A 747 jumbo charter Aliyah flight arrived in Tel Aviv from JFK airport on Tuesday morning, August 16th, carrying 360 North Americans moving to Israel. The flight, sponsored by Friends of the IDF (FIDF), was organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Jewish Agency, in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. Among the 132 singles on board the flight, were 104 young men and women who will be joining the IDF in the coming months. This is the second year that FIDF and Nefesh …More

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is going to approve an increase in Egyptian military forces in Sinai. Egypt will deploy thousands of troops into the area with helicopters and armored vehicles to secure the volatile territory, which is in direct violation of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. A demilitarized Sinai has been the foundation of 30 years of peace with Egypt. The decision to increase military presence follows on the heels of the August 18 attack on Israeli vehicles …More

The developers of a new luxury hotel in the Galilee, to be the largest all-suite hotel in Israel, put the interior design of the project into the hands of Nir Gilad of Nous Design in London. The choice makes sense. Gilad, one of the world's hottest go-to guys for high-end leisure centers, is Israeli. "It's going to be fantastic," he tells ISRAEL21c. "We are creating a true sense of travel to a remote destination. You'll get the feeling of being on a faraway holiday in a place that is connected to the …More

More than 130 missiles, rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into Israel’s southern Negev region, killing at least one. Some academics believe these attacks are Iran-backed and strategic, meant to distract media attention from the troubles in Syria. Residents in the South have had to deal with the destruction of their property and close calls, several of which seem divine in nature. For instance, a father had a heart attack and his family went to the hospital to visit him, escaping the would-be …More

Israels President Shimon Peres opened the school year in Israel Thursday morning with a visit to Chabads elementary school in Ir Ganim, Jerusalem. Accompanying him was Jerusalems Mayor Nir Barkat. The students, clad in t-shirts sporting their Chabad school logo, received a warm handshake each from Mr. Peres who then led them in line to their seats at the orientation. The President participated in a traditional, first-day-of-school ceremony for first graders. Under the canopy of the talit, he blessed them with the …More

Unlike past years, there were no last minute teachers’ strikes stopping the beginning of the Israeli school year. Hundreds of thousands of students headed to class today, joined by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin. Rivlin visited a school in Itamar, the site of the terror attack that killed five members of the Fogel family last March. He told the students that “the entire Land of Israel belongs to us” and called Itamar “an example for all Jews who return to their homeland." He explained that …More

A collection of rarely seen portraits of Jewish prisoners forced to work for the Nazis in a money-forging scheme fictionalized in the Oscar-winning film “The Counterfeiters” is being donated to Israel’s Holocaust museum. Heirs of the artist who created the 43 portraits formally hand over the works to Yad Vashem (yahd VAH’-shehm) at a ceremony Thursday in New York City. The portraits are by Felix Cytrin (ceeh-TRIN’), a Jewish engraver forced by the Nazis to help produce fake British …More

Conducted by Zubin Mehta during his 50th year with the group, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra will play a concert during the annual BBC Proms. The concert, taking place on Thursday at Albert Hall in London, celebrates the 75th anniversary of the orchestra. Protestors called for a blanket boycott of Israel, and thus of this concert, as part of the Brand Israel campaign. The effort claims that Israel deliberately obscures violations of human rights and international law by pushing cultural achievements to the …More

Shia LaBeouf doesn't care about your rules. He doesn't care about something you keep bringing up called "good taste." Shia LaBeouf is going to do what Shia LeBeouf wants to do, whether that's implying he hooked up with a married Megan Fox in an interview, trashing the movies that pay him, or directing Marilyn Manson's newest music video for his song, "Born Villain." That's right. Shia LaBeuof is directing the pretend scary rocker's newest attempt to get teenagers to wear black and rage against their suburban …More

The inhabitants of immigrant community Brighton Beach in Brooklyn have spoken out about their culture’s portrayal in Lifetime reality show “Russian Dolls,” which airs Thursdays at 11:30 p.m. Neighbors and community leaders complained to the Washington Post that the show is a caricature of their world, depicting “Russians in tacky clothes who do little more than eat, drink and party,” says John Lisyanskiy, founder of the new nonprofit Russian-Speaking American Leadership Caucus and a …More

Jerusalem’s Woodstock Revival is rocking and rolling in Kraft Stadium in Jerusalem. The third annual festival pays tribute to the music of the iconic 1969 concert, bringing together young and old in appreciation of some classic tunes played by various Israeli cover bands. Nadia Levene, one of the organizers of the event, summarized its motto nicely. “Everybody is dressed in hippie clothes, and we’re leaving our troubles at the door,” she said. For one performer, Israel and the original …More

Osama bin Laden is dead. A new skyscraper is rising at the site of the old World Trade Center. U.S. troops are withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan. Ten years later, the physical legacies of 9/11 attacks are fading into history. Yet the conspiracy theories about who “really” was behind the attacks seem to be growing. Like a drug-resistant virus, these fantasies have persisted despite efforts to combat them by mutating over time, taking new forms and finding new modes of transmission. Jews and Israel …More