WASHINGTON -- Israel is the "master of its fate" and reserves the right to defend itself against Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Obama. "When it comes to Israel's security, Israel has the right, the sovereign right to...

The Mandel Foundation has donated $5 million to the West Palm Beach Library Foundation. The library will be renamed the Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach. Foundation representatives will serve on several of its committees.  “A public library...

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court has ruled that both members of a lesbian couple who had a child together can be recognized as the child's mother. The egg of one of the women was fertilized with donated sperm and implanted in the second woman's uterus....

Award-winning Hungarian-Jewish writer Akos Kertesz has confirmed that he has applied for political asylum in Canada. Harassment and threats following the author’s controversial statements about Hungary's role in the Holocaust have led him to seek asylum...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama said it was still possible to resolve Iran's suspected bid for a nuclear weapon through diplomacy, but added that a military option was still on the table and that containment was not an option. "I firmly believe that an...

WASHINGTON -- Israeli President Shimon Peres said there is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Iran and said President Obama's commitment to Israel is "profound." Peres was the first major speaker Sunday at the American Israel...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama will award Israeli President Shimon Peres with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. During his speech Sunday before the AIPAC Policy Conference, Obama announced that he would award the medal to Peres this summer.    The Presidential...

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will send a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking Israel to state its position regarding restarting peace talks. The letter, which reportedly will be delivered to Netanyahu...

  WASHINGTON -- A group of U.S. Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith leaders briefed lawmakers on their tour of Indonesia, Jordan and Israel. The six day trip, on the role of religion in advancing Middle East peace, was led by Rabbi Sid Schwarz and included...

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- President Obama rejected the notion of simply containing a nuclear Iran, saying in an interview that such a prospect was intolerable. "I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't...

WASHINGTON -- A poll showed 87 percent of registered American voters believe that Iran’s suspected illegal nuclear weapons program is a threat to the United States.  The poll commissioned by The Israel Project also found that 88 percent of respondents...

NEW YORK -- The Jewish National Fund plants trees, builds a nation and unifies a people. As a child growing up in a small town in Texas, I dropped my coins in the Blue Box in Hebrew school. My parents and grandparents raised me on the importance and...