ISSUES

Special Briefing

Watch the Israeli Air Force Hits Syria’s Nuclear Reactor in 2007

The Secret Operation Revealed a Decade Later

Background and Preparations for the Operation

For two years, officials in the Military Intelligence Directorate had been monitoring the Syrian nuclear project. Their intelligence suggested that the facility would become active toward the end of 2007, which prompted the IDF to initiate an attack on the facility.

The Israeli Air Force had very...

The Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot tells us his point of view of the attack on the Syrian nuclear facility in 2007, when he was the GOC of the Northern Command

Ending a decade of silence, Israel confirms it blew up Assad’s nuclear reactor

The State of Israel on Wednesday formally acknowledged that its air force blew up a Syrian nuclear reactor in the area of Deir Ezzor in the pre-dawn hours between September 5 and 6, 2007, in a mission known to much of the world as Operation Orchard.

The official confirmation ends a 10-and-a-half year policy of referring to the event with a smirk...

US slams Abbas over ‘outrageous’ insult of its Israel envoy

US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the peace process slammed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday for having called the American ambassador to Israel a “son of a dog,” urging him to abandon his “hateful rhetoric” and instead focus on improving the lives of his people.

At the same time, Jason Greenblatt said the White House...

Israeli man killed in Jerusalem terror stabbing

A terrorist stabbed an Israeli man to death in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday, officials said. The victim, who was critically injured in the afternoon attack, died of his wounds in the hospital on Sunday evening.

The attacker was quickly shot dead at the scene by an Israel Police officer, police said.

The victim, a security...

Hezbollah Doesn’t Expect War With Israel, But Is Ready for One, Group’s Deputy Leader Says

Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah does not expect its arch foe Israel to launch a war for now in Lebanon but is prepared for one, the deputy leader of the Iran-backed Shi’ite group told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

As the war in Syria enters its eighth year, Sheikh Naim Qassem also said there was no end in sight to the conflict which would go...

Palestinian groups praise car-ramming attack that kills two soldiers

Several Palestinian groups and activists on Friday praised the “heroic” car-ramming attack in which two IDF solders were killed near Jenin, saying it was an “appropriate” response to US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

While no group claimed direct responsibility for the terror attack, it came...

Two Dead Sea Scrolls to go on display for the first time in new Denver exhibit

Two Dead Sea Scrolls will be shown for the first time in an unprecedentedly large-scale Israel Antiquities Authority exhibition in Denver, Colorado. The two scrolls will be presented along with a three-ton stone from the Western Wall, some 600 artifacts from the biblical to Bar Kochba periods, and 18 other Dead Sea Scrolls in an exhibit set to run...

TV report: Netanyahu tells cabinet Trump is likely to exit Iran deal by May

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of his cabinet this week that US President Donald Trump will likely walk away from the Iran nuclear deal this May, Channel 10 news reported Thursday.

Netanyahu reportedly made the remarks during the cabinet meeting on Sunday when he relayed the details of his meeting with Trump in Washington a week...

Americans’ support for Israel among highest ever recorded

In a study headlined “Americans remain staunchly in Israel’s corner,” the Gallup company published the findings of a major national poll that found backing for Israel among Americans remains extremely high, with some measures of support matching the highest previously recorded figures.

“Americans’ stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is as...

Fundamentalist Terrorists Benefit from “Fundamental Fairness”

In January of 2002, a 28-year-old Palestinian woman named Wafa Idris detonated a 22-pound bomb outside a Jerusalem shoe store. The explosion killed 81-year-old Pinhas Tokatli, and injured more than 100 other people – including an American citizen named Mark Sokolow. His wife and two of his daughters were also wounded in the attack.

Two years...

IDF paratroopers teach US marines ‘lost art’ of tunnel combat

Israeli paratroopers and US marines completed a series of exercises over the past week and a half aimed at sharing techniques and knowledge on beach-landings and aspects of urban warfare, as part of the joint Juniper Cobra exercise, officers said.

For the Americans — specifically the US Marine Corps’ 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment — it meant...

Israelis awarded for paramedic training in Ecuador

Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) was awarded a Shield of Appreciation by the Ecuadorian Red Cross at a ceremony celebrating 14 years of existence of the Higher Technological Institute of the Ecuadorian Red Cross (ISTCRE).

Israeli Ambassador in Quito Edwin Yabo and MDA accepted the awards of appreciation for MDA’s ongoing support of ISTCRE’s...

As Hezbollah Builds Arsenal, Israel Prepares for Future Fighting

With Hezbollah pointing more than 120,000 projectiles at Israeli cities, towns and villages, it is clear to emergency and defense planners that any eruption of a new armed conflict will not resemble previous wars.

The essence of Hezbollah’s war doctrine — and that of its patron, Iran — is to direct heavy fire at Israel’s soft underbelly:...

ZAKA trains 45 first-responders in Guatemala

In Guatemala, 45 volunteers from different local community and emergency organizations came together to participate in a light search-and-rescue training course by Israeli ZAKAInternational Rescue Unit.

The three-day course, sponsored by the United Nations’ International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), was led by ZAKA Chairman...

Israeli aid in South Sudan greeted with joy

Some fifty townswomen in a remote community in South Sundan greeted an Israeli Foreign Ministry delegation with singing and dancing after it distributed 20 tons of food to refugees affected by the civil war plaguing the country.

A team from the Foreign Ministry headed by Ambassador to the South Sudan Hanan Godar distributed 20 tons of food to...

Palestinian Authority increase payments to terrorists to $403 million

The Palestinian Authority increased its payments to terrorists and their families by nearly $56 million, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avi Dichter (Likud) said overnight Monday, when a bill to discourage the practice passed a first reading.

Dichter pointed out that PA President Mahmoud Abbas authorized the 2018 PA budget...

Israel provides support to Papua New Guinea following devastating earthquake

Following a devastating earthquake, which struck Papua New Guinea’s highlands region on Monday, February 26, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV) has provided much needed support to disaster relief efforts.

The 7.5 magnitude earthquake left around 100 people dead and more than 150,000...