Archive for Israel News

Israel’s PM tells Hamas: “We’re not going to give something [terrorists’ bodies] for nothing.”

Upon Prime Minister Netanyahu’s returned to Israel after marking the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, Netanyahu reiterates his two goals for Israel, and his two major rules.
– “The second [rule] is that we’re not going to give something for nothing,” – PM Netanyahu.

By David Rosenberg

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu returned to Israel Monday following a trip to the UK marking the 100th anniversary since the Balfour Declaration proclaiming Great Britain’s support for the establishment of a Jewish national home in the historic Land of Israel.

Following his return to Israel, Netanyahu addressed the recent revelation that the IDF recovered the bodies of five Islamic Jihad terrorists killed when Israeli forces demolished a terror tunnel inside southern Israel last week. Continue Reading »

IAF begins Israel’s largest ‘Blue-Flag’ air force exercise

Bringing together air force units from 7 different countries in southern Israel, the 11 day Blue-Flag drill is set to be the largest aerial drill ever hosted by the Israel Air Force.

By TPS

 

Delegations from seven visiting air forces—Greece, Poland, Italy, USA and for the first time also India, France and Germany—on Sunday began Blue Flag 2017, the biggest ever version of the Blue Flag bi-annual joint military exercise hosted by Israel.

“Blue-Flag” 2015 – IAF Archive Photo/IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

Close to 100 aircraft and more than a thousand support crew and pilots from seven different air forces will take part in the 11-day drill taking place in IAF’s Ovda Base north of Eilat, while officers and attaches from nearly 40 other countries are expected to attend the exercise which the Israel Air Force has described as aiming to “simulate extreme combat scenarios and coalition flights as realistically as possible.” Continue Reading »

Republican official: Trump still plans to move US Embassy to Jerusalem, as promised

WATCH VIDEO: Head of Republicans Overseas Israel explains how President Trump’s first wants an opportunity for Israel and the Sunni states to get together against the Iranian threat, both on the nuclear level and on the geopolitical level, before ruffling Palestinian feathers.

By Eliran Baruch

 

Attorney Mark Zell, the head of Republicans Overseas Israel, said the US President Donald Trump still fully intends to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“He is probably the only president since President Clinton in the 1990s who is intending to move the embassy to Jerusalem,” he said.

“He also has to deal with reality as he finds it,” Zell said, explaining why the embassy has not yet been moved. Continue Reading »

IDF recovered bodies of 5 Palestinian terrorists killed in ‘terror tunnel’ blast

A senior IDF official commented last week in a statement that there would be no efforts made by Israel to return the terrorists’ bodies to Gaza until there is progress in talks on the return at least 4 Israelis, including the two deceased soldiers held by Hamas.
• Death toll of dead terrorist from IDF’s terror-tunnel demolition now, 12.

By i24NEWS

 

The Israeli army revealed on Sunday that it is holding the bodies of five militants killed last week when the Israel destroyed a “terror tunnel” that was burrowed into its territory from Gaza.

RELATED:

Twelve militants, most of whom belonged to the Islamic Jihad group, died when the army blew the tunnel up on October 30, however several more men were unaccounted for. Continue Reading »

Palestinians, BDS threaten 2018 Giro d’Italia cycling race in Jerusalem

Refusing to cancel, organizers said the Giro will still start in Jerusalem and include two additional stages in Israel, but “political sensitivities” will be taken into account and its route will not go through land international law considers “occupied.”
• For the very first time in over 100 years, a portion of the sport’s Grand Tours will take place outside of Europe.

By The Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

 

When the world’s cycling elite converge on Israel next year for the storied Giro d’Italia race, they will grapple with the rugged hills of Jerusalem, speed by the shimmering Mediterranean Sea and huff their way through the dry southern Negev Desert. Continue Reading »

VIDEO: Muslim & Jewish medics on break, praying together

WATCH: In a rarely seen example of such diversity and unity, Israel again proves that those who seek bonds of friendship can even pray together, unhindered by political rhetoric.

By Arutz Sheva Staf

 

On Thursday evening two emergency response dispatchers from United Hatzalah went on their shift break and took time out to pray in the break-room. Both responders prayed their evening prayers but they were of two different religions. Working side by side as dispatchers, helping volunteers of all religions save the lives of all people from all backgrounds in Israel, allowed them to feel comfortable praying alongside one another in the same room at the same time. Continue Reading »

With US assistance, Israel filibusters automatic anti-Israel UNESCO resolutions

Israel’s envoy to UNESCO, ‘The days of passing countless anti-Israel resolutions in 5 minutes are over. From now on, UNESCO will need to devote dozens of hours, even add additional days for debate. Then members will decide if wasted time for useless resolutions that are purely political and have nothing to do with education, culture or science were worth it.’

By Itamar Eichner

 

Following a US-backed Israeli filibuster that lasted almost four hours, the Palestinian delegation and other Arab states failed Thursday in passing a resolution denouncing Israel during the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s 39th General Conference in Paris. Continue Reading »

WATCH: British PM May rejects PA demand to apologize for Balfour Declaration

British Prime Minister May, “So when some people (Palestinian leader Abbas) suggest we should apologize for this letter, I say absolutely not!”
– Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu thanks Britain for ‘paving the way’ for Israel’s rebirth.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday ruled out the idea that Britain would apologize for the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which proclaimed Britain’s support for the establishment of a Jewish national home in then-Palestine.

