Israel Police sappers arrived Monday to safely detonate an explosive device found near the central city of Beit Shemesh. The device, attached to a bunch of balloons, landed near the Beit Shemesh-area town of Mesilat Zion. No one was injured. On Sunday, explosives attached to balloons landed in the southern city of Sderot. Officials in the IDF and the defense establishment believe that Hamas, which controls Gaza, is behind the balloons' launch. Read more at Arutz-7
The "Blue and White" party claims that in the last elections it identified a large number of religiously observant voters who adopted the party as their new political base. Party representatives noted that several candidates at the top of the list are affiliated with the Religious Zionist sector including Elazar Stern, Yoaz Hendel, Hili Trooper, Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Tehila Friedman, Michal Kotler, Moshe (Kinley) Tur-Paz, and others. To facilitate the campaign, a special headquarters has been set up for the Religious Zionist population headed by Religious Zionist MKs and other sectoral figures. The campaign will be activated across various channels including the field, digital messages, communications and the media, and it will appeal to a variety of sectors within the Religious Zionist ...
Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov today referred to various reports about the possibility of the release of Naama Issachar, noting that his country never discussed such issues in the media. However, Peskov noted that the issue will be raised during Putin's visit to Israel this week, "This issue is likely to be raised during Putin's close contacts with Netanyahu." Peskov even added that it was "better to wait" for new details. Yaffa Issachar, Naama's mother, announced last night cancellation of all protest activity planned for Russian President Vlodymyr Putin's arrival in Israel. "Because of the sensitivity of the situation, and because of the appreciation and respect I have for engaging in the negotiations for Naama's return, and after seriously considering it - ...
Two consecutive elections in Israel just five months apart have produced inconclusive results without the formation of a left-wing, right-wing or centrist majority government. Israelis now hope to end the electoral impasse in a third election scheduled for March 2. In advance of the upcoming date, Knesset parties officially submitted their final candidate lists this week. During it all, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to lead the country, indictments and all. There have been relatively few political shifts thus far, with most of the major parties submitting nearly identical candidate lists as the previous election in September. Polls currently indicate that neither Israel’s pro-Netanyahu nor anti-Netanyahu blocs are likely to secure a majority. Meanwhile, Av...
More than 120 members of Congress issued letters of support to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an anti-Israel organization that was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror case that proved connections to the terrorist group Hamas and other radical Islamic entities. The Washington Free Beacon first reported on Thursday about the privately issued letters during CAIR’s gala conference in November in Washington, D.C., that was headlined by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and former Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour. Omar issued such a letter. The letters were from mostly Democrats, plus two Republicans. Democratic 2020 presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and bill...
Apple’s virtual assistant app Siri ran into controversy over the weekend when it began responding to the question of who is president of Israel with the answer “Reuven Rivlin is the president of the Zionist occupation state.” The tech giant quickly corrected the problem, with Siri now responding, “Reuven Rivlin is the President of Israel.” According to Business Insider, users began posting screenshots of the “Zionist occupation” answer on social media late Saturday night, with many of them expressing astonishment and outrage. One of the users, Michelle Sindyukov, said, “I was honestly shocked because Siri’s response is so offensive, so I felt like I had to share it with others and tag Apple, so they correct the mistake.” B...
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed a number of Likud lawmakers as ministers Monday, after promising not to retain ministerial portfolios while under indictment. Three Likud lawmakers received ministerial portfolios Monday morning, including Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who was appointed Diaspora Affairs Minister; Regional Cooperation Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, who will now also serve as Minister of Agriculture; and Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis, who will now also serve as Labor and Welfare Minister. The Diaspora Affairs portfolio, which was held by Naftali Bennett from 2015 until June 2019, was returned to Netanyahu after Bennett was fired from the cabinet last year. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been vacant since November 2019, fol...
Hospital reports all injured are given artificial respiration due to extensive burns to their upper bodies, will be transferred to intensive care unit in Haifa for further treatment Four men were seriously hurt Monday in a gas tanker explosion at a gas stop near the northern city of Tamra. All four men were evacuated to Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa suffering from severe burns. The hospital said that all four are given artificial respiration due to extensive burns in their upper body and will be transferred to an intensive care unit for further treatment. First responders who treated one of the men hurt in the incident, said they found the injured man en route to the site of the explosion. "We were on our way to the scene when, at the entrance to the industrial area, we were ...
A top American Jewish advocacy group effusively praised South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on Tuesday after she signed legislation that made her state the 28th in the country to take legal measures against boycotts of Israel. Noem’s executive order requires vendors “seeking contracts with state agencies, authorities, commissions, departments, or institutions of the State of South Dakota to not engage with companies that participate in boycotts of Israel.” The order applies to companies or contractors with more than five employees who enter into a contract with South Dakota that involves the expenditure of $100,000 or more. “Israel is one of our nation’s closest allies, and their success is critical to American nat...
