Category: News

Gaza terrorists interrupted the sleep of residents in southern and central Israel on Monday night, as they fired a salvo of rockets towards these regions. Sirens were heard in the Eshkol region, in Ashdod and in central Israel, including Tel Aviv. The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket over the Gush Dan region in…

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz on Monday told residents of Gaza to stay away from areas in which Hamas operates, so that they are not harmed by the IDF’s operations. Speaking to journalists in the Kirya base in Tel Aviv about Operation Protective Edge, Gantz said, “We will reach those areas, and when we…

The names of the four IDF soldiers who were killed on Monday by a mortar shell near the Gaza border have been cleared for publication. Staff Sergeant Eliav Eliyahu Haim Kahlon, 22, from Tzfat (Safed). His funeral will be held on Tuesday at 11:00 at the military cemetery in Tzfat. Corporal Meidan Maymon Biton, 20,…

Hamas admitted on Monday evening that it was trying to kidnap an IDF soldier in an incident when its terrorists breached the border from Gaza near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. According to the group, the conditions on the ground did not allow for the plan to go through. One of the terrorists was killed and the…

Iranian officials are closely studying the progress of Operation Protective Edge, in light of concern over Israel airstrikes on its nuclear facilities and its ongoing quest to destroy Israel. Hossein Salami G’anshin, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, said in this context that the war in Gaza is an introduction prior to the collapse of…

An Alabama teen has defended her actions this week, according to the Huffington Post, after she posted a “selfie” in the Auschwitz death camp. Eighteen year-old Breanna Mitchell posted the photo over a month ago, but it went viral weeks later. Mitchell insists that the photo is not an anti-Semitic statement, but merely a tribute to…

England cricketer Moeen Ali risked disciplinary action after the International Cricket Council (ICC) said Monday they were “investigating” his decision to wear wristbands in support of Gaza during the ongoing third Test match against India on Monday. Ali wore wristbands that read “Save Gaza” and “Free Palestine”, while batting during England’s first innings at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. An ICC spokesman…

Communications Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) called on his fellow ministers and MKs to support Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday. “I call on every MK and minister to show responsibility and restraint during these difficult hours,” Erdan said.  He urged MKs to “unify in support for the Prime Minister, who is conducting a difficult war and…

Five soldiers were killed Monday in and near the Gaza Strip. Four of the soldiers were killed by a mortar that struck a group of soldiers near the Gaza border. This is the same mortar strike that was reported earlier as killing four “Israelis.” The “Israelis” have been identified as soldiers. Six other soldiers were…

Nazi swastikas and the name of the Islamist movement Hamas were spray-painted in red on the entrance to a Jewish synagogue in Miami Beach, local media reported Monday. The vandalism, which authorities were investigating as a probable “hate crime,” was discovered by a neighborhood watch patrol where the Torah V’Emunah synagogue is located.  Yona Lunger, a volunteer patrol member, said…

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Noad “Neo” Lahat, who scored a unanimous decision victory against Steven Siler on Saturday at UFC on Fox 12, is on his way home to Israel, to join the fighting in Gaza. “This last two months has been an absolute hell, worrying about all my friends and family,” Lahat told…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed Israeli citizens on live television Monday evening after Hamas fired a mortar shell that killed four people in southern Israel. “We knew that we would have difficult days,” he said. “This is a hard and painful day.” “Patience and determination are required in order to fight a terror organization that…

US Secretary of State John Kerry Monday said that international efforts to reach agreement on a truce between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza must lead to the disarmament of Hamas. Kerry told reporters he was continuing to work “toward establishing an unconditional humanitarian ceasefire.” But he added: “We also believe that any process to resolved the crisis in Gaza…

Hawkish ministers in Israel’s cabinet spoke about Operation Protective Edge in Gaza Monday morning as if they know it is effectively over. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Yair Shamir (Yisrael Beytenu), told Channel 2 that the IDF had enough time to truly defeat Hamas, but did not do so. “Three weeks are a very…

US President Barack Obama exerted “heavy pressure” on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a phone call Sunday to end Operation Protective Edge in Gaza immediately, according to Channel 2 television. Obama reportedly agreed to the idea of an unconditional ceasefire, to be followed by discussion of Hamas’s demands for easing of sanctions on Gaza. This is…

The UN Security Council on Monday called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza to allow for urgent aid to reach civilians as the conflict between Israel and Hamas entered its third week. The 15-member Council released a statement shortly after midnight Sunday calling for the truce during the Muslim Eid festival marking the end of…

A senior IDF officer said Monday that Israel is in possession of all of the attack tunnels that Hamas dug from Gaza to Israel. A few more days are needed in order to dispose of the remaining tunnels, he said. The IDF blew up two more tunnels in the course of the last 24 hours.…

The Turkish organization IHH is currently organizing a “Freedom Flotilla II”, four years after the 2010 flotilla to Gaza which ended in the raid on the Mavi Marmara, the Middle East Monitor website reports. The website cited comments by IHH chairman Bulent Yildrim, who said the second flotilla will carry humanitarian aid to Gaza. In…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Monday, the result of a UN Security Council meeting which called on Israel and Hamas to cease fire immediately.  “As people around the world mark Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan and a time for overcoming differences, the Secretary-General calls on parties…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is to head a team – including Hamas – for talks in Cairo on sealing a Gaza ceasefire between the Islamist terror movement and Israel, an official told AFP Monday. “Abbas is forming a Palestinian delegation including Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives to meet Egyptian leaders and discuss a halt to Israel’s aggression against Gaza,”…

An investigation will not be opened up against MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad), Deputy Attorney General Raz Nizri announced to the Knesset Committee for Interior Affairs Monday – despite widespread condemnation of her comments supporting Hamas terrorism. According to Nizri, the Attorney General’s Office concluded that Zoabi’s comments were not incitement “in all its manifestations.” “On…

Soldiers in Gaza could eat meat during the coming days, the IDF Rabbinate announced Monday. The decision contravenes a widely-held Jewish custom not to eat meat from the beginning of the Hebrew month of Av – which began Monday – until after the Fast of the Ninth of Av next week, during the period generally…

As Hamas continued firing rockets at Israel, there were numerous incidents of rock throwing by Arabs throughout the country. Arabs threw rocks at Israeli drivers on several of the country’s main roads, including Road 2, the coastal highway. Arabs from the village of Jizr a-Zarka, located next to the highway, threw stones from a bridge…

As pressure from the US and other countries grew for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, Hamas terrorists continued firing rockets at Israeli targets. Rockets were fired at several communities in the Gaza border area Monday morning and afternoon; Ashkelon was targeted as well. No injuries were reported in any of the attacks. Hamas said Monday…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon took time out of his busy schedule on Sunday, in order to don the ritual teffilin, pray and write the first letter in a new Torah scroll dedicated to IDF soldiers. Ya’alon hosted in his office a delegation of rabbis and Chabad emissaries and he was given the honor of writing…

MK Danny Danon (Likud) blasted the United States and President Barack Obama on Sunday night, after Obama demanded that Israel agree to an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. “We need a break from the fire that is coming from the Obama administration in Washington,” he said, adding, “Just as the United States fought resolutely against the…

The IDF on Sunday confirmed firing a mortar round into a Gaza UN shelter where 15 people died on Thursday, but denied killing anyone at the site, according to AFP. Briefing journalists on the findings of an internal military enquiry into the incident at a UN school in Beit Hanoun, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner…

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening, and stressed the need for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza. “The President underscored the United States’ strong condemnation of Hamas’ rocket and tunnel attacks against Israel and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself,” said a statement from the White House.…

MK Zev Elkin, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that the IDF was not surprised at the extent and number of tunnels Hamas had built underneath Gaza. The way the IDF has been handling the issue in the past several weeks, he told Arutz Sheva in an interview, proves it. Elkin…

Jews who refuse to leave “Palestine” will be subject to beheading, a Palestinian group closely associated with Hamas threatened over the weekend. The “People’s Resistance Committee, which is involved in the fighting in Gaza, made the threat as it announced that it was responsible for firing rockets at an IDF patrol east of Jebalya. The…

The Gaza conflict has made for some tense moments on Ameriucan TV, one of which took place on Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday night as host Sean Hannity clashed with a Palestinian-American guest. “Is Hamas a terrorist organization?” Hannity asked Yousef Munayyer, the executive director of The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and its…

While the world’s headlines were focused on Gaza, the murder and mayhem that has been the rule in much of the Arab world in recent months continued apace. Dozens of people were dead Sunday in Libya in clashes between Libyan government troops and Islamist militants in Benghazi. Sources said that at least 38 people had…

Islamic Jihad has “many more surprises up its sleeve,” said Abdullah Shalah, head of the terror group said Sunday. In an interview on an Arab satellite station, Shalah said that “We have a store of strategic weapons that we have never used,” but was prepared to bring out against Israel if the war in Gaza…

Controversy continues over the status of Israel’s Bedouin population, after several Israeli Arab MKs protested over an alleged lack of suitable bomb shelters in Bedouin communities in the South.  But the issue of Bedouin communities in Israel is more complicated, according to Regavim, a watchdog group for Jewish national property rights, which released a statement last…

Hamas’s war against Israel is not only losing militarily, but losing popular support in Gaza, according to a study released last week.  A Washington Institute study published during the first week of the operation polled 450 Gazans between June 15-17 – before Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, but after Hamas began firing more rockets on…

Israel has resumed its ground and air offensive against Hamas terrorism in Gaza, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office announced Sunday morning, after Hamas fired a salvo of rockets on Israeli civilians during a “humanitarian ceasefire.”  “Following Hamas’ incessant rocket fire throughout the humanitarian window, which was agreed upon for the welfare of the civilian population in Gaza,…

Rockets sounded throughout the Coastal (Shefela), Ashdod, Ashkelon, Judea, and Sharon regions on Sunday morning, despite a “humanitarian ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. Two rockets were shot down by the Iron Dome missile defense system Sunday morning; another two fell in open areas outside of Ashkelon. No hits, injuries, or damage were reported.  Seven rockets…

Peace talks revolved around the future status of the Jordan Valley earlier this year, as the US, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Israel debated over the region’s importance to Israeli security. However, the Jordan Valley has proven more than ever to be a center of Israeli security during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza,  according to Jordan…

