Category: News

A spokesman for the White House seemed to agree with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, when he admitted that Iran has not yet decided to abandon its nuclear program despite the sanctions being imposed on it. “We agree with Netanyahu’s assessment that Iran has not made a decision to abandon its nuclear program,” spokesman…

An Egyptian official said on Wednesday that President Mohammed Morsi had indeed sent a letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres and that it was not appropriate that Morsi’s spokesman denied the letter had been sent. Morsi’s letter, which came in response to a letter Peres sent to Morsi, thanked the Israeli president for his Ramadan…

Egypt’s prime minister has drawn on bureaucrats and Islamists for the country’s first Muslim Brotherhood-led administration, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Prime Minister-designate Hisham Kandil’s appointment of at least two Brotherhood politicians, including one as education minister, marked a major break with the past. But the cabinet’s heavy reliance on civil servants also smacked of the…

It was a good day for Israel at the 2012 London Olympic Games on Wednesday, as Israeli athletes made history both on the tennis court and in the swimming pool. Israeli tennis players Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich stunned the audience and in fact all entire tennis world, as they defeated the gold medalists from…

A visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp by an official in the Palestinian Authority has sparked outrage among Hamas’ terrorist rulers in Gaza. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translated PA media reports about the visit as well as the angry reactions to it. The visit by Ziad Al-Bandak, an advisor to PA Chairman…

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta assured Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that America will prevent Iran from “ever acquiring a nuclear weapon.” Speaking to reporters at a joint news conference prior to their meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the two leaders discussed the threat posed by Iran’s continuing race towards nuclear weapons. The…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has informed US Defense Secy Leon Panetta that Israel will make its own decisions on how to deal with Iran. The two men discussed the issue at a special reception held at the Defense Ministry’s Kirya military base in Tel Aviv on Wednesday before taking a tour of an Iron Dome…

Six IDF soldiers are “fighting” in the London Olympics – competing as part of the Israeli Team in swimming, Judo and rhythmic gymnastics. Corporal Yakov-Yan Toumarkin, age 20, is in the Israeli Air Force. He also previously has won a gold medal in the LEN European Aquatics Championships 100m backstroke, and he was a FINA…

A neo-Nazi motorcycle gang created by an undercover law-enforcement unit to investigate white supremacists and racist bikers has helped overthrow two domestic-terrorism groups in Central Florida, The Orlando Sentinel reported. The original investigation began in 2007, when an undisclosed agent traded emails with August Kreis III, a leader of the Aryan Nations hate group who…

Israeli soldiers were caught in apparent crossfire between Egyptian soldiers and drug smugglers Wednesday morning. No Israeli injuries were reported. Egyptian soldiers spotted and shot at drug smugglers trying to cross into Israel, and several bullets hit an Israeli bus carrying soldiers. Assuming they were under a terrorist attack, the Israeli soldiers fired back and…

Nearly five months after an Israeli diplomat’s car was bombed in New Delhi, the Delhi Police on Tuesday indicted Indian journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi of conspiring with foreign elements and others for the terror strike. According to a report in the Press Trust of India (PTI), the charge sheet filed in a local court contained…

President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday new U.S. sanctions against foreign banks that help Iran sell its oil, Reuters reported. Obama said the measure would increase pressure on Tehran for failing to meet its international nuclear obligations. The decision, in an executive order, came ahead of congressional votes on new sanctions intended to further strip…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu used an interview on Tuesday with Israel’s major television channels, Channel 2 and Channel 10, to reiterate that he will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. In the Channel 2 interview, Netanyahu responded to reports that he has already decided to attack Iran, despite the opposition of senior defense officials.…

Two Israelis were lightly wounded on Tuesday night as Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists launched an attack on a vehicle that was driving past the Yitzhar junction in Samaria (Shomron). According to a report by the Judea and Samaria Division of the Israeli police, the driver of the vehicle, a resident of the community of Kedumim,…

Egypt denied on Tuesday evening the reports that President Mohammed Morsi had sent a letter to Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres. Dr. Yasser Ali, Morsi’s official spokesman, denied the reports which appeared in the Israeli press and which said that Morsi thanked the Israeli president for his Ramadan greetings and said he is looking forward to…

Whether bluff or bluster, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for a total halt to cure oil exports, a move that could be economic suicide but also could cause a worldwide depression. Iran relies on oil for approximately 80 percent of its foreign income, which Ahmadinejad needs to continue his race for nuclear capability. Iranian…

The IDF will begin to implement a mammoth technological project Wednesday, as its entire cellphone network is migrated from the current provider, Mirs/Motorola, to Cellcom. The process will take several months. The IDF Website reports that IDF officers and other eligible soldiers will begin receiving their new phones at eight allocation centers located throughout Israel,…

It’s been 10 years since Palestinian Authority terrorists murdered students and staff at Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus, during the 2002 Second Intifada, also known to some as the Oslo War. A memorial service was held Tuesday in the Nancy Reagan Plaza near the scene of the bombing to mark the somber occasion. The ceremony,…

An Iranian-funded religious academy in Iraq is training approximately 1,500 recruits from Arab countries worldwide to use “combat weapons” and engage in “street fighting,” The Gulf Daily News reported. Iran has spent $1 million to establish and fund the camp, according to the report. Training reportedly began over the weekend. According to a report in…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whose rating in Israel has slipped to some extent, enjoys a favorable image in a recent Gallup poll in the United States, Of the 60 percent of the respondents who said they were familiar enough with him to give a rating, 35 percent had a positive view of him compared with…

American Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman, known by her nickname Aly, reached the Olympics women’s artistic gymnastics finals, beating teammate and world champion Jordyn Wieber. She not only stunned spectators by grabbing one of the two spots in the all-around individual finals for the U.S., but she did it while performing a floor exercise routine to…

“Obama genealogy” has become even more of a popular hobby than Jewish genealogy. Now, ancestry.com says his white mother’s third generation ancestor may have been a black slave. The website’s team of genealogists ignored the usual route of tracing the ancestry of Obama’s black father, from Kenya, and instead researched the background of his late…

The IDF Engineering Corps is testing a new “instant bunker” that infantry units can build for protection in the field, with little or no help from heavy machinery, reports the IDF Website. “A maneuvering force in the field that has reached its destination and intends to stop for some time needs defenses against the fire…

The White House criticized Mitt Romney on Monday for adopting a policy on Jerusalem that is different from previous administrations’. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee declared in Jerusalem that the city is the capital of Israel, while the Obama administration and predecessors have refused to do because it includes areas of the city unrecognized by…

August Kowalczyk, the last remaining survivor from a group of prisoners who escaped the Auschwitz death camp in 1942, passed away on Monday, a spokesman for the Auschwitz Museum announced. Kowalczyk was sent to Auschwitz in December of 1940. Two years later, in June of 1942, he took part in an attempt by 50 Polish…

A discrimination case brought by a group of young Los Angeles Jews, affiliated with a pro-Israel organization, against the Muslim owner of a prestigious resort hotel in Santa Monica began in Los Angeles Superior Court on July 26. The plaintiffs, including more than a dozen young adults affiliated with the nonprofit Friends of the Israel Defense…

Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists fired five mortar shells on Monday afternoon at an IDF force that was operating near the Kissufim crossing in central Gaza. The IDF Spokesman said that there were no physical injuries or damage. The soldiers fired shots towards suspicious areas after the attack. The terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza have upped their…

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney supports a two-state solution to solve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he told CNN during his visit to Jerusalem. In an interview with the American news network, which took place in Jerusalem on Sunday, Romney was asked if he saw the starting point for negotiations as…

The convoy of Lieutenant-General Babacar Gaye, head of the United Nations observer mission in Syria, was attacked by government forces over the weekend. Only the vehicles’ armor protected them from injury, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Monday. “Yesterday the convoy of General Gaye was attacked by army tanks,” Ban told reporters…

The Justice and Development Organization for Human Rights in Egypt has called to release Gaza from under the rule of Hamas, which violently seized power in a 2007 coup. The organization released a statement on Monday in the city of Minya, in which it argued that Hamas is an illegal entity and is the main…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday, “No element in the world would dare attack Israel with chemical weapons.” He added that “Nothing will happen” and said that he, himself, is prepared to hand back his personal gas mask and protective kit – in a statement meant to show how little credence he lends to the…

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta flies to Israel this week after starting a week-long Middle East trip in Tunisia with optimism that Syrian President Bashar Assad will fall. Coming on the tail of Mitt Romney’s headline-making visit to Israel, Panetta spoke optimistically on Israel, insisting that “the U.S.-Israel defense relationship…is stronger today than it…

Anti-Semitism is alive and well in the United States too. Four American teenagers and a 21 year old were arrested last week for terrorizing a Jewish camp in Pennsylvania. The gang went racing through Camp Bomin in a white Ford pickup truck while shouting vicious anti-Semitic epithets, according to a police criminal complaint.  In one incident,…

Autism experts from around the world are expected to arrive Tuesday in Jerusalem to exchange updated research about the condition at the International ICare4Autism Conference. The two-day conference, “Autism: A Global Perspective” will be held at Jerusalem’s International Conference Center (Binyanei Ha’Uma) on Wednesday and Thursday. Opening remarks to kick off the program will be…

Mitt Romney left Israel for Poland and a meeting with Lech Walesa Monday after raising more than $1 million from 40 supporters at a breakfast. Poland is the last stop in his three-country tour that began in Britain and is designed to win him support from those opposing President Barack Obama’s foreign policies, especially towards…

One of President Obama’s key liaisons to the Jewish community has opted to sit out the 2012 election campaign, The Daily Beast reported. Dennis Ross, a longtime diplomat and a key architect of the Oslo peace process under President Clinton, who worked or the Obama campaign during the 2008 Democratic primaries, has stated that he won’t…

