Category: News

Around 200 Assyrian Christians protested outside the UN building in Iran’s capital Thursday to demand action to halt the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group’s victimization of their community in Syria and Iraq. ISIS has “destroyed Assyrian monuments in Syria and Iraq. We ask the international community, especially the UN, to hold a Security Council meeting” to decide on military intervention, Hovik Behboud,…

Thousands of Iraqi troops and militiamen laid siege to jihadist fighters holed up in Tikrit on Thursday, wary of rushing into streets littered with bombs and infested with snipers. After making major gains in and around the city on Wednesday, commanders were confident that Baghdad’s biggest victory yet against the Islamic State group was only…

More than 50 regime soldiers and Islamist terrorists were killed as they battled over a strategic hilltop in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s home province, a monitoring group said on Thursday. Government forces clashed with Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists backed by other armed Islamic terror groups in a village in Latakia province in the northwest, AFP reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the…

Israel has a severe shortage of elderly care workers, with most of them coming from abroad, largely from India and the Philippines. To address the issue, the IDF will be training graduates from National Service and demobilized soldiers looking for a job in skills to assist the elderly. The first pilot program opened recently in Afula,…

DROR is a relatively new organization, but it has made a quick impact in dozens of Israeli girls’ lives, turning things around for them by utilizing a unique form of intensive tutoring, while complimenting those efforts with women’s sports. Arutz Sheva spoke with Sima Menora, founding director of DROR and the mother of Rikki and Racheli, two sisters tragically killed in…

Secretary of State John Kerry urged lawmakers Wednesday to give President Barack Obama updated war powers to go after Islamic jihadists at “a pivotal hour” in the battle against the terrorists, reports AFP. “Our nation is strongest when we act together – and we simply cannot allow this collection of murderers and thugs to achieve…

The Jerusalem Magistrates’ Court extended by five days on Wednesday the confinement of an 18-year-old Arab terrorist from Bir Zeit, who stabbed a haredi man near Tzahal Square in central Jerusalem two weeks ago. The terrorist has meanwhile told his Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet) interrogators that he stole a knife in the…

Syrian government forces are responsible for killing over 600 doctors and medical workers during the four-year war, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said Wednesday, calling the attacks a crime against humanity. The New York-based rights group accused President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of “systematically” targeting hospitals, clinics and medical personnel since the conflict began in 2011, reports AFP. Over the past four years,…

While Binyamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama spar on the approach to Iran, one expert considers the strong possibility that the US is trying to make ISIS into “Iran’s Vietnam.” The Netanyahu speech to Congress last week has influenced a number of questions from journalists and statements from the White House. It seems that if Netanyahu has…

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari claimed Wednesday that Iran can defeat the US in “any scenario.” At a convention in Tehran, Jafari boasted “we have grown so much (more) powerful that we don’t feel concerned about the enemy’s unwise attitude. We can go past any enemy scenario, and this has been…

A Toronto resident originally from Pakistan has been arrested and is on trial for allegedly planning to attack the US consulate and other buildings in Toronto’s financial district. Jahanzeb Malik was arrested on Monday and brought in to a federal Canadian tribunal as part of an attempt by the government to deport him without trying…

Civilians maimed in devastating barrel bombings by Syria’s regime in the divided city of Aleppo face a dire shortage of surgeons, wheelchairs and artificial limbs, a humanitarian group said Wednesday. A chronic lack of medical equipment as well as inadequate post-operative care mean doctors often carry out amputations when normally the limb could be saved, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said.…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction took the unusual step on Tuesday of more than doubling the number of Israelis murdered in a brutal terrorist attack from 1978, while glorifying the massacre on its anniversary. Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) revealed that Fatah praised the March 1978 attack, which was committed by a group of Fatah…

An Israeli partner in the Leviathan offshore gas field said on Wednesday a Palestinian Arab company had cancelled a $1.2-billion supply contract, citing delays by Israel’s Antitrust Authority. Delek said it had informed the Tel Aviv stock exchange that a 20-year contract it had signed with the Palestine Power Generation Co was cancelled by the Arabs on Tuesday, reports AFP. Delek said this was…

In response to the court announcement that his sentencing will take place March 26, Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, said that the arrest of Palestinian Arabs would not stop the disappearance of the “occupation.” “If the ruling will order a period of arrest for months or years, it doesn’t scare us, for…

Qatar on Tuesday launched a project to build 1,000 homes in Gaza to house Palestinian Arabs displaced by last summer’s war between Hamas and Israel, AFP reported. The Gulf state, which hosts the exiled leadership of Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers, was the largest single donor at an October conference in Cairo to raise funds to…

Former CIA chief Michael Hayden said Tuesday he was “uncomfortable” with Iran’s growing influence in Iraq, made especially evident by an offensive in Tikrit, reports the AFP news agency. The city, which is the home town of former president Saddam Hussein, is the target of as assault led by Iraqi troops and Shiite militias backed…

Three London schoolgirls who fled to Syria are believed to have stolen family jewelry to fund their travel, police said Tuesday, according to the AFP news agency. The three, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, left their homes last month and flew to Istanbul, from where they are believed to have…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday brushed off Palestinian Arab threats to haul him before an international court for proposing to behead Arab citizens disloyal to the state. “I saw the Palestinian Authority will go to the International Criminal Court in Haag over my remarks that we must act forcefully against our enemies and those…

Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday told reporters she used private emails out of “convenience” during her time in office, but admitted it “would have been better” to have two accounts to separate work and personal emails, according to the BBC. The issue of whether Clinton breached federal records rules has…

Iran is considering two new laws that would strongly discriminate against women without children – in an attempt to increase population growth. One law is named the “Bill to Increase Fertility Rates and Prevent Population Decline (Bill 446).” It would outlaw voluntary sterilization and block access to information about contraception. The second law is the…

Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid is “an out-and-out leftist, everything about him is an impersonation,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Makor Rishon that will appear in the weekend magazine. Netanyahu ruled out the possibility of establishing a unity government with Labor, and made clear that he would not sit in a…

Guidelines during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza gave a 15-second window to Gaza Belt residents to run to shelters in the event of a “Code Red” alarm – a short time to find safety. But even 15 seconds is insufficient, a senior Home Front Command official revealed Wednesday – and during the next war, Gaza…

Six days before elections, public favor is swinging toward Labor-Hatnua and a leftist government, according to the latest pre-elections poll. Labor-Hatnua would gain 24 seats in the 20th Knesset if elections were held today, according to the Army Radio poll by the Shiluv institute, gaining over Likud at just 21.  Back in third place is…

President Reuven Rivlin hosted at his residence a conference with around 100 citizens who had declared they were not intending to exercise their right to vote on Tuesday. The conference, entitled “Don’t give up – elect to vote”, was chaired by Modi Bar-On, and was addressed by pollster Dr. Mina Tzemach. Modi Bar-On opened proceedings by saying,…

The head of the IDF Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Hertzi Halevi, told the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) annual National Gala in New York Tuesday night that Israel must be “prepared” for new conflicts along its northern border with Syria, whose internal violence seems like “50 shades of black.” The FIDF raised $24 million, as more…

Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett promised Tuesday not to allow the Israel Hayom Bill to pass in the next Knesset. In response to a question in an appearance at Bar Ilan University, Bennett said that he will prevent the bill from becoming the law of the land. The bill’s passing in the preliminary reading is…

Israel and India are finally coming out in the open: with the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party, India has outwardly expressed its desire to expand the relationship between itself and the Jewish State. Arutz Sheva spoke with an expert on Israel-India ties to understand why those ties have only begun to expand in…

Sunday marked International Women’s Day. Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction celebrated the event in a unique way: by lauding a female Arab terrorist who kidnapped and murdered a 16-year-old Israeli. Fatah posted an image of terrorist Amna Muna on its official Facebook page, terming her “O glorious one,” and vowing she “is always present…

Another mad man drove his car into a bunch of people in Jerusalem on Purim, though thankfully this time no one was seriously hurt.  These things unfortunately happen too frequently, especially in Israel.  But as quickly as they happen and make headline news they also disappear from the news and from our attention as well – that is…

Avishai Rozen, 16, made his name as a star of the child choir “Kinderlach,” after starting his studies in music at the tender age of five. Learning piano at seven and drums and vocal development at ten, at 12-and-a-half he released his debut album “Give me a Sign” that garnered great media attention. Now Rozen is…

The brief power cut-off by the Israeli Electric Corporation (IEC) late last month apparently got the message through to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has ignored its massive electric debt for years, as the PA government called for steps on the enormous sum it owes. The PA government in Ramallah met on Tuesday, and “called on all residents to heed…

King Abdullah II of Jordan claimed Tuesday that a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) would help combating Islamic extremists, saying the conflict served as a rallying cry for jihadists. Abdullah told the European Parliament that the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Iraq and Syria was “first and foremost” a fight for Muslim nations to carry…

A Likud victory in next week’s elections is not guaranteed, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday evening, as polls showed the joint Labor-Hatnua list opening its largest lead over the Likud. “In one week we’ll find out if the attempt to bring down the Likud government failed. I want to tell you tonight that…

When we talk about crypto-Jews, we tend to think about the descendants of Spanish Jews in 1492 and Portuguese Jews in 1497 who were forced to convert to Catholicism but who maintained the Torah in secret. But we tend to forget that the Catholic Church and the Inquisition also had influence in Italy, particularly Sicily.…

US President Barack Obama’s policy of supporting “moderate” Syrian opposition forces to counter the more radical alternatives appears on the brink of collapse, as the Al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front continues to defeat the “moderates” and seize their American weaponry. By providing support, including military training and weapons, to “moderate” sources fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the…

Questions of partisan division and immovable differences in policy between the United States and Israel have plagued the public profile of the relationship in recent weeks. What can be forgotten is how deep the ideological differences are between the President and the Prime Minister, as well as the platform the President has tried to stick…

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman has raised the ire of the Palestinian Authority (PA), after he advocated “cutting off the heads” of Arab residents who are not loyal to the state of Israel on Sunday. At an election event, Liberman opined “those who are with us deserve everything, but those who are against us deserve…

