Category: News

Iran’s Foreign Minister said Saturday that Tehran would return to its nuclear activities should world powers renege on their agreement to be finalized in June.  In an interview with Iranian news agency, Fars, Mohammad Javad Zarif explained that “all parties to the agreement can, in case of violation from the other side, take corresponding action.” Thus, he asserted, if…

Among the Palestinian Arab fighters beheaded by the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS) in Damascus’s Yarmouk camp was a senior Hamas figure in Syria, according to emerging reports. On Saturday, senior Israel Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toumeh posted a graphic image which appeared to show the severed head of Sheikh Abu Salah Taha, held aloft by an ISIS…

The media frenzy over the fake abduction of 22 year-old Niv Assaraf continues Sunday, as father Shmuel admits that he has no idea what happened – or why. “That isn’t the Niv I know, and we just want to know why he did what he did,” Shmuel Assaraf stated to Channel 10.  “With all due respect,…

The 27 year-old man who was trampled during the funeral Saturday night for Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner has been identified Sunday as yeshiva (Torah academy) student Mordechai Gerber.  A resident of Elad, Gerber leaves behind his wife and three-year-old son. He will be buried Sunday afternoon beside his parents in the Petach Tikva/Segula cemetery.  Gerber himself was orphaned at…

Around 1,500 people gathered at Jerusalem’s Garden Tomb at sunrise on Sunday to celebrate Easter, according to AFP, when Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified. On a sunny but chilly morning, crowds of Christians from all over the world massed at a rock-cut tomb, which is next to a skull-shaped hill and is seen as a possible site…

Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri promised Sunday to “revitalize” the party’s education network, El Hama’ayan, through his management of the Interior Ministry.  Yisrael Hayom reported that during an interview with “Day to Day,” Deri stressed that funding would bring the cultural organization new life.  “It can’t be that we want to reestablish El Hama’ayan, and we won’t have a…

Kulanu and Likud have reached some sort of an understanding if not an outright deal, sources involved in coalition negotiations between the two parties told Haaretz on Sunday.  According to the sources, other coalition partners in the midst of negotiations with Likud must present their budgetary requirements to Kulanu for approval.  An understanding was apparently reached after…

Neo-Nazism has reared its head again – this time, as far away as Mongolia.  On March 28, a group known as Khukh Mongol (Blue Mongolia) attacked a group of Chinese tourists in eastern Mongolia, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua, as they toured the Burkhan Khaldun mountain in Khentii province.  The tourists were reportedly forced to kneel. One…

Speaking on CNN Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu compared the arguments being made for accepting the nuclear deal with Iran to those made when the United States negotiated a nuclear deal with North Korea in 1994 – and noted that in the end, North Korea got the bomb. “They said the same arguments about North Korea – it’ll make…

Whether it’s a genuine preparation for its return to the embrace of the world community, a celebration of the lessening of tension, or a ploy to convince Congress that “change” is indeed in the air, is not clear – but Iran’s ayatollahs on Sunday have given their permission to women to attend sporting events, from…

Amid the turmoil of the Middle East, Iran’s march across the region, Palestinian power plays in the international court, and the global resurgence of anti-Semitism, Jews the world over have become more pessimistic and disconcerted by the state of the world. This is not the way Jews should be acting though, according to Rabbi Adi…

A group of Jewish congressmen met with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough in his office last week and asked him to tell President Barack Obama to “soften his tone” toward Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and avoid “getting into a daily argument with” him, writes Peter Nicholas in the Wall Street Journal. According…

Outgoing government minister Limor Livnat on Sunday encouraged youths in Samaria to continue expanding Jewish settlement in the region, establishing new communities – known as “outposts” in the media – on hilltops that are currently barren. Livnat spoke at a dedication ceremony for a new outlook near the Samaria town of Eilon Moreh, named for…

A confidential Spanish military report on the death of a Spanish UN peacekeeper during an exchange between the IDF and Hezbollah in Lebanon said he was manning a post that appeared to have been targeted, a  newspaper reported Sunday. El Pais cited extracts from the report which drew on testimony from soldiers following the January 28…

At least one person was killed Sunday in a bomb explosion on a Cairo bridge, just hours after Egyptian forces gunned down a top Islamist leader in an apartment near the bridge. It is not clear yet if there is a connection between the two incidents. The bomb that exploded on the bridge to the upscale…

Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that the PA was rejecting Israel’s offer of tax money that had been collected on its behalf. At issues is Israel’s insistence on withholding part of the money in order to pay debts the PA owes to Israeli organizations and companies. Israel began withholding tax money that it…

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Sunday that the framework agreement between Iran and world powers is a huge achievement for Iran and a historic mistake for the West. “Iran is a terrorist monster that funds and trains five organizations and entities to wreak havoc among pro-Western regimes in the Middle East and around the world, and…

Mahmoud Abbas, the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA), said Sunday that he refuses to accept the funds from frozen tax revenues handed over by Israel because they amount to only a portion of the total owed. Israel began withholding tax and customs revenues owed to the Palestinians in December in retaliation for the Palestinians…

Senators Bob Corker (R-TN), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, said Sunday on Fox News that the legislation that would force Preisdent Barack Obama to bring a deal on Iran’s nuclear program before the Senate is close to achieving the support of a veto-proof majority. The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, sponsored by US Senators Bob…

For the second time in a month, soldiers of the IDF’s Binyamin regional brigade have been called to a major exercise in which they will involved in dealing with drill scenarios in urban warfare. The drills involve sending soldiers door to door, facing down hostile populations, and maneuvering safely in the face of major rioting.…

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called President Barack Obama “a flawed negotiator” Sunday and said that he should leave the job of reaching a deal with Iran to his successor.  “I don’t want a war, but I also don’t want to give Iran the tools to attack the Middle East and one day us,” Graham said on CBS’s…

France has a sizable Muslim population – the largest community in Europe – but not enough mosques to hold them, according to a top official in a top French Muslim organization. To correct that, says Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Muslim Council, France needs to double its current 4,400 mosques. “We need double” the current 2,200 mosques…

Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Wosner, 102, a leading hassidic-haredi rabbi and posek (decisor of Jewish law), died a short time after the start of the Pesach holiday. Rabbi Wosner, who lived in Bnei Brak, was known as the Shevet HaLevi after his major work. Rabbi Wosner was hospitalized after the last Purim holiday at Maaynei Hayeshua…

Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer, the head of the Israel Defense Forces Planning Directorate, told Israel Hayom in a weekend interview that when Israeli leaders say “all options are on the table” with regard to Iran, they mean it. “If someone builds a nuclear bomb and at the same time declares that the State of Israel…

Earlier this week, in a video message to the Syrian People, America’s UN Ambassador Samantha Power stated, “The [Assad] regime has launched chemical weapons on civilians, it has dropped barrel bombs on residential housing, on schools and hospitals.” Power was speaking at the Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria in Kuwait City, Kuwait. The…

Arab news sources reported at week’s end that an unidentified jet believed to be Israeli destroyed warehouses in southern Libya that held weapons bought by Iran for Hamas. According to the reports in Al Watan and other news outlets, the warehouses were completely destroyed. The weapons that were inside them had allegedly been purchased by…

A soldier, 18, was seriously wounded Saturday after another soldier, who is apparently his friend, shot him with his personal weapon. Police suspect that the bullet was accidentally discharged when one of the soldiers was playing with the weapon. Police said that around midnight Friday, a report was received in the police hotline, about gunshots that…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel Saturday to return to the negotiating table with the PA. In an interview with the Israeli Arabic website Al-Arab, Abbas said Israel stands to gain if it agrees to the “Arab peace initiative.” “I have no problem negotiating with Netanyahu because he represents the state of…

Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) reacted Saturday night to the call issued by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) to Israel, to renew peace negotiations with him. “Abu Maen’s statement is no less than chutzpah,” Ariel stated. “After he unilaterally abrogated the agreements that the PA signed, and appealed to…

The savage Islamic State (ISIS) organization has seized nearly all of the Palestinian district of Yarmouk in Damascus, activists said Saturday, and there are reports of beheadings and mass killings of Palestinians. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) watchdog group said the Islamist militants have taken over 90% of Yarmouk, on the southern…

Israel is reportedly conducting talks with Rwanda and Uganda, in the hope of finalizing an agreement in which Eritrean and Sudanese infiltrators would be deported to the African countries, in return for trade deals. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame confirmed the deal Thursday at a press conference in Kigali. He said that the two countries have…

After retelling the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt the night before, Israelis took to nature on Saturday with an estimated 150,000 visitors arriving at nature reserves, national parks and of course, the Kinneret. The day started out with light rain in the Zikhron Ya’akov and Kfar Saba area…

BEIRUT – Islamic State has taken control of 90 percent of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts where 18,000 civilians have suffered years of bombing, army siege and militia control, a monitoring group said on Saturday. The hardline group’s offensive in Yarmouk gives it a major presence in the capital. Islamic State, the…

Fighters from Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate and allied groups advanced Friday on a key government-held military base in northwestern Idlib province, a monitor said. The advance follows the capture of provincial capital Idlib by Al-Nusra Front and its allies on Saturday. “Violent clashes have been underway since Thursday night between the army and Al-Nusra and its…

Earlier this week, in a video message to the Syrian People, America’s UN Ambassador Samantha Power stated, “The [Assad] regime has launched chemical weapons on civilians, it has dropped barrel bombs on residential housing, on schools and hospitals.” Power was speaking at the Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria in Kuwait City, Kuwait. The…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued his first public reaction to yesterday’s announcement of a “framework deal” between Iran and the P5+1 world powers over Tehran’s nuclear plan. “This deal would pose a grave danger to the region and to the world and would threaten the very survival of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “The deal…

Any lingering “honeymoon period” between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) has ended, more than one year after the “unity government” was announced, with the two rivals re-launching a war of words.  Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in an interview to Al-Aqsa news agency Friday that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas did not conduct…

A three-hour long meeting of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his cabinet Friday ended with a unanimous rejection of the “framework deal” with Iran over its nuclear program. The deal, announced yesterday at a joint conference in Switzerland and widely celebrated as a “victory” in Iran, was quickly lauded by US President Barack Obama as an “historic” agreement.…

