UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon issued a scathing criticism Thursday of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent labeling of demands by the Palestinian Authority to eject all Jewish residents of the West Bank from their homes as “ethnic cleansing.” Elsewhere, a statement by the French government condemned Israel for demolishing structures France had built in the West Bank without proper licenses and a group of prominent Israeli artists published an open letter asking Jews in the Diaspora to join their efforts to force the Israeli government to unilaterally retreat from the West Bank.

US Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday that the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding with Israel on military aid will clear the way for sales of US fighter jets to Qatar and Kuwait. The sale of billions of dollars worth of aircraft, weapons and related equipment to the Gulf Arab countries has been held up for months by uncertainty over the MoU, as US law requires that the US ensure Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge over its neighbors, including Washington’s Arab allies.

Pop star Ricky Martin became the latest artist to ignore the international campaign to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel when he performed in Tel Aviv’s Menora Mitchavim Arena Wednesday evening. “I’m so happy to be here in Israel. I’m here because I want to have a good time – I want to leave my soul on this stage,” Martin told the audience.

The Hapoel Beersheba football (soccer) club stunned one of the Europa League’s most storied franchises Thursday, beating Inter Milan in San Siro 2-0 in a group stage opener. It was the first-ever group stage game for Hapoel Beersheba and continued  a recent trend of Israeli athletes and teams making their mark on the international scene.

In any other conflict, we would label the Palestinian demand for the removal of Jewish communities (or those of any other group) with the same words used by Netanyahu: ethnic cleansing. But when it comes to Jews living in their ancient homeland, the rules are different, and bigotry is not only accepted but also supported.

Read articles about challenges facing the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in protecting the Jewish State from her many enemies as well as regional developments regarding the fight against Islamist terror and more. (PDF)