Police will not launch a criminal investigation into the publication of an animated video that portrays leftists as following in the footsteps of Jewish collaborators with anti-Semites, Kol Israel public radio reported Tuesday. The video was produced by the by Samaria Residents’ Council, which is funded by the Samaria Regional Council. Its message is that…

Around half the estimated 700 Britons who have gone to fight with Islamic State jihadists in Syria have returned home, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported. The weekly broadsheet’s figures, in a story about a leaked draft of the Home Office interior ministry’s new counter-extremism strategy, go further than previous estimates, of around 500 individuals leaving and 250 returning. Around 320 “dangerous”…

Social media sites are finally cracking down on Islamic State, experts have stated over the past several months, with 18,000 accounts linked to the group having already been shuttered as of January.  But even a new social network made specifically for ISIS has been booted off the internet, it was revealed Tuesday.  The site, 5elafabook.com, was made…

Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, the Deputy Minister for Religious Services, called to place Rachel’s Tomb, which is located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, under the aegis of the Municipality of Jerusalem. Speaking Monday at the Ramle Conference, Ben Dahan explained that “Rachel’s Tomb, surprisingly, is an ex-territorial place. It is not under the control of any municipal authority.…

Polling stations open one week from today, but 16% of eligible voters are still undecided, according to the latest pre-elections survey. The survey, from Army Radio‘s “Good Morning Israel” show by the Shiluv company – notes that 16% of the population amounts to 19 mandates – enough to be a deal-breaker in the race between…

With elections just a week away, Jewish Home’s Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel launched a frontal attack on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, accusing him of failing to fulfill his promises, time after time. The attack appears to be intended for the ears of nationalists, as Jewish Home and Likud compete over their support. Min. Ariel…

The whereabouts and status of top terror commander Mohammed Deif is still under investigation, Hamas’s “military wing,” the Al-Qassam Brigades stated late Monday night – and revealing more information “could aid the enemy.”  The organization claimed that a great deal of information was being collected over the IDF’s assassination attempt on the terrorist during Operation Protective…

Arab MK Ahmed Tibi on Monday fired back at Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who on Sunday had advocated “cutting of the heads” of Arabs who were not loyal to Israel. “Those who are with us deserve everything, but those who are against us deserve to have their heads chopped off with an axe,” Liberman said…

In a recent address at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a Palestinian Arab political researcher launched a verbal tirade against the United States. The researcher, Ahmad Al-Khatwani, also known as “Abu Hamza”, declared that Muslims should pray that Allah will enable them to wage war on America and vanquish it. Abu Hamza also expressed his desire that…

The controversial New Israel Fund and its social change and political lobbying organization known as SHATIL, have received more than $1 million from the State Department under a program designed to create political change, reform, and activism in the Middle East. The government program, Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), has extended more than $600 million in grants to political and…

Yuval Diskin, formerly the head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) on Monday evening blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Likud over their criticism of statements made by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan at a leftist rally this past Saturday night. At the rally, Dagan attacked Netanyahu and blamed him for the summer…

The FBI has increased the reward to $5 million for the “safe return” of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran while on a CIA mission exactly eight years ago, ABC News reported on Monday. FBI Director James Comey announced the increase on the bureau’s website, saying it is “long past time for…

The next round of talks between Iran and the West over its nuclear program will take place next week, the State Department said on Monday, according to Reuters. The announcement said that Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Lausanne on March 15 for the talks. Kerry will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad…

Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front, on Monday reaffirmed its allegiance to the global extremist network and denied any plan to break away and become a more internationally acceptable rebel force. The angry statement followed weeks of speculation on Internet social networks of a split between the jihadist allies, AFP reported. Al-Nusra “completely denies reports…

Israel and South Korea are not superpowers, but they are in a particular class of influential, technologically advanced countries with strong militaries. Relations between the two “middle powers” have been getting stronger, but the relationship has not always been so rosy. Much like Israel’s ties with India, they were once more vulnerable to the whims of…

United States President Barack Obama on Monday slammed Republican senators who penned a letter attempting to warn Iran that any pending nuclear agreement will face their scrutiny. “I think it’s somewhat ironic to see some members for Congress wanting to make common cause with the hard-liners in Iran. It’s an unusual coalition,” Obama said Monday,…

A Lebanese singer-turned-Islamist wanted in connection with deadly clashes with the army plans to surrender to the authorities after nearly two years on the run, his lawyer said on Monday. Fadel Shaker is accused along with extremist Sunni cleric Ahmad al-Assir of involvement in violence near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon in June 2013 that left at least 18…

Rabbi Avichai Ronski, former IDF Chief Rabbi and Jewish Home Knesset candidate, criticized the decision of Labor-Hatnua Monday to include the dissolution of the Jewish Identity Department, established by the Ministry of Religious Services and the government, in its party platform.  According to Ronski, the plans to scrap the bureau show – if anything – how much progress…

Behind every great man there’s a great woman? Channel Ten revealed Monday that Lihi Lapid was sending personal email requests to her husband Yair Lapid’s office, during his tenure as Finance Minister in the last Knesset.  According to available information, Lihi Lapid’s messages and requests were given preferential treatment by office workers in the Yesh Atid offices, particularly…

French Jewish culture is in a catharsis right now. France’s rude awakening from extremist Islam has the entire country on edge, but Jews still remain the primary target of home-grown French Islamist terrorists. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s call for the community to come home to Israel was not taken well, being expressed at the wrong place and at…

Billboard advertisements in haredi neighborhoods promising “blessings” from rabbis for voting for particular political parties in Knesset elections have been common in recent years – but not this elections season. United Torah Judaism released an ad two and a half weeks before elections, Walla! News reports, with senior rabbis in the Ashkenazi haredi community calling for students…

United Nations investigators probing Operation Protective Edge asked Monday to postpone their report to allow time to adjust after the head of the team quit, AFP reported.  The Commission of Inquiry on Israel’s war with Hamas was scheduled to present its findings to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 23. But in a letter addressed to the head of the council, the investigators requested…

Egypt reopened the Rafah-Gaza border crossing on Monday, for the fourth time since a deadly attack against its security forces in October, reported Ahram Online. Egyptian authorities are expected to keep the crossing between Gaza and Sinai open through Tuesday to allow people stranded on both sides to pass, and to allow through aid for…

The FBI is investigating a string of hacks that defaced US websites with imagery from the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group, NBC News reported on Monday. Websites including a race car speedway in the state of Ohio, a Goodwill center in Missouri and a church in Canada, were defaced with the radical terrorist group’s black flag, the news organization reported,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has denied a publication from Saturday which claimed he had renounced his controversial 2009 Bar Ilan speech in which he supported the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state, a spokesman said on Monday. In the Friday brochure Olam Katan that was distributed at synagogues this Shabbat, Deputy Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) claimed Netanyahu had said the Bar Ilan…

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called on the international community Sunday to halt the destruction by Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists of Iraqi archaeological sites, branding the smashing of priceless and ancient artifacts a “war crime.” Ban’s comments came hours after Iraq’s tourism and antiquities minister called on the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the terrorists, to try to protect the sites,…

The controversy continues after a leftist journalist on Yedioth Aharonoth published a document last Friday which Likud says shows an American peace talk outline that was never accepted by Israel, but which was presented by the journalist as being a list of concessions Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was willing to make. In the latest such attack on Netanyahu, Channel 10 claims there…

Rabbi Yoram Abarjel, a former pro-Shas rabbi who switched over to the Yachad – Ha’am Itanu camp, said Sunday at a rally in Netivot that he has “been exposed to a recording” in which Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ztz”l says that he did not want to place Aryeh Deri at the helm of Shas, but was forced into…

Despite its recent threats to kidnap IDF soldiers, Hamas is more than willing to sign a long-term cease-fire agreement – sometime in the near future, Walla! News revealed Monday.  The terror group recently conveyed a series of messages to Israel which express interest in an agreement in exchange for lifting Israel’s transport, import, and export restrictions on Gaza, Hamas…

Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, continues to threaten Israel with the abduction of IDF soldiers.  Such soldiers are used by Hamas, the terror organization that controls Gaza, as bargaining chips for the release of Palestinian terrorists serving prison sentences in Israel.  In 2011, Israel released over 1,000 terrorists in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier, Gilad…

Otzma Yehudit party candidate Baruch Marzel, number four on the joint list with Yachad – Ha’am Itanu, responded on Monday to the broadside earlier in the day from Jewish Home candidate Rabbi Avichai Ronski, who sought to refute impressions that Ha’am Itanu caters to more religiously devout Jews by criticizing the party. Marzel called on…

Four people have been detained over their connections to one of the Islamist terrorists who carried out the Paris attacks in January, a judicial source said on Monday. The four are said to be friends with Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four people at a Jewish supermarket and a policewoman during the January 7-9 attacks.   Europe…

The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group executed 20 people who planned to fight against them in the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk, officials said on Monday. The killings of the men, who wanted to join anti-ISIS paramilitary forces known as Popular Mobilization units, took place in the town of Hawijah, a police intelligence officer and…

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Monday called for the creation of a unified Arab military force to battle the spread of Islamic terrorists groups. “There is an urgent need for the creation of a multi-purpose common Arab military force…able to intervene rapidly to fight terrorism and the activities of terrorist groups,” Arabi told a meeting of league foreign ministers in…

One of the all time classic Jewish texts, the Haggadah is the guide to the Passover Seder. At the same time, the Haggadah is also often utilized as a fascinating educational resource for a wide variety of Jewish and contemporary themes. Today, JudaicaWebStore.com is proud to offer an amazing collection of unique Haggadot which tell…

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, discussed the Iranian nuclear issue on CNN‘s State of the Union Sunday, and explained that Iran is a threat not just to Israel, but to the entire region and the world. “What is interesting,” he noted, “is that Israelis and Arabs are on exactly the same page…