Speaking at a celebratory dinner to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration in London, May said that that the British government was proud to support Israel. Continue Reading »

IDF deploys to protect Syrian Druze after Israeli injured in Golan by spillover

After an Israeli resident of the Druze village Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights was treated, IDF is focusing on the developments of Syrian infighting in the Hader region, just across the Israeli border.

By UDI SHAHAM

 

Israel Defense Force spokesperson Ronen Manelis said in a statement that the IDF will stand by the side of the Druze population as the fighting in Syria intensifies, after a resident of Majdal Shams was injured by gunfire on Friday from was seems to be spillover from the Syrian war.

Syrian Fighting in Golan Heights – Google Maps

“In recent hours we witness the intensifying of the fighting at the area of the Druze village of Hadher in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights,” he said. Continue Reading »

Israel Navy integrates advanced sonar systems to detect Hamas commando incursions

Mounted on a small & fast amphibious assault ships, the “Simba” sonar can accurately identify & locate the position  within a radius of many kilometers, Hamas commando infiltrations into Israel by sea for immediate action.

By Yoav Zitun

 

The Israeli Navy is currently implementing the “Simba”, a mobile sonar for precise location in shallow waters, designed to quickly and precisely identify terrorist infiltrations into Israel by sea, mainly from the Gaza Strip.

Three and a half years since the last naval incursion into the Zikim Beach just north of the Gaza Strip during the Operation Protective Edge, the IDF estimates that Hamas’ naval commando has improved dramatically and already includes hundreds of trained fighters equipped with advanced diving systems. Continue Reading »

U.S. Congress to get bipartisan resolution recognizing centenary of Balfour Declaration

The resolution states that Congress “commemorates the centenary of the Balfour Declaration; affirms its commitment to maintaining the strongest of bilateral ties with the State of Israel; and recognizes the importance of the establishment of the modern State of Israel as a secure and democratic homeland for the Jewish people.”

By JTA

 

A bipartisan resolution to be introduced in the U.S. Senate will recognize the 100-year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.

Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., were to propose the resolution on Thursday. A concurrent resolution was to be proposed in the House of Representatives.

“It is entirely appropriate for the United States Congress to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a statement that ultimately led to the reestablishment of the State of Israel in 1948,” Lankford said in a statement. Continue Reading »

IDF tells ICRC ‘No’ search for buried Gaza terrorists until agreement on Israeli captives

Knowing Hamas is holding 2 captives and the remains of 2 deceased soldiers in Gaza (for years), the Red Cross had no reservations asking Israel to locate 5 missing tunnel-diggers believed to be ‘buried’ in Israel.

By i24NEWS

 

Israel will not allow a search for Palestinian militants missing and presumed dead after an Israeli strike on a terror tunnel to be retrieved until there is “progress” on the return of Israelis held captive by Hamas, a senior Israeli defense official said on Thursday.

Conflict in the Middle East

On Monday the Israeli army said it had detected and destroyed a tunnel reportedly being dug by the Islamic Jihad terror group, which stretched into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Continue Reading »

CAUGHT: Swiss officials visited Israel’s Golan Heights for years, against national policy

Having contravened official policy of not recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in it’s futile desire to appear impartial & neutral, Swiss officials have for years visited the Golan Heights, and for days at a time, to observe tests of Israel’s Elbit Systems Hermes 900 drone the Swiss gov’t purchased for $265 million.

By Reuters

 

ZURICH – Switzerland’s defense ministry has admitted sending staff to test reconnaissance drones in contested land held by Israel—an embarrassing blow for the neutral European country’s status as an honest broker in the Middle East.

Swiss officials visited an airfield in the Golan Heights region on three occasions in 2012, 2013 and 2015 to monitor tests of the Israeli-built Hermes 900 aircraft that they are buying for $265 million. Continue Reading »

Israeli jets destroy Syrian arms factory affiliated with Hezbollah

SPECIAL SECURITY REPORT

Lebanese media reports Israeli Air Force jets destroyed an arms facility in an industrial area near Homs, Syria that, according to Russian media, is affiliated with the Lebanese based terrorist group Hezbollah.

By Roi Kais and Yoav Zitun

 

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) attacked an armament factory in the area surrounding the Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday, according to Lebanese news site Elnashra. The factory that was attacked was allegedly affiliated with Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah, according to Russian broadcasting channel RT Arabic, formerly known as Rusiya Al-Yaum.

A photo posted online after attack, claiming to be of the Israeli strike in Syria – Ynet (not credited)

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli planes were reported to have flown in the commercial mountain range over the Lebanese Mountains, before a massive explosion was heard on the Lebanese-Syrian border. Continue Reading »

Backed by 50 bereaved families, Yisrael Beytenu pushes bill to execute terrorists

Having passed legal scrutiny, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party have sponsored legislation seeking the death penalty for convicted terrorists. In support of this action, a group of 50 bereaved families are urging Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to promote the bill, saying “clear action” is the only way to deter killers.

By Yair Altman

 

A group of 50 families who lost loved ones to terrorist attacks has called on Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to promote a bill sponsored by Yisrael Beytenu MK Robert Ilatov that would allow Israel to execute convicted terrorists.

“We ask that you use every means at your disposal to pass this bill as soon as possible,” the families said in a letter sent to Shaked on Tuesday. Continue Reading »