Also this week in Israel in the News:

• The Israeli Air Force struck two terrorist targets in Gaza after Hamas launched a rocket into Israel.

• President Obama continues to struggle to contain ISIS, which is also now said to be cooperating with Hamas.

• The Fellowship hosted its first annual Fellowship Awards in Tel Aviv, honoring Israelis dedicated to social equality.

• In a major archaeological discovery, a seal belonging to biblical King Hezekiah was found in Jerusalem’s Old City.

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features Fellowship Senior Vice President Yael Eckstein.

Also this week in Israel in the News:

• Despite this joyous time of year, the ongoing wave of terror attacks continued in Israel this week with more Israelis targeted in separate shooting, stabbing, and car-ramming attacks. To date, 19 Israelis have been killed by Palestinian attackers.

• A month after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House, President Obama hosted Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin this week. President Rivlin spoke of the great friendship between Israel and the United States in his comments to the press.

• More than 200 elderly Jews and Arabs attended The Fellowship’s menorah celebration in the Israeli city of Akko this week. The Fellowship Menorah is traveling throughout Israel during Hanukkah for lighting celebrations.

• The U.S. and Israel intelligence agencies are collaborating on a new strategy to fight cyberterrorism.

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features The Fellowship’s Yonit Rothchild on fighting darkness with light.

Read more: http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/iitn#ixzz3uPexMAQw
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Also this week in Israel in the News:

• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Israel to meet with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both Kerry and Rivlin condemned the terrorist attacks.

• America and Israel paid tribute this week to an 18-year-old American student who had been studying abroad and was killed in Israel last week in a terror attack.

• A terror attack victim expressed his thanks to The Fellowship for the aid he and his family received. The Fellowship has committed to donating $1,000 to each Israeli terror victim to cover medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses.

• An Israeli company could be the first private team to land a robot on the moon as the frontrunner in a $30 million contest sponsored by Google.

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features The Fellowship’s Yonit Rothchild on how mothers in Israel are taking a stand against the current wave of violence and terror.

French police reported that they killed the mastermind behind the Paris terror attacks in a raid Wednesday. Abdelhamid Abaaoud was identified as one of the people killed when heavily armed police stormed an apartment in northern Paris in the early morning hours Wednesday. Abaaoud, a Belgian national, had been the target of French airstrikes in Syria last month.

Also this week in Israel in the News:

• In the wake of the Paris terror attacks, The Fellowship has provided $86,000 to French synagogues for increased security and is offering to help any French Jew who wants to leave and make a new life in Israel.

• The latest issue of a magazine published by ISIS claims responsibility for the Paris attacks and for the crash of a Russian jet in Egypt last month in which all 224 people on board were killed.

• The wave of terror attacks continue in Israel with five killed, including one American student, in two separate attacks Thursday.

• Just days after the attacks in Paris, a Jewish schoolteacher in the city of Marseille was stabbed by three terrorists, one wearing an ISIS-branded T-shirt.

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features The Fellowship’s founder and President Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein on the need for the free world to stand in unity with the people of France.

Also this week in Israel in the News:

• Israel said the European Union should be “ashamed of itself” for passing a resolution demanding all exports from Israeli settlements be specially labeled.

• An avowed anti-Semite and white supremacist who killed three people at Jewish places of worship in Kansas was given the death penalty for his crimes.

• A student who stabbed four people on a University of California campus was found to have ties to ISIS.

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features The Fellowship’s founder and President Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein on honoring the fighting men and woman of all nations.

Also this week in Israel in the News:

• Palestinian hackers took over an Israeli newspaper’s Twitter account and began posting gruesome messages to the newspaper’s more than 90,000 followers.

• U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove said the U.S. is closely watching Russia’s build-up of troops both in Syria and Ukraine, saying Russia is not the “partner that we thought we had for the past two decades.”

• Iran this week arrested its first Iranian-American political prisoner since the landmark nuclear deal took effect.

• Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is calling on ISIS to unite with them against the so-called “crusader nations,” including the U.S. and Russia.

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features The Fellowship’s Yonit Rothchild on the “silent intifada.”

Also this week in Israel in the News:

• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Palestinian and Jordanian leaders on how to reduce the violence on the Temple Mount by placing 24-hour video surveillance of the site.
• In an address to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the ongoing violence in a speech that Israeli leaders say will incite even more attacks.
• A group of 20,000 Israelis are suing Facebook in a New York court for allowing Palestinians to recruit and train terrorists via social media.

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features The Fellowship’s founder and President Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein on the price Israelis pay for living with terror.

Also this week in Israel in the News:

• The Fellowship is donating an Emergency Command Center vehicle to the city of Jerusalem to help with the ongoing crisis and other emergencies.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for peace between both sides, meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss positive steps toward peace. Kerry will meet with Palestinian leaders this weekend.
• The controversial Iran nuclear deal, negotiated between Tehran and other world powers, took effect on Sunday.
• The Washington Post’s journalist Jason Rezaian was convicted this week before an Iranian court on charges of espionage. The Post called the verdict “an outrageous injustice.”

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features The Fellowship’s Yonit Rothchild on the “new normal” of life in Israel.

Read more: http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/iitn#ixzz3phbzY27m
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In a growing wave of terror attacks, at least six Israelis have been killed and more than 100 wounded. “Lone wolf” Palestinian terrorists have been targeting Jewish citizens throughout Israel with knives, stones, and guns. Hamas is praising the attacks.

Also this week in Israel in the News:

• Increased security in and around Jerusalem led to police thwarting a stabbing attack near the city’s Damascus Gate. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is also deploying troops to help quell the violence.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called out Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to not “turn murderers into heroes” during a speech to the Knesset. In the U.S., Secretary of State John Kerry strongly condemned the terrorist attacks, urging both sides to resume peace negotiations.
• In response to the terror attacks, The Fellowship is setting up an emergency fund to support victims of terror. Grants will be given to families of every attack victim to cover medical costs.
• Despite the ongoing violence, tourism to the Holy Land remains strong.

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features The Fellowship’s Senior Vice President Yael Eckstein on living in Jerusalem during these terror attacks.

Read more: http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/iitn#ixzz3olaiomXz
Follow us: @StandForIsrael on Twitter | StandforIsrael on Facebook

Also this week in Israel in the News:

• Republican lawmakers are threatening to shut down the government if sanctions are not re-imposed on Iran.

• This week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss Russia’s involvement in the Syrian civil war.

• A new report says flawed U.S. intelligence has led the Pentagon to paint an overly optimistic picture of the ongoing fight against ISIS.

• At least one Israeli company has offered to help refugee families fleeing the violence in Syria.

This week’s Israel in the News Perspective features Fellowship Senior Vice President Yael Eckstein on the bridge-building efforts of her father, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.