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who represented France in the nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, revealed on Friday that his nation had rejected an original version of the deal reached the day before for not being “solid enough.” In an interview with Europe 1 radio cited by Fox News, Fabius said he had tried to hold…

Responding to the Iran nuclear deal sealed Thursday, one expert has revealed that the nuclear centrifuge research allowed by the deal likely will allow the Islamic regime to reach a point where it can make a dash for the nuclear bomb within three weeks. Joe Cirincione, head of the American anti-nuclear proliferation group The Ploughshares Fund,…

One unfortunate mother was forced to give birth to her baby boy on a highway in Kentucky on Thursday, and there is one man to blame for the emergency delivery: US President Barack Obama. The mother was stuck on the highway on Interstate 65 North at Fern Valley Road in a massive traffic jam, which…

John Boehner, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, said Thursday that the framework nuclear deal between Iran and world powers is an “alarming departure” from President Barack Obama’s initial goals, Reuters reported. He did not outline how the deal departed from initial negotiating goals, but he said Congress must fully review the…

Ten Egyptian soldiers were killed and 17 others were injured in several concurrent attacks by armed groups in southern Sheikh Zuweid City in the northern Sinai on Thursday, the Ma’an news agency reported. According to the news agency, clashes erupted during the attacks that targeted five military posts in al-Kharruba, Qabr Amir, al-Shallaq, al-Jura and…

One of the most-wanted Nazis in the world, Soren Kam, has died at the age of 93 without having been punished for a murder conviction, The Independent reported on Thursday, citing German media. Kam, a Danish former volunteer officer died on March 23, just a little more than a fortnight after his wife passed away,…

The son of a British local councillor was among nine people detained by Turkish authorities for allegedly trying to cross the Syrian border, his father confirmed on Thursday, according to AFP. The group were all members of the same family and included four children, among them a one-year-old, British police said. Shakil Ahmed, a councillor…

The co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing the Germanwings jet in the French Alps had researched suicide methods and the security of cockpit doors, German prosecutors said Thursday, according to the BBC. Internet searches from the week before the crash were found on the tablet computer used by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. According to the prosecutors,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke to President Barack Obama on Thursday evening and expressed Israel’s strong opposition to the framework agreement with Iran which poses a grave danger to Israel, the region and the world, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said. “A deal based on this framework would threaten the survival of Israel,”…

Israel isn’t the only Middle Eastern country worried about the deal reached between world powers and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program on Thursday – on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he hopes stricter limits will be imposed on the Islamic regime. Cavusoglu, who in the past served as a mediator between Iran…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called a meeting of the Security Cabinet in Jerusalem on Friday, to plan what Israel’s response to the framework deal on Iran’s nuclear program reached on Thursday will be. At 1 p.m. after the meeting concludes, the prime minister is to address the media and make an official statement on the deal. It…

Israel warned on Friday that a framework deal with the West over Iran’s controversial nuclear program was “very dangerous,” saying that Tehran is seeking an atomic weapon and is now one step closer to achieving that goal. “This framework (agreement) is a step in a very, very dangerous direction,” government spokesman Mark Regev told journalists, adding that Iran’s “single goal” behind the accord was…

An Arab media outlet, quoting a German news agency, reported that the Israeli Air Force struck Syrian military positions near Homs last Thursday, Ynet has reported. The report, which appeared in Al-Quds Al-Arabi, added that the US knew of the operation and the IAF jets safely returned to base after completing their mission. An Israeli strike on Syria…

Amnesty International said Thursday it was investigating reports of serious human rights violations committed by Iraqi government and allied forces in the operation to retake the city of Tikrit. “We are very concerned by reports of widespread human rights abuses committed in the course of the military operation in the area around Tikrit,” the rights watchdog’s Donatella Rovera told AFP. Security forces backed…

Large police and IDF forces are scouring the area of Judea between Kiryat Arba and the Arab village of Beit Anoun, after a man around the age of 20 went missing in the region. At 4:17 p.m., a call to the 100 emergency hotline of the Judea and Samaria district police was received from an Israeli…

Yehuda Glick, the Temple Mount activist who was shot four times at point-blank range by an Arab terrorist in Jerusalem last October and miraculously survived, has been picked as one of the winners of the celebrated Moskowitz Prize for Zionism. Glick, who is to be granted a Lion of Zion Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony…

The 22-year-old Israeli who was reported missing and feared kidnapped was located safe and sound near Kiryat Arba on Thursday night. The name of the man was cleared for publication shortly before it was announced that he was found: Niv Assaraf, 22, of Be’er Sheva. The IDF said that it had ruled out a terrorist…

Left and right in Israel were on Thursday night united in their opposition to the new framework agreement reached between Iran and six world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program. Israeli government officials said that the framework deal will be remembered as a “historic mistake”. “If an agreement is reached on the basis of this framework,…

At the moment, the world remains unsure what deal may yet emerge from negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Iran’s R-265 spheroidal three-stage warheads are almost ready to load into Teheran’s Shahab-3 missile nosecones. The Shabab-3 missiles, remonikered from their North Korean origin, are designed to airburst at a height of approximately 650 meters…

Barak Moore has been through the gauntlet. He initially moved to Israel when he was a young man, only moving back to the US to be closer to his son after being divorced. Twenty years later, he has returned a seasoned veteran of the education scene and with seven new additions to his family. Since…

Reacting to the framework nuclear deal announced by US President Barack Obama on Thursday, World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder warned there is a good chance Iran will breach the deal and use it to its advantage in pursuing nuclear weapons. “I fear a scenario in which, in ten years, we will have resuscitated…

Barak Moore has been through the gauntlet. He initially moved to Israel when he was a young man, only moving back to the US to be closer to his son after being divorced. Twenty years later, he has returned a seasoned veteran of the education scene and with seven new additions to his family. Since…

US President Barack Obama made a public address at the White House on Thursday after Iranian and world negotiators announced that a framework deal had been reached over the Islamic regime’s nuclear program. According to the president his negotiating team, led by US Secretary of State John Kerry, “has reached an historic understanding with Iran…

Meir Peretz, the cousin of the 22-year-old who went missing in the Hevron region of Judea on Thursday after entering the Arab village of Beit Anoun, spoke with reporters outside of the family’s home in the southern city of Be’er Sheva. “The feelings are really hard. It fell on us out of the blue,” said Peretz.…

“Peace in our time”, 2015. The world’s most radical Islamic terror regime received today an official kosher stamp for its illicit nuclear program. This is a regime that cannot be trusted and which has already violated consecutive UN resolutions. Today’s deal paves the way for Iran to eventually obtain a nuclear weapon, to further destabilize…

After intense negotiations between world powers and Iran over the Islamic regime’s nuclear program required an extension of the March 31 deadline for a deal outline, representatives of the talks held a press conference Thursday night, in which they announced that a framework agreement had, after all, been reached. The press conference concluding the talks was held in Lausanne,…

In a weekend interview with Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, IDF Southern Command head General Sami Turgeman said that Hamas is back at it – attempting to dig tunnels into Israel. While the IDF destroyed most, if not all, of the tunnels Hamas had dug into Israel in previous years during Operation Protective Edge, it appeared…

As of April 1, the water companies and distributors in Israel are no longer able to cut off the water supply to those who have not paid their bills – unless special approval is received. This, as a result of a unanimous decision by the Knesset Economics Committee several weeks ago. The change in water…

As Iran and the P5+1 world powers struggle to eke out a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in Switzerland, Israel says it will do everything possible to prevent a nuclear Iran. Speaking on public radio Thursday, Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said that all options were on the table in the face of the threat of a…

A Palestinian terrorist stabbed an IDF soldier at the Oranit Checkpoint along the Trans-Samaria Highway on Thursday afternoon. The soldier, 22, was stabbed in the upper body, with some other reports saying he was stabbed in both the head and the legs.  Maden David Adom medics from the Yarkon Region gave the soldier first aid treatment. He was brought…

New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez stepped aside as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after being indicted on Wednesday of corruption charges.  And his resignation could stymie any Senate action on a deal President Barack Obama’s negotiators make with Iran, analysts say. Menendez is one of a number of Democratic senators who have stated explicitly that they…

MK Michael Oren (Kulanu), formerly Israel’s ambassador to the United States, called the inclusion of the Palestinian Authority on the International Criminal Court “a strategic threat.” Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas did not join the ICC in order to advance the establishment of a Palestinian state, Oren argued, but “to use as a strategic threat…

Palestinian fighters and Syrian rebels retook control Thursday of large parts of a refugee camp in Damascus that had been seized by Islamic State terrorists, a monitoring group said, according to AFP.  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a number of armed groups in the Yarmouk camp in south Damascus “were able to regain control over all of the areas that ISIS…

Two Jewish activists were arrested for posting notices near the entrance to the Temple Mount, asking Muslims to please evacuate the Mount, in order to allow Jews to bring the Paschal Sacrifice Friday. “You are hereby asked to evacuate the premises by April 2 at 7 p.m.,” the notice reads in both Hebrew and Arabic.…

Israel denounced as “hypocritical” Wednesday the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s decision to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the purpose of seeking to prosecute officials from the Jewish state. “The Palestinian decision to join the ICC to initiate judicial proceedings against Israel is political, cynical and hypocritical,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Unilateral Palestinian actions such as joining…

A series of experiments for the “David’s Sling” missile defense system were successful, the Homa Directorate at the Defense Ministry and the American Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced Wednesday. “David’s Sling,” also known as “Magic Wand,” is Israel’s short-range ballistic missile defense system, which is being developed jointly by Israel’s state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the…

New details emerged Wednesday on the activities of Jihad Mughniyeh, said to be Hezbollah’s “commander of the Golan Heights area,” who was eliminated by IDF forces in February. Along with Mughniyeh, IDF forces eliminated a crew of Hezbollah terrorists, and Iranian general Abu Ali Tabtabai. The group was touring the Golan border area, and Israeli…

