Category: News

Small children arrived at a kindergarten in the upscale Bavli neighborhood of northern Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning as usual. It was only hours later, around 2 p.m., that they discovered a surprise visitor – a poisonous viper snake. The lethal snake was found leisurely loitering in the kindergarten’s playground, an area where the children were…

A project by the Forum for the Elderly in Sderot, the southern town often hit hard by terrorist rocket fire from Gaza, has allowed 51 Holocaust survivors from the town to have a belated Bar Mitzvah ceremony at Jerusalem’s Western Wall (Kotel). The initiative allowing the survivors to make up for the ceremony that was…

Have you always dreamed of starting your own company? The Israel Institute of Technology- TECHNION is now offering a one- year “Start-uP MBA” program for international students. The program provides students the tools and skills to start up their own companies. Firstly, you get a graduate degree in Business Administration with a specific focus on…

Hebrew University researchers have pinpointed the process by which tumors become resistant to cancer treatments, according to NoCamels, paving the way for significant changes in cancer-treating drugs.  While Israel has developed several anti-cancer drugs, not every patient will benefit from every drug; the correct cancer treatment for any given person must be individualized. Research has thus focused…

The Thai army said Monday night that it is imposing martial law amid a political crisis “to preserve law and order.” The surprise announcement also granted the army wide-ranging powers to enforce its decision. It follows six months of violent unrest and anti-government demonstrations and comes one day after the country’s caretaker prime minister refused…

An IDF Navy force opened fire Monday at a Palestinian Arab boats that strayed from the permitted zone in the waters off of southern Gaza. The boats were lightly damaged and two of the people aboard them were taken to questioning. Voice of Israel public radio adds that Gaza Arab media reported that two Palestinian…

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Sunday called for a more aggressive foreign policy that defends American values abroad, but also said he is concerned about the direction America is heading in, reports Fox News. The comments by the Republican presidential contender were made in a keynote address Sunday at the Champions of Jewish Values…

Egypt’s former foreign minister, Amr Moussa, denied on Monday that he had said that Hamas must recognize Israel, Al Ahram reported. AFP several weeks ago quoted Moussa as having said that Hamas must recognize the existence of Israel in order to make it possible to move forward with a Palestinian state. “It is normal for…

The death toll in Syria’s three-year conflict has exceeded 160,000 and no end is in sight, an activist group said Monday, according to The Associated Press (AP). The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has documented 162,402 deaths since the uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad’s government began in March 2011. The figure includes…

A car accident outside the community of Mitzpe Yericho, located in the Binyamin region of Judea between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, has led to telecommunications being disconnected throughout the town, sources told Arutz Sheva Tuesday.   One resident’s car hit a Bezeq phone tower and caused severe damage to the entire infrastructure, they said. Telephones…

An IDF raid on the Jenin refugee neighborhood in Samaria Tuesday exposed weapons and improvised explosive devices, as well as knives and various kinds of ammunition. In the course of the raid, local terrorists fired live rounds at the soldiers and hurled firebombs. No one was hurt and no damage was caused. The IDF force…

Israel has sent two anti-terror experts to Nigeria to join the search for hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped by vicious Islamist group Boko Haram, an Israeli security source said on Tuesday. “There are in Nigeria two advisers who have dealt with terrorist matters in the past,” he told AFP. “They were sent there by the state to help.” The…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hosted on Monday evening the members of the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team upon their return to Israel after winning the Euroleague championship on Sunday. The meeting was held at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. The Prime Minister told team coach David Blatt, “We have something in common. This is…

Three Egyptian policemen were killed at Cairo’s al-Azhar University on Monday night, the Interior Ministry said, according to Al Jazeera. The attack comes a week before the presidential election that former army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is expected to win. According to security sources, assailants stepped out of two cars and opened fire on a…

Egypt is working to revoke the citizenship of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior official told Al Arabiya on Monday. According to Major General Hussein Ridi, Assistant Interior Minister for Passports and Citizenship, a proposal to revoke the citizenship of al-Zahar and 11 members of his family has been submitted to the Cabinet for approval.…

Jerusalem skaters now have a place to call their own. The city has opened a park dedicated to skaters, skateboarders, and other “extreme sport” lovers. The park was inaugarated Monday by Mayor Nir Barkat. The park was established in the city’s Gan Hapa’amon municipal park. It is 2.5 dunam (about half an acre) large, and…

Al Qaeda terrorist and radical London-based Islamist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been found guilty on multiple charges of terrorism in a US court, BBC News reports Monday night.  Prosecutors at the court in New York said Hamza – who was tried as Mustafa Kamel Mustafa – assisted the kidnappers of 16 tourists in Yemen in 1998…

Four young men who belong to the Italy’s National-Socialist party were investigated by Milan’s MEDIGUS (Department of General Investigations and Special Operations) division Monday, Kikar HaShabbat reports, for promoting racist and anti-Semitic propaganda.   Three of them were running for political office in Terranova dei Passerini, a town 36 miles south of Milan.  Authorities in Milan recently…

Englishman Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of Jewish children in Prague from the Nazis before World War II, will receive the Czech Republic’s top honor, its president said Monday. “Your life, Sir Nicholas, is extraordinary for many reasons,” President Milos Zeman said in a birthday message to the Briton of German-Jewish origin, who turned 105 on Monday. “It provides above all…

The United States has accused a foreign country of spying yet again – but this time, Israel is not the target.  The US Department of Justice filed indictments against five senior officials in the Chinese military Monday, accusing them of cyber-espionage and stealing trade secrets. According to Attorney General Eric Holder, the hackers targeted nuclear power,…

Knesset Speaker, MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud-Beytenu) is expected to finish the consultation process regarding election of a new president, and officially announce on Monday the date in which MKs will select President Shimon Peres’s successor. The vote is supposed to be carried out no later than a month before mid-July, when the present president’s term…

The United Nations (UN) is set to hold a special discussion on Monday about the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a special UN organization tasked specifically with supporting “Palestinian refugees” – the descendants of Arab residents who left Israel in 1948. In the discussion, Middle East specialists and historians are to present facts about the…

India’s Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi has expressed his desire to “deepen and develop” ties with Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday, and it appears that Netanyahu’s words do not constitute diplomatic flourish but, if anything, understatements. “On Friday, I spoke with the Prime Minister-elect of India. There, too, there is a clear expression of…

Egypt is continuing its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, and on Sunday a local court jailed more than 160 supporters of the Islamist movement to up to 15 years in prison. According to a Reuters report, the defendants chanted “Down with military rule” as Judge Hassan Fareed handed down 10-year jail terms to 126 Brotherhood…

Turkish prosecutors on Sunday charged three people with reckless manslaughter over last week’s mining disaster that left 301 dead, AFP reports. Rescue operations ended on Saturday in the western town of Soma after the bodies of the last two trapped miners were retrieved following the country’s worst ever industrial disaster. Prosecutors said they have ruled…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong in Jerusalem Monday, in a continued bid to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.  Netanyahu began by welcoming Yadong, and praising the “great success and growth of the Israeli-Chinese cooperation and relationship.” He noted that the relationship continues to grow. “A year ago, I…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s senior security adviser has lent his support to recent calls for the PA to abandon security arrangements established with Israel in the 1993 Oslo Accords. Tawfiq Tirawi, who also serves as a member on Abbas’s Fatah faction’s Central Committee, and is the former head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service,…

Binyamin Ze’ev (Theodor) Herzl’s personal dedicated autograph from 1900 was sold last weekend for a figure of $67,000. The autograph, in German, which was written for a Viennese resident whom Herzl apparently didn’t know, says, “He who has no idea what he is willing to die for, is not worthy of living.” The selling price…

Elbit Systems will unveil on Tuesday a new mortar, called Hanit (Spear), which features low recoil and can be mounted on light vehicles. The mortar represents a new generation of the CARDOM mortar that serves the IDF and other armies. Hanit is a 120 mm modular mortar with full autonomous abilities, and its low recoil…

The IDF and the US military cooperated Sunday in a large drill simulating a multi-front missile attack on Israel by Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran, Channel 2 reported Sunday. During the exercise, about 1,000 American soldiers stationed in Israel joined more than 4,000 Israelis, to practice the protection of the State of Israel in a…

Israel’s tourism ministry said Sunday it expects the papal visit later this month to give a sharp boost to tourism by Christians, who already account for most of the market. “As a result of the visit to the Holy Land by Pope Francis, who is such a popular figure and significant leader for the world’s…

For some, Lag Ba’omer is a spiritual day for reflecting on the philosophy of the Zohar, as handed down by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, whose life is commemorated on the day. For others, Lag Ba’omer is a day of joy and happiness, and end to a period of semi-mourning instituted to remember the destruction caused…

Pope Francis will begin his visit to the Holy Land next week with a trip to Bethlehem, but he is unlikely to raise the subject of the exodus of Christians from that city in recent decades. As the papal visit nears, the talk in the media – and statements from the Catholic Church – are…

The government has officially informed the Knesset that there will be no change in the status quo at David’s Tomb in Jerusalem. Members of the Knesset’s Internal Affairs and Environment Committee received a missive Sunday from the committee chair, MK Miri Regev (Likud-Beytenu), which included a copy of a letter she received from Minister of…

As Syria’s bloody civil war enters its fourth year, Arutz Sheva presents the first in a three-part series investigating the implications for Israel’s security, starting with a look at Syria’s rebel movement. Last week’s indictment of an Israeli Arab man returning from Syria, where he had enlisted as a fighter for the jihadist Islamic State of…

A unique “Peace Run” initiated by an Australian extreme athlete to promote coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Judea and Samaria was dealt a severe blow Sunday, after the Palestinian Authority objected to the presence of Jewish runners. A group of six Israelis were asked to refrain from participating in Australian ultra marathon runner Pat…

Forces apparently loyal to a rogue Libyan general said on Sunday they had suspended parliament after earlier leading a military assault against lawmakers, reports The Associated Press (AP). A commander in the military police in Libya read a statement announcing the suspension on behalf of a group led by General Khalifa Hifter, a one-time rebel…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu phoned Maccabi coach David Blatt and told him, “You did it big time. You kept us on the map. Israelis are lighting bonfires today, but you lit up the court in Milan and we are proud of you.” “A big smile spread across my face and across the faces of all…

The Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team on Sunday evening won the Euroleague championship game in Milan after defeating Real Madrid by a score of 98-86. While Real had the lead for much of the game, at one point leading by 11 points, Maccabi won the game in regulation. Tyrese Rice hit a three-pointer in the…

Israeli director Hadas Ayalon of Tel Aviv University has been chosen as one of three directors to be awarded medals at the 41st annual Student Academy awards. Ayalon’s film, “Paris on the Water”, was nominated for the foreign language category; her award will mark the first time an Israeli student production has won the award. She…

The terrorist group Hamas says it’s advancing with terror organization Islamic Jihad to integrating into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a group recognized internationally as representing the “Palestinian people,” but which has never renounced terror. Speaking last Friday in Gaza’s Al-Omri Mosque, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh announced that in the coming days the temporary leadership…

Jewish residents of Jerusalem suffered from 157 separate terror-related incidents in March, IDF Radio revealed Sunday, in a record upswing in attacks from Palestinian Arab terrorists.  Terror attacks against Jewish Israelis have been on the rise in Jerusalem, which saw 150 incidents in February and 140 in January. On average, Palestinian Arabs attack a Jewish Israeli…

A bomb wounded at least three people at a Cairo election rally for presidential frontrunner Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday, security sources said, according to Reuters A man riding on a motorcycle threw the homemade device in the direction of Sisi supporters at the street gathering of about 150 people in a north-eastern district of…

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A Jewish group demanded Sunday that Arab students who desecrated the sounding of the siren on Memorial Day be expelled from Tel Aviv University. The student group, named simply “Israelis,” said that the Arabs played loud music and shouted anti-Israel and anti-Semitic epithets as students stood at attention, honoring the soldiers who fell in battle for the…

Israel’s top police officer on Sunday vowed to step up police presence nationwide ahead of Pope Francis’s upcoming visit, according to AFP.  “You cannot exaggerate the importance of this visit on both a national and an international level,” Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino told reporters in Jerusalem. The two-day papal visit to Israel, which begins on May 25, was being treated by police…

The IDF arrested 13 Palestinian Arab terrorists overnight, it announced Sunday, in light of increased tensions in Judea and Samaria.  A military spokeswoman told AFP Sunday that the suspects – all wanted for “illegal activities” – were apprehended in Hevron and Bet-Lehem, as well as in two Arab settlements north of Ramallah.  Security forces and IDF…

Israel-based Elbit systems defense company announced Sunday that its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America, LLC, has been awarded two contracts, totaling $20.1 million, to support the U.S. upgrade of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Bell AH-1W attack helicopter fleet. The first contract, in the amount of $11.6 million, calls for Elbit Systems of America…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday by addressing disturbing statistics from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which published a survey last week proving that over 25% of the world’s population holds anti-Semitic views.  “This is the result of the Palestinian Authority’s endless incitement against Israel and attempts to distort Israel’s image and…

A Dominican taxi driver has been banned for wearing a swastika, according to the New York Daily News, and is now claiming that his “rights were violated” for adhering to “National Socialism.”  Gabriel Diaz, 27, denies the Holocaust and wears a swastika. But he insists that he “doesn’t hate Jews” (he is just “critical” of them),…

Iran has been recruiting thousands of Afghan refugees to fight in Syria, offering them $500 a month and Iranian residency, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing Afghans and Western officials. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recruits and trains Shiite militias to fight in Syria. Details of their recruitment efforts were posted this…

The UN organization for women on Friday decried the rising rates of violence against women in the Palestinian Authority, after a woman was slain this week, raising the year’s total so far to 14. UN Women in Palestine said in a statement quoted by the Ma’an news agency that the organization is “seriously concerned” about…

Water and Energy Minister Silvan Shalom held what was termed a “positive” meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday night, Channel 2 News reports. According to the report, the meeting dealt with Shalom’s possible presidential bid, which he is reconsidering now that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has said he would be ending the investigation…

Israel’s UN mission on Friday launched a campaign to get official UN recognition for Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, AFP reports. The United Nations has decreed 10 official holidays, including Christmas and the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, but there is no corresponding Jewish holiday recognized on the body’s official calendar, said…

A fourth round of nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers ended Friday with both sides complaining that major gaps remained ahead of a July 20 deadline for a final deal, AFP reports. Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, quoted on state television, reported “no tangible progress” at the talks in Vienna as he…

Jewish pilgrims began arriving on Friday at Ghriba, Africa’s oldest synagogue, on the Tunisian resort island of Djerba for an annual gathering taking place amid heavy security. Police and soldiers deployed along the main road to Ghriba, with checkpoints set up to search vehicles.   The organisers hope to receive 2,000 people during the three-day…

Two Israeli journalists were attacked on Friday afternoon while covering a riot by Palestinian Arabs near the Ofer prison, west of Ramallah. The two journalists, who work for the Hebrew-language news website Walla!, were surrounded and beaten by an angry mob. They were rescued by the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces and were transferred to…

Iran on Friday expressed dissatisfaction over a decision by an Argentine court declaring an agreement with Tehran to probe the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center as “unconstitutional.” “The Argentinean court is denying a suitable opportunity to find the truth behind the AMIA disaster and resolve pertinent bilateral issues,” Marzieh Afkham, a spokeswoman…

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who is in charge of the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA), met in London with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Channel 2 News reported on Friday. According to the report, the meeting between the two took place on Thursday, and Livni expressed to Abbas Israel’s dissatisfaction with the unity pact he…

Security forces dispatched reinforcements to Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem early Friday, ahead of the funerals of two Palestinian Arab terrorists who were killed during Thursday’s “Nakba Day” riots, which mourn the failure of a combined pan-Arab army to annihilate the fledgling state of Israel in 1948 and massacre its inhabitants, just three years after the…

A well-planned firebomb attack on a bus full of Jewish schoolgirls Tuesday could easily have ended in tragedy, but no news source even reported that it took place, except for the one you are currently reading – Arutz Sheva. The girls were sixth-graders from a religious school in central Israel. They were on a bat…

Despite apparently reducing illicit purchases that breach UN sanctions, Iran is pursuing development of ballistic missiles, according to a confidential UN report obtained by the Reuters news agency on Thursday. A ban on developing missiles suited to carrying a nuclear warhead is included in a 2010 Security Council resolution imposed on Iran for defying council…

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday marked the dedication of the September 11 Memorial Museum. The dedication was attended by former New York mayors Michael Bloomberg and Rudolph Giuliani, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and relatives of the more than 2,700 people who were killed in the Al-Qaeda terrorist attack in 2001. “It is an…

Arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison for his role in planning suicide terror attacks, has welcomed the Hamas-Fatah unity pact and stressed that there can never be a peace agreement with Israel unless the “Palestinian refugees” are allowed to return to their homes. Barghouti’s remarks were made in a…

Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful terrorist organization, stated Friday it had warned the Maronite patriarch of the “negative repercussions” of his plan to accompany Pope Francis to Jerusalem this month. “We presented our perspective and point of view and laid out what we see as the negative repercussions of this visit,” Ibrahim Amin al-Sayed, head of the terror group’s “political council,”…

Security forces expelled a family by force and destroyed their home in Givat Assaf in Samaria on Friday morning. The Supreme Court had ordered the evacuation of the small community, which is located near Beit El, by next Sunday. Residents on Thursday agreed to dismantle their own community, so as to prevent the forced demolishing…

Two Arab terrorists from Hevron approached the home of Monique and Sraya Ofer last October. Moments later, Sraya was murdered – with 44 blows from an axe.  On Friday, Monique returned to her home – and the murder scene – for the first time, re-enacting the terror attack for Israel Hayom.  Monique saw the terror…

A pregnant Sudanese woman who married a Christian man was sentenced to death Thursday for refusing to recant her Christian faith, her lawyer said, according to The Associated Press (AP). Meriam Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim but mother was an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia, was convicted of “apostasy” on Sunday and given four days to…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that he has seen “raw data” indicating that the Syrian government has used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon in a “number of instances” in recent months, The Washington Post reports. “There will be consequences” if evidence of new chemical use is confirmed, Kerry said during…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met on Thursday with Israel’s chief peace negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in London, AFP reported. Officials in Washington emphasized the surprise meeting happened because Kerry and Livni both happened to be in London at the same time and was not indicative of new developments in the stalled peace…

Pope Francis apparently feels very at ease over his visit to Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled areas during his May 24-26 visit to Israel. The Vatican reported on Thursday that he will ride in open-top non-bulletproof cars in Bethlehem. The pope’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, rode in a bulletproof “popemobile,” an armored car introduced after the attempted assassination of…

This past week, Religious Zionists of America (RZA) sponsored the first official visit to the United States by the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau. RZA Chairman, Martin Oliner, noted that the goal of the visit was to personally introduce Rabbi Lau to a wide array of religious, political, philanthropic and educational institutions, as…

“When the world is full of great opportunities, it’s also full of great threats,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said today during a troop talk to U.S. and Israeli troops taking part in the Juniper Cobra 14 exercise at Hatzor Airbase. Hagel thanked the troops for their efforts, adding that they were doing “important work at…

Arutz Sheva got the chance to talk with Rabbi Allen Schwartz, who recently deciphered the previously lost commentary of a famous Jewish scholar from the Middle Ages. Rabbi Schwartz has been the congregational rabbi of Manhattan’s Ohab Zedek (OZ) synagogue since 1988, and is working on his doctoral thesis at Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School. The…

The security arrangements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), established in the 1993 Oslo Accords, have reportedly continued in previous weeks despite the PA’s torpedoing of peace talks by signing a unity deal with Hamas. That all might change however, after a senior PA official told Walla! that the security arrangements are on the brink of…

The mayor of Kharkiv, Gennady Kernes, gave his first interview Thursday after surviving an assassination attempt, to Israeli TV Channel 1. Kernes’s relatives had three senior Israeli doctors flown into Ukraine after the shooting, and these doctors had him flown to Israel. “The doctors in Ukraine don’t know how to deal with gunshot victims like…

