Category: News

Israel marked the first anniversary of the murder by Palestinian Arab terrorists of three Israeli teenagers Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Sha’ar, and Naftali Frankel on Wednesday, also named as Israel’s first Unity Day.  As part of the commemoration, President Reuven and First Lady Nechama Rivlin presented the first Jerusalem Unity Prize award ceremony, a joint initiative by the families of the…

Russia backs moves to determine who is responsible for a wave of chlorine gas attacks in Syria that the West blames on the Damascus regime, Moscow’s ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday. But it remains unclear if a UN Security Council resolution, as proposed by the United States, is the best way to provide answers, Vitaly Churkin told reporters. “We…

The Middle East is getting more dangerous, a top IDF official said Wednesday. With that, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Israel’s situation was “good,” at least for the short-term. The official made the comments in a presentation to ministers in the inner security cabinet Wednesday. Terror is rising in the region,…

An Egyptian court on Tuesday postponed its final ruling on ousted president Mohammed Morsi, who was sentenced to death along with dozens of others over a mass jailbreak during the 2011 uprising. According to the AFP news agency, the court said that on June 16 it would also announce its verdict against Morsi and 18…

The Palestinian Rights Center (PRC) on Tuesday threatened Israel’s UN mission with legal action over Israel’s comments regarding its ties to Hamas, Reuters reported. Israel’s comments came after a United Nations committee that oversees non-governmental organizations voted to approve UN accreditation for the PRC. Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, criticized the decision and said…

The United States confirmed on Tuesday that an American ambassador has held talks with Yemen’s Houthi militia in Oman, AFP reported. Washington’s top diplomat for the Near East, Anne Patterson, had a number of meetings in Oman with parties involved in the Yemen conflict “including with representatives of the Houthi,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf…

Palestinian Football Association (PFA) chief Jibril Rajoub said Tuesday he took full responsibility for the 11th-hour decision to withdraw a bid to have FIFA suspend Israel, AFP reported. Rajoub announced the surprise decision Friday at the annual FIFA congress in Zurich, sparking anger among Palestinian Arabs, some of whom have demanded Rajoub’s resignation. “I take…

Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid on Tuesday called on the British government to condemn the decision by the UK’s official student body, the National Union of Students (NUS), to boycott all Israeli companies and officially affiliate with the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. “I call on the British government to condemn the decision…

More than 1,500 students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of Yeshiva University (YU) marched up Fifth Avenue, singing, cheering and waving flags, saluting Israel’s 67th year of independence at the annual Celebrate Israel Parade on Sunday, May 31. YU President Richard M. Joel cheerfully led the enthusiastic marchers with representatives from Stern College for Women,…

Doctors on Tuesday completed surgery on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s broken leg at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, The Associated Press (AP) reported. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry was in good condition and was resting after doctors set his leg. No other information was immediately available. Before the surgery, Kerry was…

A proposed House of Representatives appropriations bill would prohibit funds for an American embassy or other diplomatic facility in Cuba beyond what existed before President Barack Obama’s announcement that he would move to normalize relations with Havana, Reuters reports. The measure, announced Tuesday, also would restrict funds to facilitate the opening of a Cuban embassy…

Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King revealed on Wednesday how the Jerusalem Municipality appears to be encouraging a demographic change in Israel’s capital, exposing how the local planning and building committee of Jerusalem discusses Arab building much more than it discusses Jewish plans. King wrote on Facebook that a full 60% of the committee discussions next week will…

MK Aida Touma-Sliman of the Arab Joint List was appointed chair of the Knesset’s Committee for Advancement of Women Wednesday, as predicted by Arutz Sheva last month. Touma-Sliman founded an NGO named Women Aganist Violence (WAV) in 1992 and has served as its executive director since then. Based in Nazareth, the NGO is described as the leading feminist organization in the…

The Palestinian Authority is launching a television channel targeting Israel’s 1.6 million Arab citizens, reported Haaretz and i24. Named F48 – short for Falastin 1948 (Palestine 1948) – the channel will reportedly air “mainly cultural and social affairs programs designed to forge a connection between the descendants of the Arabs who stayed in Israel after…

Ahead of Channel 2‘s interview with US President Barack Obama on Tuesday night, Ilana Dayan of the “Uvda” (Fact) TV show interviewed some of the closest advisers to Obama to paint a wider picture of the president ahead of his TV interview. Dayan spoke with Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who was a key supporter in…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday morning met with the visiting Canadian Foreign Minister Robert Nicholson, and in the meeting discussed the UK student union decision on Tuesday to join the BDS movement to boycott Israel. Netanyahu began by praising the close ties between Israel and Canada, saying, “Israel values the support, unstinting, unfaltering, of Canada, in…

As the ruling Likud party reportedly is seeing attempts from senior sources in the party to limit Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s power, MK David Amsalem (Likud) said Wednesdsay that there is no factionalism within his party. Amsalem, who was appointed as chairperson of the Knesset’s Interior Committee this week, denied reports that he had wanted to…

In response to US President Barack Obama’s interview Tuesday to the Israeli Channel 2, in which he threatened to stop defending Israel at the UN if the peace process isn’t renewed, Opposition head MK Yitzhak Herzog (Labor) responded Wednesday morning by blaming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for “humiliating” Obama. Herzog indicated that Obama’s hostile tone in the interview with…

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday that 110 jihadists who left French territory to fight with the Islamic State (ISIS) group had died in Iraq and Syria. “More than 860 individuals have spent time in these countries, 471 of which are still there and 110 of which are dead,” Valls told the Senate as it studies an intelligence bill approved…

We are joined by Rabbi David Katz to continue our discussion on the book he wrote with Chaim Clorfene that was recently launched in the U.S.. We discuss the issues that have caused push back related to the message of the Ger, and what we can do to bring calm and act as bridge builders to bring Jews and the righteous…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has described Jordanian and Palestinian Arabs as “one people living in two states,” during a meeting with the head of the Jordan Football Association on Tuesday. Abbas met JFA head Prince Ali Ibn al-Hussein in Amman, to discuss last week’s FIFA congress vote in which the Palestinian Football Association dropped a motion…

The Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor on Tuesday released a detailed analysis of how Catholic charity NGOs operating in Israel are propping up political campaigns to delegitimize and economically attack Israel. Focusing on the period from 2008 and 2014, the analysis found that 7.4 million euros (approximately $8.2 million) were allocated by ten Catholic charities to 37 NGOs that…

Islamic State (ISIS) group jihadists have closed the gates of a dam in the Iraqi city of Ramadi which they seized last month, posing a humanitarian and security threat, officials said Tuesday. ISIS fighters have repeatedly attempted to control dams in Iraq, in some cases reducing the flow of water to areas under government control or flooding swathes of land to impede military…

The UK’s official student body, the National Union of Students (NUS), has voted to boycott all Israeli companies and officially affiliate with the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement. The vote was taken during a meeting of the NUS Executive Council on Tuesday. Motion 518a – entitled “Solidarity with Palestine: Boycott, Divestment Sanctions” – was tabled…

Rampant anti-Semitism is being taught twice a week at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located on the Temple Mount – the holiest site in Judaism. Sheikh Khaled Al-Mughrabi holds bi-weekly classes at the mosque, and a video of his class from last Friday translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reveals him demonizing the Jewish people and the Jewish religion…

In 1993, Dr Joseph R. Frager was among the initiators of an event that has become a beloved post Salute to Israel Parade tradition. The Israel Day Concert in Central Park, sponsored by the Israel Concert-in-the-Park Committee, in association with Young Israel Chovevei Zion, and the National Council of Young Israel, was once again organized…

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon regarding the case of the lone soldier from the US, who on Monday was punished for eating a non-kosher ham sandwich and offering other soldiers ham sandwiches during an operation of his unit, in breach of army regulations. The soldier, who reportedly received the…

Iranian nuclear fuel stockpiles grew by a massive 20% over the past 18 months of negotiations between Iran and world powers, a report last month by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has revealed. The report comes just one month ahead of the June 30 deadline set for the P5+1 powers and Iran to finalize a deal over…

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani has vowed that upcoming developments in Syria will soon “surprise” the world, the NOW Lebanon news website reported on Tuesday. “The world will be surprised by what we and the Syrian military leadership are preparing for the coming days,” the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB)…

Loading… Courtesy of Uvda, Keshet Productions US President Barack Obama gave an interview with Israeli media on Tuesday, in which he threatened that an Israeli refusal to renew peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) will “make it hard” for the US to veto motions in the UN against Israel. In an interview with Ilana Dayan…

Over 9,000 Israeli Americans, American Jews and Israel supporters braved the rain and turned out in their masses to Midtown Manhattan’s Pier 94 on Sunday to turn the Big Apple “blue and white” in the inaugural Celebrate Israel Festival New York. The event featured a variety of Israeli pop culture stars, including the famous singer Rita, children’s…

Pilgrims to Joseph’s Tomb in the Biblical city of Shechem on Monday night were treated to moving scenes, as members of a lost Tribe of Israel reunited with their ancient forefather for the first time in well over two millennia. The Bnei Menashe (literally “Children of Manasseh”), claim descent from the Israelite tribe of Menashe, one…

The Second Annual Ride for the Living, a unique event combining commemorating the Holocaust with bicycling, will take place this Friday. Inspired by Jewish Community Center of Krakow (JCC Krakow) member Robert Desmond who cycled 1,350 miles from London to Auschwitz visiting World War Two sites of liberation, Ride for the Living implores participants to not just remember Poland’s Jewish…

FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced on Tuesday that after winning a fifth term last Friday, he is nevertheless choosing to resign, as his organization is embroiled in corruption scandals. “I have deeply reflected on my presidency and my past 40 years at FIFA,” Blatter said in a press conference. “I love FIFA more than anything…

The United States has not yet made a decision on what actions it will take regarding a UN resolution being worked on by France that would set a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Monday. Harf was asked in her daily briefing about comments made…

“US President Barack Obama is determined to reach a bad deal with Iran,” senior diplomatic sources in Jerusalem told Israel Hayom – a newspaper considered close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. “It appears that the agreement with Iran will will be signed, because the American president is interested in the agreement,” the sources said. The…

France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said on Monday he believes there is a good chance that world powers will reach a deal with Iran curbing its nuclear activities, The Associated Press (AP) reported. At the same time, Fabius said he insists on sufficient access to Iran’s military facilities for international inspections. Speaking to reporters, the…

