacles and struggles of waiting two and half years to receive Israeli citizenship, and they both share with the audience words of encouragement when they are facing their own battles with those things that seem out of reach right now.…

President Barack Obama on Wednesday approved the deployment of 450 more American military trainers to Iraq, a cautious bid to reverse gains by the Islamic State (ISIS) group, AFP reports. The White House said the forces will join an already 3,100-strong mission to “train, advise and assist” the Iraqi army and Sunni tribal fighters. The…

Norway has agreed to take in 8,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2017, under an agreement reached Wednesday by most of the Scandinavian country’s political parties. The country now plans to welcome 2,000 Syrians this year – that is 500 more than previously planned – followed by 3,000 each year in 2016 and 2017, according to AFP.  The new figures aim to…

Israel vehemently denied Wednesday night that it had been involved in spying on Iran or in planting viruses in European hotels to monitor the talks between Iran and Western powers over that country’s nuclear program. In an interview on Israel Radio Wednesday night, Deputy Defense Minister called the allegations “utter nonsense. Israel does not use…

Israel and the U.S. have signed an important strategic air force agreement, the Israel Air Force revealed Monday. The ASNR (Air Senior National Representative) agreement, signed last week, covers a full range of cooperation between the forces under one roof by building a joint annual work plan addressing these issues with the goal of promoting…

At least 100 people attended a funeral on Wednesday – for a 93 year-old Holocaust survivor they had never met.  Former banker Rachel Steinmetz wrote Facebook posts and Tweets asking for help from the public Wednesday morning, after realizing that the deceased was en route for burial from New York to Israel and had no…

American Jews are more likely to support a nuclear deal with Iran than the general American population, according to a poll published by leftist organization J-Street Wednesday.  59% of Jewish respondents support a deal with the Islamic Republic, vs. just 53% of the general population, it said, citing a similar poll in April. 78% of Jews…

A Nazi prisoner-of-war camp in Scotland is due to become a tourist attraction, British media reported Wednesday, if a development company can greenlight the plan.  The Cultybraggan Camp in Perthshire, Scotland is infamous for holding the worst Nazis, including Rudolf Hess. According to the Telegraph, the bunkers will now be transformed into modern sleeping space which preserve…

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, on Tuesday called on Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman to “stop the nonsense” and join the coalition. Bennett’s call to Liberman was made on Twitter, and it came after Liberman welcomed Bennett’s announcement that he would cut state funding for a play by an Arab…

United Nations monitors have said that governments are not reporting new incidents of Iran violating Security Council sanctions, even though some have unfolded in plain sight. The monitors’ claims were made in a report dated June 1, the contents of which were made public by Bloomberg news on Tuesday. “The current situation with reporting could…

Egypt on Tuesday lashed out at a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report condemning “flagrant human rights abuses” during the first year of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s rule, AFP reports. The watchdog released its report on the first anniversary of the inauguration of Sisi, who was sworn in on June 8, 2014, after having ousted his…

Environment Protection Minister Avi Gabai on Tuesday promised that the ammonia tank in the city of Haifa will be removed within three years. The possibility of a leak of poisonous gas from the plant poses an extreme hazard for tens of thousands of nearby residents. Gabai, who held a tour of the city along with…

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom on Tuesday accused Saudi Arabia of handing a “medieval” punishment to Raif Badawi, the blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam, AFP reported. Last week, Saudi Arabia’s supreme court upheld the sentence against Badawi, who ran a site called Free Saudi Liberals and has been in custody since 2012.…

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu resigned on Tuesday, in a procedural move after his AK Party lost its majority in parliamentary elections earlier this week. According to the BBC, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted Davutoglu’s gesture but asked him to stay in the post until a new government was formed. Erdogan is expected to give…

Sinai Province, Islamic State’s Egypt affiliate, fired rockets at the direction of an airport in Sinai used by UN peacekeeping forces on Tuesday night, Reuters reported. Security sources told the news agency there were no casualties in the attack. Details of the attack were not immediately clear, with some sources saying the rockets fell inside…

Archaeological excavations near Highway 1, at the entrance to Abu Ghosh, have uncovered a large Byzantine-period road station that included a church. Initiated and funded by the National Roads Company, the excavations were conducted as the state company was upgrading and widening the highway that connects Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The site lies next to…

This week’s Torah portion of Parashat Shelach features the horrendous sin of the spies, an event of such catastrophic proportions that we are still suffering from it today. In this informative and emotional edition of Temple Talk, Yitzchak Reuven and Rabbi Chaim Richman take a long hard look at the ever-fashionable trend of slandering the…

Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau spoke on Wednesday about reports which aired late last month, according to which Efrat Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, known for his more liberal stance on conversion and women’s issues, will not have his tenure extended after having reached the retirement age of 75. In a visit to the pensioners’ study hall at the…

Likud MK Oren Hazan vowed Wednesday that he would not vote against the Coalition in the Knesset plenum despite the steps that have been taken against him following scandalous accusations in a televised investigative report. “Calm down, guys,” Hazan tweeted. “There is no need for a cancelling-out agreement. Do you really believe that I intend…

A resident of Haifa who refused to divorce her husband for 14 years will do no jail time and receive 100,000 shekels from her husband in return for granting the divorce, a rabbinical court has ruled. According to Ynet, the couple parted in 1993 and the husband filed for divorce, while the wife filed for…

Members of the Yazidi community, one of the Iraqi minorities hardest hit by jihadist atrocities including mass rapes and executions conducted by Islamic State (ISIS), killed 21 Sunni Arab villagers in a January revenge attack, Amnesty International said Wednesday. The London-based watchdog investigated attacks carried out on January 25 by a Yazidi militia in Jiri and Sibaya, two Sunni Arab villages…

In response to the bill submitted several days ago by the radical leftist Meretz party, which would have products from Judea and Samaria labeled thereby singling them out for boycotts, Efrat regional council chair Attorney Oded Ravivi on Wednesday called on the party to rethink the proposal. “The Meretz party decided to label 400,000 Israelis,…

The West has an interest in the “fragmentation” of the Islamic world and is partly to blame for the rise of Islamic State (ISIS), one of the world’s top Muslim clerics claimed to AFP in an interview on Tuesday. Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar in Florence, Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar in Cairo, strongly criticized…

At the Herzliya Conference on Tuesday a panel of experts discussed what the Middle East will look like after a deal is reached with Iran on its nuclear program, and warned that the Islamic regime will decisively outmaneuver the West in negotiations. Shabtai Shavit, former head of Israel’s secret intelligence organization the Mossad, noted in the panel…

