Israel-Palestinian Conflict

The director of the US National Security Agency, Admiral Michael Rogers, reportedly paid a secret visit to Israel last week to discuss cooperation in cyber-defense, in particular to counter attacks by Iran and its Lebanon-based proxy Hezbollah.

Speaking via satellite from Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the American Public Affairs Committee’s closing plenary session that the terrorist attacks Tuesday morning in Belgium highlighted Israel’s own struggle against the murderous and extremist imperative of its enemies.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on world powers to punish Iran after the country test-fired two ballistic missiles emblazoned with the phrase “Israel must be wiped out” in Hebrew.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected a peace initiative presented by US Vice President Joe Biden during their meeting in Ramallah on Wednesday, according to Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds.

US President Barack Obama is weighing up options to make progress on the Middle East peace process before he leaves office, the Wall Street Journal reports, including the possibility of backing a UN Security Council resolution to further talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined an offer to meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House later this month and canceled his trip to Washington, the White House said on Monday.

Hezbollah is convinced it can invade Israeli territory should another war break out between the two sides, a source close to the Lebanese Shiite group told Foreign Policy magazine recently.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon met with US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford on Thursday in Tel Aviv, discussing “strengthening defense and military ties” between the two allies and the situation in the Middle East, according to a Defense Ministry statement.

The Israeli Air Force on Wednesday was set to receive its first David’s Sling batteries, the cutting-edge midrange missile defense system that has been in development since 2006 in a joint Israeli-American venture.

The United States and Israel announced that delivery of the David’s Sling missile defense system to the Israel Air Force (IAF) has begun, the Hebrew news site Walla reported on Tuesday.

Two Israeli soldiers were injured in a stabbing attack near Nablus in the northern West Bank on Wednesday evening.

Two days into a shaky ceasefire in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that while Israel was glad about the prospect of an end to hostilities there, any long-term solution had to provide security for the Jewish state as well.

The Energy Ministry has tripled its estimate of the volume of still-undiscovered natural gas in Israeli waters.

The Knesset held its first-ever LGBT rights day on Tuesday, where will be lectures speaking about the situation of the community in Israel are being held. This is on the heels of a report which shows that the amount of instances of harassment of the LGBT community in Israel has actually gone up.

Congress is seeking to boost U.S. investment in Israeli security technologies and other sectors in response to efforts by international anti-Israel groups to promote economic boycotts of the Jewish state, according to a copy of a measure obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

A joint IDF-US European Command missile drill, dubbed Juniper Cobra 16, began Sunday, the military said.

An Israeli foreign ministry delegation led by Director General Dore Gold met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow Thursday to discuss developments in Syria and the S-300 missile systems Russia is reportedly due to supply to Iran.

Israel and Russia signed a diplomatic framework agreement for the upcoming year, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, concluding MFA Director General Dore Gold’s visit to Moscow.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday said three Israeli rockets hit Syrian army positions near Damascus, according to Reuters.