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet later Thursday with Israel’s chief peace negotiator Tzipi Livni in London, a US official said. The meeting comes a day after the top US diplomat met with Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas in the wake of the collapse last month of Kerry’s dogged bid to broker a…

An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced 79 supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi to jail terms of between five and 10 years over their involvement in deadly clashes, judicial sources said, according to AFP. The defendants were convicted for participating in clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents that killed 12 people in the Mediterranean city…

In what appears to be another step in the implementation of the Hamas-Fatah unity agreement, Gaza security forces on Wednesday began leaving Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s house in Gaza City. Sources close to the issue in Gaza told the PA-based Ma’an news agency that the house, which is located in Tel al-Hawa in…

Hundreds of Arab residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza rioted on Thursday for “Nakba Day,” the Arabic word for catastrophe designating the creation of the Jewish state of Israel 66 years ago, when hundreds of thousands of local Arabs left Israel at the behest of invading Arab armies. While Arab citizens of Israel annually protest by…

Israel and the United Kingdom have set up a new bilateral fund for joint research into cyber defense, to the tune of 7 million NIS (£1.2 million, or just over $2 million). The agreement, which on the Israeli side includes the National Cyber Bureau at the Prime Minister’s Office and the Israeli Ministry of Science,…

Christian Arab residents of the village of El-Khader in the Bethlehem area were savagely attacked by local Muslims as they celebrated a Christian holiday last week. A report by CAMERA, an organization which monitors anti-Israel bias in the media, reported that Christians attempting to enter Saint George’s Monastery in the village were intimidated and attacked…

In an interview with Japanese media Wednesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that he was asked by US Secretary of State John Kerry if Israel was prepared to make peace with only half of the Palestinians – and Netanyahu said that, for lack of a better option, Israel was prepared to do so. “Kerry asked…

A deal between the US State department and the Iraqi government appears to have been struck to keep the Iraqi-Jewish archive in the US, the World Organisation of Jews from Iraq (WOJI) has announced. The archive, as the collection of 2,700 restored Jewish books and thousands of documents is known, is due to return to…

Over 1,000 job seekers attended the fourth OU Job Fair in Israel this week, seeking positions offered by some 60 potential employers who were participated in the fair. Among the employers at the event, held in the Jerusalem Gardens Hotel on Tuesday, were publishers, investment firms, cellular phone companies, real estate firms, outsourcing companies, as…

U.S. ground and air forces held joint exercises with their Jordanian counterparts on Wednesday as the conflict in neighboring Syria showed no let-up. According to the AFP news agency, among those taking part in this year’s war games are more than 1,000 soldiers and marines that Washington kept stationed in Jordan after last year’s “Eager…

Four weeks from publication of her new memoir, Hillary Clinton on Wednesday robustly defended her record as secretary of state and navigator of hot-button crises like Iran’s nuclear drive and elusive Mideast peace. The book, “Hard Choices,” is set for a June 10 release and offers Clinton a framework for criss-crossing the country to boost…

US Secretary of State John Kerry met late Wednesday in London with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for their firstface-to-face talks since the peace process collapsed last month, US officials said, according to AFP.  The two were meeting in an upscale hotel for what US officials have billed as “informal” talks, seeking to downplay any hopes of a…

A huge explosion and fire rocked a mine near Soma, Turkey on Wednesday, killing 245 people. Another 120 people are feared trapped – or dead. The crisis began after a fire broke out, shutting down ventilation shafts and elevators shortly after 3 pm local time Tuesday. After an all-night rescue operation, over 450 people have…

Israel said it had “no intention” of giving the Vatican sovereignty over King David’s Tomb in Jerusalem, AFP reports Wednesday, after hundreds of hareidi Jews protested at the site ahead of Pope Francis’s visit later this month. “Contrary to rumors in Israel, there is no intention to transfer to the Vatican sovereignty or ownership on the Tomb of David…

The New York Police Department (NYPD) defended its ongoing use of Muslim informants to stop terrorism Wednesday, amid an ongoing debate on defense and civil rights. The Demographics Unit, comprised of a team of detectives assigned to create databases on where Muslims lived, shopped, worked and prayed, was officially disbanded in April in the wake…

In what has become something of a trend, two US congressmen participated in a fact finding mission on the Temple Mount early Wednesday morning, to witness firsthand the discriminatory treatment meted out to non-Muslims on Judaism’s holiest site. Congressmen Andrew Harris (R- Maryland) and Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) were taken on a tour of the holy site in Jerusalem…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned that Iran “would share whatever (nuclear) technology it acquired with North Korea,” in an interview with one of Japan’s leading newspapers on Tuesday. Speaking to Mainichi Shimbun during his visit to the country, Netanyahu remarked that in the ongoing negotiations with world powers, Iran is seeking “the capacity to make nuclear weapons. …The outcome, if that…

Actor Danny Glover is one among several celebrities who on Tuesday called for a boycott of Israel, according to JNS. The celebrities are featured in a documentary film entitled “American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs” which is being screened at the DocAviv festival in Tel Aviv. “We stand in solidarity with the people…

The long arm of the law extends far, but sometimes not far enough.  US-Jordanian citizen Muhammad Abu Nakhla was sentenced to 24 years in Illinois prison in 2005, after shooting fellow motorists in the Chicago streets. But he never served his sentence, instead escaping to Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA).  Israeli police picked up…

Building and Construction Minister Uri Ariel on Wednesday met with the Australian Ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, in the governmental complex in eastern Jerusalem, located north of the Arab-majority neighborhood of Shimon Hatzaddik (Sheikh Jarrah). In the meeting, Ariel called on Sharma to relay to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott his thanks for Abbott’s, and…

MK Rabbi Dov Lipman visited Moreshset Yisrael, the Conservative synagogue in central Jerusalem that was the victim of Monday’s anti-Semitic ‘price tag’ attack. Unknown vandals scrawled swastikas inside Stars of David on a sign at the synagogue’s entrance. Lipman was shocked to learn that he was the first government representative to reach out to the synagogue following…

Authorities stopped a truck carrying tens of thousands of eggs from Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria into Israel. The eggs have been confiscated and are set to be destroyed, police said. The truck attempted to pass through an IDF checkpoint and enter the Jerusalem area. Police were waiting for the truck, after information…

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in London on Wednesday, a PA official said, weeks after Middle East peace talks collapsed. “The meeting will discuss a possible resumption of negotiations with Israel,” the official told AFP, requesting anonymity. “The meeting could be the last attempt by Kerry to revive negotiations,” he added. …

The number of French Jews emigrating to Israel rose nearly four-fold in the first quarter of the year and could touch a record in 2014, a Jewish organization said Monday. The Jewish Agency for Israel, a global body responsible for the immigration and absorption of Jews into Israel, said 1,407 people left France for Israel between January and March against…

Steven Spielberg and Jewish organizations around the world have endeavored to record as much testimony from Holocaust survivors as possible, mindful that the day is coming when no one will be left to tell their stories.  But what about the story of the founding of the State of Israel? Enter Eyewitness 1948, a short film series…

A terror attack was narrowly averted in the early hours of Tuesday morning, news site 0404 reports, after a terrorist lobbed an improvised bomb at IDF soldiers near Jenin. No injuries were reported.  IDF forces conducted a raid in the Jenin area overnight, arresting 11 terrorists. Security forces also confiscated improvised weapons at the scene; an investigation…

Several protests took place in Norway as President Shimon Peres visited Oslo. About 15 people who gathered outside the royal palace tried to interfere with the visit but were dispersed by police, who arrested one of them. Outside the parliamentary building, about 250 protesters from leftist organizations demonstrated and demanded the release of Palestinian Arabs…

Top diplomats from Iran and six world powers geared up on Tuesday for a crucial round of talks aimed at reaching a long-term deal regarding Tehran’s nuclear program. A senior US official said negotiators from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany were already in Vienna, preparing for the official start on Wednesday. In the evening, the powers’…

The Knesset Committee for Foreign Affairs discussed the controversy surrounding a possible transfer of King David’s Tomb to the Vatican on Tuesday, after an emotional protest Monday night outside the holy site.  During the debate, MK Meir Porush (UTJ) turned to Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and asked whether or not the rumors were true. Apparently,…

Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years in jail and two more years’ suspended sentence in the Holyland trial. The sentence is identical to the six years requested by the prosecution. Olmert will appeal the sentence to the Supreme Court. Seven of the ten people convicted arrived in Tel Aviv’s District Court Tuesday to receive their…

Yeshiva University (YU) has introduced a new online program that seeks to revolutionize the Torah-learning experience. Rabbi Ari Sytner, director of Community Initiatives at YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF), created the new online program to provide the wider public with a unique interactive Torah-learning experience. “We wanted to come up with a revolutionary…

Two Republican US congressmen, Andy Harris (MD-R) and Ron DeSantis (FL-R), visited the Gush Etzion region of Judea on Tuesday with their wives. The congressmen were accompanied by the Gush Etzion Regional Council Chair Davidi Perl, Ruti Liberman of the “Yes Israel” organization, along with Yesha Council members. “Yes Israel” and the Gush Etzion Regional Council organized the…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday declared that the Palestinian Authority (PA) will be held responsible for violence from Gaza in light of the unity deal. His comments came while on an official visit to Japan, which will end on Thursday. Meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Netanyahu mentioned the reconciliation deal made between…

Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the leading candidate in the race for Egypt’s presidency, said Monday that there is a chance for “true peace” with Israel, if it adopts the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. The comments by Sisi were made in an interview to Sky News, the same interview in which he stated that, if elected, he…

A confidential new report by a UN panel highlights Iran’s methods of evading the sanctions that were imposed on it. The report, obtained by Reuters on Monday, shows that these methods range from concealing titanium tubes inside steel pipes to using its petrochemical industry as a cover to obtain items for a heavy-water nuclear reactor.…

Hundreds of religious Jews gathered Monday near the reputed scene of Jesus’s last supper in Jerusalem demanding that Israel keep sovereignty over King David’s Tomb, according to AFP.  Pope Francis will visit the Holy Land from May 24-26 and before returning to Rome is set to hold a mass in the site known as the Upper Room or Cenacle, on Mount Zion near…

