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Israel is acting to prevent Syrian weapons from reaching Lebanon's Hizbullah and will continue to do so, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, AFP reports. His remarks came two weeks after air strikes near Damascus that were widely attributed to Israel, which a senior Israeli source said were aimed at preventing the transfer of sophisticated Iranian arms to Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shiite ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Netanyahu said the Middle East was going through its most sensitive period for decades, with the conflict in Syria at the center of the turmoil. "We are closely following developments and...

The Syrian army has begun deploying advanced surface-to-surface missiles and has aimed them at Tel Aviv, the British Sunday Times reports. According to the report, Syria is preparing to strike Israel in case the Jewish State launches another attack on its territory. The army has received orders to strike central Israel in case additional attacks against Syria are carried out, according to the Sunday Times. The information was reportedly obtained by reconnaissance satellites that were tracking the Syrian forces. According to the report, Syria was deploying advanced Tishreen missiles, which are capable of carrying a warhead of a half a...

Israelis marched late Saturday in an echo of mass cost of living protests in 2011, but this time their ire focused on finance minister Yair Lapid who came to power in January on the coattails of that protest movement. 2,000 people gathered in central Tel Aviv, an AFP journalist said, to protest against an austerity budget due for cabinet debate on Monday. The budget is expected to raise income tax and VAT while slashing government spending, including social benefits. Rallies were also scheduled for Jerusalem, Haifa and elsewhere on Saturday, but local media reported just 150 taking part in Haifa...

A new Israeli television channel called "i24news" that will go out in English, French and Arabic is to begin broadcasting by summer this year, it said on Tuesday. The channel, which is based in Jaffa Port just south of Tel Aviv, aims to rival global news outlets like Al-Jazeera and France 24, its executives say. i24news "will broadcast news from the heart of Middle East," the channel said in a statement. "The letter 'i' was chosen as representing several of the topics and values that will guide the channel: international, information, independent, individual, innovation, interactive, etc. The number 24, of...

Iran says if it’s attacked by Israel, it will annihilate Tel Aviv and Haifa. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all key decisions in Iran, says Israel is too small to be called an enemy, and that the United States is the “center of animosity” toward the Islamic republic. …

The bombed Tel Aviv bus Reuters The mother of the Arab with Israeli citizenship, who was arrested on Thursday for involvement in the terrorist attack on a Tel Aviv bus this week, said on Friday she does not believe her son is guilty. The man is originally from Beit Lakiya but married an Israeli Arab and today lives in Tayibe, an Arab city located in the Triangle, an area west of Hadera populated mainly by Israeli Arabs, whose towns form a large triangle on the map. The man’s family members live in Tayibe as well, in a neighborhood of the...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities arrested an Arab Israeli on Thursday on accusations he planted a bomb on a bus in Tel Aviv that wounded 27 people and threatened to sabotage efforts to broker a cease-fire to end the fighting in Gaza, police said. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man, from the village of Taybeh in Israel, was connected to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups.

The bomb that exploded in a Tel Aviv bus did not appear to be a large explosive device, head of emergency medicine at Ichilov Hospital said Wednesday, citing the types of injuries as previous terror attacks. The victims brought to the hospital did not have the same type of shock and shrapnel injuries that were typical of larger terror attacks in the past, Prof. Halperin told The Jerusalem Post. Of the 21 victims brought to the hospital, the two most seriously wounded are teenagers, Prof. Halperin said, although he noted that none of them had life-threatening injuries. Of the 21,...

A terrorist blew blown up a Dan local bus on Shaul HaMelech street in central Tel Aviv aroun noon. Five people suffered serious injuries, and two are in serious condition while three people are in moderate conditon. No one was killed. Twenty-one people have been evacuated to Icholov Hospital, most of them with lesser injuries. Others are being treated for emotional shock. Eyewitnesses said that that the terrorist boarded the bus, placed a suspicious package there and then fled. Police arrested one suspect but later released him when it became clear he had no connection with the attack. Authorities said...

Terrorists have blown up a bus on Shaul HaMelech street in central Tel Aviv. At least three people are seriously wounded. There are at least 10 passengers wounded, most of them with lesser injuries, and ambulances have evacuated them to hospitals.

Palestinian militants barraged Israel with more than 200 rockets on Thursday, killing three people as Israel pressed a punishing campaign of airstrikes on militant targets across the Gaza Strip. Late in the day, Israel signaled a ground operation may be imminent as forces moved toward the border area with Gaza. At least 12 trucks were seen transporting tanks and armored personnel carriers, and a number of buses carrying soldiers arrived. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he had authorized the army to call-up additional reservists for possible action. The army said it was prepared to draft up to 30,000 additional...