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani recently called President Obama “the least supportive president” of Israel in history and claimed the idea that Obama is a friend of the Jewish state to be “the biggest joke” he’s ever heard. In a video published on YouTube this week, Giuliani is asked a number of questions…

Iran’s controversial nuclear program was at the center of a meeting on Sunday between Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Shimon Peres. During the meeting, which took place at the presidential residence in Jerusalem, Romney told Peres, “I came today to the president’s residence in Jerusalem to hear from you and learn from you.…

Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney said Sunday that the U.S. has “a solemn duty and a moral imperative” to block Iran from having nuclear weapons, and that it should lead the efforts to stop Iran from achieving that capability. He began his speech by saying that it was “a moving experience to be in…

Slovakia’s Jewish community has called for alleged Nazi-era war criminal Laszlo Csatary, who was detained in neighboring Hungary, to stand trial on Slovak soil for alleged crimes he committed against Jews in a former Hungarian province, the European Jewish Press (EJP) reported. Csatary is accused of organizing the World War II deportation to their deaths…

Both Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his host, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, took part in a delicate ballet. The Israeli prime minister does not want to appear to be playing favorites in the tight presidential race in the United States, while Mitt Romney had committed not to break new United States foreign policy…

The Italian Olympic team at the London Olympic Games made a noble gesture Sunday and stood in silence outside the quarters of the Israeli team, in memory of the 11 athletes slain in the Munich Olympics 40 years ago, Voice of Israel radio reported Sunday. About 30 Italians were present at the ceremony, including Italy’s…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told American GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday that sanctions and diplomacy has done nothing to change Iran’s headlong rush towards nuclear capability. Prior to entering a meeting between the two men in Jerusalem Sunday, Netanyahu and Romney spoke with reporters for a few minutes, and both referred to the…

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said in an interview with Bloomberg’s Al Hunt that she believes Republican Jews are “being exploited,” alleging that they are using Israel as an “excuse” to divert the public from their tax-cutting agenda. Pelosi’s comments came in response to a question posed by the interviewer as to whether Jewish voters…

The identity of the terrorist who blew himself up near a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last week, killing five Israelis, remains a mystery as a Bulgarian news website published photos of his body on Friday. The website, Bivol, reported that the terrorist was unaware that he was going to explode and that the…

Just days after U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon announced the traditional Olympic Truce, which calls for people and nations to “set aside their differences” during the international Games, news emerged that the one Iranian athlete likely to face an Israeli in competition has withdrawn due to a “gut infection,” CNS news reported.  While Iran and a…

An Israeli woman suffered physical injuries in a Sabbath rocket attack on the city of Sderot. Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired at least four rockets towards the city throughout the day on Saturday. Three of them exploded in open areas outside the city and the fourth exploded in an open area inside the city. A…

Olympic officials were forced to erect a screen between Lebanon’s and Israel’s judo fighters on Friday after the Lebanese refused to train on the same mat, the Israeli Olympic team said on Friday. The incident arose after Lebanon’s two judokas found themselves next to the five Israelis during practice at the official training venue in…

For the 18th year in a row, thousands marched around the ancient walls of the holy city of Jerusalem Saturday night in an event held by the Women in Green movement. Participants began the march by reading the Book of Lamentations in front of the American Consulate on Agron Street in Jerusalem, and then proceeded…

Despite the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) refusal to hold a minute of silence to commemorate the 11 Israeli athletes who were brutally murdered 40 years ago at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, NBC sportscaster Bob Costas led his own, improvised, tribute as the 2012 Israeli athletes walked into Olympic Stadium Friday. “There have been…

Channel 2‘s veteran Middle East analyst Ehud Yaari, who is back from a trip to the U.S., said Friday night that an Israeli attack on Iran can be expected in October. “I will give you an impression,” he told anchorman Danny Kushmaro on Channel 2 TV’s Ulpan Shishi, “and this is just an impression, but…

Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for the U.S. presidency, landed in Israel Saturday night for a short visit. Romney’s itinerary will include meetings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. He will also meet Salaam Fayyad, of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Romney’s visit is seen…

Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of Av in the Hebrew calendar, is a sundown-to-sundown fast, a day of mourning marking the destruction of the First and Second Jewish Temples in Jerusalem, the subsequent exile from the Land of Israel, as well as other historical calamities that befell the Jewish People on the same date. This year…

Illegal Infiltration into Israel through Sinai has plummeted sharply in last two months, according to official statistics. The number of illegal immigrants who have crossed the border thus far in July is 244. In June, the number of infiltrators was 928. In May it was 2,031. This means the rate of infiltration has dropped by…

Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz said in an interview broadcast Saturday that a premature attack on Iran “could be disastrous.” Mofaz argued that Iran will not develop a nuclear bomb until its supreme leader decides to do so. “We need to ask ourselves… two questions,” the former defense minister said. “Will an early attack by Israel…

Two Qassam rockets fired from northern Gaza Strip on Saturday night exploded in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported. Earlier, two rockets landed in an open area near Sderot, causing no harm. A 29-year-old woman was lightly injured while running to a shelter. She was taken to…

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said he was “deeply” concerned about reports of the possible use of chemical weapons by Syria, and demanded the government state it would not use them “under any circumstances.” “I remain deeply concerned about the reports of the possible use of chemical weapons,” Ban was quoted by Reuters…

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that international steps must be taken to deal with President Bashar al-Assad’s military build-up around the Syrian city of Aleppo and his government’s threat to use chemical weapons. “There is a build-up in Aleppo and the recent statements, with respect to the use of weapons of…

A Swedish national of Lebanese descent arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of plotting to attack Israeli tourists in the country will stand trial on September 12, authorities said on Friday. Reuters reported that the man, who has not been identified, faces nine charges of security-related offences related to tracking the movements and areas frequented by…

A group of British Islamists called off a protest planned for outside the London Olympic Park on Friday, Reuters reported. The group, led by some of Britain’s most prominent Islamist figures, had intended to gather outside the gates to the park ahead of the opening ceremony to denounce what they called “the evil of the…

Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired two rockets at southern Israel on Friday night, shattering the calm of the Sabbath. Both rockets exploded in agricultural areas in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no physical injuries or property damage. On Wednesday, a rocket was fired into Israel from Gaza, striking an open area in the Hof…

Six years after the Second Lebanon War, the pan-Arab satellite television network Al Mayadeen broadcast on Friday exclusive footage showing the incident that began the war: the kidnapping of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Regev and Goldwasser were kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists near Israel’s border with Lebanon on July 12, 2006. In response,…

The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge refused to answer a question posed by the families of the slain Israeli athletes as to whether he denied their request to hold a moment of silence in their memory due to the fact that they were Israeli, The Jewish Chronicle reported. Ankie Spitzer and…

Arabs continue to attempt carjackings in Judea and Samaria, and they continue to target female drivers, as they have in the past. The latest incident took place Thursday night. Rabbanit (Rebbetzin) Ofra Schmidt, whose husband is the rabbi of Shavei Shomron and heads the hesder yeshiva there, too, drove eastward out of Karnei Shomron at…

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney evaded a question at Thursday’s press briefing regarding which city the U.S. considers to be the capital of Israel. Carney refused to disclose whether the U.S. officially believes Jerusalem or Tel Aviv to be the capital of Israel. Persistently questioned for about a minute, an uncomfortable Carney only responded…

The Arab League has released a statement warning Israel to stay away from the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The mosque is located on the Temple Mount, which Judaism teaches is the holiest site in the world. Surprisingly, the Arab League statement termed the mosque “the holiest of the Arab and Islamic holy sites.” Normally, Mecca is considered…

Israel deserves better treatment than it has received from United States President Barack Obama, presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said, speaking to Yisrael Hayom. Romney told the daily paper that he, unlike Obama, would not make disputes with Israel’s leaders a public affair. “I cannot imagine going to the United Nations, as Obama did, and…

Five people are facing charges in an incident in Pennsylvania, in the United States, that left Jewish campers fearing for their lives. The five are charged with attacking Camp Bonim in Wayne Country, and with targeting a counselor outside the camp. The group, led by 18-year-old Tyler Spencer, drove into the camp three times in…

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will meet Egypt’s new President Mohammed Morsi next week and hold talks with the country’s top general during a trip to the Middle East and North Africa, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Reuters reported that in addition to Egypt, Panetta will also travel to Israel, Jordan and Tunisia next week.…

Gaza’s de-facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Thursday in an official visit that signaled a shift in Cairo’s stance toward Hamas after the election of a Muslim Brotherhood head of state in Egypt. An official from Gaza told Reuters that the head of Egyptian intelligence had promised measures to increase…

The Hizbullah terror group has affirmed its allegiance to Syria and has offered to place itself at President Bashar Assad’s disposal. According to a report on Thursday in Lebanon’s Al-Joumhouria newspaper, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah “placed all of Hizbuulah capabilities at al-Assad’s disposal, in the event of the Syrian regime requiring urgent assistance.” The newspaper…

Dovid Efune, the editor of the Algemeiner newspaper and a frequent op-ed contributor to Arutz Sheva, has criticized the ads which recently appeared in New York train stations and which insinuate that Israel steals Arab land. Billboards on Metro North train stations in Westchester County include four maps of Israel and show Israel growing at…

The Pentagon has reached an agreement with Lockheed Martin Corp on a $450 million program to enhance electronic warfare equipment on the F-35 fighter jet, and integrate Israeli-unique systems beginning in 2016, sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters on Thursday. According to the report, the deal, to be finalized in the coming weeks, marks…

Israel reinforced its Syrian frontier on Thursday as fighting between rebels and the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad intensfied on Thursday. Israeli troops were put on “very high” alert, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There are also more planes and more snipers.” He denied the move was linked to fears…

Russia on Thursday charged that calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down are blocking efforts to end 16 months of unrest in the country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned such calls — made by the United States, several European and Arab governments and Turkey — were fanning the flames of violence. He also reiterated…

