Stay Informed

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

Israel

The Israeli government has approved a $72 million plan to combat the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign in the public domain, The Times of Israel reported on Friday. The initiative, which was approved by an executive decree last week, marks the largest monetary investment yet by Israel toward combating...

Continue Reading >>

Israel

Can neurodegenerative diseases such Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s actually be reversed? New research from Tel Aviv University suggests so. It all has to do with how proteins clump together in a cell. Let’s use the example of an omelet to explain what’s going on. To cook an omelet, you have to...

Continue Reading >>

Iran

For the second time this month, a Shiite militia leader has posed on the Lebanese border with Israel, The Jerusalem Post reported Friday. Al-Hajj Hamza, a commander of Liwa al-Baqir, a Hezbollah-allied Syrian militia trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was seen in pictures posted on social media showing him on the...

Continue Reading >>

Featured

Pop singer Lorde, in explaining her decision to cancel a performance in Israel, described herself as an “informed young citizen,” who finally read up on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Billboard magazine reported on December 24. Events of the week though have conspired to show that that pop star is far from being fully...

Continue Reading >>

Diplomacy

The U.S. and Israel agreed to a joint strategic work plan to counter Iranian activity in the Middle East during a secret meeting between senior officials at the White House two weeks ago, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday. The plan reportedly calls for coordinated action to thwart Tehran’s nuclear...

Continue Reading >>

Israel

Israeli planes and tanks struck two Hamas facilities in the northern Gaza Strip following the firing of three rockets into Israel on Friday. Israel’s Iron Dome intercepted two of the rockets, but a third fell and damaged a building in Israel’s Shaar Hanegev region, on the border with with Gaza, The...

Continue Reading >>

MidEast

Excitement mounted like LEGO blocks in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on the afternoon of December 27, as the Young Engineers group unveiled a 36-meter (118.11-foot) tower expected to break the Guinness world record for the highest toy-bricks structure ever. In all, more than half a million toy bricks were used...

Continue Reading >>

Iran

Lebanon’s foreign minister has come under fire from other members of the government for saying in an interview earlier this week that “we are not against Israel living in security,” Reuters reported Thursday. Gebran Bassil made the comments in an interview with al-Mayadin television channel, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, on...

Continue Reading >>

MidEast

Israeli Arabs have the highest life expectancy among 21 Islamic or Arab countries, even higher than that of wealthy Gulf States, such as Qatar and Bahrain, according to a study released this week. The study also showed that infant mortality among Israeli Arabs was lower than most of the same...

Continue Reading >>

Iran

Sanctions expert Richard Goldberg assessed that economic protests breaking out across Iran are a sign of Iranian vulnerability to economic pressure, writing, “Decertification is working. It’s time to increase the pressure on Iranian regime in every way possible, not weaken it.” The protests, Reuters reported Thursday, are driven by Iranians believing that...

Continue Reading >>