Israel News

The Knesset on Wednesday passed legislation authorizing the Shin Bet security service to use controversial phone surveillance measures to help track down potential coronavirus carriers for a three-week period.

Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip have called for a “day of popular rage” on Wednesday to protest Israel’s plan to apply its sovereignty to parts of the West Bank.

The Israel Antiquities Authority on Tuesday announced that it has uncovered remnants from Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

In a recorded address to the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Virtual Summit 2020 on Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted the application of Israeli law to areas of Judea and Samaria—part of the “Peace to Prosperity” plan unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump in January.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Christian supporters of Israel in the US on Sunday in a video message during an annual conference of Christians United for Israel, an evangelical organization with millions of members in the United States.

The head of Israel’s Communication and Satellite Council has accused Israeli Messianic channel Shelanu TV of violating its broadcasting agreement and has suspended its license, CBN News reported Sunday.  Council Chairman Asher Biton claimed Shelanu falsely stated an intention to appeal only to Christians when it actually intended to broadcast Christian content to Jewish viewers in Israel. Vigorously denying any attempt to deceive, Shelanu has published its original agreement to prove there was no contractual violation.

Airstrikes targeting positions of Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria killed nine fighters on Sunday in the second such raid in 24 hours, a war monitor said.

Tensions remained high Sunday after two Israeli warplanes struck targets in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it was a response to two rockets fired at Israeli territory from the coastal enclave, Worthy News learned.

Israel and the United Arab Emirates are set to join forces in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jerusalem Post reports. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the partnership in a statement on Thursday, saying the decision to cooperate had come after months of intense negotiation.

Belgium’s Chamber of Representatives will vote today on whether to recognize a Palestinian state and on whether Israel should be threatened with economic sanctions if it unilaterally annexes parts of the West Bank, the Jerusalem Post reports.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has published a report on its finding an ancient Christian settlement in northern Israel in 2007, CBN News reported. Located in the Galilee area, the rural settlement was likely destroyed during the Persian conquest in 613 AD, the IAA report says.

The United Nations, European Union countries, and the Arab League joined Wednesday in calling for Israel to abandon its plans to annex parts of the West Bank, as the Jewish state’s envoy to the international body insisted the step would not stand in the way of peace with the Palestinians.

The cabinet and the Knesset voted on Wednesday to advance legislation that would enable the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to use its digital tools to track coronavirus patients. The bill passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum by a vote of 44 to 33, but still must pass additional readings in a Knesset committee and the plenum next week in order to become law.

The former head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin warned on ‎Wednesday that Iran could respond to overnight airstrikes in Syria that the Syrian regime has attributed ‎to Israel.

According to a survey conducted for the Shiloh Policy Forum, US President Trump’s Mideast peace plan would place hundreds of Jewish archaeological sites inside a future Palestinian state, CBN News reports. Among the sites concerned are Shiloh and an ancient synagogue discovered in Shomron, the Biblical capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi on Sunday said Iran is now the most dangerous country in the Middle East, not just because of its nuclear program, but also through its conventional weapons and support for terror activities against Israel.

U.S. officials will gather this week to discuss whether to give Israel a green light for its plan to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s target date of July 1 approaches.

The Israeli government’s ad hoc “Corona Cabinet” approved on Monday several new measures to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has begun to realize that Iran is lying about its nuclear ambitions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the opening of Sunday’s cabinet meeting.

Even the most contentious disagreements in previous governments – including coalitions that comprised Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked – didn’t prepare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the miseries of this current government. The combination of an equal share unity government with deadbeats such as Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, his dominant deputy with an independent agenda in the form of Gabi Ashkenazi, and a cohort of inexperienced Knesset members who haven’t graduated political boot camp yet, spurred Netanyahu to utter the word “election” more than once this week in closed-door conversations.