US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Israel again, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. At the meeting, Kerry lauded the Jewish state’s commitment to re-starting the peace process with Palestine. “There have been some very serious meetings, a lot of very serious discussions,” Kerry said. “I know this region well enough to know that there is skepticism. In some corridors, there’s cynicism. And there are reasons for it. There have …More

Nine months after winning the gold medal in tennis at the Paralympic Games, Israeli Noam Gershony is competing in the World Cup in Turkey with Team Israel. Gershony, who was severely injured in a helicopter crash during Israel’s Second Lebanon War, is joined in the competition by teammates Shraga Weinberg and Patrick Ben Uliel. After a few winning matches Sunday, Israel was ranked in second place at the tournament. Dudi Sela has climbed up from the 110th spot in the men’s tennis rankings to number …More

The government of Lithuania has asked Israeli President Shimon Peres to head an international advisory board on the restoration of the Vilnius Great Synagogue. “The [restoration] project is an important part of the effort to both preserve and restore Vilnius’ Jewish heritage, and I think that President Peres could bring valuable guidance and insight to our project,” Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas said, according to the Baltic Review news site. The restoration and construction project could be …More

Britain’s Foreign Minister William Hague met with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel today, vowing his nation would “never give in” to terror. The meeting came just one day after London experienced a brutal terrorist attack, when two Islamic militants murdered a British soldier on the street. “First, I want to express my solidarity and the solidarity of the people of Israel with the government and people of Britain following this horrific terrorist attack against a British serviceman in …More

Israel’s first ever exhibit at the Louvre is currently underway, with a 1,700-year-old mosaic as the centerpiece. The Lod Mosaic is on display at the historic Parisian museum, part of the first instance the Louvre has put together an entire exhibit dedicated to Israeli artifacts. In the past, the museum has displayed Israeli pieces from private collections. The Lod Mosaic is an ancient piece discovered in1996 during excavation for a highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Since that time, the mosaic has …More

The Jewish community in England and abroad is already reacting to yesterday’s terrorist attack in London, which saw two Islamic militants kill a male soldier using a large knife. The militants were caught on tape perpetrating the attack, with one suspect saying, “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” The CST, Britain’s …More

In early May, Turkish Airlines hosted an unusual group of passengers flying from Israel to Istanbul. A special group of wildlife animals from Israel’s Ramat Gan Safari and the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo were flown to Turkey on May 7. Turkish zookeepers located at the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Natural Life Park asked the Ramat Gan Safari to assist them in expanding their African section of animals. A total of 45 animals of seven different species were flown including three meerkats, six nyalas, three …More

The ADL is involved in a mission to get bibles out of state-funded lodgings. [Times of Israel] Jeffrey Goldberg wants everyone to stop ranking Jews. [Bloomberg] Rabbis demand an end to the Boy Scouts gay ban. [Forward] Meet Jessica Lanyadoo, a Jewish home-psychic. [Tablet] A new augmented reality game traces Jewish history in New York. [Boing Boing] Musical Arab-Jewish youth find the key to coexistence. [Christian Science Monitor] CAMERA launches new site to aid pro-Israel students. [Algemeiner] New …More

A report relinquishing Israel of responsibility for the death of a Palestinian boy during the Second Intifada is drawing international headlines. Muhammad al-Dura, 12, became the subject of world outcry in 2000, when a video purporting to show him being shot and killed by Israeli forces first circulated. The video, which also included imagery of Muhammad’s father Jamal al-Dura, was seen by critics as a sign of Israeli aggression, though the Jewish state was involved in a slew of bitter assaults and suicide …More

Hilla Hascalovich was just shy of her second birthday when her family moved from Israel to California, and although she grew up living in the United States, she faced the difficult task of choosing between serving in the Israel Defense Forces or deferring her draft in favor of college. It’s a decision all American teenagers with Israeli citizenship face, but some find a middle ground. Hascalovich, who visited Israel twice yearly and considered Israel a second home, postponed college for a year in order to …More

Six months ago, the Iron Dome defense system rendered Hamas rockets largely ineffective during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense. The accuracy of the system is largely thanks to a vital component: the laser. The system, which can shoot down rockets within a circumference of 65 square miles, takes two trucks to transport and tens of millions of dollars per unit to build. In November’s Gaza fighting, it boasted almost 90 percent accuracy. The laser, the machine's brains, is responsible for that …More

The Air Force Museum is the only museum in Israel where the entire staff is made up of soldiers on active duty, including tour guides who speak five different languages: Hebrew, English, Spanish, French and Russian. The logistic workers, plane mechanics, administrators and photographers are all soldiers as well. Now, to introduce your personal tour guide: Cpl. Rom Aloni, 20 years-old, serves as a guide in the museum as part of his regular army service. Cpl. Rom Aloni next to the MiG-23 and the MiG-21 airplanes …More