Ukrainians will be able to visit Israel without visas beginning on February 9, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Dikusarov told journalists that all citizens with a passport will be able to visit Israel for 90 days without a visa. Israelis will enjoy the same visa-free travel privileges to Ukraine.

Eco-travel, though lagging behind that of other countries, is picking up steam in the Jewish state.

The Jewish Agency for Israel urged the government on Monday to provide adequate housing solutions prior to the expected arrival of over 7,800 Ethiopians of Jewish ancestry in the country

Israel’s public image today is dismal. As Elie Wiesel once joked, “Jews excel in just about every profession except public relations, but this should not surprise us: when God wanted to free the Jews from Egypt he sent Moses, who stuttered.” However, today Israel’s problem is not that its leaders are stuttering, rather that they are stalling to show leadership toward ending the Arab-Israeli conflict. In doing so, they are sending a message to the international community that Israel does not care what the world thinks, and that it does not want peace after all.

The former archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel Prize laureate began his retirement in early October saying he would watch cricket and sip tea with his wife. But he has sparked new controversy by stepping up his boycott campaign against Israel.

Foreign policy is typically the executive branch’s domain because that is the branch that decides who the US negotiates with and what gets offered in those negotiations. However, Tuesday’s Republican victory, particularly the GOP takeover of the House and leadership of some key committees, has the ability to affect the US's dialogue, and in some cases policy, on a few key US relationships with other countries.

More than 120 students from dozens of countries across Europe will attend the conference, including, according to the organizers, “students that hold negative feelings towards Israel.” The European Students’ Union convened its annual conference in Jerusalem on Sunday, the first time the event has been held in Israel.

South Africa's Cape Town Opera has turned down an appeal from Nobel peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu to call off a tour of Israel. He said it would be as inappropriate as it had been for international firms to visit South Africa during apartheid.