In the upcoming days, the US and the Egyptian Air Forces will run a joint 10-day training exercise. The goal of the exercise is to share knowledge and expertise on joint offensive actions. There is no word on who the joint imaginary enemy will be. The US team arrived yesterday at the Egyptian army base […]
Analysts found that among the 19 million followers that President Obama has on Twitter, 30% are fake accounts, and another 40% are inactive accounts. Mitt Romney on the other hand has only 900,000 Twitter followers, but only 15% of his are fake, and 30% are inactive. Source: Mashable
Reuters reports that Egypt plans to replace the tanks it embedded into the Sinai with armored personnel carriers.
Video: Syrian Martyr Brigade rebels show off the crashed remains of a Syrian Mig and its pilot, after claiming to have shot it down.
By Tibbi Singer
Israel's Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Minister of Religious Affairs Yaakov Margi and the Chief Rabbinate Council to explain why they not allow single women to immerse in state-run mikvahs.
By JTA
Haredi rabbis in New York are accusing the city's Department of Health of "spreading lies" in order to pass a law mandating that parents sign a consent waiver in order to use the circumcision-related rite of metzitzah b'peh. The health department is scheduled to vote next week on the waiver for the use of direct […]
By JTA
Israel's transportation minister has threatened to withdraw funding for a Tel Aviv bicycle rental project if it allows the bicycles to be used on Yom Kippur. Israel Katz said Sunday that the operating of the Tel-O-Fun project on Yom Kippur "is crossing a red line and breaking all the norms. The Tel-o-Fun project is important, […]
By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency
According to Dr. Eldad Pardo, a senior researcher at IMPACT-SE, (Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education) and a teacher at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, hateful language against Israel is characteristic of the themes taught in Palestinian Authority school textbooks. “Jewish holy places in Israel are not recognized. They are presented as Muslim holy sites taken over by Jews. There is no recognition of Jewish people as a nation. Israelis are depicted as criminals and thieves.”
An article in the August 28 "Foreign Policy Journal" entitled "US Preparing for a Post-Israel Middle East" claims to be based on a leaked document from a CIA staffer, commissioned by the US Intelligence Community, comprised of all four branches of the military, the Coast Guard, the Departments of State, Treasury, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI and the National Security Agency. The document "conclusively reveals" that the CIA thinks Israel is the greatest threat on the face of the Earth to the interests of the United States.
Last night, Defense Minsiter Ehud Barak decided that Nitzan Allon, head of the IDF Central Command, will not sign his approval for Ariel University to be recognized as a fully accredited university. This decision brought about a very angry reaction from right wing government factions.
"The blood of the Oslo murdered is a thousand times more dear to me than the tears dropped for the one who killed them, with help from the Arabs."
The sale of a 185-room hotel at the entrance of Jerusalem on August 16 was not just a 17.5 million dollar real estate acquisition by Australian multi-millionaire Kevin Bermeister, but one investment in a broader and more calculated strategy to make Jerusalem a global tourism capital. Up next: a subway system servicing the Old City and a Jerusalem International Airport in the nearby desert.
The Egyptian army has slowed down its all-out attack on terrorist enclaves in the Sinai, several weeks after its initial, aggressive spurt on August 5. The terrorist culprits who murdered 15 Egyptian Border Guards remain at large, and the lack of progress appears rooted in political uncertainty back in Cairo. Here's one unexpected aspect of what was touted as a jihad against the murderers: the Egyptian government is going through unofficial channels, employing negotiators to talk to the Sinai terrorists. This has enraged the secular law and order types at home.
At the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel "would need to tighten our belt" because of the global economic crisis, but that the government has taken action to increase social welfare programs and save families money.
By JTA
The Israeli daily Ma'ariv, which has been in existence since 1948, will cease its daily print edition, and will instead provide only internet news during the week. The weekend Ma'ariv edition will be sold every Friday and on holidays, according to the newspaper's editor. No exact date for the changes has been announced. The board […]
By JTA
Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles confirmed that he will deliver the invocation at the Wednesday evening session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. His sermon will focus on the ideals animating the United States, Wolpe said, and will precede speeches by Elizabeth Warren, Democratic candidate for the U.S. […]
Following Naftali Bennett's reported statement that he won't allow three-fourths of the National Union party to run with the Jewish Home, American-born candidates for the Jewish Home party’s Knesset list Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel say they would rather see a merger of the two National Religious parties even if it costs them their chance at the Knesset.
Following the High Court of Justice's ruling from last week, the residents of the community of Migron, in the Benyamin region, were forcibly removed from their homes this morning. Large police forces arrived at the community early this morning, knocking on doors and serving the residents a court order to evacuate their homes. A few families offered passive resistance, but most of the fifty families left on their own accord.