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, on Monday criticized the UN’s decision to recognize the Palestinian Rights Center (PRC), a Hamas front group, as a non-governmental organization (NGO). “Until today, the UN has given Hamas discounts and let it strengthen its activities. Now, the UN went one step further, and gave Hamas a…

The head of UNRWA on Monday said the situation for thousands of Palestinian Arabs in the Yarmouk neighborhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, is “absolutely critical,” The Associated Press (AP) reported. Pierre Krahenbuhl said the situation in Yarmouk reflects “the catastrophic cost” of the Syrian conflict for Syrians as well as Palestinian Arabs. Yarmouk, which…

The White House said Monday it is confident it can still pursue Iran nuclear talks despite Secretary of State John Kerry’s injury over the weekend. Kerry left Europe for the United States earlier in the day, after breaking his leg in a cycling accident near Scionzier in France. “We do continue to believe that we…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Monday that the chemical threat from Syria has plunged over the past year, Defense News reports. Speaking on day two of a five-day nationwide drill, Ya’alon said the chemical threat had dropped significantly as a result of international pressure to demilitarize Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles. As evidence of the…

Jordan on Monday sentenced four people to two years in jail each for having tried to join the ranks of the Islamic State (ISIS) group and for promoting the jihadists online, AFP reports. The kingdom is one of five Arab nations that joined an international airstrike campaign, led by the United States, against the Sunni…

Members of the OU Israel Youth Branch in Nazareth Illit pitched in Monday to help clean and fix the Bnei Akiva youth movement branch in the city, which was vandalized two weeks ago. The vandals desecrated the Bnei Akiva branch’s synagogue and caused extensive damage to the structure that houses the branch. Prayer books and…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused Arab and Western governments of miscalculating in their backing for Syrian rebels as the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group gathered in Paris Tuesday. Speaking at a reception for Syria’s visiting parliament speaker Jihad al-Lahham, Rouhani renewed Tehran’s longstanding accusation that it was those governments’ support for armed insurgency against its Damascus ally that…

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) announced on her Facebook page Tuesday that she is planning to convene an emergency discussion about the infiltrator problem with Interior Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud) and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein. The reason for the discussion is a recent uptick in the number of infiltrators who entered Israel illegally from…

Despite a massive protest organized against him, Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) arrived at the Abu Senin elementary school in Tamra on Tuesday morning, to attend the school’s preparations as part of the Home Front Command’s emergency war drill.  The people’s committee of the Arab town circulated leaflets in Arabic protesting Bennett’s visit on…

The IDF and Border Police have finally vacated the premises of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva (Torah academy) in Yitzhar on Tuesday, ending a year-long military occupation of the site based on the whims of Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.  “Yeshivat Od Yosef Chai continued while in temporary quarters, and will now continue in its permanent…

MK Oren Hazan (Likud) is unfazed by the media’s perception of him, he told Army Radio Tuesday morning, less than one day after winning membership on several important Knesset committees, including the House Committee, and the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. “Everyone is surprised in view of the roles that I received, the media tried to paint me as inarticulate,”…

Sirens sounded nationwide at 11:05, as part of an emergency preparedness drill. Israel’s National Emergency Exercise began Sunday morning, supervised by the National Emergency Authority (NEA) of the Ministry of Defense, the Home Front Command (HFC), emergency officials, government ministries, local authorities, security organizations, theeducation system, and public and private entities. Various emergency and wartime scenarios throughout the country will beplayed out over a…

Security forces destroyed two buildings overnight Monday/Tuesday in Givat Ronen in Samaria, and arrested two residents during the demolition.  Police also confiscated a vehicle parked near the house, witnesses said.  Legal rights group Honenu stated Tuesday morning said that one of the residents detained will be charged with resisting arrest and violation of a closed military zone; the…

A year after the abduction and murder of Israeli teenagers Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Sha’ar, and Eyal Yifrah, police inaugurated a new emergency hotline on Monday night – in an attempt to reduce the traffic on the 100 hotline, one factor found responsible in the teens’ deaths.  The new 110 hotline will consist of a non-emergency line, reducing…

May was the bloodiest month so far this year in Syria, with at least 6,657 people killed throughout the war-ravaged country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday, according to AFP. The toll includes at least 1,285 civilians, more than half of whom were killed in regime air raids, the Observatory said. The UN’s…

The Hamas front group the Palestinian Rights Center (PRC) received official UN non-governmental organization (NGO) status on Monday night, angering Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud).  “The decision that a Hamas organization will join the UN is outrageous,” Hotovely stated. “Hamas, only last summer, was hiding behind women and children to fire missiles at Israeli civilian centers.”…

Breastfeeding a baby for at least six months may be linked to a lower risk of childhood leukemia, according to a review of previously published research on the topic Monday. The findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics suggest that breastfed babies have a 19 percent lower risk of the blood cancer compared to babies who…

Likud faction chairman, MK Tzahi Hanegbi, was able to come to an agreement on Monday with all Likud MKs as to their appointments to various Knesset committees and positions.  The big winner was freshman MK Oren Hazan, who got his wish to serve on all the significant Knesset committees. The disgruntled Hazan, who days ago asserted he…

Continuing his efforts to placate Israeli fears over an Iranian nuclear agreement before the looming June 30 deadline, US President Barack Obama will address Israeli television viewers on Tuesday.  Journalist Ilana Dayan’s interview with Obama was filmed Friday at the White House in Washington DC, and will be broadcast in full during Channel 2‘s “Uvda” program on Tuesday night.  In…

Prescription drug prices drop once again, the Price Committee announced on Monday night, this time by 5.37%. The price drop is due, inter alia, to a change in the exchange rate of the euro against the shekel in the past six months. All prescriptions above 16 shekels ($4.13) will be affected by the price cut…

Israeli legal rights group Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center sent a letter this morning to the Park Slope Food Co-op (PSFC) President William Penner and General Manager Joseph Holtz warning them not to implement a boycott of Israeli manufacturers, products or services. The PSFC, located in Brooklyn recently debated a resolution to discontinue the sale of Israeli products…

What will happen to your Social Security payments from the United States if you receive Bituach Leumi in Israel? Ira Kasdan, a partner in the Kelley Drye Law Office in Washington DC, talks about the Greenberg Settlement and what it means for Americans living abroad. In the second half of the show, find out whether…

The former British MP George Galloway is back at his virulently anti-Israel tricks, telling BBC1 on Sunday that he plans to use his hoped for position of London mayor to rally support for the Palestinian cause.  According to a Jewish Chronicle report, Galloway does not plan to name the British capital an “Israel-free zone,” as he did to the constituency…

Two ISIS propaganda filmmakers were among “dozens” of Islamic State terrorists killed in an Iraqi government airstrike over the weekend, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. A statement by the ministry, published by Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, said the airstrikes in Iraq’s western Anbar province killed Abu Mohammed al-Soory, a.k.a Abu Samra – described as an…

Other than breathing, it appears all Jewish rights on Temple Mount have been taken away, and Rabbi Chaim Richman, International Director of the Temple Institute, is exasperated. Jews who belong to the growing stream of Temple Mount adherents are used to being mistreated by the police and harassed by Muslims there, but Sunday’s instruction by…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah broadly hinted in a Washington Post interview Monday that the US has promised the PA to renew pressure on Israel to negotiate the giveaway of its land, once the nuclear deal with Iran is signed. Hamdallah sat down in his Ramallah office with The Post’s Lally Weymouth and…

New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) responded with shock and outrage, after Brooklyn Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte made combative remarks against the Jewish community of New York on Sunday night. Speaking on Leon Goldenberg’s “Community Matters” radio program, Bichotte claimed that Jewish pressure was being placed on her for her opposition to New York Governor Andrew…

A 4.4 magnitude earthquake struck just 110 kilometers (70 miles) northwest of Iran’s Bushehr on Monday morning, rattling the Islamic regime’s only operational nuclear plant. No damage or injuries were initially reported, according to the Associated Press. The center of the earthquake was located in the town of Emam Hassan, reported by Iran’s official IRNA news agency, and…

An El Al Boeing 747-400 carrying 367 passengers to New York had to turn back to Ben Gurion Airport two hours after takeoff Monday because of a technical problem. The original takeoff time was 1:00 AM, but a technical problem was discovered and the departure was delayed by four hours. The El Al technical team…

A prominent Egyptian historian took to national television last week to make an unusually open and robust case for Egypt to “drop the Palestinian cause and normalize relations with Israel.” In a lengthy interview with Egypt’s Mehwar TV on May 28 – segments of which were translated by MEMRI – historian Maged Farag insisted it was time…

On the sidelines of the Israel Day Concert in New York’s Central Park on Sunday, former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton gave a rundown of Iran’s nuclear program and the impending deal on curbing it, in an exclusive Arutz Sheva interview. While negotiations between Iran and world powers have reached an interim agreement ahead of a June 30…

A long-time foreign policy adviser of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ruled out the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas as a potential peace partner for Israel. “There is no question that Hamas is part of the jihadist universe,” said Dore Gold, incoming director general of the foreign ministry and former ambassador to the United Nations. “It is not a candidate to…

Joining a chorus of attacks on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday, Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid accused the Prime Minister of breaking apart the authority of the Foreign Ministry and doing nothing to combat a worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel.  “Netanyahu is not managing a government, he’s managing a kindergarten,” Lapid charged at his party’s faction meeting. “Just like…

It seemed like an average haredi conference, with men in front and women in back, the men in white shirts and black pants and the women in modest dress – but it was actually a singles event of a new kind.  The first matchmaking event for haredi men and women in the workforce was held…

Every year, tens of thousands of supporters of Israel flock to New York City for the Celebrate Israel Parade, a truly stunning display of Zionism and Jewish pride. And every year, a small group of radical anti-Zionists from the extremist Neturei Karta sect turn out for a meager counter-protest, barely registered by the majority of Parade…

After resigning from the government on Sunday, MK Benny Begin (Likud) made clear Monday during a Likud faction meeting that he has no intention of giving up his Knesset seat.  “I heard a rumor that I intend to resign. I have no such intention and anyone who expects me to must be a giant idiot who…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has once again broadcasted anti-Semitic content, this time “informing” viewers that Jews are bloodthirsty and subhuman on a children’s show, Palestinian Media Watch reports Monday.  On the latest broadcast of the official PA TV children’s program “The Best Home,” a young girl recited a poem calling Jews “barbaric monkeys,” “the most evil among creations,”…

