News

News Digest — 5/23/19

With preliminary results indicating that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is headed for another five-year term, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasted no time in congratulating the leader who has brought…

News Digest — 5/22/19

A Palestinian businessman who flouts political taboos by working with Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria could soon have a role in US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan. While Palestinian officials have…

News Digest — 5/21/19

A bipartisan letter signed by nearly 400 members from both sides of the aisle in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate was sent to US President Donald Trump on Monday (20th), calling on him to address…

News Digest — 5/20/19

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations over the weekend welcomed the approval of the groundbreaking German resolution that describes the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)…

News Digest — 5/17/19

Hamas ordered Palestinian demonstrators in the Gaza Strip who regularly participate in the weekly March of Return to stay home Friday (17th), according to a report on Army Radio Friday morning.Channel 13 News…

News Digest — 5/16/19

Marking the 71st anniversary of Nakba Day, Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday (15th) vowed to foil U.S. President Donald Trump’s upcoming plan for peace in the Middle East, also known…

Victims or Perpetrators?

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has raised a furor over her comment that she receives “a kind of calming feeling when I think of the Holocaust.” She says, “I mean all of it was to create a kind of safe haven, post…

News Digest — 5/15/19

Israeli security forces and communities near the Gaza border prepared for thousands of Palestinians to take part in Nakba Day demonstrations along the security fence surrounding the coastal enclave on Wednesday…

News Digest — 5/14/19

The tanker attackers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates were the result of “Israeli mischief,” an Iranian parliamentary spokesman said on Tuesday (14th) according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)…

News Digest — 5/13/19

A new report has found that Israelis are increasingly suffering from symptoms of traumatic stress, particularly in the south, which is frequently targeted with rockets by Palestinian terrorists…

News Digest — 5/10/19

Police took security measures and precautions, remaining on high-alert over Friday (10th) in and around the Old City of Jerusalem as visitors arrived and prayers commenced on the Temple Mount for the first Friday…

News Digest — 5/9/19

On Thursday morning (9th), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Rivlin and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.Gen. Aviv Kochavi attended a ceremony awarding medals of excellence to 120 male and female soldiers chosen…

News Digest — 5/8/19

Sirens sounded nationwide at 8: p.m. on Tuesday (7th) as Israelis halted and stood silently with heads bowed for a solemn moment in memory of the dead, at the beginning of the Jewish state’s Yom Hazikaron, the…

News Digest — 5/7/19

Israel’s Memorial Day will be marked with a series of solemn ceremonies starting at sundown on Tuesday (7th).  The Day of Remembrance officially begins at 8:00 p.m. when a one-minute siren will sound throughout…

News Digest — 5/6/19

A ceasefire went into effect at 4:30 a.m. on Monday morning (6th) between Israel and Hamas, although no formal announcement has yet been made.The IDF, however, signaled it had agreed to a ceasefire as it declared…

News Digest — 5/3/19

The number of Israeli casualties of war stand at 23,741 as of May 2019, according to figures published by the Defense Ministry on Friday (3rd) ahead of Memorial Day next week. Since last Memorial Day, 96 new names…

May Their Memory be a Blessing

Today is Yom HaShoah, the memorial to the Holocaust. Following the liberation of the camps, General Dwight Eisenhower summoned business leaders, politicians, community leaders, and others in influential positions…

News Digest — 5/2/19

According to reports from the Israeli military, Gaza-based Palestinian terrorists launched two rockets into Israel in the early morning hours of Thursday (2nd), Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Both fell in open areas without…

News Digest — 5/1/19

We, the commanders and soldiers of the IDF – past, present and future – comprise the defensive forces that the 6 million fallen prayed for. Eighty years have passed since World War II began, the biggest war of the…

News Digest — 4/30/19

Israel is accusing the Islamic Jihad terror group, backed by Iran, of firing a rocket from Gaza toward Israel on Monday night (29th) in an attempt to sabotage a fragile cessation of violence between the Jewish state and…