The first three Palestinian missiles reached the Tel Aviv conurbation, Gush Dan, Thursday night, Nov. 15. shortly after a long-range missile was confirmed to have exploded in Rison Lezion southeast of Tel Aviv and sirens sounded in outlying towns of Holon, Ness Ziona, Gan Raveh and Beer Yacov. None have yet reported casualties or damage. The Tel Aviv telephone network has stopped working. The IDF spokesmen reported that units of the elite paratroop and Givati Brigades were mustering outside the Gaza Strip on the second day of Israel's counter-terror operation Pillar of Cloud.

A rocket from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open field outside of Rishon Lezion on Thursday evening, marking the first hit in the center of the country in renewed violence from the Gaza Strip. The rocket, one of over 240 fired from Gaza into the South since the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense Wednesday to root out the terror infrastructure in the coastal territory, landed less than 15 km south of Tel Aviv. The operation began with the Wednesday afternoon targeted killing of Ahmed Jabari, the chief of Hamas's military wing. [....] The IDF Spokesman's Office stated the...

Organizers of two “social justice” protests in Tel Aviv were disappointed Saturday night when just thousands turned out for the rallies. The evening was also marred by violent fights as some participants in one rally, held in Kikar HaBima, fought with security personnel at the other, held at the Tel Aviv Museum. One even attempted to burst onto the stage and disturb the event. Those causing the disturbance were apparently angered by signs bearing the words, “There is a Future” – the name of a new political party started by journalist Yair Lapid. They accused the Tel Aviv Museum protest...

About 2,000 people arrived on Sunday evening at the government complex in Tel Aviv to demonstrate against public housing conditions in Israel. During the protest, the demonstrators tried to block major traffic arteries. At the same time, there were also demonstrations in Jerusalem, Haifa and Be’er Sheva. Five protesters were arrested during the demonstration in Jerusalem after they tried to block a street. The latest protests came following Saturday night’s self-immolation of Moshe Silman, a social justice protester who set himself ablaze during a rally in Tel Aviv, blaming government officials for his troubles. Prior to lighting the match, the...

Bikini-clad, gun-toting Israeli woman becomes an Internet sensation A photo of a gun-wielding, bikini-clad woman standing on a crowded Tel Aviv beach has become an Internet sensation, with thousands of viewers curious about whether the brunette beauty is part of Israel's military and why she wasn't in uniform with her weapon in tow. The newspaper Haaretz notes that 'To an Israeli, the photo makes perfectly practical sense. When soldiers take their weapon off military premises, they must guard it closely and keep it on their person, at all times. Having one's weapon stolen is harshly punished with time in military...

Israeli metropolis beats New York and Toronto in poll naming best urban destinations for gay travellers Tel Aviv has been named the world's number one gay city. The Israeli metropolis beat out competition from New York to top a survey carried out by American Airlines and GayCities.com to find the most popular destination for gay travellers. It landed a staggering 43 per cent of the vote, way ahead of runner-up New York's 14 per cent and third-placed Toronto with 7 per cent. Sao Paolo came in at four with 6 per cent, while rounding out the top five with 5...

Tel Aviv rape: Palestinian arrested near crime scene Resident of Nablus area apprehended near Gan Ha-Ir parking lot; police say he has been residing in Israel illegally; four other Palestinians arrested on suspicion of helping him rape teenage girl while forcing her boyfriend to watch Eli Senyor Latest Update: 05.15.12, 00:38 / Israel News Police arrested Monday evening a 21-year-old Palestinian on suspicion of brutally raping a 18-year-old girl in a parking lot adjacent to the Tel Aviv municipality building over the weekend. Another four Palestinians were arrested on suspicion of being his accomplices.   Officers from the Yarkon police...

The summer “social protest season” opened Saturday night with a demonstration in Tel Aviv, attended by some 3,500 people. The demonstration in Rabin Square was the largest since last summer, when tens of thousands of protesters gathered in cities around the country demanding a more affordable cost of living. Protesters blocked streets in Tel Aviv, and demanded that the government act to end social injustice and ensure that the country's resources are more equitably divided. Police arrested five protesters. Smaller protests took place in several other cities in Israel, and protests were also held in cities throughout Europe, including Spain,...

Hizbullah leader Hasan Nasrallah threatened on Friday to strike multiple targets in Israel, including Tel Aviv. Speaking on the occasion of the completion of the Waad project, aimed at rebuilding parts of the southern suburbs of Beirut that were damaged in the July-August 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel, Nasrallah said Hizbullah could target Tel Aviv in any future war with the Jewish state. “We are capable of not only hitting specific targets in Tel Aviv but also any place in occupied Palestine,” he said, according to a report in the Lebanon-based Daily Star. “The era has come when we...