The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been training intensively in recent months to ensure preparedness for all possible scenarios as the security situation on all its borders continues to deteriorate. A combined arms exercise involving artillery and infantry units recently concluded on the Golan Heights, as the paratrooper battalion carried out large, live fire exercises near Elyakim and in the Jordan Valley.

A meeting was held in Prague, Czech Republic on Monday to celebrate the strong and historic ties between that country and Israel, as well as Israel’s broader ties with Europe. It was attended by over 200 government officials and leaders of Czech civil society, media and religious figures and heads of professional institutions. It came mere days after a Swiss newspaper reported that the government of that country is granting large sums of money to groups that call for Israel’s destruction.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a long phone conversation with US President Donald Trump on Monday evening, with the threat from Iran reportedly dominating the conversation. The conversation came following a tense period in recent days which have seen Iranian naval vessels harassing US and British warships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel’s Water Authority published a report this week showing that the Sea of Galilee is at its lowest level since scientific measurements began to be taken in the 1920s. With the rainy season coming to an end, the report said that the level of the Sea had only risen 22 cm over the winter, much lower than the 60 cm rise which has been the multi-year average. As of the beginning of March, the level of water is 16 cm below the red line.

Israeli sports fans were cheering on Tuesday as their team followed up an opening victory in the World Baseball Classic Tournament in Seoul  against the hosting South Korean team with a convincing 15-7 defeat of Chinese Taipei. With the back-to-back upsets, Israel’s national Baseball team is in good position going into the final 8-team bracket for the next round, to be played in Tokyo in the coming weeks.

A law was passed in the Knesset Monday allowing the Interior Ministry to deny entry into the country for activists known to support the campaign to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel. “If someone demeans me, I do not let them into my home,” said Knesset Interior Committee chairman MK David Amsalem (Likud) who presented the legislation. “If anyone insults us, we respond; this law is elementary.”

In the brief period that the Trump administration has been in office, US policy on Iran signals a change from recent years. There is an emphasis on adopting a tough line, at least rhetorically, probably in an attempt to make the Iranians understand that in contrast to the Obama presidency, the Trump administration does not intend to ignore Tehran’s provocative measures.