The public war of words between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman continued on Monday with an attack on the Prime Minister at the Yisrael Beytenu faction meeting.  Specifically, Liberman addressed remarks made Sunday night by Netanyahu, in which the Prime Minister asserted Yisrael Beytenu voters would not have chosen party in March…

The leader of the tiny Jewish community in Myanmar (Burma), Moses Samuels, passed away on Friday in the city of Yangon where he lived, at the age of 65. A statement by the Myanmar Community Dispatch eulogized Samuels, who led the community for 35 years, as a leader who “kept Judaism alive with a profound love…

France’s education minister on Monday warned against “militant secularity” in a country where a long-standing ban on veils, Jewish kippahs and other religious signs in schools continues to cause controversy, according to AFP.  “We have to be careful not to have a form of militant secularity in our country, which is counter-productive for children we would like to see adhere to secularity,” Najat…

Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Monday targeted weapons caches of the Iran-backed Shi’ite Houthi rebels just outside Sana’a, the capital city of Yemen, placing the city in danger. The Mount Noqum military base on the eastern edge of Sana’a was targeted in the strike, with explosives and shrapnel sent flying by the blasts into an adjacent residential…

Former Arkansas Governor and GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Sunday addressed the Israel Day Concert in Central Park in New York. “My first trip to Israel was in 1973, I was 17, and it became the first of dozens of trips I’ve made over the past 42 years to this remarkable land, with whom the United…

District Judge Chani Slotky sentenced a Bedouin woman, Halas Alarjan, to just 12 years in jail Sunday, for the cruel murders of her three children, and the attempted murder of the fourth. Alarjan, 29, murdered her children – Abed, 7, Maryam, 5, and Dalal, aged one year old, one morning three years ago. Although she…

Yair Garbuz, the man who may have lost Zionist Camp/Labor the 2015 elections by railing against “mezuzah kissers,” joined the ranks of those he criticized in his infamous pre-election Rabin Square speech. Garbuz on Sunday affixed a mezuzah to his home, after being gifted one by the Samaria Residents Council. The speech by Garbuz garnered…

Kurdish militia in Syria wrested control of a dozen villages from the extremist Islamic State group (ISIS) either side of the jihadist’s bastion province of Raqqa on Sunday, a monitor said.   The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), backed by air strikes from a US-led anti-ISIS coalition, seized eight villages…

In this week’s show, Jay Shapiro tries to figure out the Prime Minister’s plans for the future. Brilliant on the foreign stage but fumbling domestic politics – how long can Netanyahu last? Click here to download the podcast

A group that is operating in Gaza and which says it is associated with ISIS has claimed that it killed a top Hamas commander. According to the group, which calls itself the Army of the Islamic State, Saber Siam was killed when ISIS operatives placed a bomb on his car, blowing it up with him inside.…

Five Jewish residents of Metzad, south of Jerusalem, were arrested Sunday on suspicion that they attacked Arabs and leftists in November. The incident took place near Metzad – also known as Asfar – between Bethlehem and Hevron. The Arabs and leftists were reportedly plowing Arab land when the Jews began to throw rocks at them.…

Yisrael Beytenu has filed the third no-confidence motion against the 34th government of Israel since it was sworn in earlier this month, the party announced Sunday, over Israel’s inability to successfully deter Hamas.  The full reason behind the no-confidence motion is listed as “the weakness of the government against Hamas rocket fire against the citizens of Israel and…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met Sunday with German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, one of six international foreign ministers visiting Israel in the coming weeks with plans to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.  Netanyahu called on Steinmeier to exert pressure on Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to halt all unilateral actions against Israel and to reignite peace talks…

Yesh Atid has once again filed a no-confidence motion against the 34th government of Israel on Sunday, this time over the division of Foreign Ministry responsibilities to six different ministers.  MK Yaakov Perry is expected to introduce the proposal on Monday to a Knesset session.  “During the compilation of the 34th government Prime Minister Netanyahu decided, due…

US Secretary of State John Kerry has been hospitalized in stable condition after being injured in a cycling accident near Scionzier in France, according to the US State Department. According to AP, Kerry was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland immediately after the accident, which took place in Haute-Savoie. He reportedly suffered an injury to…

With Gilad Erdan firmly sworn into the government as Public Security Minister, Likud is preparing for the eventuality that Benny Begin will resign from his governmental role in keeping with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s pledge for a maximum of 20 ministers.  Coalition partners Kulanu and Shas have both expressed their opposition to increasing the cabinet beyond…

Acclaimed American actor Al Pacino has received staunch support from the Anti-Defamation League over his decision to bow out of a play adapted from the novel of a well-known supporter of Nazism and its leader Adolf Hitler.  Knut Hamsun, a Norwegian author known for pioneering psychological literature, turned to Nazism later in life, advocating for the…

More than 130 ex-Nazis, including SS guards, may have collected over $20.2 million in retirement benefits, according to the Social Security Administration’s inspector general. The I-G stated that, of those funds, $5.7 million were paid to individuals who played an active role in Nazi war crimes during the second World War and were deported; $14 million was paid to individuals who…

Hollywood actor Michael Enright has become the latest westerner to join Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadi group. The UK-born Enright – who played minor roles in several box office hits including Pirates of the Caribbean – spoke to the United Arab Emirates’ Al-Aan TV from near the Syrian city of Hasake, where he has been…

Freshman Likud MK Oren Hazan will demand to be appointed deputy foreign minister, his associates informed Channel 2 on Sunday.  The announcement comes as coalition party leaders gear up to appoint members of their factions to serve on and head the various Knesset committees, in addition to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu preparing to name remaining deputy ministers from Likud.   Hazan,…

Hamas is planning to kidnap more Israeli soldiers, a spokesperson for the terror group said Sunday. According to Abu Obaideh, kidnapping IDF soldiers is one of the best ways to ensure the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons. Writing on his Twitter account, Abu Obaideh said that Hamas terrorists not in prison “are obligated to…

Although the law proposed by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to increase the punishments for rock throwers got all the headlines Sunday, the Ministerial Law Committee approved a second law proposed by the Minister – to ban the use and possession of cellular phones by terrorist prisoners. Shaked presented the law to the Committee as news of…

Iranian-backed Shia Islamist militiamen burned alive a Sunni man in Iraq, in a gruesome reenactment of sorts of ISIS’s own torching of a Jordanian pilot earlier this year. Members of the Imam Ali Brigade – one of a number of Shia jihadist groups which make up the al-Hashd al-Shaabi, or People’s Mobilization militia – filmed the incident on a…

The head of the Shvut Yisrael Yeshiva in Efrat was booted off the Temple Mount Sunday morning – for the “crime” of closing his eyes. In a Facebook post, activist Arnon Segel wrote that the story was “definitely the winner of the day” among stories of abuse of Jews who attempt to visit the holiest…

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved on Sunday the first bill submitted by Minister Ayelet Shaked, stiffening the punishments and penalties meted out to individuals convicted of rock throwing. The Committee decided to bring the “continuity principle” to bear on the bill, which was originally submitted by former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in the previous…

An Israeli businessman in Brazil was killed last week as he tried to resist a pair of robbers. Police in the northern Brazilian city of Belém said that the Israeli man was killed Thursday morning when he refused to hand over his wallet and jewelry to armed criminals. The incident occurred about 8:30 in the…

The Likud party on Saturday night once again denied that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had offered the Foreign Ministry to Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid. Lapid, speaking earlier to Channel 2 News, confirmed a report from Thursday which cited “political sources” who said that Lapid had been offered the Foreign Ministry. “Sources close to the…

A day after withdrawing his request to have Israel suspended from FIFA, the head of the Palestine Football Association, Jibril Rajoub, on Saturday clarified he intends to try to have Israel suspended again in the future. “I hope that the Israelis understand that the suspension has not been removed from the agenda of FIFA but…

United States Vice President Joe Biden announced Saturday that his son, Beau, has died of brain cancer, according to The Associated Press (AP). Beau Biden was 46. “It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with…

Amnesty International made waves last Tuesday with its report detailing how Hamas executed citizens in Gaza last summer in war crimes at the close of Operation Protective Edge, but just what impact will the development have on the legal struggle to bring the terrorist organization to justice? To find out Arutz Sheva spoke with attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Director…

The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group launched an assault on the largely Kurdish city of Hasakeh in northeast Syria on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The attack came a day after Kurdish militia executed 20 civilians accused of supporting the extremists and ISIS on Friday executed 30 civilians, the monitoring group said according to AFP. “ISIS fighters started…

Israel’s new tourism minister Yariv Levin (Likud) held his first working meeting Saturday evening, notably choosing to host Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan and CEO Shlomi Wormstein at his Jerusalem office. The meeting focused on ways to promote the large number of tourism and heritage sites in Israel’s Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, where…

The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group Saturday demolished a prison in the Syrian city of Palmyra, a monitor said, eliminating what was for decades one of the country’s most feared detention centers. The jail was “largely destroyed after ISIS planted explosives inside and around it,” 10 days after the jihadists seized Palmyra from regime forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said according to AFP.…

Yesh Atid chairperson Yair Lapid struck out at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government on Channel 2‘s “Meet the Press” program, and announced that despite having nosedived in elections from 19 seats in 2013 to 11 now, he wants to be the next prime minister of Israel. “Sources close to the prime minister offered me to be foreign…

Amid accelerated international efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, the UN atomic agency on Friday reported that work on an assessment of allegations that Tehran worked on atomic arms remains essentially stalled, according to The Associated Press (AP). The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also reiterated that more cooperation is…

Palestinian Football Association President Jibril Rajoub is submitting an amendment to the PFA’s proposal to ban Israel from FIFA, minutes ahead of the vote itself. The vote was not expected to reach the required majority. Rajoub said he wanted to find a “responsible solution” to the issue, as opposed to “scoring points.” Insisting he thinks…

Syrian troops retreated as regime warplanes bombarded Al Qaeda-led rebel fighters on Friday, a day after the insurgents overran the last government-held city in the key northwestern province of Idlib.   Opposition forces now control the vast majority of Idlib after Al-Nusra Front and its allies in the Army of Conquest captured Ariha and surrounding villages…

Rabbi Eugene Kwalwasser, a well-loved figure in the New Jersey area, spent four decades as an educator, with 27 of those as principal of Yavneh Academy in New Jersey, now lives in Beit Shemesh. Tune in to find out what inspired him to develop the eighth grade Holocaust through Drama program that is now such…

