Genesis Prize Cancels Ceremony After 2018 Winner Natalie Portman Says Won’t Visit Israel. Portman said 'recent events in Israel' have been 'extremely distressing,' making it uncomfortable for her to participate in any public events in Israel. On Thursday, the Genesis Prize Foundation, which awards what it calls the “Jewish Nobel,” said it was “very saddened” that the Israeli-American [...]

Israeli F-15 jets practicing for an air show for Israel’s Independence Day on April 19, startled residents who assumed the fighter jet activity above the Israeli capital was related to ongoing tensions with Syria just a week after Israel struck a Syrian airbase. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) made no prior announcement of the F-15 drills, which left residents in Tel Aviv struggling for an expl [...]

After its soldiers conducted a massacre against unarmed protesters in Gaza, Israeli leaders should be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court, argues Marjorie Cohn. On March 30, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers shot 773 unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza, killing 17 and wounding 1,400. Twenty remain in critical condition. The protesters were marching to demand the internationally ma [...]

From the Archive: As Israeli military has killed dozens of unarmed protesters near the border at which they are fenced into Gaza, Israeli leaders may feel they are once again “mowing the grass” as Elizabeth Murray recalls in this updated piece originally published on November 16, 2012. [...]

The Russian Foreign Ministry has commented on the mass protests of Palestinians on the Israeli-Gaza border called the Great March of Return that has lead to more than 1,000 being injured. Russia considers that the indiscriminate use of force against the civilian population on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip to be unacceptable and calls upon Palestinians and Israelis to refrain from st [...]

Two Israeli F-15 fighters targeted Syria’s T-4 airbase in Homs province, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday. The jets fired eight guided missiles, but five of them were shot down before they hit the airfield. In a statement on Monday, the Russian military said: “Two Israeli Air Force F-15 jets fired eight guided missiles at the T-4 airfield.” [...]

The US was the only country in the world to oppose a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for war crimes, at the 29th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), held from 15 June to 3 July 2015. The US voted against “ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in” the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). [...]

An episode of Abby Martin’s Empire Files, featuring journalist Max Blumenthal and spotlighting rising militarism in Israel, has been blocked by YouTube in 28 countries, including Israel and the UK, for violating “local laws.” “Just notified by YouTube that Abby Martin’s interview with Max Blumenthal has been blocked from being viewed in 28 countries (including Israel) to ‘comply with l [...]

With the largest joint U.S.-Israeli air defense exercise ever conducted having recently concluded, which involved over 2,500 American service personnel, and in the midst of heightened Israeli involvement in the Syrian war, we find ourselves asking... Are US troops ready to fight and to die for America’s Israel's defense? [...]

Israeli officials have rallied behind the IDF after calls at home and abroad for an independent probe into its use of force against Palestinian protesters at the border of the Gaza Strip on Friday. Violence erupted during demonstrations on ‘Land Day,’ an annual Palestinian protest against Israeli settlements. [...]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a blistering attack on Benjamin Netanyahu, calling his Israeli counterpart the “leader of a terrorist state” following the deadly shooting of protesters in Gaza. Erdogan made the comments at his party’s congress in southern Turkey. Addressing the event, the president slammed Netanyahu’s criticism of Turkey’s military operation in Syria. [...]

Syrian forces continue to discover new evidence about the types of weapons, facilities, and tactics used by Islamist militants during their occupation of East Ghouta. The Syrian military found the Israeli-made weapons in the town of Harasta, about 10 kilometers from central Damascus, according to a Press TV report citing Syrian state television. [...]

The Israeli defense minister hailed the US’ hefty contribution to the missile defense program, thanking Washington for its $705 million in aid – $558 million more than Israel’s initial request. “I am pleased to announce that the US Congress has approved a record amount for missile defense: $705 million in 2018,” Avigdor Liberman tweeted. [...]

This is not the first episode involving the attaché, who has been summoned by Austria's Foreign Ministry, as he had previously posted a photo of his grandfather in a Nazi uniform with a swastika on social media. Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has summoned Juergen-Michael Kleppich, an attaché from the country's embassy in Israel, "to clarify the circumstances and to submit to a legal pr [...]

Polish President Andrzej Duda has apologized to Jews who were kicked out of the country in the anti-Semitic campaign of 1968. At the same though, Duda asserted that Warsaw bears no responsibility for the country’s past. [...]

Israel's resumed efforts to crack down on Iran could be fueled by Benjamin Netanyahu's looming bribery investigation, geopolitical analyst Gilbert Mercier told Sputnik. As tensions are escalating between Ankara and Damascus over Afrin, Mercier suggested that it would be a strategic mistake on the part of President Bashar Assad to protect the Kurds. [...]

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel would not accept any restrictions in Syria. Radio Sputnik discussed the isssue with ​​​Dr Tim Anderson, Australian analyst, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney, author of the 'Dirty War on Syria'. [...]

Syrian government forces discovered warehouses stocked with weapons and ammunition, including arms produced in Israel, in Deir Ez-Zor, which had been liberated from the terrorist group Daesh (ISIS) on February 14. A day later, the Syrian state news agency released footage of the weapons. [...]

Lebanon is a pressure cooker which could blow at any moment, but don’t worry about confused US policy. Israel’s threats to invade are not irking the Lebanese, but many wish Hezbollah would end a local Shiite-Christian spat. [...]

In an unprecedented situation, Washington failed to convince its closest allies in the Arab world to support Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in the UN General Assembly, Aiman Abdel Shafi an academic specializing on international relations and the US affairs told Sputnik. [...]

On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) held a session aimed at assessing the progress Israel made during its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a UN-backed process designed to assess the human rights record of a state and make recommendations for improvement.  In the course of the struggle between the Israelis and Palestinians, the UN has repeatedly accused Israel of not respecting hum [...]

Israeli pilots are taking a stand against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mission to expel tens of thousands of African migrants from the country, publicly declaring they will not “deport refugees to their death.” [...]