The Simon Wiesenthal center urged the Swiss government to protect the religious rite of circumcision following news that hospitals in Zurich and St. Gallen have suspended the practice on Jewish and Muslim boys in wake of a similar ban in Germany ordered by a judge in Cologne. In a letter to Swiss Ambassador to the…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Wednesday that Jerusalem is “committed to doing everything it can in order to stop Iran from going nuclear.” I am “fully aware of the difficulties and complexities involved in preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons,” Barak told graduates of the IDF National Security College. Israel is facing “difficult and fateful…

A 20 year old Arab woman was arrested in Hevron Thursday in what police say was an attempt to stab soldiers. The woman was arrested when she tried to spray pepper spray at Border Police at the Tzalbanit checkpoint, near the Cave of Patriarchs. A knife was then found in her bag. In her initial…

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon slammed the Palestinian Authority for terming a moment of silence during the Olympics for Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 games in Munich as “racist.” “No, the murder of Israelis because they are Israelis is racist, not the request to dignify and honor them,” Ayalon wrote on Facebook. “On the…

Reports began circulating on Thursday that Iran’s nuclear facilities have been hit with a computer virus that plays the hit song “Thunderstruck” by Australian heavy metal band AC/DC. Workers allegedly have to endure the song being played unexpectedly at full volume, sometimes in the middle of the night. There has been no official confirmation of…

A short ceremony commemorating the 11 Israeli athletes who were murdered at the 1972 Munich Games will be held at Israel’s embassy in London starting at 10:45 a.m Friday, July 27, followed by a global minute of silence at 11:00 a.m. The worldwide event, which will be streamed online at Minute for Munich, will take…

The Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado set up a fund to aid the victims and families affected by the recent shooting that killed 12 people and injured 58 at a movie theater in the city of Aurora. “No other community in this country understands terrorism more than the Jewish community,” the federation’s CEO, Doug Seserman,…

The widows of two of the 11 Israeli athletes who were murdered by terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics have called for a silent protest at this Friday’s opening ceremony of the games in London. Kol Yisrael radio reported on Wednesday that Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano called on the audience to stand up and…

Morocco’s leading political party has apologized for inviting a Jewish, pro- ‘Palestinian’ activist to a gathering of the party’s leaders, but has not apologized for inviting Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal to the same event. While Morocco has long been known as one of the Arab world’s more moderate states, it recently stunned the international community…

Israel’s Olympic team has decided to respond to the BBC’s assertion that Jerusalem is not Israel’s capital, by preparing a video in which Israeli athletes are seen saying they are proud to represent Israel “and its capital Jerusalem.” The British broadcast authority, which has often been charged with bias against Israel, has come under fire…

A branch of the Al-Qaeda terror group based in Sinai claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the repeated attacks on the pipeline carrying gas from Egypt to Jordan and Israel. The claim of responsibility by the group, which calls itself “Supporters of Jerusalem”, came three days after the pipeline was blown up for the 15th time…

The New York Times reported recently that the current drought afflicting the United States, which has spread to more than half of the continental United States, is the most widespread drought in more than half a century – and it appears that conditions will worsen.  There have been forecasts of increased dry conditions over the…

Speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on the international community to “act against anti-Semitism,” saying “we must respond when criticism of the Israeli government policy crosses over to anti-Semitism.” “Let me begin by acknowledging that here in this museum, it’s important to note that every generation…

Iran now has 11,000 centrifuges enriching uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says. Ahmadinejad reported the figure at a meeting with the country’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khameini and senior regime officials late Tuesday. It is Khameini who makes the decisions about  nuclear policy, and who has complete control over nuclear development technology projects. Israel, the…

A Republican group backed by the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has launched a new campaign in battleground states to persuade Jewish voters to turn their support away from President Obama in favor of Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The Republican Jewish Coalition plans to begin a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign in the coming weeks called “My…

There was a failed attempt today by terrorist infiltrators to target Israeli soldiers stationed on the border of the Gaza Strip.  An explosive devise detonated as an IDF convoy passed by. No one was hurt. Two Grad rockets were fired into Ashkelon Tuesday night. One of the rockets was intercepted by the Iron Dome system,…

A “science-fiction-come-true” microscope has been invented at the Weizmann Institute, one that uses time and space to look at the brain. Professor Yaron Silberberg and Dr. Dan Oron of the Physics of Complex Systems Department have invented a “temporal focusing” microscope, which works by controlling the focus of a laser light beam in time, rather…

Golan Heights residents near the Syrian border say “business is a usual” despite the sound of nearby bombings. Residents deny reports that officials have distributed gas masks. The Newser news website reported Wednesday that “worried Israeli officials are beginning to distribute new gas masks to residents living close to the Syrian border” following Syria’s admission that it…

An Arab mob ambushed and severely beat several Jews praying in a field in Samaria Wednesday before they left when soldiers shot in the air. The Arabs, from the Palestinian Authority village of Sinjil in the Binyamin region, have been arriving almost every day for several weeks to interrupt the Jewish prayers of residents from…

On the eve of his trip to Israel, the UK and Poland, US Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday lashed out at President Obama’s “shabby treatment” of Israel, saying that the people of Israel “deserve better than what they have received from the leader of the free world.” Speaking at the Veterans of Foreign…

A majority of 51 percent of likely U.S. voters say their country should help Israel if it attacks Iran, according to a Rasmussen poll. Its new survey also reveals that 61 percent of the respondents “think it is at least somewhat likely that Israel will attack Iran in the next year while just 23% see…

Iranian official media disputed on Tuesday earlier reports that Iranian athletes will not boycott competitions against Israelis at the London Olympics. The state-run Fars news agency claimed that Israeli media misquoted comments from the general secretary of Iran’s Olympic committee on the issue. A report in Fars charged that the Israeli media “maliciously changed Bahram…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was criticized by opposition parties on Tuesday, following an announcement about new economic measures. The Globes financial newspaper reported that under the new measures, VAT will rise by 1% or even more. According to the report, Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz intend to bring the proposal to the cabinet on…

The Women in Green organization will be holding its 18th annual Tisha B’Av walk around the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The walk, meant to publicly show Israel’s sovereignty of its capital, will be held on Saturday night beginning at 10:00 p.m. local time. The event will begin with the reading of the…

Two Grad-style rockets were fired by terrorists in northern Gaza at the southern Israeli city. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile shield, while the other exploded in an open field. Iron Dome only engages those rockets it determines are headed for populated areas, while ignoring others. No physical injuries or property damage…

IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz warned the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that a misstep by Israel in moving to secure Syria’s chemical weapons could lead to a wide-scale regional war. Gantz stressed to lawmakers that the embattled regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad still has a firm grip on its stores of…

The governor of Voralberg province in Austria has instructed hospitals to halt non-medical circumcisions until the “legal situation is clarified” in his country. Two hospitals in Switzerland last week also cited the German ruling when then announced that they would temporarily stop performing circumcisions. For his part, Wallner says he sees the German court’s decision,…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Turkey and Israel are looking for ways to normalize political relations, saying, “We want to restore relations with Turkey.” Netanyahu spoke to a group of Turkish journalists in Jerusalem and his comments were reported by the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman. “In a region where instability reigns, Israel…

Syria’s rebels late Monday charged the regime has moved its chemical weapon stockpiles to airports and airbases on its borders with neighboring countries. “We in the joint command of the Free Syrian Army inside the country know very well the locations and positions of these weapons,” Syria’s largest rebel group said in a statement.  The…

Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz appeared before the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday and sent a warning to the perpetrators of the attack on Israeli civilians in Burgas. “We will find a way to respond in an intimidating manner,” he vowed. “This doesn’t have to be done in a…

Syrian President Bashar Assad should attack Israel, says an Iranian newspaper considered the mouthpiece of the Supreme Leader. Iran is concerned that the fall of Assad’s regime will cost the Islamic Republic its closest ally and could ignite anti-Syrian elements in Lebanon, base of the Iranian-funded Hizbullah terrorist organization and political party. The Kayhan newspaper,…

Statistics published on Monday by the Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (COGAT) show that over the last two weeks there has been a decline in the number of requests to coordinate medical treatment for Gaza residents in Israel. The statistics show that last week, the requests stopped completely. The reason for…

Chassidic London Jew Ephraim Goldstein carried the Olympic torch Monday. He has worked with seven charities and runs a soup kitchen. The British Jewish Defense League website described Goldstein as being so excited he felt like was in “flames.” He is 22 years old, and has started up and worked with charities since the age…

Americans can “expect” President Barack Obama to visit Israel during his second term, an aide told reporters on Monday. Colin Kahl, a former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for the Middle East, was quoted by Politico.com as having said attacks by presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, who is visiting Israel on his European swing this…

Republican leaders have sharply criticized an announcement made Monday that if President Obama were to get re-elected to serve a second term in office, he would visit Israel. “President Obama’s promise to visit Israel in his second term comes four years too late, and is emblematic of the lack of close coordination with Israel Candidate…

Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz hinted Tuesday, for the second time in 24 hours, that an Israeli strike on Iran is imminent. Mofaz was Deputy Prime Minister and a member of the inner security cabinet until a few days ago, and therefore was in a position to know if such a strike is indeed impending. He…

Bulgarian news sources have reported a woman aided the terrorist who attacked Israeli tourists at Burgas airport last week. Bulgarian news channel BTV is reporting that the terrorist who murdered five Israelis and a local driver spoke Russian and entered the country with a female accomplice through Romania. The identity of the terrorist, which is…

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has decided to beef up the country’s northern border. Israel has made similar moves in recent days. Abdullah II said Monday, however, that the Hashemite Kingdom was still accepting refugees from its northern neighbor. Nevertheless, the monarch added he had sent Jordanian troops to secure the country’s border with Syria due…

