Israel News

Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday praised the Palestinian Authority’s decision to resume security cooperation with Israel, saying the move benefited both Israelis and Palestinians.

The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday night released footage of some of its predawn airstrikes against Iranian and Syrian military sites in southern Syria, which came in response to an attempted attack on Israeli troops that was thwarted the day before.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday met said during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain’s foreign minister that regional normalization deals leave Iran “ever more isolated”.

Israel carried out a round of airstrikes in Syria early Wednesday morning in what military officials said was a message to Iran to get out of the country, the Times of Israel reports. The strikes followed a thwarted Iran-backed attempt to set off anti-personnel mines against Israeli troops on the Golan Heights this week.

The Israel Defense Forces attacked Iranian and Syrian targets in Syria early Wednesday morning in response to explosives troops uncovered on Israel’s border with Syria on Tuesday.

More than half of Israelis (52%) say they “think they would not” or are “convinced they would not” be vaccinated against the coronavirus if a vaccine becomes widely available, according to a new survey by the Israel Democracy Institute.

Archaeologists in Israel have discovered an ancient fortress from the time of King David, the Christian Post reports. Announcing the discovery, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said the fortress was found during preparatory work for a new residential area in the Golan region.

The United States and Israel could have some potential surprises waiting in store for Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, in the final weeks of the Trump administration, including the possibility of launching strikes against a nuclear facility.

The speculation has a number of catalysts. First was the firing of Mark Esper as secretary of defense this past week and the replacement of him and other top Pentagon officials with Trump ideologues. Some media outlets in the US have raised the possibility that Trump wanted to get Esper out of the way, so he could more easily carry out controversial military moves.

The decision by three Arab states to make peace with Israel can be credited both to efforts by the White House under US President Donald Trump administration and the recognition by these Sunni states that doing so would bolster their security against ongoing threats from Turkey and Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday an agreement to purchase 4 million vaccines from Pfizer as early as January, an agreement that will cost well over $200 million and remains subject to the vaccine receiving approval in the United States.

Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a jar containing 1,000-year-old coins in the Old City of Jerusalem, CBN News reports. Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) inspector Yevgenia Kapil made the discovery during preliminary digging for a Western Wall elevator installation in October.

A new poll shows that, following Israel’s normalization agreements with three Arab countries, an overwhelming majority of Americans now want the US to broker a peace treaty between Israel and Saudi Arabia, All Arab News reports. While the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan normalized relations without ever actually being at war with Israel, Saudi Arabia has participated in major wars against Israel and is an official enemy of the Jewish state.

Israel is planning to legalize cannabis for recreational use within nine months while balancing “liberalism and responsibility,” Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn said Thursday.

Former National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster for the Trump administration said in an interview with Fox News Thursday that President-elect Joe Biden should not rejoin the 2015 Iran nuclear deal upon taking office in on January 20.

The decision by three Arab states to make peace with Israel can be credited both to efforts by the Trump administration and the recognition by these Sunni states that their security would improve against the ongoing threats they face from Turkey and Iran.

The Knesset on Tuesday approved Israel’s agreement on the establishment of diplomatic relations with Bahrain with an overwhelming majority, giving Jerusalem the go-ahead to forge ties with a second Gulf state in as many months.

While the leaders of several Arab countries expressed enthusiasm for future cooperation with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris following the November 3 US election, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on a Biden administration to “correct” what he described as “discriminatory American policy toward the Palestinian people that has caused instability in the region and the world,” the Jewish Press reports.

Cooperation between Israel and America saw an important milestone in September, as the Americans took possession of their first Israeli-produced, US-funded, Iron Dome missile defense battery, Defense News reports. In a full published interview with Defense News last month, the head of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization (MDO), Moshe Patel, discussed the current and future cooperation between his organization and the US Missile Defense Agency.

The United States officially took possession of its first Iron Dome missile defense battery in September, a milestone in the relationship between the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Israel’s Missile Defense Organization. It’s just one example of cooperation between the two organizations, which co-developed the Arrow and David’s Sling systems; while the Iron Dome system was developed by Israel, the U.S. government helped finance production.