New details emerged Wednesday on the activities of Jihad Mughniyeh, said to be Hezbollah’s “commander of the Golan Heights area,” who was eliminated by IDF forces in February. Along with Mughniyeh, IDF forces eliminated a crew of Hezbollah terrorists, and Iranian general Abu Ali Tabtabai. The group was touring the Golan border area, and Israeli…

On April 1, 2014, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas breached the conditions of the peace talks by signing a request to join several UN agencies, a move which also formed the gateway for the Hamas-PA unity government. Analysts throughout Spring 2014 predicted the possibility of a great legal war being launched against Israel, with the PA expected to…

The Palestinian Arab official tasked with the reconstruction of Gaza has resigned, AFP reports Wednesday, after criticism was levied at the pace of the work.  Palestinian ‘Economy Minister’ Mohammed Mustafa, who is also deputy prime minister for the national unity government between Islamist Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, did not give a reason for his resignation. Mustafa headed…

“There would be millions of people coming. How would the city prepare itself? This touches on a number of subjects and the blueprints of the Temple or the influx of so many people and being considered,” says Rabbi Chaim Richman, International Director for the Temple Institute in the Old City of Jerusalem. “The initial step…

This month is a 30-day-long election critical for the Jewish world. For the first time in 10 years, the World Zionist Congress (WZC) will be holding elections. It is a number of firsts for the group. This is the first time in decades that the WZC will confront a massive backlash against Zionism itself, a…

The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group seized control of most of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus Wednesday, a local Palestinian official told AFP.   “Fighters from IS launched an assault this morning on Yarmouk and they took over the majority of the camp,” said Anwar Abdel Hadi, director of political affairs for…

A Palestinian Arab in Gaza claims that a local artist “duped” him into selling an “original Banksy” – a door scrawled with graffiti drawn by the celebrated tagger – for far less than it was worth. Rabie Dardouna, 33, said Tuesday that he was paid just NIS 700 – about $175 – for the door, although,…

Announcements of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers were premature, it appears, as the talks were extended yet again on Wednesday night. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his German and French counterparts extended the marathon talks in Switzerland for a second day, even though the original deadline was Tuesday, Reuters reported.…

Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, one of the strong advocates for new sanctions on Iran, was indicted Wednesday on corruption charges for allegedly using his Senate office to push the business interests of a friend and donor in exchange for gifts​, CNN reports. “Robert Menendez, a U.S. senator, and Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist, were…

Three Lebanese nationals, including a soldier, were arrested Tuesday on charges of kidnapping Syrian army defectors and handing them over to the Damascus regime, a judicial source told AFP. “Three people were arrested in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, but there are nine more in this group,” he said. Lebanon’s official news agency said a military court had issued the arrest warrants. According…

President Reuven Rivlin met with a bipartisan delegation of members of the United States Congress on Wednesday afternoon, headed by Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), Chairman of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Tactical Air Land Forces.  The delegation also included Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Ranking Democratic Member on the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces; Rep. Paul Cook (R-CA), Vice Chairman of the House…

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Wednesday urged world powers to “seize the moment” and drop their “excessive demands” as marathon nuclear talks with the West continued. “Iran has shown its readiness to engage with dignity and it’s time for our negotiating partners to seize the moment,” Zarif told reporters in Lausanne, according to…

There was an increase of 71% in anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands in 2014 compared to 2013, the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), a Dutch monitor, said on Wednesday. According to the organization in its annual report, 100 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in the Netherlands in 2013, compared to 171 in 2014.…

Rebels backed by Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front, on Wednesday seized control of the last border crossing with Jordan that had been under the control of the Damascus regime, a monitor said, according to AFP. “Armed groups, joined today by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, took over the Nasib border point from regime soldiers” on…

Turkey has arrested nine British nationals on the Syrian border as they sought to illegally cross over from Turkey, the army said on Wednesday. “Nine people of British nationality were arrested on the border trying to enter Syria from Turkey,” the army said in a statement on its website quoted by AFP, adding that the…

Pro-government militiamen were seen looting shops in the center of the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday after its recapture from the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group in a month-long battle, AFP reported. The militiamen took items including clothing, shampoo and shaving cream from two shops in central Tikrit before driving away, the report said.…

China is creating a “great wall of sand” in the South China Sea, and thus building hegemony in East Asia at the expense of the United States, an American admiral said this week. Construction of new islands in the region is raising tension with China’s neighbors, and is likely to set off a major conflict…

Syria’s government, presiding over an economy ravaged by war and facing dwindling foreign currency reserves, is taking new measures to slash imports and prop up exports. Importers require government licenses that allow them to request a favorable exchange rate at the Syrian central bank. But the government has, in recent months, issued fewer licenses, and the central bank has increasingly…

France is preparing a draft UN Security Council resolution on Palestinian statehood to be submitted in about 12 days, French diplomatic officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The draft would define the pre-1967 borders as a reference point for peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel but allow room for exchanges of territory.…

Support for a “two-state solution” to solve the Israel-Arab conflict is less popular in the United States than it has been in at least two decades, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Tuesday finds. While the idea still received 39 percent in support and 36 percent in opposition, it is a far cry…

Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, claimed on Tuesday night that Iran and the six major world powers had reached a preliminary agreement on “all the key aspects” of a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program and the sides have begun drafting the text, Russia Today reports. Diplomats close to the negotiations rejected the claims as untrue,…

MK Avi Dichter (Likud), who in the past served as head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), on Tuesday said that Israel has “very good reasons” to be concerned over the impending deal with Iran. “We have very good reasons to be concerned, and even very concerned,” said Dichter, who spoke to the Hebrew…

MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud), who was the Knesset Speaker in the 19th Knesset, will serve in the same position in the 20th Knesset as well. Edelstein was chosen for the position by an overwhelming majority on Tuesday, with 103 MKs voting in favor. There were no objections, and only 7 abstentions – all by MKs…

Three men have been arrested as part of an investigation into the Paris attacks in January in which 17 people were killed, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The men are linked to Amedy Coulibaly, one of the three Islamist terrorists who perpetrated the attacks, an official in the prosecutor’s office…

President Barack Obama on Tuesday released military aid to Egypt that was suspended after the 2013 overthrow of the government, The Associated Press (AP) reports. The White House said that Obama notified Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in a phone call Tuesday that the United States would be sending 12 F-16 fighter jets, 20 missiles and…

The new host of the “The Daily Show” Trevor Noah faced mounting criticism on Tuesday after the emergence of several past Twitter posts accused of being anti-Semitic, AFP reported. The 31-year-old South African comedian, largely unknown in the United States, was named by Comedy Central television on Monday as the successor to long-serving “Daily Show”…

Trevor Noah, the newly announced host of Comedy Central‘s The Daily Show, fired back Wednesday after a storm of criticism over tweets perceived as anti-Semitic. “To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian,” Noah tweeted. Comedy Central…

Two reportedly armed intruders burst into a district office of the governing AK Party (AKP) in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Wednesday morning. The break-in occurred in the Kartal district of the city according to BBC, which noted Turkish TV is showing images of one of the two men flying a Turkish flag from the…

China scored a diplomatic coup by enticing 50 countries including key US allies to join its new development bank. But analysts say authoritarian Beijing now faces a daunting task managing a multilateral institution for the first time, with members ranging from the Netherlands to Nepal, reports AFP. By Tuesday’s deadline to seek founding membership of the $50 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)…

Scores of provinces in Turkey suffered a massive power cut Tuesday, halting mass transportation, hospitals and the manufacture of goods, and closing down 11 of the country’s air traffic control receivers. Officials told daily Hürriyet that the massive outage was caused by a technical problem in the system of the Turkish Electricity Conduction Company (TEİAŞ),…

Lufthansa has admitted that it was in fact aware that Germanwings copilot Andreas Lubitz, who purposely crashed his plane in the French Alps killing all 149 others aboard, was suffering from a severe mental illness – but that it allowed him to fly nonetheless. According to the company, which owns Germanwings, in 2009 Lubitz contacted his flying school to…

The United States has confirmed that nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers will continue beyond the self-imposed Tuesday night deadline and will be extended by at least a day. Officials had said earlier they are ready to extend the talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, if needed. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said enough progress…

Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King reported on Tuesday night that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat’s urban construction plan 30006 – creating roughly 10,000 housing units for Arab residents in the city – has passed, thereby threatening the Jewish and Arab demographic balance in the capital. King, who also is the director of the Israel Land Fund (ILF), warned of the…

Argentine prosecutors launched a new appeal Tuesday of a court’s decision to dismiss their case against President Cristina Kirchner for allegedly protecting Iranian officials accused of orchestrating a deadly 1994 bombing on a Jewish center. Prosecutors are seeking to relaunch the case that was being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman, who died mysteriously on January 18 after accusing Kirchner of shielding high-ranking Iranians he…

The Ukrainians are coming, in droves. Thanks to the country’s brutal civil war, thousands of Jews are fleeing the country and many of them are heading toward Jerusalem. The Jewish Agency (JA) has been on the ground for the past year, increasing staff and responding to emergencies. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Jewish…

The University of Southampton in England has reportedly cancelled a conference challenging Israel’s very right to exist, according to organizers of the conference, although a university spokesperson denied the decision – was it merely be an attempt to pressure the university into ignoring opposition to the event? The conference, entitled “International Law and the State of…

A far-left American Jewish organization has drawn angry condemnation in both Israel and from withing the US Jewish community, over a campaign in which it brands Jews living in Judea and Samaria as “a plague.” Americans for Peace Now (APN) is the sister organization of the Israel-based Peace Now, a mainly foreign-funded NGO which advocates…

As the March 31 deadline for an Iran nuclear deal ticks down, US State Department officials said Tuesday they are ready to extend the talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, overnight and into Wednesday if needed. “Our team is evaluating where we are throughout the day and making decisions about the best path forward,” a senior State Department…

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, a staunch ally of Israel, was defeated in elections on Tuesday by his his contender Muhammadu Buhari, in a turn of events feared to have a negative impact on Nigeria’s support for the Jewish state. Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) won in the elections, racking up 15.4 million votes as opposed to 13.3…