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office has released the name of an Israeli soldier killed Saturday night in Gaza on Sunday morning, the forty-third since Operation Protective Edge began nineteen days ago. Master Sergeant (Res.) Barak Refael Degorker (hy”d), 27, from Gan Yavne, was killed fighting terrorism in Gaza. “The soldier was killed by a shell that…

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, the so-called “military wing” of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, has declared an “open war” against the “Zionist enemy.” In a recorded message dated July 23, three terrorists from the organization announced that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade will not sit idly by while Israel’s operation in Gaza continues,…

Egypt on Saturday summoned the Turkish charge d’affaires for the second time in a month to complain about comments by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan deemed insulting to the leadership in Cairo, Reuters reports. In an interview with CNN, Erdogan repeated the phrase that caused offense last time, calling Egypt’s president, former army chief Abdel Fattah…

Tens of thousands of people gathered at the Kotel (Western Wall) Sunday to pray for the welfare of IDF soldiers locked in battle with Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The prayers were held in the context of “Yom Kippur Katan,” a “minor Yom Kippur,” which takes place on the eve of a new Jewish month, and…

After an anti-Semitic screed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he accused Israel of “state terrorism” and accused Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked of “being like Hitler,” the Turkish humanitarian relief organization (IHH) said it was planning a “rerun” of its infamous 2010 Gaza flotilla. The group said that it was working…

Even as IDF soldiers grit their teeth to fight a tough war against Israel’s Hamas enemies, they have other threats to worry about – like missionaries seeking to convert IDF soldiers, preventing them from concentrating on their mission. Anti-missionary group Yad L’Achim said Sunday that it had gotten numerous complaints from residents of Ashkelon and…

Israel has rejected Hamas’s request for a 24-hour truce, according to latest reports, but there appears to have been some confusion on the ground, after IDF units were told to hold their fire at 2:00 p.m.. Sirens sounded in the Be’er Sheva area shortly before 5:30 p.m. There were no immediate reports of casualties. From…

Border Police Commander Yeshurun Zoran spoke about his involvement in Sunday’s bomb scare, in a special interview with Arutz Sheva Sunday afternoon.  Zoran stated that he identified the car as suspicious and asked the driver to turn off the vehicle, but the driver continued to drive, dragging him along a little with his body still physically in…

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has destroyed the tomb of Biblical Jonah, according to Arabic media outlets, in a show of disdain for non-Islamic cultures.  “ISIS militants have destroyed the Prophet Younis (Jonah) shrine east of Mosul city after they seized control of the mosque completely,” a security source, who kept…

Two soldiers who were wounded during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza passed away in Israeli hospitals on Saturday. The IDF Spokesperson has released their names: Captain Liad Lavi, a fighter in the infantry officer, 22, from Moshav Sde Nitzan, and Sergeant Major Rami Kahlon, 39 of Hadera. Kahlon will be laid to rest on Sunday…

Hamas have signed an arms deal with North Korea in order to replenish its deplete rocket arsenal, after thousands were either fired at Israeli civilians or destroyed in IDF strikes in recent weeks, according to The Telegraph. In an exclusive report the British paper sited senior security sources who claimed that the deal, worth hundreds of…

The IDF released three new English-language videos Saturday: one is a review of week 2 of the fighting. The second shows soldiers in a house rigged with explosives. The third is about the cost of Hamas’s tunnel network.

Hamas fired rockets at central Israel around 10 p.m. Saturday, making a mockery of a four-hour Israeli ceasefire extension that began two hours earlier. Meanwhile, Israel’s Diplomacy and Security Cabinet has voted to extend the ceasefire by a further 24 hours in response to UN requests, a security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.…

Two days following an attack on Macabbi Haifa soccer players by pro-Palestinian rioters during a friendly match in Lille, France, a second anti-Semitic has taken place in Poland. On Friday, the F.C. Ashdod soccer team, which has been training in a town near Warsaw, Poland, was attacked by at least 30 skinheads during a local…

Hungary’s choice to become ambassador to Italy has backed down amid mounting international protest against his appointment because of anti-Semitic statements. “Peter Szentmihalyi Szabo informed the Foreign Affairs Ministry he doesn’t wish to be ambassador,” the ministry said in a statement Friday. The 69-year-old writer and commentator with links to the far-right media had raised…

Muslims ransacked, looted and burned the police station on the Temple Mount Friday, video and photographs show. The first of the following videos, posted on Facebook, show the station after it was ransacked. The second video shows a policeman attempting unsuccessfully to replace the PLO flag that the vandals placed atop the station with the…

Kerry and top diplomats from Europe and the Middle East who gathered in Paris Saturday called for an extension to a temporary truce declared Saturday between Israel and Hamas. However, neither Israel, nor Egypt, nor the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas were represented in the talks. Israeli diplomatic sources accused Kerry of accepting Hamas’s terms for…

Hamas fired rockets at central Israel around 10 p.m. Saturday, making a mockery of a four-hour Israeli ceasefire extension that began two hours earlier. Meanwhile, Israel’s Diplomacy and Security Cabinet has convened to discuss a request by diplomats to extend the ceasefire further. Hama’s Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades, said in three separate statements that they had…

A prominent Jewish organization in the United States has asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to return a courage award he received in 2004, following his response to the recent Gaza operations, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reports. “In 2004, the American Jewish Congress presented its prestigious Profile of Courage award to you as an…

Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire in Gaza on Saturday. An Israeli official confirmed to the Hebrew-language Walla! news website that Israel agreed to the temporary ceasefire, to begin at 8:00 a.m. Israel time Saturday morning. According to the AFP news agency, Hamas has agreed to the ceasefire as well. “Hamas…

Israel has announced a unilateral 12-hour ceasefire in Gaza starting on Saturday morning, a U.S. official said Friday night, according to AFP. “Israel has agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire from 07:00 am Saturday,” said the official  travelling with Secretary of State John Kerry, who was leaving Cairo without securing a longer ceasefire deal between Israel…

Air France said it will resume flights to Tel Aviv from Friday evening, after halting services to Israel earlier this week because of the Gaza conflict. The first flight will leave Paris at 11:00 p.m., a spokesman said, according to AFP. The carrier suspended services Tuesday after a rocket fired from Gaza landed near Tel…

The European Union (EU) issued a statement on Friday in which it called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. “The EU remains closely involved in seeking an immediate ceasefire to end the fighting in Gaza. We call on all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire based on the November 2012 ceasefire agreement. We welcome…

Gaza terrorists fired a salvo of rockets towards southern and central Israel on Friday evening. Three rockets exploded in open areas in the Eshkol region in the Negev. The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket over Ashkelon. Anoter rocket exploded in an open area near the city. Another two rockets were intercepted by the…

Israel rejected U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday evening. According to reports in the Israeli media, the Cabinet which met on the issue unanimously voted to reject the proposal. “The security cabinet has unanimously rejected the ceasefire proposal of Kerry, as it stands,” Channel 1 News reported,…

In what might have been a terrorist attack, a private car owned by a Palestinian Arab veered on Friday afternoon and hit a Jewish girl who was waiting at a hitchhiking station in Gush Etzion. The vehicle fled the scene but a short time later the driver turned himself in to the authorities. The driver…

Chief Military Rabbi Brig. Gen. Rabbi Rafi Peretz, confirmed on Friday afternoon at 2:40 p.m. Israel time, that First Sergeant Oron Shaul, a Golani Brigade combat soldier, who fell in battle in Gaza, is dead. The family was informed by the Head of the Personnel Directorate, Major General Orna Barbivai, the Chief Military Rabbi, and…

Border Police officers came under attack by Arab rioters in Hawara, near Shechem, in Shomron Friday. Initial reports indicate that the rioters hurled rocks and fired fireworks at the Border Police at close range. The policemen fired at the rioters, apparently killing two. A short time later, two Jews – a woman aged about 50…

An Air Canada flight from Toronto was forced to circle the Tel Aviv airport before landing Friday after rockets were fired over the Israeli city, an airline spokeswoman said. “Eight kilometers away from landing at the Tel Aviv airport this morning, the pilots of Flight AC84 were ordered into a standard holding pattern by Israeli…

Reports in Israeli media cite IAF pilots who bitterly complain that due to the strict limitations placed on their use of fire, they sometimes have to refrain from helping comrades facing terrorist fire on the ground. “Testimony that is reaching us from fighter pilots who provide close air assistance to the combat soldiers who are…

French police said Friday that a protest planned for the weekend in Paris against Israel’s military operation in Gaza has been banned, following several similar rallies that turned violent. Organizers of the rally scheduled for Saturday immediately lodged a legal challenge, their lawyer, Hosni Maati, said.   Three pro-Palestinian rallies, two of them which had…

In one of the best performances by an Israeli spokesman since the start of Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s US ambassador, Ron Dermer, turned the tables on a CNN anchor who tried to corner him over the deaths of children in a Gaza school that was bombed. “What happened here is horrific,” said anchor Erin Burnett,…

Iranians rallied nationwide on Friday in a show of support for Palestinians and to protest against Israel, AFP reports. Demonstrations were staged in Tehran and more than 700 towns and cities across the country on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, state television reported. In the capital, footage showed demonstrators carrying placards saying “Death to Israel” and “Death…

Hamas has agreed to a five-day “humanitarian cease-fire,” the London-based Al Hayat newspaper reports Friday, on terms suggested by US Secretary of State John Kerry.  Kerry’s proposal reportedly includes some of the unprecedented terms proposed by Hamas leaders, but not all. According to the daily, the truce would not see any terrorists released, despite Hamas’s demands.…

Several senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed in ground clashes over the past several days, the IDF announced Friday. Their names are: Salah Abu Hassanein – top military leader and propaganda minister for Islamic Jihad; Hafez Mohammad Hamad – top terror commander for Islamic Jihad in the Beit Hanoun (northern Gaza) area who…

Israel has assisted more than 2,000 Israelis stuck in Turkey, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) announced Friday, after a worldwide flight ban bandwagon has left tens of thousands stranded in regional airports. Katz wrote that the 2,000 Israelis have been successfully moved to Athens, where they will be flown later today back to Israel. Quoting…

The IDF has accomplished all of its determined objectives in Gaza, a senior military officer told Arutz Sheva on condition of anonymity Friday, as Operation Protective Edge enters its eighteenth day.  The IDF is now working to locate and destroy additional terror tunnels, he added – which weave their way throughout Gaza.  “Only after detonating the…