President Reuven Rivlin has a contingency plan for the possibility that the elections will not produce clear winner. According to Channel 2, Rivlin met members of a “classified unit” Sunday and was asked what he would do if, following the elections, none of the candidates for prime minister is able to convince 61 MKs to…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that the 2009 Bar Ilan speech in which he voiced support for a demilitarized Palestinian state is no longer relevant. The Friday brochure Olam Katan that was distributed at synagogues this Sabbath asked the parties running for election where they stood on the idea of establishing a Palestinian state.…

If elections were held today, Likud would be the largest party with 26 seats, according to a Geocartography poll sponsored by i24 News. This is markedly higher than the 21-23 MKs predicted for Likud in recent polls. The Herzog-Livni camp would receive 21 seats, according to the poll, and Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home would be…

Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France says the increasing anti-Israel and anti-Israel sentiments in French society have all the elements necessary to categorize them as anti-Semitism. “In the 1970s, a new type of Jew-hatred emerged among elites,” Valls told The Wall Street Journal, “one that expressed itself primarily as hostility to Zionism and Israel. This…

A senior American official told Israeli journalists in a press briefing on Sunday that world powers are “not in a rush” to sign a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. The official, who was quoted by several outlets including Haaretz, also stressed that a deal with Iran would last for “longer than a decade”.…

Australia said on Sunday it had stopped two teenage brothers at Sydney Airport believed to be heading to the Middle East to fight alongside jihadist groups, AFP reported. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the two boys, aged 16 and 17 and from Sydney, had tickets to an undisclosed Middle Eastern country and raised the suspicions…

The Arab League will on Monday propose a new resolution calling for bringing an end to “Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories”, the Turkish Anadolu news agency reported Sunday. The Arab League said it plans present the resolution to the United Nations Security Council later, according to the report. “Just and comprehensive peace is a strategic…

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) security services have launched another crackdown on Hamas members in Judea and Samaria, Kol Yisrael radio reported on Sunday night, citing Hamas-affiliated media outlets. According to the report, at least 20 members of Hamas have been detained in Ramallah, Hevron, Tulkarm and other cities. Among those detained are previously released prisoners, students…

Egypt will reopen its Rafah border crossing with Gaza Monday and Tuesday to allow humanitarian cases to cross, AFP reports. The decision by Egyptian authorities marks the fourth time the border will be opened since it was closed after a suicide bombing in the Sinai Peninsula in October killed 30 soldiers, security officials said. The…

Three missing schoolgirls who left Britain to join the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group have crossed into Syria and are believed to be staying at a house in the city of Raqqa, Sky News reported on Sunday. The three – Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15 – boarded a flight from…

The biggest mistake made by the political opposition in Israel, was not to participate with the Prime Minister in his historic visit to Washington. This was an opportunity to show that the Israeli people stand behind the words, and warning of our Prime Minister with regard to the Iranian threat to Israel and the world.…

Britain will introduce new laws on Tuesday to try to stop airlines carrying passengers who may be travelling to join the Islamic State (ISIS), a junior minister said on Sunday, according to Reuters. Security services estimate some 600 Britons have gone to Syria or Iraq to join militant groups, including the man known as “Jihadi…

The Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday defended the pace of the air war against Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists, warning that escalating bombing raids or sending in more American troops would be a mistake. During a visit to a French aircraft carrier in the Gulf taking part in the air…

The Knesset’s Finance Committee Chairman, MK Nissan Slomiansky (Jewish Home), has set up a national forum of rabbis known for their social and religious leadership to help connect Israel’s wide traditional population with the national-religious public.  Members of the forum include such prestigious rabbis as Rabbi Shimon Cohen of Beersheva, Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg of Tzfat, Rabbi Uri Sharki from…

IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon is cracking down on illegal Palestinian Arab settlements in the Jordan Valley, Haaretz reports Sunday, after finding that they are being built in an IDF firing zone. Firing Zone 912 was established more than 40 years ago, according to the daily, and extends from Ma’ale Adumim to the Dead…

The Central Elections Committee for the 20th Knesset released Sunday morning the full list of political parties who have signed surplus vote agreements.  Such agreements work by combining the surplus ballots received by both parties. If that sum amounts to an extra seat, then the extra seat goes to the party with the larger amount of surplus…

Justices from the Nazareth District Court have rejected a petition by Palestinian Arab terrorist Wahib Abu Rub on Sunday, after he challenged the special ruling of the Israeli Prison Services parole board whereby he was returned to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.  Abu Rub was convicted for the heinous murder of 19…

Deputy Environmental Protection Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) sharply criticized former Mossad chief Meir Dagan on Sunday, after the latter smeared Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at a leftist rally with some 30,000 in attendance Saturday night.  According to Akunis, Dagan’s statements are the height of ingratitude.  “On a personal level, I call on him [Dagan] to…

While Likud and the Zionist Camp remain neck and neck in the polls, most of Israel’s public believes that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will form the next government. According to a Midgam Project survey under the supervision of Camil Fuchs, and published by Channel 10, 52% believe that Netanyahu will be asked by President Reuven Rivlin to form the…

Yisrael Beytenu has launched a smear campaign against the haredi parties this week, claiming that a coalition including Shas and United Torah Judaism will cause state money to be funneled exclusively to yeshivot [Torah academies – ed.].  “We have already forgotten that we have already survived two years of a government without the haredi parties,” an article in…

Posts on social media indicate that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has died, Breitbart News reports Sunday, although no official announcement has yet been made.  Two well-known journalists from Cairo and Israel tweeted that Khamenei had died Saturday after a bout with prostate cancer, noting that the information stems from “reliable sources.”  Khamenei was urgently brought to…

Karim al-Banna, who on Monday could hear an appeal court uphold his three-year jail term for “insulting” Islam with his atheism, wishes he could live anywhere but his native Egypt. “All I want now is to leave Egypt. Life is not possible for atheists here,” the 23-year-old engineering student told AFP from his home in…

The upcoming Israeli national election for the 20th Knesset will be Israel’s 21st national elections. The 20 previous elections include one for each Knesset (two of which were held simultaneously with direct elections for Prime Minister), and one for the post of Prime Minister alone. In honor of the upcoming elections, the Knesset website has…

At least 40 Kurdish fighters and Islamic State group (ISIS) jihadists have been killed in clashes for control of a strategic town in north Syria, a monitor said on Sunday.   The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that 11 civilians were killed in a government air raid on the rebel-held town of Irbin northeast…

It sounds like the punchline to an old Jewish joke, but Professor Yoel Elitzur wasn’t laughing when police made him sign a document in which he promised “not to commit any overt religious act or ritual,” as the price for his being allowed onto the Temple Mount. The police demand was all the more absurd,…

President Barack Obama says the United States would “walk away” from the talks with Iran over its nuclear program if the deal is not good enough. Any agreement must allow the US and other powers to verify that Iran does not obtain an atomic weapon, and that even if Iran “cheated,” the U.S. and others…

Call it a post-Purim miracle: A resident of the town of Ateret in the Binyamin region “subdued” two Arab rock attackers when they attempted to throw rocks at his vehicle, by stopping his car, getting out, and drawing his pistol. Instead of attempting to escape, as teenage rock throwers usually do when confronted in this…

Yoav Galant, former commander of the IDF’s Southern Command and a candidate for the Knesset with Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party, on Saturday attacked Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon for the way he handled Hamas’s terror tunnels which were destroyed during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge. “During the operation they found 30 tunnels which led into kindergartens.…

The BBC’s Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, has rejected allegations that he is anti-Semitic after he tweeted an offensive message against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his speech to Congress last week. As Netanyahu was speaking, Bowen noted that he had mentioned Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, and added, “Once again Netanyahu…

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Saturday said that the United States should take a stronger stance against Iran and also criticized President Barack Obama over his “reckless” actions when it comes to the Islamic Republic, according to The Associated Press (AP). Giuliani spoke at a rally in Berlin organized by the exiled…

Egypt on Saturday executed a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood for a murder committed during riots in mid-2013, Al Jazeera reported. The execution marked the first death sentence carried out against a supporter of the banned Muslim Brotherhood under President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. In a statement on its Facebook page, the Interior Ministry said that…

A Canadian special forces soldier was killed and three more injured in Iraq when their Kurdish allies accidentally opened fire on them, the military said Saturday, according to AFP. General Tom Lawson, chief of Canadian defense staff, identified the slain soldier as Sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron, whose regiment is in Iraq to train and advise…

The Likud party on Saturday night dismissed the leftist rally that took place at the Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, saying it was part of a foreign-funded campaign. About 30,000 people participated in the rally which called for a change in leadership for the 20th Knesset. Participants included representatives from Meretz, Peace Now, Labor and…

The leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram terrorist group, Abubakar Shekau, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) group in an audio recording released Saturday. “We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims, Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi,” said the voice on the message, which was believed to be that…

The United Nations’ cultural body on Saturday condemned the “destruction” by the Islamic State jihadist group of Hatra, a stunning Roman period ancient fortress city in the Iraqi desert, according to AFP.  The destruction of the UNESCO world heritage site was reported two days after the Iraqi antiquities ministry said that ISIS bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, and…

A Moroccan woman was arrested at a Spanish airport Saturday on suspicion of recruiting European and North African women to join the Islamic State group, authorities said, according to AFP. The suspect, named as Samira Yerou, was sent to Spain by Turkish authorities after they caught her trying to illegally enter Syria, Spain’sinterior ministry said. Spain had issued an international arrest…

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Yariv Levin (Likud) condemned former Mossad chief Meir Dagan Saturday night, after the later spoke at a leftist rally in Tel Aviv with some 30,000 in attendance.  “The irresponsible chatter of Meir Dagan causes great damage to national security,” Levin fired. “Dagan’s politically motivated acts of…

Additional recordings of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef are so damning for the party that it would fail to make the Knesset threshold, Yachad-Ha’am Itanu chairman Eli Yishai stated Saturday night.  “I have the tapes – and if I publish them, Shas will not pass the threshold,” Yishai stated in an interview on Channel 2‘s…

About 30,000 people participated in a leftist rally Saturday night, in a gathering in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv calling for a change in leadership for the 20th Knesset.  Participants included representatives from the political left – Meretz, Peace Now, Labor and representatives of the V15 group. Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan spoke at the rally as…

