Category: News

The UN agency for Palestinian Arab refugees said on Tuesday that it cannot afford to repair Gaza homes damaged in last year’s war with Israel – because donors have failed to live up to their pledges to pay. “The agency has exhausted all funding to support repairs and rental subsidies,” said the United Nations Relief…

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has slammed as “utterly despicable” an Islamic State (ISIS) threat to kill a Japanese hostage within 24 hours unless Jordan releases a jihadi bomber. “This was an utterly despicable act, and I am appalled,” the Japanese prime minister told reporters Wednesday morning (local time), according to AFP. “While we are…

Hours after former minister Avi Dichter appealed to the Supreme Court over the District Court’s decision to freeze the recount in Likud’s primaries, the Supreme Court on Tuesday evening accepted Dichter’s appeal and order the recount to resume. The decision means that the duel between Dichter and MK Tzipi Hotovely over the 20th spot on…

President Barack Obama’s efforts to thwart new sanctions against Iran seem to have worked. A group of 10 Senate Democrats said on Tuesday they wouldn’t vote for new sanctions against Iran on the Senate floor until late March, according to The Wall Street Journal. In a letter to Obama, Sens. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), Charles…

Kadima chairman MK Shaul Mofaz officially announced on Tuesday that he is retiring from political life and will not run for the 20th Knesset, though Kadima is still planning to run with a list in the March 17 election. “I must confess – I am not an outstanding politician. Politics is not something I strive…

The IDF on Tuesday night attacked artillery targets belonging to the Syrian army, in retaliation for rocket attacks earlier on Tuesday towards the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon. “[The rocket fire] was a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the State of Israel,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement, noting that direct hits…

After weeks of tension and public calls for former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari’s Otzma Yehudit and MK Eli Yishai’s Yachad – Ha’am Itanu to run on a technical bloc joint list, negotiations have fallen through after Yishai’s party made surprising last minute demands on Ben-Ari. The two parties were in zero hour talks on Tuesday night…

President Reuven Rivlin met Monday evening in New York with parents of IDF Lone Soldiers from the United States who fell in battle during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza over the summer, the Government Press Office announced Tuesday, accompanied by his wife Nechama.  The President and his wife met with Evie and Stuart Steinberg, parents of Sgt. Max Steinberg, and Rachel and…

The number of anti-Semitic acts doubled in France during 2014, with acts involving physical violence leading the increase, the country’s main Jewish group said on Tuesday. Some 851 anti-Semitic acts were registered in 2014, compared with 423 the previous year, with acts of physical violence jumping to 241 from 105, the CRIF said. The numbers were released as world leaders…

Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett confirmed Tuesday morning that he intends to place Dr. Anat Roth in the 14th spot in the Jewish Home’s Knesset list. Bennett noted Roth’s move from left wing to right wing views symbolizes Israelis’ awakening from pipe dreams of “peace.” Roth’s performance in the Jewish Home primaries was lukewarm, and she reached the 22nd…

Asked about the way he circumvented the White House in inviting Binyamin Netanyahu to address Congress, House Speaker John Boehner told CBS‘s 60 Minutes: “I gave ’em a heads up that morning. But there’s nobody in the world who can talk about the threat of radical terrorism, nobody can talk about the threat that the…

Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino faces yet another scandal in the police force Tuesday, after his direct subordinate was identified as the prime suspect in a sexual harassment case.  Deputy Police Commissioner Nissim Mor has been implicated in fraternizing illicitly with a junior female police officer. Mor, who was interrogated at the Police Investigation Unit, said…

The ubiquitous social media site Facebook crashed Tuesday morning, just after 8:00 am IST.  Attempts to access the site result in a “page not found” or loading loop, or alternatively end with an error message stating, “we are working on it and will fix the problem as soon as possible.”  The site was down in the…

Former minister Avi Dichter is appealing to the Supreme Court over the District Court’s decision to freeze the recount in Likud’s primaries – a decision that would place MK Tzipi Hotovely in the 20th spot on the party list, and bump Dichter down to the much less realistic 26th. Dichter said that in the course…

To mark Israeli Space Week, about 300 IAI employees posed in a way that spelled out “IAI” for what they called a “satellite selfie”: a photograph taken by the cameras mounted on the IAI’s EROS (Earth Resources Observation Satellite) B satellite. “We looked up exactly on the specific minute in which the satellite passed over…

Japan is working with Jordan to free both a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian pilot being held by Islamist extremists, officials said Tuesday, days after terrorists executed another hostage, according to AFP.  The self-styled Islamic State group apparently beheaded Japanese contractor Haruna Yukawa last week after a 72-hour deadline for a $200 million ransom passed without payment.  In a video released Saturday,…

The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group threatened Tuesday to kill a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian pilot within 24 hours if Amman refuses to free a jailed female jihadist. The video released on jihadist websites shows a picture of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto holding a photograph of captured Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh with a voiceover purportedly by Goto relaying the threat.…

The BBC is no stranger to controversial statements tinged with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiments, including shocking questions at the recent Paris anti-terror rally and talk of a powerful “Jewish lobby” – now it has raised ire again by suggesting it is time to forget the Holocaust. As the world on Tuesday observes International Holocaust Memorial Day…

European Parliament President Martin Schulz of Germany took part in the fourth International “Let My People Live!” Forum against anti-Semitism this week, where he had harsh words for the recent rise of the racist hate in Europe. “Auschwitz is the darkest point in the history of mankind, and for sure the darkest point in the history of my nation,” said…

Panos Kammenos, whose nationalist Independent Greeks party has entered into an unlikely coalition government with the radical left-wing Syriza, once walked the corridors of parliament wearing a T-shirt that read: “Greece is not for sale.” At first glance, the bombastic 49-year-old leader of the ANEL party and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Syriza may seem…

MK Zevulun Kalfa has announced his resignation from the Jewish Home Knesset list, in an act of protest at the decision by party head Naftali Bennett to place former soccer star Eli Ohana in its number 10 spot. Kalfa, who is a member of the National Union/Tekuma faction which recently merged with Jewish Home, announced…

The Roundtable of Speakers of Parliament in the European Union expressed “grave concern” Tuesday about the rise in anti-Semitism witnessed in Europe. “We, the gathered here today in Prague for the 70th commemoration ceremony of the Holocaust,” said the group, “express our grave concern about the rise in verbal, digital and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism…

Labor is maintaining a strong lead over Likud in elections polls Tuesday, after a Panels Politics poll for the Knesset Channel held on Monday night gave leaders Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni a two-seat lead.  Labor wins the top spot, according to this poll, with 25 seats, vs. Likud at just 23. Jewish Home has weakened slightly at…

Belgian security forces arrested three suspected Islamist terrorists in fresh counter-terror raids after foiling a major plot to attack police earlier this month, officials said Tuesday. The three arrests were made in the western town of Harelbeke, close to the French border, the Belga news agency reported, citing the prosecutor’s office in nearby Courtrai. Belgium has been on high alert…

Turkey will host a ceremony to commemorate Holocaust victims in its capital for the first time in a sign of solidarity with the Jewish community, an official said. “The ceremony will take place in Ankara for the first time, with the presence of parliament speaker,” the official told AFP. Holocaust International Remembrance Day was first marked in Turkey…

Many Hungarians chose “bad instead of good” in helping deport Jews to Nazi death camps, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Monday in his first acknowledgement of his country’s complicity in the Holocaust. “We were without love and indifferent, when we should have helped, and very many Hungarians chose bad instead of good, the shameful instead of the honorable,” Orban said at…

President Reuven Rivlin began the second day of his trip to the United States with a visit to the West Point US Military Academy.  Rivlin was greeted by the Dean of the Academic Board, Brigadier General Timothy E. Trainor and was welcomed with a Guard of Honor as well as the playing of Hatikva and The…

The weekly BeSheva newspaper, an Arutz Sheva-associated publication distributed free around the country, has become the third-largest weekly journal in Israel. So reports the TGI (Target Group Index) consumers-and-media analysis organization.  BeSheva, a religious-Zionist publication, jumped to 7.3% in the second half of 2014 – up from 4.8% in 2013. With this, it surpassed HaAretz, which reached only a 7%…

Former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari’s Otzma Yehudit party has released its list for the 20th Knesset Monday, ahead of the Thursday deadline for the March 17 elections.  The list is as follows: 1. Dr. Michael Ben-Ari 2. Civil rights attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir 3. Lehava chairman Bentzi Gopshtain 4. Baruch Marzel  Party sources say that the…

A radical Muslim leader pleaded not guilty in a Bosnian court Monday to charges of inciting terrorism for having encouraged his followers to fight alongside terrorists in Syria and Iraq. The radical cleric, Husein Bosnic, was arrested last year and charged with urging followers to leave for Syria and Irak to fight with Islamic terrorists when he preached in several Bosnian…

The left is gaining ground, according to a Channel 2 poll released Monday night, with Labor three seats ahead of Likud.  Labor is projected to gain 26 seats in the 2015 elections, according to this poll, with Likud a distant second at 23.  Jewish Home is perennially in third place, though down several seats at just 15,…

Member of the Jewish Home party’s Central Committee gathered Monday evening to confirm the party’s unification with Tekuma and to present its official joint list for the 20th Knesset.  “First of all I want to send a complete recovery to our friend (and fellow party member) Uri Orbach,” Jewish Home’s Chairman Naftali Bennett said.  “Today…

The IDF has begun digging trenches along the border with Syria, Walla! News reports Monday night, amid fears of real escalation between Israel and Islamists in neighboring Syria and Lebanon.  The mechanical engineering company of the IDF’s Northern Command has employed tractors and borders to dig the trenches, a source told the news site, amid specific concerns…

Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid announced his party’s Knesset list Monday night – mere days before the deadline to do so.  “We have learned from our initial mistakes that if we really want to make a difference, we will have to put the knife between our teeth and fight,” Lapid began the press conference.  Lapid then…

Egypt’s Emergency State Security Court on Monday overturned an earlier decision to list Hamas as a terrorist organization, the Ma’an news agency reported. The court ruled that determining whether or not Hamas is a terror group does not fall under its jurisdiction. The same court had decided in March 2014 to ban Hamas activities in…

Film director Steven Spielberg on Monday warned that Jews are again facing what he called the “perennial demons of intolerance”, from anti-Semites who are provoking hate crimes and trying to strip Holocaust survivors of their identity, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Spielberg’s warning was made in a speech to dozens of Auschwitz survivors the evening before…

