The police have blocked off streets adjacent to the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem ahead of a demonstration by leftists that will take place this evening.

Jewish Agency chairman Yitzchak Herzog reacted today to the defacing of gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in St. Petersburg in Russia. "I am relying In the authorities to find those responsible for this anti-Semitic act," Herzog said.

Some leading rabbis including Rav Haim Druckman and Rav Shmuel Eliyahu have ruled against staying in the hotel Migdala which is located In the banks of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and is owned by a Catholic priest. The hotel keeps kosher but the rabbis claim that it is run by missionaries.The organizer of tours that include a stay at the hotel has sited a halachic (Jewish law) ruling that permits staying in such a hotel.

The claim that Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team are behind creation of a Facebook profile of someone who has threatened to murder him is "a stupid idea" according to Netanyahu family spokesman Ofer Golan.

Jerusalem: 8:05Tel Aviv: 8:08Haifa: 8:09Beersheba: 8:06Eilat: 8:02

Today marks 23 years since a double explosion set off by terrorists in Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem's open outdoor market, resulted in the murder of 16 people. 178 were wounded.

Paramedics from Magen David Adom, Israel's first aid service, treated hundreds of people that required medical assistance in the course of today's Tisha B'Av fast. Among those treated, 142 suffered from weakness and dizziness, five from dehydradtion and five fainted.Magen David Adom recommends breaking the fast with a beverage along with a piece of cake or two pieces of bread topped with a sandwich spread. Wait an hour and then eat a light dinner.

A huge brush fire has broken out between the villages of Majd al-Krum and Tuval in the Galilee region.Fire fighters are attempted to control the blaze. At the present time, it does not appear that there is any danger that houses in either of the villages will be affected.