Category: News

France announced Thursday that it will expel any foreigners who pose a threat to the country’s security at home or abroad, either in the name of Islam or by refusing to respect the country’s secular traditions, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Thursday.  France will be “intransigent… and I will not hesitate to expel those who…

Every day, about 1,000 U.S. citizens living in Israel are registering to vote in the upcoming U.S. elections, according to Eli Piepsh, Director of I Vote Israel. Assisted by hundreds of volunteers, the organization has made contact with immigrants (olim) to Israel and with dual citizens. “We’ve held meetings at synagogues, we’ve appeared at lessons…

With less than two months until the U.S. presidential election, the Republican party is making an aggressive last bid attempt to win over Jewish voters in important swing states.  Focusing on the key areas of South Florida, Ohio and Nevada, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Republican Jewish Coalition has begun spending $6.5 million on both on-air and…

President Barack Obama will likely speak to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by phone on Friday, as the White House faces heat over the lack of a meeting between the leaders in New York. Obama spent only 24 hours in New York for the UN General Assembly earlier this week before Netanyahu arrived, and the…

A new proposed German law is set to approve ritual circumcision (known as brit mila or bris mila in Judaism) hopefully ending the debate – and the threat – to the ancient custom practiced by Jews and Muslims. German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger presented the proposal to the state governments and associations throughout the country on…

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared for the second time in a month in an online video, in which he revealed new information about his late predecessor Osama bin Laden, who he said was blind in one eye. In the almost hour-long video, the third in a series entitled “Days with the Imam,” Zawahiri said “for…

The United Nations agency for refugees is predicting that up to 700,000 Syrians will flee their homes to other lands by the year’s end. The UNHCR appealed Thursday with 51 other aid groups for half a billion dollars in aid to help the “rapidly increasing” numbers trying to cross the borders into neighboring countries daily.…

A bipartisan group of Unites States senators wrote a letter to Cuban President Raul Castro, urging him to release Alan Gross, a Jewish-American contractor who has been imprisoned in Cuba since December 2009. The group of forty-four senators, led by led by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Jerry Moran (R-KS), called Gross’ detention “a major…

A court ruling allowing Turkey to ban access to the anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims” that sparked outrage worldwide has been finalized, the country’s Transportation, Maritime and Communication Minister Binali Yıldırım said Wednesday. The Anatolia news agency reported that the ruling will now allow Turkish authorities to ban any webpage that shows any portion of…

Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) today released a 30 minute video showing how Northeastern Professor Denis Sullivan and other Northeastern faculty abuse academic freedom to promote anti-Israel lies and anti-Semitism as defined by the U.S. State Department. Sullivan is a tenured professor and director of the Northeastern Middle East Center for Peace, Culture and…

The Palestinian Authority Winter has reached Gaza: some 500 protesters called to overthrow their Hamas terror rulers late Tuesday. The demonstration was ignited by the death of a little boy who died in a fire that resulted during a power outage in Bureij. His baby sister was left in critical condition, with burns over a…

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in an interview Thursday that while there were still significant differences of opinion on how to handle Iran, the gap between the two sides was closing. While the impression one would get from President Barack H. Obama’s speech at the UN General Assembly was that the United States was…

The death toll in Syria’s civil war on Wednesday was more than 300, the highest in a single day since March 2011, said human rights activists. According to UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman, more than 305 people were killed across the country – “and this is only counting those whose…

Hizbullah has increased the size and scope of its assistance to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as he fights to retain his position as leader of Syria in the face of a wide-ranging rebellion. According to a report in Thursday’s Washington Post, Hizbullah has sent special advisors to Syria in order to assist…

Egypt’s new president on Wednesday hit out at Israel over its veiled threats to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and the deadlock in the Middle East peace process, AFP reports. President Mohammed Morsi received a rousing ovation for his first speech to the 193-member UN General Assembly since becoming Egypt’s first civilian, democratically elected leader in…

The anti-Islam film that is being used as an excuse for violent protests in many countries had “nothing to do with” a deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi earlier this month, Libya’s leader told NBC News. This assertion flies in the face of the view expressed by President Barack Obama, that the attack…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed a letter to the citizens of Israel Wednesday just before he boarded a flight to New York, where he will address the UN General Assembly. In it, he castigated the UN delegates who chose to remain in the UN General Assembly hall as Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke there earlier…

Protesters gathered outside the United Nations on Wednesday to demonstrate against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he made his last speech as Iranian leader to the UN General Assembly. “Ahmadinejad, no, no, no!” the crowd of several thousand mostly Iranians chanted. Protesters also praised the US government for its plan to remove an Iranian exile group…

Two suicide bombs struck the heavily guarded Syrian Army headquarters in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday, killing four guards and sparking a gun battle between troops and rebels, state media said. A rebel officer and a rights group said the audacious attack which also left 14 people wounded was an inside job, while an…

Pop diva Madonna urged fans to vote for President Barack Obama in America’s November election, reports AFP, but may have caused him damage by calling him a “Black Muslim,” according to a video posted online Tuesday. In the clip reportedly shot during a concert Monday night, she listed American icons Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther…

Unknown vandals have tipped over and broken 26 headstones at a Jewish cemetery in the village of Prudice in the southwestern corner of the Czech Republic, police said Wednesday “The vandalism occurred during the last two months. The damage has been evaluated at 100,000 koruna ($5,140),” police spokesman Miroslav Doubek said. “Police experts on combating…

Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel does not require amendments at the present time, presidential spokesperson Yasser Ali said Wednesday. Egypt has the ability to control the Sinai Peninsula and restore security in its territory, he added. Security operations were still ongoing against militants in the region, he said, and they would continue until their goals…

NEW YORK (AP) — After an hour of fielding questions about Syria, sanctions and nuclear weapons, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had enough. Now, he said, it was his turn to choose the topic – his “new order” which will inevitably replace the current era of what he called U.S. bullying. Continuing his hectic pace of…

Police in Bangor, Maine are investigating reports of swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti that were found spray-painted on two city synagogues on Friday evening. The front staircases and pillars of the Beth Israel Synagogue and the Beth Abraham Synagogue were defaced with swastikas and an upside-down cross with the numbers “666” positioned on the top…

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Monday accused President Obama of undermining the recent turmoil in the Middle East and showing a lack of regard for the Jewish state. Cantor (R-Va.) stressed Obama’s interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” during which the president referred to Israel as “one of our closest allies in the region.” “That…

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a Divinely-designated day that the Torah explains “will atone for you [plural] to purify you from all your sins before G-d.” Such atonement, however, is not automatic and must be accompanied by teshuvah, a serious process that must include introspection, admission of sins, remorse, and a commitment not…

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “has no place in the world,” said Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor, who apparently found it redundant to even suggest that there is a question if Ahmadinejad has a place in the “World to Come.” Both expressions are common in Jewish thought concerning a person’s reward while living and…

German authorities have opened a war crimes investigation against Johann “Hans” Breyer, a former Nazi camp guard who has been living in the United States for 60 years. Breyer, an 87 year old retired toolmaker living in Philadelphia, admits to having been a guard at the Auschwitz death camp, but claims that his post was…

Former Israeli delegate for Congressional matters in Washington and a top expert on relations with the U.S., Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, thinks Israeli fears of a hostile second term Obama presidency are overblown. In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Ettinger explained that contrary to popular perception, “The bottom line is that a second term president…

Israel will be victorious over Iran, with or without the help of the United States, says Chief Rabbi Metzger, who asked Jews to focus on good relations with others. Speaking in a special Erev Yom Kippur with Arutz Sheva, the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi pleaded for Jews “to be careful to observe mitzvos relating to others”…

U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya’s Benghazi was clearly more than a “mob action,” amid lingering dispute about the nature of the assault. Obama also said, in an appearance on the ABC talk show “The View”, that the best way to deal with a film deemed…

Iran announced on Monday it was yanking its entry in the Oscars race because of the “intolerable insult” of the “Innocence of Muslims” film that has angered Muslims in several countries. “I am officially announcing that in reaction to the intolerable insult to the Great Prophet of Islam we will refrain from taking part in…

Arab leaders have rejected Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s proposal to turn over most of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinian Authority. Barak said in an interview with the Hebrew language Yisrael HaYom newspaper that the time has come to unilaterally declare a Palestinian Authority state in Judea and Samaria except for major Jewish population centers,…

Several mortar shells from Syria was fired on the Golan Heights Tuesday morning, causing damage but no injuries. The IDF is on high alert. At least one of the shells exploded in a community in the northern Golan Heights. “Earlier this morning several mortar shells landed in the Golan Heights, causing no damage or injuries,” an…

Israel has consented to an Egyptian request to allow Egyptian Air Force reconnaissance planes to patrol the skies along the border with Israel, writes Yisrael Hayom Tuesday, quoting an unnamed senior security source in Cairo. The newspaper notes, however, that the report has received no corroboration from any official source in Cairo. Jerusalem told the…

President Barack Obama will tell world leaders the United States “will never retreat from the world” when he speaks at the UN General Assembly, the White House said on Monday, UPI reported. Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Obama will offer context to the international situation and put forward a vision of U.S. leadership. “He will…

Firefighters called to deal with a fire in the outlying northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat were thanked for their efforts on Monday by Arabs hurling rocks at them. The neighborhood is a middle class, well-to-do suburb of mostly Arab-Israelis, situated next to a lower class neighborhood and adjacent to the mostly Jewish Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood.…

Iran blocked access to YouTube, Google and Gmail over the weekend citing the anti-Islam film that has gained notoriety for allegedly sparking the deadly protests that have spread throughout the Arab world. According to Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency, the sites were restricted “because of public demand.” “Google and YouTube continued to carry the film…

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz told a memorial gathering to commemorate fallen soldiers Monday that our enemies are trying harder than ever before to attack the State of Israel. Speaking during an annual ceremony that takes place at Kfar Bilu for paratroopers who have fallen in the line of duty, Gantz said “the…

