Archive for Israel News

IDF’s Bedouin reconnaissance battalion disbanded, soldiers reassigned to other units

 

Just as the IDF disbanded the Druze battalion in July 2015 after decades of service, the IDF closes its dedicated Bedouin reconnaissance battalion to integrate the soldiers into other units, hoping it will increase enlistment from the country’s Bedouin sector.

By Lilach Shoval

 

The Israel Defense Forces Bedouin reconnaissance battalion, established in the 1990s, was officially disbanded on Tuesday in an emotional ceremony.

Israel Hayom reported in March on the decision to close the battalion, alongside a series of steps to encourage Bedouin Israelis to enlist in other military units. The battalion will now become a regular patrol battalion comprising two, six-team companies. Continue Reading »

Greek Church covertly sold huge Jerusalem land tracts to anonymous investors

 

Israeli MK Rachel Azaria and hundreds of Jerusalem residents worried about the disposition of their homes, as well as any future change to the character of the capital of the Jewish State.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD, GLOBES

 

The Greek Orthodox Church last week sold 50 hectares of land in central Jerusalem – some 124 acres containing more than 1,000 housing units in numerous buildings – to an anonymous group of investors, spurring fears of a hostile takeover.

For many years, the land was leased to the Jewish National Fund in agreements that are about to expire, leaving the residents’ future rights in limbo. Continue Reading »

With ‘Operation Protective Edge’ behind us, tourism to Israel is breaking records

 

In May of this year, foreign tourists entering Israel hit an all-time monthly high, and 2017 is projected to be a record-breaking year for vacationing tourists.

By Ilan Gattegno

 

Three years after incoming tourist numbers slumped following Operation Protective Edge in July-August 2014, tourism to Israel has fully recovered and will hit an all-time high this year, according to the Tourism Ministry. The rise was attributed to the introduction of the open skies policy and massive marketing efforts by the ministry.

Tel Aviv – Photo: Boris Kuznets

 Israel previously reached its highest tourism figures before the 2014 military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, but when that began and rocket fire pummeled southern Israel and reached as far as the Sharon region northeast of Tel Aviv, incoming tourism dropped sharply. Continue Reading »

IDF Chief: Stopping the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah is IDF’s “top priority”

 

Speaking at the Knesset, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot reports Hezbollah’s rockets are not particularly accurate at the moment, and under the nose of UNIFIL forces,  Hezbollah continues to violate UN resolution 1701, so the IDF’s “top priority” is to keep Hezbollah from improving the accuracy of its missiles.

By LAHAV HARKOV, ANNA AHRONHEIM

 

 

Eleven years after the Second Lebanon War, stopping Hezbollah from improving the accuracy of its missiles and rockets is the “top priority” of the army, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot stated Wednesday.

Speaking at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Eisenkot stated that IDF has used the time since the Second Lebanon War to dramatically improve its abilities and now has better intelligence and operational capabilities than ever before. Continue Reading »

WATCH: Indian PM Narendra Modi meets 11 yr-old, Mumbai terror-attack survivor

 

WATCH Video: In a heartwarming encounter, Indian PM Modi met with Moshe Holzberg, who lost both parents during the terrorist attack on the Mumbai Chabad House in 2008, when he was just 2 years old.

Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this afternoon (Wednesday, 5 July 2017), met with Moshe Holtzberg, whose parents were murdered in the November 26, 2008 terrorist attack on the Mumbai Chabad House. He told them that he misses India; Indian Prime Minister Modi said that his country was open to him.

Prime Minister Netanyahu invited Holtzberg to accompany him on his future trip to India.

Continue Reading »

Historical first: Palestinian pilgrims set to fly from Israel to Saudi Arabia

 

Following Air Force One being the first plane to fly directly from Riyadh to Ben Gurion Airport, President Donald Trump’s team initiated talks for flights intended for Muslims wishing to visit Saudi religious sites in Mecca and Medina.

By Itamar Eichner

 

The United States, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel have recently been conducting secret negotiations to coordinate the first flight of Palestinian pilgrims from Ben Gurion airport to Saudi Arabia, with a short layover on the way, probably in Jordan.

Yedioth Ahronoth, Ynet’s sister print publication, learned of the intention to organize a special plane in which only Palestinian passengers between Israel and Saudi Arabia will be able to fly. Continue Reading »

WATCH: A ‘truly historic visit’ as Netanyahu and Modi tour Jerusalem

 

During his historic visit to Israel, the first for an Indian premier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to sign a host of agreements with Israel in the fields of defense, technology, water, and agriculture, bringing the two countries ever closer.

By i24NEWS

 

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his historic visit to Israel – the first Indian premier to do so – celebrates “this ancient bond between both our nations” and lauded “the link between our people [that] dates way back to the Jews in India” during his joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. Continue Reading »

Medical marijuana to become more obtainable for Israelis starting in August

 

By making 100 physicians eligible to grant patients a license to obtain medical cannabis, Israel’s Health Ministry’s move is expected to ‘ease the pain’.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH

 

Starting in August, approximately 100 physicians will be able to grant licenses to patients who require medical cannabis to obtain it directly from their health fund clinics, Health Ministry associate director-general Prof. Itamar Grotto told the Knesset Committee on Drug Abuse on Tuesday.

