Stay Informed

Sign up and be the first to stay abreast of developments in Israel and the Middle East

Diplomacy

For the first time, an Israeli expert has been chosen to chair the United Nations Human Rights Committee, a panel of experts who reviews the adherence of members states to the organization’s rights charter. The Times of Israel reported that Yuval Shany, who is deputy president of the Israel Democracy...

Continue Reading >>

Diplomacy

Poland’s government will water down a controversial Holocaust law and remove parts that imposed jail terms on anyone who suggested the nation was complicit in Nazi crimes, six months after its approval in parliament sparked international outcry, the Associated Press reported. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Wednesday last week that the...

Continue Reading >>

Israel

The Knesset overwhelmingly passed into law on Monday a bill that allows Israel to deduct the payments the Palestinian Authority makes to Palestinian terrorists and their families from the taxes Israel collects and passes on to the PA, The Times of Israel reported. The bill, which passed 87-15, aims at...

Continue Reading >>

MidEast

In a newly released report, the German intelligence agency in the state of Bavaria concluded that the Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking to transform conventional military weapons into a system for weapons of mass destruction, Benjamin Weinthal reported in The Jerusalem Post Monday. “Iran, North Korea, Syria and Pakistan...

Continue Reading >>

Iran

An Iranian general on Monday accused Israel of manipulating the weather to prevent rain over the Islamic Republic, alleging his country was the victim of cloud “theft,” Newsweek reported. “The changing climate in Iran is suspect,” Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, said during an...

Continue Reading >>

Israel

Israeli startups raised around $850 million in June, according to Globes, Israel’s financial daily, closing another solid month of fundraising. So far this year Israeli start ups have raised an estimated $3.3 billion in the first six months of the year according to figures from IVC-ZAG and company press releases, and...

Continue Reading >>

Diplomacy

In a profile of Scott Neiss, the executive director of the Israel Lacrosse Association, The New York Times reported that his idea to bring the sport of lacrosse to Israel began in 2010, when Neiss was neither playing lacrosse, nor living in Israel. Not only did Neiss establish the sport...

Continue Reading >>

Israel

The Palestinian Authority authorized West Bank activists to organize protests of the yet to be released Middle East peace plan being formulated by the United States government, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday. The decision to authorize the demonstrations against the nascent peace plan, and even before it is released to...

Continue Reading >>

Israel

The IDF thwarted an infiltration attempt from Gaza, leaving one terrorist dead, and two in Israeli custody, The Times of Israel reported Monday. A fourth infiltrator escaped back to Gaza. According to the IDF, the infiltrators cut through the border fence separating Israel from Gaza and attempted to set an...

Continue Reading >>

Israel

Australia said Monday that it has discontinued funding the Palestinian Authority because of concern that the money is making PA payments to terrorists and their families possible, The Jerusalem Post reported. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced the country had cut funding of AU$10m ($7.4m) to the World Bank’s Multi-Donor Trust...

Continue Reading >>