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Treasury Secretary Jack Lew did not find a warm welcome this weekend at the Jerusalem Post's annual conference in New York. As the Treasury official spoke Sunday on the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran over a possible nuclear deal, he drew loud boos from the event's many attendees. Lew stated that the Obama administration has always been dedicated to the goal of making sure Iran doesn't obtain a nuclear weapon, adding also that the White House has taken steps to ensure this. "Because of the aggressive sanctions that have been put in place for over a decade, Iran has been...

By Ariel Kahana Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel — June 5, 2015 … President Barack Obama recently accused Israel of failing to live up to the high standards of Jewish moral responsibility. So for his benefit, here is a list of Israel’s contributions around the world that show its incredible moral responsibility. Jewish values “in many ways came to be my own values,” U.S. President Barack Obama told a sympathetic Jewish audience two weeks ago, eliciting enthusiastic applause. Anyone who saw Obama’s address at the Adas Israel congregation in Washington on May 22 could have easily thought that the American president...

By Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyNew York, NY — June 5, 2015 … US Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew and Congresswoman Nita Lowey will be among several US and Israeli dignitaries addressing The Jerusalem Post’s fourth Annual Conference. The Conference is scheduled to start on the morning of Sunday, June 7. Israeli and American elected officials, security experts and media analysts will examine the potential Iran nuclear agreement, the future of the US-Israel relationship, and the rise of global anti-Semitism. US Rep. Lowey, the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee and a veteran Jewish congresswoman, will also...

The case was over the abduction of Dong-Shik, a South Korean who was a permanent resident of the US and had spent seven years providing aid and proselytizing to North Korean defectors. An Israeli NGO announced on Monday that a US federal court in Washington, DC has granted it a historic $330 million default award judgment against North Korea in a civil damages trial for wrongful death, torture and kidnapping. The judgment, only announced Monday, but written on April 9, included $15 million dollars each to the son and brother of Reverend Dong Shik Kim, presumed dead, as well as...

“The most important decision was to drive the electorate to two large parties,” Harow says. “We decided that if we create a situation where people have to decide who they want as prime minister, people will prefer Netanyahu over [ZU challenger Isaac] Herzog.” Therefore, the first slogan of the Likud’s campaign was “It’s us or them,” referring to Herzog and his running mate Tzipi Livni, whom the Likud’s polls found extremely unpopular. Shaviv advised Netanyahu from the start of the campaign to push what he called “reverse packaging.” The strategy was to persuade voters on the Right that rather than...

After additional ballots were counted overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, it appeared that Likud had risen from 29 to 30 seats and Meretz had gained another seat, totaling five mandates. According to the most recent estimates, United Torah Judaism dropped to six seats along with the Joint (Arab) List dropping to 13 mandates. According to Channel 2, the figures were calculated after some 200,000 ballots were counted from soldiers, absentees, prisoners and the hospitalized. The Central Elections Committee was expected to release the official final count for the 20th Knesset election on Thursday afternoon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement early Wednesday morning inviting potential coalition partners to immediately enter talks for the swift formation of what is expected to be a religious-nationalist government in Jerusalem. "The reality isn't waiting on us," Netanyahu said just hours after it became clear that his Likud party had scored a decisive victory over Zionist Union in Tuesday's poll. "Reality isn't taking a break. The citizens of Israel expect us to quickly put together a leadership that will work for the sake of the country's security, economy, and society as we promised to do, and that is...

Meretz chair Zehava Gal-On announced on Wednesday that she is resigning from her position at the helm of the party in the wake of the movement's disappointing showing in Tuesday's election, Channel 2 reported. The left-wing party barely earned enough votes to get into the Knesset, with the official tally giving Meretz four seats. Television exit polls had given Meretz five seats, but the official count before dawn on Wednesday revealed that it had in fact dropped a seat. Gal-On is preparing to hand the reins of the party over to MK Tamar Zandberg, Channel 2 reported.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cincinnati issued a warning to Christians about the movie Fifty Shades of Grey, ahead of its release over the weekend weekend. "The story line is presented as a romance; however, the underlying theme is that bondage, dominance, and sadomasochism are normal and pleasurable," Archbishop Dennis Marion Schnurr posted on the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Facebook page. The movie tells the story of a sexual relationship between a wealthy businessman and a college student and includes scenes that depict whipping and bondage. "This movie is in direct contrast to the Christian message of God’s design for self-giving...

Early Wednesday morning, the IDF Engineering Corps demolished the east Jerusalem home of the terrorist who killed a three-month-old baby girl and a woman from Ecuador last month when he rammed his vehicle into a crowd of people in the capital. Abdel Rahman al-Shalodi, a convicted Palestinian terrorist from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan was shot by police and died in hospital after the October attack that killed the baby Chaya Zissel Braun, as well as Karen Yemima Mosquera, a 22-year-old Ecuadorian. A demolition notice signed by the IDF Home Front Command was given to al-Shalodi's family last week.

