Over 100 British artists announced on Friday that they are launching a cultural boycott of Israel, along with hundreds of others who have also signed up to the initiative.  (...) According to the letter, this includes accepting professional invitations to Israel or funding from any institutions linked to the Israeli government.

Israelis recognize that the relationship between their country and the United States government has gone downhill under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but don’t believe the strained ties have seriously damaged their connection to U.S. Jewry, according to a newly released poll by the Ruderman Family Foundation.

More than a dozen congressional Democrats say they plan to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress amid conflicting signals over whether he will pull out from the March 3 address. Netanyahu struck a defiant tone during a campaign event in Israel on Monday, saying he was “determined” to present the case for why Israel opposed the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran “before the members of Congress and the American people.”

The two countries that share peacetime borders with Israel, Jordan and Egypt, are dealing with a historic challenge presented by Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and its local extensions.

Scientists are crafting radical new approaches that may one day rejuvenate the world’s water-starved regions.  The clusters of farms and wineries in the Arava are a testament to Israel’s acumen in water technology.

The largest Palestinian civil society coalition has condemned Canada’s escalating “disinformation campaign and repressive measures against the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.” “Rather than seeking to hold Israel to account for its war crimes during the recent military assault on Gaza and its intensified colonization of the occupied West Bank,” the Canadian government “is further deepening its collaboration with Israel’s occupation and launching a shameful, propagandistic attack on free speech in the process,” Rafeef Ziadah, a member of the Boycott Na

The Prime Minister’s Office has recently issued a tender for setting up a new Internet site for “government news.” Observers and officials said the new site is intended mainly for public diplomacy and marketing. Sources familiar with the details said the site will have “considerable power to serve for PR purposes.”

In several recent interviews, President Obama has attempted to put the fight against radical Islamist terrorism in perspective. The president’s personal style is indeed often laconic, but in this case, it is out of place.