Dutch prosecutors have successfully blocked the eBay listing of a bar of soap dating back to the Nazi era, the Daily Mail reported Friday, after it claimed to be made from “the fat of Jewish Holocaust victims.”  A Dutch owner attempted to hawk the soap on the auctioning site for a starting price of 199 euro ($215);…

Otzma Yehudit candidate and #4 on the Yachad-Ha’am Itanu technical bloc list Baruch Marzel defended Ha’am Itanu leader Eli Yishai Saturday night, after advertisements appeared in Shabbat newsletters calling Yishai a “leftist” according to leaks from “backroom conversations.”  According to Marzel, the accusations not only damage Yishai’s reputation, but can harm the possibility of a…

Last month’s hidden camera expose by Israeli journalist Tzvika Klein revealed the shocking levels of anti-Semitism blighting the streets of Paris. Donning a kippa and tzitzit (fringes), Klein filmed himself walking through the French capital for 10 hours, and was subjected to anti-Semitic abuse and threats as he walked through several, mainly Muslim neighborhoods. Following the expose,…

Two charities have stopped funding a rights group in contact with the man thought to be Islamic State group executioner “Jihadi John” before he left for Syria, Britain’s charities regulator has said. Rights group Cage describes its work as supporting people arrested or raided as a result of the “war on terror” following the 9/11 attacks in 2001.…

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the West Saturday for taking in so few Syrian refugees, according to AFP, while pledging to continue his country’s open-door policy for people fleeing the four-year-old conflict. “Do you how many displaced Syrians have been received by European countries? 200,000. We have welcomed two million. What a difference!” the Turkish leader said in Gaziantep, which is near…

The United Arab Emirates said Saturday its warplanes had carried out raids against oil installations held by the Islamic State group, which controls large swathes of Iraq and Syria. The state news agency WAM did not say where the raids struck, only that UAE fighter jets took off overnight Friday from their base in Jordan, another partner in the US-led coalition against the…

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Friday released the video shot by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the terrorist who killed Cpl Nathan Cirillo and terrorized Parliament Hill in Ottawa in October. The video, made just minutes before the attack, was hastily recorded from Zehaf-Bibeau’s cellphone in his car. In the video, he says his attack is…

Kulanu party chairman Moshe Kahlon said on Friday that he would refuse to be part of a coalition that includes parties that are “not Zionist”, as he put it, a reference to the Joint Arab List. “It will be very hard for me to sit with them, I say this in the most open manner.…

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday expressed concern after the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) central council decided to end security cooperation with Israel in response to Israel’s decision to withhold the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) tax revenues. Ban, however, had criticism for Israel and called on the Jewish state to resume the transfer of taxes, which…

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close associate of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, insisted on Friday that a report in Yedioth Aharonoth, outlining supposed land concessions offered to the Palestinian Authority by Netanyahu, was false. According to the report, in secret talks with the PA, Netanyahu’s representative presented a document offering a bevy of concessions, including…

The UN Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution, drafted by the United States, condemning the use of chlorine in Syria and threatening measures if chemicals are used in future attacks. The resolution was approved by 14 of the 15 council members including Russia, Syria’s ally, but Venezuela abstained, the AFP news agency reported. “Today…

A group of Temple Mount activists were spotted dressed up as Arabs on Friday in order to be able to enter the compound. The Jewish activists did not do this in the spirit of Purim, which was celebrated in the capital on Friday. They did it in order to get around a ban on Jewish…

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu took a swipe at the United Nations and world powers on Thursday over their failed efforts to end the war in Syria, saying they lacked a clear strategy. Speaking to reporters after meeting Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Turkish leader said that the UN plan to freeze fighting in Aleppo,…

Norway is unlikely to extradite a citizen suspected of links to a 1982 attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris after France issued an arrest warrant for him, an official said Thursday, according to the AFP news agency. Walid Abdulrahman Abu Zayed, alias “Souhail Othman”, who has lived Norway since 1991, was one of three…

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Thursday suggested that a 10-year moratorium on some aspects of his country’s nuclear program might be acceptable to Tehran, Reuters reported. U.S. President Barack Obama told the same news agency on Monday that Iran must commit to a verifiable freeze of at least 10 years on sensitive nuclear…

Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan is once again verbally attacking Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and is also taking a jab at Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett. In an interview with Channel 2 News which will air in full on Friday and of which parts were published Thursday evening, Dagan argues that Netanyahu’s policies are “leading…

Meretz chairwoman MK Zehava Galon on Thursday declared that she believes she would be a good choice to serve as Education Minister in the next government. Galon, who was responding to online questions submitted by users of the Haaretz newspaper’s website, also said that, as part of a future peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority,…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group began bulldozing the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq on Thursday, the government said, in the jihadists’ latest attack on the country’s historical heritage. ISIS “assaulted the historic city of Nimrud and bulldozed it with heavy vehicles,” the tourism and antiquities ministry said on an official Facebook page and…

Iraqi sources told the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat Thursday that the US and Iran have been cooperating in fighting ISIS forces in Iraq. The sources said that US and Iranian forces have “come to an understanding” on the deployment of forces to retake the city of Tikrit in the Salah-a-Din district from ISIS. The…

A number of politicians responded to the Arab terrorist attack outside a Border Patrol base in Jerusalem on Friday morning, in which a terrorist ran over five people with his car before being shot and seriously wounded. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat stated “we won’t let terror disrupt the daily routine of our lives, and we will continue…

ZAKA reported Friday morning that a rampage terror attack occurred a short time ago near the Border Patrol’s base in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood in Jerusalem.  A police statement clarified that the Arab terrorist attack was conducted in a private car that approached the base from Zaks Junction before going up on the sidewalk and running over…

US President Barack Obama wants to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) according to reports Friday, after the last talks pushed by US Secretary of State John Kerry were torpedoed by the PA last April when it signed a unity deal with Hamas. A senior White House clerk was cited in the Haaretz report…

A document from August 2013 showing surprising concessions offered in secret talks between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s representative and a Palestinian Authority (PA) representative was reported on Friday by leftist journalist Nahum Barnea in Yedioth Aharonoth. According to the report, which Barnea writes was revealed on “Musaf L’Shabbat,” Netanyahu’s representative Yitzhak Molcho held secret talks for several…

The UN Security Council is set to vote on Friday on a US-drafted resolution that threatens measures against the Syrian regime over its alleged use of chlorine bombs. The United States drafted the resolution that “condemns in the strongest terms any use of any toxic chemical, such as chlorine, as a weapon in the Syrian Arab Republic,” reports AFP. While the measure…

The United Nations food agency said Friday it had been forced to withdraw aid from nine Syrian refugee camps in Turkey due to a lack of funds, calling on donors to step up. “Unfortunately, in February, we were forced to ask the Turkish government to take over assistance in nine camps where we could not…

The European Union imposed additional sanctions against Syria on Friday, targeting backers of President Bashar al-Assad as the bloody conflict gets worse with no prospect of a peace deal.   “Seven persons and six entities providing support to the Syrian regime as well as benefiting from it have been targeted,” a statement said.   “This…

A leading panel of experts on Friday recommended that Austria not return one of the country’s most treasured artworks to the descendants of its Jewish former owners robbed by the Nazis, according to AFP.  The Art Restitution Advisory Board “recommended unanimously … not to return the ‘Beethoven Frieze’ by Gustav Klimt to the heirs of Erich Lederer,” panel chair Clemens Jabloner…

The head of UNESCO condemned on Friday the destruction of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq by the Islamic State group, saying it amounted to a “war crime.”  “I condemn with the strongest force the destruction of the site at Nimrud,” Irina Bokova said in a statement. She said she had already spoken with the heads of the…

Al Nusra Front General Military Commander Abu Humam al-Shami was killed in an airstrike in Idlib, Syria, Al Jazeera reported Thursday. The airstrike targeted a meeting of the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front commanders, according to the report, which was cited in Ya Libnan. Up to four Al Nusra front commanders were killed in the…

Vox on the Box continues it’s Israeli election coverage by reviewing this week’s top speeches. In his address to the Tel Aviv International community, Yitzchak Herzog criticizes Binyamin Netanyahu’s policies and diplomacy, but can he compete with Netanyahu’s moving delivery to Congress? Shira asks Rabbi Yom Tov Glazer and the people of both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem…

In Part 1, Ari speaks with the Sports Rabbi, Josh Halickman, about Maccabi Tel-Aviv, and its legendary player David Blu. Josh also talks about how he feels Hapoel Jerusalem has fallen apart and won’t be able to compete with Maccabi Tel-Aviv this season. In Part 2, Ari speaks with BBC News World Service Correspondent Raphael Gellar. Raphael…

The Commander of Judea and Samaria Division, Brig. Gen. Tamir Yadai, presented Central Command Head, Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, with the results of the inquiry into the event in which an attack dog was used in an IDF ambush against terrorists near Karmei Tzur, in the Etzion Bloc. The incident was caught on video and…

Speaking after the reading of Megillat Esther (the Scroll of Esther) in honor of Purim Thursday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that he was thankful to Israelis and world Jewry “for their support of my speeches in Washington. The days that Jews were unable to defend themselves against threats and they remained silent as…

An American employed by a company in the United Arab Emirates has been arrested in that country – for griping on Facebook about his job. The man is being charged with “slandering his employer,” a crime in the UAE. The incident began in December, when Ryan Pate, a helicopter mechanic from Florida, returned home for the winter…

For the first time since 2007, produce from Hamas-controlled Gaza will be available in Israeli vegetable shops. Several tons of tomatoes are set to arrive in Israel next week, with other vegetables to follow. Much of the tomato crop is expected to end up on the shelves of groceries and markets that cater to the…

The BBC‘s Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, tweeted an acerbic – some say offensive – message as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke in Congress: “#NetanyahuSpeech He acknowledges Elie Wiesel in audience. Once again Netanyahu plays the Holocaust card. Don’t repeat mistakes of the past.” Writing in the Jewish Chronicle, Prof. Alan Johnson opined that “Bowen’s…

