Abbas and Peres Pray for Peace on the Vatican Lawn

June 8, 2014 In an unprecedented interfaith prayer summit on a lawn of the Vatican, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met yesterday to pray for peace in the Middle East. Before the prayer summit, Peres stated, “I have come to the Vatican from the State of Israel together with the representatives of the main monotheistic religions in Israel for an extraordinary event for peace. This spiritual call is very important and influential, since the conflict [in the Middle East] is one that is of both a political and a religious nature.”

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Australia Clarifies Stance on East Jerusalem

June 8, 2014 Australia has taken a courageous stand against an international trend and decided it will no longer refer to East Jerusalem as “occupied.” “The description of East Jerusalem as ‘occupied’ East Jerusalem is a term freighted with pejorative implications which is neither appropriate nor useful,” Attorney General George Brandis told Australia’s senate on Thursday, reading from a carefully drafted statement that was written following a conversation with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

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Israel Announces New Building in Light of Unity Government Announcement

June 6, 2014 Today, in response to the establishment of the Fatah-Hamas unity government on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the planning of 1,800 housing units in the settlements that have been frozen the last three months.

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Hamas-Fatah Unity Government Sworn In

May 30, 2014 The two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, have moved one step closer to reaching a unity deal. Late Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that the two sides have agreed upon Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah as the prime minister of the new Hamas-Fatah unity government. At a brief ceremony attended by Abbas and the new prime minister, Abbas announced, “This letter designates Dr. Rami Hamdallah to form a new transitional government. I wish him luck in this difficult task which he will undertake.”

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Israel Asks the United Nations to Recognize Yom Kippur

May 22, 2014 Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor has launched an official campaign asking the United Nations to approve the Jewish observance of the solemn Day of Atonement. "Yom Kippur is the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar. In the days leading up to Yom Kippur, Jews throughout the world seek forgiveness and reconciliation. Jews fast, abstain from work, and spend the day in prayer and contemplation,” Prosor wrote in his letter.

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Israel Pledges Support to Turkish Miners, Nigerian Girls

May 21, 2014 Despite an ongoing effort to vilify and delegitimize the Jewish state through international campaigns that portray Israel as an Apartheid state, Israel continues to prove otherwise through its compassionate efforts to not only improve the lives of its own Arab population, but also help others outside the Holy Land. In a recent bid to increase the representation of Arab students in the academic world, Israel’s Council for Higher Education announced 650 scholarships totaling NIS 6.5 million (1,868,620 USD) for Arab students pursuing an undergraduate education.

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Israel, Japan Agree to Cooperate on Defense, Technology

May 21, 2014 Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in Japan for a week of bi-lateral talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and other officials, told Japanese lawmakers that both Israel and Japan face rogue nations with dangerous nuclear programs. “There is a common bond between us,” Netanyahu told members of the Israel Japan Parliamentary Friendship League. “We’re both democratic, progressive, technological societies. “You face North Korea, which is a rogue regime with nuclear weapons. We face the possibility of Iran, which is a rogue regime that wants to have nuclear weapons. They’re cooperating between them, and we should cooperate between us.”

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“Life Without Parole” Bill to Block Prisoner Releases

May 21, 2014 Last Sunday saw a landmark bill pass Israel's Knesset Committee for Legislation to issue non-negotiable life sentences for terrorist prisoners. "Most countries will not negotiate with murderers and kidnappers," said Jewish Home parliamentarian Ayelet Shaked who pitched the bill forward in December. "Murderers and terrorists must know that they will not be released—this is a significant deterrent against terrorism."

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Israeli Prime Minister Proposes Basic Law to Define Jewish State

May 12, 2014 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the Knesset (Israeli parliament) to pass a law that officially defines Israel as the Jewish state. Speaking from Tel Aviv’s Independence Hall, the same room where David Ben Gurion proclaimed the Jewish state in 1948, Netanyahu said, “One of my main missions as prime minister of Israel is to bolster the status of the State of Israel as the nation-state of our people.” The proposed bill, entitled Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, defines Israel as the “historic homeland of the Jewish People and the place where the State of Israel is founded.”

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Palestinians Planned to Foil Peace Process

May 12, 2014 The Palestinians were planning to torpedo the peace process long before its breakdown, according to a letter sent by Israel’s national security advisor Joseph Cohen to ambassadors to Israel from countries with diplomatic relations. Well before the official deterioration of the peace talks, Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat sent a letter to PA President Mahmoud Abbas proposing the PA acquire independent state status through international organizations, rather than negotiations.

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