Middle East

By Sue Surkes Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus lll on Wednesday embarked on the first leg of a series of overseas visits to garner support for what a spokesman described as “preservation of the status quo” in the city. Under attack by Israelis for having sold church land off to anonymous investors and lambasted by […]

Israel Railways today announced that it would carry out major infrastructure work on the railway line between the Binyamina and Tel Aviv University railway stations. This section will be closed from October 31 to November 5. Infrastructure work will also be carried out at the West Hadera station. The purpose of the work is to

The Hamas terrorist organization strongly criticized US Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt Thursday regarding his position on the recent reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. Greenblatt had said on Wednesday that “any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the State of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties – including to

The national and Islamic forces in the Ramallah district, an umbrella group that is comprised of all the Palestinian Arab organizations, on Wednesday issued a statement calling on Britain to apologize for the “crime of the Balfour Declaration,” in which Britain pledged to establish a national home for the Jewish people. The November 2, 1917,

The ministerial legislative committee, headed by Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked, plans to discuss a number of controversial bills this Sunday. These bills were distributed today, and anyone who examines these off-the-cuff announcements every Thursday, including the names of the proposed bills, has to ask himself or herself whether there is any real legislative intent

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday, met with Zion Christian Church (ZCC) head Bishop Barnabas Lekganyana, who was visiting Jerusalem as part of a tour of Israel. ZCC is one of Africa”s largest Christian churches. Rivlin welcomed Lekganyana and spoke of the importance of the strong friendship between the Jewish community and the Christian communities

Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef on Wednesday criticized the proposal to amend child support so that divorced parents fairly split the cost of raising children. Speaking at a conference for lawyers and rabbinical legal representatives on the subjects of divorce and get refusal, Rabbi Yosef, such a law is “completely unnecessary.” A get is a

Officials of the Kurdistan Regional Government are accusing Iran of playing a key role in the fall of disputed territories in northern Iraq including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a claim rejected by Iranian officials. This week the Iraqi government forces backed by Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) marched into the Kurdish-controlled disputed territories after Kurdish

By Stuart Winer Israel’s Mossad spy agency is advertising for a field agent who is optimistic and spontaneous and has a sense of humor. No joke. The agency’s website recently posted a notification it is seeking an operations person in an “intelligence-gathering unit” needed for “challenging and dynamic work at the cutting edge of operations.”

MK Zehava Galon (Meretz) has notified the Knesset speaker of her resignation from the Knesset. She said that she had realized that she should spend all her time working as Meretz chairperson and in increasing the party’s power by opening its ranks to new groups. Meretz general secretary Moshe Raz will replace her in the