British parliamentary candidate Jeremy Zeid has resigned after making a Facebook post suggesting that Israeli should “do an Eichmann” on US President Barack Obama, and force him to stand trial. Zeid was standing as a candidate of the right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the northwest London suburb of Hendon. The Facebook post, now deleted, which…

The “Freedom Flotilla” campaign aiming to breach Israel’s naval blockade of the Hamas terrorist stronghold of Gaza – a blockade barring weapons influx that is fully legal under international law – is gathering a new star cast for its third attempt, and has the former Tunisian president literally on board. Muncef Marzouki, who served in…

Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu lost absolutely no time in fulfilling its campaign pledge of a death penalty for Arab terrorists, with the party’s MK Sharon Gal submitting a bill on the subject even as the 20th Knesset was sworn in on Tuesday. While Israel already has a death penalty on the law books, it has…

The Canadian Ministry of Health announced on Monday that it will start including new warnings on drugs taken to control Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), after reports show they may have side effects of increasing suicidal thoughts. The step is being taken in response to the ministry receiving a number of reports concerning patients taking ADHD drugs who saw an…

Israel has in recent years been pursuing a policy of exponentially expanding ties with Asia, with a focus on India, Japan, China and South Korea. Those ties with the orient are set to grow even further with the visit of two delegations, one from China to discuss a water project, and one to South Korea…

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin opened the 20th Knesset Tuesday afternoon, welcoming MKs new and old and hailing the March 17 elections as a celebration of Israel’s vibrant democracy. “On the recent Election Day, Israel’s democracy once again proved that is it is strong, thriving, and unpredictable,” said Rivlin. “In Carmiel as in Nazareth, in Bnei Barak…

From 9 p.m. Saturday night to 9 p.m. Sunday night, the Heights Lounge on Yeshiva University’s Wilf Campus became the base of operations for YU’s first-ever Hackathon, an event that brings computer programmers together for hours and sometimes days of non-stop collaboration on computer software and hardware. Students from colleges and universities across the tri-state…

Canadian lawmakers voted on Monday to extend a campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic State group (ISIS) and for the first time strike at it in Syria as well as in Iraq, AFP reports. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, wielding a majority in the House of Commons, pushed through a motion on enlarging the mission…

The White House on Monday denied reports that Iran has backed out of an agreement to ship nuclear material out of its country as part of a broader agreement with Western powers. “The idea that there had been an agreement that Iran had backed away from in the last 24 hours is not true,” White…

The total number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States increased by 21 percent in 2014, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, issued Monday. The audit counted a total of 912 anti-Semitic incidents across the U.S. during the 2014 calendar year. This represents a 21 percent increase from the 751 incidents…

The United States supports Arab plans to create a unified military force to counter growing security threats in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Monday, according to Reuters. The American Defense Secretary added that the Pentagon will cooperate with the unified force where U.S. and Arab interests coincide. Carter told reporters during…

Film producer Nancy Spielberg will introduce, screen and answer questions about her new documentary, Above and Beyond, at the Hillel Rogoff Annual Memorial Lecture at Yeshiva University. The event will be held on April 16 at 7:00 p.m. in the Israel Henry Beren Campus’ Koch Auditorium at 245 Lexington Avenue, New York City. The documentary…

The Palestinian Football Association on Monday officially asked the international soccer organization FIFA to suspend Israel. The move is being led by Jibril Rajoub, a senior member of Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement who currently serves as president of the Palestinian Football Association. Rajoub has been trying for months to convince FIFA to…

Florida Senator Marco Rubio confirmed Monday that he will announce on April 13 whether he will be a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. “I will announce on April 13th what I’m going to do next in terms of running for president or the U.S. Senate,” Rubio told Fox News. Rubio has said…

Iran has confirmed that an Iranian journalist defected while covering nuclear negotiations underway in Switzerland between Tehran and world powers, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Monday. The Foreign Ministry, in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency late Sunday, said the journalist defected last week and was suspended from his job at…

In the first part of this week’’s “Goldstein On Gelt” show, meet David Lesperance, a specialist in international law and co-author of “Flight of the Golden Geese”. Why do you need to file an FBAR if you are an American citizen abroad? And what happens if you don’’t? Is giving up your American passport really…

Despite several reports indicating high tensions between Washington and Jerusalem, the diplomatic relationship between the US and Israel is just fine, New York City (NYC) Public Advocate Letitia James stated to Arutz Sheva. “I think the relationship between US President Barack Obama, and the United States and Israel, has never been stronger,” James, who serves as NYC’s…

World powers were meeting for Iranian nuclear negotiations on Tuesday morning, for the final day of talks in Lausanne, Switzerland. A morning session of the talks ended earlier than scheduled, after just 35 minutes, without results.  Reports from Lausanne say that the talks may not end in a framework agreement, as had been hoped, but rather with…

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) was recently awarded a contract worth tens of millions of dollars for the supply of four ships of the “Super Dvora Mark 3” to an unnamed military power in Africa. The ships, developed by IAI at its advanced Ramta plant, will be built in Be’er Sheva. The ships will be supplied in…

The gap in foreign policy views has never been this great for American politicians. Watching from Jerusalem, it might sometimes be comforting to see such emotional opposition to a bad deal with Iran that 47 Senators might write a letter to represent an ‘opposition’s foreign policy’ against a deal the Prime Minister’s office has fought…

Yet another lawsuit is being levied against the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Tuesday afternoon, as 26 US citizens file a complaint to the Department of Justice seeking restitution against Hamas for war crimes committed during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.  The lawsuit notes that Palestinian Arab terrorists deliberately fired rockets at Ben-Gurion Airport during the…

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said the United States should not be attempting to tell Israel how to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, and he wouldn’t do so if elected president. “Israel is a sovereign nation, and I trust the leaders of Israel to determine whether they want to adopt a one-state solution or a two-state…

Interior Minister Gilad Erdan has approved a new policy in which the State of Israel will proactively offer illegal immigrants detained at the Holot center a deal for leaving Israel to a “safe third country” – i.e., not their country of origin, where they are purportedly facing persecution. The infiltrators who receive the offer will…

The deadline for reaching a nuclear deal between world powers and Iran is Tuesday, but the United States remains unoptimistic that a deal can be reached. Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Monday that “now is really the time to make the decisions”, but also added, according to Reuters, that Washington was not…

Forming a coalition continues to be a difficult process for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, with parties now arguing over the size of the government and its number of ministers.   Likud officials said Monday night, according to Channel Ten, that without their consent to increase the number of ministers, Likud will take 12 ministerial portfolios, with the remaining six divided…

Police on Monday evening arrested a resident of the Bikat Ono region in central Israel on suspicion of attacking author and songwriter Yehonatan Geffen outside his home ten days ago. No further details were provided about the suspect, who was taken in for questioning. The attack on Geffen took place outside his home, near Netanya,…

The Israeli Prison Service is preparing for former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to sit his jail term, after he was convicted for the third time for fraud on Monday. Prison Services Commissioner Aharon Franco has decided to hold a hearing after Passover (Pesach), according to Channel 2, during which a special team will be established to make the…

A mortar attack on a historic souk (market) in central Damascus on Monday killed one person and wounded dozens, Syria’s official news agency said. “Terrorists launched two mortar rounds on Tarek Ben Ziyad Street, in the Al-Hariqa market of Damascus, which killed one person, wounded 30 others,” SANA reported, citing a high-ranking police source. Situated within the walls of the Old…

Operation Decisive Force has taken Middle East observers by surprise. Only a week ago there were few indications Saudi Arabia was planning any war at all. Now, there are reports the Saudis will lead a ground invasion “within days” to bring down the Houthis. When Arutz Sheva last spoke to Professor Yiftah Shapir of the…

Paula Stern returns to our show, not as the CEO of WritePoint, a leading technical writing company, but as a popular Israeli blogger whose words appear on many websites including Arutz Sheva. She recently weathered a storm of reactions on her recent “A Message to Obama” posting, which is the subject of our discussion. Still in…

A group of wealthy Russian-speaking Jews have donated money to Denmark’s Jewish community after an attack on a Copenhagen synagogue left a man dead.  A grant of 100,000 Euros ($108,000) was given to the community by the Genesis Foundation, bankrolled by billionaire Mikhail Fridman and a number of other Russian oligarchs.  The money donated to…

A UN envoy warned Monday of a “horrifying” humanitarian situation brewing in Syria as non-governmental organizations pledged more than $480 million for refugees on the eve of a major donor conference. The United Nations aims to raise $8.4 billion at the Syria donor meeting, which starts on Tuesday in Kuwait, reports AFP. “Failing to meet the required funds risks resulting in a horrifying and dangerous humanitarian…

An incredible admission by US Vice President Joe Biden has been revealed, in which he told Jewish leaders that should the American Jewish community be in danger, it has only Israel to rely on – and not America. Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg reveals in the April issue of The Atlantic how at a Rosh Hashana event in Biden’s…

Channel 20, which is considered the only Israeli television channel that leans right of center as opposed to far left of center, has filed a request for permission to create its own news department. Under the terms of the tender by which it was created, the channel currently must produce interview shows relating to current events,…

Israel requested that European sources intervene with Hamas to negotiate the return of the bodies of IDF soldiers killed in Operation Protective Edge last summer, according to an Arabic paper in London on Monday. Last October there was talk in Hamas of a swap of Arab terrorists in exchange for the bodies of Givati Brigade officer…

Troops from a nine-member Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia could be marching into Yemen before the week is over. Meanwhile, an air campaign is eroding the Iran-backed Shi’ite Houthi defenses. Saudi Arabia and Egypt have both mentioned the possibility of putting boots on the ground, according to CNN. On Saturday, Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh…

Jerusalem Councilman and Israel Land Fund (ILF) Director Arieh King warned on Monday morning that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is on the verge of passing a new plan, which will whitewash illegal Arab construction in the capital and threaten the fragile demographic balance of the city. King, who has long warned against Barkat’s policies that he says constitute a…

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon arrived in Baghdad on Monday for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other top officials. He is also due to meet President Fuad Masum, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, reports AFP. The UN mission in Iraq announced Ban’s arrival on Twitter but provided no details of the agenda of the talks.…