Iran has tested an array of anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles and unveiled a new drone, the Islamic Republic’s elite Revolutionary Guards announced Monday. The display comes as a show of military readiness for a war with Israel that General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the elite unit, says is inevitable. Medium-range surface-to-air missiles designed…

The Yom Kippur fast day on Wednesday will be accompanied by relatively comfortable weather in most of the world but much warmer in Israel. Temperatures will rise in Israel on Wednesday, reaching the upper 20s Celsius (mid-80s in Fahrenheit) but reaching a scorching 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) in Be’er Sheva, the largest city in the…

A bipartisan group of members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution that calls on the Obama administration to pressure the United Nations to prevent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Yom Kippur, The Hill reported. “[I]t would not only be offensive, but insensitive for the United Nations…

U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday likened Israeli pressure on him to draw a clear “red line” over Iran’s nuclear ambitions to “noise” he tries to ignore, AFP reports. Interviewed for Sunday’s edition of “60 Minutes” on broadcaster CBS, Obama said he understands and agrees with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s insistence that Iran not be…

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called on the international community Sunday to stop donating money to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if that money goes to terrorists and their families. Ayalon spoke at the United Nations, addressing a meeting of 27 nations that donate to the PA, which included representatives from global financial institutions and from…

Hamas’ politburo chief, Khaled Mashaal, is not seeking re-election, a Hamas official told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency on Sunday. Senior Hamas official Salah Bardawil told Ma’an that Mashaal will remain in Hamas but has decided not to run for re-election as party chief. “When Mashaal said he was not seeking re-election, a message was…

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the “potentially harmful consequences of inflammatory rhetoric, counter-rhetoric and threats from various countries in the Middle East.” So far, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has continued to thumb his nose at the West and Israel and told CNN “Zionists are at the end…

Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi is announcing prayer times through SMS as well as on television to encourage the Jewish community to attend synagogue on Yom Kippur. “Every year, more and more people arrive” to synagogues from Ukraine’s 300,000-member Jewish community, Chief Rabbi Moshe Reuven Asman told Arutz Sheva. “The atmosphere is very good,” he said, noting…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) said on Sunday it was ending restrictions limiting the number of traders who can import Israeli goods into the territory, in a bid to reduce spiraling prices. “The system of exclusive agencies and exclusive distributors for goods and products manufactured in Israel or foreign goods imported through an Israeli agent is…

Israel has held new talks with the Palestinian Authority over the development of a gas field off the coast of Gaza, the Israeli foreign ministry said in a new report released on Sunday. According to AFP, the report, prepared for submission to a New York gathering of donors to the Palestinian Authority, describes meetings and…

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reiterated that should Israel attack his country, the Islamic Republic will retaliate. Ahmadinejad made the comments in an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan. The full interview will air on Monday, but excerpts were released on Sunday. Asked by Morgan what his country’s response will be if it is attacked by…

Britain, France and Germany have officially called for new European Union sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, diplomats told AFP on Sunday. The foreign ministers of the three countries wrote to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton last week calling for tougher measures as the showdown with Iran becomes more tense, a European diplomat…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed pride in the government’s recent investment in health during a meeting Sunday. “We’re adding 1,000 beds in hospitals, after a decade — prior to this government — in which not a single bed was added,” he declared. “We established a medical school in Tzfat, after nearly 40 years in which…

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday assured the country’s Jews that they could wear their kippas “with pride”, in a dismissal of far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s call for a ban. “Yes, France’s Jews — as the interior minister is doing today — can wear their kippa with pride,” Valls said at a traditional Jewish…

Pikuach Nefesh, the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, has sent a congratulatory message to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, praising him for accurately stating the opinion of Jewish Halakhah regarding the Land of Israel. The rabbis noted that during his visit to Israel, Romney received a Halakhic opinion signed by 350 rabbis, which states that any…

A Canadian diamond firm says it has designed a diamond that that can be cut to show the six-pointed Star of David. Embee Diamond Technologies, based in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, announced it is offering the design to any manufacturer who is willing to make a 1 percent contribution to the Israeli-based Magen David…

Rep. Joe Walsh, an incumbent Republican congressmen running for reelection in Illinois, issued a statement Saturday vowing to “pursue and expose” the radical Islamic threat, following the arrest of a terror suspect from Hillside, Illinois. Prosecutors announced Saturday that the terror suspect had been arrested on the previous night, in Chicago. The suspected left Villa…

A Palestinian Authority official has expressed outrage over Jewish bar mitzvah celebrations at the Western Wall (Kotel). Ahmed Kariya, head of a PA committee on Jerusalem affairs, told Al-Ayyam that the coming-of-age celebrations are an attempt to complete the Israeli “occupation” of Jerusalem. A Muslim group called the Al-Aqsa Organization agreed, and told Al-Ayyam that…

Iran could launch a pre-emptive strike if Israel prepares to attack it, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander told broadcaster Al-Alam on Sunday, a day after his boss warned that conflict was inevitable, the AFP news agency reports. Should Israel and Iran engage militarily, “nothing is predictable… and it will turn into World War III,” Brigadier General…

A hidden interceptor transmitted valuable information at the Fordow site and apparently self-detonated when it was discovered, the Sunday Times of London reported, quoting Western intelligence sources. The mid-August explosions have been covered up by Iran until last week, when it announced that “terrorists” blew up electric cables from the city of Qum to the…

Pakistan’s foreign minister on Friday thanked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for criticizing the anti-Islam film that has been widely accused of sparking the protests that have spread throughout the Muslim world. While the widely accepted notion that the amateur video somehow justifies the bloody attacks remains farcical, America is, nonetheless, spending $70,000 in TV…

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, together with a high-ranking delegation, arrived in New York Saturday evening to attend the 67th annual meeting of the UN General Assembly, IRNA reported. In an eerie coincidence, Ahmadinejad is scheduled to address the UN on Wednesday, September 26, which happens to also be Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the…

A restaurant on New York’s Upper West Side was defaced by vandals, who scrawled anti-Semitic graffiti on the walls, The New York Post reported Friday. “It was like someone came in and went wild. Vandalism is one thing, but it was a total defacement. They urinated everywhere,” said David Ruggerio, 50, owner of Lansky’s Old…

The Libyan authorities said late Saturday they had decided to dissolve all militias and armed groups that do not come under State authority, AFP reported. The move, a day after Benghazi residents rebelled against the militias in violence that killed at least 11 people and wounded over 70, was announced by Mohammed al-Megaryef, head of…

A large archaeological site in the north has uncovered an extensive treasure chest of ancient finds, including flint tools, during excavations for a highway. Some of Israel’s most interesting historical discoveries have resulted from digging on routes of proposed roads. The latest site of 40 acres (approximately 200 dunam) uncovered finds dating from the early…

Friday’s terrorist fire that killed an IDF soldier was at least the 23rd major attack since the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the “New Middle East,” a phrase coined by U.S. President Bill Clinton 15 years ago and echoed by President Barack Obama. Most of the attacks have taken place since the Muslim…

Israel has rejected the idea of any modification to its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed any possibility of altering the treaty during a radio interview in Israel Sunday morning. “There is not the slightest possibility that Israel will accept the modification of the peace treaty with Israel,” he said, according to…

German judicial authorities officially announced for the first time Friday that Nazi war criminal Aribert Heim, known as “Doctor Death”, died in Egypt in 1992. A regional court in the southwestern town of Baden-Baden, Heim’s last known residence in Germany, said it was abandoning an investigation because “no doubts remained” that the criminal, who had…

Thousands of supporters of the Shiite Hizbullah movement protested on Saturday in the southern Lebanese town of Bint J’beil against the film mocking Islam that has been blamed for the violent anti-American riots that are sweeping the Muslim world. The amateurish film, produced by a Coptic Christian,t got almost no attention for the year that it was on youtube, but became a target of…

A war with Israel is practically inevitable, Iranian General Mohammad Ali Jafari said Saturday. At a meeting of the top echelon of the Revolutionary Guards, which Jafari commands, the general said that “the shameful and cancerous tumour that is Israel is seeking war against us, but it is not known when that war will happen.…

An IDF soldier who was injured in a terror attack Friday on Israel’s southern border was much improved Saturday, doctors said. The soldier is being treated at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, where his condition was upgraded. He was hospitalized after the attack with moderate injuries, doctors said. Meanwhile, the funeral for the soldier killed in…

WASHINGTON – The United States has denied visas to about 20 Iranian government officials hoping to attend next week’s UN General Assembly, including two ministers, Iran’s Fars news agency reported on Saturday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a regular at the assembly since he took office in 2005, will give his final speech there on Wednesday…

At least 15 people died in Pakistan on Friday, as fresh protests erupted across the Muslim world on Friday against a U.S.-made film and French cartoons mocking Islam. AFP reported that tens of thousands took to the streets after the main weekly prayers in Middle Eastern and Asian countries to vent their anger, with little…

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called Friday for a ban on the wearing of Muslim veils and Jewish skullcaps in public, adding to religious tensions sparked by cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, AFP reports. Speaking in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde, Le Pen called for religious headwear to be banned “in stores,…

Friday was a sad day for the residents of the religious community of Nof Ayalon in central Israel, where IDF soldier Netanel Yahalom, who was killed in a terror attack near the border with Egypt, had resided. Yahalomi’s family, who was struggling to digest the news of his death, told Channel 10 News before Shabbat…

Lebanese Muslims, both Sunni and Shiite, took to the streets on Friday to protest against an anti-Islam film and French cartoons insulting the prophet Mohammed, with radical clerics issuing death calls. AFP reported that protests were staged in several cities across Lebanon, including in the capital, the southern port of Sidon, Tripoli in the north…

