Israel News

The European Union’s foreign ministers were to meet Monday to vote in support of the French peace initiative, a proclamation expected to bolster Paris’s efforts to kick start Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The United States House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $576 billion defense spending bill which includes $635.7 million for U.S.-Israel missile defense programs, despite a threat by the Obama administration to veto the bill, The Jewish Insider reports.

The next war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza will be the last for the Islamist regime, a senior source in the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday, though he stressed that Israel is not seeking conflict and will not be the side to initiate hostilities.

The White House said Tuesday that it was opposed to a move by the House of Representatives to increase funding for Israeli missile defense procurement by an additional $455 million above the administration’s budget request for the 2017 fiscal year.

The Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, David Lau, said he would like to see the Jewish temple rebuilt on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow. They discussed economic cooperation including energy ties.

Following the deadly terrorist shooting in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night that left four people dead and several others wounded, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai, cancelled the easing of some security restrictions that were in place for the Muslim month of Ramadan.

The Syrian website ‘Zaman Al Wasl,’ which identifies with the opposition forces, quoted a military official from the Syrian regime who claimed that the Israel Air Force had carried out an airstrike against military targets close to a village 13 kilometers north of Homs.

Meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday expressed support for a “comprehensive and just” solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi has slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent calls to introduce changes into the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative in order to reinvigorate the Israel-Palestinian peace process.

In a telephone conversation with Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “said yes” to new efforts led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia for regional progress toward peace, an Israeli television report said.

Tens of thousands of people participated in the Pride Parade on Friday, marching through Tel Aviv in a street party that culminated with a beach party at Charles Clore Park.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Friday that major powers had a duty to revive talks between Israel and Palestine and that the perspectives created by the Oslo accords in 1993 were at risk.

In light of the Syrian civil war and the ongoing refugee crisis, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has been largely pushed into the background in recent months. But the conference in Paris opening on Friday will aim to begin a new peace initiative between the two conflict parties.

Forget unrelenting terrorism, the Hamas-Fatah split, and m, the Hamas-Fatah split, and the consistent Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as the national home of the Jews, a French pre-summit paper on Thursday said settlement activity is the main threat to a two state solution.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has unanimously approved an increase in spending on Israeli missile defense that is four times more than what President Barack Obama had requested.

The Arab league supported on Saturday France’s Middle East peace initiative and all international efforts to create lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, AFP reported.

The Senate Appropriations Committee easily approved $600 million in funding for Israeli missile defense programs Thursday, moving the legislation to the floor for a full chamber vote.

While France has pushing for an international peace summit in Paris in an effort to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Egypt has been working behind the scenes on its own diplomatic initiative.

Representatives of the Likud, Yisrael Beytenu and the Finance Ministry reached an agreement overnight that will enable a signing ceremony on a new coalition deal that was expected to take place on Wednesday morning.