News Digest — 4/29/19

Two of the people injured by a gunman who burst into a Chabad synagogue on Saturday (27th) in California had left the Israeli city of Sderot after surviving rocket hits from Gaza on their home. During the attack…

News Digest — 4/26/19

Tens of thousands of Israelis took advantage of fair weather on Friday (26th), Pesach Sheni (Second Passover holiday), to visit the country’s nature reserves and national parks. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority estimated that…

Protecting Their Own

No stranger to terror, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “expressed deep shock over the murderous attacks against innocent civilians in Sri Lanka, and Israel stands ready to assist the people of Sri Lanka…

News Digest — 4/25/19

Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau on Thursday (25th) issued a travel warning for Israelis planning to visit Sri Lanka, saying there was a “high and concrete” chance of a terror attack. The Bureau has set a Level-2 travel warning…

News Digest — 4/24/19

If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has his way, alongside Katzrin, Ramot and Ramat Magshimim on the Golan Heights, there may someday soon be a community named Kiryat Trump….

News Digest — 4/23/19

Tens of thousands of Israelis crossed the border to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula ahead of the Passover holiday this week, seeking a non-traditional break and defying government warnings that signaled a high-level of terror attacks…

News Digest — 4/22/19

Tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims made their way to the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday (22nd) for a twice-annual blessing ceremony, held under heavy police guard. The blessing was recited twice…

News Digest — 4/18/19

Normally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wouldn’t be the name one immediately associates with pop stars or soccer athletes, but all have at least one thing in common.  They made the list of TIME magazine’s top…

Beresheet, 2.0!

“We started something, and we need to finish it. We will plant our flag on the moon!” And with those words, SpaceIL chairman Morris Kahn announced his intention to begin immediately on Beresheet 2…

News Digest — 4/17/19

On Tuesday (16th), the Trump administration’s special envoy for Middle East negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, released an updated map of Israel that now includes the Golan Heights.“Welcome to the newest addition of our…

News Digest — 4/16/19

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has received the backing of an absolute majority of the incoming Knesset Tuesday (16th), effectively ensuring he is tasked with the formation of the 35th Israeli government…

News Digest — 4/15/19

“We will continue to act on all fronts, including on the northern front, because we are not prepared to allow someone to establish power and endanger the State of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said…

News Digest — 4/12/19

Israelis prize stability, as well as the military and economic security that Benjamin Netanyahu has delivered.  Though in many ways they have never been safer, they remain afraid – especially of Iran and its influence…

One Giant Leap for a Small Country

Today, April 11, 2019, Israel makes history as it becomes the fourth country to land on the moon. The other three are the United States, the Soviet Union, and China…

News Digest — 4/11/19

With the elections in the rearview mirror, Israelis are now focusing on the moon. The Israeli spacecraft Beresheet, or Genesis, is scheduled to touch down on the moon’s surface on Thursday night (11th) in Israel…

News Digest — 4/10/19

It was a tense national election day on Tuesday (9th), with the 10: p.m. exit polls showing the new Blue and White party standing neck and neck with Likud. Just after 3: a.m. Wednesday morning (10th), however…

News Digest — 4/9/19

Israel votes: More than six million Israeli citizens are realizing their democratic right and are voting in the elections for the 21st Knesset on Tuesday (9th).Around 10,000 polling stations in the country opened at 7:00 a.m…

News Digest — 4/8/19

The Israeli military announced that it will shut down all crossings into Israel from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Tuesday (9th), for the national elections, as is standard practice during festivals and holidays…

Israeli Elections This Week

Israelis will go to the polls Tuesday, April 9th, to vote for the political party they believe will push Israel forward. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party and the Blue and White party led by former IDF General…

News Digest — 4/5/19

Palestinian organizers of the ongoing protests along the Gaza border have said the armed factions in the enclave have called for Friday’s (5th) demonstrations to be nonviolent, as part of an emerging ceasefire deal with…

News Digest — 4/4/19

Thirty-seven years after the Battle of Sultan Yaqub during the First Lebanon War, the body of one of the MIA IDF soldiers has been returned to Israel.A special team of the IDF headed by the leader of the manpower…