Steve Tisch, a world-renowned filmmaker and a co-owner of the New York Football Giants, has donated $10 million to Tel Aviv University’s Department of Film and Television. The donation comes amidst a boom in the Israeli film and television industry – with much of it driven by TAU alumni – and will help fuel its…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad insisted Wednesday he continues to enjoy the support of the Syrian people despite nearly four years of war and international pressure on his regime. In an interview with Portuguese broadcaster RTP, Assad claimed that the image of him presented in the West was deeply skewed. “The people are against him, the…

A California man who tried to travel to Syria last year has been charged with attempting to join the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, prosecutors announced Wednesday, according to the AFP news agency. Adam Dandach, 21 – also known as Fadi Fadi Dandach – was charged with trying to provide support to a foreign terrorist…

A group of Senate Democrats on Wednesday said they would vote against a bill on Iran they themselves are sponsoring if Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) brings it up for a vote next week.  The legislation in question would require the President to submit any final nuclear deal with Iran for Congress’ approval. McConnell said…

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that the city’s public schools will be closed for two Muslim holidays, CNN reported. Under the change announced by de Blasio and city Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina, there will be no classes for Eid al-Adha, also known as the Festival of Sacrifice, starting next September…

Shortly after returning to Israel from Washington, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening spoke about his speech to Congress, saying that he believed it had resonated among American lawmakers. Netanyahu said that his speech did indeed offer a new alternative to the emerging agreement with Iran. “I said that the deal will not stop…

Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears to be in hot water over her use of a personal e-mail account for diplomatic business while serving as the top American diplomat, Yahoo News reports. The New York Times revealed on Tuesday that Clinton used a personal address during her entire four years as secretary…

German police on Wednesday arrested a 22-year-old man suspected of joining the Islamic State (ISIS) group and fighting with it in Syria, Reuters reported. The man, named only as Kerim Marc B., was arrested at Duesseldorf airport, according to the report. He is suspected of undergoing weapons training with ISIS and planning attacks, after travelling…

The IDF’s Development Branch is close to launching ground-breaking technology, by which Google Glass eye-wear technology and Android apps will be revamped to provide vital real-time info before the eyes of soldiers on the battlefront, putting them a step ahead of the terrorists. The new breakthrough was announced on Wednesday by the IDF Blog website, and thanks to it commanders…

A Jewish activist in Pakistan was savagely beaten by a Muslim mob Wednesday – and then arrested and roughed up again by police. Fishel Benkhald – who is leading a one-man campaign to preserve the old Jewish cemetery in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi – has been a vocal activist for minority rights in the country, which is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim…

Western sources have reportedly revealed that US Secretary of State John Kerry is offering Gulf States an American nuclear umbrella to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, as Kerry is finalizing a controversial deal with Iran ahead of a March 31 deadline for talks. The sources spoke to the London-based Arabic language Al-Hayat newspaper, as cited by Yedioth Aharonoth, and…

Moscow said Thursday it would host talks between representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and opposition figures in April, three months after a meeting between the parties which ended without any concrete results, AFP reported.  “Representatives from a larger section of the Syrian opposition,” are expected to take part in the talks, said Alexander Lukashevich, spokesman for the foreign ministry. Deputy Foreign Minister…

The Central Elections Committee on Thursday fined Eli Yishai’s Yachad party NIS 4,000 for displaying images of a 12-year-old child in an elections ad. The Committee issued the fine in response to a complaint by the parents of the child, who said that they had not given her permission for the child’s image. According to…

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is not a “credible” partner in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, French President Francois Hollande said Thursday after meeting Syria’s exiled opposition chief. Hollande said in a statement after meeting Khaled Khoja that Assad “is the main cause of his people’s suffering, and for the rise of terrorist groups in Syria.” “He is therefore not a…

In recent weeks, Egypt has begun diluting its forces stationed along the Philadelphi route on its border with Gaza, Israeli defense officials warned Thursday.  This move has prompted fear among defense officials that a terrorist takeover could occur in Sinai and violence against Israel would resume.  Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi delighted the Israeli defense establishment…

Turkey will not take part in any military offensive by Iraq to retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday. “We would support Mosul but will not combat directly,” Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet newspaper en route to New York, referring to Turkey’s willingness to offer Iraq logistical and other assistance, but…

An Arab terrorist was thwarted in his attempt to stab a group of Jews on Thursday, adjacent to the community of Yitzhar in Samaria. The terrorist had approached a group of Israelis at a hitchhiking station with a knife in hand, preparing to strike. At that point one of the Jewish residents pulled out a…

Yet another posthumous video recording of the late Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has been released to the public, and reveals that at the very end of his life he gave former Shas head Eli Yishai permission to break off and form his own party, which Yishai recently did in founding Yachad – Ha’am…

Iran will not abandon or modify its regional policies of expansion in exchange for Western concessions to seal a deal on its nuclear program, analysts say. General Qassem Soleimani, a commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards,  in February hailed Tehran’s widening influence from “Bahrain to Iraq, and Syria to Yemen and North Africa,” reports AFP. Tehran says it supports Iraq…

Former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin spoke to Arutz Sheva at the American-Israel Policy Conference (AIPAC) on Tuesday, where he opined on Iran, peace talks, and the elections, among other issues.  “Iran is a bitter enemy of Israel,” Yadlin asserted. “Iran wants to reach a military nuclear capability. Fortunately it is not there yet, but if it was…

For years, Israelis have debated the contribution – or burden – of haredi Jews on the country’s economy. Over the last few decades the community has sent more people to learn full time rather than to the office, but the last ten years have seen a major change in that trend. Arutz Sheva spoke to Ben Wiener, Managing Partner of Jumpspeed Ventures and the Director…

Professor Richard Schwartz is an educated and articulate spokesperson for Jewish vegetarianism/veganism and paying close attention to what we are all doing to our global environment. As the President Emeritus of Jewish Vegetarians of North America and author of several seminal works on applying Jewish values to heal the world, Richard Schwartz came from a meat…

Two new polls Wednesday provide the first data since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s much touted Congress address on Tuesday, and show that Likud has evened gaps shown in the last poll before the speech which saw it behind Labor 24 to 21. In the first of the polls by Channel 2, Labor and Hatnua’s “Zionist Camp” gets…

Nazis foiled a Fanta ad this week, after Coca-Cola inc. pulled a TV spot in Germany because it failed to mention the Third Reich’s role in creating the popular sports drink.  The ad, entitled “Good Old Times,” was to honor Fanta’s 75th anniversary – and describes its creation due to a shortage of supplies “during…

Dozens were killed Wednesday when Syrian rebels set off a powerful tunnel explosion targeting an intelligence headquarters in Aleppo and clashed with regime forces, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast hit a building housing the air force intelligence offices in the west of Syria’s second city and was followed by heavy clashes, reports AFP. “The explosion and…

Despite a veto threat from President Barack Obama, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that the Senate would begin debate next week on a bill that would require the President to submit any final nuclear deal with Iran for Congress’ approval. “We think the timing is important,” McConnell said at his weekly…

Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Dr. Michael Oren, who is running for the Knesset with Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party, on Tuesday evening praised Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. Oren said the speech was “delivered well”, adding he hoped “it succeeded in sparking a serious public debate in the United States about…

Britain’s advertising watchdog has banned an Israeli government tourism advert for suggesting that the Old City of Jerusalem was part of Israel, AFP reported. The newspaper brochure showed a panorama of the walled Old City with the text “Israel has it all”, and was ruled misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which said it…

A United Nations envoy on Tuesday called on Israel to investigate the deaths of more than 1,500 civilians during the 2014 Gaza war and to make the findings public, Reuters reported. Makarim Wibisono, a former Indonesian ambassador, issued his first report to the UN Human Rights Council since becoming its special rapporteur on human rights…

As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivered his speech to Congress on Tuesday, warning lawmakers against a bad nuclear deal with Iran, a group of supporters gathered outside, waving Israeli, American and IDF flags in support of the Prime Minister. “We came from New York City because we felt it was critical to show public support…

Opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog was unimpressed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress, claiming on Tuesday evening that Israel has been left isolated, even after the speech. Speaking at Moshav Nir Moshe in southern Israel, Herzog noted the significance of his being in the Negev instead of in Washington. “As you know, I…

Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri hinted on Tuesday evening that his party would recommend Binyamin Netanyahu for Prime Minister after the elections on March 17. Speaking at an election rally, Deri said that Shas was interested in having Netanyahu re-elected, but also called on the Prime Minister to change his policy. “We are with you…

Shortly after his speech to Congress, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday with the bipartisan leadership of the Senate, pursuant to an invitation extended last week by Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Harry Reid (D-NV). Also attending the meeting were John Barrasso (R-WY), John Thune (R-SD), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), John McCain (R-AZ), Al Franken (D-MN),…

A Turkish Airlines plane with at least seven Israelis aboard made an emergency landing Wednesday in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal. The passengers were unhurt. The Boeing Airbus A330 jet was forced to make the emergency landing apparently because of the difficult weather conditions at the time. The area was covered in heavy fog, which…

Following his high-profile speech to Congress last night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu returned to Israel Wednesday. In a statement shortly after landing, Netanyahu said he was satisfied with his address and its reception. “After my short visit to the United States, I return to Israel knowing that many around the world heard what Israel has…

The father of “Jihadi John” said in an interview published Wednesday that there was no proof that his son was the Islamic State executioner, adding there were a number of “false rumors” circulating. “There is nothing that proves what is being circulated in the media, especially through video clips and footage, that the accused is…

In its efforts to dislodge ISIS from the vast swathes of land it seized with little difficulty last year in Iraq, the Iraqi army has come to rely heavily on a range of Iranian-backed Shia Islamist militias. The militias are funded, trained and armed by Iran – and even, in some cases, commanded directly by Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers.…

While several politicians – notably Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman – have called for reforms in the way Israel is governed, including setting up an American-style district representative system and limiting the number of ministers a government can have, Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett says that a more fundamental change in Israel’s political system is…