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in London on Wednesday, a PA official said, weeks after Middle East peace talks collapsed. “The meeting will discuss a possible resumption of negotiations with Israel,” the official told AFP, requesting anonymity. “The meeting could be the last attempt by Kerry to revive negotiations,” he added. …

For the final project in his “Social Media to Drive Business Results” course at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women, Adjunct Instructor Rob Longert gave students a simple assignment: raise money for a charitable cause by crowdfunding – collecting small amounts of money towards a shared goal from a large group of donors, usually via online…

The fundamental unity between the town of Yitzhar in Samaria and the IDF, despite recent clashes between the army and a violent element in the town, was displayed on Sunday, as a paratrooper resident of Yitzhar was given an award of excellence by the IDF. Muli Leiner was given the award by his brigade commander in…

Iran has unveiled a copy of the US Lockheed Martin Sentinel RQ-170 drone which it downed in 2011. The copycat aircraft is due to take test flights soon, officials said at the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Council’s Aerospace Exhibition. Israel’s air force only recently held maneuvers designed to deal with a sophisticated Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) threat,…

The Islamic Jihad terrorist group recently held a military maneuver in which it presented anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. Footage of the maneuver aired on Mayadeen TV and was broadcast on May 7. During the maneuver, the group said it was preparing “for what is to come” and stated that members of its “military wing”, the…

Campaigning began Sunday for Syria’s June 3 presidential election, AFP reports. In Damascus, campaign posters lauding President Bashar Al-Assad hung on shopping streets and in public gardens, in the run-up to the country’s first multi-candidate presidential vote. The election is being staged despite a raging civil war, with dozens of people dying across the country…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas thinks that Hamas, with whom he recently signed a reconciliation pact, does not need to recognize Israel. A senior PA official on Sunday told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Abbas insists that Hamas does not need to recognize Israel or renounce terrorism, even after the unity pact with his…

Anonymous vandals committed a “price tag” vandalism attack on Monday morning at Moreshet Yisrael, a synagogue of the Conservative movement in the center of Jerusalem. On a sign at the entrance to the synagogue, Jewish stars with Nazi swastikas in the middle of them were scrawled by the vandals. According to the synagogue, this isn’t…

Israel Electric Corp is suing a private Palestinian Arab firm for $150 million in unpaid bills, after negotiations to settle the debt collapsed, officials said on Monday. The IEC filed suit at the Jerusalem District Court on Thursday against the Jerusalem District Electric Company for a total of 531 million shekels ($153 million/111 million euros), a company statement said. JDECO is a…

Fifty of the more than 200 Christian schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria by Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group Boko Haram have reportedly been sighted in central Africa, far from where they were abducted in western Africa.  The Nigerian Daily Punch on Sunday translated and published reports by the French news source Jeune Afrique, which on Friday revealed villagers had seen…

Monday bore tidings of more Jewish buildings in Judea and Samaria being demolished by the state, but also of enforcement of the construction law against Arab infringements in two separate cases. A regional court in Lod rejected a petition against a Magistrates Court ruling, thereby backing the orders to evacuate illegal structures on lands in…

Good news for new olim (immigrants to Israel) – the headache of turning your foreign driver’s license into an Israeli driver’s license just got easier. MK Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid), himself an immigrant from America, has been pushing for an automatic transfer of licenses for immigrant drivers without the high fees and bureaucracy. Lipman welcomed…

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sunday visited an exhibition showcasing the latest achievements of the Revolutionary Guards air force. According to the Fars news agency, Khamenei received a two hour tour of the exhibition and was presented with state-of-the-art equipment and hardware. The report claimed that among the items in the exhibition was…

Egypt’s former army chief and leading presidential candidate, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, said Sunday that, if elected, he would be willing to consider making changes to the peace agreement with Israel. “If we are asked to make amendments to the peace treaty with Israel, we will do it,” Sisi said in an interview with Sky News,…

The management of El Al, Israel’s national airline, on Sunday evening reached an understanding with striking pilots that has brought an end to the strike. The understanding between the sides was reached with the help of the Histadrut Labor Federation. On Thursday, the company’s pilots staged a surprise job walk-off, stranding hundreds of passengers at…

A wedding in Tel Aviv was marred on Sunday, as the Jewish tradition of breaking a glass under the chuppah (wedding canopy), in memory of the destruction of the First and Second Temples, left the groom with a deep cut in his foot. The marital mishap occurred at an event hall on Hatzfira Street in…

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu arrives in Tokyo later Sunday for talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe where he is expected to take up the issues of Iranian nuclear talks and economic cooperation. Netanyahu is likely to press Japan to side with Israel over nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers when he…

Egypt’s chief prosecutor on Saturday charged 200 suspected terrorists with carrying out over 50 terrorist attacks, killing 40 policemen and 15 civilians and conspiring with Hamas, The Associated Press (AP) reports. It is the first mass trial of a Jihadi group since the country’s recent turmoil, noted the news agency. The defendants, 98 of whom…

Israel’s army on Sunday declared part of the Golan Heights a closed military zone, fearing battles on the Syrian side would spill over the ceasefire line. An army spokeswoman told AFP the area around the Quneitra crossing was closed “for security reasons.” Speaking to AFP, security sources said they feared fighting between rebels and Syrian army forces would affect the area.…

Jeff Stein, the Newsweek reporter who wrote a controversial article alleging that Israel still spies on the US, spoke about the allegations in an interview with IDF Radio Sunday. Stein began by citing a story from a former CIA operative, who insisted in the article that Israel tried to spy on former Vice President Al…

Authorities in the Samaria community of Emmanuel were shocked to discover an Arab “price tag” attack on Saturday night, after a bus stop was vandalized with hate graffiti.  Palestinian Authority (PA) flags were flown at the stop, as well as a sign posted saying, “Israel is a terror state / Get out of our land.” …

On a visit to Norway Sunday, President Shimon Peres discussed another trip he took to the country more than 20 years ago, when he helped forge the controversial Oslo Accords. “I have good memories of Oslo,” said Peres. “I am hopeful that we will be able to complete the peace process that we started here,…

After five years of discussions and deliberations, the National Council of the Israel Lawyers Forum authorized rules that will enable courts to appoint attorneys for those who cannot afford to pay for them. Until now, such attorneys were appointed at the court’s discretion, but if the new rules are approved by the Knesset, anyone who…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu offered on Sunday to help Nigeria in trying to recover roughly 300 Christian schoolgirls, who were kidnapped by the Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group Boko Haram. “Israel expresses its deep shock at the crime against the girls,” Netanyahu reportedly said by phone to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, while on an official visit…

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) welcomed the decision to enforce life sentences for terrorists on Sunday, and added that convicted terrorists should be given the death penalty.  “This is a just law, a deterrent which prevents Israel from being extorted and surrendering during negotiations, and which puts an end to releasing murderous terrorists,” Katz said,…

Pro-Israel students at Tel Aviv University faced off against Arab and leftist students who were commemorating the “Nakba” outside the campus on Sunday morning. The pro-Israel groups held signs and distributed leaflets proclaiming the true intention of the leftist groups – the destruction of the State of Israel. About 300 Arab and leftist students carried…

Sunday could prove to be a landmark day for terror victims’ rights if Economics Minister and Jewish Home party head Naftali Bennett has his way. Two bills will be up for debate in the Knesset tomorrow in a bipartisan effort to put an end to the practice of releasing convicted terrorists from jail. Writing on…

Censure motions against two Tunisian ministers accused of promoting “normalization” with Israel were withdrawn late Friday, just before deputies in the Islamist-dominated parliament were due to take a vote. The motions were filed late last month against Tourism Minister Amel Karboul and Deputy Interior Minister for Security Ridha Sfar, with documents purporting to show that…

Rabbi David Lau, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, visited Yeshiva University on Thursday. The chief rabbi met with yeshiva deans at YU-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and with YU President Richard M. Joel. He also spoke with YU’s Center for the Jewish Future senior staff about their work around the world with rabbis,…

Hundreds of people gathered in Afula Saturday evening for a protest march in memory of a slain resident of the northern town, and thousands more were expected to join the procession. Shelly Dadon Hy”d, 20, was savagely murdered ten days ago when she was on her way to a job interview in Migdal Ha’emek and…

Israel vigorously denied over the Sabbath that it tried to spy on former vice president Al Gore when he was in Israel. Newsweek cited a senior former U.S. intelligence operative who claimed that “a Secret Service agent who was enjoying a moment of solitude in Gore’s bathroom” before Gore arrived at his Jerusalem hotel room…

Suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked Yemen’s presidential palace on Friday, killing five guards and triggering a fierce gunfight as the jihadists hit back at an army offensive aimed at crushing them, AFP reported. Yemen’s President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi was not at the palace in the capital when the gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by guards outside…

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has received an explanation from Iran about the development of detonators that can help set off an atomic explosive device, and has asked for further clarification, diplomatic sources said on Friday, according to Reuters. How Iran responds to the UN agency’s questions about so-called Exploding Bridge Wire (EBW) detonators is…

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will fly to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel next week for talks that are expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program and Syria’s civil war, officials said Friday, according to AFP. “This trip will be the secretary’s third to the Middle East in just over a year, and it will…

Shots were fired at the religious Kibbutz Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion, located adjacent to Efrat, in the early hours of Friday morning. No injuries or damage was reported; IDF forces searched the area and apprehended two suspects.  This is the second shooting attack on a Judea-Samaria town this week. On Wednesday, terrorists shot into…

“Grandfather helping his granddaughter to plow” in the Jezreel Valley (Library of Congress, 1920s) The Aliya movements — encouraging young Jewish Zionists to move to Palestine — were launched when the Turks ruled Palestine, but immigration increased after the British captured the land in 1917-1918.  The stream of Jews escaping an increasingly hostile Europe became a fast-flowing river until 1939, when Britain shut the…

A 62-year-old Turkish man who murdered his two former wives has made headlines in the country after appearing on a TV marriage program in an attempt to find a new partner, the Hurriyet daily reported on Thursday. Sefer Çalınak shocked the host of Flash TV’s “The Luck of the Draw” and the audience when he…

Reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah is apparently going well, despite the sharp rhetoric flying between the two groups, after Fatah agreed to release all Hamas terrorists in Palestinian Authority (PA) prisons as part of the deal.  Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in an interview with Palestine newspaper on Friday that Fatah had agreed to release all…

