Israel News

An Israeli airstrike set off Syrian air defenses early Wednesday, killing one and injuring six, according to Syrian state-run SANA news.

Israel Police Tuesday banned Jewish visitors from visiting the Temple Mount until further notice as tensions rise in the Old City of the Israeli capital.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has met with Yossi Cohen, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, for talks that centered on Iran, the Associated Press reports.

President Reuven Rivlin will likely tap Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid with forming the next government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to do so by the Tuesday night deadline, but will likely not consider offering it to Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, according to Hebrew media reports.

The Palestinian Authority should set a new date for the Legislative Council elections – and Israel should allow Palestinians to cast their ballots in Jerusalem, the European Union and the United Nations said on Friday.

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz on Sunday ruled out joining a government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling lawmakers in his party that he is fully committed to the so-called “change bloc” that seeks to remove the Likud leader from power.

US president Joe Biden reportedly told Mossad chief Yossi Cohen that the US is not close to returning to the nuclear deal with Iran, according to a news report Sunday.

Negotiating teams from the Yesh Atid, Yamina, and New Hope factions met Thursday morning to discuss the terms for a possible alternative government.

The Palestinian Hamas movement on Thursday slammed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision on Thursday night to delay a long-awaited Palestinian vote, calling his move “a coup.”

Authorities say they fear dozens have died after a grandstand collapsed at a large gathering to celebrate the Lag B’Omer Jewish festival at Mount Meron.

The European Union on Wednesday passed an unprecedented resolution to condemn the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees for printing, distributing and using textbooks inciting and endorsing violence against Israel and the Jewish people in Palestinian Authority schools.

Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett and New Hope chief Gideon Sa’ar held lengthy talks at the Knesset on Wednesday to coordinate demands that the right-wing bloc of a perspective unity government will make in negotiations with Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has notified the European Union, Jordan and Egypt of his decision to postpone Palestinian parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for May 22, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday.

While insisting that the disputed vote he held in the cabinet on Tuesday to appoint Likud’s Ofir Akunis as justice minister was a legitimate move, Prime Minister Benjamin backed down Wednesday from his refusal to appoint anyone else to the position, agreeing to make Blue and White’s Benny Gantz justice minister for the duration of the transitional government.

The National Cyber Directorate warned Wednesday that coordinated attacks against Israel are expected next month to mark Iran’s annual Quds Day, and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Facing calls for his resignation, President Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry on Monday denied as “unequivocally false” claims that he had informed Iran’s foreign minister about covert Israeli military strikes against Iranian facilities in Syria.

Israeli forces shot down a drone belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group that crossed into northern Israel from Lebanon on Tuesday, the IDF said.

Architects in Israel recently unearthed a 1,600-year-old mosaic pavement in the ancient city of Yavne in central Israel, Israel365 reports. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Byzantine-era flooring will eventually be exhibited at the Yavne cultural center.

The family of Sarah Halimi, an Orthodox Jewish woman who was murdered by Islamist Kobili Traoré in France on April 4 2017, is to file a legal claim for the killer to be extradited to Israel for trial, BBC News reported last week. Traoré claimed he was in a drug-induced delirium at the time of the brutal slaying, and a French court has found he cannot therefore be held criminally responsible under the country’s law. Outrage over the court’s decision caused thousands of people to protest in New York, Paris, Rome and Tel Aviv this weekend.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry kept Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif informed about secret Israeli military actions in Syria, the Iranian diplomat said in recently leaked audio, casting new light on communication between the two men after Mr. Kerry returned to life as a private citizen in 2017.