Leaders of South Korea and Saudi Arabia agreed on Tuesday to look into building more than two small and medium-sized nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia, wrote the Korea Herald. The projects may be worth as much as $2 billion. During summit talks, President Park Geun-hye and King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud discussed ways “to upgrade…

The Israeli courts may have once again ruled in favor of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, but a senior Jerusalem police officer made it clear to Jews visiting the holy site that the police would not be following that ruling. The officer, who is well known to Jewish visitors and responsible for clearing Jewish visits (amid…

In his speech before Congress Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that the sanctions against Iran, spearheaded by the US, had had a very debilitating effect on Iran – and continuing those sanctions was the only way to ensure that Tehran did not develop a nuclear weapon. In an analysis Wednesday, Israeli business newspaper Globes…

Israel is to double the amount of water it channels annually to Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the government body said Israel is to increase the volume of water it provides to Gaza from five to 10 million cubic meters (175 to 350 million cubic feet) per annum, beginning…

US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf responded to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Congress Address on Tuesday, and like US President Barack Obama her reaction was highly negative to Netanyahu’s criticism of the approaching Iran deal. In a similar vein to Obama, she said: “we didn’t hear any – certainly any new ideas today, but more importantly, didn’t…

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s blistering attack on a US push for a nuclear accord with Iran soured ties with Washington but could boost his prospects in elections this month, experts say. Netanyahu, seeking re-election on March 17, infuriated the White House with his address Tuesday to the US Congress, where he laid out Israeli concerns…

Former MK Ayoub Kara on Wednesday met with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and asked him to prevent the entry of any more Syrians into Israel for medical treatment. Under the guise of “humanitarian treatment,” hundreds of terrorists have gotten free medical treatment in Israeli hospitals, he claims. “We cannot allow Syrian terrorists, especially the one…

Egypt’s relationship with Hamas has been shaky. Since the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood (MB) President Muhammad Morsi by now President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the country has taken a harder line against Hamas. But is his hard line actually too hard? Recent court decisions in Egypt have defined Hamas formally as a terrorist organization. In response,…

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) warmly welcomed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Congress address on Tuesday, calling it a forceful appeal for the “strongest possible deal to remove the Iranian nuclear threat.” In a joint statement by ADL National Chair Barry Curtiss-Lusher and ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman, the two praised the speech. “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s…

With Iranian backed Houthi Shi’ite rebels having taken over the capital city of Sana’a and expanding their control over the rest of Yemen, what is to become of the country’s small remaining Jewish population? To find out, Arutz Sheva spoke with Dr. Yigal Ben-Shalom, chairperson of the Association for Yemenite Jewish Tradition, who is in daily communication…

Several US Democrats irate over Binyamin Netanyahu addressing Congress over Iran’s nuclear program on Tuesday accused the Israeli prime minister of fear-mongering.  Although the vast majority of legislators from both parties attended the speech, dozens of House and Senate Democrats boycotted it, arguing Netanyahu should not have been invited by Republican leaders just two weeks…

A US State Department official claimed on Tuesday that America will “confront aggressively” Iran’s bid to expand its influence across the MiddleEast even if a nuclear deal is reached, in an apparent attempt to play down Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s warnings in his Congress address. US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Saudi Arabia on…

After Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Congress address on Tuesday, which US President Barack Obama had fiercely opposed, Obama said there was “nothing new” in the speech. Obama claimed Netanyahu “did not offer any viable alternative” to the Iran nuclear deal being formulated ahead of a March 31 deadline in comments from the Oval Office, reports AFP. The president has refused to meet Netanyahu…

An Iranian vice-president on Tuesday responded dismissively to Israel’s objections to a looming nuclear deal, claiming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not have much influence, even as a foreign ministry spokesperson said he was “lie-spreading.” “I don’t think (Netanyahu’s voice) carries much weight,” Massoumeh Ebtekar, who is vice-president for environmental affairs, told AFP during a visit to Paris the same day Netanyahu address…

Al-Arabiya‘s English edition editor-in-chief Faisal J. Abbas wrote a surprising op-ed on Tuesday, calling on US President Barack Obama to listen to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu after the latter addressed Congress on the dangers of an Iran nuclear deal being formulated. Abbas, whose paper is openly anti-Israel and Saudi-owned, began by scornfully conceding “it is extremely rare for…

Egypt has seen two major upheavals in the last four years – the Arab Spring overthrew Hosni Mubarak in 2011, then saw its Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated president toppled in a coup d’état by General, now President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. President Sisi last week concluded a preliminary agreement with Russia to build a new nuclear reactor for the country. Simultaneously, Egypt’s…

US Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL), co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus, responded to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Congress on Tuesday, warning the coming year will be “pivotal.” “Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered a powerful speech this morning focused on strengthening the eternal bonds between the United States and Israel,” remarked Roskam. “This will be a pivotal year…

Days after a court in Egypt declared Hamas a terrorist organization, one of its leaders on Monday issued a threat against Cairo. The leader, Salah Bardawil, declared that Hamas will not allow the Egyptian regime to touch the Palestinian people and will react to any aggression in the same way it reacts to Israel. “Hamas…

Top diplomats from Iran and the United States launched a new round of marathon talks on a nuclear deal late Monday, AFP reported. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met twice in a Swiss lakeside hotel at the start of a series of sessions which are scheduled to…

Two people were killed and nine wounded, including seven policemen, in a bomb explosion on Monday outside the Egyptian supreme court in Cairo, AFP reported. Health Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told the news agency that a 22-year-old man “died of injuries sustained in his backbone” in the attack. Another man, aged 24, who had…

President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, on Monday recalled her first visit to Israel, speaking at the AIPAC policy conference. In her first public remarks since saying last week that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s March 3 speech in Congress is “destructive” to the relationship between the two countries, Rice remembered traveling to Israel…

President Barack Obama said on Monday that the odds are still against reaching a final agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. The comments came in a special interview with the Reuters news agency, in which Obama also downplayed the rift over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress opposing the Iran deal on…

The White House said on Monday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s address to the U.S. Congress, scheduled for Tuesday, is unlikely to complicate ongoing nuclear talks with Iran. “It shouldn’t, and it’s because the international community is united as we continue to pursue a diplomatic resolution to the international community’s concerns with Iran’s nuclear program,”…

A New York Times report Tuesday compares demand for tickets to Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech before the joint houses of Congress Tuesday to that of a top-class musical concert. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the newspaper the only ticket more in demand than a seat inside the House chamber for Netanyahu’s address would be “if it was…

A look at Saudi Arabia’s news media shows that the Persian Gulf monarchy stands squarely behind Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s efforts Tuesday in Congress. In an article in Monday’s edition of the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah (no relation to the Qatar-based television network), columnist Dr. Ahmad Al-Faraj comes out strongly against U.S. President Barack Obama. “I believe that…

Temple activists were euphoric Monday after a precedent-setting ruling by Magistrates’ Court Judge Malka Aviv in the case of Yehuda Glick vs. the Israeli Police, a day earlier. The judge ruled that the police “must make sure that Jews are able to pray on the Temple Mount” – in a ruling replete with harsh criticism of…

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Monday night that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress Tuesday “focuses on the single greatest security threat facing America – the threat of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.” “We’re at a moment in history where echoes of the past can be heard,” he added. “The nuclear deal being negotiated with Iran,…

Almost one in four House Democrats will boycott Tuesday’s address by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the joint houses of Congress, writes The Hill. At least 55 Democrats — eight senators and 47 House members — have said that they will not attend the speech, in which Netanyahu hopes to convince Congress, and the American…

Interior Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) on Monday blasted MK Yitzhak Herzog, one of the leaders of the “Zionist Camp”, over his continued criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech before the United States Congress. “Here is a summary of Buji Herzog’s recent interviews,” Erdan wrote on his Facebook page. “The Washington Post: Iran is not…

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of the Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan spoke to Arutz Sheva on the sidelines of the AIPAC 2015 annual conference. Rabbi Lookstein stressed the importance of the conference, which he said is “one of the most important events in Jewish life in America.” “I feel like I…

An American jihadist carried out a suicide truck bomb attack against Iraqi forces involved in an operation to recapture the city of Tikrit, the Islamic State terrorist group said Tuesday. “The brother Abu Dawud al-Amriki (may Allah accept him) launched himself with his explosives-laden truck against a gathering” of Iraqi forces and militiamen, an IS…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced Tuesday it will now ignore fines imposed by Israeli military courts on Arab prisoners as compensation for terrorist attacks, in a breach of agreements of cooperation. PA Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs chairman Issa Karake claimed Tuesday that the military courts started over a year ago imposing fines of up to tens…

In response to the massive foreign funded V15 campaign aiming to replace Likud with a ruling leftist coalition, the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu has launched its own campaign to “reveal the true face” of the Labor and Hatnua joint list “Zionist Camp,” along with the Joint Arab List and far left Meretz party. “Im Tirtzu’s…

The polls ahead of March 17 Knesset elections continue to show varied results, as a new survey on Tuesday gives the Labor and Hatnua “Zionist camp” an edge of 24 mandates against Likud, which comes in at 21 seats. The poll, conducted by Panels Politics for the Knesset Channel, puts the joint Arab list at 13…

The stream of recruits heading to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS has Europe up in arms. In ways that Europeans are just now beginning to realize, their continental vision of democracy and citizenship is being severely tested. A September 2014 BBC report estimated over 3,000 Europeans had joined the ranks of ISIS either as…

Top spokespeople for US President Barack Obama’s administration on Monday night echoed warnings that a release of classified information on Iran talks would be a “betrayal,” after an unnamed official was quoted saying Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will detail the deal being formed with Iran in his US Congress address Tuesday. Earlier on Monday an…

Kosovo has indicted seven ethnic Albanian Muslims on terrorism charges over alleged plans to take up arms with the Islamic State (ISIS) group or recruit fighters for the insurgents, officials said Monday. Five of the indicted “agreed to go to the war in Syria and join the group of Albanians who fight on the side of the terrorist organization…