Jerusalem Councilman Aryeh King, chairman of the United Jerusalem faction, on Friday morning reported a glaring infraction at Jerusalem’s Yafo Gate, the main entrance to the Old City. King posted pictures on his Facebook page of massive posters placed illegally for the Chinese cult Falun Gong, which has been banned in its native China. The pictures…

“Justice Minister Tzipi Livni announced that she will oppose the law because it will hurt the ability of future governments to maneuver,” he stated. “Tzipi – That is the goal of this bill. To disconnect the release of terrorists from diplomatic issues, there is no connection between them.” Bennett then explained the situation like it…

Tensions in eastern Ukraine refuse to be abated Friday, with pro-Russian militants threatening to push ahead with an independent referendum vote despite a landmark call by Russian President Vladimir Putin against drastic measures.  “Civil war has already begun,” Denis Pushilin, a prominent leader of the self-styled “People’s Republic of Donetsk,” said during a news conference…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday stood side-by-side with Syrian opposition chief Ahmad Jarba in a public show of support, but made no mention of the rebels’ plea for heavy weapons to help end the war, AFP reported. Jarba, head of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), has said he would ask the administration…

Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) on Thursday paid a condolence visit to the family of 20 year-old Shelly Dadon, who was found murdered last week in Migdal Haemek in what is believed to be a terror attack. During the visit, Ariel said that terrorist murderers should not be released from prison, adding that doing…

An Israeli Arab Orthodox priest has reportedly been dismissed by the Greek Orthodox church in Israel, after publicly supporting IDF service for Christian Arabs. Church spokesman Essa Musleh told AFP on Thursday that the decision was made on Tuesday to fire Father Gabriel Nadaf from his post in Nazareth, and that the decision was only being made…

Spring arrived in Israel weeks ago, but winter has returned with a vengeance. Overnight Wednesday, rains fell throughout the country, creating havoc on roads and trapping 70 American tourists in a valley in the Ramon crater in southern Israel. Rains have been falling since Wednesday night throughout the country. As of Thursday morning, 32 millimeters…

Water and Energy Minister Silvan Shalom will likely not run for President, despite the fact that the case against him will be closed, political officials said on Wednesday. According to Channel 2 News, officials close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Netanyahu is unlikely to back any of the presidential candidates, and this will…

Egypt’s former foreign minister said on Wednesday that Hamas must recognize the existence of Israel in order to make it possible to move forward with a Palestinian state, AFP reported. “It is normal for the Palestinians to reconcile,” said Amr Moussa, referring to the unity deal struck between Hamas and its longtime rival Fatah, headed…

The Civil Administration is at it again. On Thursday, Administration tractors knocked down homes in the Neve Eretz neighborhood, next to Michmash, a town in the Binyamin region. Among those evicted from their destroyed homes was a family of seven. Fortunately, the five children were in school when their house was destroyed, but it wasn’t…

London’s former mayor Ken Livingstone has once again hit headlines for peddling anti-Semitic stereotypes, after he claimed that Jews tend to vote for the right-wing Conservative party because they are wealthy. The comments were made Tuesday night in an interview with BBC Newsnight, in which Livingstone, who also served as a Labour MP in the…

Islamist rebels have claimed responsibility for a massive explosion in Syria’s contested second city of Aleppo Thursday morning. The attack which demolished the Carlton Hotel, which was reportedly being used as a military headquarters, was claimed by the Islamic Front via Twitter. The group claimed that it had targeted “what remained of the Carlton Hotel…

Hundreds of El Al passengers on four departing flights were stranded in Ben Gurion Airport Thursday, because the pilots never showed up for work, according to Maariv-NRG. The pilots are not answering their cell phones and their whereabouts are unknown. El Al management said that the pilots appear to be carrying out a protest motivated…

Ori Putterman, a senior at Yeshiva University’s High School for Boys (YUHSB), was announced as a winner of the prestigious 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. The 2,500 winners from throughout the US were culled from a pool of over 15,000 finalists, who were chosen by a committee of colleges admissions officers and high school counselors…

US National Security Adviser Susan Rice assured Israel at high-level bilateral talks on Thursday that Washington remained determined to stop Iran developing nuclear arms, the White House said. “The US delegation reaffirmed our commitment to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” said a White House statement released after talks in Jerusalem between Rice, Prime…

Maj. Col. (res.) Ariel Almog founded the project ten years ago, to integrate disabled youth into the IDF in a three-year program, helping prepare them for independent life in Israeli society. A few months ago the association “Lend a Hand to a Special Child,” founded in 2005 by parents of special needs children, joined the…

Israel is concerned that U.S. President Barack Obama will reach a bad nuclear deal with Iran ahead of the midterm elections in November, an Israeli official told Reuters on Wednesday. “We would be happy to see July 20 pass without a deal,” an Israeli government adviser told the news agency, referring to the deadline by…

A couple from the Shomron (Samaria) community of Psagot came very close to being hurt on Wednesday evening when Arab terrorists from Ramallah fired shots at their home. In fact, Elad and Sherry Yaakobi said following Wednesday evening’s incident, had the bullet landed a few inches further than where it did, Sherry would have been…

The besieged city of Homs in Syria has reverted back to the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad Wednesday, as regime forces continue to make gains in the country’s ongoing civil war.  The last rebels are being evacuated by State-run busses to other rebel-held villages, in a landmark deal struck between regime forces and rebels,…

The Israel Air Force (IAF) displayed its colors on Independence Day with a traditional flyby in the skies of Israel, and about 70,000 people visited the IAF’s bases, according to the IAF Website. On display in the skies were many of the models currently serving in the IAF’s combat jet, helicopter and transport squadrons. The…

Egypt’s ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has declared that the Muslim Brotherhood movement of ousted president Mohammed Morsi was “finished” in Egypt and would not return if he was elected, AFP reported. Sisi’s comments were made in the same interview in which he revealed that there had been two attempts to…

U.S. school district bosses voiced regret Tuesday for a writing assignment asking teenage students to discuss whether the Holocaust really happened, while saying it aimed to develop “critical thinking skills,” according to AFP. The Rialto Unified School District in California asked 8th graders to write an essay about whether the Holocaust was not actually “merely…

Syrian insurgents attacked a regime checkpoint with 40 tons of explosives on Monday, killing at least 30 Syrian troops, including two officers. Videos and images posted by opposition supporters online showed an enormous plume of smoke and earth shooting into the air near a small town as men shouted “Allahu akbar”. Rebels fighting to overthrow…

Residents of the capital reported on the vandalism to Arutz Sheva, and one resident of the Katamon neighborhood where the swastikas were scrawled spoke about the incident. The owner of the apartment where the flags were desecrated with swastikas was shocked and immediately contacted the police, who came to the area to collect testimony, reports the…

Egypt’s ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi declared that if Israel won’t recognize the “state of Palestine,” with its capital in Jerusalem, he will never visit Israel. Speaking in a TV interview on Saturday, Sisi added “Egypt is a country whose policy, history and honor to contracts and treaties is firmly rooted.…

A watchdog group has raised alarm over anti-Semitism in the UK Wednesday, noting that Hamas and Holocaust denial are becoming endemic at British universities – and all in the name of “human rights.”  Counter-extremism group Stand for Peace reports that The Middle East Monitor Online (MEMO), a pro-Hamas publication in the West, is sponsoring an event…

Authorities in Hamas-run Gaza on Thursday executed two Palestinian Arabs for allegedly collaborating with Israel, the territory’s interior ministry said in a statement. “Two collaborators with the Israeli occupation, condemned to death for having given information leading to the martyrdom of two citizens, have been executed,” a spokesman told AFP. He said one of the men, aged 40 and identified by…

US National Security Adviser Susan Rice met Israeli leaders Wednesday, AFP reports, after the collapse of US-brokered Middle East peace talks and amid allegations Israel was spying on its principal ally. Rice started her visit by meeting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. “They discussed a wide range of regional and bilateral issues, including the United States and Israel’s close security cooperation, which…

A large majority of the Jewish public in Israel (68%) support the government’s decision to halt peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) following its unity pact with Hamas, a poll revealed Wednesday. The Guttman Center and Evens Program for Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University (TAU) conducted the poll, a monthly “Peace Index” part…

The commander of the Iranian Navy stated on Tuesday that his forces were trained to destroy U.S. warships. Speaking to the Fars news agency, the commander, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, threatened the Navy can sink an American aircraft carrier “in less than a minute.” Fadavi added that U.S. air combat power overseas is totally dependent…

An immense explosion has been heard throughout the northern Iranian city of Qazvin, semi-official Fars news agency reported, and many casualties are expected from the blast.  Around 1.1 million people live in the city, which is located about 100 miles north of Tehran.  The blast may be related to nuclear development in Iran, according to the Los…

Fighting between rival jihadist groups in eastern Syria killed 74 people on Monday, AFP reported, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The clashes between Al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have prompted 60,000 people to flee towns in the oil-rich province. The Observatory said 69 fighters…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it illegal to justify or deny Nazi war crimes. According to AFP, Putin on Monday signed new legislation introducing harsh punishments for such acts. The legislation makes it a criminal offence to deny facts established by the Nuremberg trials regarding the crimes of the Axis powers and to disseminate…

Two Iranian warships docked in Sudan on Monday, Khartoum’s military said, according to AFP. Sudan’s army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad was quoted as having said that the warships, one of them a navy supply ship, had arrived in Port Sudan. They would refuel and then continue elsewhere, he said, adding that during their port call…

The unity pact between the PLO-Fatah and Hamas went into force on Monday as the interior ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said it freed six prisoners from rival party Fatah in a gesture. The move came two weeks after the pact was agreed on by Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and exiled Hamas chief…

Beit Haggai, a 100-family Jewish community in the Hevron hills, was cut off from water at 2:00 a.m. Tuesday, as a result of Palestinian-Arab sabotage. The Har Hevron Regional Council’s spokesperson said that there have been more than 2,000 cases of water theft in the region – all by local Arabs – in the course…

Eitan Amos, 18, of Toronto, is the winner of this year’s Bible Contest. He is the first Canadian to win the contest. Amos is a student at Ohr Haim Yeshiva in Toronto. He lived in Karnei Shomron in Samaria until he was 11 and plans to attend a hesder yeshiva in Israel next year. His deputy is…

