Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a Likud rally in Beit Shemesh on Tuesday night, saying that his earlier statements in favor of annexing the settlement communities in the West Bank were still in effect but implementation of any plan would need to wait, at least, until after the elections scheduled for 2 March. “When we win, we will continue making history,” Netanyahu said. “When we win, we will extend sovereignty over all the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.”

The clerical regime which rules Iran has convicted editors of three news outlets, including the semi-official ISNA, of “defamation and spreading false news”. Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for NGO The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement saying “If the Iranian government has a credible case against the editors…they should try them openly and publicly. Closed-door trials of journalists cannot be considered fair or impartial.” He added that the Iranian judiciary had “a history of holding opaque judicial proceedings that lack credibility.”

Israeli Israel’s Defense Minister Naftali Bennet was at the Pentagon Tuesday to meet with his US counterpart, Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark Esper. The meetings reportedly focused on continued cooperation between the two countries as well as the threat from Iran. Also on Tuesday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin received officers from the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines who are visiting Israel with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).

Israel’s Air Force struck several targets in the Gaza Strip affiliated with the Islamist terror militia Hamas Tuesday evening. The strikes were in retaliation for a barrage of rockets fired into Israel earlier in the evening as well as a large increase in the number of balloon-born explosive and/or incendiary devices sent over the border into Israel from the Strip in recent weeks.

CEOWORLD magazine published a list ranking countries around the world on cost of living, with Israel ranking a worrying 8th place. Countries where it is less expensive for citizens to pay their bills include Singapore, Hong Kong, France and the US. The rankings are based on five major metrics: cost of living, rent, groceries, eating out and purchasing power.

The U.S. peace plan offers a return to the security-first approach of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and, specifically, the concept of defensible borders. The U.S. peace plan means Israel is being asked to take unprecedented risks by living next to a sovereign Palestinian state in a Middle East plagued by radical regimes and failed states. That is why defensible borders are critical to guarantee Israel’s security.

Ever since the Muslim Brotherhood was toppled in Cairo by General-turned-President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Turkey’s ruler, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has evidently cooled his country’s relations with Egypt, to the extent that put the two nations on a course of bitter rivalry, for supremacy among Muslim nations in the Eastern Mediterranean. Are those two regional powers on a collision course? A panel of experts weighs in.

Our main objectives are: To stand with Israel in support and friendship; To equip and teach the world wide Church regarding God’s purposes with Israel and the nations of the Middle East; To be an active voice of reconciliation between Jews, Christians, and Arabs, and to support the churches and congregations in the Holy Land. From its head offices in Jerusalem, the ICEJ reaches out into more than 170 countries worldwide, with branch offices in over 90 nations.