In response to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the nuclear deal he warns threatens Israel’s very existence, US President Barack Obama’s administration has reportedly cut American intelligence cooperation with Israel. A report on Monday night by the Hebrew-language Channel 10, notes that the cooperation between Israeli and American intelligence agencies until now has aided the International Atomic Energy Agency…

The state informed the High Court on Monday that it has decided to accept the decision to merely seal off the room of Arab terrorist Mu’taz Hijazi, who shot Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick four times from point blank range in an assassination attempt last October, reports Haaretz. After leaving Glick critically wounded, Hijazi fled the scene…

The United States and its allies have received no request from Iraq to carry out air strikes in support of Baghdad government troops fighting to recapture the key stronghold of Tikrit, the Pentagon said Monday. The Iraqi operation to take back Tikrit from Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists is the largest-scale offensive yet launched by Baghdad, and Shi’ite militia backed by neighboring…

A senior Hamas terrorist said Monday his Islamist group which controls Gaza is rebuilding its heavily depleted rocket arsenal to prepare for a new terror war against Israel. “Any regional or international attempt to lay siege to Hamas or its armed wing is bound to fail,” said Marwan Eissa, a commander of Hamas’s “military branch,” the Al-Qassam Brigades, reports AFP. Hamas is “not…

Former National Security Adviser Maj. Gen. Ya’akov Amidror spoke at the AIPAC conference on Monday, where he was asked about moves such as US President Barack Obama’s overtures to Iran aiming to turn the Islamic regime into an ally, seeking support in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) among other things. “Iran today is a force of…

The foreign minister of Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism worldwide, on Monday blamed Western democracies for being responsible for Muslim terrorism by not being able to stop the recruitment of jihadists in their countries. In a speech before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is leading negotiations on Iran’s…

Jewish Home party leader and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett has warned that world powers were on the verge of a deal with Iran that “will be remembered one hundred years from now” – for all the wrong reasons; and Israel, he pledged, would do everything in its power to stop that from happening. “We’re looking at a…

The State Attorney’s Office filed indictments Monday, as well as remand requests, against three Israeli businessmen accused of aiding in Hamas’ quest to build terror tunnels into israel.  The defendants have been named as Micha Peretz, a resident of a community in the Eshkol Regional Council; the other two defendants, Yehoram Alon and Naji Zoarov, reside in…

Some 30,000 Iraqi troops and militia backed by aircraft pounded Sunni jihadist positions in and around Tikrit on Monday in the biggest offensive yet to retake one of the Islamic State terror group’s main strongholds.   “Security forces are advancing on three main fronts towards Tikrit, Ad-Dawr (to the south) and Al-Alam (to the north),” an…

As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday prepares to criticize the United States for its nuclear negotiations with Iran, US Secretary of State John Kerry will be moving ahead with the talks.  Kerry landed in Geneva late Sunday, Reuters reported, where he will engage in three days of conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.  Additionally, talks…

Journalist Lihi Lapid, the wife of Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid, has taken a leave of absence from her job as columnist at Yedioth Aharonoth, and joined her husband’s campaign – where she has begun criticizing the Netanyahus’ allegedly profligate lifestyle. While Yair Lapid is not ruling out sitting in a coalition with Netanyahu, Lihi…

After weeks of tension between the United States and Israel over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming address to Congress, the White House released a guide to the US-Israel relationship on Sunday.  The document, titled “5 Things You Need to Know About the US-Israel Relationship Under President Obama,” was posted to the National Security Council’s website by spokeswoman Bernadette…

Several Labor-Hatnua candidates have begun organizing protests against the possibility of their party forming a unity government with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.  While several months ago, Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog noted his refusal to join a Netanyahu government, he has been less vocal on the matter in recent weeks.  As a result, Labor MK Mickey…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke at the AIPAC conference on Monday, where he warned against Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the threat they pose to the free world. “You’re here to tell the world that reports of the demise of the Israeli and American ties are not only premature, they’re just wrong,” said Netanyahu. “You’re here…

The Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet) revealed on Monday that the three Israeli businessmen who were indicted of smuggling goods to Hamas in Gaza were just the tip of a massive smuggling ring, which was arming the terrorist organization even during last summer’s war. In an operation that had the ISA, Israel Police, Israel Tax Authority and State…

Ayala Shapira, the 11-year-old girl who was critically burned in a firebomb attack by Arab terrorists on the family car she was in with her father outside Ma’ale Shomron in Samaria late last December, has given her first interview since the attack that nearly took her life. Speaking to the children’s magazine “Otiot” in an…

In the background of this week’s dual drama of US-Iranian negotiations regarding its nuclear program and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s high profile speech aimed at influencing them, Iran has continued to encroach on the fabric of the Middle East. In the last year, Iran has deepened its involvement in Iraq, aided Yemen’s Shiite Houthis in conquering…

The Islamic State jihadist group released a video on Monday in which four Sunni tribesmen from the Tikrit region are executed for allegedly collaborating with the government. The video was released on the day some 30,000 government forces launched a huge operation to retake Tikrit, which the jihadists have controlled for almost nine months. The…

Yesh Atid introduced its complete party platform at a special event Monday, and its Chairman, Yair Lapid, once again made it a point to attack Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.  The book outlining Yesh Atid’s platform is divided into 26 separate chapters, which comprehensively comprise all areas of life that concern Israeli citizens.  In total, the book is 273 pages…

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday warned Israel’s prime minister against revealing details at his upcoming speech to the US Congress of an Iran nuclear deal that world powers are currently negotiating. While he did not mention Binyamin Netanyahu by name, Kerry told reporters in Geneva he was “concerned by reports” that “selective details”…

Gunfire was heard on Sunday evening in the Shomron (Samaria) community of Har Bracha. A search of the community found that a bullet had penetrated through the window of a home. An outer wall was found to have been hit as well. There were no physical injuries. Military and security forces arrived at the scene…

A day before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was set to speak, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett made an appearance at the AIPAC conference in Washington Monday. Speaking at the event, Bennett said that the developing agreement between Western countries, spearheaded by the US, and with Iran, “will give the Iranians a kashrut certificate for their uranium…

Tens of thousands of supporters rallied Sunday for Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, days after a judge dismissed allegations brought against her by a prosecutor who died mysteriously. Seeking to seize the spotlight from a mass rally last month in memory of late prosecutor Alberto Nisman, whose death unleashed a crisis for Kirchner’s government, the president’s…

Islamic State group (IS or ISIS) jihadists on Sunday freed 19 of the 220 Assyrian Christians they took hostage in Syria last week, after a ransom was paid for their release, activists said. “Nineteen Assyrian hostages arrived on Sunday at the Church of Our Lady in Hasakeh after they were released by IS,” said Osama…

In what could prove to be another problem for the Likud just weeks before the election, the number 18 candidate for the Knesset on its list – former Beit She’an Mayor Jacky Levy – has been accused, along with several other top city officials, of serious pollution offenses. An investigation by the Environment Ministry’s enforcement corps…

Newly retired chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz has hinted to Channel 2 that he opposed an Israeli strike on Iran, and that his objections influenced the political echelon to rethink plans to deal a military blow to the Islamic country’s nuclear weapons program. Investigative journalist Ilana Dayan asked Gantz: “Were there junctions at…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congress has, to say the least, been controversial. Before he has taken the podium and begun to speak, analysts are wondering if his mere presence could finish unraveling the US-Israel relationship that has been said to be fraying over the last six years. Dr. Jonathan Rynhold of the…

House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday that there is unprecedented demand for seats in the House for Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech Tuesday. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said on CBS‘s Face the Nation. “Everybody wants to be there.” “What I do wonder is why the White House feels threatened because the Congress wants to…

February 2015 went down as a month with better than average rainfall in almost all parts of Israel, the Meteorological Service said Sunday. With the snowfall last weekend and the major storm the week before that, this winter’s rainfall totals are already higher than average in almost all parts of the country as well. Mitzpe…

It was reported last Tuesday that last year’s missile tests for the developing Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 anti-missile systems had been misreported as successes, when in fact they had both failed. The two systems will be used to combat missile threats from the likes of Iran against rockets that have not left the Earth’s…

Argentina’s president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said on Sunday that Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor who accused her of a criminal cover-up, had also praised her, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Kirchner said, according to the report, that documents had been found in Nisman’s safe, one written in December and the other in January. She said…

United States forces are targeting the London man believed to be “Jihadi John,” an Islamic State (ISIS) executioner, senior Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein said Sunday, according to AFP. London graduate Mohammed Emwazi was unmasked by media this week as allegedly being the English-speaking executioner responsible for the beheading of at least five Western hostages held…

Former Justice Minister MK Tzipi Livni on Sunday evening weighed in on the ad in the New York Times which accused President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice of ignoring genocide. The ad, which appeared in Saturday’s New York Times, was taken out by well-known pro-Israel advocate Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and was denounced by…

A senior policy adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani predicted on Sunday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress will “benefit” Tehran, i24news reported. The official, Hamid Aboutalebi, reportedly wrote on his Twitter account that what he described as Netanyahu’s “warrior discourse” will strengthen the “gaps” between Democrats and Republicans, as well as those…

Syrian rebel forces in Aleppo on Sunday rejected UN envoy Staffan de Mistura’s plan for a freeze in fighting in the divided northern city, dealing a blow to his peace efforts. “We refuse to meet with Mr. Staffan de Mistura if it is not on the basis of a comprehensive solution to Syria’s drama through…

While politicians in the election campaign have been calling on the haredi public to “share the burden” and serve in the IDF, Rabbi David Yosef, one of the sons of the late Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and a member of the Shas rabbinical committee, said Saturday night that religious Jews were thus carrying two burdens…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans to unveil some specific details of the agreement between Iran and the West during his speech to Congress on Tuesday, AFP reported Sunday night. “We know a great deal about the emerging agreement,” a member of Netanyahu’s entourage said on condition of anonymity, shortly after Netanyahu’s plane landed in Washington.…