The Iranian-backed Shi’ite Houthi rebels continue their push southwards in Yemen, with fierce fighting breaking out in the key southern port city of Aden on Monday in a battle that sees Iran, via its proxy ,pitted against forces backed by Sunni states headed by Saudi Arabia. Troops loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh…

Three days after the massive gas explosion which wrecked three building in New York’s East Village last Thursday, two bodies were unearthed from the heavy debris on Sunday. The identities of the two victims were not publicized, reports BBC, although two people have been reported missing from the sushi restaurant that bore the brunt of the…

Conflicting reports have emerged over the fate of two Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisors on Monday, after Tehran claimed that they were killed in US airstrikes in Tikrit – a claim Washington has denied.  US Central Command told the Associated Press that its offensive against Islamic State (ISIS), named “Operation Inherent Resolve,” avoided the area around Tikrit from March 22-24…

Legendary actor Chaim Topol has been chosen as the Israel Prize’s lifetime achievement winner, the Education Ministry announced on Monday.  Topol, born in 1935 in Tel Aviv, began his entertainment career in the Israel Defense Forces’ Nahal singing troupe, before establishing his own theater troupe in Tel Aviv. He was also one of the founders of Haifa Municipal Theatre…

Terrorists apparently attempted to attack the National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, on Monday afternoon.  Multiple reports state at 6:00 pm IST (11:00 am local time) that two men, disguised as women, attempted to ram through the NSA security gate. CNN notes that the gates are purposely built far from the actual NSA buildings…

Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, received treatment for suicidal tendencies before getting his license, investigators into the crashed plane said Monday, according to BBC.  But, they stressed, the treatment had not taken place recently.  Lubitz, 27, is believed to have deliberately crashed an Airbus into the French Alps last week, after locking the plane’s pilot out of the cockpit.…

Iran is using the same tactics as Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany to expand their empire, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director James Woolsey stated Monday – by reviving imperialism through ideology.  “They are doing it on a highly ideological basis,” Woolsey said in an interview on CNBC‘s “Squawk Box.” “They are an imperial power and trying to become more…

Two Jewish teenagers were attacked with paintballs in Brooklyn on Friday night as they were coming home from synagogue with their grandfather, JP Updates reported Sunday night.  The two Orthodox teens, according to officials at the New York Police Department, were struck while walking on Morton Street and Juliana Place in Williamsburg at around 8:50 p.m. The younger boy,…

Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday called for her country’s relations with Israel to return to “constructive footing” and not become a partisan issue. The comments came in a telephone conversation between Clinton, a likely Democratic presidential candidate, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of Conference of Presidents of Major American…

Egyptian border guards claimed on Sunday to have uncovered a 2.8 km-long tunnel under the yards of three homes in Rafah, near the Gaza border. Egyptian military sources told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency that the tunnel was three meters underground and was being used to smuggle people, ammunition, weapons and goods. The sources further…

Iran’s chief negotiator with the West on Sunday said that a nuclear deal between his country and world powers is “doable”, but ruled out the idea that Tehran would send out its nuclear stocks abroad. “Getting to an accord is doable. Solutions have been found for numerous questions. We are still working on two or…

Airstrikes in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia will continue until Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who left the country on Thursday, is able to rule, a Saudi military spokesman said on Sunday, according to Reuters. “We will set the conditions necessary to allow the president and his government to run the country,” said Brigadier General…

Egypt’s top prosecutor on Sunday named 18 Muslim Brotherhood members, including the group’s leader and his deputy, as terrorists, The Associated Press (AP) reported. In a statement, chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat said the decision follows a February court ruling that convicted Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie, his deputy Khairat el-Shater, the head of the group’s political…

Kulanu chairman Moshe Kahlon said on Sunday evening that his party’s only wish is to help out the weaker sectors of society, but warned, “If we’re not given the tools to do so, we will not be there (in the coalition -ed.).” “In recent days, negotiations have been underway, we presented our demands and mind…

Ties between Jerusalem and Amman are frosty on the outside, but warm on the inside. Last year’s tensions over the Temple Mount brought Jordan to withdraw its ambassador from Israel – although the police response to terrorist attacks was far tamer than the attacks themselves. Jerusalem is a tough issue for Jordan’s government, which forced…

Saudi Arabia’s “Decisive Storm” offensive against the takeover of Yemen, in defiance of Iran, has established the kingdom as the leader of the Arab world. So reports Virginia-based Defensenews.com. Saudi Arabia has launched a series of intense air attacks, with the help of several other Arab countries, to fight off the Iranian-backed Houthi take-over of…

Syrian troops regrouped on Sunday after a coalition including Al-Qaeda’s local affiliate seized the city of Idlib, the second provincial capital to fall from government control, AFP reports. The capture is a blow to the government and raises the prospect that Idlib will become the effective capital of territory held by Al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing, Al-Nusra…

The Virginia State Bar (VSB) is the latest organization to capitulate to leftist and anti-Israel pressure, the Washington Post reported Saturday night – and has cancelled a planned trip to Jerusalem for November.  “Certain members of the Virginia State Bar and other individuals have expressed objections to the VSB’s plan to take the Midyear Legal Seminar trip…

The man whose clever quiz questions, based mostly on the Hebrew language and Jewish history and culture, were familiar to even passing radio listeners in Israel – and certainly to his thousands of loyal fans – passed away over the Sabbath in his home in Raanana.  Born in Jerusalem in 1925, Rosen grew up in Rishon LeTzion…

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said the deal currently under discussion between Iran and world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program is even worse than he had feared. “The dangerous accord which is being negotiated in Lausanne (Switzerland) confirms our concerns and even worse,” Netanyahu said in remarks at a meeting of his cabinet broadcast…

Islamic State has recently found a following among Bedouin tribes in southern Jordan, tens of kilometers away from the border with Israel, sources from the IDF’s Southern Command claim, according to Walla! News. Sympathy for the terror organization, IDF sources fear, may spur terror cells to be established along the border, from where terrorists will infiltrate into…

The 20th Knesset’s crop of new parliamentarians came to Givat Ram on Sunday for a seminar on how to bring about legislation appropriately and efficiently.  Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud), veteran MK Amir Peretz (Labor-Hatnua), and Knesset Director-General Ronen Plot all greeted the incoming MKs.  Knesset Secretary-General Yardena Meller-Horowitz, who organized the seminar, noted that “it’s very…

A 27 year-old Arab man has been arrested by the Judea-Samaria District of the Israel Police on Sunday, after he made multiple false reports of ‘terrorism’ in the region and single-handedly raised the IDF alert level.  The suspect will be kept in police custody until a hearing on Monday.  Moked 100 hotline officials in Judea-Samaria…

Following the right-wing’s victory in Israel’s general elections earlier this month, several prominent leftist commentators have reacted ferociously, sometimes even vindictively, in some cases calling on Diaspora Jews to respond by joining the ranks of those opposed to Israel’s existence as a way of “correcting” its behavior. Unsurprisingly, the radical-left J-Street has provided one of the…

Syrian government forces apparently executed at least 15 prisoners in the city of Idlib before Islamist terrorists overran the provincial capital, AFP reported on Sunday.  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bodies of at least 15 detainees had been found after the northwestern city was taken by a coalition of forces including Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front. “The number…

The Germanwings crash story has gained another wrinkle on Sunday – this time, as analysts predict large lawsuits against parent company Lufthansa.  On Tuesday, Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz may have intentionally crashed an Airbus into the French Alps, killing 150 people.  Lufthansa is already providing initial financial support to the families of each victim, which financial expert James Healy-Pratt told CNN…

Poet Erez Bitton has been named as this year’s recipient of the Israel Prize for Literature. He told Army Radio after the announcement: “At first I couldn’t believe it. I am excited, I am completely moved.” Born 1942 in Oran, Algeria, Bitton immigrated to Israel in 1948. At the age of 10, he was blinded…

“I think the animosity exhibited by our administration toward the prime minister of Israel is reprehensible,” US House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told CNN‘s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” Sunday. “And I think that the pressure that they’ve put on him over the last four or five years have frankly pushed him to…

At an olive grove next to Mishor Adumim junction, in the Gush Edumin region east of Jerusalem, 225 saplings were uprooted over the weekend. Yaniv Aharoni, who is in charge of land parcels in Gush Edumim, told Arutz Sheva Sunday that he and IDF Civil Administration officials, as well as police, arrived at the location…

Fragments of pottery used by Egyptians to make beer and dating back 5,000 years have been discovered on a building site in Tel Aviv, the Israeli Antiquities Authority said on Sunday.   Excavation director Diego Barkan said 17 pits were found that had been used to store produce in the Early Bronze Age, from 3500…

Saudi forces began air strikes against Houthi-controlled Yemeni forces, which began just three days ago, have caused considerable damage to the Iranian-backed rebels so far, according to reports. Yemen’s air force has already been destroyed by the raids being conducted by Saudi Arabia and several allies who are trying to prevent the takeover of southern Yemen…

A provisional agreement on key elements of Iran deal has been reached, say diplomats, according to AFP. Western diplomats in talks in Switzerland said Sunday that Iran had “more or less” agreed to slash the number of its centrifuge machines “by more than two-thirds” and to ship abroad “most of its stockpile of nuclear material,” according to the…

In a letter to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, MK Motti Yogev (Jewish Home) requested that the Ambassador inform U.S. President Barack Obama as to who the winner of the recent Israeli elections was. “Ever since the results of the elections became known, not a day has gone by that some criticism of Israel…

Dozens of women who served in the Mossad have united in opposition to the decision to award ex-Mossad employee Sima Shine with the honor of lighting a beacon in the main Independence Day ceremony at Har Herzl. Shine is the deputy director of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, and is in charge of the Iran…

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said late Sunday he believed a nuclear deal with Iran could be reached, but insisted it must place an atomic bomb “beyond reach” for the Islamic Republic, reported AFP. “We are here because we believe a deal can be done,” Hammond told reporters outside a Lausanne hotel as he became…