Police uncovered attempt to poison and kill a Jewish family in Raanana in what they are calling a criminal/nationalist attack.
It's official. The 64 year old Israeli newspaper Maariv is officially stopping its daily print edition and will go digital only, with a printed edition only on the weekends.
Israel Army Radio reports that the army has completed distributing eviction notices to the residents of Migron. One resident announced that he will not be expelled from his home quietly. Dozens of activists who arrived overnight to support the Migron residents are currently surrounded by "Yassam" police inside one of the buildings.
After the Supreme Court finally ordered to evacuate the residents of the Judea and Samaria village of Migron from their homes by September 4, some families have begun on Saturday night to leave their homes voluntarily. For the first time since the court's decision, dozens of police officers and IDF soldiers have moved into the community. The soldiers arrived before dawn and blocked the village entrance. Some residents have barricaded themselves in their homes and refuse to leave.
By Zev Hurwitz, Israel Campus Beat
In 2002, California State University system cancelled study abroad programs in Israel due to U.S. State Department warnings. The University has 23 campuses in different cities throughout California and almost 427,000 students.
Evergreen State College, where Rachel Corrie attended college, is a paradigm of the progressive cause-based model of education and has produced a high number of the anti-Israel International Solidarity Movement's activists.
Aryeh Eldad wrote on his Facebook page that from what he knows, the settlement of Migron will be forcibly evacuated by security forces on Sunday morning. He calls on Migron supporters to make their way to Migron to try to prevent the expulsion, and not to use violence against the security forces. Eldad adds that after Migron, […]
For the first time in 2,000 years, there will be no Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services at the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Alexandria in 5773, reports Daniel Greenfield in "In The Point." This was the last active synagogue in Egypt. The Egyptian authorities' excuse for the shut-down, effectively outlawing High Holiday services in the […]
In the wake of Egyptian President Morsi's recent visit to China, Morsi returns to Egypt with 8 partnership deals and a 71 million dollars gift to his government. The deals are in the fields of agriculture, environment, communications, tourism, as well as to import Chinese cars for the Egyptian police force. One of the deals […]
As a result of the change in the law, the IDF is putting together a number of subtracts specifically for Haredim, though no new “Haredi Only” divisions or brigades will be created. Some of the units have women serving in them, and the IDF says the role of women will not be negatively impacted by the introduction of Haredim who prefer not to interact socially with women beyond what is allowed by their community's mores.
The remaining two Bat Ayin children, ages 12 and 13, accused of firebombing an Arab taxi were released from police custody on Friday morning without charges. They will remain under house arrest for one additional week. The third child, age 12, who was released without any additional conditions a few days ago reported that the […]
By JTA
Israeli Paralympic swimmer Inbal Pezaro finally brought Israel its first medal in London. Pezaro, 25, took a bronze in the 50-meter freestyle final in the S5 disability swimming class. She finished with 37.89 seconds, coming in respectively behind a Ukranian and a Spanish swimmer. The athlete, swimming since the age of 5, was paralyzed at […]
By JTA
After an attack on a rabbi in Berlin, Gideon Joffe, the head of the Berlin Jewish community, said he would "not recommend that any Jew go around in parts of Berlin with a kipah." On Tuesday, Rabbi Daniel Alter of Berlin was violently attacked while picking up his daughter from a piano lesson. He currently […]
By JTA
Iran has doubled its production of uranium enrichment centrifuges at one of its underground facilities. The expansion, reported by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, comes amidst mounting pressure from the West and increased talk of a preemptive attack by Israel, which believes Iran has a clandestine nuclear weapons program. The number of enrichment centrifuges […]
By JTA
President Obama’s approach to Iran has made Americans “less secure,” Mitt Romney said in his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination. “Every American was relieved the day President Obama gave the order, and Seal Team Six took out Osama bin Laden,” Romney said Thursday evening at the Republican National Convention. “On another front, every American […]
U.S. taxpayers traveling to the United States with unpaid U.S. tax assessments can be detained at the border, questioned, and flagged for follow-up enforcement. If a taxpayer has an unpaid tax liability and is subject to a resulting Notice of Federal Tax Lien, the IRS may submit identifying taxpayer information to the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), a database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
UPDATE: 7:30 AM - Police forced destroyed the 5 buildings of Ramat Migron, and then moved over to the Oz Zion outpost, and destroyed two building there. Altogether 3 minors were arrested. ---------- An unusually large number of police officers, SWAT and border police arrived at the Ramat Migron outpost at 2:15 Friday morning. Ramat […]
By Tibbi Singer
It’s been more than six years that attorney Dov Weisglass, Ariel Sharon's chief of staff and one of his closest confidants, is convinced that what caused Sharon’s collapse, in addition to the blood thinning drugs he was taking at the time, was a broadcast on Channel 10 Television the night before, about corruption investigations against the prime minister.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to speak at the U.N. General Assembly next month in order to speak “the truth about Iran’s regime of terror,” which he said “constitutes the greatest threat to world peace.”
