220 wealthy people from Israel and abroad were lucky enough to have five leading professional cooks of world leaders cook for them. The event was planned by Chef Shalom Kadosh, with the aim of preparing a gourmet meal at a Peres Center for Peace fundraiser for activities that would help bring Israeli and Palestinian children closer together. This fabulous quintet, along with Kadosh, gathered Wednesday at the Herods Hotel in Tel Aviv. Each chef was asked to cook his special dish kosher.

The US State Department is concerned over recent violence exhibited by extremists in Israel's haredi community and has published a travel recommendation for tourists not to walk around dressed immodestly in haredi neighborhoods. The travel recommendations calls on American tourists to dress appropriately when visiting religious sites in the Old City and in haredi neighborhoods and to avoid driving through those neighborhoods during the Sabbath.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon kicked off a series of meetings Wednesday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Ban told President Shimon Peres that Israel should take steps to assist the Palestinians and illustrate that the Palestinian state is already being built on the ground. Ban is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is expected to make the same calls for Israeli gestures. Ban is one of several foreign leaders who have recently called on Netanyahu to make gestures toward the Palestinians in order to avoid a breakdown in the Amman talks.

Syrian government forces reasserted control of Damascus suburbs on Tuesday after beating back rebels at the capital's doorstep. Western and Arab diplomats piled more pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad, pushing for a UN Security Council resolution which would call for him to step down to defuse to 10-month-old uprising against his family's dynastic rule. A draft United Nations resolution on Syria calls for President Assad to hand power to his deputy and insists there will be no use of foreign forces in the country.

US defense chief Leon Panetta said that Iran could develop a nuclear bomb in about a year and create the means for delivery in a further two to three years. Panetta maintained that if Washington receives intelligence that Iran is proceeding with developing a nuclear weapon, they will take whatever steps are necessary to stop it as would the Israeli's.

According to a new study published by an independent committee of experts appointed by the German parliament, About 20 percent of Germans have a "latent" hatred for Jews. At a very young age, German schoolchildren are already using the word "Jew" as an insult, and "Jew" is commonly heard as a curse word in the playground. In local soccer leagues throughout Germany, anti-Semitic jeers aimed at Jewish teams are common, including "Jews to the gas," "Bring back Auschwitz" and "Burn the synagogues." The study criticized the way Germany deals with anti-Semitism.

European Union nations have agreed on an oil embargo against Iran as part of sanctions over its nuclear program. Diplomats in Brussels said that EU foreign ministers would officially adopt the measures, hashed out by member countries' 27 ambassadors, later on Monday. The measures include an immediate embargo on new contracts with Tehran for crude oil and petroleum products, while existing ones must be brought to an end by July 1.

This week, the first ever Facebook peace conference will include representatives from the Arab world and from Israel and is being promoted by the Peres Center for Peace and the Yalla Palestine Initiative. Thousands of young Jewish and Arab activists from across the Middle East plan to participate in the peace conference on Facebook. To name a few: President Shimon Peres, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and actress Sharon Stone, are set to address the virtual gathering.

A clip produced by President Obama's reelection campaign targeting Jewish voters, features a long line of Israeli senior officials seen praising him. The video's "stars" may be surprised to find themselves included in the clip, as they never gave interviews for the campaign. The video, titled "America and Israel -- an Unbreakable Bond" shows Netanyahu thanking the president for his commitment to Israel and peace. It also shows Obama putting his hand on Netanyahu's shoulder and the two walking outside the White House.

US President Barack Obama rejected criticism from Republicans over his handling of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Obama said he had made himself clear since he began running for the presidency that he would take every step available to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The US president also said the Republicans seeking to replace him, including the frontrunner Mitt Romney, were attempting to win backing from the party faithful and secure the nomination by attacking his foreign policy decisions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a pre-recorded Chinese New Year's well-wishes, in Mandarin, in a bid to tighten Israel's ties with the world's most populous nation. In a video posted on YouTube, the PM expressed his hope for closer relations between Jerusalem and Beijing. Netanyahu said he was certain that the Chinese people would continue to amaze the world with their progress and prosperity in the coming year. The video will be distributed with the help of China's news agency and is expected to be watched by millions of people via social networks.

A delegation of the Lappi minority living in northern Norway will arrive in Israel next month for a first-of-its-kind visit in a bid to learn from the Israeli experience of reviving the Hebrew language and passing it on to the younger generation. Awareness to the Lappi people's rights has been growing in Norway in recent years, including the preservation of the Lappi (also known as Sami) language. Members of the Lappi minority approached the Israeli Embassy in Norway recently and asked for Israel's help.

A non-profit advocacy group is urging Jennifer Lopez to end her endorsement of the Italian car company FIAT -- or stand accused of supporting Iran's illegal nuclear missile program. In an open letter released Thursday, the United Against Nuclear Iran group told Lopez that by her endorsing Fiat, she serves as a spokesperson for a company that freely does business with a regime that is developing an illegal nuclear weapons program, financing and sponsoring terrorist groups, has killed American and NATO soliders, and is recognized as one of the world's leading human rights violators.

Israeli doctors have recently restored the eyesight of more than 2,000 people in seven countries. The surgical operations were performed in special camps set up by MASHAV in cooperation with the Eye from Zion organization and the Kahn Foundation. Eye Camps is a special operation aimed at restoring the eyesight of patients in developing countries which have no infrastructure for eye surgery. Israel sends a team of ophthalmologists who for two weeks perform surgical operations on dozens of patients.

The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation chose young singer Can Bonomo as the country's representative in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in May in Baku, Azerbaijan. What many people do not know is that Bonomo comes from a Jewish family -- making this selection somewhat surprising in light of the tense relations between Turkey and Israel. This year Turkey decided not to hold a pre-Eurovision competition and have a professional committee select the Turkish entry instead.