A French mother took the government to court on Tuesday for failing to stop her teenage son from leaving the country to join jihadists in Syria. The boy, identified only as “B”, was 16 when he left with three others from the town of Nice in southern France on December 27, 2013, giving no warning…

A 102 year-old woman received her doctorate from a German university Tuesday – nearly 80 years after the Nazis prevented her sitting the final exam to officially obtain it. Pediatric expert Ingeborg Syllm-Rapoport was presented with her Ph.D. title by Hamburg’s UKE University Medical Center despite having completed her thesis on diphtheria by 1938. She had…

A US commando raid in Syria last month that killed a senior figure from the Islamic State group (ISIS) produced a wealth of information about the jihadists’ finances and leadership, the New York Times reported Tuesday, citing US officials. Material seized in the May 16 raid against Abu Sayyaf, believed to be the group’s top financier,…

Every Jew who decides to make aliyah and move to the Jewish homeland has a unique story, but few are as dramatic as that of Uzi Hangadi, a 27-year-old who just this week made aliyah from San Diego, California. Hangadi, who made aliyah with the assistance of Nefesh B’Nefesh, arrived at the IDF recruitment office to…

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon met Tuesday afternoon with US Army head Gen. Martin Dempsey, at his office in Tel Aviv. The visit is Dempsey’s fifth and last to Israel as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. Joseph Dunford has been selected to take over from him this coming October. The two discussed bilateral ties between the…

Israel has been fighting the Iran nuclear deal due to the great danger it poses, but senior Western officials have revealed it is also doing so because once a deal is reached, the European Union (EU) and UN are planning a diplomatic offensive targeting the Jewish state. The political assault is meant to force Israel…

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday warned that it held Israel responsible for the health of hunger-striking prisoner Khadar Adnan, who it claims is “in danger of dying” after 36 days of refusing food.   “Israel is entirely responsible for the life of prisoners in administrative detention,” it said in a statement, referring to a procedure under…

Luxembourg apologized to the Jewish community on Tuesday for its “suffering” during the Nazi occupation in World War II, in the first such gesture since the conflict ended 70 years ago, reported AFP. The government acknowledged that “certain representatives” of the Luxembourg authorities had been complicit. Out of 3,700 Jews living in Luxembourg before the…

In an hour-long address to the Herzliya Conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke about the peace process and regional tensions that are creating a new reality in the Middle East – he also spoke about the largely hushed up building freeze in Judea and Samaria. “I committed to two states at Bar Ilan,”…

Education Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Tuesday that he has decided to cut state funding for a play by an Arab theater about a terrorist who murdered an IDF soldier. “I’ve ordered the relevant people in the education ministry to immediately remove the play from the culture basket,” he said of the state-funded selection of cultural events intended…

The Pentagon is drawing up plans to expand the training of Iraqi forces and Sunni tribal fighters in a step that could mean deploying more US troops, officials said Tuesday. The review of possible options comes in the wake of the Islamic State (ISIS) group’s damaging defeat of Iraqi troops in the western city of Ramadi and after US President Barack Obama said…

The White House on Tuesday relished the US Supreme Court ruling the day before, which sided with US President Barack Obama in striking down a Congressional law calling to have Jerusalem recognized as part of Israel on American passports. “We welcome the Supreme Court’s important decision yesterday in Zivotofsky v. Kerry, which reaffirms the long-established…

Sources close to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) revealed that after Edelstein suspended freshman Likud MK Oren Hazan from his duties as deputy speaker due to a report alleging he was involved in pimping and drugs, Hazan countered by threatening to find incriminating stories about Edelstein. An aide to Edelstein told AFP that after the suspension announcement, a furious…

Science, Technology and Space Minister Danny Danon (Likud) on Monday blasted the leftist Meretz party’s proposed bill that would have the state of Israel place labels identifying products originating from Judea and Samaria. Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Danon said the initiative is “unacceptable” and vowed to fight it. “We will not even discuss it. In…

Interior Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud) on Monday evening called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to restart peace talks with Israel without preconditions. “If the Palestinians will be serious and sit down for real negotiations, without preconditions and without compromise, I pledge that they will find a true partner,” Shalom said at the Herzliya Conference, speaking…

The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on Monday it had recalled its ambassador to Brazil for consultation, Reuters reports. The move came after the Brazilian Senate passed legislation recognizing the massacre of Armenians during World War I as genocide. The ministry in Ankara also summoned Brazil’s ambassador on June 3 over the matter, it said in…

MK Oren Hazan (Likud) on Monday night announced he would be taking legal action against Channel 2 News and its political correspondent Amit Segal, following a report aired by the channel regarding Hazan’s alleged exploits in Bulgaria. The report claimed that Hazan, who spent several years in the European nation managing a casino hotel in…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Monday welcomed the decision of the United States Supreme Court to reject an appeal to have Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky’s passport list “Jerusalem, Israel” as his place of birth, in a key case regarding the city’s status as Israel’s capital. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said…

The Obama administration has sent Congress a report that harshly criticizes the Egyptian government, accusing it of restricting free speech, arresting political dissidents and undermining democracy, The Associated Press (AP) reported Monday. The report recommends, however, that the U.S. continue sending it $1.3 billion in mostly military aid. The report, quietly submitted to lawmakers last…

Syria’s brutal conflict has left more than 230,000 people dead, including almost 11,500 children since it broke out in 2011, a monitoring group said Tuesday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 230,618 people, according to AFP.  The toll includes 69,494 civilians, among them 11,493 children and 7,371 women. Combatants account for a majority…

The saga over the alleged past of Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Oren Hazan (Likud) continues Tuesday, after he was summoned to meeting with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein over allegations from Channel 2 that he was involved in providing escorts and drugs to fellow Israelis in Bulgaria.  Hazan stated on Twitter Tuesday afternoon that the meeting would end early, because…

Legendary rock star Jon Bon Jovi will play in Tel Aviv on October 3, 2015.  The news, which has yet to surface on the rocker’s official website, was revealed by Army Radio broadcaster Nov Reuveny on Twitter Tuesday morning.  The Bon Jovi concert will be held in Park HaYarkon; tickets are reportedly selling from 340 shekels ($88.68) per seat…

A Haifa Theater play starring Arab actor Norman Issa, which was supposed to be staged at the Bik’at Hayarden Regional Council, was cancelled because of Issa’s political objections. The municipal territory of the Bik’at Hayarden Council, which straddles the Jordan River, reaches from Mehola in the north, near the Beit She’an Valley, to Jericho in…

A peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) is not likely to be forged in the near future, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) stated Tuesday.  “Unfortunately, and based on my vast experience, I do not see the formation of such an agreement during my lifetime,” Ya’alon stated in a speech during the 15th Herzliya…