Corporal Netanel Yahalomi, 20, is the soldier who was killed in Friday’s terrorist attack near the Israel-Egypt border, it was cleared for publication on Friday afternoon. Another IDF soldier was moderately injured in the attack. The attack occurred when three armed terrorists opened fire at IDF soldiers who were patrolling along the Israel-Egypt border. Yahalomi,…

Steps by Gaza’s Hamas rulers to crack down on Salafist radicals have created tensions within the enclave that some fear may turn into an armed confrontation, AFP reported on Thursday. In recent weeks, Salafist groups say they have come under renewed pressure from Hamas over Egyptian allegations they may have been involved in a deadly…

NATO does not believe that military intervention in Syria would bring any improvement in the security situation there, a senior alliance official said Friday, according to AFP. Germany’s Manfred Lange, Chief of Staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), said the military was telling leaders that there was no good case for military action…

Israel and Egypt have agreed to jointly investigate Friday’s terror attack along the Israel-Egypt border, in which IDF soldier Netanel Yahalomi was killed and another soldier was moderately wounded. According to a report in the Egyptian newspaper Masrawy, a delegation of senior Egyptian military officials would meet with IDF officers to learn the details of the…

Iran proudly paraded its military hardware in Tehran on Friday under the gaze of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who used the event to again defiantly lash out at the West and Israel, AFP reports. The display, involving thousands of military personnel, tanks and missiles borne on trucks, marked the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988…

The Palestinian Authority  “wouldn’t last one day” if Israel withdrew from Area B and C of Judea and Samaria, asserted Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon (Yisrael Beytenu). Hamas would take over the PA just as it did in Gaza. Fresh off a trans-oceanic flight, the Deputy Foreign Minister gave a far-ranging briefing on Thursday to…

Daily newspaper Maariv reports that National Security Adviser Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror is in Washington DC, and has been secretly meeting senior White House officials over the last two days, in the hope of arranging a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu when Netanyahu visits the United States next…

Pro-Israel posters will go up in 10 New York City subway stations Monday, after a federal judge ruled that the city must put them up. The ads read: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” New York’s MTA transportation agency barred the ads last…

An Israeli soldier was killed and another was lightly to moderately injured when terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula opened fire on an IDF patrol in the Mount Sagi area, on the Israel-Egypt border, at around noon Friday. Heavy exchanges of fire ensued, during which the terrorists were killed. One of the terrorists reportedly detonated himself…

At least 30 civilians were reported killed on Thursday in a massive explosion in northeast Syria, AFP reported. State media blamed a helicopter gunship crash on an accident but monitors said rebels shot it down, according to the report. Dozens more people were wounded in the blast at a petrol station in the northeastern village…

U.S. officials recently warned Israel that Egypt and Jordan could annul their peace treaties with the Jewish State if it carries out a preemptive strike against Iran, AFP reported on Thursday based on a report in the Yediot Achronot daily newspaper. Quoting a high-level Israeli official, the newspaper said Washington had warned the Jewish state…

The nephew of former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said Thursday that he opposed French plans to exhume Arafat’s body to check claims he was poisoned, favoring instead an international commission of enquiry. “We have always thought that it was death by poisoning with unknown substances, there was evidence in this direction, and we have…

U.S. President Barack Obama reiterated on Thursday night that his policy is not to allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. “We’re still threatened by an Iran that is pursuing nuclear weapons and I’ve been absolutely clear that our policy is not to allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon,” Obama said during a campaign event…

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi on Thursday downplayed Israel’s threats against the Islamic Republic, warning that Tehran is capable of wiping the Israeli regime off the earth. The Iranian-based Fars news agency quoted Vahidi as having told reporters that Iran’s defensive power against Israel’s threats has become so developed that it “would easily…

That old saw, “my son (or daughter), the doctor,” is alive and well in modern Israel. A report published this week by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that more kids in Israel hope for a career in medicine than in any other OECD country. A total of 14.3% of 15 year…

As the search continues for those directly involved in last week’s killing of U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and the attack on the embassy in Benghazi, it has been revelaed that a former inmate of the Gunatanamo Bay detention facility may have been the leader of the attack. Former inmate Sufyan Ben Qumu, one…

The United States sternly warned Iran Thursday that “time is running out” for its unsupervised nuclear program in what may be thinly-veiled support for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has badgered President Barack Obama to set a “red line” for Iran. “We will not engage in an endless process of negotiations that fail to produce…

A new ad featuring only Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is set to hit the airwaves in select Florida markets Thursday, Politico reported. Speaking about the Iranian threat, the prime minister is seen saying, “The fact is that every day that passes Iran gets closer and closer to nuclear bombs. The world tells Israel: ‘Wait,…

Social protests are escalating within the Palestinian Authority territories with rising unemployment and no economic relief. Demonstrators castigating PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas at a protest had their microphones suddenly silenced by authorities on Wednesday during a live broadcast from Tulkarem. The move did little to quench the rage of what is fast…

Israel’s “national” baseball team beat South Africa late Wednesday in the opening qualifying game of the World Baseball Classic, being held in Florida. With a good combination of pitching and hitting, Israel beat South Africa 7-3, with Israel going on to the next leg of the tournament. Israel’s next match will be on Friday, against…

The Danish cartoonist whose caricature of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed sparked global Muslim riots seven years ago says he has no regrets, and wants no censors.  Speaking in an interview this week with the Austrian magazine “News,” Kurt Westergaard said that freedom of speech is too precious to relinquish. “Should we in future let ourselves be…

France, home to the largest Muslim community in Western Europe, is bracing Thursday for what they expect to be a sea of backlash after a French magazine published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, fuelling the flames of protest that are already raging across the Muslim world over a US-made anti-Islam film. The French satirical magazine,…

A new pro-Israel advertisement is set to make its debut on New York City’s subway system next week. “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man,” the ad reads. It concludes with the words, “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad,” written in between two Stars of David. After initially rejecting the…

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, criticized the international body on Wednesday over what he termed its “unilateral decisions” regarding the Palestinian Authority. Prosor, who spoke for the first time in his new role as Vice President of the General Assembly, was quoted by Channel 10 News as having said, “We oppose the…

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeated his refusal to heal his breach with the State of Israel, but the tone of the remarks as reported in the daily Hurriyet seemed softer than in the past — and than those reported in other more extremist media. “Asked about the current state of Israeli-Turkish relations,…

One of the thousand-some terrorists who were released last year in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit will be returning to prison. Ali Jumah Ali Zidat, who had been serving a multi-year sentence for terror offenses when he was released in the Shalit deal, was caught in Israel illegally, and he will be going…

Egyptian security services announced a state of high alert in Sinai on Wednesday evening, after receiving information about possible attacks on officers in the peninsula, security officials told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency. Egyptian intelligence warned that “unprecedented attacks” were planned by jihadist groups against security headquarters in north Sinai over the next 48 hours,…

Iran has been sending large quantities of weapons to the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria using civilian aircraft, an intelligence report obtained on Wednesday by the Reuters news agency indicates. According to the report, the Iranians have been moving the weapons through Iraqi airspace to help Assad fight the rebel forces in the country.…

An adviser to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi said on Wednesday that amending the 1979 peace treaty signed with Israel is “a matter of time,” the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported. The adviser added that such a move is necessary to restore full Egyptian control over Sinai. Mohamed Essmat Seif al-Dawla, who has been publicly advocating…

Thousands of supporters of Hizbullah protested Wednesday in the southern Lebanon city of Tyre against a U.S.-made film mocking Islam and cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, hours after gunmen fired at a KFC restaurant. “America, America, you are the great satan!” and “Israel is the enemy of the Muslims!” the protesters chanted as they poured…

The IDF’s Chief Artillery Officer, Brig. Gen. Roi Riftin, said Wednesday that the surprise exercise being held in the Golan Heights is one of the largest the IDF has held recently and that two divisions are taking part in it. Syria was reportedly informed in time that the drill is just an exercise and that…

“Team Israel” fields a team of mostly non-Israeli Jews in the World Baseball Classic that may bring players closer to Judaism and Israel. The “Israeli” team is favored to beat a South African team in the first playoff in Florida on Wednesday, on the way to decide who will win the four spots open for…

The IDF, in a joint operation with the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), was able to foil a planned terror attack in Israel on Wednesday evening, as IAF aircraft struck and killed two terrorists in southern Gaza. The two terrorists, Ashraf Saleh and Anis Abu Elenein, were members of a group calling itself “The Al-Aqsa…

France will temporarily close its embassies and schools in around 20 countries on Friday, fearing a violent reaction to a French magazine’s publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. “We have indeed decided as a precautionary measure to close our premises, embassies, consulates, cultural centers and schools,” a Foreign Ministry…

The Syrian government has already considered using chemical weapons on rebel forces and civilians “as a last resort” – despite protestations to the contrary. According to a report published Wednesday by The London Times, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime discussed the option at least three months ago. The report quoted as its source a former high-ranking Syrian…

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s 52-year-old sister Bushra has reportedly fled the country with her children, defecting to Dubai. The family is said to have escaped after an argument in which Bushra disagreed with her brother over his management of the current civil war in the country. It is believed that she and her children  will remain…

The Syrian army is believed to have tested missile systems for poison gas shells at the end of August, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Monday. The report was based on statements from various witnesses indicate. The tests took place near a chemical weapons research center at Safira east of Aleppo, witnesses told Der…

Two unknown attackers hurled firebombs (Molotov cocktails) at a Jewish supermarket in Sarcelles, near Paris, France on Wednesday. According to JSS News, only one of the homemade firebombs actually exploded; the second proved to be a dud. “It happened around noon,” Moshe Cohen-Sabban, president of the Jewish communities of Val d’Oise, told the AFP news…

Saudi Arabia has threatened to block YouTube in the kingdom if Google does not respond to a request to deny access to an anti-Islam film produced in the United States, the official SPA news agency reported Tuesday. “Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission has ordered host companies in the kingdom to block this movie…