Will Israel have to protect itself from Syria’s chemical weapons? If so, the Jewish State will do what it must, according to President Shimon Peres. The president told the CNN news network in an interview Monday, “The use of chemical weapons is internationally forbidden. What do you do when someone violates the law? You fight…

A report by mobile marketing company Velti plc (Nasdaq: VELT) found that, as of June, Israeli smartphone users were number one in the world in the use of apps, using them for an average of 80 minutes a day, Globes news reported. Sweden is in second place, with Swedes using apps for an average of…

Hours after the Pentagon’s press secretary warned Syria not “to even consider using chemical weapons,” U.S. President Barack Obama issued a stern warning to President Bashar Assad on the issue. Obama, who a speech on his foreign policy to veterans in Reno, Nevada, said Assad would be held accountable if he made the “tragic mistake”…

An Egyptian actor who appeared on a local candid camera show did not take things well when, as part of the prank, he was told he was being interviewed for an Israeli channel. The actor, Ayman Kandeel, can be seen losing his temper and turning physically violent on the set upon being told the network…

The United States on Monday warned Syria not “to even consider using chemical weapons” after Damascus threatened to employ its unconventional arms in the case of outside intervention. “They should not think one iota about using chemical weapons,” Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters. “We have been very strong in our statements inside the…

Two IDF soldiers were wounded Monday in a Palestinian Authority Arab rock-throwing terror attack. The soldiers were wounded by flying glass after windows in their military vehicle shattered when they were hit by rocks hurled during a routine patrol in the Hevron area. The attack, which took place Monday afternoon, is not unusual. Both soldiers…

Israel and Bulgarian will strengthen their strategic cooperation on security and tourism, Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov said Monday. The Israeli tourism leader flew to Burgas to meet with Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev and Prime Minister Boiko Borissov following last week’s deadly terrorist attack on Israeli tourists at the Burgas airport. Accompanying Misezhnikov was a senior…

Arab nations have called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to swiftly give up power as his troops launched a fresh assault on rebels in Damascus and the second city Aleppo. In a joint statement issued early Monday after their meeting in Doha, Arab League foreign ministers called on Assad to “renounce power,” promising that he…

Unnamed vandals this week desecrated 57 graves in a Jewish cemetery some 200 miles southwest of Budapest. The cemetery, located in the city of Kaposvar, sustained serious damage, worth some 12,000 euros, according to Jewish community leader Lazlo Rona.  Rona, head of the association of Jewish communities in the city, told the Hungarian nationwide MTI…

Israel on Monday lodged a complaint with the United Nations following an incident in which Syrian soldiers crossed into the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights. “Israel has formally complained to the UN as this is a serious incident. (This complaint) constitutes a very clear message that we address via the UN to those who…

NBC sportscaster Bob Costas plans to call out the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for denying Israel’s request for a moment of silence acknowledging the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Games. Costas intends to make his remarks as the Israeli delegation enters the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium for the Olympics’ Opening Ceremony,…

Illinois “Tea Party” Rep. Joe Walsh is urging congressmen to co-sponsor a resolution adopting the “Levy report” and recognize Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The report was issued two weeks ago by a three-man panel of legal experts headed by retired High Court Edmund Levy. It concluded that not only is Israel not an…

Two Swiss hospitals have banned circumcision, accepting the ruling of a German court that ruled the Jewish and Muslim rite illegal but ignoring a German resolution protecting the custom, rooted in Biblical law. The German resolution urges the government to pass legislation to protect circumcision that is carried out according to medical standards and with…

As the fighting in Damascus and Aleppo continued, Syrian troops executed at least 20 unarmed men in the Damascus neighborhood of Mezzeh on Sunday, Reuters reported. According to the report, the men were executed because the troops suspected they had been aiding rebels in the area. The bodies of 20 men, aged approximately 20 to…

Iran has arrested some of those responsible for assassinations of its nuclear scientists, state media reported on Sunday. Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said Iran had shut down two networks inside and outside the country he said were involved in training the killers, the Fars news agency reported. At least four scientists associated with Iran’s disputed…

A large-scale IDF exercise in Judea and Samaria, the first in three years, is preparing soldiers in the Menashe Brigade for a possible “Arab Spring” rebellion. The brigade is based near Jenin, located in central Samaria between the Mediterranean Coast and the Jordan River. “The drill tested main scenarios of a potential violent escalation in…

President Barack Obama played golf instead of visiting Israel in his first three and a half years in office, former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton charged Sunday night on Aaron Klein’s WABC Radio show. Chiding the president for recently playing his 100th round of golf since taking office, Bolton said, “Obama has been in office…

Israel filed a complaint against Syria Monday in the United Nations, alleging that Syrian forces crossed the border between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights last week. Israel’s Deputy UN Ambassador, Haim Waxman, sent a letter to the UN Security Council Secretary General, in which he said that during fighting Thursday between the Syrian…

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has already stated that the opening ceremony of the London Summer Olympics is “not fit” to remember the Munich Massacre of 12 Israeli athletes, but London mayor Boris Johnson seems to think otherwise. Johnson was asked on his Twitter account, “What is your opinion on the IOC’s decision not to…

The Kadima party strongly attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday over his attempts to split the party and get a group of Knesset members from Kadima to join the coalition. “The Prime Minister is trying to buy votes of Knesset members in order to prepare the shameful draft law of the Likud in exchange…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday repeated his assertion that Iran and its terrorist proxy Hizbullah are behind the terror attack in Burgas, Bulgaria, Wednesday. Netanyahu said his assertion that Hizbullah is behind the attack last week that killed five Israeli tourists is based on “rock solid” intelligence and on its resemblance to other recent…

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have uncovered new information about the abilities of embryonic stem cells and their potential for future treatments. The study, which shows the ability of embryonic stem cells to renew themselves indefinitely, and differentiate into all types of mature cells, was conducted by Dr. Eran Meshorer, head of the lab…

A group of seven or eight Knesset members is planning to split off from Kadima and join Likud, according to Channel 2‘s Rina Matzliach. Matzliach says that the group is led by former Kadima MK Tzachi Hanegbi, who left Likud to join Kadima several years ago. Hanegbi will reportedly become Minister of Home Front Defense…

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved on Sunday a bill that would impose a jail sentence or fine on illegal aliens who send money abroad. The bill will come up for its initial reading in the Knesset Monday and is expected to pass, as are all bills that receive the Ministerial Committee’s go-ahead. The bill…

The British Broadcasting Corporation is using its 2012 Olympics website to poke its finger into Israel’s eye, refusing to describe Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in Israel’s country profile.  Israel’s profile says Jerusalem is the “seat of government,” then adding, “though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv.” Initially, Israel was not even listed as having…

Sinai Peninsula terrorists blew up the Egyptian-Israeli pipeline for the 15th time Sunday, another sign of the area being under the control of a de facto terror state. All of the attacks have taken place since the uprising against ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in early 2011. Since then, the collapsed Egyptian government and the…

Hamas is banking on Egyptian support to declare Gaza an independent state and “a liberated part of the ’67 territories,” the London-based Al Hayat Arab language paper reported Sunday. Hamas has been tossing around the idea for two years, but Egypt has rejected the move. The new Muslim Brotherhood government has given the Hamas terrorist…

Another wildfire that erupted late Saturday night on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem has raised suspicions of more terror arson activity. The blaze ignited very close to where another major fire burned through forestland earlier this summer. In that incident, the flames spread to a nearby IDF army base, and 12 soldiers were evacuated to the…

Vandals desecrated the Jewish cemetery in the German town of Anklam over the weekend. According to local police, the vandals smashed gravestones and, in some cases, completely uprooted them. Local media reported that the prosecution in Anklam is conducting an investigation into an incident of “disturbing the dead” and destruction of property. It was also…

A second man has set himself on fire in central Israel. Passersby tried to extinguish the flames with water and other materials, until first responders arrived on the scene and finally managed to put the fire out. Medics from the Magen David Adom emergency medical service treated him on the scene and then rushed him…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent condolences to Colorado’s “Batman” terror victims, “We well understand the pain and loss that you are experiencing,” he said. “I send my condolences and those of the Israeli people to the families of the Americans who were murdered in Aurora, Colorado, and my wishes for a full and rapid recovery…

Mossad fears of a “London Massacre” at the Olympics Games, 40 years after the Munich Massacre of 11 Israeli athletes, has sent London security forces into a panic a week before the Games begin, according to the Sunday Times of London. More than 15,000 soldiers, private security guards and police are being deployed throughout the…

A reserves soldier reported Saturday night that an Arab gang in Samaria (Shomron) had attacked him, apparently in an attempt to steal his weapon. The incident occurred at the Shavei Shomron junction. An initial investigation has led security forces to believe that the gang mistook the soldier, who has long hair, for a woman. Carjacking…

A young Israeli man who survived last week’s murderous terrorist attack in Bulgaria was pictured saying a prayer upon returning to Israel. The man, 21-year-old Matan Sabah of Be’er Sheva, covered his eyes and said the “Shema Yisrael” prayer. The ancient “Shema Yisrael” proclaims God’s unity. It’s words are “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d,…

The Muslim terrorist group Ka’adat el-Jihad claimed responsibility Saturday for a terrorist bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria. The bombing in Bulgaria last week killed five Israelis, one a pregnant woman. The Lebanese paper El-Nashra reported that the group, which has ties to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility in an email to the Arab press. The email also reportedly…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent a message to US President Barack Obama expressing his condolences and those of the Israeli people following the shooting massacre in Aurora, Colorado that left 12 dead. “All Israel stands by the American people while they mourn this terrible tragedy, which took the lives of so many. We know…

Egypt’s former intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, died from a rare disease affecting the heart and kidneys, the U.S. clinic where he was undergoing medical tests at the time said on Friday. Suleiman, who died at age 76 on Thursday, was former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s last deputy and one of his most trusted advisers. He…