Iran provided the Hamas terrorist group with the technology it has used to rain down rockets on Israel from Gaza, its parliament speaker boasted on Thursday. Tehran frequently boasts of the financial and material support it gives to Hamas and Islamic Jihad but more rarely talks of its military assistance, noted AFP. “Today, the fighters…

U.S.-led efforts to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas are focused on a week-long humanitarian ceasefire, during which intensive negotiations will tackle the blockade of Gaza and other disputes, officials said on Thursday, according to AFP. Secretary of State John Kerry, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond were in Cairo…

Gaza Arab terrorists continued firing rockets at Israel Thursday night, with a rocket fired at Eilat. The Iron Dome system intercepted the rocket. No one was injured and there was no damage from the resulting shrapnel. It’s possible the terrorists ware aiming not for Eilat, but for the Ovda Airport outside the city, where some…

In these days, many families in Gush Etzion have been left behind without fathers as more and more men are being called up to serve in Operation Protective Edge. There, too, are numerous families where even two or more members are headed to the battlefield, be they regular army or reservists. The difficulty of the…

The absence of the Arab members of the Knesset from this evening’s (Thursday) inauguration ceremony of President Reuven Rivlin did not go unnoticed. Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Zeev Elkin (Likud) did not mince words in his response. ”The decision of Arab Knesset members to boycott the inaugural ceremony is chutzpah,…

As fighting continues to rage in Gaza, Arabs in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria continued to riot. On Thursday, police arrested two Arabs near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem after they attacked police with rocks and stones. Police broke up the riot using water cannons and other anti-riot methods. In another incident, dozens of Arab youths…

The parents of US-born IDF soldier Max Steinberg have said they feel overwhelmed at the outpouring of support and condolences from Israelis across the country, after their son fell in battle in the Gaza Strip. Despite being a “lone soldier” (the term given for soldiers without close family in Israel), some 30,000 people turned out…

In a gala ceremony, but a subdued one, Reuven Rivlin was sworn in Thursday evening as the tenth President of Israel. The ceremony was held in the shadow of the heavy fighting still going on in Gaza, as IDF troops continued to pummel away at Hamas terrorists and destroy their rocket and tunnel infrastructure. As…

Germany’s biggest airline Lufthansa said Thursday it would continue to suspend flights to Tel Aviv for another 24 hours over security concerns amid the raging conflict with Gazan terrorists. “We will resume flights as soon as the protection of the airport is assured in a tangible manner,” it said in a statement. Earlier on Thursday,…

In order to reduce the economic pain many Israelis are facing because of Operation Protective Edge – from businesses that are losing money due to lost sales, to employees who are not being fully compensated for their salaries while they serve on reserve duty – the government on Thursday introduced a series of steps that…

The IDF has opened an official investigation into claims by Gaza terror groups that the IDF shelled a UN school in Gaza on Thursday afternoon. According to the groups, at least 17 people, including children, were killed, and over 200 injured. Israel has not yet commented on the report officially, but an official for UNWRA,…

US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke Thursday to his counterparts in Qatar and Turkey, which support the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as he pressed for a Gaza ceasefire. A day after he flew to Israel and cited signs of progress, Kerry was hunkered down in Egypt – which drafted a truce proposal to end…

In another example of what appears to be propaganda designed to mislead the public – and boost its image – the Izz-a-din al-Qassam “military wing” of Hamas claimed Thursday that Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo had donated 1.2 million euros ($1.6 million) to Gaza. Ronaldo has not confirmed the story, but it was reminiscent of…

A study on anti-Semitism in the UK has shown that an overwhelming majority of British Jews have expressed that they feel they are being held responsible for the decisions of the Israeli government. According to a survey conducted by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, only 6 percent of the Jewish population thought that criticism…

Calls for a boycott of a prominent Turkish author of Jewish descent over Israel’s assault in Gaza have been denounced by politicians in Turkey as a “hate crime.”   Turkey has taken a lead in denouncing the Israeli operation to stop rocket fire from Gaza, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hyperbolically termed as…

Turkey’s national carrier has extended its suspension of direct flights to Tel Aviv for another day for security reasons due to the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas, the communications minister said on Wednesday, according to AFP. “We had halted the flights to Israel yesterday, now we decided to extend the suspension for another 24…

An Iranian judge sentenced a Christian man to have his lips burnt with a cigarette for eating during the day in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, The Daily Mail reported. The barbaric punishment was carried out in public in a square in the city of Kermanshah. Five other Muslim men were also flogged in…

The United States and Canada both criticized the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday, in the wake of its intention to launch an investigation into the IDF’s operations in Gaza. Speaking to reporters, Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said “we do strongly oppose today’s special session at the Human Rights Council and…

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Palestinian Arabs on Wednesday to keep fighting Israel, according to AFP. “The only way to deal with this savage regime is to continue resistance and armed struggle and extend it to the West Bank (Judea and Samaria -ed.),” the official IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei as saying. Iran,…

An 89-year-old American and alleged Nazi war criminal died just hours before a U.S. court approved his extradition to Germany, his lawyer told AFP on Wednesday. Johann Breyer, a retired machinist born in Czechoslovakia, admitted joining the Waffen SS at the age of 17 but denied being a guard at Auschwitz, the concentration camp in…

Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) made clear on Wednesday evening that evening Israel retaking Gaza was on the agenda, should Hamas not stop the rocket fire. “We decided when to start the operation, when to attack from the air and we will also decide how to move forward,” he told Channel 2 News. “Retaking…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman slammed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday, over its intention to launch an investigation into the IDF’s operations in Gaza. The UNHRC, he said, has long ago turned into the rights council for terrorists. “We will continue to fight terror and continue to fight the hypocrisy and anti-Semitism…

In an emergency session of the UN’s Human Rights Council Wednesday, Israel came under attack from UNHRC head Navi Pillay for possible “war crimes,” and from dictatorial regimes including Iran (which denounced Israel for alleged “state terror”), Syria (which said Israel harbored “a racist and criminal mentality”), Venezuela (which spoke of “attempts to exterminate the…

Rioting and unrest continue in Judea and Samaria for a fourth week on Thursday, as Operation Protective Edge in Gaza embarks on its seventeenth day.  Hundreds of Arabs rioted overnight in five locations throughout the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Judea-Samaria: Beit Ummar, Abu Dis, Rachel’s Tomb (Bethlehem), Husan, and Clock Square in Binyamin.  The rioters…

Israel’s tenth president, Reuven Rivlin, will be sworn into office in a low-key ceremony in the Knesset Thursday. The larger ceremony that had been planned was scrapped as inappropriate, because of the ongoing fighting in Gaza. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) and President-elect Rivlin instructed the relevant professional elements to prepare a modest ceremony. “The…

Thailand on Thursday urged Israel to relocate 4,000 Thai nationals working near Gaza after one of its citizens was killed, AFP reports.  Israeli police said a farm laborer, Narakorn Kittiyongkul, died on Wednesday when a projectile fired from Gaza struck the greenhouse where he was working in the southern part of the country. The Thai Foreign Ministry said its embassy in Tel Aviv…

The warfare against Hamas missiles, tunnels and murderous motivation is accomplished not only with Israeli guns, tanks and bulldozers – but also via the unfurling of two giant Israeli flags, in full view of Hamas terrorists in Gaza. They represent, according to those who raised them, a sign of Israel’s unflagging motivation, faith, and unity.…

Foreign workers in Israel know that the money they earn and send home does not come without risk. The Thai worker killed by Hamas rocket fire yesterday brings the number of foreign workers felled by anti-Israel Palestinian terrorists over the past 13 years to at least 27. The killing in Netiv HaAsarah yesterday was caused…

The Golani Brigade uncovered yet another terror tunnel entry shaft in Gaza overnight Wednesday/Thursday, as Operation Protective Edge enters its seventeenth day. In a separate incident, the Engineering Corps identified a number of terrorists leaving a tunnel shaft. The IAF struck the shaft, causing a number of injuries.  Meanwhile, the Givati Brigade engaged in clashes…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened a special cabinet meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem Thursday by vowing that the IDF’s defensive operation in Gaza would continue “at full strength”. “The IDF has struck a significant blow to Hamas,” the prime minister said, adding that “we will continue at full strength in both the air campaign…

Egyptian security officials on Wednesday night thwarted what could have been a major terror attack against Israeli, Egyptian reports said. Egyptian soldiers shot and killed a terrorist who was running to the Kerem Shalom border crossing, apparently planning to blow himself up at the crossing, where IDF soldiers check goods going into Gaza. The terrorist…

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Thursday lifted its recommendation for airlines to stop flights to Tel Aviv due to the conflict in Israel and Gaza. It said it had revised its decision adopted Wednesday “on the basis of information provided by the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel and following coordination with the Federal…

Norway has taken exceptional security measures after being informed of a possible imminent “terrorist attack” by terrorists who have fought in Syria, the country’s intelligence chief said Thursday. The move comes as concerns are mounting in Europe about the growing national security threat posed by jihadists returning from war-torn Syria. The domestic intelligence service (PST) “recently received information that a…

President Francois Hollande announced on Thursday an 11-million-euro ($14.8 million) aid package to Gaza, citing the need to rebuild as Israel’s self-defense operation shows no sign of stopping after over two weeks, AFP reports.  An advisor to Hollande said the humanitarian aid, eight million of which will be given to the Palestinian Authority and the remainder to UN bodies…

The end of Operation Protective Edge depends on Hamas, not Israel, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (HaTnua) made clear Thursday. “I never thought about how to reach an agreement with terrorist organizations,” Livni said in an interview with Walla! News. “We must hit terrorist organizations.” She added that a ceasefire agreement, while brokered by Palestinian Authority…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) met with British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, on Wednesday, and noted that Israel expects a “special understanding” from London regarding Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. “One of the most difficult, but also magnificent periods of Britain, was when London was bombed during World War II,” Liberman said. “We learned…

A British lawmaker apologized Wednesday after tweeting that he would likely fire rockets into Israel if he lived in Gaza. “The big question is — if I lived in Gaza would I fire a rocket? — probably yes,” Liberal Democrat member of parliament David Ward said on Twitter. The Board of Deputies of British Jews called on Liberal Democrat leader Nick…