An Israeli law center that defends victims of terror is suing an upscale Manhattan hotel that has agreed to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to New York City next week, when he will address the United Nations General Assembly. Ahmadinejad is set to address the UN on Sept. 26, the day of…

A Republican senator threatens a filibuster to suspend aid to Egypt and other countries where Americans have been attacked. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (not to be confused with Mitt Romney’s running mate Ron Paul), wrote fellow senators on Tuesday that they should consider “cutting all foreign aid to any country that fails to secure our…

Ari and Sari Horowitz, a husband and wife who were returning home from synagogue in East Brunswick, New Jersey, this past Shabbat, were struck by a car and killed.  According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, the accident occurred on Dunhams Corner Road, just past the curving intersection with Hardenburg Lane in East Brunswick. The report…

Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday that comments by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that the PA did not want peace were “absolutely unacceptable.” “We consider these statements absolutely unacceptable,” he told AFP. “No one has an interest in peace more than the Palestinian people, because peace for the Palestinian people and the…

Palestinian Authority head, Mahmoud Abbas, proposed cancelling the Oslo Accords with Israel at a weekend meeting of the PA leadership, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told AFP on Tuesday. PLO Executive Committee member Wassel Abu Yusef said Abbas raised the idea of “cancelling the Oslo agreement as well as the associated…

An Arab terrorist was caught Tuesday night attempting to infiltrate the town of Ginot Shomron in central Samaria. The Arab was caught at about 6:20 PM Tuesday evening, after several people reported seeing a suspicious looking character hanging around outside the town’s security fence, the Tazpit news service said. According to the report, IDF troops…

Haim Hefer, who wrote over 1,000 songs and poems and was awarded the Israel Prize, passed away over the Rosh Hashanah holiday. He was 86. Hefer was born in Poland in 1925, and immigrated to Israel when he was 11 years of age. Hefer served in the Palmach and was one of the original members…

Hundreds of thousands of Jews worshipped at synagogues all throughout the country in honor of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year. One of the focal points of worship for Jews over the holiday was the Kotel, the Western Wall. No security incidents were reported there, or anywhere else in Israel. The Rosh…

In a Rosh Hashanah greeting to Russian Jews, President Vladimir Putin praised the holiday and the values of Judaism. “The traditions of the holiday include good deeds, concern for others, assisting the poor, and supporting those in need,” Putin wrote in the greeting. “The values of Judaism are based on eternal values of good and…

Anti-American protests over a film deemed offensive to Islam, which have started in Cairo and spread across the Muslim world, have reportedly stalled negotiations to provide US economic assistance to Egypt, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. According to the report, Egypt’s “clumsy response” to the storming of the US Embassy in Cairo has resulted in…

And the hits just keep on coming: Mother Jones Magazine released more quotes by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as said at a private fundraiser held May 17, this time deeming the Israeli-Palestinian peace process virtually impossible. Earlier Tuesday, Mother Jones released footage of Romney at the fundraiser, criticizing voting sectors that favor President Barack…

KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide attack on a minibus in the Afghan capital killed 12 people on Tuesday, including seven foreigners, and the Hezb-e-Islami insurgent group claimed responsibility, saying the blast was retaliation for a film mocking the Prophet Mohammad. “A woman wearing a suicide vest blew herself up in response to the anti-Islam video,”…

El Al said it is discontinuing its weekly flights to Cairo. In a letter published in the daily Maariv, El Al Airlines CEO Eliezer Shkedi said Israel’s official airline cannot afford the high security and operating costs for the nearly empty flights, according to news reports. The airline declined comment. Irena Etinger, spokeswoman for Foreign…

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Hundreds of Afghans burned cars and threw rocks at a U.S. military base as a demonstration against an anti-Islam film that ridicules the Prophet Mohammed turned violent in the Afghan capital early Monday. And in Jakarta, Indonesians angered over the film clashed with police outside the U.S. Embassy, hurling rocks and…

Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday called for a week of angry protests across Lebanon over the U.S.-produced film mocking Islam that triggered uproar in the Muslim world. The low-budget movie, entitled “Innocence of Muslims”, has sparked fury across the Islamic world for mocking the prophet Mohammed and for portraying Muslims as immoral and gratuitously…

An Iranian foundation has increased a bounty for the death of Salman Rushdie, AFP reported on Sunday. The foundation has reportedly said that if the British writer had previously been killed for blasphemy, an anti-Islam film currently enraging Muslims would never have been made. Iranian media quoted Hassan Sane’i, a cleric heading the 15 of…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted once again on Sunday there must be “red lines” on halting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a stance the United States has rejected, AFP reported. “They’re moving very rapidly to completing the enrichment of the uranium that they need to produce a nuclear bomb. In six months or so they’ll be 90…

It was a good day for Israel at the Davis Cup on Sunday, as Amir Weintraub pulled off his second upset victory this week to give Israel a 3-2 win over Japan, AFP reported. The win helps Israel move up to the Davis Cup World Group next year. With the two teams tied at 2-2,…

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice on Sunday joined the list of American officials who have rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s request that the U.S. set a clear “red line” for Iran’s nuclear program. “We’ve been very clear. The United States is not interested and is not pursuing a policy of containment. President…

Libya’s parliament chief announced on Sunday the arrests of some 50 people in connection with the killing of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens in an attack on the American consulate in Benghazi last week, AFP reported. “The number reached about 50,” Mohammed al-Megaryef, president of the Libyan National Congress, was quoted as having told CBS News.…

The U.S. military has no major plans to bolster its forces in the Middle East despite a week of violent protests targeting diplomatic outposts, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Sunday, according to AFP. With a substantial force already deployed in the region coupled with two U.S. Marine counter-terrorism teams sent to Libya and Yemen,…

Three Egyptian security officers were wounded Sunday morning in a surprise attack by jihadists on Egyptian government headquarters in northern Sinai. The terrorists shelled the security base with a barrage of heavy artillery, firing mortar shells, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The attack apparently came in response to an assault in the wee hours of the…

Representatives of rival Muslim streams showed viewers of Egypt’s Al-Shabab TV just how disunited the Muslim world in a program streamed via internet on Sunday, September 9. Sunni activist Walid Ismail attacked Shi’ite activist Mahmoud Ahmad Mahmoud, after the latter made less-than-complementary claims regarding his wife’s morals. This followed a claim by Ismail that Mahmoud…

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan has denounced the obscure video that mocked the life of the Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam – but also insisted that protests against such insults cannot justify terror. Erdogan called the video a “clear and serious provocation” and a “hostile act” while speaking at a conference in Yalta, Ukraine…

The U.S. military is positioning troops in as many as 17 or 18 locations in the Middle East and North Africa that the Pentagon is “paying particular attention to,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview with Foreign Policy on Friday. He cautioned, however, against writing off the region’s recent steps toward democracy. “[O]ne…

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet on Sunday in an unannounced meeting, The London Telegraph reported Sunday. There has been no confirmation or denial from Washington – but the Prime Minister’s spokesman Mark Regev told Arutz Sheva on Sunday that the newspaper’s report they will meet on Sunday is “incorrect.” Concerning a…

The United States has ordered non-essential embassy employees to flee Tunisia and Sudan, while Al Qaeda urges worldwide terrorist attacks on the American and Western targets as the fundamentalist Islamic backlash spreads over the “Innocence of Muslims” film posted on the Internet. Sudan has refused an American request that it send Marines special forces to…

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Sunday warned of retaliation against the Gulf’s strategic Strait of Hormuz, U.S. bases in the Middle East and Israel if his country was to be attacked. According to a report by AFP, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, speaking in a very rare news conference in Tehran, also said that…

Egypt’s prime minister said some of the thousands of people involved in days of protests near the U.S. Embassy got paid to riot, state news reported Saturday. Prime Minister Hesham Kandil said “a number” of those involved in the violent protests, which began Tuesday, later confessed to getting paid to participate, according to the state-run…

Four NATO troops were killed Sunday in an insider attack “suspected to involve members of the Afghan police” in southern Afghanistan, officials said. No further details have been provided. At least 51 foreign military personnel have been killed in a series of insider attacks across Afghanistan in recent months. The incident came a day after…

On Saturday, Egyptian police cleared out protesters who have been clashing with Egyptian security forces for some four days near to the U.S. embassy in Cairo. Protests have spread to 20 countries in the Muslim world. In Cairo, the first Egyptian was killed in a Tahrir Square protest since President Morsi was elected to office…

Early Saturday, one of the men who made the anti-Muslim film trailer on YouTube that is responsible for shaking Muslims in the Middle East, North Africa and even Australia into a violent frenzy, was taken in for questioning by federal probabtion officers. He was not placed under arrest, but Nakoula Basseley Nakoul, 55, is being…

Taliban armed with suicide vests, guns and rockets stormed a heavily fortified airfield in Afghanistan where Prince Harry is deployed, killing two U.S. Marines and attacking aircraft in a major security breach. The militia, which is leading a 10-year insurgency against 117,000 NATO troops, said it carried out the assault to avenge a U.S.-made film…

Three Jews were lightly injured on Saturday night when they were attacked by Palestinian Authority Arabs who tried to reach the village of Esh Kodesh in the Binyamin area. IDF forces dispersed the Arabs. The Tatzpit news agency reported that that some 100 Arabs armed with sticks, axes and rocks up tried to make their…

Egyptian security forces cleared away anti-US protesters in Cairo as riots entered a fourth day on Saturday. One person was killed and dozens more wounded in the melee. Hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police in Tahrir Square overnight Friday and into Saturday as they tried repeatedly to reach the United States Embassy. The police blocked…

Amid all the cacophony of protest and violence across portions of the Middle East and North Africa, there has been little serious effort to look for deeper meanings or explanations. To be sure, the contemptible attacks on American diplomatic persons and premises were animated by the usual array of Islamist fears and Jihadist goals. The…