The suspect in the Yehuda Glick shooting has been killed by police and the Shin Bet, police confirmed on Thursday morning. The shootout took place in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor. Forces arrived at the house of the suspect on Thursday morning after conducting an investigation. During police attempts to arrest the suspect, he refused arrest and a shootout took place. He was killed by police fire. The weapon in his home was taken by police for investigation on whether or not it is linked to the murder of Glick.

“We’re called the Eitam Battalion because that was the name of the second stop overtaken by [the biblical] Israelites in Sinai, on their way out of Egypt,” Savion said. “We are a strategic combat response to any developments on this border. If we see travelers in this region during the holidays, it’s a sign we are succeeding.” THIS IS how the battalion works: The surveillance towers growing out of the dunes feed control centers with advanced radar and visual imagery, and the data is sent to two regional control centers. From there, controllers scanning their screens direct security forces to...

Russian lawmakers approve bill making Holocaust denial illegal Russian lawmakers approved a bill that would make Holocaust denial illegal. The lower house of the Russian Parliament, or Duma, passed the measure Friday on its first reading, the Voice of Russia reported Monday, making it illegal to deny the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal and punishing the “rehabilitation of Nazism.” Those found guilty of the crime could be fined up to $8,300 or imprisoned up to three years. Public officials or media personalities would be fined nearly double or face up to five years in prison. The bill also needs the...

The United States-Russian deal for the destruction of Syria's huge chemical weapons stocks caused Israelis to breathe an audible sigh of relief. Many expected that a U.S. strike would push either Syria or its ally Hezbollah tio retaliate by attacking Israel. Over the past few weeks, thousands of Israelis, not known for their patience, spent hours waiting in line for government-issued gas masks. Yet the deal also increases pressure on Israel to get rid of its chemical and, even more troubling to the Jewish state, its nuclear stockpile. If Syria must get rid of its chemical weapons, the reasoning goes,...

Caroline Glick, Senior Contributing Editor of the Jerusalem Post said the Israeli people consider President Obama "a hostile president overall," on "Mornings on the Mall" on WMAL-FM in Washington DC. Appearing with Brian Wilson and myself Wednesday morning, Glick said the Israeli people "can't figure out what he's doing here," when asked about the mood in Jerusalem as the President's plane touched down for the first time in his presidency.

A seismic shift in American politics has occurred over the past decade that has created a gap so wide and so bitter that America is a nation of growing polarization where issues once embraced by both sides are now being challenged. In the shift, the far right has embraced Israel as a means of separating itself from Democrats, causing many Americans to question what, until then, has been unquestioned loyalty. Although Israelis have always enjoyed support from both mainstream political parties, the extremists in America who are using support of Israel as a litmus test are forcing many to examine...

As hands are wrung in the aftermath of the near-tragedy on a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit, a conversation from London's Heathrow Airport in 1986 comes to mind. It consisted of an El Al security agent quizzing one Ann-Marie Doreen Murphy, a 32-year-old recent arrival in London from Sallynoggin, Ireland. While working as a chambermaid at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, Murphy met Nizar al-Hindawi, a far-leftist Palestinian who impregnated her. After instructing her to "get rid of the thing," he abruptly changed his tune and insisted on immediate marriage in "the Holy Land." He also insisted on their...

Congratulations on an outstanding job, Osama. You masterfully pulled the strings, and the most powerful nation in the world jumped. You caused turmoil in major airports around the world on the busiest travel day of the year, cancelling and delaying thousands of flights. Now we discover that there is a new place to hide explosives as we scurry around to devise solutions. Passengers go through a pre... Passengers go through a pre-flight security screening at Ben-Gurion Airport. Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski [file] Creating havoc at airports will divert our attention from your real targets. Perhaps our fragile electricity grid? Or our...

One of the holy grails of the Palestinian movement is the "right of return," and it is one that always haunts any peace agreement. Alongside it is one of the most vilified pieces of Israeli legislation, the Absentee Property Law, which has provided more grist for the academic mill of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than anything else. Even after 60 years of conflict, there is very little understanding by Palestinians or others of either the concept of "return" or that of absentee property - which together represent an idea and the thing to which people might return. It is important to...

A top Pentagon official said Monday that a US missile defense drill will simulate an Iranian attack, a departure from the usual scenario of a North Korean attack, according to Reuters. "Previously, we have been testing the GMD system against a North Korean-type scenario. This next test ... is more of a head-on shot like you would use defending against an Iranian shot into the United States. So that's the first time that we're now testing in a different scenario," Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, head of the US Missile Defense Agency said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in...