President Reuven Rivlin on Monday held a working meeting in New York with United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, upon whose invitation Rivlin will address the UN special session for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Rivlin thanked Ban for all he has done to promote Holocaust remembrance at the UN, saying, “I want to thank the…

The United States Central Command confirmed on Monday night that Kurdish forces have pushed back the Islamic State (ISIS) group and now control 90 percent of the key Syrian town of Kobane. ISIS, which has overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq, had poured men and weapons into an offensive to secure Kobane, which is…

Argentina’s President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, announced on Monday night that she plans to disband Argentina’s intelligence agency, in the wake of the mysterious death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman last week. Speaking in a televised address and quoted by the BBC, Kirchner said she would draft a bill to set up a new body to…

Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett explained on Monday evening the reasoning behind his recruiting former soccer legend Eli Ohana to the party. Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Bennett said that he reached out to Ohana in order to attract more voters, resulting in a stronger Jewish Home after the elections. “Tonight is a happy night for…

A former CIA officer was convicted on Monday of leaking classified details of an operation to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions to a New York Times reporter. According to The Associated Press (AP), jurors convicted the agent, 47-year-old Jeffrey Sterling of all nine counts he faced in federal court. On the third day of deliberations, the…

The United States said Monday that the battle for control of the Syrian town of Kobane was continuing, despite claims by Kurdish leaders that their forces have recaptured the area from Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists. Kurdish forces, backed up by coalition air strikes, had made progress in recent fighting but “Kobane remains contested,” State Department…

The Jewish Home party surprised Israelis on Monday evening by announcing that former Israeli soccer superstar Eli Ohana had joined the party. Ohana, 50, played with the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team for many years and also with several European teams. He is currently the manager of the Israel national under-19 soccer team. He is expected…

It has become known as “Survivors’ Street” – a small road in Haifa where about 100 Holocaust survivors are living out their last days side-by-side, keeping alive memories and testimony of the Nazi genocide. The quiet and shady street was initially only the home of a social center that supplied meals to the elderly in this northern Israeli port…

A week after the Chief Rabbi of Iran sharply blamed the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris for causing their deaths by “insulting” Mohammed, the founder of Islam, members of the Iranian Jewish community have revealed he made the statements “under the pressure of the authorities.” In the rare statement to Iranian media, Rabbi Mashallah…

Former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari’s Otzma Yehudit party and MK Eli Yishai’s Yachad – Ha’am Itanu were in last minute talks Sunday night to form a joint list and ensure both parties don’t miss out in the coming elections, but apparently those talks have fallen through, and Otzma Yehudit says a person close to Yishai is responsible. According…

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been conducting a nearly four-year bloody crackdown on his own people, said US plans to train vetted rebels to fight Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists were “illusory” as they would eventually defect to the jihadists, in an interview published Monday. The Syrian leader also questioned talks to be held in Moscow this week, telling Foreign…

Several young Arab assailants armed with rubber straps, sticks and rocks entered the Hadar neighborhood in Haifa on Sunday, where they began beating passersby with the sticks and shouting “slaughter the Jew” in Arabic. According to one of the testimonies from the attack, at around 11 p.m. the Arab youths arrived at Michael Street in the…

As Australian troops join US-led efforts to combat Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, one of the country’s political figures has reportedly taken matters into his own hands and gone to the Middle East to fight them himself. Matthew Gardiner, a former trade unionist and ex-president of the Northern Territory branch of the opposition Labor Party, left Australia to join a Kurdish…

Leftist Israeli filmmakers are known for negatively portraying IDF soldiers, as recently exemplified by “5 Broken Cameras,” but a new documentary is seeking to push the envelope and go back in time to the 1967 Six Day War. The film, “Censored Voices,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, reports the New York Times. It takes snippets from interviews conducted…

With elections just seven weeks away, Israel’s journalists are fully fledged participants in the contest between left and right, as a leading article in Monday morning’s Israel Hayom website shows. In the seven years since its first issue rolled off the press, Israel Hayom – the freebie newspaper that became Israel’s most widely read daily…

Israel’s ambassador to the United States stressed on Sunday night that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to Washington, where he will address Congress, is not meant to show disrespect towards President Barack Obama. Netanyahu’s acceptance of an invitation from House Speaker John Boehner to address Congress weeks before the election in Israel was met with a…

Ronen Moshe, the media adviser to Kulanu party chairman Moshe Kahlon, and the owner of the public relations firm Together, is suspected of bribery and fraud in aggravated circumstances, as part of the corruption case surrounding Yisrael Beytenu, Walla! News reports Monday. Moshe, who has been arrested for his alleged role in the case, will be kept under police custody…

The saga over the Likud primaries continued Monday as MK Tzipi Hotovely won her appeal to the Tel Aviv District Court against the Likud Court’s decision to hold a recount.  Fully accepting the petition of Avi Dichter, who was originally placed in the 20th spot on the Likud Knesset list, before being relegated to the unrealistic 26th spot, the Likud court…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman met with his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow Monday. At the meeting, the two ministers discussed the continuing and strengthening of relations and cooperation between Israel and Russia. The pair also signed a memorandum of understanding between the two countries’ foreign ministries.  Liberman and Lavrov focused particularly on issues regarding the wider Middle East…

Reservists from the Intelligence Corps’ Unit 8200 who penned a letter protesting their IDF service during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza over the summer will be dishonorably discharged, the IDF stated Monday.  In September, the soldiers, who include a number of extremist leftist activists, complained that their service “harms innocents” in an open letter published across…

Members of a Muslim gang who carried out a terrifying anti-Semitic attack in England last summer have pleaded guilty to racially aggravated common assault, according to the UK’s Daily Mirror. Newcastle Crown Court heard how the four anti-Semitic attackers – Balawal Sultan (18), Kesa Malik (19), Hassnain Aliamin (18), and a 16-year-old minor who cannot be named for legal reasons – had traveled…

New Saudi King Salman is expected to use President Barack Obama’s stopover on Tuesday to push for greater US involvement in resolving Middle East crises, analysts say. Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle, is cutting short a visit to India to convey his condolences after the death of ailing King Abdullah last Friday.   Following…

Americans on the East Coast have been bracing themselves for a record snowstorm Monday, after the National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for “historic” and “life-threatening” snowfall.  Up to 36 inches (3 ft.) of snow is predicted to fall in parts of New England over the next day, bridging multiple states, according to the latest…

Did Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog reveal classified information about the operation that killed an Iranian general and Hezbollah’s Jihad Mughniyeh, a week ago? Speaking at a conference in the Emek Israel College Sunday, Herzog spoke about diplomatic and security-related subjects and said, “I am telling you, today, every moment there is something. What do you…

Rabbi Mordechai Frizis, former chief rabbi of Salonika in Greece, spoke to Arutz Sheva on Monday to explain the results of the Mediterranean nation’s recent elections. “The results show a revolution in Greek politics. For the first time the leftist radical party Syriza won a majority with half of the seats in the parliament,” related Rabbi Frizis.…

Acquisitions by Amazon, Microsoft, Dropbox and others have enriched hi-tech Israeli entrepreneurs less than four weeks into 2015, reported financial website Globes on Monday. Since the start of the year six acquisitions of Israeli start-up companies by by US companies have totaled $862 million. This compares to a total of $4.3 billion in acquisitions of…

Egypt’s Prime Minister, Ibrahim Mahlab, on Sunday extended a curfew in parts of North Sinai by another three months, the website of the Al-Ahram newspaper reported. The curfew was initially imposed on October 25, following two deadly attacks in El-Arish, which killed dozens of soldiers and were claimed by Egypt’s deadliest terrorist group, Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis. Following the attack,…

For the first time in five years, Hamas has decided to allow “Zionist” products into Gaza, the local Ministry of Economy said Sunday. Imad al-Baz, assistant deputy of the ministry, said soft drinks, clothes, coffee, and other Israeli goods would be allowed into Gaza, reported the Ma’an news agency. “The last war led to the…

Zalman Shoval, formerly Israel’s ambassador to the United States, told Arutz Sheva on Sunday that while the timing of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech before Congress is problematic, the problem can be solved using diplomacy. The speech has been received with an icy response from the White House and has also been criticized by…

New testimonies which emerged Sunday in the lawsuit of Manny Naftali, the former housekeeper of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sarah, allege that the Prime Minister’s wife verbally abused her employees. The court has ruled that the trial itself will not start until after the March…

A reporter from Argentina who fled the country after breaking the story that prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead shortly before he was about to make explosive allegations about President Cristina Kirchner, has landed in Israel, AFP reported Sunday night. “Now safe in Tel Aviv. Thanks everybody. We’ll talk soon,” the report, Damian Pachter, tweeted.…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Sunday accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of conspiring with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. “It’s very clear. Because whenever we make advances in some place, they attack in order to undermine the army. It’s very clear,” Assad told the American Foreign Affairs magazine in excerpts of an interview that will…

The Central Committee of the Labor party convened in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening and overwhelmingly approved the joint Labor-Hatnua list, which is calling itself “the Zionist Camp”, for the upcoming elections. Speaking at the conference, Labor chairman Yitzhak Herzog declared, “We are the real Zionism. No one will teach us about Zionism.” “There is…

Official Palestinian Authority (PA) publications are repeatedly blaming Israel for the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris earlier this month, Palestinian Media Watch reports Sunday.  The daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida has featured multiple attacks on Israel for the shooting rampage, which sent shockwaves through the West after Al-Qaeda terrorists Said and Cherif Kouachi shot and killed 12 members of the satirical news magazine for…

Jewish Home and Tekuma, which ran on a joint list in the last elections, agreed to do so again in the upcoming elections, but there are rumors that Jewish Home may choose to scuttle the deal at the last minute. Jewish Home’s Central Committee will convene Monday to ratify the agreement, which reserves five of…

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said on Sunday that the US relationship with Israel remains strong despite the tension around Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to Washington, scheduled for early March. “I’m not going to get hyperbolic or emotional about this,” McDonough said on NBC‘s Meet The Press. “Our relationship with Israel…

Most Israelis would prefer Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to remain in his post during the 20th Knesset, according to a poll released Sunday, instead of other “security experts” touted by major parties for the post for the next government.  Ya’alon was favored by far by the respondents of the survey, conducted by TRI for Channel 10 news, with 35.7% of…

Five civilians and two soldiers were killed and dozens wounded when rebels fired a barrage of rockets and mortar rounds Sunday at central Damascus, a monitoring group said. The rebel attack came two days after they threatened to retaliate for deadly air raids by the Syrian regime against an opposition-held area on the edge of…