CIA chief John Brennan made a “secret” visit to Israel last week to discuss an emerging nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Israel’s leftist Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday. The visit came as a June 30 deadline looms for a deal that would row back Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from sanctions, which Israel has long opposed, causing friction between Jerusalem…

Hypocrisy in Orange? The CEO of Orange Telecommunications declared intent last week to end ties with its franchise operator Partner in Israel, a move he claimed was a “business decision.” French Ambassador to the US Gerard Araud later defended the move on Twitter as a means of upholding the Fourth Geneva Convention, which called Israel’s presence in…

The Turkish elections ended Sunday, leaving an uncertain political future in their wake, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to struggle to form a coalition.  But despite the uncertainty for the country’s overall stability, figures involved with the Turkish Jewish community are convinced that the change will probably be positive.  “Anything that will reduce the power…

Genderist (radical feminist) and leftist Knesset members are piling on MK Oren Hazan (Likud), who finds himself under a severe media attack after a Channel 2 investigative report accused him of arranging drugs and prostitution services for clients in a casino hotel he ran in Bulgaria before running for Knesset. The genderist MKs, in particular,…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Monday evening spoke at a ceremony honoring outstanding reserve units at the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem, where he had a simple message for Gaza terrorists: Israel will not tolerate continued rocket attacks. “In the last few days we received another reminder about the complexity of the situation in Gaza, a…

A group of 40 British filmmakers and artists have sent an open letter to The Guardian on Monday calling for the Curzon and Odeon cinema chains to stop screenings of an Israeli film festival opening in London this week.  Seret 2015, the London Israeli Film and Television Festival, will open Thursday with a gala screening at Bafta, followed by a…

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) proved relatively forthcoming about plans for his new role during an interview Monday night with Channel 2.  Addressing an ongoing protest on the part of female students about allegedly discriminatory dress code practices, Bennett said he “trusted the judgment of school principals when it comes to what boys and girls…

Members of a French group that claimed it was formed to combat Islamophobia went on trial in Paris on Monday accused of plotting terrorist attacks, including against Jewish stores in Paris. Led by 37-year-old “emir” Mohamed Achamlane, the 15 members of Forsane Alizza, who called themselves the “knights of pride,” have denied involvement in a terrorist organization,” reports AFP. The group was formed in 2010,…

Edwin Shuker, a native of Baghdad and Vice President of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), told Arutz Sheva on Monday at the sidelines of the Herzliya Conference why European Islam is unique and where anti-Semitism and Islam meet. Shuker, who was forced to flee Iraq after the 1967 Six Day War and rise of Saddan Hussein’s party in…

Oded Revivi, mayor of Efrat, talks about life in Israel’s communities in Judea and Samaria. Often referred to as “”West Bank settlements,”” are these communities good for the Israeli economy? And what’’s life really like there? In the second half of the show, Marin Katusa, chief energy investment strategist at Casey Research and bestselling author of…

New details surrounding the exploits of MK Oren Hazan in Bulgaria have reportedly emerged, Channel 2 disclosed Monday evening, nearly two months after the freshman MK was elected to the Knesset at the 30 spot on Likud’s list.  Hazan, the son of disgraced former MK Yehiel Hazan, spent several years in the European nation managing a casino hotel in Burgas before returning…

A heated debate took place on Monday at the Herzliya Conference, which saw Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) square up against former top Likud Minister Dan Meridor on the topic of the “two state solution.” In the debate, in which Hotovely opposed the “two state solution” while Meridor defended it, Meridor remarked on statements…

The US Supreme Court on Monday sided with US President Barack Obama and criticized Congress for “overstepping its bounds” when it tried to press Obama to have Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky’s passport list “Jerusalem, Israel” as his place of birth, in a key case regarding the city’s status as Israel’s capital. By a 6-3 majority, the Supreme Court…

In a surprising statement, US President Barack Obama said on Monday that his administration does not have “a complete strategy” to fight the brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization that has been expanding its iron grasp over wide sections in Syria and Iraq. The Washington Free Beacon uploaded his comments made at a news conference during the G-7…

War-torn Syria has asked the UN atomic watchdog for help in converting a nuclear facility and shipping abroad potentially dangerous nuclear material, the head of the watchdog said Monday. “We have received a request from Syria early this year…we are studying the request,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano told reporters according to AFP. The assistance would entail converting a small reactor…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened a Likud party meeting on Monday by discussing the BDS boycott movement against Israel, and noting that the threat of economic attack lies not only from without but also from within the Jewish state. “I was surprised to discover that one of the parties in Israel submitted a bill to…

It is a fear of all parents: losing track of their young children and in doing so exposing them to being lost or abducted, never to be seen again. Fear no longer, for an ingenuous new Israeli cell phone application promises to make the worrying prospect a thing of the past. Safie, the application developed by Harel Feder…

Zionist Union chairman Yitzhak Herzog spoke before his party’s faction meeting on Monday addressing the appointment of MK Merav Michaeli as faction chairman.  The opposition leader also took the opportunity to attack his favorite political target – Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.  “Netanyahu is leading us to where we will become a [binational] Jewish and Arab…

The President’s Residence is angry with Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel after it tried to hold a controversial ceremony at the Residence under the guise of a Bar Mitzvah party for disabled children. The incident began about a month ago, when the mayor of Rehovot, Rahamim Malul, refused to cooperate with the ceremony which the…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist AKP party received a heavy blow Monday, after learning it had lost its overall majority in Turkey’s parliament after 13 years of undisputed – and increasingly autocratic – rule. After his prime minister initially attempting to put on a brave face and hail the emerging results as a “victory,” Erdogan…

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday slammed attempts to boycott Israel as “unacceptable,” weighing in on a row between the Jewish state and partially state-owned French telecoms giant Orange. The company’s CEO Stephane Richard last Wednesday said it intends to “dump” Israel “tomorrow,” a day before the company announced it would cut ties with Partner, an Israeli company…

Israel may face yet more fallout in foreign relations, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Lubomír Zaorálek, warned Monday – adding his voice to the chorus of international diplomats urging Israel to acquiesce to the demands of the Palestinian Authority (PA) for territory.  The Czech Republic has been one of the most sympathetic countries regarding Israel in…

Google chairman Eric Schmidt provided a vote of support toward Israel on Sunday, praising its “culture of entrepreneurship” amidst several high-profile attempts to lob global boycotts against the Jewish state.  “Israel is booming in terms of entrepreneurship because you have a culture to challenge authority and to question everything,” Schmidt said, in a speech to hundreds…

