Israel News

Five teams representing various branches of the IDF recently completed a first-of-its kind international competitive cyber drill in which they competed against nearly 60 teams from 13 other countries.

An upgraded version of the Iron Dome air defense system on Monday completed a fresh set of trials simulating threats the system is likely to face on land and at sea, the Defense Ministry said.

From Jan. 1 until Jan. 30, Israel recorded 29% percent of all its COVID deaths which have been tallied since the pandemic began in March.

A total of 371 out of 715,425 Israelis who passed at least a week after receiving two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine have contracted the virus – 0.04%, with 16 being sent to the hospital – according to a Health Ministry report released on Thursday.

Israeli lawmakers will vote today to increase fines for those who violate the regulations of Israel’s third nationwide lockdown. The measure has been the source of intense government infighting and could sink another government meeting scheduled for Thursday intended to extend the now month-long lockdown set to expire on Jan. 31.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi announced on Tuesday the IDF is preparing military plans to hit Iran’s nuclear program in the upcoming year.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi’s speech at the annual INSS conference on Tuesday might have been in Hebrew, but what he said was aimed at speakers of both English and Farsi.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration announced Tuesday it was restoring relations with the Palestinians and renewing aid to Palestinian refugees, a reversal of the Trump administration’s cutoff and a key element of its new support for a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

The head of the IDF warned Tuesday that Israel would not accept a direct return to the Iran nuclear deal and the military was preparing contingency plans in case the Iranians moved closer to producing a nuclear weapon.

Israel on Monday night shuttered Ben Gurion Airport to nearly all flights until the end of January, amid fears over fast-spreading or vaccine-resistant coronavirus variants entering the country.

Israel’s mass vaccination campaign running in parallel with an active coronavirus outbreak may lead to “evolutionary pressure” on the virus, resulting in an Israeli variant that could be resistant to or have certain advantages over the vaccine.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to dispatch Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to Washington in the coming weeks to lay out Israel’s demands of the Biden administration for any new version of the Iran nuclear deal, Channel 12 news reported Saturday night.

Syrian state media reported Israeli airstrikes near the western city of Hama in the predawn hours of Friday morning.

The Iranian regime has taken highly dangerous steps in recent weeks that make a military strike by Israel more likely in 2021, and thus forcing the new Biden administration to make Iran its top and most urgent foreign policy priority.

Archaeologists in northern Israel have unearthed a 1,500-year-old carved inscription which says “Christ, born of Mary,” in Greek, Christian Today reports. The inscription was part of a lintel in the doorway of a Byzantine church.

The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday announced plans for a massive, month-long exercise this summer, simulating a multi-front war, in which every branch of the military will take part.

US President-elect Joe Biden will not reverse Donald Trump’s landmark recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but will seek a state for the Palestinians, Tony Blinken, his nominee for secretary of state, said Tuesday.

The Asharq Al Awsat Arabic international newspaper reported Sunday that Russia hosted a meeting for Syrian and Israeli officials at the Russian airbase in Hmeimim, Syria last month, Jewish Press reports. Neither Damascus nor Jerusalem has confirmed the report.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday that Israel will likely need to extend its current lockdown restrictions, despite its successful vaccination campaign.

The City of David was recognized as a “testament to America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and founding principles” by the US Embassy in Jerusalem and the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad at a special ceremony on Monday.