The fighting in Syria continued on Friday, as army helicopters pounded Damascus with rockets and heavy machine guns and tanks bombarded the capital from the ring road, to try to reverse relentless gains by rebels since much of President Bashar al-Assad’s entourage was assassinated. “The regime has been rudderless for last three days. But the…

Bulgarian police are conducting a manhunt for another suspect who is believed to have assisted the terrorist who carried out the attack in Burgas which killed five Israelis and a Bulgarian citizen on Wednesday. According to a report in NRG-Ma’ariv, local security forces suspect that the suspect may be in possession of another bomb. The…

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Friday to extend its monitoring mission in Syria for 30 days, Reuters reported. The decision keeps a key part of international envoy Kofi Annan’s faltering plan to end the 16-month conflict alive. According to the report, the 15-member council approved a measure put forward by Britain to extend…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak estimated on Friday that the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime was closer than ever. Barak’s comments were made in light of reports that Assad is ready to give up power but only in a “civilized manner.” Syria’s Information Ministry rejected the reports, which were made by Russia’s ambassador to…

Egypt, under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohammed Morsi, is tightening relations with Hamas and is working hard to promote the reconciliation between Hamas and rival faction Fatah. After meeting this week with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Morsi met on Thursday with Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, his deputy Musa Abu Marzouq…

Medical staff at Sheba Medical Center determined Friday that Moshe Silman, the protester who set himself on fire Saturday, has died. Silman, 57, suffered burns on 90% of his body and was evacuated to the hospital in critical condition. He was held in the Intensive Care Unit for six days, where he was anesthetized and…

Yitzchk Kolangi (Itzik) of Petach Tikva, 28, who was murdered in Burgas by terrorists, was laid to rest Friday at Segula Cemetery in Petach Tikva. His brother eulogized him, saying: “Thank you for being my brother – you are my brother forever.” “I will never forget you. I promise you that the family and I…

Two young Israeli men survived a violent carjacking early on Friday morning. The two were driving in Samaria (Shomron) when they found themselves surrounded by ten Arab men. One of the two managed to run away, and made his way to the Israeli community of Eish Kodesh to report the attack. The second young man…

The Hizbullah terror organization on Thursday denied involvement in this week’s bombing of a tourist bus in Bulgaria that left at least five Israelis dead and dozens more wounded. “For over a year, Iran, along with its protégé Hizbullah, has been waging an international terror campaign,” Netanyahu said on Thursday. He called Iran “the world’s…

Members of the United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned on Thursday the deadly terrorist attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. “Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. All acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, no matter the motives for…

Germany’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution on Thursday to protect the religious circumcision of infant boys, after a district court ban on the practice outraged Muslims and Jews and sparked an emotional debate in the country. Reuters reported that the resolution, jointly filed by Merkel’s conservatives, their liberal coalition ally (FDP) and the…

A Muslim couple from the Manchester region of Britain has been convicted for plotting to murder Jews. The two will be sentenced Friday. Mohammed Sajid Khan, 33, confessed to engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism. Shasta Khan, 38, denied involvement in the plan, but a jury found her guilty of preparation for…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the media on Thursday, condemning Wednesday’s terror attack against Israelis in Bulgaria, and once again blaming Hizbullah and Iran for the attack. “Yesterday’s attack in Bulgaria was perpetrated by Hizbullah, Iran’s leading terrorist proxy,” said Netanyahu. “This attack was part of a global campaign of terror carried out by Iran…

Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a resolution in the UN Security Council that threatened Syrian authorities with sanctions if they did not withdraw troops from towns and cities and cease using heavy weapons in a crackdown on a 16-month long popular uprising against president Bashar al-Assad. The vetoed resolution, which would have extended a…

The remains of the five Israelis killed in a terror attack on a tourist bus in Bulgaria have all been identified. They will be flown home later Thursday in an IAF Hercules aircraft. The dead are Yitzchak Kolangi, 28, of Petach Tikva; Amir Menashe, 28, of Petach Tikva; Maor Harush, 25, of Akko; Elior Preis,…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday vowed to identify and bring to justice those responsible for a bus bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israelis and wounded dozens more. “We are determined to identify who sent them, those who executed it, and to settle the account,” Barak told reporters in an echo of Prime Minister…

Bulgarian media says the terrorist who murdered 7 people Wednesday at Burgas was Mehdi Mohammed Ghazali, who belonged to the Global Jihad. According to these reports, which are unconfirmed, Ghazali was arrested in 2009 in southern Pakistan together with his wife and several other people, including seven Turkish nationals with false documents. Ghazali is reportedly…

The IDF raised its alert level and canceled weekend leaves in some units on Thursday as the situation in Syria continues to destabilize. A bomb in Damascus on Wednesday killed several members of President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, including Defense Minister Daoud Rajha, General Hassan Turkmani, and Assad’s brother-in-law Assef Shawka, who was Syria’s Interior…

The terror attack in Bulgaria was carried out by a suicide bomber, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said Thursday morning, as authorities develop a picture of exactly how six Israelis were killed when a bus blew up at Sofia’s Sarafovo Airport. An initial investigation, based on footage captured by surveillance cameras, indicated that the bomber…

Israelis wounded in the massive suicide bombing that killed six and wounded 32 others are set to depart for home in three hours, according to an Israeli military source, after an IAF Hercules transport aircraft touched down on the tarmac at Bulgaria’s international airport just hours after had been attacked. The bombing was carried out…

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a condemnation through his spokesperson of Wednesday’s suicide terrorist attack on a tour bus full of young Israelis at an airport in Bulgaria. In addition to the terrorist, six Israelis were killed and 34 others were wounded, including two  in critical condition. However, despite his claim of condemning the…

After Toulouse, where three Jewish children and a rabbi were gunned down last March by a French Islamist, Europe witnesses another massacre of Jews. At least 8 people were killed, 6 of them Israelis, and over 30 others were injured in a terror attack on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas, east of the Bulgarian…

Former Egyptian intelligence head Omar Suleiman died suddenly Thursday morning at age 76. “Former vice president General Omar Suleiman died in the early hours of Thursday in a hospital in the United States,” the official Egyptian MENA news agency reported in a brief statement. He was one of the most  trusted senior officials to deposed…

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appears to have disappeared from Damascus after his top security staff was killed in a suicide bombing. There has been no statement from the president, nor any sign of him since the attack Wednesday on the central government headquarters. Clashes erupted Thursday near government headquarters in Damascus as opposition forces attacked…

Ten years after he was injured in a terror attack in his home town of Beit She’an, Gadi Sivoni (60) was again spared from death in another attack, at Sarafovo Airport in Bulgaria. Sivoni and his wife Rimond, who have three children, and were on vacation with several relatives in Bulgaria. The Sivonis and their…

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said on Wednesday evening that there was no prior information regarding a planned terror attack in the country. He spoke following the attack on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas which killed seven people, including five Israelis. A report on Channel 10 News quoted Plevneliev as having told local media that…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met Egypt’s newly elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo on Wednesday. The Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency reported that Abbas is in Cairo for two days, coinciding with a trip to the country by Hamas head Khaled Mashaal. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi is a…

Syrian army defectors and rebel commanders based in Turkey said that a bomb that killed three top military officials in Damascus would hasten the end of President Bashar Al-Assad’s rule. Speaking to Reuters, they predicted more defections and divisive internal feuding. Brigadier Fayez Amr, a senior member of defectors’ group, the Joint Leadership of the…

U.S. President Barack Obama strongly condemned Wednesday’s terror attack that killed at least five Israeli tourists in an explosion on a bus outside a Bulgarian airport. “The United States will stand with our allies, and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack,” Reuters quoted Obama as…

The great Torah Sage, head of the worldwide LIthuanian-hareidi yeshiva world, and leading Torah luminary of this generation, Rav Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Musha Elyashiv, passed away at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem at the age of 102. Rav Elyashiv’s funeral left his home in Hanan street in Me’ah Shearim at 10:00 p.m. Wednesday. The pious and righteous sage…

Bulgarian police are investigating Wednesday’s terror attack in Burgas, which killed seven people, including five Israelis, and wounded 35. The attack occurred when an explosive device planted on a bus carrying Israeli tourists went off. Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said on Wednesday evening, according to a report on Reuters, that police were investigating two possible…

Michele Bachmann, former Republican presidential contender and representative of Minnesota’s 6th congressional district, challenged President Barack Obama’s record on Israel during her keynote address at the 7th annual Christians United for Israel (CUFI) national summit in Washington, DC. Her address took place on Tuesday evening, July 17th at the organization’s “Night to Honor Israel” program.…

The Shin Bet, or Israel Security Agency, has issued unprecedented orders to postpone scheduled flights to 11 locations in Eastern Europe. Ben Gurion Airport management has announced that changes in the departure and arrival time of flights can be expected as a result. Security sources said that there is concern in Israel regarding a possible series…

Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi called on Tehran to stay out of Yemen’s internal affairs on Wednesday after security officials in Sanaa announced they had uncovered an Iranian spy ring there.affairs. “We hope that our brothers in Iran won’t interfere in Yemen’s affairs and that they take into consideration the situation in Yemen,” Hadi said.…

The Knesset’s State Control Committee held a session Wednesday on the subject of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries who came to Israel in the late 1940s and early 1950s. From 1948 to 1956 an estimated 856,000 Jews came to Israel from the Arab world. Of those, around 600,000 were refugees…

Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued a somber statement following the murderous terror attack at Burgas airport in Bulgaria. “A few hours ago, there was a grave terror attack in a bus carrying Israelis at Burgas, in Bulgaria,” Barak said. “We have at least three killed, apparently more, and several dozen injured. This is a very…

Seven Turks attacked American soldiers Wednesday and attempted to put bags over their heads in the southern province of Antalya, Hurriyet daily news reported. The attackers, members of the Turkish Youth Association (TGB), verbally attacked the American soldiers, who reportedly had left an aircraft carrier anchored to a port in Antalya as they went on…