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee says that “serious threats” being made to Arabs and Muslims, following the release of the film American Sniper. The film is based on a book about sniper Chris Kyle, a Navy Seal, who served four tours of duty in Iraq from 2003-09 and killed more than 160 people, making him the…

Charges were filed in the Samaria Military Court Sunday against the terrorists who carried out the terrorist attack last month near Ma’ale Shomron, wherein a firebombing severely burned 11 year-old Ayala Shapira. The charges attributed to the terrorists – a 16 year-old and a man named as Muhammad Budan – include terrorism and attempted murder.  According to…

Even the Simpsons have joined the world in commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz on Sunday, after artist Alexander Palombo drew the famous cartoon family wearing striped concentration camp uniforms and yellow stars.  Palombo later drew a panel of a ‘Simpsony’ Anne Frank with a “Never Again” sign as well, as part of what he said…

The United Nations Security Council on Sunday condemned the murder of a Japanese hostage by the Islamic State group and called for the immediate release of a second fellow national held captive. In a unanimous declaration, the 15 members of the security body spoke out against the Islamic State group’s “brutality” in its apparent beheading of self-employed security contractor Haruna Yukawa. “The…

In a series of articles about the “Efrat” organization, Arutz Sheva presents a number of personal stories and anecdotes relating the group’s life-saving activities. This week’s article centers on Yardena, a mother of three who unexpectedly became pregnant a mere four months after a difficult labor and delivery. “It came as a surprise,” Yardena recounted. “I received the news of all of my…

The leftist and anti-austerity Syriza party has won the elections in Greece, international media reported Sunday, taking some 35-38% of the final votes, according to exit polls.  The win signals a reversal for the Greek government, as the ruling New Democratic Party came in distant second with 26-28% of the vote, according to BBC.  In third is…

Merger talks between Eli Yishai’s Yachad – Ha’am Itanu party and Otzma Yehudit under former MK Michael Ben Ari have reached an impasse, Arutz Sheva has learned. Two issues are the main stumbling blocks before an agreement that would enable the two small parties to join forces and increase their chances of passing the minimum threshold.…

Eli Yishai’s Yachad-Ha’am Itanu party may be the biggest surprise of the 2015 Elections, sources stated to Arutz Sheva Sunday – not just due to the many possible joint lists it could forge with the Otzma Yehudit party or Tekuma faction, but possibly with a third party as well. Various reports have surfaced over the past several…

The Islamic State group’s radio confirmed on Sunday that its terrorists have executed Japanese security contractor Haruna Yukawa, following the release of a video announcing the hostage’s death, according to AFP.  “The Islamic State has carried out its threat… it has executed Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa after the expiry of the deadline given,” the Sunni extremist group said on Al-Bayan…

At least 15 people are dead in Cairo, according to Reuters, following clashes Sunday between police and Islamist protesters, marking the fourth anniversary of the uprising that ousted then-President Hosni Mubarak. The AP said 13 more people were injured in clashes in the Matariyah area of the capital. Al-Ahram reported that police shot dead an armed…

The official Argentine Jewish community is planning to boycott the country’s official Holocaust commemoration. The state ceremonies will be held on  Tuesday, International Holocaust Day – and the Jews of Argentina will hold their own separate memorial ceremony the same day. The Jews are protesting the suspicious death – and subsequent investigation thereof – of prosecutor Alberto…

The international community is failing in its duty to protect civilians affected by the conflict in Iraq and Syria, US actress Angelina Jolie said Sunday in northern Iraq. In her capacity as special envoy for the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR), the Hollywood star visited Syrian refugees and displaced Iraqis near Dohuk, in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, according to AFP.  “I’m shocked…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has declared that the PA’s membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC) would be fully active by April, the Ma’an news agency reports. Abbas said the most important issues to bring to the ICC were “Israeli settlements and assaults.” The comments, which were made Friday, came during Abbas’s visit…

Israeli book chain Steimatzky has dropped plans for an in-store promotion for the latest edition of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, with a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed, AFP reported on Saturday, citing local media. Kol Yisrael radio said the chain had intended to hold a promotional event in a branch in the Tel Aviv area but later decided…

MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) said on Saturday night that the Likud upper court’s ruling from Friday to recount all the votes in the party primaries was contrary to the decision of the head of the Likud’s Election Commission, Judge Menachem Ne’eman, and would unnecessarily hurt the party. “Judge Ne’eman and the Election Commission ruled that…

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that the “credibility” of a video announcing the execution of a Japanese hostage by the Islamic State (ISIS) is “high”, AFP reports. “We have been looking into its authenticity, but unfortunately at the moment we cannot help saying its credibility is high,” he said on the public network…

The Jewish community in New York is in shock following the death of the self-proclaimed “Facebuker Rebbe”, Rabbi Dovid Winiarz, who was killed this past week in a car accident on the way a Jewish convention in Baltimore. Family and friends will visit the cemetery on Sunday, as the seven-day mourning period, the shiva, for…

President Reuven Rivlin departed for New York on Saturday night, where he will address the United Nations Special Assembly to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday. As well, Rivlin will hold meetings with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, visit West Point USMA, lay a wreath at the 9/11 Memorial, address members of the African-American,…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called on party activists Sunday to buy “thousands” of copies of the controversial “Mohammed edition” of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, which they will then distribute to Israelis on a mass basis. Liberman called for the mass purchase after bookseller Steimatzky decided to cancel an in-store event celebrating the sale of…

Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid and several of his party’s members took to the streets Sunday morning with a new campaign declaration.  Standing at the entrance to the Kirya (a major IDF base) in Tel Aviv, Lapid promised that raising the salaries of IDF soldiers would be one of his requirements post-elections and would be the basis…

A light aircraft crashed Sunday morning near the Superland amusement park in Rishon Lezion in central Israel.  The plane crashed into a shed at the airstrip and then caught on fire. Difficult visibility conditions, including heavy fog, were the cause of the accident. The two people aboard the plane were killed. Their bodies were trapped…

Many bus commuters throughout Israel will be forced to find other modes of transportation Monday, as the Egged bus cooperative goes on a full-fledged strike. The strike will last for just one day, but union representatives for drivers hope that will be enough time to prompt management to negotiate on their demands. The strike was originally…

MK Ibrahim Sarsur, head of the Ra’am Ta’al Arab party, warned Israeli shops against selling copies of the French Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine. “There are red lines that cannot be crossed,” said Sarsur, who stated in an interview on Channel Ten that while he was all for freedom of speech, there was some speech that could…

United States President Barack Obama called Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday to offer his condolences and express his and the US’s solidarity against terrorism.  Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa is believed to have been executed by Islamic State terrorists, after a video surfaced online Saturday claiming as much.  Japan has stated that although they cannot yet…

The distraught father of a Japanese hostage believed executed by his terrorist Islamist captors told Sunday how his mind had gone “totally blank” when he heard the news of his son’s death. “I thought ‘Ah, this has finally happened’ and was filled with regret,” Shoichi Yukawa said hours after a video appeared online claiming that self-styled military contractor Haruna Yukawa has been…

As yet another round of talks between Western countries and Iran on the latter country’s scaling back its uranium enrichment program wrapped up with no progress last week, Iran announced that it would seek to enrich uranium to even greater levels. Iranian parliamentarians said over the weekend they would draft a new law to upgrade…

The Anti-Semitism Report for 2014 will be presented Sunday during Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s weekly Cabinet meeting, Channel 2 News reported.  The Chairman of the World Zionist Organization, Avraham Duvdevani and WZO’s Department for Countering Anti-Semitism, Yaakov Haguel, will present the report as well as a comprehensive questionnaire conducted among Diaspora Jews.  The report contains an overview of…

Jerusalem city Councilman and Land of Israel activist Arieh King has been working to prevent the sale of the last Jewish-owned property in the area of Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate to Arabs – so far, to no avail, he said. The property is owned by a Jewish family from France who seems intent on selling the property,…

MK Rina Frenkel (Yesh Atid) is retiring from politics, she announced in a mass email to party members Saturday night.  “After two years of work as a member of the Israeli Knesset, I have decided not to run for the 20th Knesset, but instead – at this stage of life – to work in executive…

US President Barack Obama strongly condemned Saturday the killing of a Japanese hostage by the Islamic State group, though the execution has not yet been independently confirmed. “The United States strongly condemns the brutal murder of Japanese citizen Haruna Yukawa by the terrorist group,” Obama said in a statement, referring to ISIS, as he flew to India for a visit. Japanese…

Increasing numbers of young women are altering the profile of Australians joining the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria, Attorney-General George Brandis said Saturday, enticed by the “false glamor” of the organization. “At an earlier time, perhaps even six months ago, we were concerned almost entirely about young men,” Brandis said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). “But…

Herzl Biton, the bus driver who was seriously injured while fighting terrorist Hamza Mohammed Hassan Matrouk during a stabbing spree in Tel Aviv Wednesday, described his ordeal in an emotional Channel 10 interview Saturday night.  “I had no choice, I had to save the passengers,” Biton stated, from his hospital bed in Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital. “He stabbed…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has requested that veteran journalist Caroline Glick be appointed to the #11 spot on the Likud list, Likud sources stated Saturday night.  Glick is a veteran journalist who founded the satirical television series Latma, is the deputy managing editor for the Jerusalem Post, and the senior fellow in a Washington-based think tank, the…

A Syrian refugee child has been beaten by a restaurant manager in the Turkish city Istanbul for eating a customer’s leftovers, local media reported on Saturday. A photo circulating on social media shows the 11-year-old boy sitting bloodied on stairs after having been beaten Wednesday by the manager of fast food chain Burger King’s outlet in the Sirinevler district. The reason for…

US-led forces have carried out dozens of air strikes in Iraq to back up Kurdish forces advancing against Islamic State jihadists near the strategic city of Mosul, the American military said Saturday. Over the past 72 hours, US and coalition aircraft conducted 46 bombing raids in support of Kurdish peshmerga troops near Mosul and 80 hours of reconnaissance flights, the…

Economics professor Manuel Trajtenberg has been appointed to the #11 spot on the Labor list, Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog announced Saturday night – despite earlier reports that former Military Intelligence (MI) chief Amos Yadlin had been slated for the reserved spot.  Herzog also explicitly stated that Trajtenberg is the party’s choice for Finance Minister, according…

While Jewish Home officials have urged Yachad Ha’am Itanu’s Eli Yishai and Otzma Yehudit’s Michael Ben-Ari to unite, such a pact could actually harm a right-wing bloc, according to a new poll.  A survey from the Panels Politics institute for Otzma Yehudit published Saturday night projects seven seats for a technical bloc between the two…

