State Department won’t ask Israel to return $75 million in aid
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s team won’t attempt to claw back $75 million in U.S. aid provided to Israel, a department official confirmed Tuesday.
Israel-Palestinian Conflict
Tillerson State Dept. Demanding Israel Hand Back Millions in U.S. Military Aid
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been pushing the Trump White House to demand that Israel give back to the United States millions of dollars in military aid, prompting pushback in the West Wing and further fueling ongoing tensions between Foggy Bottom and the White House over a range of key diplomatic issues, according to multiple sources briefed on the situation.
Northern Command goes on offense in wide-scale exercise
The Northern Command began the next stage of its wide-scale training exercise in the Western and Lower Galilee on Monday, conducting offensive maneuvers in a simulation of an all-out war against the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah.
Russia reassures Israel over Iranian presence in Syria — report
Russia has reportedly reassured Israel that it will not allow Iran and its Hezbollah proxy to threaten the Jewish state from Syria, where Moscow is fighting alongside Tehran and the Lebanese terror group on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
US trying to organize peace summit between Trump, Abbas and Netanyahu: report
The Trump administration is trying to arrange a summit between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Hebrew newspaper Yisrael Hayom reported Sunday.
Syrian army warns Israel of serious repercussions after alleged attack
Israel launched an aerial attack on Assad posts in Syria overnight, hit a scientific research center where chemical weapons are manufactured and killed two Syrian soldiers, Arab media reported Thursday morning.
Israeli planes said to hit a chemical weapons site in Syria
Syrian reports said early Thursday that Israeli warplanes struck overnight a facility in northern Syria where the regime has allegedly been stockpiling chemical weapons.
Trump reportedly to meet with Abbas, Netanyahu on sidelines of UN gathering
US President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month, Haaretz reported Wednesday citing local officials.
Russia threatened to veto UNIFIL mandate if Hezbollah mentioned
Russia reportedly threatened to use its veto at the United Nations last week if the Lebanon-based terror organization Hezbollah, its ally in the Syrian civil war, was named in a Security Council resolution to renew the mandate of peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon.
Thousands of troops to stage mock war with Hezbollah in largest drill in years
Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers will stage a mock 10-day war against the Hezbollah terrorist group in northern Israel beginning Tuesday, marking the IDF’s largest exercise in nearly 20 years, the army announced Monday, amid tensions over growing Iranian influence in Syria and Lebanon.
Iran’s new weapons facilities in Lebanon ‘cross a red line,’ Israel says
Israel’s intensive diplomatic campaign in recent weeks, which included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, trips by senior Israeli defense officials to the United States and more, comes on the heels of updated situation assessments within the defense establishment suggesting that if nothing is done, the weapon manufacturing facilities Iran is building in Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s neighbors to the north, will become operational in the foreseeable future.
Russia stations S-400 batteries near Iranian arms factory in Syria
Russia has reportedly stationed its advanced S-400 anti-missile defense system near an Iranian arms factory in Syria, which allegedly manufactures long-range guided missiles for Hezbollah to use against Israel.
US to let Iranian-backed militias within 10 km of Golan Heights
US officials have agreed to let Iranian-backed militias take up positions in Syria less than ten kilometers from the Israeli Golan Heights, the Arabic daily Asharq Al Awsat reported Thursday.
Forced by court order, Netanyahu reveals 230 calls to Israel Hayom editor
Forced by a Supreme Court order to reveal the dates of his phone calls with the owner and chief editor of a newspaper seen as staunchly loyal to him, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Thursday that from 2012-2015 he spoke with American Jewish casino mogul Sheldon Adelson almost once a week and nearly double that with then-Israel Hayom editor Amos Regev.
Friedman to ‘Post’: US, Israel of ‘same mind’ on stopping Iran in Syria
The US and Israel are ‘of the same mind’ when it comes to opposition to any Iranian military presence in Syria, US Ambassador David Friedman told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview this week.
Netanyahu pummels media, accuses ‘fake news industry’ of trying to topple him
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a seething attack on the media Wednesday, accusing the press of playing up a pair of corruption investigations against him in an effort to end his premiership.
UN said set to bolster peacekeeping force in south Lebanon
The United Nations will reportedly expand the mandate of its peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon following complaints from Israel over the international body’s failure to address Hezbollah’s weapons buildup in the area.
Israeli ministry drops opposition to adoption by same-sex couples
Israel’s Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs has reversed its opposition to allowing same-sex couples to adopt in the country.
In Ramallah, Guterres embraces two-state solution
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on his first visit to the Palestinian territories since taking office in January, embraced a two-state solution on Tuesday.
Netanyahu: ‘No more uprooting of settlements in Israel’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed there would be ‘no more uprooting of settlements in the Land of Israel’ at an event marking the 50th anniversary of Jewish settlement in the West Bank.