Authorities in Hungary have arrested Ladislaus Csizsik-Csatary, 97, the world’s most wanted Nazi war criminal. He was tracked down this week by Britain’s The Sun newspaper after decades in hiding. He is facing an indictment for Holocaust war crimes. He is accused of sending nearly 16,000 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp while serving as…

The United States House of Representatives approved legislation late Tuesday afternoon by voice vote that reaffirms U.S. strategic and military ties with Israel.  The bill restates the U.S. commitment to supply Israel with arms to defend itself, and pledges to fight anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations, The Hill reported. The United States-Israel Enhanced Security…

Iran said on Tuesday it would insure any foreign ships that enter its waters, as part of an effort to skirt a European Union ban on insuring ships carrying Iranian crude that has hampered the country’s oil exports. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will take all responsibility for insuring any foreign shipping line and any…

Nationalists won major recognition Tuesday with the Ariel higher education facility in Samaria (Shomron) being accepted as a full-fledged university. The college has been battling for months for university status, and opponents have said their objections are based on financial and academic positions, while left-wing leaders have expressed horror that at the idea of a…

An Israeli security firm says an ongoing cyber attack aimed mainly at Iran uses Persian language communications and is named after Mahdi, the “Muslim Messiah.” Seculert, based in Israel, and Russia’s Kaspersky Lab said on Tuesday that they identified more than 800 victims of the operation, Reuters reported. “The targets include critical infrastructure companies, engineering…

Hillary Clinton arrived in Israel Monday for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. This visit precedes an expected visit by Republican Candidate Mitt Romney, who is seeking to unseat President Obama. This visit has been touted as one where strategic and regional issues will be discussed, yet the timing of the visit is questionable as…

Jews in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of Jerusalem, a hotbed of angry Arabs in one of the areas claimed by the Palestinian Authority, are attacked almost daily by stones and firebombs. Police are passive, according to Jewish residents. Hezi Hovav told Arutz Sheva there have been dozens of Arab attacks, and he has filed complaints…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent a letter to Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz on Tuesday evening, expressing his regret that Mofaz chose to quit the unity government. “I regret your decision to give up on an opportunity to make an historic change,” Netanyahu wrote Mofaz. “After 64 years, we were very close to a substantial change…

Iranian Vice President Hassan Mousavi said Monday that the drought in southern Iran is part of a “soft war” launched against the Islamic Republic by the West, Fars news agency reported. “I am suspicious about the drought in the southern part of the country,” Mousavi, who also heads Iran’s cultural heritage and tourism organization, said…

Tunisia’s leading political party, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Ennahada party, has reiterated its opposition to normalizing diplomatic ties with Israel. Ennahada held its ninth national conference in Tunis over the weekend, ending with a resolution on the matter Monday after party leader Rached Ghannouchi, perceived as a moderate, was re-elected to serve as its head for…

Syrian President Bashar Assad has pulled troops from the Israeli border to defend Damascus against rebels, the Israeli army intelligence chief said Tuesday.   “The Syrian military is acting very brutally, which shows the regime is desperate. Its control of Damascus is getting weaker,” Major-General Aviv Kochavi told a parliamentary committee, according to a Knesset…

The national unity coalition born nine weeks ago is dead, but the government lives with a solid majority of 65 Knesset Members, as it did before Kadima left the Opposition. Party chairman Shaul Mofaz announced Tuesday evening that the party faction voted 24-3 to pull out of the coalition because of what he said was…

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority government has named a summer program for the bloodthirsty terrorist who killed 37 civilians in 1978, Dalal Mughrabi. The “Sisters of Dalal Mughrabi” summer “youth camp” was named to commemorate the most lethal attack in the history of Israel, known as the “coastal road massacre.” The killers led by Mughrabi hijacked a…

The Pentagon is building a missile-defense radar station at a secret site in Qatar and organizing its largest minesweeping exercises in the Persian Gulf, as preparations accelerate for a possible flare-up with Iran, according to U.S. officials. The radar site will complete the backbone of a system designed to defend U.S. interests and allies such…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met Tuesday in Jerusalem with Hungary’s President Janos Ader, where the two discussed “regional matters” – and the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. “There is concern in Israel and the Jewish world over a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Hungary,” said Netanyahu during the meeting. “Such a dangerous phenomenon must be uprooted…

Dozens of Christians in Gaza staged a public protest on Monday, claiming two congregants were forcibly converted to Islam and were being held against their will, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Gaza police claim that the two, a 25-year-old man and a woman with three children, embraced Islam of their free will and are staying…

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad met in Jerusalem with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday before she boarded a plane, but his message was the same: no talks with Israel without preconditions. The meeting, held at the U.S. Consulate in eastern Jerusalem in the Arnona neighborhood, ended as have all the others,…

Giora Weiss-Tzahor, who headed the Mossad operation that located nuclear spy Mordechai Vanunu so he could be brought to justice, was killed in a bicycle accident Monday. Tzahor, who was 70, was crossing a road between two agricultural fields on his mountain bicycle when he was hit by a truck. He was taken to Hillel…

A new high-speed Be’er Sheva-Tel Aviv rail link shortens the ride to 55 minutes and opens up the Negev and will help attract Jews to the area that is rapidly becoming overrun by Bedouin. The new rail link, dedicated on Monday, cuts the ride from the former 90 minutes, and Israel Railways hopes to shorten…

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will not hesitate to use chemical weapons against opposition forces and may have already deployed them, Nawaf Fares, the first Syrian ambassador to defect since the uprising against Assad began, told the BBC on Monday. Fares, a former ambassador to Iraq, insisted that Assad’s days are numbered but warned that the…

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came and went and nothing changed, not even the hot weather, except that the U.S.-led “peace process” was left behind in lost baggage. The only question is if it was lost in Washington or Jerusalem. Clinton arrived for her 24-hour visit to Israel almost at the same time that…

A U.S. military supply ship fired Monday at what appeared to be a 30-foot sport fishing boat in the Persian Gulf after it ignored repeated warnings to stop, killing one person on board and wounding three, Defense Department officials said. The USNS Rappahannock, a fuel resupply ship, fired on what two U.S. officials called a…

An Olympics official admitted that Muslim countries blocked the “One-Minute of Silence” campaign to honor the 11 murdered Israeli athletes, one of the widows said. Ankie Spitzer, whose husband Andre was one of the athletes massacred in the Munich Games n 1972, told the European Jewish Press that Jacques Rogge, president of the London Organizing…

StandWithUs (SWU), a non-profit organization that is dedicated to informing the public about Israel and combating anti-Semitism, is countering the anti-Israel billboards that have been posted at ten Metro-North stations with their own billboards portraying Israel’s achievements and desire for peace. The anti-Israel billboards, which first appeared last week at the Chappaqua, New York Train…

Two Massachusetts tourists abducted in Egypt’s mountainous Sinai region were freed on Monday after three days in captivity, the local head of state security told the Reuters news agency. Egyptian authorities had sought help from local tribal leaders to mediate with a Bedouin tribesman who kidnapped Michel Louis, a Boston pastor, mother-of-two Lissa Alphonse of…

The United Nations Security Council will vote Wednesday on a Western-backed resolution that threatens Syrian authorities with sanctions if they do not stop using heavy weapons in towns, Reuters reported. The vote will take place despite a declaration by Russia that it will block the move. The resolution, proposed by Britain, the United States, France and…

The International Israel Allies Caucus Foundation (IIACF) will host on Thursday a groundbreaking event entitled “Oslo 20 Years Later,” which will bring together a panel of journalists, policy experts and government officials who are shaping the future of peace in the Middle East, for a candid conversation about the prospects for peace in the Middle…

Amin Maqbul, secretary general of Fatah’s revolutionary council, said on Monday that Fatah is opposed to the opening of Gaza’s border with Egypt, as the Hamas government has demanded from the new Egyptian under President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Speaking with the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, Maqbul said that he is convinced that…

As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Monday evening with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, residents of southern Israel were forced to grab their children, snatching them as they slept in order to race for safe rooms and bomb shelters. The first scream of the Color Red incoming rocket alert came at about 9:30 p.m.,…

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that she does not expect Jonathan Pollard to be released. Clinton, who spoke to reporters following her meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said, “Jonathan Pollard was convicted of espionage, sentenced to life imprisonment and is serving the sentence. I do not have any expectation that…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed Monday night in a “photo op” for the media prior to getting down to business that “the world is changing fast.” The prime minister and the secretary of state smiled for the cameras and talked about how they planned to discuss events in…

The head of Syrian intelligence has allegedly left the country and defected. His whereabouts are unknown. The family of Rastam Ruzhilla, however, has reportedly left Syria for Jordan, according to a report in Arab media. The high-ranking Syrian officer was one of President Bashar al-Assad’s closest confidantes. Ruzhilla’s disappearance is the latest in a series…

Greece must examine the legality of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, which has campaigned on an anti-immigrant platform under the slogan “so we can rid this land of filth,” a senior European official said in an interview published on Sunday. The Council of Europe is set to send a mission to Greece to assess if…

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), along with the IDF and the Israel Police, has exposed a terror cell that operated from the village of Hizme, north of Jerusalem, and which attempted several abductions. The cell was uncovered in May but as is often the case with such investigations, a gag order prevented making the…

Russia complained Monday that there are “elements of blackmail” in the West’s position on Syria. The Western powers, Moscow said, are attempting to link the extension of the mandate of U.N. observers in Syria to a green light for using force against Bashar Assad’s regime. According to AGI – the Italian Journalist Agency – Russian…

Other than “It’s a beautiful day” and other pleasantries, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks had little content – four months before U.S. elections. She landed from Egypt, where her motorcade was the target of angry tomato-throwers, and will leave Israel in 24 hours. Clinton praised the weather, which actually is unseasonably hot even…