Three more IDF soldiers were killed fighting Hamas in Gaza on Wednesday, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office announced. Lieutenant Paz Eliyahu, 22, from Evron, served in the Paratroopers’ Brigade. Eliyahu’s funeral will be held at 5:00 pm Thursday at the Evron cemetery.  Sergeant First Class Li Mat, 19, from Eilat, also served in the Paratroopers’ Brigade. …

Major airlines shunned Israel for a second day on Wednesday amid fears that rocket fire from Gaza could endanger flights into Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, AFP reports, after European airlines followed the FAA’s extension on a ban on flights to Israel.  In Washington, officials renewed a formal ban on American flights to Israel until 1615 GMT on Thursday, and around the world…

Clearly Israel believes it is unwarranted and considering the flights that have come and gone uninterrupted, it appears that they are correct. Former Mayor Bloomberg has also demonstrated that, in his opinion, the FAA ban is certainly a drastic measure that only enables Hamas and Israel’s detractors. The pundits claim because a rocket came within…

Hamas continues to be uncompromising in its position regarding an international cease-fire, AFP reports Wednesday.  “We reject today and will reject in the future,” Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal insisted, in a public speech in Qatar. Meshaal insisted that Israel must accept his list of unprecedented conditions for a cease-fire – which included lifting several security measures, such as…

Several thousands of anti-Israel activists held a fresh protest against the Israeli operation in Gaza on Wednesday in Paris amid tight security, just days after similar rallies descended into violence and looting. The government, which had banned the prior protests seeking to restrain what it called “anti-Semitic radicals,” authorized Wednesday’s march after its organizers gave “security guarantees”, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday.…

US Secretary of State John Kerry is not ruling out any options on the shape of a Gaza ceasefire, he said on Wednesday as he intensified efforts to end the bloodshed. On his third day of shuttling between regional leaders, Kerry said he saw signs of progress on ending two weeks of fighting that has…

The Israeli government has slammed a decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an investigation into the IDF’s operations in Gaza as “a travesty”. In a statement the Prime Minister’s media adviser said that “The decision today by the UNHRC is a travesty and should be rejected by decent people everywhere,” pointing…

United Nations relief agency UNRWA has discovered, for a second time during the current war in Gaza, Hamas terror rockets stashed in one of its vacant schools. A statement by UNRWA Tuesday said that “Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the…

BBC reporter Firas Khatib was assaulted as he delivered a live stand-up report from the Israeli border with Gaza Tuesday. The assailant appears to have been Israeli. He was quickly seized by security men. 

In a gesture intended to pressure the Federal Aviation Administration to lift its newly declared ban on flights to Israel, former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg has flown to Tel Aviv in an effort to “show solidarity with the Israeli people and to demonstrate that it is safe to fly in and out of Israel.”…

IDF Spokesman, Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz, announced Wednesday morning that the IDF has discovered most of Hamas’s attack tunnels into Israel. “We can point to a solidification of the goals and a deepening of the accomplishments,” he told IDF Radio. “The soldiers are reporting about numerous tunnels that are in our hands, and I can…

A Kuwaiti cleric recently called on Hamas not to give up on its fight against Israel, and not agree to a ceasefire until Israel is erased. The comments by Tareq Al-Suwaidan were posted to the internet on July 14 and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “We are in a conflict over…

U.S. lawmakers voted Tuesday to thwart efforts to fund Hezbollah by punishing banks and other financial organizations that help the funneling of money to the Lebanese terrorist group. According to AFP, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to broaden financial sector sanctions on Hezbollah and allow the Treasury more power to “relentlessly” pursue foreign banks,…

Two IDF officers were killed in Gaza on Tuesday evening, according to a statement released by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit on Wednesday morning. One of them has been identified as Captain Natan Cohen, 23, of Modiin, a company commander in the Armored Corps.  The second is Captain Dmitri Levitas, 26, from Jerusalem. Both officers appear…

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday defended his country’s role in trying to broker a Gaza truce between Israel and Hamas, which accuses him of proposing a ceasefire favorable to Israel.   Unlike his Islamist predecessor Mohammed Morsi whom he toppled and detained last year, ex-army chief Sisi has sought to isolate the Muslim…

Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo has joined the alarming tide of anti-Israel hate-speech in Europe on Wednesday, saying he wanted to set up a fund to help Hamas “buy better weapons”, and saying that he would personally like “to shoot those bastard Zionists.” Vattimo insisted that Hamas is “fighting with toy rockets that don’t really kill anyone.” When asked…

Fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas terrorists was briefly suspended in two flashpoint areas of Gaza on Wednesday to allow convoys of ambulances to retrieve the wounded, an ICRC spokeswoman said. “A convoy of seven ambulances and two Red Cross cars went inside Shejaiya to evacuate the wounded,” ICRC spokeswoman Cecilia Goin told AFP, saying the move had been coordinated with both…

A British MP has stood by controversial comments in which he said that if he lived in Gaza he would join terrorists and fire rockets at Israeli civilians. Liberal Democrat MP David Ward posted the message on Twitter Tuesday, asking rhetorically: “The big question is – if I lived in #Gaza would I fire a…

Operation Protective Edge’s ground offensive has uncovered the full extent of tunnel terror into Israel Wednesday, after a shaft uncovered by the Givati Brigade was revealed to be holding IDF uniforms, maps, and a full weapons cache.  Shortly afterwards, the IDF clashed with a terrorist cell hiding in another tunnel; one terrorist was injured.  In…

Hundreds of family members, brothers in arms and friends from Hakotel Yeshiva accompanied First Sergeant Evyatar Turjeman to his final resting place at Har Herzl, in Jerusalem, late Tuesday night. Evyatar was a native of Beit She’an and a student at the Hakotel Yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Old City. He fell in an intense firefight with…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged the country’s Jewish community Wednesday her unwavering support as she condemned anti-Semitic slurs and threats at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, a government spokesman said. The spokesman, Georg Streiter, said Germany would not tolerate aggression against the resurgent Jewish population, after protests against the Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza where violently anti-Semitic…

About 30,000 people attended the funeral of Sergeant Max Steinberg hy”d Wednesday. Max was a “lone soldier” who made aliyah on his own. He served in the Golani Brigade and was killed in Gaza. Most of the participants in the funeral did not know Max. They were citizens who decided to honor him for his…

The IDF has struck a terrorist position in Gaza’s Al Wafa hospital, illustrating the highly sensitive and illegal use of civilian targets as human shields by Hamas and other Gazan terrorist groups. IDF sources say that the controversial decision to attack the position was taken after several days in which ground forces came under heavy…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that a U.S. ban on flights to Israel was solely due to safety concerns, AFP reports. Kerry, in Cairo to broker a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, told Netanyahu by telephone that U.S. authorities would review the order within a day, State…

Egyptian security officers checked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his top aides with a metal detector as they arrived for a meeting on Tuesday with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Reuters reported. The procedure is an unusual screening for a senior State Department official, the report noted, as foreign officials usually extend every courtesy…

Canada’s Foreign Minister on Tuesday called for a United Nations (UN) investigation of the discoveries of weapons caches at schools it operates in Gaza. “I was appalled to hear reports, one as recent as today, of stockpiles of rockets in a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza,” Canadian…

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz has unveiled a proposal that he believes could allow Israel to fully disengage from Gaza, without compromising its security. “For years, I have been calling for a ‘civilian disengagement’ plan. Stop providing electricity, water, gas, food, and all kinds of other things, demilitarize Gaza – no missiles and tunnels – and…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) envoy to the United Nations pleaded for action on Tuesday from the Security Council over Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. “On behalf of the Palestinian people, we ask: What is the international community doing to stop this bloodletting, to stop Israel’s atrocities?” the envoy, Riyad Mansour, was quoted by AFP…

The European Union has issued a strong condemnation of Hamas’ attacks on Israel and human rights abuses within Gaza. A statement published after a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers condemned “the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas and militant groups in the Gaza Strip, directly harming civilians.” It called on Hamas to immediately…

Gaza terrorists fired a sudden barrage of rockets at Israeli cities at around 9 p.m. Tuesday. Rocket sirens were heard in the coastal cities of Holon, Bat Yam, and in Modiin, located inland between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Sirens sounded in Samaria, as well. Terrorists also targeted Israeli towns near Gaza, as they had done…

Among the soldiers killed in action this week was 24-year-old Max Steinberg, who was a “lone soldier” – a soldier serving in the IDF while his family lives overseas. Max came to Israel from Los Angeles, California in 2012, making the decision to live in Israel and enlist in the army despite having no family…

23-year-old David Rast has made a “miraculous” recovery after being shot in a terrorist attack late on Monday night. Rast, a yeshiva student and former soldier, was returning to his family’s home in the Samaria town of Yakir when he was shot by a terrorist seated in a passing car. Rast was seriously injured in…

Hamas has tried to kidnap Israeli soldiers in Gaza, Colonel Uri Gordin said Tuesday. “Hamas is fighting as hard as it can, they are using every means at their disposal,” he stated. Gordin, commander of the Nahal Brigade, spoke to journalists outside Gaza. He reported that troops have managed to locate the majority of terror…

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon was more contained than usual, but he continued to criticize Israel’s counter-terror operation in Gaza during a visit to Jerusalem on Tuesday. Ban previously condemned Israeli counter-terror operations in Gaza as “atrocious” and called for Israel to “do far more to protect civilians.” He had a more moderate message…

American airlines temporarily halted flights to and from Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport Tuesday following a rocket strike in the area. According to some reports, the change is due to a decision from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). A rocket hit a home in the city of Yehud, near the airport, on Tuesday morning. Having failed to…

Wounded soldiers have given shocking testimony regarding Hamas’ use of young children as human shields. Parents of wounded soldiers spoke to Kol Yisrael on Tuesday and shared some of the disturbing stories they had heard from their sons. They said soldiers have repeatedly seen young children in Sheijaya, Gaza, be sent out into the streets…

The IDF has just released the names of six soldiers killed in an armored personnel carrier (APC) in Shejaiya, Gaza, on Sunday, out of a total of seven who were in the APC. Thirteen soldiers were killed in the fighting that day, but the process of identification of the APC soldiers took a long time.…

The IDF said Tuesday that it has completed the process of identifying the bodies from the Golani Brigade APC hit by the enemy in Shejaiya Sunday. “In view of the complexity of the event,” the military said, “the bodies of six fallen soldiers have been identified positively.” “Efforts to identify and find out information about…