A colleague who says he gave a gun to an Argentine prosecutor found fatally shot earlier this week has been barred from leaving the country, justice officials in Buenos Aires said. Authorities said Diego Lagomarsino, a computer expert and colleague who said he brought prosecutor Alberto Nisman a handgun Saturday night at his request, has been barred from leaving Argentina. Nisman…

Nationalist journalist Erel Segal on Friday informed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he would not run for the Knesset with the Likud. Segal’s announcement came a day after reports surfaced that Netanyahu was considering placing the 45-year-old journalist in one of the spots on the Likud Knesset list that are reserved for a candidate of…

Miss Lebanon can breathe a sigh of relief: Despite the fact that a photograph of her alongside with Miss Israel appeared on the internet, she will not be stripped of her title or punished. “According to the information we obtained, Miss Lebanon [Saly Greige] did not have bad intentions that necessitates her being stripped of…

A knife-wielding 18-year-old Arab from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya was caught and arrested in the vicinity of the President’s Residence in the capital on Friday night. The incident took place when one of the president’s security guards, who was on a routine security patrol, noticed the young man. The guard called a police officer…

At least as many anti-Muslim acts have taken place in France since the terror attacks this month as for all of last year, a leading Muslim group reported Friday, according to The Associated Press (AP). The French Council for the Muslim Religion said 128 anti-Muslim actions or threats were reported from January 7-20, a number…

The Arab parties of Balad, Hadash and United Arab List, which decided to run on a joint list on Thursday, introduced the new union on Friday and declared their goal: to rid the Knesset of “the extreme right”, as they put it. Members of the new united party gathered for a press conference in which…

The unending saga surrounding the Likud primaries continued on Friday, as the Likud court ordered a recount of all the ballots in the primaries. The court’s ruling came despite the opposition by MK Tzipi Hotovely, who was named the candidate in the #20 spot on the Likud’s Knesset list earlier this week. The ruling fully accepts the…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) assessed the Northern Command headquarters in Tzfat (Safed) on Friday, in a special meeting attended by the GOC Aviv Kochavi, Chief of Operations Gen. Yoav Har-Even and other senior IDF officials.  During the assessment, Ya’alon examined whether the Northern Command is sufficiently prepared for the possibility of an attack from Israel’s northern neighbors,…

Islamic State (ISIS) recruiting is not just a problem of the West, revealed Chinese vice-minister of Public Safety Ministry Meng Hongwei, as he spoke with Malaysia’s Minister of Home Affairs Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and revealed 300 Chinese have left to join the terrorist group. Meng, whose ministry is tasked with managing the country’s police force, told Hamidi…

Tutankhamun may be an ancient mummy, but he received a modern facelift, employees of Cairo’s Egyptian Museum stated Friday – after his burial mask’s beard fell off, and then was hastily glued back together.  It is unclear what caused the mishap, the museum’s conservators told BBC, as well as whether the beard was removed intentionally or…

Despite repeated calls to run on a joint list so as to ensure both ideological religious nationalist parties can pass the recently raised threshold, Yachad – Ha’am Itanu chair Eli Yishai has apparently refused to run with Dr. Michael Ben-Ari’s Otzma Yehudit. Yishai met this Wednesday with Kiryat Arba and Hevron chief rabbi, Rabbi Dov…

Koby Kahlon, the brother of Kulanu chairman Moshe Kahlon and deputy mayor of Jerusalem, has denied serious allegations leveled against him of fraud and breach of trust Friday, claiming it is a political tactic.  “I say that this is a political move, and the case will be closed – on the police’s recommendation,” Kahlon stated.…

Leftist sources in Israel have decried Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s acceptance of an invitation extended by the US Congress and changing the date to two weeks before March 17 elections; likewise US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry refused to meet Netanyahu, claiming a policy of not meeting foreign leaders close to elections. However, just 19 years…

The mother of one of the Japanese captives being held by Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists Friday urged the Tokyo government to pay the jihadists’ $200 million ransom, and pleaded that her son’s life be spared. As the terrorists’ deadline passed, there was no news from the prime minister’s office on the fate of Kenji Goto, a freelance journalist, or Haruna Yukawa, the self-employed…

The Islamic State (ISIS) branch in “Bayt al-Maqdis,” an Arabization of the Hebrew Holy Temple and a term for Jerusalem, has started distributing publications explaining ISIS’s platform, in a campaign to expand its influence in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. On the opening page of the publication by ISIS in “Palestine” is written “this is our position,…

Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party may be turning to the national religious public for support, the party’s Education Minister Rabbi Shai Piron indicated Friday – days after the party established a branch for its religious voters.  “There are many religious people who feel that the haredi national religious are taking over the national religious dialogue, and feel left…

Rabbi Aryeh Stern, who was elected Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem last October, took a visit to the OU Israel Center in the capital on Tuesday to learn about its activities. The rabbi, a student of the famous religious Zionist leader Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook zt”l, was a chief editor of the Halacha Brura and Berur Halacha…

Hank Sheinkopf, former adviser to ex-US President Bill Clinton during his election campaign from 1995 to 1996, spoke with Arutz Sheva about the complicated political relations between Israeli and American leaders. Speaking about the tense relations between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama, Sheinkopf remarked that how the world feels about Netanyahu is not important…

Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) dispersed rumors of a joint list with Likud on Friday, maintaining that the two parties will not be uniting for the 20th Knesset.  “I do not see such a union, we are very different parties,” Bennett claimed to Israel Radio. “Jewish Home is actually the only party opposed to a Palestinian…

The Belgian authorities are looking for a possible accomplice to Mehdi Nemmouche, who has been charged with murdering four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels last year, the prosecutor’s office said Friday. The prosecutor’s office said “we are looking for this person,” who has not been identified, when asked to confirm a report in La Derniere Heure daily. Responding…

Israel’s former president Shimon Peres Friday said the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah was “a real loss for the peace ofthe Middle East.”  “He was an experienced leader and a wise king. He had the courage … to stand up and introduce a peace program for the Middle East,” said Peres, referring to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. “I’m not sure…

Otzma Yehudit chair Dr. Michael Ben-Ari explained Friday what has been keeping his party from a joint list with Eli Yishai’s Yachad – Ha’am Itanu, a move called for by many given the likelihood indicated in polls that both parties may not pass the recently raised threshold running separately. “Eli Yishai refuses to meet with…

The Arab parties of Balad, Hadash and United Arab List, which split earlier on Thursday when MK Ahmed Tibi broke off to form his own one-man party, decided on Thursday night to unite their parties on a joint list. The decision could see their joint list come in as the fourth largest party in the…

Yet another poll has been released in the run up to the March 17 elections, this time showing Likud getting a clear upper hand on the Labor Hatnua joint list that it has been running neck and neck with for top spot. According to the TNS Telecaster poll published Thursday night by Channel 1, Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud would…

A Polish university on Thursday restored doctorate degrees to 262 people, most of them Jewish, decades after genocidal Nazi Germany annulled them in the run-up to World War II. Descendants of the wronged men and women – many of them doctors and scientists who went on to have brilliant academic careers in Britain, France and the United States – attended a…

Almost half a year since Gilad Sha’ar (16), Naftali Frenkel (16) and Eyal Yifrah (19) hy”d were brutally abducted and murdered by Hamas terrorists, top Israeli musicians along with the families of the murdered have released a powerful new song dedicated to their memories. Arutz Sheva was on hand to witness the moving scenes as famous…

A senior Israeli official delivered an uncommonly harsh attack on US President Barack Obama’s administration Thursday evening, following the American report that alleged that Mossad Head Tamir Pardo had warned US senators against further Iran sanctions, in contradiction of Israel’s official stance. “The fraudulent claims against the Mossad Head were raised by the Americans yesterday,…

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi of Yemen resigned Thursday, according to government sources cited by the Associated Press. Immediately prior to this, Prime Minister Khaled Bahah offered his government’s resignation to Hadi, saying he did not want to be dragged into “an unconstructive political maze,” a reference to the ongoing fighting between Hadi and Iranian backed Houthi…

Arabs in a stolen Toyota vehicle attempted to run over IDF soldiers at Tapuach Junction in northern Samaria on Thursday evening. The Arabs approached from the direction of Hawara, driving wildly and bypassing the cars that were waiting in line. Their vehicle stopped at the checkpoint, but as policemen and Border Patrol officers approached the vehicle…

While Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) has tried to allay fears claiming digging sounds residents on the northern border have been hearing for years are not Hezbollah constructing terror tunnels, a new video records what clearly appears to be the sound of underground digging. When asked about the noises earlier this month, Ya’alon claimed “no tunnels…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is considering placing nationalist journalist Erel Segal, 45, on Likud’s Knesset list. Netanyahu is allowed to place candidates of his choosing in the 11th and 23rd spots in the Likud Knesset list. Segal hosts a television news talk show, Erev Hadash, on Channel 1, and a radio show on Israel Radio.…

The Jerusalem district attorney on Wednesday submitted an indictment at the local magistrates court against Muslim preacher Omar Abu Saara, who called to “slaughter” Jews in a speech on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Abu Saara is a 49-year-old living in eastern Jerusalem, and last November 28 he said in a speech…

A group of top European diplomats on Thursday spoke out against imposing new sanctions on Iran at this time, calling for talks between Western powers and the Islamic Republic to be given an opportunity to succeed. The call came in an opinion peace in The Washington Post authored by the following diplomats: French Foreign Minister…

Iraq on Thursday called on the international community to provide more weapons to help it push back the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, amid growing fears the jihadists are planning to bring their fight to the streets of Europe. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, speaking in London at a meeting of the international coalition against…

Experts on the negotiations with Iran regarding its nuclear capabilities have taken issue with two main points made by U.S. President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address this week. “Our diplomacy is at work with respect to Iran,” Obama said, “where, for the first time in a decade, we’ve halted the progress…

Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House Democrats, said on Thursday that Republican Speaker John Boehner’s invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to address Congress was “inappropriate”. Pelosi, a Democrat from California, cited the upcoming Israeli elections, as well as the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the West. “If that’s the purpose of…

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz died overnight Thursday in hospital, state TV reported. Before the announcement, reported the BBC, Saudi television cut to Koranic verses, which often signifies the death of a senior royal. King Abdullah, who was said to be aged about 90, had been in hospital for several weeks suffering from a lung…