When asked to point out something he has failed to accomplish, U.S. President Barack Obama chose the task for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize near the start of his term – achieving Middle East peace. ABC/WJLA‘s Scott Thuman had asked the president to talk about his “first few years” in office. “Is there anything you believe…

The IDF Civil Administration hosted a three-day summer camp in early July for 24 cancer-stricken children from the Palestinian Authority (PA) entities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.   The event went unnoticed by news outlets inside and outside Israel that are usually eager to pounce on news casting Israel in a bad light and showing…

Defectors from Syria, including a soldier captured by rebels, confirm victims’ accounts of systematic torture and rape. As the civil war escalates with clashes in and around the capital of Damascus, Amnesty reported first-hand accounts of torture, and the London Telegraph published confessions by a captured soldier. “They capture people, we’ve seen evidence of them…

The Israeli Navy is set to hold exercises using live ammunition off Greece’s Aegean island of Milos on July 18 with the cooperation, but not participation, of the Greek military, national media reported, according to Hurriyet Daily News. While coordination and monitoring will be performed by radar located on nearby Mt. Parnitha, only Israeli warships…

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Israel late on Sunday night, for top-level talks with Israeli officials expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program and the stalled peace process. According to an AFP report, Clinton arrived on a flight from Egypt shortly after 11:30 p.m. local time, for her first visit to the…

Arabs set fire, during the Sabbath, to a container belonging to the evicted residents of Beit Hamachpela in Hevron. The container contained furniture, supplies and holy books. The residents of the Hevron home were evicted by order of Defense Minister Ehud Barak on April 4. The 15 families who were evicted from the home bought…

The good news for British servicemen is that they will be getting free tickets to the Olympic Games and the Paralympics that will follow them. The bad news is that many, including those recently rotated out of Afghanistan, will have their summer vacations canceled so they can provide security for the same games. Others will…

Syria’s army blasted rebel strongholds in Damascus with mortars on Sunday, sparking the “most intense” fighting in the capital since the revolt in the country erupted 16 months ago, a monitoring group told AFP. The army’s offensive, aimed at driving rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) out of Damascus, was launched soon after Syria’s…

The Palestinian Authority’s Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, hailed on Sunday an emergency $100 million donation received from Saudi Arabia after PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas visited the kingdom last week. “Prime minister Salam Fayyad and the Palestinian people thank… King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz after he instructed the Saudi finance ministry to transfer $100 million to…

President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor Tom Donilon visited Israel secretly over the weekend in what one Israeli newspaper says was an attempt to convince Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. He met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and National Security Advisor Gen. Yaakov Amidror. “National Security Advisor Tom Donilon…

More than 40 prominent American Jewish leaders and philanthropists sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday in which they implored him not to approve the judicial report that says Jews may settle freely in Judea and Samaria. “As strong advocates for Israel’s security and well-being as a Jewish and democratic state, we are…

The Jewish National Staff gave a certificate of appreciation Friday to Orit Strook of Hevron, Director of the Human Rights in Judea and Samaria organization. The Jewish National Staff organized a tour of Hevron for about 400 people from greater Tel Aviv and other parts of the country, led by Major General (res.) Uzi Dayan.…

Any decision to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz rests in the hands of the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the chairman of Iran’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday. Gen. Hasan Firouzabadi said that while Iran has a contingency plan to close the route, as commander in chief of the armed forces, Khamenei,…

Government troops continued to shell civilians with heavy artillery on Sunday in a civil war now being monitored by the United Nations. At least nine people were killed in the areas of Deir Ezzor, Hama and Homs by midday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. On Saturday, the organization reported that at least 115…

J Street has launched a new campaign — insisting that congressmen Joe Walsh (R-IL) and Allen West (R-FL) are “not pro-Israel” because they support Israeli annexation of Judea and Samaria. “There is no such thing as a two-state solution, and no such thing as land for peace,” said Walsh, who introduced a resolution last year…

Prof. Shlomo Bentin, an Israeli psychologist who was a recipient of the Israel Prize this year, was killed on Friday in a car accident near the University of California, Berkeley. Bentin was riding his bicycle near the university when he was hit by a truck. He died shortly afterwords. Professor Bentin won the Israel Prize…

Israeli measures to stop illegal African infiltrators are paying off – finally. Only 64 cross into Israel last week, compared with a previous rate of  at least 500 a week. A grand total of 12 infiltrators managed to cross the Egyptian-Israeli border over the weekend, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday…

The Palestinian Authority has appealed to the Arab League for more money, citing the “worst budget crisis” in nearly 20 years. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met Friday with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah over the issue, according to former PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, a top official in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). On Wednesday, Abbas…

Mitt Romney’s planned visit to Israel on the fast day mourning the destruction of the Holy Temples shows his understanding of threats to Israel, says his campaign adviser. “What better way for the Governor to understand the opportunities and the threats to Israel than to be there on a day when the people of Israel…

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting Israel Sunday and Monday but will steer clear of the Palestinian Authority, according to the PA’s Saeb Erekat, senior official of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and quoted by the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency. He pointed out that Clinton and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met in Paris last week.…

A Lebanese woman has been arrested in Canada on suspicion of links to the Hizbullah terrorist organization. Mouna Diab, 26, was accused Friday of supplying weapons part to Lebanon, according to The Canadian Press. Over the weekend, officials added a new charge: offenses for the benefit of a contact linked to Hizbullah.  “It is alleged…

United Nations monitors entered a village Saturday to probe reports of a massacre. At least 150 people were reported killed in the shelling by government troops who invaded the village with pro-regime mercenaries. A convoy of 11 vehicles arrived in the central village of Tremseh, according to U.N. Mission spokesman Ahmad Fawzi, once it was…

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Saturday with Islamist Egyptian President-elect Mohamed Mursi, expressing support for his new role. Clinton stepped lightly in her remarks on the relationship between the new president and the military council that has ruled the nation up to this point. Speaking to reporters following her meeting with Mursi, Clinton…

A social justice protester set himself ablaze Saturday night during a rally in Tel Aviv, blaming government officials for his troubles. He was taken to a city hospital in an intensive care ambulance with severe burns over most of his body. Two separate rallies were held in Tel Aviv to mark the anniversary of the…

Cyprus authorities have detained a man on suspicion of being involved in planning a terrorist attack on the east Mediterranean island, a police spokesman said Friday. The Associated Press quoted spokesman Andreas Angelides as having said that police have “an individual in custody on possible charges pertaining to terrorism laws.” Angelides declined to identify the…

A U.S. cyber war against Iran’s nuclear program may have only just begun and could escalate with explosions triggered by digital sabotage, experts told AFP on Friday. Although the Iranian regime remains vulnerable to more cyber attacks in the aftermath of the Stuxnet worm that disrupted its uranium enrichment work, Tehran may be receiving help…

Iran’s war games this month showcased missiles with improved accuracy and firing capabilities, The Associated Press reported on Friday, based on Iranian media reports. Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards conducted the exercise in the central desert, firing ballistic missiles including a long-range variety meant to deter an Israeli or U.S. attack. The targets were models of…

The German government on Friday pledged quick action to protect the right of Jews and Muslims to circumcise baby boys on religious grounds, AFP reported.   A controversial ruling by a court in Cologne has sparked international outcry. The court ruled that non-medical circumcision, practiced by most Jews and Muslims, causes bodily harm and therefore…

The Israeli army has placed an Iron Dome air defence system battery by the Red Sea resort of Eilat near the border with Egypt, a statement from the military said on Thursday. “An Iron Dome Active Missile Defence System battery is currently deployed near Eilat as part of its operational deployment program, which includes changing…

Syria’s opposition urged the UN Security Council on Friday to pass a binding resolution against Damascus, following reports by activists that regime forces massacred scores in the central province of Hama. Al-Jazeera quoted the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition bloc, as having said on Friday, “To stop this bloody madness which threatens the…

The Muslim war against Israel never stops: an IDF force shot dead an armed terrorist who tried to cross into Israel from Gaza near Kibbutz Erez Friday afternoon. A security source said that the IDF force identified an infiltration attempt. As soon as the soldiers verified that the infiltrator is an armed terrorist, the soldiers…

Military and police officials in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula said on Friday that two U.S. tourists have been abducted by a Bedouin seeking to pressure officials to release his detained relative. Officials told The Associated Press the two Americans, a man and a woman, were taken along with their Egyptian tour guide, in a mountainous region…

Hamas’ Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Friday that he is convinced the new Egyptian president, Mohammed Morsi, will protect Gaza against Israeli aggression. Haniyeh added that he is convinced that Morsi will open the borders between Gaza and Egypt and will remove the blockade. Channel 10 News quoted Haniyeh, who spoke during…

Israel’s immigration police have been granted the power to remove foreigners without permits from Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron), the Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday. According to the report, the head of the IDF’s Central Command has granted the interior ministry’s enforcement arm the power to arrest foreigners who have outstayed their visa. The…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas visited Saudi Arabia on Friday and met King Abdullah to seek urgent aid for his administration. AFP reported that the leaders, who met in Jeddah, discussed “the financial crisis of the Palestinian Authority (PA) which will no longer be able to pay its employees as Ramadan approaches,” The PA’s top…

Syria has begun moving parts of its vast arsenal of chemical weapons out of storage facilities, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal. The country has vast undeclared stockpiles of sarin nerve agent, mustard gas and cyanide, according to the report. American officials have different opinions regarding the logic behind the decision to move the…

The synagogue of Noisy-le-Grand of the Seine-Saint-Denis district in Paris, was vandalized on Wednesday night, in the third such incident within a ten-day period, The Algemeiner reported. “I am 73 years old and I cried like a child,” synagogue caretaker Maurice Zana told Anach Infos, a French-language Jewish news website. “They came to plunder, but…

Border Police officers shot and killed a man as he attempted to infiltrate Israel on Thursday night. The incident was under a gag order until Friday morning. A second man was shot and wounded in the incident. IDF commanders believe the two were attempting to smuggle drugs. The two were spotted by a patrol after…