As Operation Protective Edge enters its fifteenth day, a military official told Arutz Sheva Tuesday that one hundred and eighty (180) terrorists have been eliminated so far, including twenty (20) who were killed overnight Monday alone. Overnight, roughly 100 targets were attacked in the Sheijaya neighborhood, where 13 soldiers were killed Sunday. Twenty eight terrorists have been arrested since…

Hamas and Egypt are at odds over an unconfirmed cease-fire deal with Israel, Walla! News reports Tuesday – after Cairo refused to add to the terms of its mediation unprecedented ‘conditions’ tempering the move.  Hamas, which has rejected not one, but three separate ceasefire attempts, called on Israel over the past week to submit to a number of ‘conditions’…

MK Danny Danon (Likud), who served as Deputy Defense Minister until his recent dismissal, said Tuesday morning that Israel was surprised by the extent of the threat posed by Hamas tunnels into southern Israel. In an exclusive interview with Arutz Sheva, Danon expressed full backing for the current IDF operation in Gaza, which he said was unavoidable.…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday pledged $47 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza as he flew to the region to intensify efforts for an immediate truce, AFP reports. Kerry, who has voiced willingness to tour the region as long as needed, started his mission in Cairo where he met visiting UN Secretary-General…

About 250 people gathered in Tel Aviv on Monday evening for a demonstration in support of Israel and Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. The protest came after hundreds of people protested in Jaffa against the operation, demanding that the IDF stop its campaign against Hamas terrorists. The demonstrators in Tel Aviv shouted, “We are stronger…

A soldier killed in Gaza on Tuesday morning has been identified as Staff Sergeant Evyatar Turgeman, 20, of Beit Shean. Turgeman, a soldier in the Paratroopers unit, was killed in a shootout with terrorists. He is the 28th soldier killed in Operation Protective Edge. Earlier Tuesday it was revealed that Sergeant Oron Shaul, 21, is…

IDF soldiers have successfully hit 187 terror targets so far on Tuesday, military sources have revealed. One hundred of the targets were in the Sheijaya neighborhood in northern Gaza. The targets include hidden rocket launchers, Hamas command centers, tunnels, launchers used for firing ground-to-ground missiles, and a weapons factory. Soldiers report hitting at least 14 terrorists.…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu strongly defended Israel’s counter-terror operation in Gaza during a visit Tuesday to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. During his visit, Netanyahu spoke to dozens of foreign ambassadors, and told them that he expects them to not only support Israel in its fight against terrorism, but also to stand up to Hamas. “Any…

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has blamed extremist groups for violent pro-Palestinian protests that took place last week in and near Paris. A demonstration in the gritty northern Paris suburb of Sarcelles degenerated into violence Sunday with Jewish shops being looted and police using tear gas and rubber bullets against the crowd. That rally, and another held a day earlier in…

Hundreds of Palestinian Arabs demonstrated in the streets of Ramallah on Monday, according to Safa news agency, in support for Hamas and its constant barrage of rocket fire on Israel.  The protest march began immediately after evening prayers, according to the daily, with a broadcast played in the central square with a message supporting Hamas’s “military wing,”…

The seventh, missing soldier from the APC that was attacked by Hamas in Shejaiya, Gaza, on Sunday, is Sgt. Oron Shaul of the Golani Brigade.  A representative of the Shaul family who spoke to the press outside the family home, Raheli Gazit, said that as far as the family is concerned, “as long as the…

Hamams fired a volley of rockets at the Gush Dan (Greater Tel Aviv) and Shefela (Coastal) regions on Tuesday.  Two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system over Gush Dan; no damage was reported, but Magen David Adom (MDA) teams provided medical care to nine patients suffering from trauma and light injuries…

As international figures were on their way to the Middle East in the hope of negotiating a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made the rounds of television news shows explaining Israel’s position in the wake of the continuing ground war in Gaza. Netanyahu appeared on three TV news channels – Sky…

Thousands of people attended the funeral of fallen IDF soldier Nissim Sean Carmeli, who was laid to rest in Haifa on Monday night. Carmeli is one of the 13 combat soldiers who were killed in Gaza on Sunday. Carmeli was a lone soldier from South Padre Island, Texas, whose parents are still in Texas and who had no…

A 25-year-old man was shot and seriously wounded on Monday night at the Rechelim junction, near the Shomron city of Ariel, in what may have been a terrorist attack. Magen David Adom paramedics treated the victim at the scene and then took him to the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. Police believe the man was…

Jewish groups in New York will be protesting the presentation of an opera called “The Death of Klinghoffer,” which they say is anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. According to a spokesperson for Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI), “this opera should be entitled, “The Murder of Klinghoffer.” First produced in Brussels and New York in 1991, the…

A barrage of seven rockets was fired from Gaza towards southern Israel on Monday evening, around 11:00 p.m. The rockets exploded in open regions in the city of Be’er Sheva, causing no physical injuries or damages. Two rockets were also fired towards the city of Ashdod. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile…

Hundreds of people protested in Jaffa Monday night against Operation Protective Edge, demanding that the IDF stop its campaign against Hamas terrorists. The protests were part of a national “Day of Rage” declared by Arab groups, consisting of protests and demonstrations in Arab cities and towns against the IDF operation. Right-wing activists attempted to conduct a…

Several international powers called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Monday, calling for an “end to violence.”  “The new dangerous cycle of violence has shown with absolute clarity the need for a ceasefire,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement as the United States and the United Nations demanded an immediate ceasefire. “Now we…

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office stated Monday night that seven additional soldiers and officers have been killed in Gaza, as the fourteenth day of Operation Protective Edge draws to a close.  Their families have been notified. Sergeant First Class Yuval Dagan, 22, from Kfar Saba, served in the Golani Brigade.  Dagan’s funeral will be held Monday…

Israel must “do more” to protect civilians caught up in the crossfire of its assault on Hamas in the Gaza, the White House said Monday. “We would like the Israelis to take even greater steps to ensure the protection of civilians,” spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. His comments came as US Secretary of State John Kerry headed to the region…

Several hundred protesters gathered in Budapest Monday at a controversial new World War II monument which Jewish groups say glosses over Hungary’s active role in the Holocaust, AFP reports.  The government said Monday it was canceling a planned official inauguration of the monument — put up under the cover of darkness early onSunday after months of protests – which it says marks all the…

Turkey declared three days of national mourning on Monday, in a “solidarity move” for “Palestinian victims” of Israel’s self-defense operation in Gaza, which it called a “massacre.”  “We condemn Israel’s massacre of the Palestinian people,” Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters in Ankara in televised comments after a cabinet meeting. “In a show of solidarity with the…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) vowed to stop major Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera from broadcasting in Israel on Monday, arguing that it is a mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda.  “Qatar has become a global problem,” he stated, in a meeting with the Rwandan Foreign Minister. Several Hamas leaders have fled to Qatar since Israel began cracking…

In a recorded speech broadcast on Hamas television, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on Monday announced that Hamas would not agree to a cease-fire unless Israel agreed to its terms. “Our resistance is bravely holding back the Zionist murderers,” Haniyeh said. “Our fighters are defending the Palestinian nation.” Haniyeh listed ten demands that Israel would have…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal issued a joint appeal for an end to “Israeli aggression” in Gaza during talks in Doha on Monday. Meeting for the first time since the start of Operation Protective Edge on July 8, the two men also called for Israel to lift its blockade of theHamas-controlled territory. They…

A report in London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Arab  Monday said that Israeli planes over the weekend destroyed a warehouse in Sudan that was holding a large number of long-range Iranian missiles. The missiles belonged to Hamas, and were to be used against Israel after they were smuggled into Gaza. According to the report, eyewitnesses said they…

Among the demands Hamas has demanded that Israel fulfill in exchange for a cease-fire is the continued unlimited supply of free electricity by Israel to terrorists-run Gaza. The electricity demand was one of “ten commands” Hamas has put forth, the terror group said. Hamas owes the Israel Electric Company (IEC) hundreds of millions of shekels,…

Some 500 people on Monday staged a silent protest in Tokyo against the bloodshed in Gaza, the biggest such gathering in the Japanese capital since the violence began early this month, organizers told AFP. As night fell demonstrators holding candles formed huge letters spelling “Gaza” in a city park, and offered a one-minute prayer for victims of the violence in the Palestinian…

The IDF on Monday released photos and videos that offered irrefutable proof that Hamas terrorists were indeed using civilian neighborhoods and facilities – including hospitals – to fire rockets at Israel. The IDF spokesperson released the materials on its Twitter account Monday afternoon. Israel has long insisted that Hamas uses Gaza civilians as human shields,…

Germany’s Jewish community on Monday condemned an “explosion of evil and violent hatred of Jews” at a recent string of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the country, AFP reports.  Protesters waving Palestinian flags and signs of late leader Yasser Arafat have in recent days openly shouted angry anti-Semitic slogans at rallies against Israel’s Gaza offensive, according to German media. Exclaiming “Allahu Akbar” (God is…

Abu Dhabi has accused the Al-Jazeera TV channel and websites close to Qatar of “fabricating” information suggesting UAE supported Israel’s operation in Gaza, in the latest tensions between both countries, AFP reports Monday.  Relations between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain sank to a new low in March when the three governments withdrew their ambassadors from Doha,…

The official Facebook page of Fatah, the terror movement and political organization headed by Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, has published photos from Tulkarem, in Samaria, showing Fatah activists passing out sweets to people in the street to celebrate the alleged abduction of an IDF soldier in Gaza. The claim regarding the abduction was circulated…

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting late Sunday on the situation in Gaza. According to AFP, diplomats said the meeting was requested by council member Jordan, following a call by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. As regional leaders met in Doha for urgent talks on a ceasefire, Abbas said that…

United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel on Sunday to “exercise maximum restraint” and spare civilian lives in its campaign in Gaza, AFP reports. He also condemned what he called the “atrocious action” of Israel in Shejaiya, near Gaza City, where 62 people were killed in an Israeli attack on Hamas terrorists. The…

A group of New Yorkers gathered in Manhattan on Sunday for a spontaneous demonstration in support of Israel. Thousands of people came by to express support for the Jewish state amid its military operation against Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. Loading…