A boys soccer team from ISNA Private Islamic High School in Canada’s Brampton refused to finish a tournament match on Tuesday, since the opposite team had two female players. The opposing team, Robert F. Hall Catholic School of Caledon, has no girls soccer team. In such cases where there are a lack of alternatives for…

The United States on Friday officially dropped Cuba from its blacklist as a state sponsor of terrorism, in a landmark move aimed at paving the way towards normalizing ties frozen for half a century, AFP reported. The decision means Cuba will now have better access to American banking facilities and aid, and a ban on…

A Syrian Christian fighter has beheaded an Islamic State group (ISIS) jihadist to avenge people “executed” by the group in northeastern Syria, a monitor said on Friday, according to AFP. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the incident took place on Thursday in Hasakeh province, where ISIS holds large areas of the countryside. According…

Arizona police stepped up security on Friday near a mosque for a planned outdoor protest by an anti-Islam group that includes drawing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, Reuters reported. The protest comes weeks after a similar competition in a suburb of Dallas, Texas came under attack by two gunmen. Friday’s event, during evening prayers at…

Former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee will officially enter the presidential race on behalf of the Democrats on June 3, a source with knowledge of his plans told the Politico news website on Friday. Chafee will make the announcement in a speech he’s scheduled to deliver next Wednesday in Arlington, Virginia, the report said. Following…

The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group on Friday claimed responsibility for car bombings at two upscale Baghdad hotels that officials said killed at least nine people and wounded dozens, AFP reports. The terrorists were able to transport the bombs, which exploded just before midnight on Thursday and were heard across the city center, inside the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday blasted the Palestinian Authority (PA) for its provocation, after Palestinian Football Association chairman Jibril Rajoub withdrew his bid to have Israel banned from FIFA. “Our international effort has proven itself and led to the failure of the Palestinian Authority attempt to oust us from FIFA. I thank all those…

Security forces tasked with dispersing Palestinian Arab riots are used to being attacked with rocks and firebombs, but on Friday they were surprised by a new weapon used by the rioters. Palestinian Arabs on Friday afternoon began violently rioting in the village of Silwad, not far from Ofra, in the Binyamin area. Border Policemen and…

With most of its natural and mineral resources having fallen under rebel control, Syrian state revenues have shrunk, leaving the government dependent on unstable sources of income for its survival. Four years of conflict have decimated the state coffers, reports AFP. Now the government’s only revenues are drawn from dwindling customs and income taxes, heavily bolstered by lines of credit…

New Jersey governor Chris Christie on Thursday spoke at the third annual “Champions of Jewish Values” awards gala in New York. In his remarks, Christie launched a verbal attack on President Barack Obama, accusing the president of “successfully selling to the American people the idea that America was the cause of violence in the world”.…

United States defense aid to Israel is likely to increase after 2017, sources on both sides told Reuters on Thursday, seeing a possible link to Washington’s efforts to assuage Israel’s fears over nuclear diplomacy with Iran. A current package worth $3 billion a year expires in 2017. A U.S. official, speaking to Reuters on condition…

Outgoing UN aid chief Valerie Amos made a final appeal Thursday to world powers to take action to end Syria’s four-year war, saying it had brought more despair than ever thought possible. In her final report to the Security Council, Amos presented a list of atrocities, from the bombing of a market to attacks on…

Former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday said that the Israeli government should initiate steps to end the conflict with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Speaking to Army Radio, Barak suggested that if the PA refuses to reach a settlement to the conflict, Israel should take unilateral steps to establish a Palestinian state.…

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is leaning toward not including Israel on an annual list of states responsible for violating children’s rights in armed conflicts despite proposals to include it, UN diplomatic sources told Reuters on Thursday night. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, however, that Ban had not yet made a decision on whether to include…

Opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog on Thursday threw his support behind Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s comments against the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) bid to have Israel banned from FIFA. “Boycotting Israel would be a red penalty card for FIFA and a fall into a dangerous trap of hypocrisy,” Herzog wrote on his Facebook page. “I advise…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has openly declared that he intends to work to expand his 61-member government, recently offered Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid to join the coalition, Channel 2 News reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources in the political system. Netanyahu and Lapid met on Monday night for the first time since the elections…

The European Union (EU) on Thursday added a high-ranking Syrian military official to its sanctions list as it extended measures against supporters of President Bashar Al-Assad for another year, Reuters reported. The EU began imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Assad and his supporters in 2011 to protest a government crackdown on Assad’s opponents.…

Police in Cyprus arrested a 26 year-old Lebanese man on Thursday on suspicion of planning terror attacks against Israelis in the island nation, after finding two tons of fertilizer and the explosive chemical ammonium nitrate in his Larnaca home. Sources told Reuters on Friday that the materials were being prepared to be used against Israeli…

Job openings have emerged in Saudi Arabia on Friday for aspiring executioners looking to become the star of regular Sunday morning beheadings. While beheadings are the trademark of Islamic State (ISIS), an expose by the Daily Mail Friday reveals that it is Riyadh – not Raqqa – which is looking to increase its public executions within the realm…

The 65th annual FIFA Congress met in Switzerland Friday, and will decide, among other issues, whether to heed the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) intransigent demands to oust Israel from world soccer over security issues.  The PA, which has been a FIFA member since 1998, wants the governing body to expel Israel over its restrictions on the movement of Palestinian…

The nuclear-armed rogue dictator state of North Korea has significantly upgraded its main rocket launch site, according to new satellite imagery revealed by a US research institute in a report on Friday. The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies showed how the Sohae launch site on North Korea’s western coast was…

The toll from car bombs that ripped through the car parks of two upscale Baghdad hotels has risen to at least nine dead and dozens wounded, officials said on Friday.  Terrorists were able to bring the bombs, which exploded just before midnight on Thursday and were heard across the city center, inside the walled compounds of the Ishtar and Babylon hotels in central Baghdad, reports AFP.…

Six times more yeshiva (Torah academy – ed.) students have enlisted in IDF combat units since 2007, according to a report filed by the State of Israel to the High Court on Thursday. Just 288 yeshiva students enlisted in the IDF in 2007, out of 6,872 up for recruitment. In 2008, the number swelled to 387, or 6%…

At least 12 Australian women from one city have attempted to join the Islamic State (ISIS) group, police said Friday, warning ofa trend towards a “romanticized view” of violent jihadists. More than 100 Australians have left the country to support ISIS in Syria and Iraq, raising concerns about radicalization and whether they pose a security threat on return, the authorities…

US President Barack Obama met Thursday with the family of the Jewish American journalist Steven Sotloff, who was abducted in Syria and beheaded by the Islamic State (ISIS) group in September. “Today in Miami, President Obama had the opportunity to meet with Art and Shirley Sotloff, the parents of Steven Sotloff, and Steven’s sister Lauren,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan, reports AFP. “The…

Pope Francis denied Thursday that he had called Palestinian Authority (PA) Head Mahmoud Abbas “an angel of peace” when the two met a fortnight ago. The pope told Israeli reporter Henrique Cymerman and his longtime friend Rabbi Avraham Skorka, that he only told Abbas – in Italian – that he believes he could still become an…

President Reuven Rivlin addressed the leadership of the International Friends of Givat Haviva – The Center for a Shared Society – who presented the President with an award for his work to promote cooperation and partnership in Israeli society. Rivlin stressed that confidence building measures between Jews and Arabs required dealing with the narrowing of…

Turning Point 15, the national preparedness exercise, will be held next week from Sunday to Thursday. This will be the eighth time the annual drill is being held. The drill will reach its peak next Tuesday, June 2. At 11:05 a.m. and 7:05 p.m. that day, sirens will be sounded nationwide and citizens in every…

A 22-year-old Arab citizen of Israel and resident of Umm al-Fahm, located in the “triangle” region of northern Israel which is home to over 300,000 Arab citizens, was indicted on Thursday for supporting the brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization. The indictment was submitted against Jamal Suleiman Abu Ra’ad, who was found thanks to an unusual investigative method –…

A man claiming to be the former head of ex-Soviet Tajikistan’s special forces police division appeared in a video Wednesday saying he has joined the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group in Syria. The man resembling Colonel Gulmurod Halimov, 40, who sparked panic after failing to report for duty in late April, says in the footage that he was driven to join the group…

Former New York governor George Pataki on Thursday joined a growing list of candidates seeking the Republican nomination for President in 2016. “My vision was not a partisan vision. It was a vision about people, about what we could accomplish together,” Pataki said in a four-minute announcement video released Thursday morning, according to CNN .…

Flooding that began on the 2nd day of the Shavuot holiday this week and continued the next day has damaged a Houston synagogue, a temple, and dozens of Jewish family homes in the southern city. Local and nationwide Jewish organizations are raising funds for the flood-bashed Jewish community. B’nai B’rith International and the Orthodox Union…

Players and fans of the youth soccer team of the Negev Bedouin town of Tel Sheva turned a game between their team and Hapoel Merhavim into a violent nightmare Thursday. The game was sportive as long as the Arab team led 1-0. The trouble began when Merhavim evened the score in a free kick. A Tel Sheva…

The threat of King David’s Tomb in Jerusalem being turned into a place of Christian worship thereby preventing Jews from entering it according to Jewish law continues, with an upcoming Christian religious service planned at the site. Yehuda Puah, a member of the Headquarters to Save David’s Tomb, told Arutz Sheva about the information his group has obtained regarding…

The State Attorney’s Office on Thursday ordered to close the case against a radical leftist who called on his Facebook page to murder Otzma Yehudit candidate Baruch Marzel, who ran on the joint list with Yachad – Ha’am Itanu that just missed out of the last elections. A complaint was filed for Marzel by Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir,…

After years of development, UVision Air Ltd. of Israel has unveiled its new weapon system: drones capable of loitering over a target and attacking it like a missile, reports IsraelDefense. While “Kamikaze” drones, like the IAI’s Harop, have existed on the battlefield for at least ten years, thus far they were intended primarily for strikes…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday night addressed the Palestinian Authority (PA) demand that Israel be banned from international soccer competitions with FIFA, a demand that is to be voted on this Friday unless the FIFA scandal delays it. “The attempt to harm Israel will destroy FIFA, because if it starts with one state it…

A Jewish youth on Wednesday accused an Arab police officer of framing him and wrongly detaining him for investigation as he visited the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Attorney Rehavia Plitz of the Honenu legal aid organization submitted a complaint to the police division tasked with investigating officers on Wednesday on behalf of…