On Friday, 1,200 rabbis appealed to US President Barack Obama to release long-imprisoned Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard. The request came during a conference call Obama held Friday with rabbis and Jewish community leaders in advance of the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashannah – the Jewish New Year. At the start of the call, a…

Hundreds of Arabs protested Saturday in Israel in solidarity with Muslims around the world against an amateur video produced in the US that satirized the life of the Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam. Approximately 100 protesters demonstrated peacefully in Nazareth, and about 250 other Israeli Arabs protested in other locations, according to police spokeswoman Luba…

WASHINGTON – The Jewish public in the United States seems to have taken Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel, as well as his dramatic statements about Jerusalem, in stride, as a recent poll revealed that the majority of Jewish voters in the US still support US President Barack Obama. A recent Gallup poll…

At least three people were hurt on Friday as dozens of armed terrorists, affiliated with the Salafi movement of Islam, stormed the international peacekeeping force base in the Sinai Peninsula, near the Gaza-Israel border. They were protesting the controversial film mocking the prophet Mohammed which has resulted in protests throughout the Arab world. Channel 10…

The White House has asked YouTube to review an anti-Muslim film posted to the site that has been blamed for igniting the violent protests this week in the Middle East. According to a report in the Washington Post, Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council, said the White House has “reached out to YouTube…

Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on Friday slammed President Barack Obama over his foreign policy and particularly his treatment of Israel, with Ryan saying that Obama treats Israel “with indifference bordering on contempt.” The Washington Post reported that Romney told New Yorkers at a fundraiser on Friday morning that “the president’s decision not…

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid tribute on Friday to four Americans who were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The two spoke at a ceremony as the bodies of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three of his colleagues were returned to the United States. “Four…

Pope Benedict XVI issued a call for reconciliation between Christians, Jews and Muslims on Friday at the start of a three-day visit to Lebanon, as a deadly Islamist protest marred his arrival, AFP reported. Stressing the key element of his visit, he urged religious leaders in the Middle East to work to “root out” fundamentalism,…

President Barack Obama rejected, during his phone conversation with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, an appeal by Netanyahu to spell out a specific “red line” that Iran could not cross in its nuclear program, a senior administration official has told The New York Times. The official said this deepens the divide between the allies…

New York attorney Mark Langfan, a staunch supporter of Israel and a regular op-ed contributor to Arutz Sheva, challenged a U.S. Senator this week after she sent an angry letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He received no response. On Wednesday, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent…

Former Kadima chairwoman and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had harsh criticism for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday, over his sparring with U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this week. “Israel’s greatest allies, those to whom the security of Israel is important, now see Israel as isolated in the world,” Livni, who returned from meetings in…

At least three people were hurt on Friday as dozens of armed terrorists, affiliated with the Salafi movement of Islam, stormed the international peacekeeping force base in the Sinai Peninsula, near the Gaza-Israel border. They were protesting the controversial film mocking the prophet Mohammed which has resulted in protests throughout the Arab world. Channel 10…

Britain is reportedly “poised’ to evacuate its diplomats from the Middle East as mob violence against western targets continues, with an independent anti-Muslim film made in the U.S. serving as pretext for the rioting. According to the Mail Online, “Emergency plans are in place to evacuate UK diplomats and their families.” Security has been “reviewed”…

A man who claims to be the producer of an anti-Islam movie that has sparked violent protests across the Arab world and in several Muslim-majority countries says he has no regrets about making the film. “No, I do not regret it. I am saddened by the killing of the ambassador but I do not regret…

A group of Israeli hikers were attacked Friday while touring the Hevron region. Around 20 Arab men from the nearby Palestinian Authority town of Dura threw rocks at the 150 hikers, Tatzpit reports. The hikers are all members of the Facebook group Amitim L’Tiulim (Hiking Together). IDF soldiers were guarding the hikers, but were outnumbered…

Enraged Muslims in the Sudanese capital Khartoum stormed the German embassy there, setting it partially on fire and raising an Islamist banner. The British embassy was also attacked, according to the BBC. The German foreign ministry confirmed all its staff in Khartoum were safe. One person was killed in Lebanon, and five were hurt in…

A “big advance” has been made in the probe into the attack on the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city Benghazi, Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur told AFP in an exclusive interview Thursday. “We have made a big advance,” Abu Shagur said, in his first interview since his election as premier on Wednesday night. “We…

The UN atomic agency’s board approved on Thursday, with a crushing majority, a resolution criticizing Iran, AFP reported. The resolution expresses “serious concern that Iran continues to defy” UN Security Council resolutions for it to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can be used for peaceful purposes but also in a nuclear weapon. It also…

The White House had to do some damage control on Thursday, after President Obama hinted that the U.S. no longer considers the Egyptian government an ally. Obama, who spoke during an interview with the Spanish-language network Telemundo, added that at the same time “we don’t consider them an enemy.” The interview was held less than…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called President Shimon Peres on Thursday evening and wished a “happy holiday and a Happy New Year to you and all the people of Israel.” Peres thanked the Abbas for his greetings in honor of Rosh Hashanah and added, “I know that the past year was a difficult year, but…

U.S. Treasury officials on Thursday imposed sanctions on Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah and two other members of the organization, for their alleged role in aiding the Syrian government in its crackdown on opposition forces. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Treasury Department formally charged that Hizbullah has been supporting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces by…

Canada has temporarily closed its embassy in Cairo because of rioting over an anti-Muslim film, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told the Toronto Star Thursday. “As a security precaution, and to ensure the protection of Canadian staff, we have closed our Embassy in Cairo for the day,” Baird said in an email statement to the…

Several dozen Muslims from the Islamic Movement in Israel held a quiet protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv Thursday. Meanwhile, Arab members of the Israeli Knesset joined the Islamic choir of condemnation against a U.S.-made film that depicts Muslim prophet Mohammed in a negative light. Nationalist MKs warned that the Arabs are trying…

One protester has been shot dead and five others have been wounded by Yemeni police trying to control a mob attempting to storm the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a. Rioters chanting “O Messenger of Allah, O Mohammed…” launched a second assault on the American compound following an attack rebuffed by security forces earlier in the day.…

Rioting has continued at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo for a third day, with 6 police officers and 13 protesters injured in the melee thus far. Demonstrators have been hurling rocks and firebombs at police and at the American embassy compound. Security personnel have been trying to disperse the mob, which gathered near the embassy in…

Israel’s ties with the United States remain strong despite differences with Washington over how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Thursday. Israel and Washington have publicly disagreed on the way forward in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, which much of the international community believes masks a weapons drive,…

The U.S. Embassy in Jordan has issued the following message to U.S. citizens: “In light of attacks yesterday against official U.S. facilities in Cairo and Benghazi, The Embassy is carefully monitoring the security situation in Amman and throughout the country.  At this juncture, there is no information indicating that similar, violent actions will take place…

The United States is evacuating most of its diplomatic staff from Libya and flying them to Germany, after an attack on its Benghazi consulate that left four dead, U.S. officials confirmed Wednesday. All diplomatic missions around the world have also been ordered to review their security, a senior U.S. official told journalists. He added that…

Russia and China on Wednesday joined Western powers in rounding on Iran at the UN atomic watchdog, AFP reported. According to the report, after days of haggling, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany hammered out a resolution criticizing Tehran, at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors in…

In addition to the U.S. ambassador, two marines and a communications officer were also killed in the strike in the city of Benghazi by an Islamist mob, according to media dispatches. Meanwhile, U.S. officials said that one destroyer, the USS Laboon, has moved to a position near the coast of Libya, and the USS McFaulis is…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday evening with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and thanked him for his decision to expel Iranian diplomats from his country and to withdraw Canada’s representatives from Iran. “Your decision constitutes an example of leadership and morality. It is an example of the correct message that the international community…

U.S. sources told CNN on Wednesday they do not believe the attacks that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, were in reaction to the online release of a film mocking Islam. “It was not an innocent mob,” one senior official told the news network, adding, “The video or 9/11 made…

France on Wednesday joined a chorus of nations urging a peaceful solution to the Iran nuclear crisis, as French President Francois Hollande urged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to favor diplomacy. AFP reported that Hollande made the comments in a telephone conversation with Netanyahu. A statement from the French President’s office stated that Hollande stressed France’s…

Apple on Wednesday introduced its new iPhone 5, a lighter, thinner and more powerful version of its iconic mobile device. Apple chief executive Tim Cook called the launch “the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since the iPhone.” The company called the iPhone 5 “the thinnest smartphone in the world,” with an anodized aluminum body…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed Israel’s grief Wednesday over the murder of the U.S. Ambassador in Libya and three consulate workers. “Today we were informed of the tragic murder of the American Ambassador in Libya and the murder of three consulate workers in the American consulate in Benghazi,” he said. “The people of Israel grieve…

Reports and pictures from Benghazi indicate that Libyan security men may have been complicit in the murder of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. According to CBS News, Wanis al-Sharef, a Libyan Interior Ministry official in Benghazi, described what happened when as angry mob fired guns and burned down the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. “He…

Prize-winning journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic doubts the veracity of the reports that a film mocking Mohammed was made by an Israeli Jew named Sam Bacile. A long trailer for the film has sparked savage rioting in Arab countries. Goldberg wrote Wednesday that he has spoken to a man named Steve Klein – “a…

US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in Libya Tuesday in an attack by Muslim extremists on the US Consulate in Benghazi. The protesters said they were angry over a film they said ridiculed the founder of Islam, the Prophet Mohammed.The film was produced by an Israeli-American real estate developer, with expatriate…

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the West of deliberately enacting a sinister plot to destroy his country’s rain clouds in an effort to bring about a damaging drought in the Islamic Republic. “Today our country is moving towards drought, which is partly unintentional due to industry and partly intentional, as a result of the…