Prenuptial agreements in Israel are on the rise. Long-shunned by more traditional circles and sometimes even considered interference by some authorities, they have increasingly been embraced as the best way to alleviate the dangers of ‘chained’ women whose recalcitrant (ex-)husbands have refused to give them the get document needed to sever a Jewish marriage. Dr. Rachel Levmore…

A source in the Likud said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was strongly considering asking Zionist Union/Labor head Yitzchak Herzog to join his coalition. The source, speaking to Arutz Sheva, said that “low-level back channels” had already opened to discuss the possibilities. Although Netanyahu said both before and after the elections that he was planning…

Hamas has generally accused Israel of making life miserable for Gazans, even though it’s been nearly a decade since Israel abandoned the Strip, and Hamas has been in charge since 2007. In general, Hamas has blamed Israel for the high level of poverty in Gaza, as well as the many social problems in Gazan society.…

The Knesset building is now the “greenest” parliamentary building in the world. As of Sunday, the building’s roof, with near 5,000 square meters of solar panels, is set to generate enough electricity to power the building’s lights, and much of its air conditioning, heating, and computing needs. On Sunday, the plenum celebrated the completion of…

An influential rabbi in New York, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, called the attention of his congregants last Wednesday to an article dissecting why US President Barack Obama’s hostility towards Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over his statements against a peace deal are “mindless.” Rabbi Lookstein, communal rabbi of the Upper East Side synagogue Kehilath Jeshurun and principal of the…

In honor of the 67th Israeli Independence Day next month, Toronto will host a showing of the documentary film “Beneath the Helmet,” a movie following five young Israelis who enlisted in the IDF and their experiences defending the Jewish state. The five soldiers followed in the movie include a recruit who arrived in Israel from…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas used the platform of the Arab League summit in Sharm el-Shekh, Egypt, this Saturday to attack his “unity partner” Hamas, making a subtle call for the Arab states to take military action against the Gaza-based Muslim Brotherhood offshoot. Speaking at the 26th summit in the southern Sinai peninsula, Abbas made…

The ex-girlfriend of Andreas Lubitz, the Germanwings co-pilot thought to have intentionally crashed an Airbus into the French Alps killing 150 people last Tuesday, has revealed that he previously made hints he would do something that would make “everyone know my name.” Speaking to the German Bild newspaper as cited by BBC, the woman, named only as Maria…

Hamas deputy politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh said over the weekend that Israel agreed to providing a gas pipeline to Gaza’s power plant – the plant has shut down on numerous occasions given Hamas’s reliance on smuggling tunnels to Sinai that Egypt recently began cracking down on. While speaking at the Al-Shati “refugee camp,” Haniyeh, who formerly was the Hamas…

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday he doubted Israel’s willingness to unblock hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes a day after it promised to do so. “They’ve announced they will release the money, but so far they have unlocked nothing,” Abbas told an Arab League summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.   “Maybe they…

The head of the United Nations cultural body vowed in Baghdad Saturday to step up measures aimed at protecting Iraq’s heritage, which has been systematically targeted by jihadist terrorists. UNESCO chief Irina Bokova launched a Japanese-funded initiative to preserve Iraq’s museum collections and threatened heritage, as well as a social media campaign under the hashtag #Unite4Heritage, reports AFP. “Today our pledge is we…

The New Yorker raised a furor late last week with a quiz by controversial Girls actress Lena Dunham, in which she compared Jewish men to dogs and played on classical anti-Semitic tropes favoring a canine companion to a stereotyped Jewish male. In one particularly blatant line, Dunham wrote Jewish men come “from a culture in which mothers focus every ounce of…

MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) dismissed claims that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would look to form a unity government with the Labor party. In a post on Facebook before Shabbat, Hotovely said that Netanyahu will keep his promises from before the elections to form a coalition with the Likud’s “natural partners”. “A government that is good for…

A close media aide to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is seeking political asylum in Switzerland after travelling to Lausanne to cover the nuclear talks between Tehran and the West, the British Telegraph reports. Amir Hossein Mottaghi, who managed public relations for Rouhani during his 2013 election campaign, was said by Iranian news agencies to have…

MK-elect Nava Boker (Likud) toured the Shomron (Samaria) region last week and said she was seriously considering relocating to one of the communities in the area. Boker, a new MK, lost her husband, police officer Lior Boker, in the Mount Carmel fire in December of 2010. During her visit to the Shomron, Boker, who was…

Iran’s Foreign Minister remained cautiously optimistic on Saturday, as world powers appeared to be narrowing in on a nuclear deal with his country. “We’re moving forward,” Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by AFP as having told reporters after meeting separately with his German and French counterparts who flew into Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday to join…

A white supremacist charged with fatally shooting three people outside two Jewish centers in a Kansas City suburb last April pleaded not guilty on Friday, Reuters reports. Frazier Glenn Miller, 74, a former senior member of the Ku Klux Klan who had expressed a hatred for Jews, could face the death penalty if convicted of…

The 26th Arab League Summit opened Saturday in Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday as Arab states gathered to discuss the region’s many questions – the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, the fight against Islamic State militants, talks to form a united military force, and of course, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas caused a furor before…

The leader of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah group unleashed a tirade against Saudi Arabia on Friday over its intervention in Yemen, saying the Sunni kingdom has abandoned the Palestinians and does not care to oppose Israel. Hassan Nasrallah rejected Riyadh’s claim that it had assembled a coalition to conduct airstrikes against Shiite Houthi rebels in order…

A court in Egypt has sentenced a man and woman to lengthy jail terms and ordered them to pay large fines after convicting them of spying for Israel, a judicial official said Saturday. Their two accomplices – Israeli intelligence officials – were sentenced in absentia to life terms, the official added. The man, Ramzy al-Shebini,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has accepted the recommendation of Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, as well as the IDF and Shin Bet security service, and unfrozen millions of dollars in tax revenue for the Palestinian Authority. The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that following the decision the funds would be transferred to the PA immediately, to cover…

The co-pilot of a Germanwings airliner who intentionally brought down his aircraft killing everyone on board appears to have been suffering from depression. German prosecutors claim Andreas Lubitz hid details about his ill “existing illness and appropriate medical treatment” from his employers. Investigators apparently found torn-up sick notes in his house, including one he had drafted for…

Islamist rebels made fresh advances Friday on the edges of Idlib city in northwest Syria, after fierce clashes that have left dozens of dead, a monitoring group said. “The fighters have advanced on the northwestern and southeastern sides of the city,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “There…

The European Union (EU) kept Hamas on its terrorism blacklist Friday, negating in practice a controversial court decision ordering Brussels to remove the Gaza-based terrorist group from the register. Brussels has lodged an appeal against a December ruling by the bloc’s second highest court that Hamas should be de-listed for the first time since 2001 – a ruling made the same…

Concerns have recently been raised that the development of the highway connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv may lead to Halakhic (Jewish legal) issues given the restrictions of Shemittah, the agricultural sabbatical. In order to address questions regarding the uprooting of trees and gardening work at the periphery of the roads, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau went…

Syria would welcome an increased military presence from its Russian allies at its sea ports, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with Russian news channels published Friday. “I can say with complete confidence that we welcome any widening of the Russian presence in the Middle East,” including the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea, Assad…

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin paid his respects at the lying-in-state of the late Lee Kuan Yew, founding father and the first Prime Minister of Singapore on Friday afternoon. The President arrived Thursday evening in Singapore in order to attend the state funeral of Lee Kuan Yew on Sunday.  This is the first visit of an Israeli President…

The victory of Likud and the nationalist camp in elections led one Tel Aviv teacher to vent her leftist frustrations in a vulgar and offensive Facebook post targeting right-wing voters. The teacher has been summoned for a hearing with the district manager of the Education Ministry after her caustic comments were revealed in Makor Rishon. In a post replete…

The United States provided a cool reception on Friday to a new French initiative on a new Security Council resolution to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. “We’re not going to get ahead of any decisions about what the United States would do with regard to potential action at the UN Security Council,” a U.S. official told…

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah blasted Saudi Arabia for launching airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Speaking in a televised speech, Nasrallah said the military campaign should be directed at Israel, not Yemen, adding that if the warplanes were directed towards Israel, Hezbollah would join in. “If the war was against Israel we would have been…

Hamas on Friday rejected a report by Amnesty International accusing the group of war crimes during last summer’s war with Israel, the Ma’an news agency reported. Hamas criticized the findings of the group’s report as being unbalanced and adopting “the Israeli version of the story”, according Ma’an. In a statement, the group said that it…

In the latest sign a nuclear deal between world powers and Iran is imminent, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Friday he was ready to join the talks this weekend, AFP reported. Hammond, speaking to reporters on a visit to Washington, said the deal was close but that it was not clear how it would…

The United States on Friday welcomed Israel’s decision to release frozen tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority (PA). “We certainly hope both sides would be able to build on this,” State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said, according to the Reuters news agency. “We think it’s an important step.” Rathke told reporters at a briefing the…

Hamas on Friday denounced a European Union decision to keep the group and de facto Gaza ruler on its terrorism blacklist, despite a court ordering its removal. “This decision completely contradicts the court’s ruling,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP. “It is unjust and wrong to our people and legitimate resistance, and also encourages the…

France plans to begin talks at the United Nations on a new Security Council resolution to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Friday, according to the AFP news agency. Fabius told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that discussions on a text would start “in the coming days.” The Security Council…

A female lecturer from the Islamic University in Gaza recently claimed in a television interview that, contrary to the claims of Westerners, Islam defends the rights of women. The interview aired on the Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV channel on March 8 to mark International Woman’s Day. It was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad declared Thursday that he is open to having a dialogue with the United States, Reuters reported, quoting an excerpt of an interview the embattled leader gave to CBS’ “60 Minutes”. Asked about recent comments by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Washington would have to negotiate with the Syrian leader…

A British diplomat said on Thursday that the six major powers and Tehran had made significant progress in negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters reported. At the same time the diplomat said there are several key differences that must be resolved to clinch a preliminary deal by March 31. “We have made substantial progress in…

