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Israel’s president Isaac Herzog has criticised Angelina Jolie over her stance on the conflict engulfing Israel and Gaza. Herzog, 63, said the 48-year-old Hollywood star hadn’t ‘seen the facts on the ground’ nor had she ‘visited Gaza’. Last month, Jolie accused Israel in an Instagram post of ‘deliberately bombing children, women, families, deprived of food, medicine and humanitarian aid’. Follow our live blog for latest updates on the Israel-Hamas war Jolie also called for a ceasefire, prompting Herzog to say in a new interview that the A-lister wasn’t ‘offering the Israeli people any ability to defend themselves’. Speaking to Piers...

It says exactly how to torture them, Israel's President Isaac Herzog said Hamas terrorists are carrying "instruction guides" on how to torture and kidnap civilians, as he explained the kind of "extremely cruel and inhumane enemy" his country is fighting against. "I saw the skull of a woman, in which house I visited, the house totally destroyed, totally destroyed, and they just cut her head off," Herzog said. "I saw a pool of blood in that house where the picture of the children is hanging, and the grandchildren are hanging on the wall with the knives and the hatchets which...

As the joint chamber of Congress waited for Israeli President Herzog to enter, and as members were seated in their respective areas, Kristen Sinema, striking a rather voluptuous pose, was seen chatting with Republican Senator from Utah Mike Lee. From the time she entered until she sat down, she was not seen talking to any Democrat.

A clip of President Biden mumbling through his comments during Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to the White House renewed many Twitter users’ concerns over his mental fitness. While addressing the visiting leader, Biden gave a few words on the United States’ relationship with Israel. However, as he touted progress between the two countries, he began looking down and mumbled his words. "We got a lot more to do, but there's progress. Last year, we can be the largest gathering of Arab Israelis in a decade together form, and we resolved the maritime boundary dispute between Israel and Lebanon, which...

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — A current FBI special agent and a former bureau analyst who both served on Robert Mueller’s team testified that the special counsel’s office declined to investigate and never interviewed Charles Dolan, the Clinton-allied business associate of the main source for Christopher Steele, despite their urging. Supervisory special agent Amy Anderson and former FBI intelligence analyst Brittany Hertzog both testified Friday that, as members of Mueller’s team who were specifically tasked with scrutinizing the allegations within the Trump dossier, they believed the FBI should interview and further investigate Dolan, a longtime ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton, partly...

During the state visit of the 46th President of the United States of America, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., to Israel next week, President Isaac Herzog will award him the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor in a festive ceremony at the President’s Residence in recognition of his true friendship with the State of Israel, the people of Israel, and the Jewish People; his uncompromising decades-long commitment to Israel's security; his contributions to deepening, strengthening, and enhancing the strong and unwavering alliance between Israel and the United States of America; and his struggle against anti-Israeli and antisemitic hatred around the world. The...

The Knesset voted Wednesday to elect former Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog as the country’s 11th president, the mostly ceremonial job that is currently held by President Reuven Rivlin.The 120-member legislature voted 87-26 with seven members absent or abstaining to elect Herzog, who will serve a a single seven-year term, as Rivlin’s turn comes to an end on July 9. Herzog beat his opponent by a larger margin than any previous president, N12 noted.

Sometimes, a history lesson works better when it’s a little ragged and personal. Clocking in at a little over 90 minutes and consisting primarily of a sit-down interview with the former Soviet leader, Werner Herzog’s Meeting Gorbachev speeds through a vast stretch of the 20th century, explaining the decline of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain through the eyes of the man whose reforms precipitated much of it. But Herzog himself brings a surprising — and, it turns out, necessary — element to their interactions: that of the grateful world citizen, one of billions who felt the first pangs...

Opposition head Yitzchak Herzog opened the Zionist Union faction meeting today by addressing the comments made by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon to the effect that the government needs a vacation before it ends up institutionalized. […] The Opposition leader then turned to comments quoted in the media as having been said by Minister Miri Regev and Coalition Chairman David Bitan: “What good does a broadcasting corporation do if we can’t control it?”, and “the press is too free.” “These aren’t just slips of the tongue or mistakes. This is what Netanyahu actually thinks. This is what he expects them to...

Opposition leader and Zionist Union chief Isaac Herzog agreed to far reaching concessions on the eve of the 2015 election, a report by Channel 10 on Sunday revealed. Herzog, who prior to the election was seen as a viable candidate for Prime Minister, signed a secret letter of understanding with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, agreeing to a number of long-standing Arab demands. Among the subjects covered in the letter are the division of Jerusalem, the future disposition of Judea and Samaria, and the so-called “right of return” for Arabs who left the country in 1948. According to the agreement,...