A number of critical shortcomings in America’s network of early warning systems and missile interceptors could put the United States at risk of a potential missile attack, according to a new report by the National Research Council. The council has recommended that President Obama adopt a more aggressive missile defense strategy, similar to the one…

Libya’s head of its national assembly formally apologized Wednesday for the killing of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats in a savage attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi Tuesday night.   Mohammed Magarief told a news conference broadcast live on the Al Jazeera pan-Arab television news network, “We confirm that no…

Israeli families dropped whatever they were doing and raced for shelter once more Wednesday, as shelling from Gaza resumed in the south. Palestinian Authority terrorists sent mortar shells flying at a town not far from the Gaza border at around the time that children were arriving at school, and their parents arriving at work.  The…

The White House told Israel Tuesday that there would be no meeting later this month between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Barack H. Obama. The two had been set to meet in the days after both Obama and Netanyahu spoke at the UN General Assembly, but on Tuesday, Israeli officials said that the meeting…

Just hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu essentially rebuffed the Obama administration over its refusal to set a “red line” for Iran on its nuclear program, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday night that the U.S. was Israel’s chief ally, and that Israel could rely on Washington. Barak, who was holding meetings on sensitive security…

Due to the Palestinian Authority’s financial crisis, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered on Tuesday the transfer of a 250 million shekel advance to the PA from tax revenues collected by Israel. A statement from Netanyahu’s office said he consulted on the issue with Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz. The directive was communicated via Netaynahu’s special envoy,…

Alon Davidi, a member of the Sderot City Council expressed hope on Tuesday that all residents of southern Israel will be able to observe the upcoming High Holy Days in peace and quiet, despite the continuing rocket fire from Gaza. “In the shadows of the heavy threat from Iran, we should remember that everything depends…

The White House is playing down reports in the Israeli media that President Barack Obama refused to meet Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu because of a dispute on Iran. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor dismissed Tuesday’s reports that Obama did not agree to meet with Netanyahu during the opening session of the United Nations General…

An armed mob protesting over a film they said offended Islam attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday and set fire to the building, AFP reported. One American official was killed in the attack, witnesses and officials said. Libya’s deputy interior minister Wanis al-Sharef told AFP, “One American official was killed and another injured…

An Associated Press report that new intelligence reveals Iran is moving closer to nuclear capability strengthens Israel’s position and could not come at a worse time for United States President Barack Obama. The news agency said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded that Iran has made progress in calculating the destructive power of…

Media mogul and investor Rudolph Murdoch, who is not Jewish, told an “Innovate, Invest Israel’ conference in New York City, “What was right for King David is right for me. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.” The conference is jointly sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. Murdoch also said, “Twenty years ago my company invested in…

On the anniversary of the September 11 Al-Qaeda attacks on the U.S. that killed some 3,000 people in 2001, Egyptian rioters attempted to invade the U.S. Embassy in Cairo Tuesday, tearing down the American flag and burning it. At least 2,000 people stood at the foot of the walls surrounding the embassy as about 20…

The Egyptian General Intelligence Service warned that a radical jihadi group is planning to launch terrorist attacks against the US and Israeli embassies in Cairo, the Egypt Independent reported. Israel has accused the group, dubbed Global Jihad, of being responsible for the August 5 attack in Sinai against Egyptian border guards, which left 16 dead.…

Peppers spice up the Holy Land with searing performance Adi Rubenstein Even though a bit older, and after a delay of 11 years, the Red Hot Chili Peppers still rock Tel Aviv • More than 45,000 fans get their money’s worth, accompanied by some appropriate Hebrew remarks from the band. The Red Hot Chili Peppers do…

The Afghan Taliban vowed on Monday to do everything in their power to kidnap or assassinate Britain’s Prince Harry, who has just begun serving a four-month tour of duty as a chopper pilot in Afghanistan. Prince Harry, known as Captain Wales in the British Army, is stationed at Camp Bastion in Helmand province, where he…

Iran is set to unveil a “domestically produced” cruise missile capable of being launched “from land, sea, and air” and reaching major Israeli cities, including Jerusalem, Iranian media reported. Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Mehdi Farahi announced the existence of the long range Iranian missile, dubbed “Meshkat,” over the weekend, the Mehr News Agency reported. According…

The Jewish population in Israel numbers about 5,978,600 – just 21,400 short of the symbolic six million mark, which it is expected to pass by the end of 2012. According to census stats released for the Jewish New Year, the total population of Israel, not including illegal immigrants, stands at about 7,933,200 people. Of these,…

The Nazareth Magistrates’ Court sentenced Sheikh Nazem Abu-Salim to three years in jail for incitement to terrorism and violence, and of support for a terror organization. Salim, 47, is a popular preacher who often addressed thousands with his Friday sermons. Prosecutors said his ideology is identical to that of Al-Qaeda. He was arrested in October 2010,…

Abe Zelmanowitz stayed behind to help his wheelchair bound co-worker. Daniel Lewin attempted to thwart the airline hijackers. They are among the numerous heroes of September 11 of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds.   Abraham Zelmanowitz, a kippa wearing Jewish-American, was memorialized by President George W. Bush, who said in a speech, “And we have seen our national…

The Obama administration says it will “make the case” at the United Nations for Israeli-Palestinian Authority (PA) talks when PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas bids for recognition of the Palestinian Authority, U.S. State Department spokesman Olivia Nuland told reporters Monday. Asked if the United States is “trying to dissuade” Abbas from making another appeal to circumvent…

President Barack Obama’s support among Jews continues to drop although most polls show his standing is n the rise among the general population. A survey by TIPP, which says it was the most accurate presidential pollster in the 2004 and 2008 elections, show that only 59 percent of likely Jewish voters will vote for the…

President Barack Obama joking poked fun at a 260-pound pizza owner, who promptly got the last laugh, bear-hugging the helpless president and lifting him one foot off the ground. Obama was campaigning in Fort Pierce, Florida, a “swing state” that could be critical in the final election tally in November. He dropped into a pizza…

The turmoil in Syria is convenient for the United States, according to Prof. Zaki Shalom, a specialist on policy, security and international relations. Prof. Shalom spoke to Arutz Sheva on Monday, and tried to explain why the Americans are remaining relatively silent as President Bashar Al-Assad continues to slaughter his own people. He said that…

Israel and the United States sparred on Monday over remarks made by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about setting “red lines” for Iran regarding its nuclear program. Israel was not thrilled with Clinton’s remarks that the Obama administration has no “deadline” for Iran. She told Bloomberg Radio that negotiations still are “by far the…

One of the most important projects in Jerusalem, the conservation and rehabilitation of the Old City walls and gates, is complete. In a statement released Monday, Israel’s Antiquities Authority said the work of preserving and stabilizing the Lions Gate in the Old city’s eastern wall has never been completed. The impressive gate is the last…

Palestinian Authority Arabs have been busy attacking IDF soldiers in various areas around Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron) on Monday, beginning from the early morning hours. An IDF soldier was wounded in a rock attack late in the afternoon by a rioting PA Arab during a demonstration in Hevron. The soldier was hit in the…

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, September 26, which also happens to be Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently said that he will leave for New York after the conclusion of Yom Kippur. He is scheduled to meet…

Pentagon officials are calling the recently released book that provides a firsthand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden inaccurate, after contacting other members of the SEAL team to re-confirm the details. According to CNN, Adm. William McRaven, chief of U.S. Special Operations Command, contacted the SEAL members after the book titled, “No…

Hevron Arabs firebombed IDF soldiers at a guard post early Monday. The soldiers were unhurt and shot one attacker, who was evacuated by IDF medics to Hadassah’s Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem in stable condition, AFP reported. A military spokeswoman told Arutz Sheva that the 6 a.m. attack by Palestinian Authority Arabs was on a…

The sooner the West draws a red line that Iran will not be allowed to cross, “The greater the chances that we won’t need other types of action,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Sunday night. “Iran will not stop unless it sees clear determination by the democratic countries of the world…

Lior Farhi, the security officer from Shaarei Tikva who was intentionally run over by an Arab driver Sunday morning, will be laid to rest in the military section of Segula Cemetery Monday at 2:00 p.m. Farhi left behind a pregnant wife, Naomi, and three children. New details have emerged about the circumstances of Farhi’s death. Yisrael…

IAF aircraft struck several terrorist sites in Gaza on Sunday night. According to a statement released by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, the aircraft targeted a weapon manufacturing site, a center of terrorist activity and a terrorist tunnel in northern Gaza, as well as a smuggling tunnel in southern Gaza. Direct hits were detected and all…

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized his opponent, President Barack Obama, on Sunday, saying that Obama’s biggest failure is the way he dealt with Iran’s nuclear program. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet The Press”, Romney responded to Obama’s remarks during his speech at the Democratic convention last week. Obama said that Romney and his running partner…

Jews and Muslims gathered in Berlin on Sunday to demonstrate against a controversial circumcision court ruling, Deutsche Welle reported. According to the report, some of the protesters said they could not live in Germany if the practice is outlawed. “The ‘yes’ to circumcision must be secured in law,” said Lala Süsskind, who chairs a Berlin-based…

I would like to congratulate Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for taking a daring and moral step and showing leadership on Friday, and thereby sending a principled and important message to the entire world, that the dark regime cannot have nuclear weapons. I call on the entire international community, or at least on its responsible…

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Sunday that a nuclear-armed Iran was “not an option” as he called on Tehran to hold “substantial negotiations” over its controversial atomic program. “We share the Israeli concerns about Iran’s nuclear program,” Westerwelle said at the beginning of a meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem.…

An August 6 opinion article by Dr. Joe Tuzara on Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) regarding Israel’s possible use of an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) bomb against Iran has triggered a chain reaction, allegedly influencing U.S. intelligence sources who have since been quoted in several publications, including the New York Post. The latest in the chain of…

