No contest: GOP is the pro-Israel party

Jeff Ballabon is chairman of the Iron Dome Alliance and a senior fellow at the Center for Statesmanship and Diplomacy. Bruce Abramson is vice president for policy of the Iron Dome Alliance and a senior fellow at the London Center WASHINGTON - For years, the leaders of America's most established Jewish organizations - AIPAC chief among them - have assured their members that when it came to Israel, there wasn't much difference between the Democratic and Republican parties.

The Middle East braces itself for US Elections

From Jerusalem to Beirut to Cairo, the upcoming US elections are being closely followed, partly for their entertainment appeal, but also as the US remains crucial for its role in the Middle East. "Partly because of the characters involved, there has been a lot of media coverage here," Tamir Sheafer, a professor of political science at Hebrew University told The Media Line.

1946 years ago vs. todayRabbi Nachman Kahana

Rabbi Nachman Kahana is an Orthodox Rabbinic Scholar, Rav of Chazon Yechezkel Synagogue - Young Israel of the Old City of Jerusalem, Founder and Director of the Center for Kohanim, and Author of the 14-volume "Mei Menuchot" series on Tosefot, "With All Your Might: The Torah of Eretz Yisrael in the Weekly Parashah", as well as weekly parasha commentary available where he blogs at http://NachmanKahana.com During the three weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Menachem Av, 1946 years ago, a hand-to-hand battle raged between the soldiers of Rome and the Jewish defenders over every meter of hallowed ground in the walled city of Yerushalayim.

Mideast Briefs

On Aug. 8, saying the media misinterpreted the original statement made on Aug. 5, the Defense Ministry said the reference to the Munich pact - a failed bid by European powers to appease Nazi Germany - "was not intended to make a direct comparison, either historically or personally. We are sorry if it was understood otherwise."

Trump’s gun-rights remark likened to calls for Rabin’s death

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said Donald Trump's suggestion that gun rights advocates could "do" something about Hillary Clinton recalled the incitement to violence reported in the months prior to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. "I instantly thought about Rabin and Israel," Malloy, a Democrat, said Aug. 9 on MSNBC.

Tearing down the walls | Kids from Mexico greeted with open arms at Jewish camp in Rockies

At a time when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised that, if elected, "We're going to have a big, beautiful wall" dividing Mexico from the United States, a Jewish summer camp in Colorado is building a bridge between itself and a synagogue in Mexico City. This year, after several years of planning, more than 20 Jewish Mexican campers, three counselors and Rabbi Leonel Levy from Comunidad Bet-El de Mxico attended Ramah in the Rockies for two weeks, from July 20 to Aug. 2. Bet-El is a Conservative synagogue in Mexico City's upscale yet diverse Polanco district, and Camp Ramah is a network of Jewish summer camps affiliated with the Conservative movement.

Could Clinton’s VP pick hurt her chances with Israel supporters?

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's recent Vice Presidential pick of Tim Kaine has in many ways been regarded as a "safe choice", nominally aiding her White House bid without the risk some more outspoken running-mates, like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, could potentially have posed. A former governor and current senator for the swing-state of Virginia, Tim Kaine worked as a missionary in Honduras and speaks fluent Spanish, an asset in an election where Hispanic voters could tip the scales in critical battleground states like Florida, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona.

U.S., Israel close many gaps in defense aid talks, hope for deal soon

The United States and Israel have closed many of the remaining gaps in negotiations over a new multibillion-dollar military aid package for Washington's top Middle East ally, and the two sides hope to reach a deal soon, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday. Jacob Nagel, acting head of Israel's national security council, wrapped up three days of closed-door discussions in Washington over a new 10-year defense pact, including a meeting with U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice.

Are America’s chickens coming home to roost?

Consider, since 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, an illegal invasion and war crimes in Iraq, beheadings, bombings and forced slavery, terror strikes by drones, cluster and phosphorous bombs, relentless bombing leveling Gaza, Sana'a and Aleppo, lone wolf attacks in Orlando, Dallas and San Bernardino, terror bombings in Baghdad, Beirut, Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, Dhaka and Medina, stabbings in Jerusalem and Hebron, slaughter at Mother Emmanuel, despair in Ferguson, Baltimore, the Ninth Ward and Flint, and Herman Wallace, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, and Philando Castile.

Anti-Israel amendment to Democratic party platform voted down

The US Democratic party's slide toward an increasingly anti-Israel position, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, has been halted, at least temporarily. During a meeting of the Democratic party drafting committee Saturday, supporters of Senator Sanders proposed an amendment to the Democratic party platform which would urge an "end to occupation and illegal settlements," in Judea and Samaria, as part of a general statement in the platform about the promotion of a "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel Calls Facebook A ‘Monster’ For Supposedly Fueling Palestinian Attacks

Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Facebook was responsible for a spate of Palestinian attacks on the country's citizens. "Facebook today sabotages, it should be known, sabotages the work of the Israeli police, because when the Israeli police approach them, and it is regarding a resident of Judea and Samaria, Facebook does not cooperate" with the West Bank, Erdan said in a television interview Saturday, Reuters reported .

Israelis mourn Elie Wiesel as one of their own

Elie Wiesel never lived in Israel, but on Sunday the country mourned the death of the esteemed author and Nobel peace laureate as though it had lost a national icon. A frequent visitor who was fluent in Hebrew, Wiesel was a confidant of prime ministers and a towering cultural figure so revered that two premiers considered nominating him to be the country's ceremonial president.

Trump tweet evoking anti-Semitic imagery first posted on fringe message board

Donald Trump on Saturday deleted a tweet critical of Hillary Clinton after he came under fire for evoking anti-Semitic stereotypes with a graphic that included dollar bills and a six-pointed star. But 10 days earlier, the same graphic appeared on an Internet message board loaded with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and neo-Nazi ideology.