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A House panel on Wednesday announced it is opening an investigation into U.S. intelligence collection that may have swept up members of Congress. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence's announcement of the probe comes after a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. collected information on private exchanges between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of Congress during ongoing negotiations for nuclear deal with Iran.

WSJ: White House Used NSA to Spy on Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, Members of Congress, American Jewish Groups Dec. 30, 2015 7:23am Sharona Schwartz Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the target of National Security Agency eavesdropping which also netted the private conversations of members of U.S. Congress and American Jewish groups, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The alleged spying took place despite a promise two years ago by President Barack Obama -- after it was revealed that the NSA had listened in on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone calls -- that the U.S. "will not monitor the communications of...

U.S. spying programs scooped up communications between members of Congress and Israeli leaders, giving the White House insight into Israel’s lobbying of U.S. lawmakers against the Iran nuclear deal, current and former U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal. The article, published Tuesday afternoon, reports that the U.S. continued to spy on select leaders of allied nations despite President Barack Obama’s pledge to curb such surveillance two years ago, and that it was a top priority to maintain spying on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. As part of that continued surveillance, the National Security Agency also swept...

A new profile of US Secretary of State John Kerry in The New Yorker casts light on the stormy relationship between the US and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have often clashed publicly over the Iran nuclear deal and the Palestinian conflict but who also routinely refer to each other as friends. The piece, written by the magazine’s editor in chief, David Remnick, quotes “American officials” who describe Netanyahu as “myopic, entitled, untrustworthy, routinely disrespectful toward the president, and focused solely on short-term political tactics to keep his right-wing constituency in line.” The piece goes on to describe the “sources...

The Texas senator is seeking an implicit contrast with the more hawkish Marco Rubio.Sen. Ted Cruz on Thursday warned against the deployment of U.S. forces in the Middle East in hopes of creating democracy, nodding to a portion of the Republican Party exhausted with military escapades abroad. Even as he emphasized the need to defeat the Islamic State group in a speech coming just a week after the San Bernardino, California, shooting rampage that's since been linked to radicalization, Cruz, a 2016 presidential candidate, chastised those rushing to place American troops on the ground to fight the enemy. "Some in...

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Thursday that he is canceling his trip to Israel, one day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized his proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S. "I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become president of the U.S.," he tweeted. On Wednesday, Netanyahu joined international condemnation of Trump's plan to halt Muslim travel to America. "The state of Israel respects all religion and adheres to the rights of all citizens," Netanyahu said in a statement. "At the same time, Israel...

Washington (CNN)—Donald Trump said Thursday that he is postponing his trip to Israel, just a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned his proposal to ban U.S. travel for all Muslims. "I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become President of the U.S.," Trump tweeted.

I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become President of the U.S.

Serious question: Does Netanyahu's Israel profile or vet Muslims entering the country or are they allowed free and easy entry no matter what?

The State of Israel respects all religions and strictly guarantees the rights of all its citizens, Mr Netanyahu said Benjamin Netanyahu has joined a long list of international leaders to reject Donald Trump’s comments about Muslims, while championing Israel's "respect" for all religions and citizens' rights. The Israeli Prime Minister released a statement saying he will still meet with the Republican Presidential candidate for previously scheduled talks later this month but does not “endorse his views”. “Prime Minister Netanyahu rejects Donald Trump's recent remarks about Muslims,” the statement said. The State of Israel respects all religions and strictly guarantees the...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on December 28, amid calls by a growing number of lawmakers to block the GOP front-runner from entering the Knesset or the country. The meeting was scheduled two weeks ago, prior to Trump's widely criticized proposal of a blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States, sources close to the prime minister said on Wednesday. "Every presidential candidate that wants to may meet briefly with the prime minister," sources said, according to an Army Radio report. "Netanyahu does not agree with every statement made by every candidate."...

In leaked recording of Likud faction meeting, prime minister also questions how New York would cope with wave of violence similar to one faced by Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel could destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem if it wanted to – but doing so "would be contrary to everything we represent." Netanyahu was speaking during a meeting of the Likud Knesset faction on Thursday. A recording of his words was published by Army Radio. Responding to what he said was Palestinian incitement regarding Israel's supposed interest in getting rid of...

It's all a bunch of empty rhetoric and meaningless promises. How gullible do Republicans, especially the Bush brothers, think we Jews are? Very, judging by their empty promises to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Last week Jeb Bush told a South Carolina audience that on his first day in the Oval Office his second move would be to order the embassy moved as "a show of solidarity" with the Jewish state. Sound familiar? That's just what big brother George W. promised to do on his first day and yet eight years later, on his...

Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, who served under President Bill Clinton, has died at the age of 70. "V sad start to day; just learned Sandy Berger passed away during the night," Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, tweeted Wednesday morning. "Good man & friend who served nation well as bill clinton's NSA." Antony Blinken, the current deputy secretary of state and a Berger acolyte, tweeted, "Mourn the passing of Sandy Berger --- father, husband, mentor, friend, leader and great patriot. RIP SRB." Berger, a longtime lawyer who founded Stonebridge International, a Washington-based advisory group,...

Putin also extended his good wishes ahead of the "very bright" Jewish holiday of Hanukkah Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit on Monday. The two leaders, who last met in Moscow in September have reportedly agreed to deepen military coordination in order to avoid unwanted clashes in Syria, an Israeli official told i24news diplomatic correspondent Tal Shalev. During the meeting, Netanyahu told Putin that the "events of recent days prove the importance of our coordination, our de-confliction mechanisms, our attempts to cooperate with each other to prevent...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has instructed the Foreign Ministry to reassess its involvement with European Union (EU) institutions regarding the political process with the Palestinians. Until the assessment is completed, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the suspension of all political contact with EU institutions and representatives on the issue. This directive was made in response to the EU decision to label products from Judea and Samaria. The Foreign Ministry has clarified that Israel is still dealing with individual nations within Europe, including Germany, the UK and France...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has instructed the Foreign Ministry to reassess its involvement with European Union (EU) institutions regarding the political process with the Palestinians. Until the assessment is completed, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the suspension of all political contact with EU institutions and representatives on the issue.

Israel is considering the possibility of transferring land from Area C, which is under complete Israeli control in accordance with the Oslo Accords, to the Palestinian Authority, Channel 2 News reported on Tuesday. Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel later made clear that if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu goes through with the plan, he will not have a coalition. ...

Israel's prime minister is accusing a German department store of a "boycott" after it removed products made in Israeli settlements under new European Union labeling guidelines. Benjamin Netanyahu noted Sunday that Berlin's KaDeWe department store was once owned by Jews before the Nazis seized it. He says its decision to label products from Israeli communities and remove them from its shelves is "a boycott in every respect." ...

"I am saying you're not going to change them; you will not win them over; you will not pacify them. The only way to defeat this is the way Naziism was defeated. First you defeat. Then you de-Nazify. That's the order; that's the priority." –Benjamin Netanyahu airlift(Israel)—[CBN News] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an international audience of foreign diplomats that Israel stands by France and defined the common enemy France, Israel and the world face today. (Screengrab via CBN News) "First of all, we stand and we do not fall. Even though, our numbers may be occasionally decimated by...