US Secretary of State John Kerry claimed Thursday that six months of airstrikes led by his country had stopped the advance of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), even as his British counterpart warned that it would take years to crush the self-declared caliphate. The air strikes “have definitively put Da’esh on the defensive,” Kerry said, using…

The hashtag #JeSuisCouteau which means “I am knife” has begun trending on Twitter as users flock to social media to heap praise on the Palestinian terrorist who stabbed 11 Israelis on a bus in Tel Aviv Wednesday, the Daily Mail reported.  The latest hashtag is an attempt to re-appropriate #JeSuisCharlie (I am Charlie) which swept the world after the massacre…

A panicked Zehava Gal-On said Thursday that contrary to the impression many on the right have, the media is “not on our side.” Speaking on Israel Radio, Gal-On said that her Meretz party was not getting fair treatment from the media – because of its desire to “dump” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. That desire, the Meretz Chairwoman said,…

Teachers who have stuck with what many call the world’s hardest profession are to be recognized for their efforts by the Economy Ministry. On Wednesday, the Ministry announced it was going through with a plan to provide “experience bonuses” to teachers who have been working for 25 years. The bonus plan was proposed by MK Yoel…

Anti-Semitic graffiti along with the chilling order, “Leave Canada” were found spray-painted on a synagogue in West Edmonton, the capital of Alberta province in Canada.  The graffiti was located on the side wall of Temple Beth Israel in the Oleskiw neighborhood of West Edmonton, causing shock and anxiety to worshippers who noticed it as they walked into…

Malaysian authorities have removed detainees suspected of supporting the Islamic State terrorist organization from the general jail population after some were found preaching the extremist ISIS ideology to fellow inmates, the home minister said Thursday. “They have been found to influence other criminals in joining the ideology,” Zahid Hamidi told reporters, saying the ISIS suspects were being housed in dedicated cell blocks. “These…

Muhammad Deif, leader of Hamas’s military wing, published a letter Thursday morning sending his condolences to Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.  The Al-Qassam Brigades chief commander has not been seen publicly since Operation Protective Edge last summer, in which he was reported to have been killed.  In the letter published on the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar website, Deif sends…

Herzl Biton, the driver of the number 40 bus that was attacked by a Palestinian terrorist Wednesday, is conscious after having been in a coma for just over a day. However, officials at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv noted, Biton’s life is still in danger, and he remains connected to a respirator. Biton was stabbed three…

It costs thousands of euros for a false passport and place on a boat to Turkey, but Syrian refugees stranded in Cyprus are ready to try anything. After already paying thousands last year to take a boat from Syria that was abandoned by smugglers at sea, many of the 345 refugees who were rescued and bought to Cyprus are…

Prime Minister and Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu is inclined to give up on the possibility of forming a joint list with the Jewish Home party.  Channel 10 News reported that a recent legal examination into the requirements of such a unity deal found that the process would not be applicable at this time.  As Labor-Hatnua has begun…

Mossad Head Tamir Pardo denied on Thursday the report – which was carried by Bloomberg news – claiming that the Mossad disagrees with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about the need to press new sanctions on Iran. The report said that Mossad officials advised US senators who were visiting Israel recently to hold off on further…

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said Thursday that the prosecutor who investigated a 1994 bombing of a Jewish center did not commit suicide – and claimed he was murdered in order to implicate her in a cover up of Iran’s involvement in the deadly attack,. “I’m convinced that it was not suicide,” Kirchner said in a stunning post on…

MK Yoni Chetboun, who left Jewish Home to run with Eli Yishai’s new Yachad – Ha’am Itanu party, responded disparagingly to Jewish Home minister and Tekuma faction head Uri Ariel’s call for Yishai’s party to run with former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari’s Otzma Yehudit. Ariel said Thursday “Yishai must pass the threshold, because if not…

It has been revealed that Arab sports journalist Zuhair Bahloul, number 17 on the joint Labor Hatnua Knesset list, provided testimony on behalf of the family of an Arab citizen of Israel from the Galilee convicted of terrorism in a 2012 trial.  Although Bahloul did not praise the terror acts of Milad Khatib, he did not condemn…

The new female haredi party B’Zhutan has already been threatened with excommunication and other forms of backlash by members of the haredi community, to the point that Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber has decided to get involved. Zilber on Thursday sent a letter to the Central Elections Committee chairperson, judge Salim Joubran, responding to the…

The State Attorney’s Office told the High Court last week that it no longer opposes allowing Israelis to officially change their sex, even without undergoing an operation. The announcement was made in response to a motion filed by three women who were originally men, and The Aguda – The Israeli National LGBT Task Force. They demanded…

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah will be giving a rare public address next week to react to an Israeli air raid that killed six of his fighters in Syria, including two senior commanders, Hezbollah said Thursday. Nasrallah, who rarely appears in public for fear of assassination by Israel, “will speak on Friday, January 30 to commemorate the martyrs of Quneitra”, the…

Syria’s regime-tolerated domestic opposition and members of the main exiled group demanding the president’s ouster met Thursday in Cairo to discuss Moscow’s invitation to host talks with the Damascus government. The exiled National Coalition and top opposition figure Moaz al-Khatib have already announced they will not attend the talks aimed at finding a political solution…

MK Shimon Solomon is retiring from the nitty-gritty aspects of politics, he stated in a letter he sent to members of his Yesh Atid party on Thursday, and will not be running in the 20th Knesset. “At the end of two years of work as a member of the Israeli Knesset, I decided not to run for…

Despite the White House’s cold response to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader is welcome to give a speech at “any time” in the United States, top US diplomat John Kerry said Wednesday. But he agreed it had been a “little unusual” to hear about the Israeli leader’s address to the US Congress next month from the office of…

Yael Kliger, a resident of Betar Illit and an activist for dialogue between different sectors in Israel, has sent a letter to the Attorney General asking him to open an investigation against comedian Orna Banai and Channel 2 television, on suspicion of incitement to racism and violence. Kliger’s complaint follows Thursday evening’s broadcast of comedy…

Argentine investigators probing the death of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman have found a footprint and a fingerprint in a recently discovered access hallway to Nisman’s apartment, according to local media. The hallway that links Nisman’s apartment to another unit that belongs to a “foreign man” – who may be an Iranian. According to the Buenos…

MK Eitan Cabel (Labor) blamed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the White House’s cold shoulder towards him Wednesday, after it stated that Netanyahu’s invitation to speak to Congress was a breach of protocol.  “Bibi [Netanyahu’s nickname – ed.] call for surveys, and in his usual fashion he reacts hysterically and ran to organize to get…

What do a rabbi, an archbishop, a top Islamic academic and former British prime minister Tony Blair have in common? Quite a lot, it turned out, at an unusual panel on religion at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, where they found shared ground on extremism, violence and freedom of expression in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo killings…

The students of Yeshiva University  will hold their annual Seforim Sale, NorthAmerica’s largest Jewish book sale, from Feb. 1 to Mar. 1, 2015, in Belfer Hall, 2495 Amsterdam Ave on YU’s Wilf Campus in Manhattan. The sale is operated entirely by YU students—from ordering to setting up the premises, marketing and all the technology the project entails.…

Following an appeal filed by Honenu, an NPO that fights for the rights of Jewish nationalist suspects, police released two members of Itamar’s security team Wednesday evening, two days after they were arrested. Honenu lawyer Adi Kedar filed an appeal against the incarceration of the two men, after witnesses failed to identify them in a…

Minister of Public Security, Yitzhak Aharonovich, held a special situation assessment meeting at the Rahat police station Wednesday, following a week of rioting in the southern Bedouin town that has left one man and over 20 injured. “We must not exercise restraint in response to the events in which police were attacked,” he said. “We…

The White House gave an icy response to news that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was invited to address Congress next month, saying it was a departure from diplomatic protocol, according to AFP.  “We haven’t heard from the Israelis directly about the trip at all,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. “The typical protocol would suggest that the leader of…

Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) and his staff have implemented a new program to rebuild and expand Gaza Belt region communities Wednesday, to the tune of some 134.5 million shekel ($34.2 million).  The expansion program is designed to help more families slowly settle the region, which was hit hardest by Operation Protective…

Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Iran’s first vice president under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been sentenced to five years in prison and fined, AFP reported Wednesday. Appointed by Ahmadinejad after a controversial election win in 2009, Rahimi is the most senior official from that era to have been convicted. The Supreme Court’s verdict came after a…

The American political website Politico on Wednesday shed some light on the invitation extended to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to address the United States Congress. According to the report, House Speaker John Boehner, who made the announcement about inviting Netanyahu, did not consult with the White House or the State Department over the invitation. Instead,…

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, on Wednesday called on the Security Council to condemn the terrorist attack on a bus in Tel Aviv, in which some 20 people were wounded. In a letter to the members of the Council, Prosor pointed out the incitement by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas, and…

Argentina’s Jewish community called for “truth and justice” Wednesday, convening a demonstration at the site of a 1994 bombing in the wake of the suspicious death of the prosecutor investigating the attack, according to AFP. Alberto Nisman was found dead of a gunshot to the head in his home Sunday, the day before he was…

Turkey’s Prime Minister said on Wednesday that his country’s ties with Israel can be restored if Israel “stops killing children”. Speaking to a reporter from Kol Yisrael radio on the sidelines of the Economic Forum in Davos, Ahmet Davutoglu also conditioned the improvement of relations between his country and Israel on the Jewish state accepting…

MK Shuli Mualem (Jewish Home) said on Wednesday evening that the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv was a wake-up call to people who still think peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA) is possible. “The attack today is another wake-up call for the peace camp to arise from its disillusionment,” said Mualem, who spoke at a…

Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch is calling for “lone wolf attacks” against the United States and the West in a new video, days after claiming responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo killings, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported Tuesday. One of the group’s ideologues, Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, urged supporters to conduct what he called “individual jihad,” according…

A Rome court on Tuesday convicted six men of spreading pro-fascist and anti-Semitic ideas with banners, posters and graffiti in the Italian capital, according to The Associated Press (AP). A 1993 law forbids use of slogans, gestures and actions evoking Nazi and fascist ideologies or inciting racial hatred. Sentences for the convictions ranged from one…

In his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama spoke about the “deplorable anti-Semitism” in the world. The speech dealt mostly with economy-related issues, but Obama also said in it that “As Americans, we respect human dignity, even when we’re threatened, which is why I’ve prohibited torture, and worked to…

Even after MK Tzipi Hotovely was named as the candidate in the #20 spot on the Likud’s Knesset list, the saga continued on Tuesday. Hotovely replaced Avi Dichter, originally slated for the #20 spot, and who was bumped to a less-realistic 26th place. Dichter filed an appeal within the Likud court, but the court failed…