Destroying a Legacy

Near Jericho, hikers recently uncovered the largest burial ground in Israel. The burial caves date back to the Second Temple era, and “are apparently part of a Hasmonean palace burial ground…

News Digest — 4/3/19

A Palestinian terrorist was shot by an Israeli citizen on Wednesday morning (3rd) near the Arab city of Nablus in Samaria, the Israel Defense Forces reports.The incident occurred on Route 60 near the village of Hawara…

News Digest — 4/2/19

A Palestinian terrorist was shot and killed by Israel Defense Forces during riots on Monday night (1st) in northern Jerusalem, according to Arab media reports.The terrorist was identified as Mohammed Adwan, 23, from Qalandia…

News Digest — 4/1/19

The first-of-its-kind deployment of America’s most advanced missile defense system in Israel was completed to the satisfaction of both militaries on Sunday (3/31) after a month of practice-runs dealing with a variety of…

Recognition of the Golan Heights

US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina said he will urge Congress to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Israel captured the Golan Heights from the Syrians…

News Digest — 3/29/19

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday (27th) made his first public appearance since Israel destroyed his office in a retaliatory air strike this week, claiming victory over “Zionist arrogence.” Haniyeh visited the rubble…

Israel Has the World’s Longest Salt Cave

In the 1980’s at Mt. Sedom in the Dead Sea area, Malham Cave was discovered. Initial explorations of this salt cave began with “tape measures and compasses…

News Digest — 3/28/19

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) on Wednesday night (27th) carried out a massive strike against Iranian military targets inside Syria, Arab media sources reported.Syria’s state SANA reported that the Syrian air defense…

News Digest — 3/27/19

A sense of tense-quiet appeared to be holding Wednesday (27th) between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, despite limited exchanges of fire.  A number of overnight rocket attacks from Gaza…

News Digest — 3/26/19

The IDF delivered a “very, very powerful” blow against Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. before flying back to Israel Monday night (25th)…

News Digest — 3/25/19

An early morning rocket from the Gaza Strip, Monday (25th), struck a house in central Israel, wounding seven people, an attack that could set off another round of violence shortly before the Israeli election…

Temple Mount Closures

The terror group Hamas encouraged Palestinians to protest Israel’s closure of the Temple Mount compound. This, after a Palestinian threw a fire bomb at an Israeli police station located on the Temple Mount…

Breaking Tradition at the Wailing Wall

As with much of Israel the Old City and the Wailing Wall have been a source of tension for visiting dignitaries. Often, they have not gone to the Wall lest it showed ‘tacit acceptance,’ toward Israel’s ownership of the area…

News Digest — 3/23/19

The Israel Defense Forces is preparing for tens of thousands of Palestinians to gather along the Israel-Gaza border next weekend, as they join a Hamas ‘million man march’ to mark the one-year anniversary of the “March…

News Digest — 3/22/19

During a visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Israel on Wednesday (20th), the White House announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be welcomed in Washington over two days next…

News Digest — 3/21/19

An IDF soldier seriously wounded in a terrorist attack in Samaria on Sunday (17th) has regained consciousness and has started to communicate, according to a report in Walla News. Nineteen-year-old Alexander…

News Digest — 3/20/19

Rabbi Achiad Ettinger, who was critically hurt in Sunday’s (17th) terror attack in the West Bank, has died of his wounds, his family said Monday (18th).The rabbi was critically wounded, and while doctors at Beilinson…

News Digest — 3/19/19

The IDF soldier killed Sunday morning (17th) in a West Bank shooting attack was Staff Sergeant Gal Keidan, aged 19, from Beersheba.A combat soldier, Keidan was killed when a Palestinian attacker stabbed him and seized…

News Digest — 3/18/19

After striking over 100 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday (15th), the Israeli army announced its targets had included a Gaza City building used to plan and command Hamas terror activities, an underground…

US Support for Israel Drops

A new Gallup poll showed American support for Israel fell to the lowest point in a decade. In 2018, 65% of Americans said they were more sympathetic to Israel over the Palestinians…