Loading… A yeshiva student, aged about 20, was found dead in a reservoir near the Beit Zayit dam Thursday evening. Emergency services were alerted Thursday evening to the dam at Beit Zayit, near Jerusalem, after other visitors at the location reported that a yeshiva student had entered the reservoir but failed to emerge from it.…

A rebel coalition led by Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate edged into the last remaining government-held city in the northwest province of Idlib on Thursday, a monitoring group said. The lightning offensive saw the Army of Conquest, or Jaish al-Fatah in Arabic, enter outer districts of Ariha within a matter of hours, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP. “There was heavy shelling…

Teva Pharmaceutical will pay $1.2 billion to settle US antitrust charges in a long-running “pay for delay” case involving Cephalon, which Teva acquired in 2012, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday. Israel-based Teva, the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer, agreed to make the money available to compensate buyers, including drug wholesalers, pharmacies and insurers, who overpaid for Cephalon’s blockbuster sleep-disorder drug Provigil because of that…

A terrorist who was freed from an Israeli prison in the 2011 Shalit deal and exiled to Turkey was recently seen on Palestinian Authority (PA) television urging Palestinian Arabs to continue fighting Israel until “our entire land is liberated”. The female terrorist, Amna Muna, in January of 2001 lured 16-year-old Ophir Rachum to Ramallah, where he was…

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Wednesday promised to respond with a “violent pushback” if the United Nations attempts to force a resolution to the conflict with the Palestinian Authority on Israel. Graham, who is expected to officially announce that he will be running for president on June 1, was speaking at a press conference in…

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely and Likud MK Oren Hazan clashed on Twitter late Wednesday evening following a heated Likud faction debate over changing its primaries system.  Numerous party members, likely dissatisfied over the positions they did and did not receive, have tried to overhaul primaries, complaining that Likud’s current system gives the Prime Minister too much influence…

A resident of Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to aid the jihadist Islamic State (ISIS) group, local WRDW-TV reported. 37-year-old Leon Nathan Davis pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of attempting to provide material support to the group. According to testimony in court, an FBI-led team investigated Davis’ attempts…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Wednesday evening said that Israel’s airstrike on terrorist infrastructures in Gaza in retaliation for a rocket attack on southern Israel makes clear that it has no intention of ignoring rocket fire onto its territory. IAF aircraft on Wednesday morning struck four terrorist infrastructures in southern Gaza, in response to a Grad…

The leader of Al-Qaeda’s Syria branch on Wednesday declared that the group will not target the country’s Alawite minority, despite their support for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s government. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani said, “The battle does not end in Qardaha, the Alawite village and the birthplace of the Assad…

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum on Wednesday launched a 2016 White House bid, The Associated Press (AP) reported. “I am proud to stand here, among you and for you, the American workers who have sacrificed so much, to announce that I am running for president of the United States,” the 57-year-old senator said, speaking at…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group on Wednesday executed 20 men in front of a crowd in the UNESCO-listed Roman theater of Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, a monitor told AFP. Nearly a week after seizing the strategic city, ISIS gathered 20 men they accused of fighting for the regime in the ruins of the theater…

Iraq has exhumed the remains of 470 people believed to have been executed by Islamic State terrorists near Tikrit last year in what is known as the Speicher massacre, the health minister said Thursday, AFP reported. “We have exhumed the bodies of 470 Speicher martyrs from burial sites in Tikrit,” Adila Hammoud said at a press conference in Baghdad, referring to the nearby…

Members of an Iranian opposition group said Thursday that a delegation of North Korean nuclear experts visited nuclear installations in April – after the framework agreement limiting Iranian nuclear activity had already been presented by Western powers negotiating with Tehran. A Reuters report on Thursday quoted members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) as…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu may have promised additional funds to the Internal Security Ministry, but aides to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon asserted Wednesday they were unsure where that money would materialize from.  Netanyahu has pledged an additional budget of 300 million shekels ($77 million) to the ministry for next year, as well as an additional 500…

Kutiba Atian, a 21-year old Arab from Jericho, was indicted Thursday on charges of murder, attempting to destroy evidence, and illegal entry into Israel for the April murder of 24-year-old Polish tourist Daria Magdalena Rozmeark.  The victim was in Israel together with her father and a group of Christian pilgrims. On the day of the murder,…

The Israel Railways workers committee announced on Thursday that all operations would be shut down starting on Sunday.  According to the committee, the strikes is a result of “the continuation of unilateral steps taken by management, as well as systematic violations of agreements [between management and workers].” The workers committee added that even though the…

Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria threw two pipe bombs at IDF forces on Wednesday night. The first attack occurred as soldiers conducted an arrest operation in Jenin. None of the soldiers were injured in the attack. As the bomb was being thrown, soldiers fired into the air several times and pursued the perpetrators. Two of…

A British police chief has requested London’s Jewish community to provide proof an extremist rally being planned for July 4 in Golders Green will be anti-Semitic, so authorities can shut it down.  According to a Jewish Chronicle report, Barnet borough commander Adrian Usher claimed that if there was evidence the rally is “motivated by antisemitism, then that…

The term “settlement bloc” should be banned, at least in right-wing circles, according to David Elhiyani, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council. “I told my friends in the Likud that this terms fosters the delegitimization of communities in Judea and Samaria and in the Jordan Valley which are outside the borders of these designated…

Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid lashed out Thursday morning at FIFA, shortly after a vote scheduled for Friday on ousting Israel from international competitions was postponed.  “Who is FIFA threatening to boycott?” Lapid charged on his Facebook page, before listing a number of countries who have far worse track records than the Jewish state.  “Syria – a quarter…

The United States made clear on Wednesday that it will not consider an extension to reach an agreement on curbing Iran’s nuclear program, despite indications from France and Iran that talks may stretch into July. “We’re not contemplating any extension beyond June 30,” State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said at a news briefing, according to…

Radio: anti-Semitism has reappeared in the form of opposition to Israel government policies that are being overwhelmed by a Palestinian narrative that has the world believing that the Palestinians are a people suffering from Israeli oppression. Click here to download the podcast

The IDF on Wednesday celebrated the 61st graduating class of the army’s General Officer’s Course. The ceremony was held at the IDF base in Kibbutz Gelilot in central Israel, with the participation of IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Gadi Eisenkott. During the ceremony, Eisenkott told the graduating officers that they had “completed their training at a…

Israel’s electric consumption hit an all-time high on Wednesday, with 11,334 megawatts of power passing through the Israel Electric Company (IEC)’s power lines. The company was able to handle the demand with no interruptions in service, it said. National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Minister MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) visited the company’s headquarters Wednesday. According to…

Occasionally Iris Yifrah, the mother of murdered 19 year-old Eyal Yifrah, still sends WhatsApp messages to her son’s cell phone – one year after he was kidnapped.   “I always message him, keep him up to date,” she stated, in a special interview to Yediot Aharonot due to be published Friday. “I have a one-way WhatsApp conversation with him.”…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu thanked former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for his service in the Middle East Peace Quartet on Wednesday night, after Blair announced his resignation.  “In recent years, Tony Blair has made great efforts to advance stability and peace in the region,” Netanyahu stated. “His deep understanding of the Middle East helped him to…

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called Wednesday on Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to resume peace negotiations, saying the situation on the ground was “not sustainable,” according to AFP.  Mogherini issued the remarks after eyewitnesses said the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out four strikes on terror targets in Gaza onWednesday, hours after terrorists launched five rockets at civilians in the…

The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s football chief on Wednesday refused to back down on a threatened vote to expel Israel from football’s governing body after talks with FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Earlier, Arab delegations walked out of a confederation meeting when Israel’s Football Association president tried to address them. “Nothing has changed, the vote is still on the agenda,” Palestinian Football Association…

The Chief Rabbinate “has no right to use its power to extend community rabbis’ contracts for purposes other than extending those contracts,” said Rabbi Haim Druckman, a long time advocate for easing the conversion process and a senior Religious Zionist rabbinical leader. “The only thing they need to decide in the case of Rabbi Riskin…

The Chief Rabbinate on Wednesday hinted that it was under strong pressure to remove Rabbi Shlomo Riskin from his position as Chief Rabbi of Efrat, the community he helped form and build decades ago. The pressures are “unwarranted” and “out of place,” a source in the Chief Rabbinate said. With that, the source hinted, Rabbi…

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday resigned as envoy of the Middle East Quartet diplomatic group after eight years in the job, his office said. “Tony Blair has tendered his resignation in a letter to (UN Secretary General) Ban Ki-moon,” a spokeswoman for Blair told AFP. Sources said Blair would officially step down next month. The…

A substantial number of the 500,000 Holocaust survivors worldwide are suffering from poverty and need urgent help to live a dignified life in their last years, an advisor to the US secretary of state said Wednesday. “It’s really unacceptable that those people who in their youth suffered so grievously should have to live out their declining years in deprivation, isolation and…

At least 1,200 migrants from Syria and Afghanistan have landed in Greece over a two-day period, the Daily Mail reports Wednesday, flooding the islands of Kos, Lesbos, Chios and Farmakonisi. 30,000 have arrived in the past year alone.  Migrants have been smuggled in from the Turkish border, according to the news agency, with the average smuggling price at 800…

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Wednesday that Iran and Russia would never give up their support for his regime in the face of a four-year-old armed revolt. “I assure you that the relationship between Syria, the Russian Federation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is much deeper than some people think,” Muallem said at a press conference with his…

Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk has announced that he is ending his self-imposed exile and moving permanently to Gaza, according to the Associated Press. The move is being seen as a further indication of a shift in Hamas’s power base from surrounding Arab countries including Qatar and Egypt – where Abu Marzouk was most recently based.…

It feels like the hottest August ever in Israel this week, but it’s actually still only May – as Israel experiences its second extreme heat wave in the space of just two weeks. The record temperatures Wednesday – over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) – set a second record, with Israel experiencing a second…

“Violent dispossession.” In an Arabic dialect, the word is Farhud. For decades after it occurred, many thought the nightmare was a sudden and unexpected convulsion that afflicted the Iraqi Jewish community, one that lived in that land for some 2,600 years. But in truth, the wild rape and killing spree of June 1–2, 1941 was…

Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr on Wednesday criticized the codename given to a military operation in Sunni areas of Iraq, warning that it risked fanning the flames of sectarianism, according to AFP.  The Hashed al-Shaabi, an umbrella for mostly Shiite militias and volunteers, on Tuesday launched an operation aimed at severing the Islamic State jihadist group’s supply lines in Anbar province. They…