The IDF cleared for publication on Sunday night the names of five of the 13 officers and soldiers who were killed in an attack on an APC in Gaza. Captain Tzafrir Bar-Or, a commander in the Golani Brigade, 32, of Holon. His funeral will be held Monday at 1:00 p.m. in the military section of…

French newspaper Le Figaro reported Sunday that a synagogue at Sarcelles, in the Val d’Oise area of Paris, was targeted by a molotov cocktail. Flames licked the building but the fire did not take. The incident reportedly took place Sunday during a demonstration in support of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza which had been banned by…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the nation and answered reporters’ questions Sunday evening during the prime time newscasts after 8:00 p.m., and spelled out relatively modest aims for Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, which completes its 13th day Sunday night. In response to a question, Netanyahu said that Israel has embarked on a gradual process…

A prominent Salafi Islamist cleric in Egypt has called on Egyptians not to support Hamas in its war against Israel, accusing the Muslim Brotherhood-aligned terrorist group of being part of a joint Shia-communist plot to harm the “Palestinian people”. While reminding viewers that “driving the Jews out of Palestine is, indeed, a duty”, cleric Talaat…

At a press conference shortly before news of the deaths of 13 IDF soldiers overnight Saturday was released, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said that the army was determined to complete its mission of restoring quiet to southern Israel by delivering a devastating blow to Hamas’ military capabilities. A substantial blow had already been…

British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour’s declaration was in the form of a letter to a leader of the British Jewish community.  It stated:  Balfour speaking at the founding of Hebrew University.Behind him sit Chaim Weizmann and Chief Rabbi Avraham Kook The British Army had just captured Be’er Sheva  after months of trying to break through the Ottoman army’s Gaza-Be’er Sheva defense line. The…

A 32-year-old man was killed Saturday when a rocket fired by Gaza terrorists hit a small Bedouin community near the city of Dimona. The man has been identified as Alouj Ouda. His wife, son, daughter, and sister-in-law were wounded in the attack. Ouda’s wife suffered shrapnel injuries to several parts of her body, and is…

Sagit Greenberg, widow of Res. Major Amotz Greenberg hy”d, stated that her husband Amotz was dedicated to protecting his soldiers – and understood that the line of duty could involve risking his life.  “The army was something that was always in our lives,” Sagit stated Sunday, in an interview with IDF Radio. “We sat here on…

Golani Brigade commander, Colonel Raslan Alian, was seriously wounded overnight Saturday-Sunday during the fighting in Gaza and was evacuated for medical treatment.   Col. Alian fought in the Second Lebanon War and was wounded fighting Hezbollah. Alian is the first Druze to have been appointed commander of the Golani Brigade. He is married and father…

The chief editor of a Sudanese newspaper was badly beaten, according to Al-Arabiya, for the sole crime of calling for normalization of ties with Israel.  Osman Mirghani, chief editor of Sudanese daily Al-Tayar, was admitted to Al-Zaytouna hospital in Khartoum Saturday night after seven men raided his office and beat him over his pro-Israel views. The attack…

The UN agency for Palestinian Arab “refugees,” UNRWA, has caused outrage by apparently giving rockets to Hamas. On Thursday, UNRWA confirmed that 20 rockets had been found in one of its vacant schools in Gaza.  UNRWA staff said last week that they had “informed the relevant parties and successfully took all necessary measures for the…

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office announced a large expansion of ground forces in Gaza overnight Saturday/Sunday, as part of the ongoing self-defense operation against Hamas, Operation Protective Edge. The decision was made after an emergency meeting by Israel’s foremost political leaders, according to the IDF – which emphasized that the ground operation could expand even further…

US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday blamed Hamas for the continuation of the conflict in Gaza, saying the Islamic terrorists were refusing all ceasefire efforts. “Israel is under siege by a terrorist organization that has seen fit to dig tunnels and come through those tunnels with handcuffs and tranquilizer drugs, prepared to try to…

After tens of thousands of people participated over the past several days in violent protests against Israel in London, Paris, and other locations around the world, with protestors in Paris attacking a synagogue last week, Jewish communities in the Diaspora aren’t taking any chances. Many have asked local police for extra patrols around synagogues and…

France’s prime minister on Sunday defended a controversial decision to ban a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris that went ahead anyway and degenerated into violence. The rally Saturday in a northern district of the French capital was initially peaceful, but scores of men later clashed with riot police, throwing stones and bottles at security forces who…

Rocket fragments fell throughout Rishon LeTzion on Sunday, after the Iron Dome intercepted a large volley fired on the heavily-populated Gush Dan region.  But as shrapnel rained on the unsuspecting populace, one kindergarten was narrowly missed by a large fragment – an open miracle, as Channel 2 reports.  Some 20 children and staff headed into a protected…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas “political leader” Khaled Mashaal will meet in Qatar Sunday to discuss a truce in Gaza, day 13 of Israel’s self-defense operation, an official said. The official close to Abbas, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said: “The president will meet Mashaal to discuss ways of reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.” Hamas categorically…

A rocket probably fired from the Gaza hit Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the embattled Palestinian enclave on Saturday, wounding a soldier, a  security official told AFP.  The rocket “was most likely fired from Gaza and fell into Egyptian territory by mistake,” the official said.  An estimated 1,600 rockets have been fired from Gaza since Operation Protective…

Palestinian Arabs deliberately cut electricity lines in the Dolev-Talmonim Bloc in Binyamin on Saturday, causing power outages throughout several communities over Shabbat.  Power was finally restored since the early evening hours in Dolev, Talmon, Harsha, Neria, Horesh, Yaron, and Nahaliel.  The terrorists uploaded footage of the attack on social media, confirming suspicions that the power…

As of Saturday night, the IDF has uncovered 34 terror tunnels, including 5 which extend from Gaza far into Israel, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office announced Saturday night. The tunnels have been neutralized and are in the process of being destroyed, it said. Seventy terrorists have been killed – including 20 on Saturday alone – and…

An IDF reserve officer, Col. Amotz Greenberg, 45, of Hod Hasharon, and Sgt. Adar Bersano, 20, of Nahariya, were killed Saturday morning after a terrorist squad infiltrated from Gaza into Israel through a tunnel. The terrorists engaged an IDF motorized force that passed near the location where they emerged from the tunnel, firing at a…

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed alarm at the increasingly hostile environment toward Israel in Turkey Saturday, warning that the escalation of anti-Semitism against the Turkish Jewish community is rising and calling on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to address the situation.  “We are alarmed by the growing hostility toward Israel in Turkey, which is increasingly…

Israeli Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) continued to openly encourage Hamas in the battle against Israel’s self-defense operation, giving another inflammatory interview to Al-Jazeera Saturday ” ” .  “The Israeli Home Front Command is afraid of casualties rising following a ground operation,” Zoabi said. “The Israeli public cannot stand [the idea that] confrontation will injure more and…

Parts of central London were brought to a standstill on Saturday as thousands of pro-Palestinians marched in protest against Israel’s offensive in Gaza, while in Paris a banned demonstration descended into violence. Organizers of the London rally claimed that “tens of thousands” of people joined the march from Prime Minister David Cameron’s office to the Israeli embassy, many of them chanting “Israel…

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius insisted on Saturday that his country’s “absolute priority” is to secure a truce in Gaza, saying an Egyptian initiative for ceasefire enjoys international support. At a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart, Nasser Judeh, Fabius said his regional tour seeks to help “break the spiral of violence and to protect the civilian population as much as…

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday slammed Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as an “illegitimate tyrant” and said Cairo could not be relied upon to negotiate a truce with Israel. “Is Sisi a party (to a ceasefire)? Sisi is a tyrant himself,” Erdogan was quoted by the AFP news agency as having told…

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will fly to the Middle East on Saturday in an effort to end the latest violence in Gaza, a top official told the Security Council on Friday, according to AFP. Under secretary general for political affairs Jeffrey Feltman said a two-state solution to the conflict was the only way…

Since the ground operation in Gaza began, the IDF has attacked 260 terror targets, according to updated statistics released by the IDF Spokesperson on Friday night. Among the targets that were hit are leadership and governance infrastructure, weapons production and storage sites, tunnels and homes of senior Hamas officials. So far, according to the IDF,…

The European Union on Friday said it was “very concerned” over the escalation of violence in Gaza and reiterated a call for an immediate ceasefire, AFP reports. “We are very concerned about the escalation in the Gaza Strip including the resumption of rocket fire into Israel and the Israeli ground operation,” said a statement issued…

MK Hanin Zoabi took part in a demonstration held by Arabs in Haifa on Friday evening against Operation Protective Edge. Clashes broke out between the demonstrators and police forces when the protesters, who numbered approximately 400, tried to block streets. Police noted that the protest was not authorized by them and that they found out…

U.S. President Barack Obama got to hear an incoming rocket siren during a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday. As the two were speaking, a siren was heard in the background, indicating that rockets were being fired towards Tel Aviv. Netanyahu remarked to Obama that this is the reality in which Israelis…

Two rockets fired by Gaza terrorists exploded outside a community in the Eshkol region of southern Israel on Friday evening. There were no physical injuries. Around 9:15 p.m., sirens were heard in Tel Aviv and in the Gush Dan region, for the third time in several hours. At least three rockets were intercepted by the…

Hamas terrorists fired a large salvo of rockets towards Israel on Friday evening. The rocket attacks targeted both southern Israel as well as central Israel, as sirens were heard in the Tel Aviv area. The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted three rockets over Ashdod. A fourth rocket exploded in an open area. Four rockets were…

The number of displaced Gazans has almost doubled in the past 24 hours, hitting 40,000 people since Israel began a major ground operation, the UN agency for Palestinian Arab “refugees,” UNRWA, said Friday. “The number of people coming to UNRWA seeking sanctuary from the fighting in Gaza has nearly doubled today. It has risen from…

Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas on Friday urged support for an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire proposal in Gaza, as he held talks with Turkey’s leaders on a brief stopover after a visit to Cairo. “Israel accepted the ceasefire proposal. We (the Palestinians) must also accept it so that we can put the Israeli side at unease,” Abbas told…

CNN has removed correspondent Diana Magnay from covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after she tweeted that Israelis who were cheering the bombing of Gaza, and who had allegedly threatened her, were “scum.” “After being threatened and harassed before and during a liveshot, Diana reacted angrily on Twitter,” a CNN spokeswoman said in a statement to The…

