Tens of millions of locusts hit Egypt this weekend, just before the Passover holiday that recalls the 10 Plagues of Egypt (among them the voracious grasshoppers). In a sharp deviation from the Passover tale, however, the insects also migrated north into Israel and Jordan, darkening skies and raising fears of...

After signaling planned goodwill gestures intended to prod the Palestinian Authority to return to the negotiating table during his speech Monday to the AIPAC 2013 Policy Conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly lining up just such a package : The gestures will include the transfer of authority over two access roads — one...

The Palestinian Authority today expressed condolences to Venezuela over the death of its election-rigging, terror-promoting, Iran-boosting president Hugo Chavez. Palestinian officials described Chavez — whom observers have blasted for pushing “staggering and undeniable” hatred of Jews, and who oversaw an “unprecedented surge in anti-Semitism throughout Venezuela” — as a “loyal friend”:...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of the first world leaders to publicly mourn the death of Hugo Chavez, late of Venezuela, in a message of condolence to Vice President Nicolas Maduro. The Iranian president referred to Chavez as a “martyr,” and insisted that the Iranian ally, Hezbollah supporter –...

Al Qaeda-linked fighters in Syria are scouting and filming IDF patrols along Israel’s border with Syria, according to a boastful video uploaded by the jihadists: Members of the al-Furqan group — affiliated with the global al-Qaeda organization which has acted in Yemen and Iraq — were filmed close to Israel’s...

Welcoming his first foreign counterpart since taking over as Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel met Tuesday with outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The meeting revolved around concerns that U.S. budgetary woes would impact the bilateral relationship and undercut U.S. security investments in Israel, a possibility that the Pentagon chief...

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency announced this morning, regretfully, that an annual marathon conducted in the Gaza Strip to raise money for U.N. children’s summer camps would have to be cancelled. The statement issued by the organization linked the decision to a Hamas prohibition on the participation of...

Syrian army forces have reportedly fired mortar shells on one of the world’s oldest synagogues. Syrian opposition forces released footage showing damage to the roof of the the 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue outside of Damascus, and blaming the destruction on forces loyal to the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Jewish tradition says...

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor is stressing the need to enhance security along the Israeli-Syrian border, after three mortars launched from Syria landed deep inside Israeli territory this weekend. In a letter to the U.N. Security Council calling for action, Prosor stressed that Israel would be forced to take...

In 2011 the International Atomic Energy Agency accused Iran of conducting work at its Parchin military facility that provided “strong indicators of possible nuclear weapon development.” The U.N. nuclear watchdog subsequently requested access to the site, and Iran refused. In 2012 reports emerged that Iranian officials were hurriedly destroying evidence of previous...