Ethiopian Israelis are not well-integrated into the education system, according to a report released Wednesday, and are less likely to finish their matriculation exams (bagruyot) than members of other communities.  The report, a study held two months ago by a doctoral student of Ethiopian origin, Vabit Varno-Mangesto, and Prof. Gabi Horenczyk, an expert in immigration from…

World War II may have ended in 1945, but the city of Cologne in western Germany nearly got a “blast from the past” on Wednesday when an un-exploded 200-kilogram (440-pound) bomb left over from the war days was found and deactivated. No fewer than 20,000 residents of the city were forced to evacuate their homes…

The record-high heat wave descending on Israel on Wednesday has led to an outburst of fires, with three homes burned to the ground and a large forest outside Beit Shemesh blazing in a massive fire that is spreading out of control. Earlier in the afternoon three homes belonging to a single family caught fire on Golan…

The same day that Gaza terrorists fired rockets at Israel, with a Grad rocket striking near Ashdod, a wide-reaching logistical drill was held on Tuesday by the IDF’s Central Command to prepare for multiple security incidents occurring simultaneously. Lt. Col. Oren Asado, head of the Central Command’s logistic branch, spoke about the importance of the drill…

The Cabinet approved Tuesday the formation of a ministerial committee – to be chaired by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – on the Arab sector. The committee, which was established at the behest of Minister Gila Gamliel (Likud), who will serve as its vice chairperson, will be responsible for dealing with matters pertaining to Israel’s Arab…

The new road leading from Ramallah to the Arab town of Bitin in Samaria was opened to Arab traffic by the IDF as a “gesture” on Monday, only to be closed again on Tuesday following a serious security incident committed by an Arab driver. On Monday night, mere hours after the opening, an Arab car driving on the…

Egyptian security forces have destroyed more than 500 tunnels infiltrating Egypt from Gaza, according to state media. Egyptian military spokesman Mohammed Samir told the state-owned Al-Ahram daily that the army had uncovered 521 tunnel entrances from Gaza into the Sinai Peninsula over the past six months, including 63 openings located between 1-2.8 km from the border. The Sinai Peninsula has…

Freshman MK Oren Hazan (Likud) has sponsored a bill that would make it mandatory for all Israeli schoolchildren to study spoken Arabic, from first to 12th grade. The trigger for Hazan’s decision is apparently the Defense Ministry’s announcement that it has frozen plans to offer separate buses for Jews and Arabs in Samaria. “In our…

US President Barack Obama’s 16-year-old daughter Malia has attracted unsolicited attention from Kenya, where the president’s father was from, as one intrepid Kenyan lawyer on Tuesday offered a motley selection of livestock to marry the teenager. The lawyer, Felix Kiprono, of the Kalenjin tribe, said he would pay Obama 50 cows, 70 sheep and 30 goats…

Routine discrimination against Jews on the Temple Mount is certainly nothing new. Despite its status as the holiest site in Judaism, due to Muslim pressure and threats Israeli police maintain a blanket ban on any forms of non-Muslim worship. In practice, the measures target visibly-Jewish visitors, who are only allowed to visit during certain hours of the…

Egypt reopened its Rafah border crossing with Gaza for two days on Tuesday, Palestinian Arab border officials said, according to the AFP news agency. Maher Abu Sabha, director of border crossings in the Gaza Strip, said traffic was permitted into Gaza only, to allow the return of Palestinians stranded in Egypt. Egypt closed the crossing,…

A Catholic university in Hungary has made a course in Holocaust education mandatory for all its students, the first initiative of its kind in Europe according to Israel’s envoy to Budapest, AFP reports. Starting September, students at the Pazmany Peter Catholic University in Budapest, Hungary’s main religious higher educational institution, must take a course titled…

A court in Egypt on Monday rejected a lawsuit demanding the designation of Israel as a “terrorist state”, The Cairo Post reported. According to the report, the Abdeen Court of Urgent Matters stated it has no legal authority to consider the suit, which was filed by the Nedal Center for Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF).…

IAF aircraft on Wednesday morning struck four terrorist infrastructures in southern Gaza the IDF Spokesperson said. Direct hits at the targets were identified, said the statement. The airstrike came in response to the rocket attack on southern Israel on Wednesday evening. “The IDF views the incident gravely, the Hamas terrorist organization is responsible” for any…

A top Russian diplomat on Tuesday said that no start date for the delivery of S-300 missiles to Iran has been set yet, according to The Associated Press (AP). The diplomat added that work is underway to fulfill Russia’s supply of the advanced air-defense missiles to the Islamic Republic. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov…

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday launched an appeal in his role as UN education envoy to raise $100 million in aid for Syrian students who have taken refuge in Lebanon. “Over the next 100 days we must have allocations of around $100 million provided so that the minister (of education in Lebanon) can…

Hamas used its 2014 Gaza war with Israel to “settle scores” with rival Palestinians, executing at least 23 in possible war crimes, Amnesty International said Tuesday, according to the AFP news agency. A report by the London-based group detailed the “brutal campaign of abductions, torture and unlawful killings against Palestinians accused of ‘collaborating’ with Israel”…

Syria’s antiquities chief said on Tuesday that the historic city of Palmyra had been unharmed since Islamic State (ISIS) insurgents seized it last week. Speaking to Reuters, Maamoun Abdulkarim said he was still afraid the jihadist group would blow up Palmyra’s 2,000-year-old Roman ruins, including tombs and the Temple of Bel, which could be viewed…

A Jewish resident of the Jewish quarter of Vienna, the capital of Austria, complained that his landlord demanded he remove the Israeli flag he had hung inside his window – or else be evicted from his apartment. The man had received the Israeli flag during the most recent Eurovision contest, which ended on Saturday night with…

Poland will take in 60 Syrian refugee families of the Christian faith Warsaw said Tuesday, just days after it opposed European Union plans for binding quotas on asylum seekers for its 28 member states. “We’ll welcome 60 families for a start,” Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz told reporters in Warsaw. “Today Christians who are being persecuted in…

Restrictions on Iraqi people fleeing the fighting in Anbar province are forcing some of them to return straight into conflict areas, an aid group said Tuesday. “Thousands of people fleeing Ramadi are stuck at checkpoints or being denied entry to safe areas,” said Mark Schnellbaecher of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), reports AFP. “For some people the situation has become so hopeless that…

Diplomats in the Foreign Ministry voiced their condemnation to Arutz Sheva against the decision to distribute the authority over various functions of the ministry to different ministers in the government. Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz has been given the intelligence portfolio of the ministry, while Interior Minister Silvan Shalom was tasked with peace talks and Israel-US relations. Internal Security…

As world powers reconvene talks with Iran ahead of next month’s deadline for a deal over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would be “a thousand times more dangerous” than ISIS. In a meeting with visiting US Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) in Jerusalem Tuesday, Netanyahu once more emphasized…

In response to the decision by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) not to renew the controversial seizure of Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva (Torah academy – ed.) in Yitzhar, Samaria, staff and students are now preparing to celebrate, over a year after their yeshiva was turned into a Border Patrol headquarters. Arutz Sheva spoke with Rabbi Menachem Ben-Shahar, the head…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will act as soon as possible to tap into massive natural gas deposits off the Israeli coast, and said he won’t allow the process to be delayed by the ongoing controversy over allegations it is being monopolized.  “We will not repeat the mistake that other countries made…

The Wolf volcano on the northern tip of Isabela Island, the largest of the Galapagos Islands, erupted on Monday in a massive plume of lava and smoke, raising fears that it may threaten the unique ecosystem and rare wildlife on the island. The volcano hasn’t erupted for a full 33 years, although it is located around…

An Israeli NGO is seeking to place Israel back on the front foot, as a campaign by the Palestinian Authority to have the Israeli Football Association kicked out of world soccer federation FIFA forges on. The PA has taken its diplomatic offensive to isolate Israel by seeking to have the Jewish state singled out for expulsion from…

We are joined by our good friend Rabbi Tovia Singer who has spent many months in southeast Asia. To date he has been teaching in Malaysia, Jakarta, Papua, and other places where both Christians and Muslims are seeking him out with interesting and pointed questions about Judaism and Torah. Rabbi Singer shares with us the…

MK Haim Yellin (Yesh Atid), a resident of the Gaza border region and former head of the Eshkol Regional Council, on Tuesday evening called on the government to respond to the Grad rocket attack on southern Israel. “There needs to be a response from the IDF to the rocket fire from Gaza. There has to…

Politicians lost no time in responding to the rocket fire from Gaza on Tuesday night, in which at least one rocket struck in the vicinity of the southern city of Ashdod. “It’s too bad that Hamas is trying again to deteriorate the security reality in the south,” said Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev (Likud).…

A young Texan eager to fight and die for the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Syria was tricked into returning home – and arrested Tuesday – after receiving bogus news that his mother was sick, officials said. Asher Abid Khan, 20, of the Houston area, made it as far as Istanbul, Turkey en route to Syria, the Justice Department said according to AFP. He…

The Pentagon expressed disappointment on Tuesday over a decision by Iraqi militias to impose an explicitly Shia name for a military operation in Iraq’s Sunni heartland, saying it could aggravate sectarian tensions. An umbrella group for mostly Shia militia and volunteer fighters, Hashed al-Shaabi, said it had dubbed a military campaign to cut off the Islamic…

Air raid sirens sounded in towns across southern Israel Tuesday evening at 9:02 p.m, as the IDF confirmed that at least one Grad rocket fired from Gaza struck near the community of Gan Yavneh, near Ashdod. Some residents of the south reported seeing Iron Dome missile defense batteries deploying to intercept at least one incoming rocket. Sirens were heard…

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) will be excluded from the decision-making process on the ownership of the state’s natural gas finds, his office said Tuesday. The ministry said Kahlon had himself decided to stay out of the process due to his friendship with Koby Maimon, one of the partners in the Tamar offshore gas field. The announcement comes a day after antitrust…

Archaeologist Dr. Gabi Barkay, director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, told Arutz Sheva on Tuesday that the extent of the damage inflicted to the ancient mosaic floor of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount may never be known. “The rugs that were donated by Abdullah the King of Jordan have already been attached…

New York State legislators are working on a bill to ban the state’s pension fund from doing business with companies that boycott Israel. The proposed bill is being spearheaded by Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), and already has the support of more than a dozen Assembly Members on both sides of the aisle. It follows a series of…