On Thursday evening Arabs launched a massive rock attack on Israeli cars driving on Highway 60, near Ofra. Numerous cars were damaged and one Israeli was injured. MDA services treated the injured Israeli on the spot and then evacuated him to a hospital. IDF forces are searching the area for the rock throwers.
Avraham and Moshe Tischler, 20-somethings brothers and ambitious political neophytes, recently met with The Jewish Press editorial board to discuss their current political plans and future prospects.
By dvora
Just days before the entire world stands before the great Judge on Rosh Hashanah, Democrats of the 5th district of Brooklyn will be casting their votes in the primary election for civil court judge. Shlomo Mostofsky, private attorney and former president of the National Council of Young Israel (NCYI), is currently campaigning to secure the post as judge.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's opponent, Democrat Bill Pascrell Jr., signed the infamous Gaza 54 letter blasting Israel for what it called "collective punishment" of Gazans.
Honenu, the Israeli legal rights and aid organization announced that the two remaining minors from Bat Ayin who were arrested by police on suspicion of being involved in the August 16th firebomb attack on the Arab taxi will be released on Friday morning.
IDF Spokespersons Office: Sergeant Yonatan Ben-Yishai, 20, died of his wounds Thursday morning. Ben -Yishai was injured on Monday during a training exercise in Golan Heights.
From initial reports it appears that the man was engaging in auto theft at the time and threatened the police officer with a knife prior to being shot. He was shot in the neck, and ran a few yards before dropping dead. The exact circumstances of the incident are currently being investigated by Machash—Dept of Policemen Investigation, the police internal affairs unit of the Justice Ministry.
By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency
Over 300 young science geniuses from across Asia and the Pacific participated in the sixth Asian Science Camp (ASC) in Jerusalem this past week. It was Israel’s first time hosting the science camp, which is typically held in Asia. Students arrived from 23 different countries-- including nations which don't have diplomatic relations with Israel.
A suspected terrorist snuck over the Jordan border late Wednesday night and into a Jordan Valley settlement. Residents have been told to stay indoors while security forces search for him. Update: The infiltrator was caught at 2:00AM on Thursday.
So far, one of the Bat Ayin minors, ages 12-13, arrested in suspicion of throwing the firebomb on the Arab taxi has been released. The Legal Rights organization Honenu reports that the police have not allowed the two other children, still being detained, to talk with lawyers. They furthermore claim that the police are not […]
A 53-year old Jewish Rabbi walking with his daughter south of Berlin was attacked by four youths, possibly Arabs. According to reports, one of the youths asked the Rabbi if he was Jewish. After answering in the affirmative, the youths blocked his exit, attacked him, and threatened to kill his daughter. The Rabbi was hospitalized […]
Israeli police are concluding an investigation that a senior official in the Ministry of Defense embezzled more than NIS 2 million earmarked for defense purposes. Details of the investigation have not yet been publicized.
Levi Aron, who killed and dismembered 8 year old Leiby Kletzky in July 2011 pleaded guilty to kidnapping and killing Kletzky, in return he received 40 years to life in prison. Leiby Kletzky had been walking home from his Brooklym camp when, after getting lost, asked Aron, a store clerk, for directions. Aron then kidnapped […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Iran a “disgrace” to humanity, during a meeting with the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Germany, David McAllister.
Recognizing the growing popularity of Mediterranean accented dairy products among the health conscious, Tnuva has announced the debut of a new "taste" within its series of Labaneh low-fat sour cheese spreads.
By JTA
Edon Pinchot, a kipah-wearing Jewish day school student, won cheers from the live audience and the judges in the semifinals of "America’s Got Talent." Pinchot, 14, of Skokie, Ill., performed One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” on the popular NBC reality show and received a standing ovation from the live audience. Judge Howie Mandel told […]
By JTA
Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the Judea and Samaria outpost of Migron must be evacuated by Sept. 4.
By Ben Sales
TEL AVIV – Like any of the Israeli army's combat battalions, the soldiers of Netzach Yehuda faced a 60-mile hike during basic training meant to simulate battle conditions.
