Virtual Jerusalem

The United States on August 26, 2026, designated the UK-based Palestine Action as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, placing it on the Treasury Department’s sanctions list.

In Jerusalem, I often find that beneath the surface lies an inescapable history. On Monday, August 24, 2026, Israeli Border Police operating in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan made a startling discovery beneath an existing residential structure: an ancient burial cave. The officers were not conducting a state-sponsored archaeological excavation in pursuit of academic glory. They were deployed in response to a violent and bloody clash between two local feuding families.

Iran's armed forces declared on Wednesday, August 26, that several Persian-language media outlets based abroad, including BBC Persian, Iran International and Radio Farda, are included in what a senior military spokesman called the country's "military target bank." The statement, delivered on Iranian state television, marks a sharp escalation in Tehran's rhetoric against outlets it accuses of serving foreign intelligence services.

Israeli teachers scored below their counterparts in 18 comparison countries on measures of literacy, numeracy and problem-solving, according to a study released Wednesday, August 26, by researcher Yael Melzer of the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research.

Recent Israeli coverage has drawn fresh attention to a study with an exceptionally long historical horizon: a University of Haifa-led research team has found evidence that Natufian communities in the southern Levant organized the harvesting of wild cereals roughly 15,000 years ago. The peer-reviewed paper itself was published in Scientific Reports on May 26, 2026; this week’s reporting brought its conclusions to a wider audience.

For decades, American mah jongg has carried a recognizable Jewish cultural image: women around a kitchen, clubhouse or synagogue table, arranging tiles between conversation, snacks and a measure of competitive resolve. A report published August 25 by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency adds a new generation to that picture. Jewish teenagers and young adults, the report found, are taking up the game in family homes, local groups and summer-camp settings.

The Israel Meteorological Service (IMS) is forecasting "extremely unusual" and "unprecedented" summer rainfall that could bring urban flooding to parts of the country this weekend. According to reports from Wednesday, August 26, the heaviest downpours are projected to strike overnight between Saturday and Sunday, disrupting the peak of Israel's typically dry summer. The storm system is expected to predominantly affect the northern coast, the Sharon region, and the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is reportedly considering a ban on trade in goods produced in Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria. According to Arab News, which cited The Telegraph, the potential embargo is being weighed in response to Israel advancing construction plans in the contentious E1 corridor near Jerusalem. However, Downing Street has cautioned that accounts of any planned measures remain speculative.

A Haifa Magistrates Court judge has ruled that a Holocaust-era yellow badge cannot be sold on the private market, allowing a future sale only under court supervision and only to a Holocaust museum or similar institution. The ruling, reported by Israel National News and independently by the Israeli outlet Makor Rishon, leaves the badge in the auction house's private ownership for now but bars an unrestricted public sale.

Israeli settlers, many of them children, attacked left-wing Israeli activists and a three-person Agence France-Presse crew with sticks, stones and pepper spray on Tuesday, August 25, at an outpost near the West Bank village of Jannatah, south of Bethlehem, leaving at least five people injured, according to the Times of Israel and Al-Monitor's report on the AFP account.