The head of the Palestine Football Association (PFA), Jibril Rajoub, on Monday ruled out reaching a compromise with regards to his efforts to have Israel ousted from FIFA, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Rajoub stressed he would press forth with his bid to oust Israel despite efforts from FIFA president to diffuse the crisis adding…

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to re-start talks on finding a solution to the crisis in Syria, a statement from Cameron said on Monday, AFP reports. The Russian president phoned Cameron to congratulate him on his re-election as prime minister and the two agreed that Syria talks should…

Moscow and Tehran have concluded talks on the delivery of Russian S-300 missiles to Iran which should take place “quite” soon, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday, according to the AFP news agency. “The negotiations on the subject have ended in success. I estimate that the S-300 delivery will take place in…

Isabel Aguilera, named by Forbes Magazine as one of the world’’s most influential executives, shares the secrets behind effective leadership. What motivates a successful leader? Who are the best kinds of people to use as your role model, and how can you inspire others? Kurt Cobb, author, journalist, and expert on energy and the environment,…

Chief Rabbi of Efrat Rabbi Shlomo Riskin spoke for the first time publicly Tuesday morning about reports that he will be deposed, stating to Army Radio his disbelief that he would be relieved of his post for his views on conversion and other issues.  “I do not want to believe that because of the conversion issue, which…

The trial against Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian in Iran has begun, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reports Tuesday morning, after he has been detained in Iran for over nine months on charges of “espionage” and “acting against national security.”  The trial is being held in Branch 15 of the Tehran revolutionary court, according to AFP, which usually presides over top-level national security or political cases. Proceedings…

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat strongly criticized the decision of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to appoint a Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, contrary to promises he has made in the past.  “The decision on the rebuilding of Jerusalem Affairs Ministry was made against my better judgment and contrary to the commitment of the Prime Minister,” Barkat said…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) met on Monday night, for the first time since Lapid leaving the government plunged Israel into elections six months ago. Lapid and Netanyahu met for about 40 minutes, according to Channel 2. During the meeting, Lapid reiterated that he has no plans on joining the current coalition…

The Left’s new hero is Corporal Shachar Berrin, who serves as a combat soldier in the Home Front Command (HFC). Berrin was lauded in Haaretz‘s main editorial Monday and was glorified in at least two articles by the paper’s pundits, Gideon Levy and Uri Misgav, as well as in other left-wing and anti-Israeli websites. Berrin’s…

The Knesset has voted Likud MK Gilad Erdan into his post as Minister of Internal Security, Minister of Strategic Affairs, and Minister of Hasbarah (PR), in a 58-55 vote, following a Cabinet vote earlier Monday night.  Erdan was sworn in immediately after the vote.  The decision to add Erdan to the government has been controversial, after…

Israel will see yet another strong heat wave this week with both Wednesday and Thursday approaching scorching hot temperatures.  Monday night will be clear with Tuesday seeing a decrease in temperatures, primarily along the coastal plain and in the lowlands. Inland and on Israel’s mountains, however, the temperature Tuesday will be unusually warm.  Temperatures will…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) has decided not to extend the seizure order issued last year against the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva (Torah academy – ed.) building in Yitzhar, in the heart of Samaria, according to Channel 10. For the first time in over a year, police and IDF forces will vacate the premises and allow students to return. …

Forces in the Chief Rabbinate may be working to oust Rabbi Shlomo Riskin from his post as Chief Rabbi of Efrat, Haaretz reported Monday.  At a meeting of the Chief Rabbinate Council, the group was unwilling to extended Riskin’s tenure in the post and called for the Rabbi to present himself at the council’s next meeting for discussion. While…

As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu aimed to please various members of his ruling Likud, he divvied up various responsibilities in the Foreign Ministry – a move that could have dangerous implications, senior officials warned Monday night.  While splitting powers within the Foreign Ministry is not an unprecedented action, a Channel 10 report asserted that the present government has…

US Vice President Joe Biden on Monday sought to end an embarrassing rift between Washington and Baghdad after Pentagon boss Ashton Carter blamed Iraqi forces for the fall of Ramadi. The White House said Biden called Iraqi’s prime minister Haider al-Abadi, just hours after the US Defense Secretary’s suggested the Islamic State group won control of the city because “Iraqi…

Former UK Chief of Staff Lord Dannatt has called for a ground invasion against Islamic State (ISIS) on Monday, claiming that the cultural and security impact of the group calls for an international armed effort to expand beyond the current airstrike campaign.  “The capture and likely destruction of the 2,000-year-old Roman colonnades at Palmyra, Syria,…

Despite initially citing ‘principles’ as his reason for not joining Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government, MK Gilad Erdan (Likud) announced Monday that he had indeed agreed to join at Netanyahu’s request. Pending Knesset approval Monday night, Erdan will serve as both Minister of Internal Security and Minister of Strategic Affairs and Hasbarah and will be granted…

The IDF on Sunday marked 24 years since Operation Solomon, which was conducted on May 24, 1991, and saw 14,500 Ethiopian Jews airlifted to Israel by 34 planes in 36 hours, constituting the largest aerial mission to bring Jews home to Israel. Ethiopia had prohibited its Jews from making aliyah (immigration) to Israel, leading Israel…

Ex-MK Moshe Feiglin wrote on Facebook Monday that he thinks Population, Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA) official Ariel Runis killed himself because of a sinister threat most people are not aware of – and not just because of a Facebook post by a woman who accused him of racism. “I read the letter written by…

Greek investigators were to question Monday a Syrian caught trying to sneak tens of thousands of bullets into Turkey, a police source said. The 28-year-old man was detained over the weekend at the Kipi customs post in Evros, the northernmost part of Greece, after police found parcels of bullets concealed in special caches in his car, reports AFP. The authorities said they were not…

MK Gilad Erdan (Likud) has made amends with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and will soon be appointed Minister of Internal Security, with a large budget. Erdan was carrying out advanced contacts with Netanyahu Monday morning, which will enable him to receive the portfolio that Netanyahu offered him before the establishment of the current government, and…

Syrian regime aircraft launched at least 15 airstrikes in and around the ancient city of Palymra (Tadmor) on Monday, following its fall to the Islamic State (ISIS) group, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raids on the city were the most intense since the jihadists overran it last Thursday, and indicating that heavy bombing was…

Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) tasked with Iran’s foreign operations, on Monday claimed the US had let Islamic State (ISIS) capture the strategic Iraqi city of Ramadi on purpose last Sunday. In remarks to the Iranian paper Javan which is close to the IRGC, Soleimani said the US…

In an ironic turn of events, the radical leftist Israeli singer Achinoam Nini, known abroad as Noa, who has been accused of delegitimizing Israel on the world stage, on Sunday announced protesters in Spain had called to boycott her. Her Facebook post announcing the incident included pictures, showing the protesters with signs calling to boycott Israel and Nini,…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction marked “Nakba” day – signifying the “catastrophe” of the establishment of the modern state of Israel – by calling for terrorism to destroy Israel and conquer the state as the “only” way. In a post on the official Facebook page of Fatah on May 14 in time for Nakba…

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Chairman of the Jewish Home, hinted Monday in a Facebook post that the IDF’s retreat from the self-declared Security Belt in southern Lebanon may have been a mistake. The retreat took place on May 24, 2000 – precisely 15 years ago Sunday. It was preceded by 15 years in which the…

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz vowed justice on Sunday against the perpetrators of the suicide bombing last week that left 21 dead, in an attack against a Shi’ite minority mosque during Friday prayers. “We were pained by the enormity of the crime of this terrorist aggression which contradicts Islamic and humanitarian values,” Salman said in a message…

Amid controversy, Israel’s Cabinet Secretary announced Monday evening that the cabinet had approved a motion to appoint MK Gilad Erdan (Likud) Internal Security Minister as well as Minister of Strategic Affairs and Hasbarah (Public Information).  The Knesset is expected to vote later on Monday on splitting the strategic affairs portfolio away from the Intelligence Ministry as well as on Erdan’s…

MK Oren Hazan (Likud) demanded more respect on Monday, despite his being #30 on the Likud list and the youngest MK in the current Knesset, after reportedly being rebuffed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.  Hazan has demanded to put the issue of monitoring Palestinian Arab workers’ entry and exit into and out of Judea-Samaria on…

As a result of the months it has taken Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to establish a government, the Knesset’s permanent committees remain unformed, and members of the Opposition are fed up.  Yisrael Beytenu faction chairman MK Robert Ilatov sent a letter to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) on Monday protesting the delay in the establishment of the…

Five European MPs from three separate parliaments have condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA), Palestinian Media Watch reports Monday, following the organization’s special report proving that the PA is still paying salaries to terrorists and their families.  In the report, PMW notes that while the PA officially halted salaries to terrorists in summer 2014 – when the PA Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs,…

Israel’s antitrust commissioner has resigned after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government refused to end an effective monopoly on gas extracted from the Mediterranean, according to a letter made public Monday, AFP reported. David Gilo expressed his opposition to the dominant position of US giant Noble Energy and its Israeli partner Delek to exploit gas from the Leviathan and Tamar offshore gas fields in…

Recep Tayyip Erdogan may have a new romance brewing after media mogul Ethem Sancak declared his love for the Turkish President during a television interview ten days ago.  The owner of Star Daily and Kanal 24 as well a number of recently acquired dailies, Sancak said he was first infatuated by the ruler of the Justice and…

Every local authority or regional council in Israel is scheduled to hold an emergency war drill next week, during which two “Code Red” sirens will go off.  According to MK Haim Yellin (Yesh Atid), former head of the Eshkol Regional Council, this year, unlike previous years, the Southern Command and Home Front Command wish to sound…

The second wave of changes to Israel’s kafkaesque driving program will be instituted next Monday, June 1, 2015, the Ministry of Transport announced Monday afternoon. According to the changes, which follow a program implemented in November 2014, the cost of the official driving exam will be reduced to 265 shekels ($68), down from at least 500…

Former foreign minister Avidgor Liberman wasted no time Monday in criticizing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the impromptu dismissal of Foreign Ministry Director Nissim Ben Sheetrit.  ​ In Ben Sheetrit’s place, Netanyahu appointed Dr. Dore Gold, Israel’s former UN Ambassador and the Prime Minister’s personal diplomatic adviser since 2013.  Speaking ahead of his party’s faction meeting on Monday…

