Israel News

Thousands of Jews in Russia have made inquiries about immigrating to Israel since the launch of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, official sources told the Jerusalem Post (JPost).

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said Israel could be a “potential ally” of Riyadh, in remarks published Thursday.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked participated in a meeting of local authority heads and deputies on Thursday, and announced that later this month, the government would be making a decision regarding the establishment of between seven and twelve new communities in the Negev region.

The Monitoring Committee of the National and Islamic Forces, the highest coordination body of the Palestinian Arab organizations, has declared Friday to be a day of escalation and confrontation with the “occupation” at all points of friction, in support of the Palestinian Arab residents of Sheikh Jarrah (Shimon Hatzadik) neighborhood in Jerusalem and the fight of the terrorists imprisoned in Israel.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz vowed Wednesday that Israel will never give up on making sure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons, as a deal between Tehran and world powers seemed imminent.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin within a few hours of each other on Wednesday, his second set of public phone calls with the two leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine last week.

The Jewish Agency for Israel has asked the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) for assistance in the urgent evacuation of Ukrainian Jews to Israel as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. Based in Jerusalem, the ICEJ has been helping to facilitate Jewish “Aliyah” (immigration to Israel) from Ukraine for almost 40 years.

Israel on Tuesday called on Russia to cease its attack on Ukraine from the stage of the UN General Assembly, taking another step closer to the US-led Western position against Moscow after initial apprehension to take sides due to fears of alienating the Kremlin.

Israeli anti-tank weapons systems manufactured in Germany at a factory owned by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems are heading to Ukraine, according to a report by the Hebrew-language Calcalist news outlet.

As western powers have ratcheted up financial, diplomatic and military pressure on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah have been presenting Moscow’s action as a pertinent warning to those moderate Arab states willing to align with Israel and the US.

Israel’s government estimates that around 10,000 Ukrainians will immigrate to Israel in the coming weeks, government officials told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday.

The embattled Ukrainian president asked Israel’s prime minister to mediate negotiations in Jerusalem between Ukraine and Russia as Russian tanks raced through Kyiv.

Russia denounced Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, hours before it launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Syrian media reported on Wednesday night that the country’s air defense systems had been activated following an Israeli air strike in the Damascus area.

Almost 100 Jewish Ukrainian new immigrants arrived in Israel on Sunday, as Russia stood poised to invade Ukraine in what would be a catastrophic war, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports. Although the new arrivals had been scheduled to immigrate prior to the current Russian threat to Ukraine, the Israeli government stated on Sunday that Ukrainian Jews will always have a home in Israel.

The tension in Ukraine is leading Israel to push its citizens there to leave the country and some Ukrainian Jews are also taking the step of making Israel their home.

Israel fired several missiles at targets in the area of the Quneitra border town in the Syrian Golan Heights after midnight Tuesday, Syrian state media reported.

Israeli officials are worried that the imposition of US sanctions against Russia in response to a possible invasion of Ukraine could harm Israel’s security interests in Syria, according to a report Monday.

Israel on Monday said it successfully tested a new naval air defense system, intercepting a series of threats in what officials called a key layer of protection against Iran and its proxies in the region.

Israel’s Judicial Selection Committee announced Monday the appointment of four new justices to the Supreme Court, including the first-ever Muslim judge to sit in the country’s highest court.