The Island of an Uneasy Peace

For nearly 70 years Israeli farmers have worked the fields near the border of Jordan and Israel. The fields,  Naharyim and Tzofarl, Jordan leases to Israel, “As part of the peace deal, Israeli farmers could continue to work…

News Digest — 3/15/19

According to IDF intelligence, Hezbollah is marshaling a terror cell just across the Israeli border in a Druze village in Syria called Khader.  Statements issued by the IDF maintain that the Hezbollah operatives set up the…

News Digest — 3/14/19

More violence was reported on the Temple Mount on Tuesday, (12th) amid rising tensions over recent weeks. An Israeli Police statement said that “three suspects who hurled a Molotov cocktail at a police post on the…

News Digest — 3/13/19

A Palestinian was indicted in the Judea Military Court on Monday (11th) for murdering two IDF soldiers and a baby, and for around a dozen attempted murder counts in a series of horrific terror attacks in the West Bank…

News Digest — 3/12/19

A balloon launched from Gaza carried an anti-tank missile warhead into Israel early Saturday (9th), representing a new stage in the airborne attacks that have remained a key feature of the Hamas terror group’s year-long…

News Digest — 3/11/19

Israeli warplanes bombed a Hamas naval post in the Gaza Strip early Thursday (7th), hours after a mortar shell was fired from the Palestinian enclave at southern Israel, the army said.“Fighter jets and aircraft struck several…

News Digest — 3/8/19

Two explosive devices attached to bunches of balloons were launched from the Gaza Strip Wednesday (6th) and detonated above a community in the southern Israeli Eshkol region.The blasts caused neither injury or…

Israel Joins Elite Company

Only three nations have sent a rocket to the moon; The United States, Russia, and China. You can now add a fourth country to that list, as on February 22 Israel launched its space craft, Bereshit (Genesis)…

News Digest — 3/7/19

The Jerusalem Magistrates Court has decided to issue a closure order against a structure set up by the Waqf Islamic Trust on the Temple Mount if the Trust does not respond to a petition submitted by the police and…

News Digest — 3/6/19

An Israeli Defense Forces officer was critically wounded in a ramming attack near Jerusalem early Monday morning (4th), which also left a Border Police officer lightly wounded.  A Molotov cocktail was also thrown at…

News Digest — 3/5/19

The Israeli army said Saturday evening (2nd) its aircraft fired at targets in the southern Gaza Strip in response to a cluster of balloons attached to an incendiary device that was launched from the Strip toward Israel…

News Digest — 3/4/19

”Over the past three weeks the Palestinians in Gaza have launched a lot of balloons and because they do it at night, it’s hard to stop it,” said Rachel Danzig, whose home in the Eshkol region…

Abbas Refuses Tax Refunds from Israel

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority has rejected all tax revenue payments given to them by Israel. The decision to reject more than $222 million…

News Digest — 3/1/19

Israeli security forces on Wednesday (27th) arrested Zakaria Zubeidi, a former Palestinian leader long sought by Israeli law enforcement, on suspicion that he was engaged in “serious and current terrorist activities,” the…

News Digest — 2/28/19

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left late Tuesday evening (26th) for a 24-hour trip to Moscow and a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he characterized as “very important” for Israel’s security…

Charred Fields Blossom Again

Last summer the Palestinians along the Gaza border sent balloons and kites attached with flammable material into Israel, setting 7,000 acres of mostly farmland ablaze. After extinguishing the flames, the charred land…

News Digest — 2/27/19

The mayor of Pittsburgh visited the site of a memorial to the victims of the attack on the city’s Tree of Life synagogue building and planted an olive tree next to the plaque. The memorial plaque was placed at the Keren…

News Digest — 2/26/19

The Jerusalem Waqf Council announced Sunday (24th) that a section of the Temple Mount that was closed by Israel in 2003 will remain open, even after the arrest of two senior officials. The announcement came shortly…