Turkey on Thursday reopened a restored century-old synagogue built during the Ottoman Empire but closed for several decades, AFP reported. A special ceremony was held at the Buyuk Sinagog (lit. the Great Synagogue) in the northwestern city of Edirne. It was attended by top officials including Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, as well as leaders…

The United States Senate voted unanimously on Thursday in favor of a non-binding amendment to a budget bill intended to make it easier to re-impose sanctions if Iran violates a nuclear deal, Reuters reports. The vote was 100-0 for the amendment, sponsored by Republican Senator Mark Kirk, which would establish a fund to cover the…

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States on Thursday said that Iran has been playing a key role in backing the advance of Houthi rebels in Yemen, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir, said that Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers, as well as operatives from the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, are on…

In preparation for the holiday of Passover, an online program organized by Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future and YU Global is bringing an interactive Torah-learning experience to thousands of users within the YU community and beyond. Called  #EmpoweredLearning, the program features YU scholars who introduce profound and intriguing questions in a 10-minute video…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett met on Thursday evening as part of the coalition negotiations. A source involved in the meeting told Arutz Sheva, however, that there has been no progress in the negotiations between the parties and that, unlike Netanyahu’s meetings with leaders of other parties, he did not…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday lashed out at Iran, accusing it of trying to dominate the Middle East and saying its efforts have begun annoying Ankara. The comments, quoted by Reuters, came hours after Saudi Arabia and a coalition of regional allies launched a military operation in Yemen against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels…

Syria’s civil war is a tragedy, but might in the long term stabilize the region’s borders. That is the thinking of Pinhas Inbari, who sees the number of refugees fleeing combat zones for other areas as having an ethnic homogenizing effect on Syria and beyond. There was a long-standing idea among Middle East observers that…

A Paris-based leftist group, International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), claimed on Friday that Israel’s counter-terror Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza last summer included “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.” The war, which began when Hamas launched a massive barrage of rockets on Israeli civilian population centers, “was marked by serious breaches of…international human…

An indictment was submitted on Friday against Sidki al-Makat, a 48-year-old resident of the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, who is charged with spying on Israel for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to the indictment, details of which were revealed after a gag order was lifted, al-Makat transferred…

British officials estimate that at least 600 people from the UK have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight for Islamic State (ISIS) and other radical jihadist groups – but just who are these Muslims who left the comfort of the West for the war-torn battlefields of the Middle East? The BBC on Wednesday released the findings of…

Emergency responders are at the scene of an apparent explosion and building collapse in Manhattan’s East Village on Thursday. At least 13 injuries have been reported so far, the Fire Department said. Local reports have indicated the fire and collapse were likely set off by an explosion thought to have been caused by a gas…

Samaria Regional Council Head Gershon Mesika denies a report Thursday on Channel 10, about contacts between him and the State Attorney’s Office regarding a plea bargain, in the case known as the “Yisrael Beytenu corruption case.” According to the report, the deal being worked out would have Mesika resign from his post as Samaria Regional…

About 440,000 Syrians are now trapped in areas besieged by fighting, more than double the total from last month, as the war reaches “breathtaking levels of savagery”, UN aid chief Valerie Amos said Thursday. Amos told the UN Security Council that Islamic State (ISIS) fighters are laying siege to government-controlled neighborhoods in Deir Ezzor, northeast Syria, adding 228,000 people to the growing…

A source in the Hamas security apparatus has claimed that the terrorist organization has exposed new technological means used by the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) to gather intelligence in Gaza. Speaking to the Hamas internal security website Al-Majd Al-Amni, the source said that ISA “has recently been feeling the force of the blows…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is looking to sue Israel for “war crimes” at the International Criminal Court (ICC), and even while it is not clear the ICC will recognize the PA as a bona fide state, there are numerous other caveats though that could hold back whatever advantage the PA thinks it might have. Eugene Kontorovich, lecturer in…

US Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Thursday that he is adding his name to the list of co-sponsors of legislation that would require a congressional review of any deal the Obama administration and other western powers strike with Iran on its nuclear program. The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, sponsored by US…

An Argentine appeals court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss the case against President Cristina Kirchner on accusations that she shielded Iranian officials from prosecution over a 1994 Jewish center bombing. In a 2-1 decision, the court rejected an appeal from prosecutors, who sought to revive the case against Kirchner being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman…

A US military reservist was arrested as he tried to travel to fight for Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists, along with a cousin planning to carry out attacks on military installations, authorities said Thursday. A Justice Department statement said Army National Guard soldier Hasan Edmonds, 22, was detained at Chicago Midway International Airport on Wednesday as he attempted to fly to Egypt,…

Danish police have arrested two men over planning an attack against the country’s defense minister, Nicolai Wammen, local media reported on Thursday. The two, of Somali and Pakistani origin, were detained when police on Wednesday searched a number of apartments in the Copenhagen area, reports AFP. They faced preliminary charges of planning an attack against Defense Minister Nicolai Wammen, daily Ekstra…

Syria has destroyed three of its 12 chemical weapons production sites but is unable to dismantle three other facilities because of security conditions, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Wednesday in its latest report, according to AFP. The report was released to the UN Security Council, which is overseeing efforts to…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday branded Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad “a brutal dictator”, just one week after suggesting that it would be necessary to negotiate with Assad to forge peace. Before heading to Switzerland to try to reach a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, Kerry and his top official for Mideast affairs,…

Kulanu chairman Moshe Kahlon denied on Wednesday evening that he had been appointed to serve as Finance Minister in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s new coalition. On Tuesday it was reported that Netanyahu had met Kahlon and that the two agreed that Kahlon would be appointed Finance Minister, a post previously held by Yesh Atid chairman…

Historians at the Auschwitz memorial and high school officials in central Poland are trying to determine how a list of 15 Polish and Jewish inmates of the Nazi death camp made it into a school library book, The Associated Press (AP) reported. A typewritten page, stained, with edges burnt was found last month inside a…

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who went missing from his army base in Afghanistan in 2009, has been charged with desertion and misbehavior, the BBC reported on Wednesday. A hearing will determine whether he will have court-martial proceedings. He could then be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty. Bergdahl was freed in May after five…

Saudi Arabia and a coalition of regional allies have launched a military operation in Yemen against rebels threatening the government there, the kingdom’s ambassador to the United States said Wednesday night, according to AFP. “The operation is to defend and support the legitimate government of Yemen and prevent the radical Houthi movement from taking over…

On this week’s show we talk with Rabbi Ben Zion, the founder of Shabbat.com. They are a Jewish social network that allows people to connect and meet in a safe and friendly environment. More importantly, there is a strong bond between their work and making Aliyah, in terms of their help in bringing single Jews…

Westerners talk of the divisions between religion and science more often than they do their intersections. But the Walder Science Center, founded by Dr. Joseph Walder of IDTDNA in Chicago, has initiated the annual Jerusalem Science Contest – or hidon hamada hayerushalmi – for the last 12 years. The name of the contest was coined by Professor Yosef…

Likud officials hoping to be appointed to various ministerial positions in the next government have taken a new tactic to getting what they want – overt threats to coalition partners.  On Thursday, MK Miri Regev (Likud) attacked three of Likud’s intended coalition partners – Jewish Home, Yisrael Beytenu, and Kulanu, as well as their respective chairmen, Naftali Bennett,…

Something must be done to bring the divisions between supporters of Aryeh Deri and Eli Yishai under control, Shas MK Nissim Ze’ev told Arutz Sheva Thursday, in the wake of a firebomb attack against supporters of Yishai in Jerusalem earlier this week. “This must be stopped, we need to set the border of these activities…

A large sports stadium owned by the Municipality of Jerusalem is set to be used for at least two major missionary-sponsored events in the coming months – and Jerusalem city councilman Arieh King is demanding that something be done to stop further rentals of the space to such groups. Speaking to Arutz Sheva, King said that…

More Palestinians died in 2014 as a result of their conflict with Israel than in any year since 1967, the United Nations claimed in a report on Thursday.  In the summer of 2014, Hamas fired dozens of rockets on Israel, spurring Operation Protective Edge. Nearly 2,200 Gazans were killed in the ensuing war, almost half…

The threat of cyber terrorism is not new, but it has become more sophisticated. What defines cyber ‘terrorism’ as opposed to warfare might also be legally disputed since there is no concrete definition of what is fair in the cyber world. In recent years, Israel has been the target of hacking campaigns by various groups…

The number of asylum-seekers in industrialized countries rose by nearly half last year, driven by the devastating conflicts in Syria and Iraq, with Germany the top destination, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday, according to AFP. In 2014, some 866,000 people applied for asylum in such countries, marking a 45-percent jump from a year earlier and a 22-year high, the UN…

An NGO has filed a complaint with the Economy Ministry over mass violations of the regulations against public transportation on Shabbat. According to the Movement for a Jewish State, bus drivers regularly begin driving – either in preparation for an evening shift, or actual driving of their routes – before Shabbat is over. With summer time (daylight savings…

Cornell University President David Skorton evidently found himself in a predicament after the dean of his Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York, was caught on film openly welcoming the idea of having Islamic State (ISIS) and Hamas terrorist training camps on campus. The statements by Cornell’s assistant dean for students Joseph Scaffido were recorded by an undercover activist posing…

A new database allows people to track some of the hundreds of British citizens who left the country to join jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, particularly ISIS and Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front. The database, compiled over the past three months by the BBC, includes extensive information on each person, including pictures, aliases, and biographical information. Based on open…

Five men charged with helping the Islamist gunman behind last month’s deadly terrorist attacks in Copenhagen have been remanded in custody for another four weeks, police said on Thursday.   “The five suspects in connection with the shootings… will remain in custody,” Copenhagen police wrote on Twitter.   Custody hearings held for the five, who…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with haredi parties United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas, both prospective members of the coalition he is building for his new government. Netanyahu’s office did not make any statement regarding the meeting, but a source in UTJ quoted in Ha’aretz said that “Netanyahu led us to believe that we will be given the…

The BDS movement urging celebrities to boycott the Jewish state can chalk up another massive failure – according to a media leak, the star celeb couple of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have booked a hotel in Jerusalem for a visit next month. Yedioth Aharonot revealed that the famous couple booked rooms at the Waldorf Astoria…

