State of Israel - Page 6

Israel has been listed in a Canadian school textbook as a country that recruits children as “spies and soldiers”, placing the Jewish State alongside Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen as a human rights violator.

TEL AVIV — The United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Friday declared the Tomb of the Patriarchs – considered the second holiest site in Judaism after the Temple Mount – to be a Palestinian world heritage site in danger.

A new campaign has been launched to drive closer links between the UK and Israel in the global battle against terrorism. The initiative is a contrary response to the claim made by London Mayor Sadiq Khan that terror attacks are “part and parcel of living in a great city.”

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday, in his first speech as head of the terror group’s political bureau, hailed an era of new relations with Cairo that would ease the blockade of Gaza, and made clear that Hamas has not changed its goal of liberating all of historic Palestine.

Israeli officials angrily rejected a resolution by a UN body condemning its activity in East Jerusalem and the Old City, with the Foreign Ministry saying the move was irrelevant.

An event featuring Breaking the Silence, an organization that promotes criticism of the IDF, was canceled at Kibbutz Neve Ur in northern Israel Monday due to pressure from kibbutz residents.

Love her, hate her, say what you want about her, but audiences crammed into Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park to see Britney Spears perform Monday night in what was her first show in Israel.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman issued a stern warning to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons over the development of rocket manufacturing installations inside Lebanon.

TEL AVIV — Attacks against Israel by jihadist organizations and supporters of the Islamic State group are expected to increase, a Palestinian jihadist associated with the Islamic State claimed to Breitbart Jerusalem in response to a rocket attack Monday from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel.

The Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid launched dual criticisms on Wednesday of Spanish government funds for anti-Israel NGOs in the country’s parliament in Madrid.

The parole board of Israel’s Prison Service on Thursday granted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert early release from his 27-month corruption sentence, in perhaps the final chapter of a stunning fall from grace that forced him from office amid the last serious round of peace talks with the Palestinians.

A shell from fighting in Syria landed in the Golan Heights on Wednesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was touring the strategic plateau. There were no injuries or damage caused and the PM was not in any danger.

“We have intelligence information that Assad is behind ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. Assad deceives everyone on this issue, including the Russians. He’s the one who gives them orders. Israel must be very concerned that our assessment is that once Assad is cornered and feels distressed, he will order ISIS to attack Israel. That will be his last-ditch effort, to try to drag Israel into this war, as a desperate measure.”

The Israeli military on Monday declared a border-adjacent area in the Golan Heights temporarily off-limits to civilians, following a series of incidents in which errant Syrian fire hit Israeli territory.

Individuals of Muslim background stand out among perpetrators of anti-Semitic violence in Western Europe, according to a new report by the University of Oslo Center for Research on Extremism. The next highest offending group in the same survey was found to be left wing extremists.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Saturday slammed the international body’s force patrolling the border with Lebanon, saying it was ignoring obvious Hezbollah operations in the area.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reassured Diaspora Jews visiting Israel as part of the Birthright Taglit program that despite Iran’s most recent threat against Israel and the looming danger it still poses, the Jewish state will continue to stand strong.

An Israeli government official denied on Friday a report that an agreement had been reached with the Trump administration to refrain from issuing any tenders for new construction projects in the West Bank until the end of this year.

Iran’s massive funding of terrorist groups that endanger Israel was exposed in shocking detail by IDF Military Intelligence chief Maj.- Gen. Hertzi Halevi on Wednesday.

Speaking in the name of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, PA spokesman Nabil Shaath said the Palestinians have a “social responsibility” to offer monetary payouts to the families of prisoners in Israeli jails because they are “political prisoners,” and that the payouts are the PA’s way of “look(ing) after innocent people affected by the incarceration or killing of their loved ones as a result of the military occupation.”

The new Kraft Family Sports Campus in Jerusalem was inaugurated this week and made possible by a $6 million donation earlier this year by New England Patriots owner and five-time National Football League (NFL) champion Robert Kraft.

Jason Greenblatt — US President Donald Trump’s international negotiations representative — met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Tuesday, but remained tight-lipped as to the substance of their discussions.

A prison doctor was called to the cell of former prime minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday afternoon after he was reported to have fallen sick. After conducting preliminary checks, the doctor decided that he should be transferred to Tel Hashomer hospital for further treatment.

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot downplayed the significance of an Iranian missile strike against the Islamic State in Syria, saying “the operational achievement was less than what was reported in the media,” during a wide-ranging speech on Israel’s security threats on Tuesday night.

New Zealand production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” sponsored by a local council has been forced to issue an apology to famed lyricist Tim Rice after removing “Israel” from the lyrics to one of the songs.

While acknowledging the BBC’s clarification of a badly misleading headline about the terrorist attacks in Jerusalem Friday night, Foreign Ministry director-general Yuval Rotem on Sunday warned BBC consumers to be aware, because these mistakes happen “way too often.”

TEL AVIV — On Friday, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Jerusalem in which an Israeli policewoman was murdered and two others were wounded, prompting skepticism of the claim not only from Israel but from Hamas and among pro-jihadist Palestinian advocates on social media.

An “alternative universe” was created to sell the Iran nuclear deal to the American people, Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer said on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the leaders of Switzerland and the Netherlands on Wednesday following their decisions to halt funding for Palestinian NGOs involved in incitement.

Israel and the US will carry out a joint test of the Arrow 3 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) defense system in Alaska in 2018.

Few countries in the world have as much experience as Israel when it comes to countering terrorist attacks, a fact acknowledged by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The capital’s leader has revealed he sought advice from Israel on how to counter urban terrorism of the kind that has blighted Manchester and London in recent months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the launch of a drill this week to improve Israel’s preparedness for major earthquakes.

Israel has reportedly decided to heed a Palestinian Authority request to cut electricity supply to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip after the PA announced it would not continue to pay the bill as it stepped up pressure on its main rival.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sunday for the United Nations to shut down its Palestinian refugee aid agency, saying it was responsible for incitement against the Jewish state.

The Israeli army is not planning to conquer the Gaza Strip if another war were to break out with Hamas, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said this week, in an apparent turnaround from his repeated insistence in previous years that reoccupying the territory was the only way to stop rocket fire.

May 2017 set a monthly record for the number of tourists arriving in Israel. Since the start of 2017, tourism has infused $2.18 billion into the Israeli economy, according to figures published Thursday by Israel’s Tourism Ministry.