The Israel Police’s Traffic Department issued a recommendation Monday, to require drivers of e-bikes to get a drivers’ license, and to set the minimum age for driving the vehicles at 16. The issue will be debated in the Knesset’s Interior Ministry Monday. According to regulations issued last year, the minimum age for driving an e-bike…

Women are advancing in the ranks of the Mossad, Israel Hayom reports Monday, after Mossad chief Tamir Pardo appointed a woman to head the Human Resources Division.  The woman, named only as Y, has served in the Mossad for many years and fulfilled several roles, including Department Head and Deputy Division Head before being promoted to her…

The US and Israel must defend their shared values to defeat anti-Semitism and terrorism, Attorney Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of slain US attorney general Robert Kennedy, declared at a conference at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya on Sunday, including “democracy, liberty, and justice.”  Fighting both phenomena requires “collective commitment and determination,” she began. “We cannot be passive.” …

Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan and former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi denied on Sunday that they refused orders from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to strike Iran in 2010. Dagan called the order “illegal” but also said it had never been issued. The somewhat contradictory claims were made during a heated debate at The…

It is not too late to stop a bad nuclear deal between Iran and the West, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York City, in remarks made via video conference. “Israel has no better friend in the world than the United States. And the United States has no better…

Aiman Odeh, chairman of the Arab United List, on Sunday decried the “Israeli occupation” at the Herzliya Conference, and condemned the Israeli Left for not doing more to force Israel to surrender Judea, Samaria, and most of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority. “The Israeli occupation is the longest since the end of World War II,…

Grassroots student group Im Tirtzu has head has turned down an invitation to speak before a JStreet delegation visiting Israel. Matan Peleg, CEO of Im Tirtzu, received a request by email last week from JStreet representatives in Israel, to give a lecture on the Israel-Palestinian conflict to members of the delegation. Im Tirtzu declined the…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suffered a serious setback in the parliamentary elections Sunday, according to initial reports. Four hours after the ballots closed, it appeared that Erdogan’s AKP party will not have the required majority for passing reforms in the Turkish constitution. With 90% of the votes counted, the Kurdish HDP party received about 11%…

U.S. President Barack H. Obama has Israel’s best interests at heart, believes his Treasury Secretary Jack Lew – but attendees of the Jerusalem Post Conference taking place in Washington this week weren’t buying it. As Lew proclaimed that “no administration has done more for Israel than the current one,” and that “we do not at…

Bahraini authorities have foiled a “terrorist” plot planned by a cell trained in Iraq, the interior ministry said Sunday, according to the Al Arabiya network. The ministry said in a statement that investigations have led to the arrest of individuals suspected of carrying out “terrorist acts in the kingdom” under Saraya al-Ashtar, a blacklisted anti-government…

The White House on Sunday reaffirmed Washington’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself, Reuters reports. The comments by White House spokesman Josh Earnest came after Israeli aircraft struck a terrorist infrastructure in Gaza in retaliation for a rocket attack on Ashkelon. “Clearly the U.S. stands with the people of Israel as they defend their…

Saudi Arabia’s supreme court has upheld a sentence of 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes against blogger Raif Badawi on charges of insulting Islam, his wife said on Sunday, according to AFP. The ruling came despite worldwide outrage over his case and criticism from the United Nations, United States, the European Union, Canada and…

Israel has invited the head of France’s Orange group to visit and explain his plan to review ties with a local telecoms firm that has stirred a boycott row, a government official said Sunday, according to AFP. The telecoms giant reacted swiftly, saying it welcomed the invitation and that its CEO, Stephane Richard, would travel to…

Iraqi forces advanced against the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group in Baiji on Sunday as they battled to retake the strategic town for a second time, officers said, according to the AFP news agency. Baghdad regained control of Baiji — located on the road to ISIS hub Mosul and near the country’s largest oil refinery…

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday night emphasized his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) “victory” in the elections, despite the party suffering a serious setback by not achieving the required majority for passing reforms in the Turkish constitution. During the traditional balcony speech at the party’s headquarters in Ankara, Davutoglu stressed the significance of…

A 26 year-old woman was stabbed in the back with a screwdriver in Ramle on Sunday afternoon, and has been evacuated to Assaf HaRofeh hospital in Tzrifin in moderate condition.  Israel Police officers called to the scene pursued the suspect and shot him after he attempted to stab police. The suspect, a 20 year-old Arab…

Twelve year-old terror victim Ayala Shapira ascended the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday morning, in honor of her bat mitzvah, a ceremony signifying her coming of age and taking responsibility for her own observance of the Jewish commandments.  Shapira stated in her first public interview in March that it was her dream to ascend the Mount,…

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement must be halted in its tracks, Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said Saturday night, speaking to over 700 members of the Jewish community at the Park Avenue synagogue in New York.  “The situation is getting worse,” he said. “The tide is turning and it must be turned back now…

Turkey holds its national elections on Sunday, with many predicting another win for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).  To gain some perspective on the elections – and how they may affect Israel – Arutz Sheva spoke with Dr. Efrat Aviv, the Begin-Sadat Center (BESA)’s expert on Turkish affairs, and Prof. Efraim Inbar, the center’s…

The Defense Ministry is weighing finally stopping all humanitarian aid and construction material shipment to Gaza, Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan (Jewish Home) stated Sunday, against the backdrop of renewed rocket fire from Gaza and the Israeli Air Force (IAF)’s airstrikes overnight.  “We may have to close [the Erez and Kerem Shalom] crossings…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu condemned the international silence on the resumption of rocket fire from Gaza on Sunday, opening his weekly Cabinet meeting with strong words about hypocrisy. “Israel holds Hamas responsible for all fire from Gaza into our territory,” Netanyahu said, referring to the fact that Hamas has shifted blame for recent rocket fire…

Gaza’s soccer cup will be held in Rafah and Sheijaya on Sunday, and the organizers have used a unique marketing strategy: exploiting the terror murders of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, whom Hamas killed during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.   A notice published shows photos of the two soldiers above a stadium and paints…

(AFP) In a nondescript office in central London, researcher Melanie Smith stares at her laptop, scrolling down the Twitter feed of a 17-year-old British girl who ran away to join Islamic State terrorists. “What we’re looking at here is when she announced her husband’s death,” said Smith, pointing to a post from a few months…

Salafist groups in Gaza are intentionally provoking Israel in order to have the Israeli Air Force (IAF) finish off Hamas for them, a senior defense official theorized Sunday.  “The purpose of the latest rocket fire from Gaza is to light a fire between Hamas and Israel,” the defense official stated to Walla! News on condition of anonymity.…

Israel needs to make a deal with the Palestinian Authority right away, it it wants to survive as a Jewish state, said Zionist Union/Labor Party head Yitzchak Herzog Sunday. Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, Herzog said that Israel faced a “demographic emergency,” and that within a decade there would no longer be a majority of…