Greece will extradite to Belgium an Algerian man with suspected links to a jihadist cell dismantled by Belgian security forces last week, a justice source said Tuesday, according to the AFP news agency. The 33-year-old suspect, who has said he is willing to be sent to Belgium because he wants to prove his innocence, was…

Diplomats must take a fresh look at the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the hopes of reviving the negotiations after March elections in Israel, the EU’s foreign policy chief said Tuesday, according to AFP. “What I’m afraid of is that on one side the lack of process is in itself something that is deteriorating the…

Former head of Military Intelligence, Res. Gen. Amos Yadlin, who joined the Labor party on Monday, may condition his remaining an MK on being appointed Defense Minister, Channel 1 News reported on Tuesday. According to the report, Yadlin has a written promise from Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni, who head the joint Labor-Hatnua list known…

Iran is honoring its commitment not to expand atomic activities that could be used to make weapons while it negotiates with six world powers on a lasting nuclear deal, according to a new confidential UN report released Tuesday and seen by The Associated Press (AP). According to the report, the monthly update by the International…

The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Tuesday condemned an attack by Houthi rebels on Yemen’s presidential palace and voiced strong support for President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi. In a statement adopted by the 15 members and quoted by AFP, the council said Hadi “is the legitimate authority” and that “all parties and political actors in…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has responded to the attack on a bus in Tel Aviv Wednesday morning, in which an Arab terrorist stabbed at least 12 people, seriously wounding three and moderately wounding four others, with an additional five lightly wounded. “The attack is a direct result of the toxic incitement spread by the Palestinian Authority…

The Gaza-based terrorist organization Hamas praised Wednesday’s stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, calling it a “worthy response” for the “suffering” Israel has imposed on Arab residents living under the Palestinian Authority (PA). In posts on social media, Azat al-Rishak, a top Hamas terrorist in Gaza, said that the stabbings were “the response to the crimes…

A joint list of Likud and Jewish Home would win 37 seats, a TNS poll for Walla! News conducted Tuesday determined.  The survey, which used a representative sample of 500 respondents aged 18 and over, featured two scenarios: the first if Jewish Home and Likud were to run together for March elections for the 20th Knesset, and the second…

Herzl Biton, the driver of the number 40 bus that came under terrorist attack in Tel Aviv Wednesday, called his superior at the Dan bus company moments after he was stabbed and asked him to take care of his children if he dies. Biton is apparently very seriously wounded. Kazis Matzliah, Head of Traffic Department…

French and European officials will unveil the details of counter-terror measures Wednesday to deal with threats of new Islamist attacks and strengthen cooperation in the wake of the recent lethal shootings in Paris. In the French capital, on high alert since jihadist attacks left 17 dead two weeks ago, Prime Minister Manuel Valls will outline promised measures to boost security forces. The…

A missing South Korean teenager suspected of joining Islamic State (ISIS) had a Twitter account, “Sunni Mujahideen (jihadist),” on which he tweeted his desire to enlist with the terrorist group, police said Wednesday. The 18-year-old middle school dropout, identified only by his surname Kim, went missing in Turkey earlier this month, and there is speculation that he crossed into Syria. “Many materials suggest…

Seventy years after surviving a Nazi death camp and losing several close family members to the gas chambers in German-occupied Poland, 82-year-old Ernst Grube of Munich argues relatives should be allowed to choose their own way of remembering Holocaust victims. Munich leveled an official ban more than a decade ago on what has become the most personal and popular Holocaust memorial…

A terrorist stabbing attack took place Wednesday morning on a bus in central Tel Aviv, on Begin Road, near Beit Maariv. The terrorist in an Arab man, reportedly from Samaria. Videos taken a few minutes after the attack show wounded civilians receiving first aid from emergency teams.   Another video shows the wounded terrorist after his arrest.…

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been invited to address a joint meeting of the US Congress next month to discuss security issues including violent extremism, House Speaker John Boehner announced Wednesday. “In this time of challenge, I am asking the prime minister to address Congress on the grave threats radical Islam and Iran pose to our security and way of…

Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid and Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu will be running on separate lists for the 2015 elections, they declared jointly Wednesday.  Lapid originally approached Kahlon over a possible joint list, after polls indicated that a combination of the two parties would gain a significant increase in votes for both.  Both parties are running on…

The overwhelming majority of Israelis support equal representation of women in the Knesset, according to a Channel 2 poll released Wednesday – including a sizable portion of the haredi community.  76.3% of Israelis overall say that women and men must have equal representation, according to the poll, conducted by the GeoCartography Institute for WePower. Just 7.7% are…

While the political battles rages on in the national struggle between the Jews and Arabs of Israel, another battle goes on behind the scenes, away from the public’s eye. For years, archaeology has been playing an increasingly crucial role in the battle of two opposing national narratives, however, while Israeli archaeologists and the Israel Antiquities…

Iran’s Chief Rabbi has blamed the Charlie Hebdo attack on the magazine’s publishers themselves, Iranian media reported Tuesday night, saying that the attack was only a matter of time after the weekly published cartoons of the founder of Islam Mohammed.  In a rare statement Iranian media attributed to Rabbi Mashallah Golestan Ahmadinejad, the Iranian Jewish leader said that in his…

Hezbollah’s official media outlet has claimed that Saudi Arabia helped Israel to eliminate a delegation of Hezbollah terrorists and Iranian soldiers on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights Monday. The comments came during a report on the Al Manar TV channel about the Israel Air Force’s elimination of Jihad Mughniyeh and Iranian field commander, General Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, earlier this…

The EU faces a “huge challenge” to reassure Jews about their future in Europe after Islamist attacks in Paris, a top official said Wednesday as it discussed fresh counter-terror measures. European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said the 28-nation bloc was determined to respond in keeping with its core values of tolerance and inclusion,…

Hamza Matrouk, the terrorist who stabbed passengers on a Tel Aviv bus Wednesday morning, learned his craft from the Internet, he told interrogators. Matrouk, who was shot in the leg and arrested as he tried to escape after stabbing and injuring a dozen people on a Dan company bus in Tel Aviv early Wednesday, was apparently…

Russia on Wednesday responded disparagingly to US President Barack Obama’s annual State of the Union address, claiming it showed that the United States wanted to dominate world affairs. “Americans have set a course for confrontation,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters. “Obama’s address yesterday shows that there’s just one thing at the heart of (their) philosophy: ‘We are number one’…

The former head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency has said that he “agrees with the Pope” that people should avoid drawing pictures of Mohammed, and that if they do they can expect to provoke a terror attack. Speaking for the first time since stepping down as head of MI6, Sir John Sawers told an audience in…

A British jihadist identified by police as a “trained terrorist” who is believed to have faked his own death while fighting in Syria in an attempt to return home undetected, has admitted terror charges. Imran Khawaja, 27, admitted preparing for acts of terrorism, attending a training camp and possessing firearms in a hearing last year,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s comical campaign video, in which he portrays his political opponents as unruly kindergarten children, was shot down on Tuesday by judge Salim Joubran, chairperson of the Central Elections Committee. Joubran accepted the petitions submitted by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG) and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party. MQG and Yesh…

Syrian government air strikes on Tuesday killed at least 39 people, more than half of them civilians, in two main battlegrounds in the north of the country, a monitor said. “The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented the deaths of at least 27 people… in air strikes targeting the outskirts of Tal Hamis,” said…

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s historic three-day visit to Israel was ended hurriedly on Tuesday due to an Islamic State (ISIS) hostage crisis involving two Japanese nationals, but his visit highlights the meteoric developments in the Israeli-Japanese alliance that has been blossoming since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s visit to Japan last May. Just how have Israel and Japan…

The IDF has closed the old road between the towns of Avivim and Dovev in the northern Galilee, due to their close proximity to the border with Lebanon, in the latest sign of rising tensions in northern Israel. Likewise the road between the moshav Zar’it and the Lebanese border was closed as well. IDF forces have been on…

The United States on Tuesday demanded the “immediate release” of two Japanese hostages threatened with beheading by Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists. “The United States strongly condemns ISIL’s threat to murder Japanese citizens,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, referring to ISIS by an alternate acronym. “We call for the immediate release of these civilians and all other hostages. The United States is…

France arrested five Russians Tuesday accused of plotting a new attack as four men suspected of helping the gunmen behind the Paris shootings were brought before anti-terrorist judge. European nations, on high alert after the attacks that shook France to its core, have launched a wave of raids targeting suspected jihadist cells. French prosecutors said…

Facebook allows people to connect from all corners of the globe, but that convenience also enabled an Indian jihadist who was arrested late last year to recruit a willing US-based jihadist and help him plan terrorist attacks on American soil. Anis Ansari was arrested last October for planning to conduct an attack on the American School…

A trip to Israel organized for Muslim-American leaders by a North Carolina imam has led to strident protests and even boycotts by dozens of pro-Palestinian groups.  The Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI) was launched in the summer of 2013 under the initiative of Imam Abdullah Antepli of Duke University and Yossi Klein Halevi of the Hartman Institute of…

The Japanese government said Tuesday it will not give in to “terrorism” after a video emerged in which Islamic State (ISIS) threatened to kill two Japanese men unless a $200 million ransom was paid, according to AFP. “Our country’s stance – contributing to the fight against terrorism without giving in – remains unchanged,” chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told a news…

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has made its first investment in an Israeli company by funding start-up Visualead, a provider of QR code technology, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. QR, or quick response, codes are a type of barcode. Alibaba and Visualead have also entered into a strategic cooperation agreement, the statement said, but gave no figure for…

Thousands of angry Argentinians took to the streets in Buenos Aires to protest Tuesday after prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead in his apartment Sunday morning. Nisman was about to reveal damning information regarding collusion between the Argentine government and Iran in covering up Iran’s role in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center…

Leaders of Israel’s 1.7 million Arabs declared a general strike throughout the country on Tuesday in protest at the recent deaths of two Bedouin men in confrontations with police, AFP reports.  Former United Arab List (UAL) MK Taleb al-Sana, chairman of an umbrella organization of Arab Israeli groups, said that schools and businesses wouldclose from the Galilee in the north to the…

Two flights were delayed and their passengers temporarily evacuated at New York’s JFK airport Tuesday, after a bomb threat was received. An anonymous caller reported a pipe bomb was aboard Flight 468 to an operator at Delta Airlines headquarters, law enforcement officials told NBC. Passengers were deboarded from two flights, because both shared the number…