Senator Dianne Feinstein on Sunday launched a verbal attack against Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over his upcoming speech to Congress. Speaking to CNN, the Democrat from California said that Netanyahu is “arrogant” for asserting that he speaks for all Jews, adding that he doesn’t speak for her. Feinstein said she would attend Netanyahu’s speech…

In a new video, Moshe Kahlon evokes the name and the spirit of legendary Likud leader Menachem Begin, and portrays himself as the political leader who will carry out Begin’s social policy legacy – but according to Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, Kahlon is no Begin, and is unlikely to be seen as one. In the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is off to Washington to address Congress – a move that for weeks has prompted division and controversy both home and abroad.  In Israel, the Likud party is hoping the speech will help the party regain strength in the polls and move the campaign agenda from economic issues back to security. …

Two days before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech before the United States Congress, and criticism is not letting up.  On Channel Two’s “Meet the Press” Saturday night, Yair Lapid attacked Netanyahu for his upcoming address and for escalating conflict with US President Barack Obama’s administration. “What interests Netanyahu is political survival and not the state,” the Yesh Atid…

Kuwaiti authorities are closely monitoring several relatives of “Jihadi John” who live and work in the Gulf emirate where the Islamic State executioner was born, press reports said Sunday. A number of relatives of Mohammed Emwazi, named as the terrorist who has beheaded at least five Western hostages, are working in Kuwait and like him hold British citizenship, Al-Qabas newspaper reported.…

The citizens of central Polish city Częstochowa were up and arms last week after noticing a huge yellow swastika sprayed on the asphalt of a nightclub’s parking lot, the Telegraph reported.  Residents rushed to complain to local police, claiming that the swastika could be seen from afar and that anyone walking in the city’s center would spot it.  Displaying Nazi symbols is a…

US President Barack Obama will veto a bill, recently introduced in the US Senate, requiring a congressional review of any deal the United States and other western powers reach with Iran on its nuclear program.  “The president has been clear that now is not the time for Congress to pass additional legislation on Iran,” said Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White…

Amid the ongoing controversy over Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress next week, Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has expressed her support for the address despite opposition from the White House, declaring that the US-Israel relationship “is greater than any one person,” in a clear swipe at President Barack Obama. Speaking at an event in…

Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, on Saturday drove “moderate rebels” backed by the United States out of a strategic northern military base in fierce fighting that left dozens dead, AFP reported. At least 29 fighters from the Western-armed Hazm movement were killed along with six Nusra Front jihadists, according to the Syrian Observatory for…

Republican Senator Marco Rubio on Friday criticized President Barack Obama’s attitude towards Israel, telling activists that the President is pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran as the hallmark of his second term. “It is a foreign policy that treats the ayatollah of Iran with more respect than the prime minister of Israel,” Rubio, a Senator…

The new IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, wasted no time in making his presence felt – and has launched a huge-scale exercise that includes most of the IDF’s compulsory-service corps, making it the largest the IDF has held in recent years. The drill was not announced to the forces in advance and…

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura paid a surprise visit Sunday to a church near war-wracked Syria’s capital in a show of solidarity with the country’s Christian minority targeted by jihadists. An AFP photographer said de Mistura travelled in a two-car UN convoy to a Greek Catholic church in Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and met with…

NYC Councillor David Greenfield gained some fame last week when he refused to remove his kippah (skullcap) despite being asked to do so by US security personnel in Ramallah. As part of a group from the New York City Council, Greenfield had gone to Ramallah last Sunday to speak with officials, including members of the local city council. He…

The Bethlehem-based news agency Ma’an has cited a Kuwaiti newspaper report Saturday, that US President Barack Obama thwarted an Israeli military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2014 by threatening to shoot down Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran. Following Obama’s threat, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was reportedly forced to abort…

Syria’s exiled opposition praised France on Sunday for maintaining its “exemplary” opposition to President Bashar al-Assad after a group of French lawmakers made a controversial visit to Damascus this week.     “The position of France has always been exemplary, and your country has consistently held to the side of the Syrian people against any…

Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid was up in arms Sunday over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s recent promise to repeal the criminal sanctions of the haredi draft law.  Netanyahu made the comments during several interviews with haredi media this weekend, in a bid to sway haredi parties to recommend him after elections on March 17.  Lapid also preemptively attacked…

A bipartisan group of senators unveiled legislation Friday that would require a congressional review of any deal the Obama administration and other western powers strike with Iran on its nuclear program, reports The Associated Press (AP). According to the news agency, the measure would mandate that President Barack Obama submit the text of any pact…

The London man believed to be Islamic State (ISIS) executioner “Jihadi John” told a journalist in 2010 ago that surveillance by British security services had left him contemplating suicide, AFP reported Saturday. Mohammed Emwazi, named by media and experts as the terrorist thought to have beheaded at least five Western hostages held by the IS…

Hamas denounced on Saturday night the decision by an Egyptian court to declare it a terrorist organization, accusing Egypt of being “a friend of the Israeli occupation”. According to the statement quoted by the Alresalah newspaper, Hamas said the ruling is “serious and shocking”. The statement added that the ruling targets “the whole Palestinian people…

Police on Saturday stepped up security of the Jewish community in the northern German city of Bremen amid a heightened danger from Islamist terrorists. According to a statement quoted by Reuters, local police said they had searched an Islamic culture center, detained several people for identity checks and arrested one person in connection with the…

Boris Nemtsov, 55, a prominent Russian opposition leader and the former first deputy prime minister, was shot dead in Moscow Friday evening. Nemtsov’s assassins shot him four times from a passing car, meters away from one of the Kremlin towers and in the shadow of St. Basil’s Cathedral. Nemtsov was a star politician and a…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu went to the Western Wall Saturday evening for a moment of meditation ahead of his trip to Washington. “On the eve of my flight to the United States, I wanted to come here, to the Western Wall,” he said to reporters at the Wall. “I want to take this opportunity to…

An Egyptian court declared Gaza’s ruling Hamas faction a terrorist group Saturday, one month after a similar ruling against its armed wing, the Ezzedin al-Kassam Brigades. Another court sentenced Egypt’s top Muslim Brotherhood leaders to life in prison, over a violent clash during an attack on the group’s Cairo headquarters in June 2013. The decision…

Iran has ended its large scale Great Prophet 9 exercise in the Persian Gulf, test firing a “new strategic weapon,” which it says will play an important role in the future battle against the US. The test was performed on the final day of the exercise, staged by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the strategic…

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) has penned an opinion article in the Los Angeles Times in which he defended Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s decision to speak to Congress Tuesday, against the deal being forged with Iran. “Imagine for a moment,” he wrote, “that your neighbor down the street was engaged in some basement science that…

There is growing tension between the Labor-Hatnua list, officially known as The Zionist Camp, and the Arab sector in Israel. Dozens of people protested Saturday against the visit by party leaders Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni – as well as the Arab candidate on the list, Zuhair Bahalul – at Umm al-Fahm, in north central…

Chairman of the Labor-Hatnua list Yitzhak Herzog has once again refused to rule out joining a coalition led by Binyamin Netanyahu, instead insisting that he will be the one to form the next coalition government. “The polls show a clear advantage for us,” Herzog told Channel 2. “I have proven my political skills… I am able to…

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Saturday that “scaremongering” by Prime Binister Binyamin Netanyahu won’t stop the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 world powers from reaching a nuclear deal. “Through scaremongering, falsification, propaganda and creating a false atmosphere even inside other countries, [Israel] is attempting to prevent peace,” Zarif told reporters during a joint…

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Friday that the Obama administration does not see Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to Washington as bad for the negotiations between Iran and world powers. Next week’s speech has become a point of contention between Jerusalem and Washington. Both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John…

Menny Naftali, the former housekeeper in the Prime Minister’s Residence who is suing Binyamin and Sara Netanyahu for alleged abuse he suffered while working for them, filed a complaint with the police on Friday evening after his Afula home was broken into. “I visited my mother, she had an operation in Jerusalem, and I came home with my…

Kol Yisrael radio’s political correspondent Yoav Krakowski on Friday said that he believes Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett was the winner of the election debate that aired on Channel 2 News on Thursday evening. “The big winner is Naftali Bennett who stood at the center of everyone’s attacks, he wanted to be the center of…

Senior officials from Iran and six powers negotiating with Tehran over its nuclear program will hold more talks in Montreux, Switzerland on March 5, the European Union (EU) said on Friday, according to Reuters. The talks between political directors will be preceded by a series of bilateral meetings, EU spokeswoman Catherine Ray told reporters. “The…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel’s ties with the United States are strong enough to withstand any disagreements. Speaking to the haredi radio station Kol Barama, Netanyahu said that his upcoming speech to Congress is important because it aims to stop an agreement that is “very dangerous” for Israel. “We are on…

Italian deputies on Friday approved two resolutions calling on the government to support the goal of a Palestinian state but stopped short of supporting recognition now, AFP reported. A motion in support of recognizing “Palestine” and another opposing any steps in that direction were voted down, according to the report. Israel welcomed the parliament’s decision…

Jewish Actor Leonard Nimoy, who won fans worldwide for his generations-spanning role as the pointy-eared half-human half-Vulcan Spock in the “Star Trek” television and film franchise, died Friday at age 83, AFP reported. Nimoy, who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, died at his home in Los Angeles. His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed the…

Turkey does not place a high priority on fighting Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists and as a result foreign fighters are able to travel through the country into Syria, United States intelligence chief James Clapper said Thursday, according to AFP. Asked if he was optimistic that Turkey would take a more active role in the war…

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV recently aired a report which featured Gazan women training in the use of weapons and explosive devices in the Al-Nasser Salah Al-Din Brigades, the “military wing” of the Popular Resistance Committees. The report aired on February 20, 2015, and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). In the report,…

Lawmakers in California on Thursday demanded that a Sacramento man take down poster-size swastikas displayed in front of his house, The Associated Press (AP) reported. While calling the signs racist and vulgar, the lawmakers also acknowledged, however, the person had a right to free speech. On the front door of the Sacramento house is a…

As efforts continue to strike a deal over Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will once again meet next week with his Iranian counterpart, AFP reported Thursday. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Kerry would address a high level meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. While in the…