Itamar Avnon, a young Israeli and veteran IDF paratroopers, died in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over the Russia-Ukraine border on Thursday, along with 294 others, his family announced.  “Unfortunately, I must share with all of my Facebook friends the sad news that my son Itamar was on the plane that crashed over…

Dozens of neo-Nazis demonstrated in Warsaw, Poland on Thursday in front of the Israeli embassy, demanding an end to Operation Protective Edge to protect Israeli civilians from Hamas’s rocket fire.  The demonstrators called to “bring Israeli flags back into the crematoria chimneys.” The Polish Jewish community staged a counter-protest, along with Chief Rabbi Michael Sodrich…

The IDF has released a summary of the last eight hours of Operation Protective Edge’s ground offensive in Gaza on Friday morning, after tens of thousands of soldiers were called up to enter Gaza and destroy Hamas’s arsenals and terror tunnels. The IDF eliminated 15 terrorists overnight; 103 terror targets were eliminated, including 20 buried…

Hamas continues to receive military and political support from Iran, it was revealed Friday. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal spoke to Iranian Parliament chairman Ali Larijani Thursday night, shortly after the Israeli government announced it would launch a ground offensive into Gaza. Mashaal reportedly said that Hamas could deal with every possible scenario, boasting that their…

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel on Thursday to “do far more” to spare civilians after it launched a ground offensive in Gaza. “I regret that despite my repeated urgings, and those of many regional and world leaders together, an already dangerous conflict has now escalated even further,” Ban told reporters, according to…

Since their entry into Gaza Thursday night, IDF forces have attacked 150 targets, including tunnels, rocket launch sites and the homes of senior officers. Sirens sounded in Be’er Sheva and nearby communities Friday morning, as terrorists continued to fire at Israel. The Iron Dome system intercepted three rockets in the sky. A soldier who was…

One week before he was killed in Gaza, First Sergeant Eitan Barak was interviewed in military magazine Bamahane, as a platoon commander in the Nahal Brigade who took part in Operation Brother’s Keeper. The IDF scoured Judea and Samaria in that operation in search of three abducted yeshiva students, and conducted arrests of Hamas terrorists.…

Bulgarian prosecutors revealed for the first time Friday the identity of the bomber in a deadly attack on Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian sea resort of Burgas in 2012. Five Israeli tourists were killed in the attack as well as the driver of the bus and the bomber, while more than 30 other Israelis were injured.…

The IDF has killed 17 terrorists, it announced Friday afternoon, and taken in an additional 13 – who surrendered – for questioning.  In addition, they have uncovered four terror tunnels and destroyed 21 rocket launchers, it said.  Earlier, Palestinian Arab sources claimed that the IDF is actively working to destroy two terror tunnels Friday, as…

Violent protests erupted at the Israeli embassies in Istanbul and Ankara on Thursday night, with throngs of shrieking Turkish demonstrators hurling rocks at the embassy and at staff, screaming hate slurs, and waving pro-Palestinian flags and banners.  Hundreds of protesters attacked the Israeli consulate in Istanbul while similar numbers sought to break into the residence of…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was to head to Turkey to push a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, after Hamas rejected Egyptian-mediated negotiations and Israel launched a ground operation. Egypt, under recently-elected President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has moved to isolate Hamas, accusing it of backing the Muslim Brotherhood on its own territory.  It has worked instead to bolster…

The solidarity mission of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) traveled to the south of Israel Thursday, to meet with Israelis living under the constant threat of Hamas rocket fire. President Shimon Peres, WJC President Ronald Lauder and the other members the 78-strong WJC delegation paid a visit to Kibbutz Zikim near Gaza, where the IDF…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at length about the ground offensive in Gaza on Friday, as Operation Protective Edge against Hamas enters its eleventh day.  “This is the tenth day that Israel has had to endure terrorism on its cities and its citizens,” he said. “The IDF is operating against Hamas in Gaza by sea,…

Former Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Arabi said Thursday that Hamas was not serious about a cease-fire – and that the terror group was deliberately trying to embarrass Egypt. Speaking in an interview in an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Arabi blamed Hamas for not only failing to come to a cease-fire, but for “shedding the blood of innocent…

The IDF authorized for publication Thursday morning that soldiers had successfully prevented a major terrorist incursion into Israel by Gaza Arab terrorists, who had attempted to sneak into Israel via a terror tunnel. The terrorists had managed to dig their way into a kibbutz near the border, IDF officials said.  In the early morning hours…

Four days after helping his German Arsenal team win soccer’s World Cup, Mesut Ozil is donating his game winnings to “the children of Gaza,” reports said. The funds represent the bonuses he received for playing through the World Cup series games, with $300,000 of the sum awarded to him in the aftermath of the final…

Popular pop star Rihanna on Tuesday posted a tweet in support of Palestinian Arabs, then deleted it and said the tweet was made by mistake. The British Independent reported that the singer, who is from Barbados, posted the hashtag “#FreePalestine” on her official feed on Tuesday morning. She deleted it within eight minutes, the report…

Clinton would not go there. “Well, and they’re trapped by their leadership,” she retorted. “Unfortunately it’s a two-pronged trapping. They have leadership that is committed to resistance and violence and therefore their actions are mostly about how do we get new and better missiles to launch them at Israel, instead of saying ‘hey, let’s try…

Adi Ya’akubov, a resident of New York City’s Borough of Queens, wanted to show his solidarity with Israel as Hamas rockets rained down on Israeli cities – so he moved up a family trip planned for the High Holidays to July. The trip was meant to celebrate the Bar-Mitzvah of his son Yosef, but the…

While the government pushes for a cease-fire in the current round of fighting with Hamas, Israelis around the country took to the streets Thursday demanding a more definitive ending to Operation Protective Edge – at the very least turning off the electricity in Gaza in order to bring about a fall of Hamas control of…

A Malaysia Airlines jet crashed near the Russia-Ukraine on Thursday, killing 295 people on board – and sparking questions about the role of the ongoing civil war between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian militants in the crash.  Both the Russian and Ukrainian government denied being involved in the crash of the Boeing-777, bound to Kuala…

Osama Hamdan, who is in charge of foreign affairs in Hamas, has presented an uncompromising stance regarding the war against Israel. In the course of the meal breaking the daily Ramadan fast, Hamdan said that Hamas can hold on for many months, and that it is manufacturing a new missile for every one that is…

Cleared for publication: three Arab residents of Shfar’am, two of them minors, were arrested on suspicion of public disorder and throwing Molotov cocktails at police car in Shfar’am last Sunday. The three arrests were made possible through joint cooperation of the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) and the Northern District of the Israel…

The IDF shot down a Hamas aerial drone Thursday evening. The drone was brought down by Patriot missiles. The Navy is looking for remains of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).  This is the second time a UAV has been shot down this week. An enemy UAV, apparently laden with explosives, was shot down by the IDF near the port city…

Cabinet ministers from the right and the left expressed their support on Thursday night for Israel’s ground operation in Gaza. Communications Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) said in an interview on Channel 2 News that the decision to expand Operation Protective Edge into a ground assault was reached unanimously among the entire Cabinet. “A few days…

As Israel launched a ground operation in Gaza on Thursday, Egypt blamed Hamas – but also Israel – for the latest escalation and for the deaths of civilians. According to Kol Yisrael radio, the Egyptian government said it was placing the responsibility on Hamas for “the possible deaths of Palestinian civilians”, citing Hamas’s refusal to…

The medical condition of a soldier seriously injured last week by a mortar shell near the Kerem Shalom crossing has deteriorated significantly Thursday. First Sergeant Mordechai Yamin, 22, who serves in the Combat Engineering Corps, was seriously wounded Thursday near Gaza. He was on pre-discharge leave, and about to complete his mandatory service, when he went to his…

The Prime Minister’s Office has issued a statement that says the IDF has embarked on a ground assault into Gaza against Hamas’s tunnels. The operation is deemed as “limited” and will probably not go further than two or three kilometers into Gaza’s territory. This is deemed to be deep enough in enemy land to find…

IDF spokesman Brigadier General Moti Almoz said on Thursday night that the IDF was dealing the terrorists in Gaza a powerful blow. Addressing the media as the IDF launched a ground operation in Gaza, Almoz called on the residents of Gaza to stay away from areas in which Israeli troops are operating. “We are entering…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu explained on Thursday evening that the ground operation in Gaza was meant to hit the terrorist tunnels leading from Gaza into Israeli territory. In a statement issued after he and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon instructed the IDF to embark on a ground assault into Gaza, Netanyahu noted that the operation was…

Israel has accepted a request by UN envoy Robert Serry to enact a six-hour “humanitarian ceasefire” starting Thursday morning. Serry submitted the request to both the Israeli government and Hamas on Wednesday evening in order to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip; while Israel accepted immediately, Hamas has yet to respond. The IDF spokesman…

Hamas terrorists fired nearly 100 rockets into southern Israel on Wednesday alone, including seven at Ashdod and nineteen at Ashkelon.  Of those, twenty were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system; four landed in open areas. Two rockets also hit one site in each city – slamming into a school in Ashdod and a…

Paris police have banned pro-Palestinian activists from demonstrating this Saturday night, an official told AFP Wednesday, after violent protestors blockaded French Jews in a local synagogue and attacked them earlier this week.  Saturday night’s protest was planned for the Barbas–Rochechouart metro station near the northern Gare du Nord train station, the official said.  However, Paris police oppose…

Two Palestinian Arab brothers suspected of involvement in rocket attacks on northern Israel have been arrested by the Lebanese army, the military said on Wednesday. “Khalil and Hassan Kharraz were arrested on Tuesday. They admitted to transporting rockets on July 13 and 14 to the area from where they were launched” at Israel, the army said in a statement. At least…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s right to self-defense Wednesday, in a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini. “Those who shoot at us are not looking for a political solution, they want the destruction and disappearance of Israel,” Netanyahu stated Wednesday afternoon. “We have only one answer for them: we will fight you and defeat…

Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar visited IDF soldiers at the border with Gaza Wednesday as the military continues preparations for a possible ground offensive to stamp-out rocket fire on Israeli civilians. Many of the soldiers have been waiting anxiously at the border for as long as week, and Rabbi Amar – who is considered one…