Alert policemen foiled a terrorist stabbing attack Sunday in Jerusalem’s Old City. The terrorist, an Arab man aged 25, from the Hevron area, had reached the Cotton Gate that leads to the Temple Mount, when officers the Temple Mount police spotted him and decided that he seemed suspicious. They began to question him about what…

Education Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday announced his new plan to ensure Israel’s security. Key to the plan, he said, was gaining world recognition of Israel’s annexing of the Golan Heights. Israel annexed the Golan in 1981, making it officially part of “Israel proper” from a legal point of view. However, that annexation has yet…

Qatar’s FIFA bribes have come home to roost. According to a whistleblower who gave the FBI details on the scam in which Qatari billionaires bribed FIFA officials to get them to assign the 2022 World Cup finals to their country, the match is likely to be moved from Qatar to another country. The whistleblower, Phaedra…

Over the past several days, the “little by little” attacks from Gaza have started up again, with the usual response by the IDF – targeting rocket firing crews and locations, with the rockets being moved to another location and being fired from there. According to Hamas, the terrorists carrying out these attacks not part of…

Lt.-Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz, who served until recently as the IDF’s chief of staff, attended an odd peace concert at Kfar Aza, near the border with Gaza, Thursday evening. The “Concert without Borders” featured what appeared to be an imam delivering the Muslim call to prayer, as can be seen 42 seconds into the Channel…

Eli Groner, an American immigrant from New York who formerly worked as a journalist and a staffer in the Foreign Ministry, was confirmed Sunday as Director of the Prime Minister’s Office – an extremely important position in which Groner will manage the day to day operations of numerous government activities. Before taking on his new…

Much has been said about US President Barack Obama’s recent threat to consider changing the long-standing American policy of vetoing anti-Israel UN resolutions. But little attention has been paid to another point he made on the same occasion: A strong hint that American military action against Iran was no longer an option. In his recent interview with prominent…

Security forces are currently rehearsing and preparing for a scenario in which Israel’s enemies launch a “carpet” missile attack that Iron Dome will be unable to counter, due to the sheer number of missiles involved, Arutz Sheva has learned from knowledgeable sources that wish to remain anonymous. In this scenario, up to 4,000 Israelis will be…

MK Haim Yellin (Yesh Atid) submitted a formal request for an emergency Knesset session Saturday night, following rocket fire from Gaza which struck a field outside Ashkelon.  “Residents of the south stand firm against the barrage of rocket fire, while the Israeli government does not stand firm against Hamas,” the explanatory note for the request states. “In the…

The Israeli telecoms firm at the heart of a controversy involving France’s Orange that has caused a diplomatic storm said Saturday it is unhappy with Orange’s response to the matter, according to AFP.  Partner, Israel’s second largest mobile operator, said Orange chairman Stephane Richard’s declared intent to sever the agreement granting Partner use of the Orange name “continue to cause enormous…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu released a personal message to participants in next week’s conference against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement Saturday night, noting that the future of the Jewish state may well be in the hands of those fighting the boycott movement.  “Greetings from Jerusalem,” he began. “I wanted to commend all of…

Turkey on Saturday prepared for its tightest elections in over a decade, with tensions riding high after a bomb attack killed two and wounded dozens at a rally of the main pro-Kurdish party. Judicial sources said the explosions at a rally Friday of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir was caused by a cylinder bomb packed with hundreds…

An unprecedented meeting of more than 50 major Jewish and pro-Israel organizations is set to take place in Las Vegas this week, to discuss the growing international boycott efforts against Israel. The conference’s billionaire organizers – Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban – told Israel’s Channel 2 they were determined to turn the tide on those seeking to…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday stepped up his attacks on foreign media a day ahead of legislative elections, telling the Guardian to “know your limits” and lamenting that “Jewish capital” was behind the New York Times. Erdogan has during the campaign leading up to Sunday’s polls repeatedly criticized foreign media, amid growing concerns over an erosion of freedom of expression…

An Egyptian court on Saturday overturned a February decision by another tribunal branding Hamas a “terrorist” group, a court official said, according to AFP. The official told the news agency that the earlier ruling was thrown out because the court that issued it was not “competent” to make such verdicts. The February ruling came after…

Israeli aircraft attacked a terrorist infrastructure in northern Gaza overnight Saturday, in retaliation for a rocket attack on Ashkelon several hours earlier, the IDF Spokesperson said in a statement. In addition, following several rocket attacks in recent days, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has decided to close the Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossings between Gaza…

Iran’s Deputy Chief of Staff reiterated on Friday that the Islamic Republic will not allow any inspection of its military sites, PressTV reported. “We will never allow any kind of visit to military centers, whether it is limited and controlled, or unlimited or in any other form,” Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said, according to the…

A Turkish daily on Friday published images it said showed the Turkish spy agency helping to smuggle jihadists into Syria, the latest allegations by the newspaper accusing the authorities of aiding extremist groups across the border. The government had last week lambasted the Cumhuriyet daily for publishing video footage the paper said showed the National…

The extremist Islamic State (ISIS) group fought fierce battles Friday with Syria’s armed forces in a bid to seize control of Hasakeh, a key provincial capital in the country’s northeast. “Fierce clashes continued Friday between regime forces and ISIS south of Hasakeh city. The regime is violently and intensely bombarding jihadist positions from the air,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said according…

The IAF airstrikes in response to Wednesday’s rocket attack from Gaza that targeted Israeli cities is being denounced by the Hamas terrorist organization, which blames Israel of “aggressiveness” in defending itself. Senior Hamas official Ismail Radwan said Hamas had turned to Egypt and other international sources demanding that they force Israel to maintain the ceasefire…

Western powers involved in nuclear talks with Iran may delay the deadline for a final agreement beyond June 30, it was revealed Friday, in order to prevent Iranian stalling from benefiting the Islamic Republic.  “The Iranians are using delay tactics. It seems they want to come close to the deadline without an agreement,” Energy Minister…

A member of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the “armed wing” of the Hamas terrorist organization, died Friday when an attack tunnel he was in collapsed in Gaza near the Israeli border, Hamas and medical sources said. The sources did not say why the tunnel, located in eastern Shejaiya in northern Gaza, collapsed, according to AFP. A statement from the Al-Qassam Brigades said a member was…

The UN Security Council expressed outrage on Friday over a recent wave of barrel-bomb attacks in Syria’s northern Aleppo province that have left scores dead, AFP reports. Russia, Syria’s ally which has vetoed past resolutions against the Bashar Al-Assad regime, joined in a statement from the 15-member council condemning “all violence against civilians, and civilian…