JERUSALEM – According to Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, Israel’s Military Intelligence head, the Jewish state will face a more unstable and Islamist environment than in previous times. This is being fueled by the unchecked rise of radical Islam, and could force Israel into unwanted conflicts.
By Ben Sales
As the frequency of suicide bombings increased in the 1990s, Israelis began to realize that their conflicts had shifted from the conventional battlefield to their streets, buses and cafes.
By Tibbi Singer
If we would examine several reality shows in the context of human experiments, it’s doubtful if it were permitted under the Helsinki Declaration."
By JTA
The Migron outpost in the West Bank was not evacuated as scheduled.
By JTA
Lily Hyde will leave the Sir Moses Montefiore Jewish Home in Sydney on Wednesday morning for Tel Aviv, where she will be reunited with her family. She is believed to be the oldest Australian ever to immigrate to Israel.
By JTA
A Jewish student at Michigan State University said he was attacked at an off-campus party in what he is calling a hate crime.
By JTA
Edon Pinchot, a kipah-wearing Jewish day school student, will be performing in the semifinals of "America’s Got Talent."
By JTA
A silver menorah stolen from a rabbi’s Brooklyn home was returned. The 3-foot menorah belonging to Rabbi Yehezkel Zion was stolen last week from the family’s Borough Park home.
By JTA
Gilad Shalit marked his first birthday since being freed from Hamas captivity.
By JTA
Republican senators plan to introduce a non-binding resolution pledging military, economic and diplomatic backing for Israel should it strike Iran.
By Tibbi Singer
“Rav Ovadia Yosef is not what the newspapers make him out to be. Rav Ovadia uses his influence on the Israeli public and also on the Israeli government,” Rabbi Fruman told the Palestinian officials. Abbas addressed the Iranian threat against Israel, and, surprisingly, expressed his objection to permitting Iran to possess a nuclear bomb, thus dragging the entire region into great danger.
Delegates to the Republican Convention have been pouring into Tampa for the last several days. The delegates have been pouring in, but thus far, despite predictions that Hurricane Isaac might bring with it heavy rain and driving winds, there has been 'nary a cloud in the sky. Lynne Kessler Lechter serves on the National Women's Committee of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Lechter told The Jewish Press that on Saturday night she attended a dinner for Republican Jewish Coalition leadership at the home of Ambassador Mel and Betty Semble...
Monday night, Bar Ilan University president Professor Moshe Kaveh informed lawyers representing the committee of heads of Israeli universities that he is withdrawing Bar Ilan University from the petition to the Supreme Court to annul Ariel University's accreditation.
A group of 16 retiree couples ages 50 to 80 made Aliyah to Israel in mid-August on Nefesh B’Nefesh charter Aliyah flight that left out of JFK airport in New York. The retirees joined their children and grandchildren who had made Aliyah over the last decade.
“They do not think it’s possible. They do not think it’s in the cards. I think that is one of the reasons diplomacy has failed – and it has failed,” he said.
“We are concerned that Interior Minister Yishai didn’t think of becoming better informed about the details."
By Tibbi Singer
Following the minor storm that erupted on Monday over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to rearrange his portfolio which is in a blind trust—a request he eventually rescinded—Forbes Israel decided to dig into that portfolio, to find out how rich is Bibi. It turns out he's not crazy rich, and incidentally, close to half of the Netanyahus wealth is invested in their penthouse in the affluent neighborhood of Rechavia in downtown Jerusalem, and a villa in Caesaria.
A Jewish civilian was stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist near Ma'aleh Levonah. A group of residents from the town of Ma'aleh Levonah went down near the Arab village of Khan Luban to photograph and document the illegal land grab and construction that was occurring near their town. A group of Palestinians then attacked them with stones, axes […]
Judge Gershon of Haifa District Court ruled today that the death of Rachel Corrie was an accident. In a 62 page court document, the judge stated there was no fault in the military investigation which the Israeli military undertake immediately after Corrie's death. The Israel Defense Force has been cleared of responsibility.
By JTA
Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Chicago is set to succeed Rabbi Avi Weiss next year at the helm of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, the Modern Orthodox rabbinical school founded by Weiss. Lopatin is the spiritual leader of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation, a high-profile Modern Orthodox synagogue in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago that counts Mayor Rahm […]
By JTA
Rabbi Meir Soloveichik is scheduled to deliver the opening invocation at the Republican National Convention. “It is an extraordinary privilege to deliver an invocation at a cherished ritual of American democracy,” said Soloveichik of the invocation, which he is scheduled to deliver on Tuesday in Tampa, Fla. Soloveichik is the director of the Straus Center […]
It turns out, the ambassador's position appears to simply be the opinion of Rachel Corrie's parents, the plaintiffs in the case against the government of Israel.