The Hamas-run Gaza government released six prisoners affiliated with the Fatah movement on Monday, an official said, according to the Ma’an news agency. Iyad al-Bazim, spokesman for the Gaza Interior Ministry, told Ma’an that the prisoners had received a pardon from Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh as part of the April 23 PLO-Hamas unity deal.…

President Shimon Peres revealed on Monday that three years ago he reached a peace agreement with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Speaking to Channel 2 News in a special interview on the occasion of Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day), Peres said that his contacts with Abbas were made on behalf of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,…

A security jeep that was driving through the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan (Shiloach) was attacked on Monday evening by some 30 masked men, who hurled rocks and paint bottles at it. The jeep sustained heavy damage but there were no physical injuries. The incident is not the first in Silwan, which has become a…

Indian security agencies say a suspect has revealed in interrogation that Pakistan was behind planned terror attack on Israeli and American consulates in India. Official sources on Sunday revealed that Sakir Hussain of Sri Lanka admitted in interrogation that he was hired by an official in Pakistan’s high commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to collect…

Nuclear experts from Iran and six world powers are due on Monday to start a week of talks in New York aimed at reaching a permanent agreement that limits Iran’s nuclear program. The talks from Monday to in Friday New York are in preparation for the next ministerial-level negotiations in Vienna on May 13. The…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will face two other candidates in the coming June presidential election, the country’s Supreme constitutional Court announced Sunday, according to The Associated Press (AP). 21 other candidates were found to be ineligible to run, according to court spokesman Majid Khadra said on state television. He did not elaborate. Assad, who is…

Libya’s Congress leader on Sunday rejected the appointment of a new interim prime minister hours after he was sworn in, reports the BBC. Ahmed Maitig thought he had secured the support of 121 deputies after several rounds of voting in Congress, but the process was held in a chaotic session, and acting Congress chairman Ezzedine…

A British Tory council candidate has been forced to resign from the party after posting anti-Islamic comments on Twitter, the BBC reported on Sunday. David Bishop, a candidate in Brentwood South, Essex, apologized after retweeting messages, including one that claimed Islam was the religion of rape. “I have let myself and my party down,” Bishop…

A former Member of Knesset who was forced to flee Israel after it was revealed that he revealed sensitive security details to Hezbollah terrorists will head a new Qatar-based television network. The United Arab Emirates-based The National website reported on Sunday that Azmi Bishara, who now heads the Doha-based Arab Center for Research and Policy…

The Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist group Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis on Sunday claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in Sinai on Friday that left three dead, reports Daily News Egypt. In a statement released to jihadi websites, the group declared, “We will not rest until we achieve retribution for the blood and honor of the Muslims.” The first…

A former New York Police Department (NYPD) officer was arrested on Sunday, after surveillance video apparently captured him on an anti-Semitic graffiti rampage in the religious Jewish neighborhood of Borough Park. The ex-officer, Michael Setiawan, was 12-years-old when his family emigrated to the US from Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the…

Loading… Following this morning’s emotional ceremony honoring Israel’s fallen servicemen and women, Arutz Sheva takes you live to the the official memorial service for victims of terrorism, which began at 1 p.m. at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery. As detailed in a recent report released by the National Insurance Institute (NII), a total of 2,495 Israeli civilians…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the central Memorial Day ceremony at the Har Herzl cemetery Monday. “It is very difficult, and perhaps impossible,” he said, “for someone who did not experience bereavment to understand the full meaning of the grief that struck us; the force of the shock and the feeling of loss and of…

Israel transitioned from sadness to joy Monday, marking the yearly switch from Memorial Day to Independence Day at the traditional ceremony at Har Herzl just after sundown.  Israel juxtaposes the two days to illustrate the outcome of the IDF’s hard work and sacrifice – the freedom to live in a just and democratic Jewish state. …

Students at the pre-military academy of Lod over the weekend met with residents of the Ramat Eshkol neighiborhood in the city, urging them to fly the Israeli flag on Independence Day. It should be noted that the neighborhood is 75% Arab. The students knocked on doors and met families, suggesting that they fly a flag.…

In a message to the Diaspora for Independence Day, President Shimon Peres called Israel “a miracle.” Israelis and Jews should be proud of what they have accomplished, Peres said, but need to realize that they had much more to do. “We are celebrating the 66th anniversary of the State of Israel,” Peres stated. “There is…

The US Supreme Court Monday upheld the right to pray at government meetings, in a divided decision which said the practice did not violate religious freedoms. Voting along ideological lines, the court’s five conservative justices said that “the nation’s history and tradition have shown that prayer in this limited context could coexist with the principles of disestablishment and religions freedom.” At issue…

Ahiya Klein, the IDF soldier who nearly lost his sight in a clash with terrorists in Gaza, spoke on Sunday at a ceremony in honor of Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) which took place at the Sultan’s Pool in Jerusalem. During the ceremony, Klein gave an inspiring speech as he spoke about the ordeal he had…

A delegation of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is scheduled to visit two of Iran’s nuclear sites, the state-run Press TV reported on Sunday. “As the International Atomic Energy Agency has questions and was keen to visit Saghand [uranium] mine and Ardakan [concentration] plant, grounds have been prepared for this inspection and…

Hamas and Fatah are continuing to hold talks ahead of the planned elections, as stipulated in the unity pact signed between the sides recently. Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Fatah movement, is scheduled to travel to Qatar later this week, where he will meet with the head of Hamas’s politburo, Khaled…

Speaking at a 31 March New York conference on the legal issues posed by the question of the Iraq-Jewish archive, American attorney Nat Lewin said that the community should not wait until the archive was returned to Iraq before taking action, insisting that the community would receive a sympathetic hearing in the US. Harold Rhode, who…

Twenty-five French citizens have been killed fighting in the ongoing Syrian Civil War, officials announced Friday, as the phenomenon of foreign nationals fighting in the Islamic holy war mushrooms.  Spanish authorities stated that they had arrested a French citizen of Algerian descent, 24, on suspicions of joining Al Qaeda-linked groups in the war between the…

The family of fallen IDF soldier Zion Tayeb (of blessed memory), who was killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, opened his grave on Saturday night on Har Herzl without permission – and discovered that it was empty. Tayeb was drafted in May 1973 and served in the Nefach territorial brigade. He was sent to…

Kiev claimed Ukraine is now “at war” with pro-Russian gunmen late Saturday night, just days after the Kremlin warned that it had received “thousands” of pleas for help from civilians trapped inside eastern Ukraine. Over the weekend, fighting raged around the town of Kramatorsk in the eastern region of Donetsk, as clashes continued in Donetsk,…

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Saturday urged government bodies tasked with providing relief in war-torn Syria to increase “cooperation” with international and local organizations, state television reported, according to AFP. His statement came after UN chief Ban Ki-moon issued a report saying that foreign aid was still not reaching millions of needy Syrians despite a…

The Iranian regime has banned access to the WhatsApp messaging application because it is owned by a Jewish “American Zionist”, Fox News reported Saturday. The announcement came some two months after Facebook bought the company for a stunning $19 billion, and a regime official connected the move directly to the founder of Facebook. “The reason…

Two people were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of desecrating Israeli flags in Jaffa late last week. Police arrested a 30-year-old woman from Jaffa and a 19-year-old male from Ramle. They were caught with spray paint in their possession. It is suspected that both desecrated about 60 Israeli flags that had been flying on…

US lawmakers are to consider a bill banning the US government from funding any international projects which discriminate against Israelis in Judea and Samaria. Republican Congressman Steve Stockman, who represents the 36th District of Texas, tabled the proposal, which “terminates US government funds for any international project that prohibits participation of Israeli organizations operating beyond the 1949 armistice…

Bereaved fathers, Ron Kerman Yossi Zur and Yossi Mendelowitz have stepped up their campaign against the national Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, now calling for bereaved families to boycott the public event. The fathers sent a scathing second letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday, in which they “call for bereaved families not to attend…

The deaths of 42 people in Odessa that greatly added to the toll of Ukraine’s crisis had its roots not only in the worsening political confrontation but also rampant football hooliganism.   The clashes that culminated in a horrific inferno of a trade union building that killed 38 people – most of them pro-Russian activists…

The number of Jews emigrating to Israel from increasingly volatile Ukraine has jumped by 142 percent this year so far compared to 2013, the Jewish Agency said Sunday. A total of 762 Jews from Ukraine arrived in Israel in the first four months of the year, compared to 315 in the first quarter of 2013,…

Israel’s 66th Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut) celebrations kicked off Sunday in New York, bringing thousands of Jews from across the city together at the JCC in Manhattan to celebrate. Events will culminate in a community-wide celebration on Tuesday. Over the course of the festivities, “The UWS (Upper West Side) Celebrates Israel,” which are free and…

Between Memorial Day of 2013 and this Sunday, 57 soldiers and terror victims have joined the list of Israel’s fallen, as did 50 disabled IDF veterans who died as a result of their disability, and were recognized during the year as fallen soldiers. The number of officially recognized bereaved families in Israel in 2014 is…

Riot police in Brussels Sunday used water cannon to disperse a crowd defying a ban on a gathering of controversial far-right figures including French comic Dieudonne, which critics called an “anti-Semitic hatefest”. Citing a threat to public order, the mayor of the Brussels district of Anderlecht banned both the meeting and any protests connected to…

Finance Minister and Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid made media headlines Saturday night, after he insisted in an interview with an American newspaper that Israel could – conceivably – hold negotiations with a Hamas-led government.  “It’s not like it didn’t happen before,” Lapid stated, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “The PLO [terrorist organization…

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has decided to close roads leading into and out of Judea and Samaria  for Palestinian Authority (PA) residents from Sunday evening to Tuesday night, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced Saturday, citing concerns over terrorism close to Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day.  PA residents will be restricted from entering or leaving…

US diplomats in Nigeria on Friday claimed that “groups associated with terrorism” could be planning to attack a hotel in the financial capital, Lagos, in a travel note to citizens warning of security risks. “As of late April, groups associated with terrorism allegedly planned to mount an unspecified attack against the Sheraton Hotel in Nigeria, near the city of Lagos,”…