The Senior Rabbi of the Havurat Yisrael Synogogue in Forest Hills, Queens served as guest chaplain for the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, leading the morning’s prayers.   Rabbi David Algaze, who accepted the invitation of Congressman Bob Turner (NY-09) to lead the prayers, delivered a message of strength, unity and prosperity to the…

Syria’s highest ranking diplomat to defect to the opposition dismissed on Thursday the main international plan seeking to stop the violence, saying that nothing short of President Bashar Assad’s ouster is acceptable. The Associated Press quoted Nawaf Fares, formerly Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, as having said only force can remove Assad. “There is no roadmap…

Dozens of Israelis from the town of Negohot in the Hevron Hills blocked roads Thursday in protest of terrorism. Residents of Negohot and other Hevron area Israeli towns say that Israel’s open roads policy puts their lives at risk. Three years ago Israel began opening highways in Judea and Samaria (Shomron) to Arabs living under…

Medical files released for the first time on Thursday portray former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat as a robust 75-year-old whose sudden health crisis, a month before his 2004 death, was initially blamed on viral gastroenteritis. Last week, a broadcast by Arab satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera said it had conducted a nine-month investigation into Arafat’s…

The United States has deployed a fleet of robot subs in the Gulf to prevent Iran from blocking the strategic Strait of Hormuz with mines in the event of a crisis, officials said Thursday. A Navy official told AFP that the “SeaFox” drone “has been deployed in the Fifth fleet AOR,” which includes the Persian…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz held a late night meeting on Thursday, in yet another attempt to prevent a crisis in the coalition over a new draft law. The meeting ended shortly after midnight (Israel time) without new agreements between the two, but they agreed to continue negotiations in order to…

Syrian government troops using tanks and helicopters massacred more than 100 people in the central province of Hama on Thursday. The chief of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP, “Government troops bombarded the village using tanks and helicopters.” Rahman put the death toll in the village of Treimsa at more…

The United States unleashed a fresh wave of sanctions against Iran on Thursday, ratcheting up pressure to convince Tehran to take seriously concerns about its suspected nuclear weapons program. The new actions impose additional sanctions on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile proliferation networks and identify Iranian “front” companies and banks to assist in compliance, the…

Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom said on Thursday that Israel is preparing for the possibility of military action in Syria, in case its chemical weapons were to end up in the hands of Hizbullah or other terrorist organizations in the region. Yatom spoke to the British Sky News, which reported that Israel is deeply concerned…

A former general of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards has accused the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of having blood on his hands over the brutal crackdown on the opposition. The British Guardian reported on Thursday that the former general described government claims that Iran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful as a “sheer lie.” The former…

For the first time in the IDF, a new unit of combat cameramen is to be established, composed of dozens of combat soldiers responsible for documenting the battlefield from within. After completing eight months of combat training with the Golani Infantry Brigade, the soldiers will join the new unit, which is currently forming inside the…

True joy and pride were at peak levels in Ben Gurion Airport Thursday morning as a planeload of olim from the United States arrived on a Nefesh B’Nefesh flight. “This is like 40 years of a dream coming true… love it!”… “Why do we do it? Because we looove Israel! Woooo!”… “It’s a fulfillment of…

The United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has decided to establish a chair at the Islamic University of Gaza. The decision came as a shock to the State of Israel, which expressed “consternation” at the news. “The Islamic University of Gaza is a known hothouse and breeding ground for Hamas terrorists,” Israel’s Foreign…

Turkey announced that it has not found traces of explosives on the ruins of a fighter jet it has claimed was downed by Syria, raising new questions about the incident that inflamed tensions between the two countries, AFP reported. “No traces of explosives or flammable products were found on the debris recovered from the sea,”…

About 10,000 homes in Nazareth received recorded phone messages from Our Land of Israel Chairman Baruch Marzel Thursday, ahead of the planned march by activists through the streets of Nazareth Sunday. In the message, Marzel addresses the residents of Nazareth with the IDF march playing in the background. “Marhaba! [‘Welcome’ in Arabic]. Residents of Nazareth,…

The Representative of the Irish Chair-in-Office of the Organisation for Security in Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton, has urged Bosnia to end practices of discrimination against its Roma and Jewish minorities, whose members cannot run for high elected office, AFP reported. “There is no excuse to discriminate against anyone, especially minorities,” Creighton…

A defamatory cartoon portraying Jewish worshippers praying before the New York Stock Exchange has won first prize in Iran’s annual “International Wall Street Downfall Cartoon Festival” on Monday. The festival was co-sponsored by Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency in an attempt to show solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement and “help people in the…

Dutch Jewish author Berthe Meijer, whose life intersected with Anne Frank’s, died on July 10, at the age of 74. Before the war, Meijer lived on the same Amsterdam street in a Jewish neighborhood where Frank attended a Montessori school. Their families both attempted to hide during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, but were…

Likud MK Danny Danon welcomed 229 new English-speaking immigrants to the Jewish State on Thursday, but noted there are still more illegal aliens flooding the country than new immigrants and encouraged Jews from outside the country to consider moving back “home.” While the arrival of the plane full of North American olim Thursday morning was…

German prosecutors have launched an investigation into a 91-year-old man suspected of taking part in a 1942 massacre of over 300 Jews from the Zhytomyr ghetto in Ukraine, a local daily reported Monday. “There is suspicion that this man is guilty of involvement in the murder of 360 people,” spokeswoman Petra Hertwig for the Cottbus…

Libya’s Islamists suffered a major defeat on their eastern home turf on Wednesday, with preliminary results giving a net advantage to a liberal coalition contesting party seats. AFP reported that in the eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that toppled former strongman Muammar Qaddafi last year, the liberal National Forces Alliance (NFA) took…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz met on Wednesday evening in an attempt to find a solution to the crisis created by the failure to find a mutually acceptable new draft law. Channel 10 News reported that the meeting ended without significant progress and the two agreed that Minister Moshe Ya’alon and…

The Lebanese authorities have suspended medical assistance to Syrian refugees in the north of the country, a government source said on Wednesday. “Assistance through the Higher Relief Council has been temporarily suspended,” an official in Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s office told AFP, adding that “the reason behind the suspension is technical, not political.” The official…

An Iron Dome anti-missile battery was placed in the city of Eilat this week, less than a month after the remains of a Grad rocket were located in the southern Arava, not far from the city. The IDF said that placing the battery in Eilat is an exercise which is part of a program testing…

A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a police academy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Wednesday, killing 20 people and wounding dozens more, a security official told AFP. “The suicide bomber blew himself up at the police academy in Sanaa and killed at least 20 people and wounded dozens,” the…

Officials in Ramallah on Wednesday slammed the Netanyahu government’s plans to accept the conclusion of the Levy Commission report on Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria. “We will not sign any peace agreement if there is a [single] settlement on Palestinian Land,” Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rodier said. The Levy report…

Syrian opposition forces appeal to Moscow for intervention after UN and Arab League efforts fail to stop the slaughter by government troops. Syrian rebel forces are appealing to Moscow for intervention after the United Nations and Arab League have both failed to stop President Bashar al-Assad from slaughtering his people. Leaders of the opposition Syrian…

U.S. officials claim they know the details regarding the Turkish jet downed by Syria last month, but refuse to reveal them to the public. “Those in the American government who need to know [details] know them,” a U.S. Foreign Affairs official told Hurriyet Daily. “But we will make no statements about the topics in question.”  Declining…

Two Iranians, suspected of being members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, an elite and secretive unit that acts against foreign interests, have been accused of planning attacks on Israeli, American, British or Saudi Arabian interests in the country. They allegedly shipped more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of powerful explosive into the…

The Palestinian Authority said the Obama administration has warned it will cut aid if it goes to the United Nations again for recognition. In Congress, opposition to aiding the Palestinian Authority was fueled by charges that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has “lined his pockets.” Khaled Mesmar, a Palestinian Authority official of the Political Committee of…

Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court froze on Tuesday a presidential decree reinstating the Islamist-led parliament, hours after the lower house convened in defiance of the judiciary and military. “The court ordered the freeze of the president’s decree,” AFP quoted a judicial source as having said, adding that it “ordered that its previous ruling be implemented.” The…

President Shimon Peres came under fire on Tuesday for criticizing the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron) and saying it threatened Israel’s Jewish majority. Peres, who spoke during a memorial ceremony for the founder of Zionism, Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl, said, “Israeli settlement in territories that are densely populated with Arab population,…

The representative organization of British Jewry has condemned the Church of England’s Synod for choosing to “promote an inflammatory and partisan programme at the expense of its interfaith relations.” (For A7’s Giulio Meotti explaining the story behind the vote, click here.) In a strongly worded statement, the president of the Board of Deputies expressed its…

Lebanon on Tuesday began sending troops to the frontier with violence-torn Syria after deadly attacks in the region. “Yes, we have started to reinforce our troops, and the operation will take us a week to 10 days to complete,” an army spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity. The cabinet decided on Monday evening to…

Honoring the Sabbath is more important for President Shimon Peres than attending the opening of the Summer Olympics. The games in London are to open in three weeks on Friday evening, the beginning of the Sabbath. The office of the President issued a statement Tuesday saying, “The President of Israel will not attend the of…

UN special envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Iraq on Tuesday as he continues his barnstorming tour of the Mideast in hopes of ending violence in Syria. Annan touched down in Baghdad on Tuesday after a one-day trip to Iran, a key Damascus ally. “My presence here proves that I believe Iran can play a positive…

Iran has been forced to shut off wells in its expansive oil fields as Western sanctions reduce Tehran’s vital crude oil exports by as much as 30%. Tehran’s current production levels to lows not seen in more than two decades, which has cost Iran billions in lost revenues. Iran struggled to sell its oil in…