Opposition leader and Zionist Union chief Isaac Herzog agreed to far reaching concessions on the eve of the 2015 election, a report by Channel 10 on Sunday revealed. Herzog, who prior to the election was seen as a viable candidate for Prime Minister, signed a secret letter of understanding with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, agreeing to a number of long-standing Arab demands. Among the subjects covered in the letter are the division of Jerusalem, the future disposition of Judea and Samaria, and the so-called “right of return” for Arabs who left the country in 1948. According to the agreement,...

Zionist Union chief Isaac Herzog’s spokesman Ofer Newman stirred up controversy Saturday night with provocative comments posted on Facebook targeting Jews living in Judea and Samaria. The post came after the airing of the TV special “The Settlers”, inspiring Newman to publicly air his feelings on the Jewish communities over the Green Line. Launching into a typed tirade, Newman labelled Jews in Judea and Samaria as “lowly murderers” who “built swimming pools on the blood of murdered children.” The special, said Newman, “is painful and terrifying proof of this simple fact: the people who are destroying our future have won...

Recent comments by Opposition head Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) and Shelly Yachimovich (Zionist Union) suggest that their party may still join the government coalition. On Saturday, both politicians said that they would reconsider joining a unity government, should there be any diplomatic initiatives. MK Herzog presented new conditions to joining. "If Netanyahu kicks the Jewish Home out of the coalition, we will meet as a party and we will consider the issue," he told Shabbatarbut in Modi'in. "Netanyahu chose to go with the extremists," he added. "It doesn't look like he is breaking up with them. I lead a strong...

Opposition leader and Zionist Union party chief Yitzhak Herzog has announced he is suspending unity government talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, after the premier issued an invitation to begin talks with Yisrael Beytenu party head Avigdor Liberman. n a markedly abrupt, pithy press conference, Herzog said Netanyahu faced a choice between "going to war and funerals, and the victory of (Avigdor) Liberman and (Naftali) Bennett, or the track of hope" - namely, inviting the Zionist Union party to join the coalition instead. "These are the choices - there are no other options," he added. "We won't continue negotiations at...

Opposition head MK Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) on Wednesday afternoon met with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome, and in the course of the meeting presented his "separation" peace plan involving a regional effort to create a Palestinian state in Israel. During the meeting, which is the fourth between the two in the last half-year, Kerry expressed interest in Herzog's plan, which would form a regional security committee consisting of Egypt, Jordan and Israel together with other Arab states. This committee would coordinate a joint fight against radical Islamic terror, according to Herzog, and likewise advance "confidence building...

Opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog has called on Israel to accept refugees from Syria, in addition to the humanitarian efforts it is already making. Speaking at the weekly "Shabbatarbut" event in Tel Aviv, Herzog asserted that "Jews cannot be indifferent when hundreds of thousands of refugees are searching for a safe haven." Israel has already been providing medical aid to Syrians injured near its borders. But his comments proved controversial, as Israel is already struggling to deal with tens of thousands of illegal African immigrants claiming refugee status. In particular, working-class residents in neighborhoods in southern Tel Aviv - where most...

President to begin consultations with parties Sunday, task one MK with coalition formation. In an unprecedented measure, President Reuven Rivlin received special permission from Supreme Court Justice Salim Jourbran, Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, to begin consultations with delegations from the various party factions that will be represented in the 20th Knesset, prior to receiving official election results. According to the law, any one of the 120 members of Knesset, regardless of their party rank, may be selected to build a coalition. Although it currently appears as though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be endowed with the task, the...

JERUSALEM – The center-left front-runner defeated in Israel's parliamentary election said Thursday his party will not join the next government and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of rousing voters with racist remarks on election day. Isaac Herzog said his Zionist Union, which finished second in Tuesday's vote, would sit in the opposition as a counterweight to the nationalist right-wing governing coalition that Netanyahu is poised to form.

As vote tallying came to a close Wednesday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party emerged as the clear victor in the Israeli election, besting the runner-up Zionist Union party headed by the Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog and his running mate, Tzipi Livni.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After six years of testy relations, U.S. President Barack Obama may have to resign himself to the likelihood that he has not seen the last of Benjamin Netanyahu. A better-than-expected showing by the Israeli prime minister in Tuesdays closely fought election raises the prospect that he could remain a thorn in Obamas side, with the two men increasingly at odds over Iran diplomacy and Middle East peacemaking. U.S. officials responded cautiously as they waited to see whether Netanyahu or his centre challenger, Isaac Herzog, would get the nod from Israels president to begin the long and messy...