Tunisians are embroiled in a heated debate over allowing Israeli tourists into the country, which does not recognize the Jewish state, before an annual pilgrimage that attracts Jews from around the world, according to AFP.  It is an open secret that Israelis have been visiting Tunisia for years on the quiet. The dispute is not over Jews from third countries,…

Presidential hopeful MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) will undergo a kidney transplant next week, Channel 2 News reported on Friday. According to the report, a suitable donor for Ben-Eliezer, who has been undergoing dialysis treatments three times a week, has been found. The procedure is scheduled for right after Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) which will…

Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk have shot down two Ukrainian military helicopters, during a “counterterrorism” operation ordered by Kiev to clear the area of insurgents. According to the BBC, a pilot and another soldier have been killed, four pro-Russian militiamen arrested and 10 separatist checkpoints seized during the operation so far. In…

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has ordered the group’s official branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, to halt fighting against its rivals in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), after months of bloody clashes have weakened both groups and undermined the rebel movement to overthrow the Assad regime. In an audiotape posted…

U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel threatened tougher and broader new sanctions against Russia on Friday, if Moscow doesn’t quickly change its disruptive behavior. “We will not have a choice but to move forward with additional more-severe sanctions” if Russia disrupts a presidential election in Ukraine scheduled for May 25, Obama said…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Friday became a formal party to five global treaties banning torture and racial discrimination, and protecting the rights of women, children and the disabled, the UN said, according to AFP. Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights office, told reporters that the move followed the PA’s April 2 declaration…

Gaza terrorists opened fire towards IDF soldiers near the Kissufim border crossing on Friday evening. The soldiers returned fire. None of the soldiers were hurt. On Thursday, A Kassam rocket fired by Gaza terrorists exploded in open territory in the Eshkol Regional Council area. No physical injuries or damage were reported. Last Thursday, an explosive charge was…

As the March of the Living commenced Monday in Poland, in honor of Holocaust Memorial Day, another type of march commenced in Ukraine: a march of Neo-Nazis supporting the Waffen, the Ukrainian version of the SS.  Around 500 neo-Nazi supporters marched in Lvov to commemorate the creation of the 14th SS-Volunteer Division ‘Galician’ on April 28,…

Israelis, your mail will finally arrive today.  The Israeli Postal Service’s three-day strike ended late Thursday night, after a series of dramatic negotiations between Communications Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud), Histadrut Trade Union Department Chairman Avi Nissenkorn, and Finance Ministry Budgetary Director Amir Levi. Mail services will resume Friday at postal branches across Israel.  Negotiations will…

An IDF soldier was lightly wounded Friday morning, after an explosive was launched at Nahal Brigade soldiers stationed in Shechem. The soldier has been transferred to hospital for treatment. The incident occurred during an operation to uncover weapons in Shechem overnight, according to IDF officials.  A cartel of knives was seized, as well as two…

At least 33 people were killed Thursday in an air strike on a market in a rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, activists said, according to the BBC. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the attack happened in the northern Halak district. The Aleppo Media Center, which put the death…

Roger Waters has returned to singing his old anti-Israel chorus, the New York Daily News reported Thursday, calling on the Rolling Stones to cancel plans for their upcoming Israel debut concert because of “Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.”  Waters, along with surviving Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, penned a joint statement against the concert earlier this week.…

Taglit-Birthright Israel brings tens of thousands of Jewish young adults to Israel each year, to tour Jewish sites – including the Western Wall and Yad V’Shem – and connect to their homeland. One area is off-limits, however: Judea and Samaria – ostensibly to avoid political confrontations. In addition, it has been argued that tour groups…

The Helmsley Charitable Trust will fund full-page ads of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in the New York Times and USA Today on Monday, in time for Israel’s Independence Day. The ad, which will run in the major American papers and features the declaration’s opening words “the Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people,” can be…

Gennady Kernes, the Jewish mayor of Kharkiv in the Ukraine who was critically injured Monday, has regained consciousness, according to Ma’ariv/NRG.  Kharkov municipal spokesman Yuri Sidornko told the daily that Kernes’s son, who has remained by his bedside in a Haifa hospital, sent him an SMS late Thursday night saying “we’ve regained consciousness.”  Kernes was shot in the…

An infant was left with light injuries after stones were thrown at the bus he was riding in on Thursday night. The perpetrators of the rock throwing attack have yet to be located, but the incident occurred near Jerusalem’s Givat Ze’ev neighborhood, which is located in the north of the city and surrounded by Arab…

Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi David Lau visited the Beit Halokhem rehabiliation center for wounded IDF veterans in Haifa on Thursday, ahead of Israel’s Memorial Day next Monday. Rabbi Lau himself is a major in the IDF reserves, serving in the Intelligence Corps. He made the visit upon the request of the IDF Wounded Veterans Organization’s chairperson…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry admitted on Thursday that the unity deal between Fatah and Hamas had been unexpected. Speaking in Ethiopia, where he said it was time for the United States to take a “pause” in Israeli-Palestinian Authority (PA) peace talks, Kerry said that the deal announced last week took the U.S. by…

Iran on Thursday rejected an annual United States report that keeps Tehran on a list of state sponsors of terrorism as reflecting double standards, AFP reported. The Iranian foreign ministry was reacting to a State Department report released Wednesday that kept Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan on its list of so-called state sponsors of terrorism.…

Ron Dermer, the Israeli Ambassador to the US, defended US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday from Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon. Danon on Tuesday wrote an article in Politico Magazine denouncing Kerry’s statements in a closed-door meeting with influential world leaders last Friday, in which Kerry warned that if a peace agreement is not reached,…

A kassam rocket exploded in open territory Thursday in the Eshkol Regional Council area, bordering Gaza. No injuries or damage was reported from the missile, which was fired by terrorists from the Hamas enclave. The “color red” siren was not sounded prior to the blast. An IDF spokesperson said that more than 100 missiles fired…

A sapling grown from the tree that Anne Frank wrote about while in hiding was celebrated Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol as a “living testament” to one of the Holocaust’s most cherished victims, AFP reports. The small, leafy chestnut planted on the Capitol’s west front lawn is a sapling grown from the original tree that…

Beit Shemesh suffered two syngagogue break-ins overnight Wednesday. Both synagogues were on the same street – Rabbi Tarfon Street, in the Kirya Hareidi section of the city. Thieves made off with a large number of ritual objects, including Torah scroll cases, members of both congregations told Arutz Sheva. “We are in shock,” said one of…

Jay Leno, the iconic former Tonight Show TV host comedian, will emcee the first Genesis Prize award ceremony in Israel, a $1 million prize given to outstanding individuals who “embody the character of the Jewish people and values…and the State of Israel.” The first recipient of the new prize will be former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who…

Since last Independence Day, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Thursday, Israel’s population has grown by 157,000, and now totals 8,180,000. Jews account for 75% of that total, with the Jewish population at 6,135,000. There are 1,694,000 Arabs in Israel (Muslims and Christians), as well as 351,000 “others” – non-Arab Christians and members of other…

In advance of Memorial Day, which will take place next Monday, the National Insurance Institute (NII) announced Thursday that 2,495 Israelis had been killed in terror attacks since the establishment of the State. Two people were killed in attacks last year. Since 2000, 996 people have been killed in terror attacks. In addition to the…

Some 3,000 Israeli worshippers entered the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem Wednesday night, in honor of the new Hebrew month of Iyar. The worshippers were of all religious backgrounds – haredi, Religious Zionist, and secular. The visit was organized by the Judea and Samaria Council. Over the past five years, the Council has brought over…

Pictures emerging from the city of Raqqa in northern Syria show how an Al Qaeda splinter group has been carrying out public “crucifixions” in areas under its control. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) – a group considered so brutal it was booted out of Al Qaeda, which was worried about the…

Israeli actor and director Assi Dayan has passed away. He died Thursday morning at his apartment in north Tel Aviv. Dayan was 68, his family said. His funeral is scheduled for Sunday at 4:00 p.m. in the Haifa-area community of Nahalal. Dayan is considered one of the most influential figures in Israel’s cinema industry. The…

The first hareidi hesder yeshiva has been opened in Jerusalem. The ground-breaking program will combine Torah study with IDF army service. While the first hareidi mechina, or pre-army preparatory academy, began operating last August, the hesder program includes actual military service and lasts four years, as opposed to the year or two of pre-army training…

Israel summoned Jordan’s ambassador Thursday to protest an anti-Israeli article by a former Jordanian foreign minister, in which he based his argument on a Hitler quote, the foreign ministry said. Spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel’s embassy in Amman also sent the foreign ministry there an official protest over an article published on Monday by Kamel…

A woman in her 20s was found dead Thursday in a grove near the industrial area at Migdal Haemek, in the Galilee. There were signs of violence on her upper body. A police source told Arutz Sheva that investigators are looking into a possible terror motive for what appears to have been a murder. The…

Szymon Klug, the last Jewish resident of Oswiecim, Poland, better known by its German name Auschwitz, passed away in 2000. On May 18, Klug’s home, located just a few miles from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, will be opened to the public for the first time, as part of a major expansion to the “Auschwitz Jewish Center.”…

US Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated Thursday it was time for the United States to take a “pause” in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, after months of efforts stalled last month. “We believe the best thing to do right now is pause, take a hard look at these things, and find out what is possible and…

Support for the Nahal Brigade soldier who was videotaped in an aggressive exchange with Palestinian Arab youths in Hevron reached peak levels Thursday afternoon, as the Facebook page supporting him passed 104,000 “likes.” The soldier, who has been identified as David Adamov, cocked his gun and aimed it at Arab youths who provoked him and…

Former United States President Bill Clinton claimed on Wednesday that Israel had offered the Palestinian Authority (PA) control of the Temple Mount in 2000. Channel 2 News reported that Clinton’s comments were made during a speech at Georgetown University in Virginia, during which he made some revelations regarding the Camp David Summit attended by himself,…

The US State Department published inflammatory remarks about Israel and “settlers” on Wednesday, just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel could become an “apartheid state.”  The 2013 anti-terrorism report investigated terror activity across the globe in 2013, and was published on its website. The “Israel, West Bank, and Gaza” section, however, focuses…