The Jewish Home list for the 2015 elections will remain the same, the party announced Tuesday, despite a last-minute overnight recount of the primaries votes.  Two candidates, Professor Asher Cohen and Shimon Riklin, swapped places far down the list – some thirty spots down – but the change is so minor that it does not affect…

The Islamic State (ISIS) group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages unless Tokyo pays a $200 million ransom within 72 hours, ina video posted on jihadist websites on Tuesday. In the video, a black-clad terrorist brandishing a knife addresses the camera in British English standing between two hostages wearing orange jumpsuits. “You now have 72 hours to pressure your…

Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman could not have committed suicide, a colleague of his insisted Tuesday morning – and was probably murdered by terrorists ahead of a probe into the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) .  “The local press is presenting this as murder,” Professor Arie Kacowicz, an expert on South American Affairs at Hebrew University of Jerusalem,…

Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid’s stance on legalizing marijuana is malleable, he revealed Monday – dependent on how the legalization process works in other countries.  Lapid has previously taken a tough stance against soft drugs, and was adamant against the process during the last campaign.  However, when asked about the issue by an audience member…

Judea and Samaria district police on Tuesday arrested two residents of the town of Itamar in Samaria who are members of the town’s security team, on suspicion that they were involved in defending residents against an Arab riot in which rioters were supposedly wounded. The event took place two-and-a-half weeks ago on Shabbat, with the Arab rioters claiming they were…

Up to four thousand people from Muslim former Soviet Central Asian countries are believed to have joined Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists, a report published on Tuesday said. Often driven by poverty, some “2,000 to 4,000 have in the past three years turned their back on their secular states to seek a radical alternative,” the International Crisis…

The Iran-backed Shi’ite terrorist organization in Yemen, the Houthis, have besieged the presidential palace in the capital city of Sana’a where they have grabbed de facto control in recent months, and even opened cannon fire on the palace to force their demands to be met. The Houthis are threatening President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, demanding that he…

An Iranian general and a senior Hezbollah commander killed in yesterday’s airstrike in the Syrian Golan Heights were not actually the intended targets, a senior Israeli military source told Reuters Tuesday. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity as Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the airstrike, said the Israeli Air Force was targeting what…

The Yad L’Achim anti-assimilation organization announced that six invitations to Jewish weddings have been received at its offices over the past few weeks – and all from women whom the organization helped rescue from Arab villages. In addition, a seventh woman announced that her son – born to an Arab father – will be circumcised in…

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to stand firm Tuesday after the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group threatened to kill two Japanese nationals, saying the ISIS threats would not intimidate him to freeze a multi-million dollar aid package. His remarks were made several hours after the jihadist group released a video threatening to kill two Japanese hostages if Tokyo did not pay…

The latest Panels Politics polls carried out on behalf of the Knesset Channel reveals no significant changes in the standing of the parties running for the 20th Knesset – but suggests a dramatic victory for the Right were the two largest nationalist parties to run on a joint list. As in the last poll, the first of…

Palestinian Authority (PA) chief negotiator Saeb Erekat threatened a new approach vis-a-vis Israel in the wake of about $127 million in taxes collected for the PA being frozen, a response to the PA joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) to sue the Jewish state. Erekat, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist group’s executive committee, told…

Kulanu’s party platform includes a strong stance on national security, General (ret) Yoav Galant, the #2 candidate on Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu list, stated Tuesday. “Without military-strong security you cannot do anything here,” Galant stated, according to Walla! News, while speaking at the Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem. “Israel must strengthen its ability to defend itself, and we…

Pensioners’ Minister Uri Orbach is on the mend, his office stated to the press Monday night, after he was admitted to Jerusalem’s Shaarei Tzedek hospital for intensive medical treatments Sunday.  Orbach is still not out of danger, his aides stated, but he has made positive progress in curing his pneumonia.  “Orbach thanks the diverse people…

In the wake of deadly Paris terror attacks which left 17 dead, the Secure Community Network has urged Jewish institutions to report any threats, vandalism, or attacks.  SCN is the official homeland security initiative funded by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. The security arm sent a memo on…

Two hundred members of the Salafi Jihadism movement of Islam demonstrated violently in front of the French Cultural Center in Gaza on Monday.  The protest in Gaza City was organized as a reaction to the cartoons of Prophet Mohammad published on the front page of the latest issue of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last week. Demonstrators waved black flags reminiscent of…

The IDF has raised the terror alert level on Israel’s border with Syria in the Golan Heights, foreign media reported Monday night, after the IAF reportedly attacked a Syrian military target Sunday.  Several “Iron Dome” missile defense batteries have been deployed along the border, ahead of possible attacks from both government and rebel groups in…

United States Senator John McCain on Monday urged the deployment of international ground forces to combat terrorists in Syria andIraq, as he toured the Middle East with a Senate delegation. “For months we’ve been bombing [Syrian border town] Kobane and we still haven’t driven ISIS out,” the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman told reporters in Jerusalem.  “Since the air campaign started… ISIS…

Former head of Military Intelligence and Res. Gen. Amos Yadlin has joined the Labor party, Labor announced Monday. Yadlin has been appointed to the #11 spot, at Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog’s specific request.  Herzog specifically stated Monday night that “Yadlin is our pick for the next Defense Minister.”  Yadlin is potentially well-qualified for the position;…

Egyptian jihadists claimed Monday to have bombed a pipeline in the Sinai that carries gas to Jordan, saying it was targeted over Amman’s role in the United States-led war on the Islamic State terrorist organizations. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, Egypt’s deadliest terrorist group which has pledged allegiance to ISIS, tweeted unverified pictures of the claimed attack, without saying when it was carried…

Syria has begun destroying its remaining chemical weapons production sites, despite being hampered by bad weather and logistical problems, the world’s chemical watchdog said Monday. “Destruction operations commenced in December,” Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) spokesman Peter Sawczak told AFP in The Hague, without elaborating. Syria had said previously demolition of the 12 hangars and tunnels would begin…

Renowned Israeli poet Natan Zach sparked controversy anew Monday when he published an ad in Haaretz showing support for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.  The simple announcement reads as follows: “To Abu Mazen [Abbas] blessings on your way to the International Criminal Court at the Hague.” It is signed by the poet in the bottom left-hand corner.  The…

The number of anti-Muslim incidents in France has soared since the Islamist attacks in Paris two weeks ago, an organization that tracks Islamophobia said Monday. The National Observatory Against Islamophobia said 116 anti-Muslim incidents had been reported to authorities since the January 7-9 shooting spree by three French jihadists that killed 17. The two-week tally was more than double the…

Germany’s “anti-Islamization” movement PEGIDA vowed at its first press conference Monday to take to the streets again next week, after a march was cancelled over a terrorism threat. Asked about plans for future rallies in the eastern city of Dresden, the leader of the populist group, Lutz Bachmann, said that “next Monday obviously there will…

Canadian special forces exchanged gunfire with Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Iraq in recent days, in the first confirmed ground battle between Western troops and ISIS, a senior officer was quoted by AFP as having said Monday. The Canadians came under mortar and machine gun fire while training Iraqi troops near front lines and shot…

More than 2,000 Iranians protested on Monday outside the French embassy in Tehran, chanting “Death to France” and urging the ambassador be expelled because of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, AFP reported. The demonstration was in response to French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s use of the cartoon in an edition published a week after…

Duke University was to be the first school in the United States to sound the Muslim call to prayer over its school-wide speaker system. The prayer call was to occur once a week, on Fridays at 1 PM, and last for three minutes. The decision, announced just last week, caused an immediate backlash and opposition…

Argentina’s government said Monday there was no indication that anybody else was involved in the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who had accused President Cristina Fernandez of shielding Iranian suspects in the nation’s deadliest terror attack, The Associated Press (AP) reports. Nisman, who had been investigating the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center…

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday said the fight against “terrorism” needs a new Muslim religious discourse in addition to security and military measures, AFP reported. “The rise in terrorism… requires a thoughtful response from the international community,” Sisi told the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. “The fight must not only be…

United Nations (UN) peacekeepers serving in the Golan Heights saw drones flying before an Israeli airstrike on Syria that killed an Iranian general, a UN spokesman said Monday, according to AFP. Six Hezbollah terrorists were killed in the raid near Quneitra on the Syria-controlled side of the Golan Heights, including Jihad Mughniyeh, the head of…

The Meretz party on Monday evening released the results of its primaries for the 20th Knesset. MK Ilan Gilon came in first, and will be placed in the number two spot on the Meretz list, after party chairwoman Zehava Galon. He was followed by current Meretz MKs Issawi Frej, Michal Rozin and Tamar Zandberg. Former…

The European Union (EU) is to appeal a decision by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg last December to remove Hamas from its official terrorist organization blacklist, according to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday. In a meeting on Monday, foreign ministers from the 28 EU-member states decided “to appeal the judgement regarding Hamas…

US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to London on Thursday to host with his British counterpart a meeting of members of the coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group. Kerry’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the one-day talks with foreign ministers from about 20 countries, including Arab states, would focus on “our shared efforts to degrade and defeat ISIL,”…

An Argentine prosecutor who accused President Cristina Kirchner of obstructing a probe into the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) reportedly died just hours before he was due at a Congressional hearing Monday. According to several Argentine television stations citing judicial sources, Alberto Nisman was found dead overnight in his apartment in the trendy Puerto Madero neighborhood of the…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas unleashed vitriolic invective on his unity partner Hamas, the terrorist organization ruling Gaza, claiming on Saturday that it had reached secret agreements with Israel to create a Palestinian state in Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula. Hamas “is still seeking its old dream of an independent Islamic state in Gaza, which matches…

A South Korean teenager who went missing in Turkey near the Syrian border had images of what appeared to be Islamic State (aka ISIS, or IS) terrorists on his home computer, police said Monday, amid suspicions he likely has joined the brutal jihadist group. The 18-year-old, identified only by his surname Kim, went missing January 10 during a trip to…

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in the midst of an historical three-day visit to Israel after arriving on Sunday, and during meetings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu he expressed full support for rapidly expanding economic cooperation between the nations. “There is no reason for Japan, which places innovation as an engine of economic growth, not…

The Likud party has officially launched an “Anglo” campaign division, designed to engage voters from English-speaking countries. The effort, ehich will be managed by professional consultants Elie Bennett and Jeremy Wimpfheimer, will have the specific goal of increasing the number of Anglo voters who place the Likud ballot in the ballot boxes on March 17. Estimates…