A friend of Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was on Friday sentenced to three and a half years in prison for obstructing police, the BBC reports. Azamat Tazhayakov, a Kazakh exchange student, tearfully apologized for removing a backpack containing fireworks from Tsarnaev’s room, according to the report. He denounced Tsarnaev’s actions, which killed three and injured…

France on Friday deported the Algerian father of an Islamist who gunned down French soldiers and Jewish children in a 2012 killing spree in Toulouse, police sources said, according to AFP. The father of Mohamed Merah, who shot dead three soldiers before gunning down three students and a teacher at the Otzar HaTorah Jewish school,…

Stephane Richard, the CEO of the Orange telecom company, on Friday afternoon telephoned Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom to apologize for his remarks earlier this week in favor of a boycott of Israel. Speaking at a conference in Egypt, Richard said he wished he could dump” Israel “tomorrow”. A day later the French company announced it has decided…

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah once again threatened Israel on Friday, saying his group would displace “millions” in Israel if the Jewish state attacks Lebanon. Nasrallah made the threat in a televised address weeks after an Israeli army official warned that Israel would “have to” target civilian areas in Lebanon in a future confrontation with Hezbollah,…

The IDF has deployed two Iron Dome batteries in the Ashdod and Netivot areas of southern Israel, following the rocket fire on Israel this past week. A third battery was also deployed in Ashkelon, Channel 10 News reported on Friday. On Wednesday evening, two rockets from Gaza exploded in the Sdot Negev region. There were…

A full four million current and former US federal employees apparently had their personal information hacked, in what US official estimate may be the largest breach of the government’s computer networks in history. The Office of Personnel Management announced the hack on Thursday, noting that nearly every federal government agency was targeted by the hackers…

Most members of the Saudi Arabian public believe that Iran – not Israel – is their true foe, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Thursday. That conclusion was reached by an Israeli college that conducted an opinion poll in Saudi Arabia. The poll, by the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya (IDC), found that the Saudi public…

China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, on Thursday urged all parties involved in talks on Iran’s nuclear program to make no new demands and respect the legitimate concerns of the participants, Reuters reports. Wang, who is in Russia, said the situation had become more complex now that the talks process was in its final stages but…

The Fatah movement plans to re-establish official relations with the Syrian regime after 32 years, Fatah official Abbas Zaki said Thursday, according to the Ma’an news agency. Zaki, a Fatah central committee member, told the news agency that a recent visit by a Fatah delegation to Syria was “successful,” adding that Fatah offices will be…

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry announced on Thursday that he would seek the presidency a second time, ABC News reported. Perry said he was running because “it’s time for a reset, time to reset the relationship between government and citizen.” “We have the power to make things new again, to project America’s strength again, and…

Moderate Dutch Muslims on Thursday blasted a plan by anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders to broadcast cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed on national television, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The Muslims branded Wilders’ plan a “provocation”, according to the report. Wilders had on Wednesday announced his plan to use airtime granted to political parties to show cartoons…

A senior official from Yemen’s Houthi group on Thursday said the movement will attend UN-backed peace talks in Geneva without preconditions, Reuters reported. The talks are planned for June 14. “The group will participate in the Geneva talks and it supports without preconditions the efforts of the United Nations to organize Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue,” Daifallah al-Shami,…

At least 14 civilians, including seven children, were killed on Thursday when Syrian regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on northern Aleppo province, a monitoring group told AFP. The attacks came as part of an intensified air campaign over Aleppo in recent weeks, despite an international outcry over the civilian deaths. In the village of Hayyan,…

An exhibit screening an offensive video of naked men and women playing tag in the very same gas chamber where Nazis murdered Jews in the Holocaust is on display at the Krakow modern art museum in Poland – and is receiving patronage from none other than the Israeli embassy in Poland. The exhibit opened two weeks ago, and was…

Lots of different things happen in this week’s sedra. A whole bunch of good things…and then things turn bad. Between, we have a unique two-verse portion with a unique pair of separators. click here to download podcast

Turkish authorities have detained a female Russian student as she attempted to cross into war-torn Syria, Russian authorities said Friday. Moscow State University student Varvara Karaulova, 19, was found in the Turkish border town of Kilis after she vanished from the Russian capital, the interior ministry said in a statement as reported by AFP. “The operation to track her down was…

Even as talks over Iran’s nuclear program wind down ahead of a June 30 deadline, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched a volley of searing invective against the US on Thursday, comparing American police to brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists. Speaking at a memorial ceremony for his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini at his mausoleum in Tehran, Khamenei…

The Druze community in Israel has reached out to the US this week, begging Washington to protect Druze across the border in Syria.  US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro met with Druze community leaders Thursday, according to Channel 2, during which community leaders begged Shapiro to get the US more involved in the fighting between rebel…

A Dutch biker famed for fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) group alongside Kurdish peshmergas in Iraq last year has been killed in a streetcar accident in Amsterdam, his club said Friday. Nomad Ron, 46, a member of the No Surrender MC biker club, hit the headlines in October when photos emerged of him in Iraq, holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle alongside Kurdish fighters.…

France’s foreign minister on Friday said Paris was “firmly opposed” to any boycott of Israel as a row rages over French telecom group Orange’s decision to withdraw its brand from the Jewish state. “Although it is for the president of the Orange group to determine the commercial strategy of the company, France is firmly opposed to a boycott of Israel,” Laurent Fabius…

Rock and firebomb terror attacks against the Mount of Olives Cemetery in eastern Jerusalem continue unabated, with the Arab assailants just recently destroying a massive number of gravestones and even torching a portion of them as the ongoing vandalism spins out of control. The Ministry for Religious Affairs expressed its shock at how security forces have…

The debacle over the Orange telecom company’s boycott of Israel has deepened Friday, as the CEO of Israeli telecom firm Partner, which uses the Orange franchise name, stated that he is moving to take action.  “We were overwhelmed by the very irresponsible declaration of the CEO of Orange France,” incoming CEO Yitzhak Beneviste stated to Army…

Yachad – Ha’am Itanu chairperson former MK Eli Yishai has been largely silent since running on a joint list with Otzma Yehudit and just missing out in the last elections by under 10,000 votes; today he is focusing his energies on gathering donations to cover the large debts he was left with from the election campaign.…

Grassroots Zionist student group Im Tirtzu has launched a campaign against what it terms “the anti-Zionist trend spreading within the Bar Association.” The campaign focuses on Attorney Efi Naveh, head of the “One Association” faction that is currently vying for leadership of the Bar Association in its upcoming elections on June 16. Since the Bar Association appoints…

