One of the most enduring images of last summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro captured Islam El Shehaby, an Egyptian judo competitor, or judoka, turning his back on the outstretched hand of his opponent, Or Sasson, after the Israeli athlete’s victory in a bout that earned him the bronze...

A conglomerate controlled by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is poised to reap huge profits from new oil deals after the country’s petroleum market was opened up in the wake of last year’s nuclear deal, two researchers at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote in a policy brief on Tuesday. Saeed Ghasseminejad and Amir Toumaj...

Israel and Saudi Arabia should form a “collaborative alliance” to become the “twin pillars of regional stability” in the Middle East, a top Saudi lobbyist wrote in The Hill on Tuesday, in what is the latest sign of warming and increasingly-public ties between Arab countries and the Jewish state. Salman al-Ansari, the...

The U.S. Chess Federation took a stand in support of U.S. women’s champion Nazi Paikidze-Barnes, saying Thursday that it would support her boycott of next year’s world women’s championship in Iran due to the Islamic Republic’s mandatory dress code for women. Paikidze-Barnes, 22, said she would rather boycott the contest than...

A day after UNESCO adopted a resolution rejecting Jewish historical ties to Jerusalem, the agency’s director general warned that any effort “to deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of” the city as a World Heritage site. Irina Bokova signaled her opposition to Thursday’s resolution,...

Three men linked to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah were accused of laundering drug money on behalf of the Colombian cartel after authorities said they illegally moved $500,000 into Miami banks, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday. The apparent ringleader of the money laundering scheme, 31-year-old Mohammad Ahmad Ammar from Medellin, Colombia, “was quietly booked...