HAIFA – A rare kidney transplantation between Jewish and Arab family members was successfully performed last week by Dr. Rawi Ramadan, director of Rambam Hospital’s Medical Transplantation Unit in the Department of Nephrology. According to a hospital spokesperson, both patients have returned home to their respective families in the metropolitan Haifa region.

JERUSALEM – Sirens wailed across Israel on Monday, as the country’s Home Front Command began testing a new nationwide alert system as a measure to warn the citizenry of what to do in the event of an impending missile attack. Conventional methods, as well as smartphone and social media applications, were used in the test.

JERUSALEM – As Shiite Hizbullah and Sunni anti-Syrian government rebels battle across Syria and Lebanon, and Egyptian and Jordanian forces confront al Qaeda terrorists in the Sinai and southern Jordan, the emir of Qatar blamed Israel for the chaos that threatens to plunge the entire region into war.

JERUSALEM – Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Israel’s current Sephardi chief rabbi whose 10-year term is set to expire in the coming months, and Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, a leading Ashkenazi rabbi, announced their intention to force a legal change in the chief rabbinate selection process.

JERUSALEM – Despite heightened tensions with Lebanon and Syria, including Israel Air Force sorties over Damascus, a group of stars from two ABC-TV hit shows, “Scandal” and “Once Upon A Time,” participated last week in numerous indoor and outdoor activities in northern Israel, including the Golan Heights. The stars said that the American public is served a steady diet of warped images of Israel.

JERUSALEM – With strong evidence that Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have used chemical weapons against civilians, Israeli and Western military commanders are contemplating a series of air strikes and commando operations against a select group of targets inside Syria.