As an act of protest, Strategic Affairs and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) announced Monday afternoon that he would refrain from attending the vote on appointing fellow Likud MK Gilad Erdan a minister.  According to the deal Erdan and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu have threshed out, the former interior minister will be made Internal Security Minister and Minister…

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has shared his disappointment in the Iraqi military, following ISIS’s conquest of Ramadi last week. Carter pointed out  to CNN that, even though the Iraqis “vastly outnumbered” ISIS fighters, they still fled the fight. “What apparently happened is the Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. They were…

A full-blown war between Israeli Arabs and the Netanyahu government is “just a matter of time,” says Kamal Al-Khatib, deputy head of the radical Islamic Movement in Israel. In an interview with Hamas media, Al-Khatib said that the policies espoused by the new government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu leave Israeli Arabs “no choice” but…

Max Blumenthal and Jewdas, a London-based Jewish anarchist group, have launched a “BirthWrong” program, in opposition to Birthright. The first BirthWrong trip took place this month, taking participants to Spain in an effort to convince them that Jews don’t need Israel in order to be safe in the world. Blumenthal is an American Jewish journalist…

Ariel Runis, a senior official in the Population, Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA), fatally shot himself Saturday evening. A message he left on Facebook and another message to a friend indicate that he was agitated because of a Facebook post that accused him of treating an African-American woman unfairly because of her skin color. The…

The Islamic State (aka ISIS) group has reportedly murdered hundreds of people after seizing the ancient town of Palmyra (Tadmor) last week. The organization seized full control of the town Wednesday. Syrian state TV has reported that about 400 civilians were massacred by the group since Wednesday, while activists in Palmyra said that ISIS fighters…

Government officials in Canada say that the reason a “Draw Mohammed” event in Ottawa was canceled last Wednesday was because it did not receive a permit – although organizers claimed that they had indeed received a police permit to hold the event on the steps of Parliament. “Despite having received prior approval for this event…

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed his “appreciation” to the United States for opposing an Arab plan for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, an Israeli official said. The Jewish state is believed to be the only country in the region that has an atomic bomb although it has never confirmed its nuclear…

A Syrian brigadier-general was killed in a blast that targeted his car in downtown Damascus on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. The Britain-based group said “a brigadier general and approximately six people with him were killed in an explosion in the Adawi neighborhood in the center of the capital.” The powerful…

As ISIS consolidates its control of Palmyra, its latest prize, and extends its control to capture as much as half of Syria, Hezbollah is growing increasingly concerned – to the point that the terror group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah over the weekend proclaimed the Sunni terror organization “as great an enemy as Israel.” The rulers of…

Jerusalem district court judges on Monday will sentence former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was found guilty in late March of fraud and breach of trust in the Morris Talansky case. In the corruption scandal, Olmert was accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars – with a large portion of it being passed in envelopes – from American Jewish businessman…

With two weeks to go before a general election in Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been losing steam in polls. According to a poll released over the weekend by the Konda research organization, AKP’s support has fallen from 49.8% to 40.5%. The poll also showed positive results…

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called on regional states to join the fight against the Islamic State group on Sunday, saying “they are not stronger than Israel and the United States, and the nations of the region have already defeated Israel and the United States.” He explained that “one of the reasons for the Israeli position…

The families of the three Israeli yeshiva students who were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists will honor their memory on June 3 by promoting the message of unity and togetherness among the Jewish people. Unity Day and the Jerusalem Unity Prize, organizers said, aim to promote tolerance and cooperation between different sectors of the…

The UN is once again singling out Israel for criticism. The UN Watch NGO on Friday reported that the global body adopted a draft resolution portraying Israel as violating the health rights of Syrians in the Golan. The resolution comes even though Israeli hospitals continue their life-saving treatment for escalating numbers of wounded Syrians fleeing…

A senior official in Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party on Friday rejected fresh criticism of the premier bu US President Barack Obama as unjustified and hypocritical. Tzahi Hanegbi, chairman of the influential foreign affairs and defense committee in parliament, was responding to remarks by US President Barack Obama published Thursday in news magazine The Atlantic. Obama restated…

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) told Israeli envoys on Thursday to reference the Torah in presenting the historical rights of the Jewish people to the entire land of Israel while representing the state. In a video seen by AFP on Friday, Hotovely is seen addressing the foreign ministry staff in Jerusalem on Thursday. The speech reportedly was beamed to…

What exactly is the Israeli government’s official position regarding the “two state solution,” which posits creating a state for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria? Answers to the question have been murky at best, with numerous statements by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu giving conflicting sentiments on the issue. In his…

When we think of Shavuot, our mind conjures up dishes that contain cheese, milk and everything dairy.  But what about if either your guests don’t like dairy or you just fancy a non-meaty dish that isn’t dairy?  Well this is a dish that covers all of the above: a non-meaty, non-milky dish that is also not fishy-tasting. It…

Iran has threatened Israel once again on Friday – this time, due an Iranian news agency’s mistranslation of a comment by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud). Semi-official Iranian news agency Fars claimed Ya’alon threatened civilians in Lebanon outright during a series of comments over Israel’s security situation earlier this month, wherein the minister discussed the possibility of…

Former President Shimon Peres visited Jordan on Friday, where he claimed that that there is a “clear majority” in Israel for the so-called “two-state solution”. Addressing reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum and quoted by Jordan’s official Petra news agency, Peres called on all stakeholders to support on one hand the renew…

President Barack Obama on Friday signed the legislation that would give Congress the power to review and potentially reject a nuclear deal with Iran, reports The Associated Press (AP). The legislation would bar Obama from waiving congressional sanctions for at least 30 days while lawmakers examine any final deal. Congress would have to pass a…

The Dutch cabinet on Friday approved a partial ban on wearing the burqa (face-covering Islamic veil), including in schools, hospitals and on public transport, AFP reported. “Face-covering clothing will in future not be accepted in education and healthcare institutions, government buildings and on public transport,” the government said in a statement after the cabinet backed…

Iran on Friday once again unequivocally rejected the West’s call to inspect its military sites as part of a nuclear deal. The commander of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said that inspecting Iran’s military sites is tantamount to espionage and that Iran’s response to espionage is “hot bullets.” “We will…

A painting by Max Liebermann from a Nazi-era art trove found in Germany last year will go on sale in London next month, the first from the collection to be sold off, Sotheby’s said on Friday, according to AFP. One of the rightful heirs — to whom the painting was returned — last remembered seeing…

The Israel Football Association (IFA) on Friday appealed to UEFA president Michel Platini on Friday to speak out “loud and clear” against the Palestinian Authority’s bid to vote the IFA out of FIFA next week. The annual FIFA Congress, which begins on May 28, includes the Palestinian Football Association’s (PFA) proposal to suspend the IFA…

President Barack Obama on Friday donned a yarmulke (kippah) and pitched his nuclear deal with Iran and the case for a Palestinian state directly to American Jews, reports AFP. Visiting Washington’s Adas Israel synagogue, Obama embarked on a Hebrew-sprinkled charm offensive which stressed that American-Israeli relations encompass more than just official links with the Likud…

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper blasted would-be Canadian jihadists Thursday, saying there is “no legitimate reason” in a liberal democracy to join any extremist group, AFP reports. Harper announced fresh funding for border and federal police agencies, during a visit to the Montreal airport where days earlier 10 teenagers who allegedly hoped to join the Islamic…

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, is once again attacking Israel and its new government, calling it “racist” and “extremist”. According to the Ma’an news agency, Erekat’s comments were made during a meeting Wednesday with the European Union’s Foreign Policy chief, Federica Mogherini, who is visiting the region in an attempt to convince…

Germany’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday it has appointed two Jews to a new commission on anti-Semitism, in response to criticism that there was none among the original eight experts chosen, according to The Associated Press (AP). The ministry said that Marina Chernivsky, of a Berlin-based organization that fights anti-Semitism and xenophobia, and Andreas Nachama,…

This week’s show features Charlie’s great business segments on “How Steven King and Jerry Seinfeld Achieved Success…the Journey of Success”. Also you can learn how to launch a company. Click here for archived shows of “The Boardroom”

The Pentagon said Thursday that an expedited shipment of 2,000 lightweight shoulder-fired weapons should arrive in Iraq next week. The weapons, according to The Associated Press (AP), are intended to help the Iraqi army stop the Islamic State (ISIS) group’s increasingly effective use of car bombs. The shipment is among a variety of weaponry and…

Officials in the United States military said Thursday that airstrikes against Islamist extremists in Syria killed two children by mistake, marking the first time the American military has acknowledged inflicting civilian casualties in the war. “We regret the unintentional loss of lives,” Lieutenant General James Terry, head of the air campaign against the Islamic State…

French President Francois Hollande on Thursday said the world must respond to Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists’ seizure of Palmyra amid fears they could destroy the Syrian city’s world renowned ancient monuments. “We have to act because there is a threat against these monuments which are part of humankind’s inheritance and at the same time we…

A suicide bomber detonated during Friday prayers in a Shi’ite mosque located in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, murdering several people and wounding dozens of others, reports Reuters. The attack occurred at the Imam Ali mosque in al-Qadeeh village, located in the Qatif governorate where the Sunni-majority country’s Shi’ite minority largely resides. A witness told the…

The outspoken Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who heads the Party for Freedom (PVV) and has been a staunch supporter of Israel and a critic of Islam, apparently was the target of a jihadist assassination attempt. It was revealed in court that Mohammed A., who is suspected of returning from jihad in Syria to conduct attacks, told others that he planned to attack Wilders,…

Religious fervor usually drives Western Muslims to join jihadist groups – but one man just wanted to escape the financial pressures in his life.  Abdifatah Ahmed, 34, was a fuel technician at a Minneapolis airport until several months ago, according to the Associated Press – before he vanished to join Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.  Just before disappearing,…

One of Iraq’s leading Sunni Muslim politicians, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Mutlaq, branded as “shameful” Friday the army’s chaotic pullout from Anbar provincial capital Ramadi. Mutlaq, who is himself from the overwhelmingly Sunni province, said the Shi’ite-led government would discipline officers who had given up the fight as Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists overran the city last Sunday, reports AFP. “It’s unthinkable that…

The IDF and local Regional Councils are already preparing residents of the Gaza Belt area for another war, and have prepared an evacuation plan following the mass exodus from the area during Operation Protective Edge, according to a report released Friday.  The Gaza Belt was hit hardest by Hamas rocket and mortar fire, sparking thousands…