Incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a public appeal to Blue and White leader Benny Gantz on Thursday morning, saying “We have no choice but to form a broad unity government, as broad as possible, that is made up of all the elements that care for the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “The nation expects us, both of us, to show responsibility and act in cooperation. We cannot and have no reason to go to a third election. I oppose it. A broad unity government is what is demanded of us today.” Gantz responded with a statement that he was open to the idea but would not compromise.

Reports emerged in Arab media outlets Wednesday evening that recent strikes against pro-Iranian militias in the Albukamal area in Syria near the border with Iraq may have been carried out through a combined effort by Israel and Saudi Arabia, possibly with US assistance as well. The reports pointed to a widespread belief that the sites were being used as a staging ground for missile attacks such as the one which hit a Saudi oil facility last weekend, as well as a statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo following his meetings with senior Saudi officials in Riyadh that Washington supports Saudi Arabia’s “right to defend itself” and would not tolerate Iran’s “threatening behavior.”

Archeologists digging in southern Israel’s Arava Desert have found what they believe to be the remains of a highly sophisticated civilization dating from the 12th-11th centuries BC and lending support to the Biblical accounts of the Kingdom of Edom. “Using technological evolution as a proxy for social processes, we were able to identify and characterize the emergence of the biblical kingdom of Edom,” explained Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Ezra Ben-Yosef, who led the study with Prof. Tom Levy of the University of California, San Diego. “Our results prove it happened earlier than previously thought and in accordance with the biblical description.”

Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science recently published an article in Cell magazine giving details of their findings regarding the effectiveness of immunotherapy for treating melanoma and other types of cancers. The research gives hope for new treatments and refinements for the application of known treatments which could substantially reduce mortality rates among people fighting these diseases.

A report published on Wednesday by the state Intelligence organization in the German state of Hesse gives details of efforts by Iran to obtain weapons of mass destruction during 2018, as well as carrying out several other illegal activities in Germany. The report confirms previous findings from intelligence agencies in other parts of Germany and Europe. In related news, the International Judo Federation (IJF) issued a statement on Wednesday suspending Iran from future competitions over its policy of boycotting Israeli athletes and other violations of IJF regulations.

It is evident that Iran is prepared to take new and more daring risks, based in part on the assessment that the U.S. as well as the Saudis and other Gulf states are not interested in a broad escalation. The Iranian readiness to incur greater risk reflects the price that it is prepared to pay in order to extricate itself from the American sanctions. Its steps are also an indirect signal to Israel regarding Iran’s military ability to respond with advanced weapons.

The technological record studied here represents half-a-millennium of continuous copper production in the Wadi Arabah (~1300–800 BCE), which was preceded and followed by centuries of hiatus. As such, this record provides a unique window into evolutionary processes of a given society; this society, identified with the Edomites of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and non-biblical sources (Assyrian and Egyptian), was based on the local tribes of the region that practiced a (semi-)nomadic way of life throughout the period

The ICEJ recently hosted its 2019 Arise Summer Youth Tour, and to say that it was life changing is no exaggeration. Forty-five Christian youth from ten different nations came together to experience Israel, most of them for the first time. Hailing from a variety of backgrounds, the group of 18 to 32-year-olds explored ancient biblical sites, served Israelis in practical ways, laughed and worshipped together, and became one family in the process.