In over 3,000 photos reportedly sent in to a small news outlet, thousands of IDF soldiers from all units have expressed their support for a Nahal Brigade soldier who has been dismissed from combat service because he cocked his gun in an incident that was videotaped by Arab youths who threatened and provoked him, in…

Despite the failure of his Middle East peace efforts, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has “no regrets”, his spokeswoman said Tuesday. “The secretary has not a moment of regret about every ounce of time he’s spent on this effort,” Jen Psaki told reporters, according to an AFP report. She acknowledged that Tuesday, which Kerry…

An Israeli startup is poised to bring the printer up to the mobile digital age, by creating a printer that can fit in your pocket. Matan Caspi and Tuvia Elbaum of the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) pioneered the initiative while in college, establishing ZUtA Labs. With the initial funding and support of JCT, the startup…

A “100 Shofar” protest was held on Tuesday in New York, in front of the UJA-Federation Building in Manhattan, to condemn the invitation of three pro-BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) groups to the 50th annual Israel Day Parade. Arutz Sheva contributor and Americans For a Safe Israel National Director Mark Langfan was on scene to record…

The Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet) and the IDF arrested a Hamas terror cell in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kalkiliya; permission to publish the story was granted on Wednesday. In investigations of the cell members, it became clear that the terror cell created improvised explosives, and planned attacks involving shooting and detonating explosives…

Drinking water in nine Jerusalem neighborhoods may have been contaminated, the Ministry of Health announced Wednesday afternoon.  Affected neighborhoods include Abu Tor, Silwan, Zur Baher, Ras al-Amud, the Old City, Baka, Talpiot, Mamilla, and Morasha (Musrara). About 150,000 people are estimated to be living in affected areas, according to Ma’ariv/NRG. The Gihon water company and the Health Ministry…

The Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet or Shabak) and the Jerusalem District Police nabbed a terror cell in the Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Issawiya, in a report cleared for publication Wednesday afternoon.  The terror cell was responsible for carrying out a number of attacks against Israelis, especially in the nearby French Hill neighborhood and the…

In 2012, a lighting pole collapsed on stage during rehearsals for Israel’s official Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzmaut) ceremony, killing twenty year-old IDF officer Hila Bezaleli.  Now, almost two years later, significant progress was made in the Bezaleli case Wednesday, after the Jerusalem District Court announced that six suspects being tried for negligence in the accident…

Pro-Russian gunmen tightened their control of eastern Ukraine Wednesday, seizing government buildings in yet another town with little to no police opposition, according to local media.  “They’ve taken them. The government administration and police,” the police official said of Horlivka. The town is just north of Donetsk, the center of recent clashes between Ukrainian forces…

A British convict who plotted to blow a US passenger plane out of the sky was so determined to die for Al Qaeda that he used the email address sacrifice72@yahoo.com, he admitted Tuesday. Saajid Badat, 35, told the New York trial of British hate preacher Abu Hamza that he used the Yahoo account while researching…

An Australia exploration company claims it may have found the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 passengers on board. The company, GeoResonance, says it began using over 20 technologies, including satellite imaging and radiation chemistry, in a search for the plane as early as March 10, comparing images…

US officials warned on Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) may risk losing its American funding, which constitutes $440 million in 2014, if it goes through with creating a unity government with the terror organization Hamas. “Let me be utterly clear about our policy towards Hamas,” Assistant Secretary for the Near East Anne Patterson told a House hearing.…

A shocking video taped publicly by left-wing activists on the campus of Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum has provoked a storm of anger in Israel. The video was taken in front of a monument commemorating Holocaust victims, and features an actress dressed as a prostitute calling herself “the Holocaust,” who says the Jewish nation should…

Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Steven Blaney, announced on Tuesday that the Government of Canada has listed the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy-Canada (IRFAN-Canada) as a terrorist entity, reports Shalom Toronto. In an official statement, Blaney said that between 2005 and 2009, IRFAN-Canada transferred approximately $14.6 million worth of resources to various…

The reconciliation deal between Hamas and Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction last Wednesday may place Hamas in a position of control, according to a Hamas leader. Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas figure and member of the Hamas parliament, told the Arab news channel Al-Khuttab that Hamas leadership decided to take part in the coming…

Israel has returned to the Palestinian Authority (PA) the bodies of four terrorists who carried out deadly terrorist attacks against Israelis, including the body of the terrorist who blew himself up in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001. The PA-based Safa news agency reported on Tuesday that the terrorists whose bodies were returned include…

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, warned world nations on Tuesday that with the Hamas-Fatah unity pact, any funds they transfer to the Palestinian Authority (PA) may end up in the hands of Hamas and be used for carrying out terrorist attacks. “As we speak, millions of dollars are being channeled to the…

America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has decided to ban Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life, after a recording of racist comments he made about black people was released earlier this week. Those comments provoked a firestorm of outrage, as a string of sponsors either suspended or withdrew their support for the team altogether, and…

A terrorist “lawyer” from eastern Jerusalem, who had been charged with passing messages to jailed terrorists, committed suicide in his home on Tuesday. The “lawyer,” Safadi Amjad, was on house arrest on a local court’s orders when he put an end to his life. Amjad had been charged for transferring money and messages from Hamas…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has instructed Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to cancel an upcoming hearing to promote plans for building in Judea and Samaria, IDF Radio reports Tuesday. The hearing, which was scheduled for Wednesday, was for the Planning Council of Civil Administration that approves building tenders in Judea and Samaria. Ya’alon was ordered, however, to…

Meet Tomoho Umeda, who served as the official Polish organizer for the Israeli Knesset visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. But his family history has a Jewish connection as well; it is the story of two brave women – a Jewish great-grandmother and a righteous gentile great-grandmother who risked her life to save Jews. In…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry faced harsh criticism from American Jewish organizations on Monday, in the wake of his comments that Israel will become an “apartheid state” if no peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA) is reached. It should be noted that the criticism was made before Kerry clarified his comments. The American…

Russia has threatened the United States with a “painful response”, after President Barack Obama announced new sanctions targeting a list of individuals and companies. Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy minister for foreign relations, told CNN the sanctions were “meaningless, shameful, and disgusting.” “It will only intensify all the processes in Ukraine which it intends to change…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday expressed his regret for saying that Israel would become “an apartheid state” if talks failed. “I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I…

Moscow accused Washington of bringing back “Iron Curtain” policies in the showdown over Ukraine on Tuesday, as the West slapped fresh sanctions against key figures including Russia’s military chief. The Russian foreign ministry warned the sanctions were “absolutely counterproductive” and were driving the crisis towards “a dead end”.     The sharp language underlined the…

Hundreds of postal workers staged a mass protest outside the Tel Aviv postal service branch Tuesday morning, over plans to fire over 2,000 postal service workers.  Demonstrators called for the government to intervene immediately to save the workers’ jobs, as well as the postal service as a whole, and for CEO Haim Almoznino to take…

There can be no peace with Israel without first defining the borders of a future Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday. “We are determined to know our borders and theirs, without that there will be no peace,” he said as Washington’s nine-month deadline for reaching a peace deal expired, leaving the…

The mayor of the east Ukraine city of Kharkiv, who was wounded critically after being shot in the back by an unknown assailant, has been flown to Israel for treatment, local officials and the Israeli hospital treating him said Tuesday. Yury Sydorenko, director of information at Kharkiv city council, said Israeli doctors decided after examining…

A group of jurists has petitioned the UN, BBC News revealed Tuesday, demanding that they deliver aid to starving Syrian civilians immediately “with or without consent” from Syria.  The letter, signed by 35 prominent lawmakers, insists that aid is being withheld arbitrarily.  Jared Genser, one of the legal experts who signed the letter, told the BBC that…

Congressional Republicans lashed out on Monday at Secretary of State John Kerry, over his remarks that Israel could become an “apartheid state”. According to Fox News, the number two House leader said that Kerry should apologize for the comments, while another senator called on the top diplomat to resign. “Reports that Secretary Kerry has suggested…

The White House condemned on Monday the death sentences handed in Egypt to 683 supporters of former Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi and said it was “deeply troubled” by them. “While judicial independence is a vital part of democracy, this verdict cannot be reconciled with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law,” the White House…

Israel has begun implementing the recently announced sanctions on the Palestinian Authority (PA), a senior diplomatic official told the Hebrew-language Walla! news website on Monday. According to the official, Israel has started to deduct the PA’s debts from the tax money it collects on its behalf. The official added that this sanction “is just the…

Yeshiva University (YU) announced on Monday that Elliot Steinmetz will be its head men’s basketball coach. Steinmetz, a 2002 graduate of YU’s Sy Syms School of Business who lettered on YU’s basketball team for three seasons from 1999-2002, will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the men’s basketball program while ensuring the academic success…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s comments that Israel will become an “apartheid state” if a peace agreement is not reached with the Palestinian Authority (PA) have been met with outrage, and his spokeswoman had trouble explaining them on Monday. The Washington Free Beacon noted that State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, stumbled when asked to…

Microsoft warned Windows users operating Internet Explorer (IE) versions 6 through 11 to switch browsers on Monday, after US and UK authorities warned that a major bug in the system could breach their users’ cyber-security.  The bug is the first of its kind to emerge after Microsoft announced that it would stop providing updates and…

Syrian President Bashar Assad announced his official entrance into the presidential race on Monday, running for a third seven-year term in the June 3 elections.  Parliament speaker Mohammad al-Laham announced the news Monday, according to Reuters.  “I … Dr Bashar Hafez al Assad … wish to nominate myself for the post of president of the…

In what may be a sign of his frustration over the failure of his peace efforts, The Daily Beast revealed on Sunday that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become ‘an apartheid state,’ like the old South Africa. The comments were made by Kerry…

US President Barack Obama announced that new sanctions against Russia will be imposed on Monday. As has been reported, they will target a list of individuals and companies in an effort to pressure Moscow to rethink its military intervention in the Ukraine. High-technology exports to Russia’s defense industry will be affected, the president said. The U.S. sanctions…

The March of the Living is an annual educational program, which brings students from all over the world to Poland to study the history of the Holocaust and to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate – and more importantly, to declare that such unimaginable atrocities will not be allowed to happen again. Since…