Former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who has been a fixture of Israel’s Knesset for twenty years, held a press conference in Tel Aviv on Monday evening to announce she is retiring from politics and that her Hatnua party would not be running in upcoming national elections. The announcement came weeks after Livni was humiliated by Labor leader Avi Gabbay who announced in a live TV broadcast, with her at his side, that he was dissolving the partnership between Labor and Hatnua, which subsequently sank to electoral insignificance in most polls.

Economy Minister Eli Cohen and British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox signed a trade agreement in Tel Aviv on Monday to continue normal relations following the UK’s exit from the European Union. Also on Monday, a summit of the Visegrad-4 (V-4) group planned to be held in Jerusalem in the near future was cancelled following a diplomatic row between Israel and Poland, the V-4 groups largest member

The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, an independently funded think tank in Jerusalem, released a report on Monday showing that Israel’s birthrate is at historically high levels, with the average Israeli woman having 3.1 children. This makes Israel’s fertility rate the highest by far in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with second-place Mexico having a fertility rate of 2.15 children per woman.

BGN Technologies, a tech transfer company associated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheeba, announced this week that it has developed an artificial intelligence-based platform to monitor and predict the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Prof. Boaz Lerner of the university’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, explained to the Jerusalem Post that the new platform will allow for better management of such diseases, even if there is not yet a cure or effective treatments for them.

The Prime Minister’s Office announced this week that a new museum will be built at Latrun, in the Ayalon Valley between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, to honor Jews who fought in the allied armies and in resistance groups during WWII. The new museum, which will add to the areas attractions for tourists which already include the IDF Armored Museum, mini-Israel and the famous Trappist Monastery, will be named for Chaim Herzog, himself a veteran of the British Army in World War II who later served as the 6th President of Israel.

The Iranian regime’s calling for Israel’s destruction might appear surprising and require explanation – the two countries do not share a border or a territorial dispute; most of the Iranian people are less hostile towards Israel, compared to public opinion in some Arab countries; and during the Shah’s rule, both countries were strategic allies. So, why has the Iranian regime vowed to destroy Israel?

The pastoral leadership of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem have deeply probed the words of Scripture to find the truth and wisdom of God’s Word as it relates to Israel, the Jewish People, the Church of Jesus Christ and the plans and purposes the Lord has for all of us in this season of history.