Prospective members of Binyamin Netanyahu’s new coalition continued jockeying for position Wednesday, with Jewish Home MK Nissan Slomiansky telling Arutz Sheva that the Prime Minister owes Religious Zionist voters, and particularly Jewish Home voters, a great deal. “Our people are very idealistic and they responded to the plaintive cry from Netanyahu that they must vote for…

Anti-Israel hackers are promising to subject Israel to an “electronic Holocaust” next month – and experts say that Israelis could expect to see the details of their credit cards online, with increased attacks via e-mail and text messages to private cellular phones. The attacks, promised for April 7, are being organized by Arab hackers. The…

In a meeting with a delegation of the joint Arab list party in Ramallah on Tuesday night, Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas said he would like to see Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu form a coalition government with his Labor and Hatnua “Zionist Union” rivals on the left. While Netanyahu has already ruled out a…

While Likud welcomes Jewish Home into its coalition, MKs for the party should not overstate its contribution to the victory in forming a right-wing government in this year’s elections, said MK Yariv Levin. In an interview with Army Radio, Levin said that Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett would be a “senior minister” in the new government, but…

As the Shi’ite Houthi militia backed by Iran continues to solidify its hold in Yemen, and Iran seems likely to get a favorable deal in nuclear talks ahead of a March 31 deadline, US officials revealed Tuesday that Saudi Arabia has started deploying heavy military equipment on its border with Yemen. The Houthis have begun pushing south after…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is planning to form a unity government with the Labor party and leave the Jewish Home in the opposition, a source familiar with the coalition talks told Arutz Sheva on Wednesday. According to the source, Netanyahu is planning a political trick on the Jewish Home. “Something smells wrong,” the source said,…

Mass abductions of children by Islamist terror groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State (ISIS) are on the rise, with the practice now becoming a tactic of war, a UN envoy warned Wednesday. Leila Zerrougui, the special representative for children and conflict, urged the Security Council to punish armed groups who target children with sanctions and strengthen measures to…

The President of the World Jewish Council (WJC) is joining a chorus of voices speaking out against the flare-up of anti-Semitism. On the same day it was announced that there would be a new US Congress taskforce to deal with the issue, WJC President Ronald Lauder spoke in front of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,…

Hundreds of Jews took part on Wednesday night in a ceremony dedicating a new Torah scroll at a Har Nof synagogue in Jerusalem, in memory of the four Jews brutally murdered there by two Arab terrorists last November. The families of all four Jewish victims of the massacre, in which a Druze police officer was also murdered, took part…

Responding after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was given the nod to form a coalition government, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau on Wednesday night called on Netanyahu to form a government that will “unify the people and honor the tradition.” A long phone call took place between the rabbi and Netanyahu after the latter was named…

France-based utility giant Suez Environnement said Wednesday it has decided not to take part in the light rail project in the Israeli capital of Jerusalem because of “political sensitivities.” The project, run by the Jerusalem city council, is meant to improve the difficult transportation situation in the crowded city by connecting various parts of the city, including the eastern…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that the United States Senate would vote on a bill to toughen sanctions on Iran if international negotiators miss a deadline at the end of this month for reaching a framework nuclear agreement, Reuters reports. “Another heavy dose of sanctions would be an appropriate remedy if there’s…

The student union at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, has voted in support of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the CBC reported on Tuesday. Students at the student union’s annual general assembly voted to endorse the BDS campaign, with 622 people voting for the resolution and 28 voting against. According to…

World Jewish Congress (WJC) president Ronald Lauder urged the United States on Tuesday to beware surging anti-Semitism in Europe and warned that seven decades after World War II Jews on the continent are having to look over their shoulders once more. Lauder told a congressional committee in Washington that the United States could not sit…

A lawyer representing a Jewish family trying to retrieve a long-lost Matisse painting looted by the Nazis said Tuesday a deal had been signed with the German government for its restitution, AFP reports. London-based attorney Christopher Marinello, who works for the Rosenberg family, said that an order inked by German Culture Minister Monika Gruetters had…

An Iranian official on Tuesday rebuked the chief of the UN atomic agency for demanding snap inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites, saying the request “hindered efforts” to reach an agreement with world powers, according to The Associated Press (AP). The United States and five other world powers face an end-of-the-month deadline to reach a framework…

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday evening hosted a delegation of MK elects from the Joint Arab List in his office in Ramallah, Kol Yisrael radio reported. The delegation was headed by the chairman of the party, Ayman Odeh, and included Masud Ghnaim, Jamal Zahalka and Osama Saadi. Abbas congratulated the Joint Arab…

Jordan on Tuesday signed a $10 billion deal with Russia to build the kingdom’s first nuclear power plant, with two 1,000-megawatt reactors in the country’s north, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The deal, signed in the Jordanian capital, Amman, with Russia’s state-owned Rosatom company caps efforts of the energy-poor kingdom to increase energy sufficiency and…

Indonesian terrorists believed to have returned from fighting with the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Syria are suspected of being behind an attempted chlorine bomb attack in a shopping mall last month, police said Wednesday. The homemade device – made up of several bottles and a detonator – was discovered in the mall south of Jakarta after it failed to…

A Russian UTair Boeing 737 was forced to make an emergency landing Wednesday, after one of its engines failed. A UTair representative told Reuters that the plane had safely landed in St. Petersburg at Pulkovo airport, at about 12:25 pm local time.  The plane was carrying 78 passengers and crew. The incident follows the mysterious crash…

The leader of anti-assimilation group Lehava may be charged with racial incitement, Walla! News reports Wednesday – despite a court ruling declaring the organization’s work legal.  Gopshtain and nine other activists were arrested last December on vague suspicions of “incitement,” which the court threw out in ruling that Lehava’s activities in combating assimilation – which is forbidden by Jewish law…

After two decades of persistent public battle, the Jerusalem Municipality will be dedicating and opening this week an urban nature park, replete with gazelles, ponds, bicycle paths and more, smack in the middle of the city. The park, named Gazelle Valley, stretches over 60 acres (250 dunams), and is located between the busy Begin Highway, the…

Detectives and investigators of the Moriah unit of the Israel Police arrested four adults and two minors from central Israel Wednesday morning, on charges of throwing a Molotov cocktail at party campaigners for Eli Yishai’s Yachad-Ha’am Itanu party in Har Nof.  All suspects have been taken in for questioning.  Hundreds of pro-Yachad youth gathered in front of…

Likud is not keeping its promises to approach Jewish Home first as a coalition partner, MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) accused Wednesday morning.  “Right now, the Likud is not keeping his word, his word to the electorate and all of Israel was that Jewish Home ‘will be the first partner’ to which it would turn…

The UN representative for disarmament who was involved in the agreement to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons is stepping down, the international body announced Tuesday, according to AFP.  Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon hailed Angela Kane’s “crucial contribution” to help rid the world of chemical weapons, disarm conflict zones and stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. During her global disarmament work, Kane…

Israel’s intelligence minister on Tuesday wrapped up a two-day European diplomatic offensive against making concessions to Iran in nuclear negotiations with world powers, his spokesman said. “Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz completed two days of intensive discussion in Paris and London,” a statement from Eyal Basson said, adding that the minister was accompanied by National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen and…

Australia has prevented a third teenager from flying out to fight in the Middle East, a minister told AFP Wednesday, as Western countries battle to stop the flow of youngsters to jihadist groups. The 17-year-old boy was taken off a plane at Sydney airport on March 12 after being interviewed by counter-terrorism officers, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told reporters. He…

An Israeli court on Tuesday jailed for 15-and-a-half years a Palestinian terrorist caught fighting in Gaza during last summer’s 50-day war between Israel and Islamist terrorist groups. A transcript of proceedings in the Beersheva district court, in southern Israel, said that Mohammed Abu Zaraj, born in 1991, was one of a squad of the Ezzedine…

Ayman Odeh, chairman of the joint Arab list and first time MK, has already revealed parts of his subversive past – in a new interview with Channel 2 he divulged how his radical activism during the first intifada that began in 1987 brought him under investigation, and how he assaulted Israeli police officers. At the age…

The top Republican in Congress said Tuesday he was “shocked” by a report claiming that Israel spied on Iranian nuclear talks, saying the claims that information on the deal being formed was passed to Senators was patently false. The Wall Street Journal late Monday claimed that in addition to Israelis spying on the highly-sensitive negotiations between Tehran and world powers over the…

The current diplomatic crisis between Israel and US President Barack Obama’s administration is the most vicious and public yet among only a handful of crises that have marred the close, long-running relationship, says an expert on relations between the two nations. Obama’s frosty relationship with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hit new lows this month, with the White House criticizing remarks Netanyahu made…

Canadian airstrikes against the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Iraq will be extended one year to March 2016 and may see sorties into Syria, the government said Tuesday. But no ground combat troops would be deployed under the plan, which is to be debated in parliament Thursday, reports AFP. Prime Minister Stephen Harper read a motion in the House outlining the mission…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group has trained more than 400 children in Syria as fighters in 2015 alone, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Tuesday. Calling them “Cubs of the Caliphate,” the jihadist group provides intense military and religious training to children throughout its areas of control in Syria, the Britain-based monitor said, according to AFP. Sleek videos published by…

A group of members of the House of Representatives announced on Tuesday that they were launching a Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism, in a move meant to respond to the recent upsurge in anti-Semitism witnessed worldwide. The members of Congress who are to serve as co-Chairs of the Taskforce and lead initiatives to stem the…

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, in the first visit by a senior Baghdad official since Syria’s conflict began in 2011. Speaking after meeting Assad and his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem, Jaafari urged regional support for Damascus as it battles “terrorism,” a term Assad has used for all opposition forces. “Arab countries should support…

A protest was held on Tuesday in Gaza in front of the Hamas government building, in which the families of “martyrs,” Palestinian Arabs who died during clashes against the IDF, demanded to receive monthly salaries from the Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government. Adal Hanif, the spokesperson for the “martyr” families, said at the protest that…