In response to the reported Israeli airstrike in Syria that killed Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hezbollah’s former operations officer Imad Mughniyeh, the Lebanese-based terrorist group has threatened Israel with retaliation — but noted that it would be limited. “The attack on six Hezbollah members will be answered with a painful and unexpected response, but it…

Supporters of Iran sanctions in the American Senate have unveiled a toned-down bill aimed at gaining enough votes to override a presidential veto, AFP reported on Sunday. According to the report, on Thursday the Senate banking committee will discuss and vote on the re-jigged bill proposed by Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Robert Menendez, two…

Ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi on Sunday testified for the first time in his espionage trial, and launched a tirade against his successor whom he accused of removing him in a “coup”, AFP reported. Morsi was toppled by former army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in July 2013 after mass protests demanding the…

The Election Commission of Likud, led by Justice Menachem Ne’eman, has officially placed MK Tzipi Hotovely in the #20 spot for the Likud list, it announced Monday. Hotovely replaced new candidate and former Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) head Avi Dichter, originally slated for the #20 spot. Dicther, seen by some as a “moderate”…

Alan Gross, the United States contractor released from prison in Cuba last month, will be among 22 guests of First Lady Michelle Obama as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address, the White House said Monday. Others invited to watch the annual presidential speech to Congress from the First Lady’s box Tuesday night include an astronaut, a 13-year-old boy from the…

The IDF published the names of the recipients of citations and medals for their service during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza on Monday.  About half of the candidates will receive their awards from the IDF Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz; the other half will receive their awards from generals of lesser rank.  Fifty-three IDF soldiers…

President Reuven Rivlin held a working meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzō Abe on Monday afternoon. Abe is in the midst of a three-day official visit to Israel – his first to the country. The visit, part of a six-day tour of the Middle East, is aimed at promoting regional stability and peace as well as boosting…

The Turkish coastguard intercepted in Mediterranean waters a ship carrying 333 mainly Syrian migrants bound for the European Union, the official Anatolia news agency said Monday. In an operation employing over 300 coastguard personnel, the coastguard captured the commercial vessel in open water off the Turkish port of Mersin in the northeastern Mediterranean close to…

Eli Yishai is expected next week to present new names on the list of his Yachad-Ha’am Itanu party for the 20th Knesset, a senior source told Walla! News Sunday night. Among the potential candidates are Rabbi Moshe Hager, a retired colonel and head of the Yatir pre-militarily yeshiva (Torah academy), according to the daily. Rabbi Hager is expected…

The 1,000-member Meretz central committee will choose its list for the 20th Knesset on Monday.  Primaries are being held at the Exhibition Grounds in Tel Aviv. Voting opened at 2:00 p.m. and will close at 10:00 p.m. As votes are being calculated via a computer, official results should be announced an hour or so after the vote. …

Bangladesh police said Monday they have arrested four suspected members of the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group including a “local coordinator” who was planning to establish a self-declared “caliphate” in the country. The suspected coordinator Mohammad Sakhawatul Kabir and three others were detained in the capital following raids on Sunday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police said in…

John Baird, Canada’s foreign minister, who is considered a staunch ally of Israel, met early Monday afternoon with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Netanyahu welcomed Baird and lauded him as “a great fighter for peace and security, and a great warrior for truth.” “You have always showed a willingness to fight for what is…

Indonesia could help combat the threat of homegrown extremism by banning its citizens from travelling abroad to fight with terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State (ISIS), a think-tank said Monday. The Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) said new laws banning any involvement with foreign terrorist groups overseas were necessary to help stem the flow of fighters from…

The UK must redouble its efforts to “wipe out anti-Semitism”, Home Secretary Theresa May said Sunday. According to the BBC, May said she “never thought I’d see the day when members of the Jewish community” would be fear staying in Britain. She was spoke at a service in London in memory of the victims in the terror attacks…

The Jewish Home and Likud responded with anger to the strongly hinted accusation by Major General (res.) Yoav Galant, that the IAF strike that killed Hezbollah’s Golan Commander, Jihad Mughniyeh, was politically timed so concide with the election campaign. Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett reacted by saying that “accusing the government of carrying out military…

The government is set to embark on a major program to encourage commuters to take public transportation or use bicycles in congested cities in central Israel. The program, which will cost NIS 6 million ($1.6 million) will entail licensing dozens of vehicles to travel new routes within cities, transporting drivers who leave their vehicles at…

In a series of articles about the “Efrat” organization, Arutz Sheva presents a number of personal stories and anecdotes relating the group’s life-saving activities. This week’s article describes the “A Soul for a Soul,” initiative, a very special project run by the “Efrat” organization, as described by Efrat’s own Dr. Eli Schossheim. “At first, the idea was to enable…

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon refused to say anything Sunday eveing about the reported IAF strike in the Syrian Golan that killed Jihad Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah man whose father, Imad Mughniyeh, was also assassinated by Israel. However, Yaalon did respond to the reports from Hezbollah about the incident, and said that they contradicted Hezbollah’s own…

Shots were fired Saturday night outside the unoccupied home of Vice President Joe Biden in Delaware. Biden was not at home when the incident occurred, the Secret Service told reporters. Speaking to CNN, Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said “a vehicle drove by the vice president’s residence at a high rate of speed and fired…

Major General (res.) Yoav Galant, who is a leading candidate in the Kulanu party’s Knesset list, hinted strongly Sunday that the killing of Jihad Mughniyeh in Syria may have been timed to help Binyamin Netanyahu do well in the upcoming national elections. “There are ongoing security needs, and in these contexts I suppose that operations…

Israel has tons of natural gas offshore, but for Israeli households, it’s the wrong kind of gas – and the gas they need, propane heating and cooking fuel, is in very short supply these days. Due to recent fierce storms in the Mediterranean – the same storms that dumped snowfall and rainfall on most of…

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and his intended replacement, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, have decided on a round of appointments of senior IDF staff. Major General Roni Numa will be appointed to head the IDF’s Central Command, which includes Judea and Samaria. He will replace Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, who has been…

At a meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, President Reuven Rivlin decried the decision of the International Criminal Court to pursue an investigation against Israel. The decision by ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to investigate Israel for “war crimes” was, he said, “a gift to terrorists and a violation of the sanctity of international justice. Israel…

Miss Lebanon is coming under fire after appearing in a “selfie” photo with Miss Israel, with some Lebanese calling for their country’s contestant at the Miss Universe pageant to be stripped of her title for “consorting with the enemy”, reports the Telegraph. Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, posted a photo of herself and Miss Lebanon, Saly…

Hungarian Jews and Soviet army veterans gathered on Sunday to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation by the Red Army of the Budapest ghetto in World War II. Several hundred people, including dozens who survived the ghetto, attended the memorial service in the Grand Synagogue, Europe’s largest place of Jewish worship. “Many would not…

MK Miri Regev (Likud) on Sunday night had sharp criticism for Major General (res.) Yoav Galant, who hinted earlier that an IAF strike that killed Hezbollah’s Golan Commander, Jihad Mughniyeh, was politically timed to coincide with the election campaign. “I heard the accusations of Yoav Galant over the complex and most important military operation in…

Iran and major powers will meet again next month to try to narrow differences over Tehran’s nuclear program after making limited progress on Sunday, Reuters reported. All sides agreed to step up efforts to reach a political understanding by the end of March with a view to clinching a full-blown deal by their self-imposed deadline…

Belgium is asking Greece to extradite one of the suspects arrested there over a possible link with the alleged Islamist plot against Belgian police, prosecutors said Sunday, according to the BBC. The statement came hours after Belgium said there was no connection between those detained and the alleged plot. The federal prosecutor’s office now says…

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday urged Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to renew peace talks instead of pursuing efforts at the International Criminal Court (ICC) or United Nations. “There is no other way than direct negotiations. Unilateral steps will not solve the conflict, but just give more power to the extremists,” Rivlin was…

Yitzchak Herzog and Tsipi Livni, the two heads of the Labor Party – renamed ‘Zionist Camp’ for the duration of the current elections – own property worth tens of millions of shekels, and both have significant savings and stock holdings, Channel Two disclosed on Sunday. Herzog is the owner of several properties in Tel Aviv, the…

Intelligence sources said on Sunday night that Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hezbollah’s former operations officer Imad Mughniyeh, was planning terrorist attacks against Israelis in the Golan Heights. The sources said that Mughniyeh, who was killed in an airstrike in the Syrian Golan allegedly carried out by Israel, was the head of a “broad and…

In her latest interview, Tzipi Livni once again blamed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the Palestinian Authority’s request to join the International Criminal Court.  That request resulted not only in the PA formally joining the international body, but also prompted a preliminary probe into possible war crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians, which was announced Friday.  Speaking Sunday morning…

Yachad-Ha’am Itanu chairman Eli Yishai called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to dismiss Likud MK Yoav Kish Sunday, after Kish revealed he supports dividing Jerusalem.  “I call on the prime minister to immediately remove Yoav Kish from the Likud list, given his support for an agreement dividing Jerusalem,” Yishai stated, urging Likud not to have double standards regarding…

In paradoxical television statements Sunday, MK Shelly Yechimovich (Labor) criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for his obsession with power, while also stating she would not rule out forming a government with him and Likud.  On Thursday, Netanyahu said that the Likud would not sit in a coalition with the joint list of Yitzhak Herzog’s Labor and Tzipi Livni’s…

Politicians and other officials have had strong reactions to the Likud video published Saturday night depicting the rest of the Knesset as an unruly kindergarten.  “The Likud will continue to engage in kindergarten, we will continue to engage on issues important to the management of the state,” Yisrael Beytenu responded Sunday morning to Channel 2. In…

Yoav Kish, the Likud party’s Dan Region representative for the 20th Knesset, may have just hurt Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s chances of keeping right-wing votes away from Jewish Home.  Kish, who placed 19th on the Likud list, said he would support the division of Jerusalem in the interest of a peace deal and two-state solution. …

The Palestinian Authority (PA) may have moved forward with its attempt to prosecute Israel for “war crimes” in the International Criminal Court (ICC) – but it would drop the case if Israel stopped building Jewish communities in Judea-Samaria, a PA official close to Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday.  The senior official, speaking from Ramallah to Walla!…

Thanks to the revelations shared by a high-ranking government official, Swedish Foreign Minister, Margot Wallstrom’s motives for indefinitely postponing a planned trip to Israel and accusing Israel of “overreacting” and “aggressiveness,” may have become clear.  The official revealed to Yediot Aharonot Saturday that Wallstrom canceled her trip after she was notified she would have to provide her own security personnel…