News Digest — 2/25/19

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, on Wednesday (20th) wrote a letter to the Security Council calling on it to act against the threat posed by Iran’s ballistic missile program. In the letter, Danon noted that…

Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic Tweets

Freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Democrat from Minnesota’s Fifth District, has posted a series of anti-Semitic tweets accusing Israel supporters in Congress of being financially beholden to AIPAC, the American…

News Digest — 2/22/19

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office on Tuesday (19th), “Eighty Jewish graves were desecrated with Nazi symbols by wild anti-Semites.” Netanyahu called on the leaders of France…

Christian Warriors in the IDF

Christians in Israel make up about 2 percent of the population, numbering about 175,000. While representing many denominations including Orthodox, Evangelical, Baptist, and more, some are descendants…

News Digest — 2/21/19

Two fires broke out Tuesday (19th) in the Kissufim Forest in the Eshkol Regional Council, near the Israeli border with Gaza, due to an incendiary device tied to a balloon launched from Gaza – the first such arson case at…

News Digest — 2/20/19

The IDF soldier who was injured by a bomb thrown by Arab rioters in the Gaza Strip Sunday night (17th) has been identified as Yoad Zaguri, an American immigrant and lone soldier…

News Digest — 2/19/19

WARSAW, Poland — Four Arab foreign ministers who spoke at the Warsaw Middle East Summit affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against Iranian aggression, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday (14th)…

Kushner Middle East Meeting

White House senior advisor Jared Kushner will be headed to the Middle East this month to inform diplomats in Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar on the economic section of the U.S. proposal…

News Digest — 2/15/19

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Poland early Wednesday (13th) to join senior officials from 60 nations at the Warsaw Summit on Peace and Security in the Middle East, which is organized by the United States…

News Digest — 2/14/19

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran Tuesday (12th) that Israeli missiles can travel “very far,” on the eve of a conference in Poland about peace and security in the Middle East. Speaking during a visit to a…

Cancer Sniffing Dogs

In recent days Israel’s medical research has come very close to discovering a cure for cancer. In a similar story, Israel has dogs that can, incredibly, sniff out cancer in its earliest stages. “The name of the laboratory is…

News Digest — 2/13/19

The prime suspect in the brutal rape and death of 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher was arraigned in a Jerusalem court on Monday (11th) and charged with murder.  Arafat Irfayia, 29, showed no signs of remorse and appeared…

News Digest — 2/12/19

Israeli security forces early Saturday (9th) arrested a Palestinian man suspected in the brutal murder of 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher who was found dead on Thursday (7th) in a forest on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The Shin…

News Digest — 2/11/19

Alert sirens sounded Wednesday evening (6th) in a number of Gaza border communities as a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open field in southern Israel. The projectile reportedly fell in the area of…

News Digest — 2/8/19

US President Donald Trump tackled anti-Semitism in the midst of his second State of the Union address, Tuesday night (5th). Not only did the American president underscore America’s strong ties with Israel, but he…

Slay for Pay Continues

Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to continue what is called “Slay for Pay”. This payment rewards families whose relatives kill or injure Israeli Jews. This has provided Palestinian families 138 million dollars in 2018, according…

February 7, 2019

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Moscow later this month for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first formal meeting since Russia blamed Israel for the downing of a military aircraft by Syrian…

February 6, 2019

Visiting Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen told his Israeli counterpart, Reuven Rivlin, on Monday (4th) that his nation shares responsibility for the Holocaust and is striving to ensure that Jews everywhere can live…

February 5, 2019

The Israeli military have a unit prepared to leave at a moment’s notice anywhere in the world a natural disaster strikes. They have had stellar operations in Haiti, the Philippines, Nepal, Japan, and now they can count Brazil…

February 4, 2019

This winter, excavations in the Qumran area of Israel were underway searching in new caves for insights on the community who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls and to possibly find new manuscripts. The team was led by…

February 1, 2019

Iran launches cyberattacks against Israel “on a daily basis,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday (29th) at the Cybertech Conference in Tel Aviv. “We monitor these attacks.  We see them and we foil them all…