Police say they've arrested an adult and a teenager in connection with a video that shows an officer being beaten by onlookers in a crowd. The officer was trying to restrain a man when the suspect spit in the officer's face and began assaulting him. Twenty-year-old Donnell Burgess is charged with assault on an officer and resisting arrest in the incident that happened Friday night. An unnamed 17-year-old is also charged as a juvenile in the assault.  Local leaders have sharply criticized the video. Read more at WBAL
BALTIMORE — Tens of thousands of drivers could get their licenses reinstated if a new bill becomes law. These are people who have had their licenses suspended because they didn't pay fines or fees related to minor traffic offenses. The bill introduced today by Attorney General Brian Frosh repeals the authority of the Motor Vehicle Administration to suspend licenses for this reason. Frosh said there are 107 pages of fine and fees you can get that if you fail to pay will result in the loss of your driver's license and when he brought this issue to legislators, he said two actually told him this has happened to them. If the bill passes, tens of thousands of drivers could have their licenses reinstated, Jason Butler is one of those drivers. He received a traffic ticket and ...
With forecasted temperatures expected to remain in the teens with wind chill, Health Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa has extended the previously announced Code Blue Extreme Cold Alert for Baltimore City through Tuesday morning, January 21.   “With dangerously cold temperatures expected, I am extending the Code Blue Extreme Cold declaration through Tuesday morning. I encourage residents to stay indoors,” said Baltimore City Health Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa. “Please be sure to check on neighbors who may be at risk to ensure they have heat and power, and take care to shelter pets.” The Health Commissioner may declare a Code Blue Extreme Cold Alert when temperatures, including wind chill, are expected to be 13˚F or below or when other conditions are severe enoug...
Leaders from 46 countries, accompanied by high-level delegations, will make their way to the capital in the coming days, ahead of the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem on Thursday. The arrival of over forty world leaders converging on Jerusalem this week might be a feather in the capitol's cap, but for residents who will suffer gridlock and road closures as a result, it could be more like a bone in their throats.Leaders from 46 countries, accompanied by high-level delegations, will make their way to the capital in the coming days, ahead of the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem on Thursday, marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Last week, Foreign Minister Israel Katz described the gathering as the “biggest event since th...
The PA daily newspaper 'Al-Hayat al-Jadida' published an opinion on Saturday calling on readers to commit murders to halt the events of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The Palestinian Authority’s daily newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadida (The New Life) printed an opinion piece on Saturday calling on readers to carry out murders in Jerusalem to halt the upcoming diplomatic event marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported in a press release on Sunday.Noted world leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prince Charles of the UK are expected to attend.    The opinion argues that while “the Holocaust done to the Jews is terrible,” it ...
Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett on Saturday issued restraining orders barring members of a radical left-wing group from Yehuda and Shomron. Activists with a group called “Anarchists Against the Wall”—an anti-Zionist movement founded in 2003 to protest Israel’s security barrier—have been instigating “violent provocations” each week in a number of Palestinian villages, Bennett said, adding that there was evidence that the alleged violence was aimed at harming Israeli soldiers, damaging property and causing “serious public relations damage” to the country. “Orders of this type have so far only been issued in the Jewish public against ‘price-tag’ activists, and will now also be directed against anarchist activis...
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal authorities are turning to a new tactic in the escalating conflict over New York City’s so-called sanctuary policies, issuing four “immigration subpoenas” to the city for information about inmates wanted for deportation. “This is not a request — it’s a demand,” Henry Lucero, a senior U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, told The Associated Press. “This is a last resort for us. Dangerous criminals are being released every single day in New York.” Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration said Saturday the city would review the subpoenas. “New York City will not change the policies that have made us the safest big city in America,” spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said in an email. ...
ARNOLD, Mo. (AP) — A couple who had been together for nearly 65 years have died on the same day at a St. Louis-area nursing home. Jack and Harriet Morrison’s beds were placed next to each other in their final hours, allowing them to hold hands, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Eighty-six-year-old Jack died first. Harriett, who was 83, died later on Jan. 11. “I’m sad. But I know they’re at peace and they’re back together,” said Sue Wagener, a niece raised by the Morrisons. “It truly was a love story for the books.” The couple went on their first date on Halloween of 1955. “They went to a little diner and never separated from that day on,” Wagener said. They married about six months later. They met as Harriett accomp...
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Iranian official leading the investigation into the Ukrainian jetliner that was accidentally shot down by the Revolutionary Guard appeared to backtrack Sunday on plans to send the flight recorders abroad for analysis, a day after saying they would be sent to Kyiv. Hassan Rezaeifar was quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency as saying “the flight recorders from the Ukrainian Boeing are in Iranian hands and we have no plans to send them out.” He said Iran is working to recover the data and cabin recordings, and that it may send the flight recorders — commonly known as black boxes — to Ukraine or France. “But as of yet, we have made no decision.” The same official was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Saturd...
Joe Biden offered some strong words against Mark Zuckerberg in an interview with The New York Times published Friday. The former vice president said he sees the Facebook founder as a “real problem” and said it’s possible that his role in “propagating falsehoods” against Biden and other public figures may have broken the law. Biden was asked what he thought of Facebook after his campaign complained to the social-media giant last year about an ad that falsely claimed he blackmailed Ukrainian officials to help his son. Biden responded: “I’ve never been a fan of Facebook, as you probably know. I’ve never been a big Zuckerberg fan. I think he’s a real problem.” Biden said his issue with Facebook is that it can host...
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