Noam Gershoni, who won a gold medal in wheelchair tennis at the London Paralympics Saturday, thinks bringing honor to Israel may be more important to him than having been wounded for it in the Second Lebanon War six years ago. “I am not sure what influences me more – this, or having been wounded for…

A security officer “paid with his life” trying to stop illegal Arabs from reaching Tel Aviv, Gershon Mesika, the leader of the Samarian Regional Council, told Arutz Sheva Sunday. Police think the hit-and-run was intentional. The victim was identified as 40-year-old Lior Farchi, age 40. A Palestinian Authority driver was spotted by the security officer…

The U.S. State Department on Friday officially designated the Pakistan-based Haqqani a terrorist organization. The move by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton followed lengthy debate within the Obama administration, with many officials worried that the designation would make it more cumbersome to negotiate a peace settlement with the Haqqanis and their Taliban allies. Negotiations,…

“You win some and you lose some” is the tally for nationalists in the Cabinet, which approved on Sunday Ariel University as well as a leftist  deputy Attorney General. After a long struggle against leftist and Israeli universities vying for a larger slice of the economic pie, the Cabinet put the stamp of approval on…

President Shimon Peres has extended his New Year’s greetings to the Jewish communities in the Diaspora. “As we stand poised on the threshold of the New Year, it is my distinct pleasure to convey my heartfelt good wishes to all the Jewish communities around the world, in my name and on behalf of your brethren…

Tens of thousands of students sat home on Sunday again, due to missile attacks on southern Israel, fired by Palestinian Authority terrorists from Gaza. Among the cities canceling classes were the port city of Ashdod, and the “capital of the Negev,” the city of Be’er Sheva, where rocket attacks over the weekend prompted officials to…

Salafist terrorists’ claim of launching missile attacks on southern Israel Saturday night exposes a growing difficulty for Hamas to maintain control over the Gaza Strip. One house suffered a direct hit from the Gran missile and sustained heavy damage. Another rocket landed in an open area in Be’er Sheva, Israel’s seventh largest city. Be’er Sheva…

The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has begun moving chemical agents in the country’s arsenal to the port city of Tartus. According to diplomatic sources quoted in an interview published in the Kuwaiti Al-Rai newspaper, the regime is attempting to create a “safe zone” for top leaders and their families. It is not clear,…

“This was a miracle,” said Grad missile attack survivor Pinny Azoulai, who was saved by an early-warning siren and a quick escape from his bedroom. The rocket slammed into one home and damaged a neighboring house. Azoulai told Army Radio Sunday he was sleeping at the time of the attack. “I heard the siren and jumped…

European Union nations waved the threat of new international sanctions against Iran over its contested nuclear drive on Saturday, as Russia complained such measures harm its interests, AFP reports. With frustration mounting over the lack of progress in talks between global powers and Iran, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Tehran has made no “substantial…

Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired two Grad missiles at southern Israel on Saturday night. One of the missiles hit a home in the city of Netivot. A second missile, fired at the city of Be’er Sheva, exploded in an open area of the city. Magen David Adom treated seven people who suffered injuries from the…

Egypt’s armed forces have killed 32 “criminal elements” in an ongoing operation against Islamists in the lawless Sinai peninsula, a military spokesman said on Saturday, according to the AFP news agency. Colonel Ahmed Mohammed Ali said 38 people including “non-Egyptians” had been arrested during “Operation Sinai,” which was launched on August 7, days after gunmen…

The main obstacle to Israeli-Arab peace is the Palestinian nationalist movement’s fanaticism and refusal to compromise, historian Benny Morris has said. Morris, who was once numbered among Israel’s most staunchly left-wing academics, told Haaretz, “The decades of researching the conflict… left me with a feeling of deep despair,” he said. “I’ve written enough about a…

Chabad of Midtown Manhattan has closed on its purchase of a building on 509 Fifth Ave. for just under $40 million, The New York Post reported on the weekend. According to the report, the 60,000-square-foot building sandwiched mid-block between E. 42nd and 43rd streets near Grand Central, was purchased from Norman Sturner’s Murray Hill Properties.…

Israel’s Paralympic team scored another victory Saturday with men’s tennis player Noam Gershoni taking gold in the singles tournament. Gershoni, 29, beat first-ranked wheelchair tennis player David Wagner of the United States 6:3, 6:1. Gershoni served as an IDF pilot. He was badly wounded in a helicopter crash during the Second Lebanon War. Prime Minister…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has named a date for the PA’s next statehood bid. Abbas said Saturday that he will ask the UN General Assembly to recognize a “state of Palestine” on September 27. The date is just over one year after Abbas’ first statehood bid, in which the PA sought recognition of statehood…

Hundreds of Palestinian Authority Arabs have been assaulting a Jewish village in the Binyamin region since Saturday afternoon, Tatzpit reports. Residents of the Jewish village of Esh Kodesh reported that the assault began when three men from the community were walking in one of the town’s vineyards on Saturday afternoon, during the Jewish Sabbath. The…

The European Union is considering imposing a ban on products from Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron), a Greek diplomat said Friday. According to a Channel 10 News report, the diplomat said that the EU is currently considering the possibility of stopping imports of products that were manufactured beyond the Green Line.…

After nearly 18 months of dealing with an uprising in his country, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is having trouble sleeping at night, according to a Syrian journalist who previously worked at the presidential palace. The journalist, Abdallah Omar, said in an interview quoted by Channel 10 News that Assad “can sleep for only an hour…

Canada announced on Friday that it is closing its embassy in Iran and would be expelling Iranian diplomats from Canada. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement, “Canada has closed its embassy in Iran, effective immediately, and declared personae non gratae all remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada. “Canada’s position on the regime…

Billionaire Haim Saban took a swipe at the even-wealthier Sheldon Adelson in an article he penned for the New York Times this week. The article was devoted to explaining why he sees Barack Obama as being better for Israel than Mitt Romney. Saban rejected Romney’s campaign claim that Obama “thrown allies like Israel under the…

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague on Friday urged the European Union to place the military branch of the Lebanese-based Hizbullah on its list of terrorist organizations, AFP reported. “I would like to see the EU designate and sanction the military wing of Hizbullah,” Hague was quoted as having said in response to a question on…

European Union nations are exploring a new raft of sanctions against Iran as exasperation mounts over blocked talks on the country’s contested nuclear program, several EU ministers said on Friday. “We might have to decide soon a new round of sanctions in the European Union,” AFP quoted German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle as having said…

Syria accused Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi on Friday of “signing the death warrant” of a contact group trying to solve the nearly 18-month conflict by calling for regime change, AFP reported. “Syria looks positively on any initiative seeking to contain the crisis and permit a return to normal life,” Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad said…

Not everybody has been home for the political conventions. Retiring Senator Joe Lieberman, together with Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain, are touring the Middle East and have found themselves – fortuitously or not –  in Iraq in a period of tension between the United States and the predominantly Shiite regime of Nouri al-Maliki. After…

Israel’s status at the United Nations received a rare boost Thursday with the appointment of Israeli jurist, Professor Yuval Shani, to an advisory committee at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Shani is the dean of the Hebrew University’s law department and an expert on international law. Israel’s UN delegation, led by envoy Ron…

Even the staunchest advocates of President Barack Obama conceded that his acceptance speech was a bit of a letdown. They had heard better speeches from Obama and better speeches at the convention. Maybe it was difficult to see Obama come down from the Olympian heights of 2008 and now asking for more time for handing…

An Israeli-made Formula type race car, designed and developed by students of Bezalel Academy and Ben-Gurion University, raced around a  track in central Israel Thursday with flair, speed and success as students, lecturers, sponsors and friends watched with excitement and anticipation. The highly-specialized, powerful race car is a collaborative effort of the Mechanical Engineering Department…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was “at wit’s end” over the United States approach to Iran in a recent meeting with the U.S. ambassador, Representative Mike Rogers (R-Mich) has confirmed. U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro had denied earlier reports of a heated argument with Netanyahu. “It was very, very clear that the Israelis had lost their patience…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has instructed officials in his ministry to examine the possibility of a new law which would allow security officials to close Israel’s border with the Sinai Peninsula whenever there is an alert of a possible terror attack or kidnapping in the area. Barak’s instructions were made following recent assessments made by…

Western spy agencies suspect the Syrian government has dispersed several hundred tons of chemical weapons and precursor components across as many as 20 sites across the country, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. The sites are being monitored, but officials told The Washington Post there is growing fear that the monitors have not identified every…

Senator John Kerry defended President Barack Obama’s foreign policy at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night. Kerry, who was the Democrats’ presidential candidate in 2004, said that he believes Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s word over that of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. “Barack Obama promised always to stand with Israel to tighten sanctions on…

A top Democratic official said on Thursday that a decision to ditch a party policy naming Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, later ordered reversed by President Barack Obama, was not deliberate. According to a report by AFP, the official weighed in on a row which rattled the first two days of the Democratic National Convention in…

The United States is ready to “face the challenge on every level” concerning Iran’s nuclear drive, Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed on Thursday after meeting with the deputy U.S. military chief. “We face a common challenge but the clock is ticking at a different pace for each of us,” AFP quoted Barak as having said…

A Syrian general in charge of operations in west Aleppo has told AFP that Europeans are exhibiting “blindness” in supporting the rebels against President Bashar Assad’s regime. Assad’s forces are “the last dam that is holding back the flood of Islamists in Europe,” he said. In an apartment on the west side of Aleppo, a…

An Israeli motorist was wounded late Wednesday in a potentially lethal road terror attack while driving near a town in Samaria, north of Ramallah. Palestinian Authority Arabs hurled rocks as they passed the vehicle with Israeli license plates, in a drive-by attack from the vehicle they were riding in. The attack occurred near the village of…

