ISSUES

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US-Israel Relationship

DeSantis Threatens Airbnb with Sanctions over Israeli Settlement Boycott

TEL AVIV – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday ordered state officials to boycott Airbnb when conducting state business and said he would make the vacation rental giant “feel the heat” unless it walks back its decision banning rentals in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
“We have a moral obligation to oppose the Airbnb policy; it does target...

Event Recaps

Dec 16th Clayton, DE Why Israel Event

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

At farewell ceremony, PM salutes outgoing IDF chief for fighting Iran

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday lauded outgoing army chief Gadi Eisenkot for blocking Iran and its proxies on four fronts during his tenure as commander of the Israel Defense Forces.

Speaking at a farewell ceremony attended by a bevy of senior political and defense officials, Netanyahu said the general also succeeded in instituting a...

Hezbollah

Finding ‘6th, biggest and last’ Hezbollah tunnel, IDF ends Northern Shield op

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday declared that its effort to find and destroy Hezbollah cross-border attack tunnels was coming to an end, following the discovery of another such underground passage over the weekend.

“With the discover of this terror tunnel, the effort to locate the passages dug by Hezbollah that crossed the border into Israeli...

Archeology

Biblical site tied to Ark of the Covenant unearthed at convent in central Israel

A massive 8th century BCE man-made platform discovered at a Catholic convent in central Israel may have served as an ancient shrine to the Ark of the Covenant, said leading Tel Aviv University archaeologist Israel Finkelstein. Unearthed at Kiriath-Jearim, the shrine gives potential new insight into the political machinations of the sibling...

Iran

White House reportedly explored military options for U.S. strike on Iran

The White House explored military options to strike Iran, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

Following a mortar attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad in September by a group linked to Iran, US National Security Adviser John Bolton asked the Pentagon to provide the military with options to ‘strike back’ at the Islamic...

Incitement

Blood money, not benevolence: The PLO’s Justification of ‘pay for slay’

On Dec. 9, 2018 , Shira Ish-ran was shot in the abdomen by a Palestinian terrorist. She was pregnant, and she required an emergency cesarean section to save her life. Tragically, her baby, delivered prematurely, died.

Palestinian Authority law mandates “salaries” for terrorists such as the one who shot Mrs. Ish-ran if he is caught or killed. Such...

Hamas

10,000 Palestinians riot along the Gaza border, IDF fires back

More than 10,000 Palestinians have gathered to protest along the Gaza border, as part of the March of Return on Friday, 6 Palestinians injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Palestinians have been setting tires aflame, and hurling rocks and explosive devices at IDF forces along the border. Troops responded with crowd dispersal...

US-Israel Relationship

Lawmakers reintroduce pro-Israel bill that didn’t make cut in last Congress

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Republican Senator Marco Rubio from Florida reintroduced pro-Israel legislation that did not get passed in the last Congress.

Rubio, together with Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, on Thursday, the first day of the new Congress, combined a number of Middle East-related bills into a single bill, jump-starting the process.

“First item...

Iran

Iran says its warships are coming to the Atlantic for the 1st time

Iranian warships will sail for the first time into Atlantic waters early in 2019, the deputy commander of Iran's navy has said. The long-distance voyage would bring Iran's military forces closer to U.S. soil, and territorial waters, than they have been since the 1979 Islamic revolution which brought the current regime to power.

Iranian state-run...

US-Israel Relationship

Israel, U.S. slated to leave UNESCO today to protest anti-Israel bias

Israel and the United States are slated to leave the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific organization today over its anti-Israel bias.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry is expected to make an announcement on the matter later today.

Israel has been a member state of UNESCO since 1949. In the last 17 years, the global cultural body has...

Hezbollah

UNIFIL confirms tunnel filled with cement by IDF crossed border, broke UN rules

United Nations peacekeeping forces on the Israeli-Lebanese border on Saturday confirmed that a tunnel filled up and destroyed by the Israeli army a day earlier had crossed the border into the Jewish state and was in “violation of resolution 1701,” the UN decision that ended 2006’s Second Lebanon War.

It was the third such tunnel that UNIFIL...

Hamas

IDF annual report: 1,000 rockets fired at Israel from Gaza in 2018

One thousands rockets and mortars were fired from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip into southern Israel over the past year, a dramatic rise from the past three years when there were less than 100 in total.

According to statistics released by the IDF on Sunday, of the 1,000 rockets and mortars fired from the Strip, 250 were intercepted by Israel’s Iron...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

IDF: With explosives and ‘liquid,’ cross-border tunnels from Kafr Kila destroyed

The IDF on Thursday said it had destroyed all of the attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah from the southern Lebanese village of Kafr Kila into the northern Israeli border town of Metulla.

The army released photos and video footage that it said proved “without a doubt” that the tunnels were dug from Lebanon into Israel. It also revealed some of its...

Hezbollah

Army finds, destroys fifth attack tunnel from Lebanon

The Israeli military announced Wednesday it had discovered a new cross-border attack tunnel from Lebanon, the fifth such subterranean passage it has uncovered since launching an operation to destroy the Hezbollah-dug tunnels.

The latest tunnel was dug from Ayta ash Shab, a village across the border from the farming community of Shtula, and...

Iran

Photos said to show Iranian warehouse flattened by Israeli strike in Syria

Satellite images show the extent of damage from an alleged Israeli strike in Syria this week, with one photo indicating that a large storage facility was completely destroyed, an Israeli satellite imaging company said Thursday.

The photos, taken December 26 and published by ImageSat International, were of the remains of an Iranian warehouse at a...

Syria

Israeli official confirms Syria airstrikes, says Iran was the target

An Israeli security official on Wednesday confirmed responsibility for overnight Tuesday's airstrikes in Syria, saying the air force had hit a series of targets involved in Iranian arms transfers to the Hezbollah terror group.

Russia had criticized the airstrike, saying it endangered civilian flights. The comments highlighted the increasingly...

Iran

Albania expels Iranian diplomats after terror threat; Trump cheers decision

Albania has expelled two Iranian diplomats for threatening the country’s security on the heels of recent terror-related arrests, drawing praise from the Trump administration as U.S. officials press European leaders to get tough on Tehran.

In a letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Trump said the move would send a message that Iran's...

Syria

Israeli Security Experts Weigh in on US Withdrawal From Syria, Emphasize Ongoing Iran Threat

A number of Israeli security experts have weighed in on US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria, emphasizing the ongoing threat posed by Iran and the need for Israel to defend itself by itself.

Veteran journalist Ehud Yaari wrote on the Hebrew news site Mako that Trump was “applying the policies of his...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)

Policy On Jewish-Owned Properties In West Bank Will Hurt Airbnb

Airbnb's decision to de-list Jewish owned properties in the West Bank is anti-Semitic and will have a dramatic, negative effect on the company's mid-2019 Initial Public Offering (IPO).

In a lengthy statement announcing its new policy, Airbnb attempted to claim a thoughtful and nuanced moral high ground. They justified their decision by noting the...