Israel

The transfer of one of Jerusalem’s most prime pieces of real estate to Russia will be finalized when the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) vacates its offices, following the completion of talks between Israel and Russia on Sunday.

A missing sentence in an Ha'aretz translation is all that stands between Eli Yishai being a racist, and those he's quoting.

The Olympic Committee of Israel approved its list of 36 athletes to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on Sunday.

The assembly of at least 2000 began by saying Slichot, led by Rabbi Yaakov Chanun, who is the baal tefilah at the Munkatch beit Midrash on the Yamim Noraim. The assembled repeated chapters of Tehilim, verse by verse, and sat down on the ground in mourning just as Jews do on the day of Tisha B'Av.

Morsi's election will have tremendous reverberations beyond Egypt's borders, and not least for Israel, as the Muslim Brotherhood has questioned the validity of the 30-plus year peace treaty between Israel and Egypt; and is also the inspiration for and closely affiliated with Hamas, which rules in Gaza, and borders both Egypt and Israel.

Cisco and Facebook demonstrate confidence in the long-term viability of Israel’s economy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured Israelis on Sunday that Israel’s armed forces would protect residents of the south, as a tentative quiet followed a weekend of rockets lobbed on the region from Gaza. Despite fear, residents move on with life on Sunday.

On Saturday, rocket fire from the Gaza Strip continued with some 20 hits identified in towns and villages near the Gaza border. Israel's Air Force hit terrorists who were launching missiles at Israel. But the Islamic Jihad held its fire this week, "to see how others would face the Israeli aggression." (Watch video)

In the worst of the rocket escalations, a home in the Sdot Negev Regional Council was directly hit by a rocket on Wednesday, with the mother and her child home at the time. Miraculously, they were able to make it to the bomb shelter seconds before the rocket struck their home and were not injured.

Abe Foxman, Director of the Anti-Defamation League: "My love and support for Israel is unconditional, it does not depend on the Israeli acceptance of my ideas. My Zionism is not in crisis because my Zionism is not conditioned on an idealized view of what I'd like Israel to be."

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said he intends to bring home Ivorian citizens who are living illegally in Israel. But following talks with Rivlin, Ouattara was unsure about Israel's estimate of the number of his brethren (2,000) living illegally within its borders.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Jewish leaders from around the world will unveil the brand-new ‘Victory Monument’ in Netanya, Israel this Monday, June 25.

JERUSALEM – After terror groups operating from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula launched Grad missiles into the Southern Negev’s Mitzpeh Ramon and Uvda regions last weekend and murdered an Israeli Arab construction worker from Haifa on Monday, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak took the unusual step of ordering IDF tank units to deploy along portions of Israel’s southern border with Egypt.

Dagan and Ashkenazi made their comments on a panel at the 2012 Presidential Conference that included former Presidential adviser Dennis Ross. Dagan said in Egypt it matters not who votes but who counts the vote.

Kissinger: “It is unusual for an 89-year old man to say that I wish my parents could be here. They would be more proud of this distinction than any of the other honors that have come my way.”

Following the incessant rocket firing on civilian centers in southern Israel, four Iron Dome batteries were positioned overnight alongside the Gaza strip border. The cities of Beer Sheva, Ashkelon and Ashdod are now better protected. Four Border Guard policemen were injured Tuesday from a Grad hit.

Since the morning hours, at least 40 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into south-western Israel. Several Israeli Border Policemen were injured Tuesday evening, one of them is in critical condition.

The 10 rockets launched by Hamas in the past 24 hours represent its first rocket barrage in some months, and its claim of responsibility and timing suggests that the escalation is linked to Muhammad Morsi's putative victory in the Egyptian presidential elections.

Western diplomats continue to accuse Iran of foot-dragging and obfuscation, noting that the five-point proposal presented by the Islamic Republic in Baghdad last month calls for discussions on matters that are tangential to the nuclear issue. Yet Western diplomats continue to hold out hope that Iran will finally "engage seriously" the proposal that the six-nation bloc made last month.

The government on Sunday voted to put a ministerial committee headed by the Prime Minister in charge of Jewish development in Judea and Samaria , the first time in 16 years that the establishment and expansion of Jewish communities in the biblical heartland will not come under the purview of the full government.

The IDF has re-opened roads and lifted an order for residents to remain in their homes following a deadly attack killing one Israeli along the Israel-Egypt border.

In an interview with Ha'aretz last Friday, Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon made clear that for Israel the red line is Iran’s capability to produce a nuclear weapon and not Khamenei’s order to produce a bomb. He also said that Israel is not bluffing when it comes to decisive action to stop Iran and does not need an American ‘green light’ for a military strike .

Terrorist infiltrated from Egypt and opened fire with guns, explosives and an RPG against Israeli contractors working on the border fence. 1 Israeli and 2 terrorists were killed in the ensuing gunfight. Communities in the South were in lockdown for 5 hours.

Israel, which is approximately the size of the state of New Jersey, is also a very densely populated country – with an average of 982 people per square mile. "The idea...has spatial, economic and security logic for us," PM Netanyahu said. "It is also of value regarding environmental protection."

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yoav (Poly) Mordechai said that the understanding that the Bashar Assad regime in Syria has “reached its end” is now permeating among Assad’s allies Iran and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, a Russian military source said that Russia may send warships and troops to Syria to protect its logistics base in Tartous, Syria.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Saturday revved up his attacks on President Obama's Mid East policy, suggesting the president fears that Israel might attack Iran more than he fears that Iran will develop a nuclear weapon. “I think, by and large, you can just look at the things the president has done and do the opposite,” Romney said.

The former GOP presidential candidate, himself a devout campaign finance reformer, is accusing the current GOP candidate of accepting foreign money in exchange for influence over U.S. policy. The plot thickens more than a little when the agent of influence is a Jewish billionaire and the foreign power in question is the State of Israel.

A Palestinian sniper attempted to kill an Israeli farmer working in a field near Kibbutz Nir Oz on Thursday, shooting from a vantage point inside Gaza. The farmer hid behind a tractor until IDF soldiers arrived and evacuated him to safety.

The US Embassy in Tel Aviv announced Wednesday that it will be giving away tickets to an annual Independence Day party at the US ambassador’s residence in Herzliya.

In the wake of Israel's transferal last week of the remains of 91 terrorists to the Palestinian Authority, PA TV used its youth programming as a platform to lionize the terrorists as "the greatest role models." Palestinian Media Watch reported that the program, called Speak Up, is co-produced by PA TV and PYALARA, a youth-focused NGO funded in part by the EU.