Committee chairman MK Tamar Zandberg said: “The news that came out this morning from the ministry is encouraging, and we will continue to monitor and ensure that it is implemented. Continue Reading »

AGAIN, UNESCO denies Israel sovereignty over Jerusalem

 

The UN’s cultural committee convened in Krakow to approve yet another proposal submitted by Arab states rejecting Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and condemning the Jewish State for conducting archeological excavations in Jerusalem’s Old City.

By Itamar Eichner

 

A committee of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) convened in Krakow Tuesday where it approved the wording of a proposed resolution denying that Israel is the sovereign power over Jerusalem and condemning it for conducting archeological excavations in the Old City.

RELATED:

The proposal was submitted to the UN body’s Cultural Committee by Arab states who originally presented a much harsher version which was formulated together with the Palestinians. Continue Reading »

Future Palestinian State Will Be Hell For Women

 

Putting aside Palestinian leadership demands a ‘judenfrei’ state, that will also be harsh on gays, a new survey reveals that the new Palestinian state liberals want to create so badly, will be saturated in honor killings and a haven of assorted human rights abuses against women.

By Israel Today Staff

 

One of the cornerstone understandings of the original Israeli-Palestinian peace process was that a future Palestinian state would be notably different from the neighboring Muslim Arab authoritarian regimes.

We now know that won’t be the case, and evidence to that effect keeps mounting.

Take women’s rights, for instance.

Currently, Israel is the one place in the Middle East where women enjoy full equality with men. Continue Reading »

Family sue French Police for overt inaction as Jewish woman was tortured, then murdered

 

French Police must explain why they stood outside a building for an hour, as 60 yr-old Sarah Halimi could be heard screaming for her life, before being thrown out of her apartment window.

By i24NEWS

 

A lawyer for the family of Sarah Halimi told i24NEWS on Monday that a complaint will be filed against the police for failing to enter the building and preventing the Jewish woman’s death in April.

Sarah Halimi was beaten and thrown to her death from the window of her Paris apartment by her 27-year-old neighbor Kobili Traore.

Protest march in memory of Sarah Halimi, in Paris on April 9, 2017 – Photo: Noemie Fitoussi

French police arrived on the scene but reportedly refused to enter the building until specialist backup had arrived, during which time a neighbor recorded Halimi’s screams as she was attacked by her neighbor. Continue Reading »

Abbas tells African Union Summit: Link ties to Israel with end to ‘occupation’

 

Palestinian leader goes to Ethiopia to persuade African leaders to put aside national interests gained from strengthening ties with Israel, unless Israel gives the Palestinians independence.

 

By ADAM RASGON

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday told African states that improved ties with Israel should be calculated in relation to the Jewish state’s commitment to ceasing its military rule over Palestinian territories.

Over the past year, Israel has launched an intensive effort bolster its ties with African states, making inroads in a continent that has long refrained from enhancing such cooperation.“The Israeli state of occupation’s efforts to participate in your regional conferences and organize continental conferences encourages it to continue its arrogance, occupy Palestine and deny the Palestinian people’s rights,” Abbas told the 29th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Continue Reading »

US envoy tells UNESCO: the Palestinian Authority lies

 

In a letter sent to UNESCO Secretary General, US Ambassador to the UN warns against adoption of a mendacious PA request on the Cave of the Patriarchs, which was deceivingly designed to exclude a Judeo-Christian connection to the holy site.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

The US is beginning to exercise its leverage to prevent the passage of a UNESCO resolution declaring the Cave of the Patriarchs an exclusively Muslim and ‘Palestinian’ heritage site.

Tomb of Isaac – Palestine Exploration Fund Magazine. Quarterly Statement July 1912. Pages 145-150. Cenotaphs of the Hebrew Patriarchs at the Cave of Machpelah. By the Rev A.B.

Continue Reading »

Brit apologizes for uncle preventing SS Exodus with Holocaust victims from reaching Israel

 

After learning of her uncle’s role aboard a UK destroyer that denied Holocaust survivors sailing to Israel aboard the Exodus from reaching the soon-to-be Jewish State, violinist Verity Steele finds a unique and touching way to apologize.

By Yaniv Halili & Israel Moskowitz

 

British citizen Verity Steele was shocked to discover that her uncle had taken an active role in forcing the Exodus—the famed ship carrying Holocaust survivors seeking to come to the Land of Israel, then called Palestine—to turn back to Europe. As a supporter of Israel, his niece Verity has found her own way to apologize.

The event itself took plane on July 11th, 1947 when the SS Exodus sailed from the south of France with some 4,500 Holocaust survivors on board. Continue Reading »

US church group passes another anti-Israel resolution

 

Ignoring the fact that Israel does not torture arrested children, nonetheless the United Church of Christ passes a resolution against Israel claiming it does torture Arab children, and calling for end of US military assistance, but ignores the fact that ‘the children’ are extremely dangerous, having perpetrated some of the most violent, deadly crimes in Israel.
– WATCH Israel Police video of 13, 15yr-old Palestinians on a stabbing spree.

By JTA

 

The United Church of Christ overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning Israel for its treatment of Palestinian Arab children living in Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and Gaza.

Children are inspired by Palestinian TV programing to become ‘shaheeds’ (a Muslim martyr)

The vote Sunday night by delegates at the 31st General Synod of the United Church of Christ in Baltimore, Maryland, was 79 percent in favor, 13 percent against and 9 percent abstaining, according to a statement issued by the UCC. Continue Reading »