Middle East

By Raphael Ahren Israel offered sympathy but no immediate assistance to Iran and Iraq to help the countries deal with the aftermath of a destructive earthquake Sunday. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon said Monday he was unaware of any aid offered to the two countries, neither of which have diplomatic ties with Israel. In fact,

By Jacob Magid The leader of a Jewish extremist group will be indicted, pending a hearing, on charges of incitement to violence, racism and terrorism, the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office announced Monday. The allegations against Lehava head Bentzi Gopstein relate to a number of inflammatory public statements he made between 2012 and 2017. Gopstein’s far-right

By Marissa Newman and Alexander Fulbright Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay on Monday urged the government to call new elections for the sake of political stability. “In the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing about a conflict in the coalition: On the one hand the prime minister wants to call elections as soon as possible,

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu signaled Monday that Israel would take military action in Syria when it sees fit as it seeks to ensure Iran-backed forces stay away from its territory. Israel has long accused Iran, its main enemy, of taking advantage of Syria’s civil war to send its Revolutionary Guard and its Lebanese Shiite ally,

A strong earthquake that shook the Iran-Iraq border region on Sunday killed at least 66 people, authorities and state media in the two countries said. The Islamic Republic of Iran News Network quoted the head of the country’s emergency medical services, Pirhossein Koulivand, as saying at least 61 had been killed and 300 injured on

Saudi Arabia has denied reports that King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is planning to relinquish the throne in favor of his son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. “There is no possibility whatsoever that the king will abdicate,” a senior Saudi official told Bloomberg news on condition of anonymity, noting that Saudi kings usually stay

An Israeli general has warned Palestinian militants against carrying out attacks in revenge for the blowing up of a tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into the Jewish state last month. Major General Yoav Mordechai, head of a defence ministry unit responsible for activities in the Palestinian territories, made the comments in an Arabic-language video