At the swearing-in ceremony of recruits to the elite Givati Brigade at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Thursday evening, the IDF Chief Educational Officer Brig. Gen. Avner Paz-Tzuk will give a speech instead of an IDF rabbi, who until now has always performed the function. According to Channel 2, Kotel Chief Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz intends to hold…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday lost no time in condemning the French-based cellular phone provider Orange’s decision to cut ties with Israel, after its CEO made anti-Semitic comments the day before saying he would “dump” Israel “tomorrow.” “The absurd drama in which the democracy that observes human rights –  the state of Israel – and which…

Turkish police detained a young French woman who crossed back into Turkey after joining Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists in neighboring Syria, a security official said on Thursday. During a three-month stay in Syria, the woman married and then split up from a jihadist and was put in a jail operated by the ISIS group before being released, the official said according…

Ahead of local elections on Sunday, the Turkish crackdown on the embarrassing revelation that trucks of its National Intelligence Organization (MIT) tried to smuggle weapons to Syria evidently to arm rebel jihadists last January continues, with the officials who intercepted the trucks being put on trial. Turkey’s top judicial body ruled on Thursday to allow the prosecution of five…

The French cell phone company Orange announced on Thursday afternoon that it has decided to halt its operations in Israel and end its partnership with the Israeli company Partner, which franchises Orange’s name in Israel. The dramatic move comes as Israel is launching a political campaign in response to the insulting comments made Wednesday by Stephane…

Several influential Sunni tribal leaders in the western Anbar province that is Iraq’s largest on Wednesday swore loyalty to the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group. The pledge was read aloud in Fallujah in a statement by influential sheikh Ahmed Dara al-Jumaili following a meeting between the tribal leaders, reports Al Jazeera. The paper noted that it remains…

Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to add Israel to an annual “List of Shame” of children’s rights violators, AFP reported, citing more than 500 children killed in the war in Gaza last year. The group called on Ban to resist pressure from Israel and the United States to keep the…

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely on Thursday evening called on the French government to condemn the French-based cellular phone provider Orange’s decision to cut ties with Israel. “I have instructed ministry officials in France to clarify that Israeli government officials expect them to forcefully condemn the move of Orange, especially given the fact that the French government…

US President Barack Obama’s administration is scrambling to quell concerns ahead of a Congressional review of the impending Iran nuclear deal that is approaching a June 30 deadline, but one US Senator reports Obama is refusing to reveal a document detailing the full scope of the deal. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations…

Israeli news media are reporting that a major development has taken place in the ongoing investigation against lawyer Ronel Fisher, former Tel Aviv District Attorney Ruth David, and former top police investigator Eran Malka. However, a court has issued a gag order on any detail about the negotiations being carried out with Malka, and on…

The catastrophic floods that struck Houston last week wrought particularly intense damage in the city’s Jewish community in the southwestern neighborhood of Willow Meadows. Within hours of the storm’s end, Yeshiva University (YU) students started coordinating a relief mission to the area with local community leaders. Supported by the Orthodox Union, Neal’s Fund, Harry Ballan, Virginia Bayer and Rabbi Robert…

In response to the announcement Thursday by French-based cell phone company Orange that it wants to cut ties with Partner, the Israeli company that franchises its name in the Jewish state, Partner is considering launching a massive lawsuit against the company. Billionaire Haim Saban, the US-based majority shareholder of Partner, told Channel 2 on Thursday night that Orange “gave in to…

The IDF and Border Police vacated the premises of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar on Tuesday, ending a year-long occupation of the site – and leaving behind severe damage. The yeshiva has published disturbing documentation from the site, and a professional assessor has estimated the cost of the direct damage at hundreds of…

A Muslim who was fatally shot on Tuesday after waving a military knife at law enforcement officers in Boston was originally plotting to behead Jewish blogger Pamela Geller, law enforcement sources told CNN on Wednesday. However, Usaamah Rahim, a 26-year-old security guard who officials believe was radicalized by ISIS and other extremists, decided instead to…

Former British prime minister Tony Blair is to take on a new role fighting anti-Semitism after stepping down as a Middle East peace envoy, he announced on Thursday. According to AFP, Blair will serve as chairman of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, which campaigns to stop discrimination against Jews as well as for Holocaust denial to become a criminal offense. Blair…

Abu Mohammad al-Golani, the chief of Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate the Al-Nusra Front, on Wednesday described the rival Islamic State (ISIS) group’s self-proclaimed caliphate as “illegitimate”, AFP reports. The comments came in a the second part of al-Golani’s appearance on the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera news channel. In the first part, which aired last week, he said that…

The United States expects Iran to reduce its stockpile of low enriched uranium to the levels required under an interim nuclear deal by a June 30 deadline, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. “If they don’t, that’ll be a problem,” Harf told reporters at her daily briefing, saying the Iranians…

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) on Wednesday night sent a letter to the CEO of the France-based Orange mobile company, Stephane Richard, urging him to take back his remarks regarding a boycott of Israel. “I call on you to refrain from taking part in the industry of lies directed against Israel,” wrote Hotovely, adding,…

Actor and producer LeVar Burton was among the speakers at the “Shaping the Future” conference taking place at the Center for Educational Technology. Burton has captured the admiration of both his audiences and his industry peers for three decades and continues to enjoy rare longevity in the entertainment business.  Launching his acting career in the…

Former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee officially entered the 2016 presidential race as a Democrat on Wednesday, Fox News reported. Chafee cast himself as an anti-war candidate who opposed the invasion of Iraq back when challenger Hillary Clinton supported it. “We must deliberately and carefully extricate ourselves from expensive wars,” he was quoted as having…

A conference entitled “Shaping the Future III: Edtech beyond the screen – from virtual to tangible reality” is being held this week at the Center for Educational Technology. The four-day conference, which concludes Thursday, focuses on how learning occurs with innovations that are beyond the screen and how to adapt education to the age of…

An attempt by Zionist Camp chairman Yitzhak Herzog to slam Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in front of what he thought was a sympathetic audience backfired – sending ‘Buji,’ as he is known, “back to the dugout” with a series of catcalls and boos. Herzog’s comeuppance came Thursday morning in Eilat, where he was attending a…

Tzniut means modesty, but for most women this doesn’t mean forsaking beauty, fashion or style. From bright and stylish tichels to modern-styled sheitels or below-the-knee length designer skirts straight from the runway, fashion and style trends are not lost on the modern Jewish woman. Jewish women know that the right fashion and styling can improve self-esteem, help…

Despite rising anti-Semitic attitudes and attacks in Europe, a broad majority of Europeans still hold favorable views about Jewish people, a Pew Research Center poll published Tuesday revealed.  The survey, conducted after the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket terror attacks in Paris in January, examines the attitudes of six European Union nations regarding minorities, including Jews,…