A large rock-hewn water reservoir dating to the First Temple period was discovered in the archaeological excavations that are being conducted in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, at the foot of Robinson’s Arch near the Western Wall Plaza. According to archaeologists, the reservoir and a channel leading into it may be one mentioned in the Book…

More than 200,000 Syrians have fled the savage civil war ripping apart their homeland over the past year, with 10,000 waiting to enter Turkey. Over the past month alone, at least 100,000 fled the country, according to the United Nations – comprising 40 percent of the total number of refugees since the conflict began. Up…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the three Israeli medalists of the London Paralympics on Wednesday, saying they have the “spirit of champions.” The Prime Minister met with Doron Shaziri, who won a silver medal in shooting, as well as Noam Gershony and Shraga Weinberg, wheelchair doubles tennis players, who won a bronze medal. “You are doing splendid work, congratulations to you,”…

A ceremony was held in Germany on Wednesday to commemorate the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches who were brutally murdered by ‘Palestinian’ terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics Games. About 600 guests attended the ceremony at the Fuerstenfeldbruck air base, west of Munich, where Black September terrorists carried out the attack against the Israeli sportsmen.…

A study by the Central Bureau of Statistics shows that the cause of death for one in four Israelis is cancer, making the disease the number one killer in Israel. The CBS report analyzes numbers through 2010; in that year 10,380 of the 39,418 Israelis who died that year expired from cancer-related causes, far more…

The absence of Jerusalem’s status as the capital of Israel in the Democratic Party platform was no oversight, and not the result of a “bureaucratic snafu,” as some Democrats tried to claim in the face of the embarrassing flip-flop on the matter at the party’s convention Wednesday night, Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin said Thursday. The…

Iran has established a Hizbullah terrorist training base in northern Nicaragua, according to a report by local media there. Operatives are being trained at the base to attack Israeli and U.S. targets in the event of a raid on Iranian nuclear installations, according to a report quoting the media, broadcast Thursday on Israeli radio. Some 30…

On Thursday morning, hundreds of PA Arabs blocked roads and burned tires in the Ramallah area, protesting the high price of products in the PA. The Thursday protest was the latest in a series of demonstations in PA controlled area over high prices. On Wednesday, hundreds of residents of Shechem gathered in one of the…

IDF soldiers blocked an attack by Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists early Thursday morning along the border with Gaza. The terrorist cell was engaged in planting a bomb near the security fence along the northern area of the region when IDF soldiers spotted their activity. The Givati battalion targeted the cell in an operation cooperating with…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz once again stressed on Wednesday that the IDF is capable of dealing with any challenge or threat. The two spoke at a graduation ceremony for captains at the naval base in Haifa. “I look at this wonderful group which is standing here and the…

After facing sharp criticism from Mitt Romney and Republicans, the Democrats reinstated on Wednesday the language that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel into their party platform. According to a report in CBS News, the party has also brought back the words “G-d-given” that were removed in this year’s platform. The party reinstated the 2008 language…

The National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued on Wednesday a travel warning to various destinations around the world. The warning comes ahead of the Tishrei holidays, during which many Israelis travel abroad. The warning stressed that “in the wake of the string of attacks and attempted attacks that occurred this year, Iran and Hizbullah are…

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi called on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to step down on Wednesday. Morsi spoke at the annual meeting of the Cairo-based Arab League. The session was jointly headed by Morsi and Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour. According to a report in Al-Ahram, Morsi in his speech asserted that it was “time for…

President Barack Obama was the one who on Wednesday ordered his Democratic party to reinsert references to G-d and Jerusalem in their party platform, AFP reported. The report hinted that the move was not too pleasing to party members. A campaign official told AFP that the president, who has been hammered by Republicans who see…

Hundreds of protesters gathered on Wednesday in the main square in Shechem (Nablus), calling for the ouster of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The protesters held up signs which read, “Go away Fayyad” and “Abbas and Fayyad, your government does not represent us.” The protesters were also joined by Hamas parliamentarians. PA Arabs have…

No one since Hitler – except for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – has publicly declared a desire to destroy an entire people and eliminate a country, President Shimon Peres told visiting Italian Foreign Minister Dr. Giulio Terzi Wednesday. The world is in a unique era in history, the elderly President said. “Since Hitler, no head…

Europe is slipping into a recession, according to data revealed by the European Central Bank on Wednesday. Releasing figures ahead of a key ECB meeting scheduled for Thursday, the bank instead reported data that showed the euro zone appeared to have slipped back into recession in the current quarter. The private sector has contracted for…

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has labeled the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad a ‘terrorist state” that conducts massacres against its own people. Erdogan made the statement to reporters at a news conference Wednesday following a meeting with his ruling AK Party (Justice and Development) in Ankara. “Syria is not an ordinary country to…

The German city of Berlin has made new laws for people who want to circumcise their sons – and traditional Jewish mohels don’t meet criteria. The move comes following a recent court ruling that said the religious rite, observed by both Jews and Muslims, amounts to “grievous bodily harm.” Berlin’s top justice official, Thomas Heilmann, said…

Buildings were evacuated and sappers were called to check out two suspected car bombs near the U.S. Embassy in Brussels on Wednesday. The two suspected vehicles both contained gas bottles, according to a Belgian Defense Ministry spokesperson. “As far as I know, there are two suspect vehicles, one close to the American Embassy, and one…

The PLO reiterated on Tuesday its determination to approach the United Nations and ask for recognition of ‘Palestine’ as a non-member state. The PLO’s Executive Committee held a special meeting to discuss the political situation, at the conclusion of which it released a statement which warned against developments that endanger the implementation of a two-state…

Terrorists slightly changed their mode of attack in August, coming at Israel from the Sinai Peninsula rather than Gaza, the Shin Bet reported Wednesday. Twenty-one attacks were launched from Gaza in August, compared to 28 in July. Two attacks originated in Sinai, one of them a major infiltration attempt in which terrorists killed 16 Egyptian…

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday criticized the Democrats over a platform which fails to mention that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. “It is unfortunate that the entire Democratic Party has embraced President Obama’s shameful refusal to acknowledge that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital,” Romney said in a statement quoted by The Wall Street Journal. He…

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad admitted on Tuesday that his country has “problems” exporting its oil, but said his government was determined to overcome that and other challenges posed by Western economic sanctions. “There are some problems in selling oil and we are trying to manage it,” AFP quoted the Iranian President as having said in…

Facebook cancelled an online “event” on Friday celebrating the fifty-second birthday of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanese media reported. According to the Assafir newspaper, around 7,000 users had signed up to “attend” the event with 52 apparent Hizbullah supporters writing on the event’s page extending their birthday wishes. “Congratulations to us that we were born…

The much-anticipated memoir of a Navy SEAL involved in raid that killed Osama bin Laden has gained public attention to such a degree that pre-orders have already propelled the book to placed No. 1 on Amazon’s bestseller list. However, the book titled, “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin…

Just days after a report that the U.S. was sharply cutting its participation in a military exercise scheduled with Israel, U.S. planes landed in Egypt Tuesday for a joint exercise, the first since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Code-named “Eagle Arena 2012,” the exercise will include air and naval forays by US and Egyptian planes…

The Democratic party’s election platform includes the usual “unshakeable commitment” to Israel, without any mention of Jerusalem or the “peace process.” With polls showing Republican nominee Mitt Romney running virtually neck-and-neck with President Barack Obama, if not leading by a small margin, the platform focuses on domestic issues to the extent that an Associated Press…

The rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has extinguished the last flame of Jewish life in the country. The magnificent Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Alexandria, where a synagogue has stood since Hellenistic times, will not hold Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services, because authorities have banned them.  This spells the end of Jewish life…

Iran, which has balked at UN demands for inspecting its nuclear sites, is “playing ball in Lebanon” and can help solve the problems in the Middle East, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Ayatollah at last week’s Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) conference in Tehran. Ban told Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in…

Iran’s leadership has publicly stated that it would crush any Israeli offensive against its nuclear facilities, but Iran’s ordinary citizens appear to feel otherwise, Channel 10 News reported on Monday. The channel spoke with several Iranian citizens who, without revealing their identities, said that there is great tension and fear among Iranians over a possible…

The United States may supply Israel with advanced Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker-buster bombs that can penetrate through up to 60 feet (almost 20 meters) of reinforced concrete, reports Maariv Tuesday. This is part of a deal being worked out between the countries, which also includes the supply of refueling jets. This equipment will make…

A congregation in New Jersey is offering a reward for information leading to the safe return of an Englewood teenager who disappeared last month. According to a report in the Teaneck Patch, 18-year-old Touro College student Caroline Starkman went missing after visiting a friend in Brooklyn over the July 4 weekend. She also goes by…

The new UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said he is deeply pessimistic at his chances of restoring calm to the war-torn country. “I know how difficult it is – how nearly impossible. I can’t say impossible – nearly impossible,” Brahimi, an Algerian diplomat said in an interview with the BBC. “And we are…

Jerusalem’s Hebrew University is marking 40 years since the publication of Prof. Jacob Bekenstein’s groundbreaking paper on black hole entropy, proposals about black holes, entropy and thermodynamics that were originally contested by renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. The world-famous physicist later admitted, however, that Bekenstein was correct, and further affirmed the Israeli scientist’s ideas, with his own…

A Palestinian Authority Arab approached an IDF checkpoint Monday afternoon and threw a bag with four homemade bombs at soldiers, and then fled before the armed forces could catch him. No one was injured. The soldiers did not know that bombs were inside the bag until sappers checked the satchel. They safely neutralized the explosives.…

The Israeli Foreign Ministry, in conjunction with the World Jewish Congress and the Pensioners Affairs Ministry, has launched a new campaign aimed at bringing attention to the thousands of Jewish refugees who were expelled from Arab countries following the establishment of the State of Israel. While the international community continues to bemoan the Arab refugees,…