By Tibbi Singer
On Monday morning, approximately two million children started the new school year 5773 in preschools and schools across the country.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked the opening day of the school year telling students in Efrat that Efrat and Gush Etzion will always remain part of Israel.
The committee for permits in the state comptroller’s office has allowed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on August 15 – at his own request – to make changes in his investment portfolio, both overseas and locally. The request comes in the wake of threats by the PM to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in the near future. But it appears that Netanyahu's financial move was done in full transparency and in complete adherence with legal procedure.
A small group of religious Jews accomplished what Israel's foreign ministry could not in 3 years of attempted diplomacy - namely, to meet with representatives from the Turkish government and attempt to heal the Turkey-Israel rift. From August 15 - 17, Shas MK Nissim Ze'ev, Shas deputy finance minister Yitzchak Cohen, the chief Rabbi of Geneva, Professor Mordechai Kedar of Bar Ilan University and other leaders met with no less than twenty Turkish parliamentarians.
By Ryan Yuffe, Israel Campus Beat
As students prepare for the new academic year, the campus Israel community is stocking up with new ideas for attracting participants.
He was told that since he was wearing the uniform of the “Army of the Zionist State,” he was not permitted to enter the shul.
By JTA
Residents of Migron said they will not leave the Samarian outpost until the Israeli Supreme Court rules on a request to halt their evacuation.
Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser arrived in the last hour to visit the new neighborhood established to accommodate the residents of Migron who are slated to be evicted from their homes today following a Supreme Court hearing.
By JTA
A 500-year-old Sephardi women’s prayer book is being reissued in Hebrew.
The Hadassah Foundation announced 13 mini-grants for organizations serving Jewish young people in 11 states.
By JTA
An Estonian gas company apologized for using a photo of Auschwitz in its advertising.
Three young residents of the Gush Etzion community of Bat Ayin, aged 12-13, were on Sunday on suspicion of involvement with the Molotov cocktail incident that took place a week and a half ago. Jewish residents of the Gush Etzion region noted that rocks and firebombs are frequently thrown at Jewish cars in the area in which the firebomb was thrown. “The determination that Jews threw the firebomb is hasty and most irresponsible,” say residents of the area.
On Tuesday morning, the Israeli Supreme Court headed by Justice Asher Grunis is expected to examine the claims of the Migron residents. Over the past few months, several residents purchased plots of land in the surrounding area; if the purchase claims of these residents are found to be in proper order, 17 out of the 50 families will be permitted to remain in the area. The evacuation of the other families is expected to take place immediately after the Supreme Court hearing.
The Santa Monica hotel owner claims she never did or said the things the jury determined she did.
Rav Ovadia Yosef said on Saturday night that we should focus specifically on Iran, and say, "May the good Lord obliterate them, destroy them…"
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Despite the significant conclusion that damage is being caused to both the Jewish and Arab populations residing in these areas, and despite the importance of protecting the environment, many environmental organizations chose not to attend the conference and even banned it because the conference was held in Ariel.
At 9:05 AM, a barrage of 2 rockets hit Sderot, and hit two factory grounds in the industrial park. One of the rockets, hit a building. This is the second this year that factory buildings was hit. MDA treated one person with light injuries.
By Tibbi Singer
Among the items that Tzohar is calling for will be to elect new rabbinical court judges who would be more open to the needs of the general public, not just the religiously observant sectors; and new guidelines for managing the marriage, divorce and conversion processes in Israel – three areas that have been particularly alienating to secular Israelis.
The Obama campaign seems to have no clue as to which rabbis would enhance the president's clout among Jewish voters, and which are political hemlock.
On Friday, several thousand Egyptians protested against the Muslim Brotherhood and their new Egyptian president Morsi. Protesters marched in Cairo and Alexandria. The Muslim Brotherhood organized a counter-protest at the same time. In clashes between the pro and anti Morsi protesters, at least 13 people were injured.
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, died at age 82 on Saturday, July 25, 2012. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The latest Flytilla attempt landed in Jordan on Saturday. The anti-Israel activists plan to attempt to cross over into Israel via the Allenby Bridge tonight and tomorrow.
A US Jury found Samsung guilty of patent infringment of key features of Apple's iPhone and iPad. The jury awarded Apple over $1 Billion dollars for damages ($1,049,393,540 to be exact). While in the issue of Samsung's claims against Apple, Samsung was awarded nothing.