Yet another Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander has been killed fighting in Syria Thursday, as Tehran ups its direct military intervention to prop up the increasingly desperate regime of Bashar al-Assad. Syrian rebel sources first reported Iranian Akil Bakhtiyari had been killed in fighting in the Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon, where a pro-regime operation led by Hezbollah…

Despite tough comments by Israeli officials on how the IDF will strike back against Palestinians terrorists who fire rockets at Israel, the defense establishment’s efforts are falling far short from what is needed, Orit Struk alleged Thursday.  As a result, the former Jewish Home MK asserted, residents of the south can expect to continue to live…

Jerusalem District Court Judge Carmi Mosek accepted a prosecutorial appeal against allowing Temple Mount rights activist Yehuda Glick to ascend to the Temple Mount once a month.  The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court in May lifted a restraining order against Glick ascending to Judaism’s holiest site, with Judge Miriam Kalasi granting him permission to visit once a month,…

Yoram Ettinger, a former Israeli diplomat who was stationed in Washington for many years, said that US President Barack Obama’s interview on Channel Two earlier this week was a showcase for his complete lack of understanding on the situation in the Middle East. “After all, this is the president who claimed that the Arab Spring…

Among the many Israelis upset by Orange CEO Stephane Richarde’s insulting comments Wednesday was Itzik Benevisti – the Director General of Partner, which franchises the name Orange from Richarde’s firm. “I am as livid as any other Israeli,” said Benevisti. “No one will tell us who to serve and where to give service.” Richarde asserted…

In the wake of a controversial punishment laid down on an IDF soldier for bringing a ham sandwich to base, IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot intends to reduce the powers of the Military Rabbinate.  According to a Haaretz report Thursday, Eizenkot aims to limit the Military Rabbinate’s involvement in educational activities, and will instruct the…

The representative body of all 133 universities in the United Kingdom has soundly rejected the boycott of Israel declared Tuesday by the UK’s official student body, the National Union of Students (NUS).  Universities UK said in a statement Wednesday that it “firmly opposes academic boycotts on the basis that they are inimical to academic freedom, including the freedom of academics…

Employees of the Egged Ta’avura bus company are striking Sunday and Monday, they announced Wednesday, inconveniencing commuters nationwide in Ashdod, Netanya, Ashkelon, the northern Negev, and the Jerusalem area.  The Employees’ Committee stated that the strike is due to an impasse in negotiations with company management despite six months of negotiations, and added that the…

Aliyah and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) on Wednesday slammed Arab MK Jamal Zahalka (Joint List), who earlier proclaimed Israel an “economic apartheid state.” Elkin told Zahalka that he should be “ashamed of yourself. You get a huge salary from the State of Israel and you stand here and curse at it in its parliament.”…

Israel has made a grave mistake in not openly criticizing the Palestinian Authority (PA) for its sports programs, Culture Minister Miri Regev (Likud) stated Wednesday, which names the events after terrorists and uses them as a platform for terrorism.  The refusal to openly address the phenomenon has put Israel in the defensive, rather than offensive, position when…

Congregants at the Achvat Re’im Synagogue in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ra’anana were shocked to discover what they said could only be classified as a hate crime – the scrawling -in blood – of swastikas and crosses on mezuzahs, the parchment scroll that is displayed at the entrance of Jewish homes and institutions. Congregants…

A man officials said had planned to behead a police officer was shot and killed in Boston on Tuesday, while an apparent accomplice of his was arrested. David Wright was arrested in Everett, Massachusetts, after Usaama Rahim, holding a large knife, lunged at FBI agents when they tried to detain him at a shopping center.…

Jewish men were once against mobbed and attacked on the Temple Mount on Wednesday – this time, by Arab women loitering at Judaism’s holy site who pounced on them for daring to drink from the water fountain.   Footage shows the Mourabitoun, Muslim women who serve as guards over the Mount by harassing and occasionally assaulting…

Israel has lodged a formal protest with Bern over Swiss funding for an exhibit by extreme leftist NGO “Breaking the Silence,” officials said Wednesday to AFP, following a declaration by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) to fight the group.  The exhibit will open in Zurich later this week.  Hotovely is determined to prevent the exhibit from taking place, ordering…

Thousands of Iranian and Iraqi fighters have been deployed in Syria in past weeks to bolster the defenses of Damascus and its surroundings, a Syrian security source told AFP on Wednesday.   “Around 7,000 Iranian and Iraqi fighters have arrived in Syria over the past few weeks and their first priority is the defense of…

The Tel Aviv police announced Wednesday that it is preparing en masse for another demonstration by the Ethiopian community allegedly planned for Wednesday night, stating to the press that they expect violence and are deploying hundreds of policemen.  A Tel Aviv police source told Walla! News that they did not intend to continue to allow the rioting,…

The Israel-US Relations Lobby of the Knesset met Wednesday morning, to discuss the latest developments in the ongoing relationship between both countries. Among the participants in the event were former Israeli ambassador to the US and current Kulanu MK Michael Oren, and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. According to Livni, Israelis are too quick to…

Ministers and MKs in Israel were up in arms Wednesday night over comments made by world Orange CEO Stephane Richard that he would end the company’s franchise contract with Israel’s Partner Communications “tomorrow” if he could get away with it. “We want to terminate this and to fix this, we don’t want it,” Richard said…

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday night responded to the latest rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israel, saying that it is the Israeli government’s “policy of restraint” that is to blame for the resumption of rocket attacks. “Powerlessness leads to failure. The policy led by the Prime Minister, of restraint and containment…

Jewish soldiers in the Australian (sic) Battalion standing next to the Western Wall, 1916. (Harvard Library/Central Zionist Archives)  The soldiers were actually from Austria.  The photographer, Ya’akov Ben-Dov, moved to Palestine  in 1907 from Kiev. He was drafted into the Ottoman army during World War I and served as a photographer in Jerusalem World War I was not only waged in Europe, but across the…

The “Red Alert” siren was heard on Wednesday night at around 11:00 p.m. (local time) in some communities in southern Israel. Sirens were heard, among other places, in the Ashkelon and Netivot areas. Two rockets from Gaza exploded in the Sdot Negev region. There were no physical injuries or damages. Just last week, terrorists from…

Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah, fighting in Syria to support the ruling regime, said on Wednesday it was tightening the noose around the last remaining jihadist pockets along the Lebanese-Syrian border. Hezbollah has been fighting rebels and jihadists from the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, in Qalamun, the mountainous border area north of Damascus. On Wednesday, the group’s official media reported “violent clashes”…