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday reiterated that Washington supports Israel’s right to defend itself from Gaza rocket attacks, as he said he and the world were “heartbroken” by the deaths of civilians in Gaza. According to AFP, Obama also said he backed Egypt’s efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza,…

The Hamas terrorist group has published another Hebrew-language video in which it threatens Israelis. After previously releasing a Hebrew version of a popular Hamas battle song calling to ‘exterminate’ Jews and Israel, Wednesday’s video directly threatens IDF soldiers and warns them not to launch a ground assault on Gaza. “Zionist soldier, don’t move. You’re in…

Finance Minister Yair Lapid said on Wednesday that it was Hamas, whose terrorists regularly uses civilians as human shields, was responsible for the deaths of children in Gaza. “Unlike previous times, the world understands that Hamas is to blame for these unfortunate and terrible deaths, and that is why we still have a wide international…

Hamas agreed on Wednesday night to a temporary humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, but not before firing another salvo of rockets towards Israel. “The group agrees to a ceasefire for five hours,” starting from 10:00 a.m. local time Thursday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency. “The Palestinian…

An Israeli delegation will leave for Cairo on Thursday, where it will participate in talks for a ceasefire mediated by Egypt, it was reported Wednesday night. The members of the delegation are Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Yoram Cohen, senior Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s personal envoy, Attorney Yitzhak…

The United States is doing “everything in our power” to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday, according to AFP. “Our concern is to have a legitimate ceasefire and see if we can find a way to stop the conflict and killing so we can get to the real issues…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon vowed on Wednesday that Israel will continue its operation in Gaza until Hamas understands that it was a mistake to fire rockets towards Israel. “Even at this hour, Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza continue to fire missiles and rockets at Israel and try to carry out terror attacks,” he…

A group of 30 prominent American Jewish leaders, led by Robert G. Sugarman, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, arrived in Israel on Monday for a two-day solidarity visit. The delegation, which was organized on 24 hours’ notice, met with government leaders, defense forces…

Israel’s special pardons commission ordered on Tuesday that six terrorists who were freed in the Shalit deal in October of 2011 and were recaptured during Operation Brother’s Keeper be returned to prison and serve their full sentence. In its decision, the commission accepted the Attorney General’s request to cancel the release of the six, all…

Iran’s foreign minister suggested on Tuesday that six world powers are leaning towards extending nuclear talks with Tehran beyond a July 20 deadline, Reuters reported. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said “serious differences” remained in nuclear talks with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. He added, however, that the text of a…

Turkey has stepped up diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, AFP reported on Tuesday. According to the report, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke separately by telephone with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal to discuss the ceasefire process. Abbas is due to meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep…

A U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday approved a 50 percent funding boost for the Iron Dome anti-missile system, AFP reported. The measure, if it becomes law, would provide $621.6 million for Israeli missile defense programs for the 2015 fiscal year starting in October, including $351 million for the short-range Iron Dome system that has been…

An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday night targeted the home of senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar, security officials told the AFP news agency. There was no one in the house, in western Gaza City, at the time the airstrike hit, the security sources and witnesses said. Witnesses said at least two missiles hit Zahar’s home, flattening…

The IDF has warned residents of northern Gaza to evacuate their homes, Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday night. According to the report, the warning was given to residents of the Sajaiya and Zeitoun neighborhoods. The IDF traditionally warns innocent civilians ahead of an airstrike so that they are unharmed. Earlier this week, the IDF dropped leaflets above…

Terrorists from Gaza fired rockets towards the city of Kiryat Gat, located 56 kilometers (35 miles) south of Tel Aviv, on Tuesday night, shortly after 11:00 p.m. Three rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system. A fourth rocket exploded in an open region, causing no physical injuries or damages. Hamas claimed responsibility for…

Some 400 French Jews will be making aliyah to Israel Wednesday, undeterred by the ongoing rocket fire and conflict with terrorist groups in Gaza. The group is set to arrive aboard two special flights organized by The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption, and notably is comprised largely of families…

The IDF Spokesman said Wednesday morning that the military attacked 39 terror targets in Hamas-run Gaza overnight. Over 1,750 terror targets have been hit since Operation Protective Edge began, on July 7. In particular, last night the IDF carried out targeted attacks on four prominent terrorist leaders, and additional attacks on operational infrastructures that serve…

Hamas fired a large salvo of rockets Wednesday morning at the Greater Tel Aviv area. Four rockets were intercepted. Sirens and explosions sounded throughout Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, Petah Tikva, Herzliya, Raanana and Kfar Shemaryahu. There is no report of injuries. Nine people were treated for emotional shock in Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Holon, Petach…

New IDF air and tank strikes in Gaza early Wednesday killed several people, medics said, bringing the death toll from Israel’s operation in the Palestinian Arab territory to 204. One Israel has been killed in the campaign thus far: Dror Hanin, 38, of Beit Aryeh. An IDF strike on a house in the southern city…

The majority of the Israeli public is against a ceasefire with Hamas at this time, a poll conducted for Channel 2 News on Tuesday found. 53% of respondents said they opposed a ceasefire with Hamas, while 35% said they support it. 12% said they did not know or refused to answer. At the same time,…

An unconfirmed number of Israelis – including several Arutz Sheva staff members – received a “warning” via text message from Hamas’s “military wing” on Wednesday afternoon, threatening continued violence against civilians.  In the last few minutes it has been revealed that the majority of recipients were residents of the Binyamin Region in southern Samaria (Shomron), with residents…

The IDF has issued demolition orders for the homes of the terrorists who kidnapped and murdered three Jewish teens – Gilad Sha’ar, Eyal Yifrah and Naftali Frenkel hy”d. Marwan Kawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha, who abducted and murdered the three boys last month in Gush Etzion, live with their families in Hevron and have disappeared…

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman is continuing to call for a ground invasion of Gaza, implicitly criticizing the government’s official position during a visit to the embattled southern city of Ashkelon with his Norwegian counterpart. “A normal summer for our children can only be ensured with a ground operation in Gaza,” Liberman said. But he qualified…

MK Danny Danon (Likud) received the letter firing him from his position as Deputy Defense Minister Wednesday morning. The letter reached the media Tuesday night, however, he says. It does not include any explanations regarding the dismissal, only one laconic line informing him of the decision to let him go. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also…

As Israel’s security forces remain embroiled in the ongoing conflict with Hamas along the country’s southern border, students at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya (IDC) are engaged on another equally important front: hasbara, or public diplomacy. The Student Union at the IDC opened a “Hasbara Room” on Thursday – the first day of Operation Protective…

Dramatic video footage has emerged showing French Jews clashing with Muslim extremists outside the Don Yitzchak Abarbanel Synagogue in eastern Paris on Sunday, after anti-Israel protesters violently attacked the synagogue and attempted to force their way in. The attack left the Jewish community “shocked”, one community member told Arutz Sheva, noting that even amid the…

In a dramatic development Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has fired his Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon. Danon, who is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, has been a consistent and sometimes harsh critic of the prime minister’s leadership. Sources close to the PM say Danon’s scathing criticism of the government’s decision to sign up…

Terrorists in the Gaza Strip launched a fresh barrage of rockets on central and southern Israel Tuesday afternoon, fatally wounding an Israeli civilian in his thirties near the Erez Crossing on the border with Gaza. Hatzalah paramedics rushed to the scene and provided emergency first aid, after which the victim was rushed to a nearby…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the security situation in Israel on Tuesday night, threatening a full ground invasion in the event that escalation from Gaza continues. “If Islamic Jihad and Hamas do not respond to the Egyptian[-mediated] ceasefire, I will tell the IDF to act against them with great force,” he said. “And this is…

Israeli Air Force jets launched targeted attacks on Tuesday afternoon against roughly 30 terrorist hotspots throughout the Gaza Strip. Among the targets hit were 20 hidden rocket launching pads, including a medium-range missile launching pad, terror tunnels, a munitions storage facility, terrorist activity locations and the operational infrastructure of a senior member of the Palestinian…

Economics Minister Naftali Bennett rejected criticism from leftist NGOs over Israel’s military operation against terrorist rocket fire from Gaza, and said the moment Hamas decided to invest in improving the lives of the people of Gaza instead of attacking Israel, the Jewish state would be first in line to help. In an interview with the…

France stepped up security on Monday, a day after protesters demonstrating against Israel’s operation in Gaza tried to storm two Paris synagogues. According to the AFP news agency, President Francois Hollande warned that he did not want to see “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict imported into France” after two Jewish men were hurt in clashes that erupted…

Nine Yeshiva University (YU) undergraduates have been selected to participate in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP), an advanced biomedical research program at YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Directed by Dr. Victoria Freedman, Einstein’s associate dean for graduate programs in the biomedical sciences, and Dr. Barry Potvin, professor of biology at Yeshiva College and…

In the video below, IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner explains the difficulties Israel faces in its struggle against the Hamas terror organization. While the IDF obligates itself to abide by international law and makes a huge effort to minimize civilian casualties, Hamas intentionally puts the population in harm’s way while attacking Israeli civilians. “This…

Sirens were heard in the resort city of Eilat on Monday night, shortly after 1:30 a.m. Two rockets were fired towards the city, one of them hitting a parked car near one of the city’s hotels. A second rocket exploded in an open region. Two people were lightly wounded from shrapnel and were taken to…

The Security Cabinet has agreed to Egypt’s proposal for a cease-fire with Hamas, beginning at 9:00 am IST – despite the fact that Hamas categorically rejected the offer on Monday night.   “The cabinet has decided to accept the Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire starting 9am today,” Ofir Gendelman, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Twitter. The decision…

Hamas has been hiding its headquarters and arsenals in a new type of building, a special report from the Center for Intelligence and Counterterrorism revealed Tuesday. Mosques and minarets in Gaza have been converted to centers of war, according to the report, which was penned after Hamas officials leveled accusations against Israel after the Israeli Air…

Hamas rejected Egypt’s proposed ceasefire in Gaza on Monday night, as Arab foreign ministers in Cairo called on “all parties” to accept the proposal. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group would not accept a truce without a fully-fledged deal to end hostilities, according to AFP. “A ceasefire without reaching an agreement is rejected. In…

Terrorists from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s “military wing”, were able to take over the broadcast of Israel’s Channel 10 on Monday evening. Some viewers who tuned in to the channel reported seeing wounded persons from Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. The pictures of the wounded were accompanied by the following text, “Your government chose…