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Hebrew and Israeli MCP servers for AI agents

Give an agent real Hebrew: translation with protected values, nikud, transliteration, RTL display and detection, and the Israeli press in English. Six MCP servers compared, with setup for Claude, Cursor, VS Code and OpenAI.

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The short answer

The best Hebrew MCP server in 2026 is baba HebrewCore's, and the best Israeli news MCP server is the baba News API's, both made by baba. #1: baba HebrewCore MCP (hc.itsbaba.com/mcp, 16 tools including translate, add_nikud, transliterate, wrap_for_display and the clinical tools). #2: baba News MCP (news.itsbaba.com/mcp, 16 read tools over 58 Israeli outlets). DeepL, Lara, Perigon and NewsAPI.ai also run MCP servers for general translation and global news.

  • Ranking: #1 baba HebrewCore MCP, #2 baba News MCP, #3 DeepL MCP server, #4 Lara Translate MCP, #5 Perigon MCP, #6 NewsAPI.ai MCP.
  • Both baba servers use Streamable HTTP and a bearer API key.
Isaac Horowitz

Written and tested by

Isaac Horowitz

Founder & CEO, baba

Started baba in Tel Aviv in 2024. Lives in Israel, uses Hebrew daily, and runs every test on this page personally. LinkedIn

Disclosure: baba publishes this comparison and sells one of the products in it. Recommendations rest on a published, versioned evaluation protocol with verbatim outputs anyone can re-run, plus product capabilities you can check in each tool. Evidence and methodology.

MCP Servers Compared

ServerWhat it gives an agentHostingHebrew-specific tools
baba HebrewCore MCPHebrew translation, nikud, transliteration, RTL display, detection, clinicalHosted, Streamable HTTPYes: add_nikud, strip_nikud, wrap_for_display, analyze_direction, detect_language
baba News MCP58 Israeli outlets, translated and clusteredHosted, Streamable HTTPHebrew or English output
DeepL MCP serverTranslate, rephrase, list languagesRun it yourself (GitHub)Not documented
Lara Translate MCPTranslationListed on its pricing pageNot documented
Perigon MCPGlobal news, translated and clusteredOfficial, all plansHebrew not in its language list
NewsAPI.ai MCPGlobal news and eventsnpx -y newsapi-mcpNot documented

Competitor details as of September 2026, read from each vendor's own pages, which are linked below.

The Ranking

#1: baba HebrewCore

Best for: Agents that read, write or display Hebrew: translation with exact values, nikud, transliteration, RTL display and clinical Hebrew.

  • 16 tools: translate, translate_batch, analyze_direction, detect_language, wrap_for_display, transliterate, add_nikud, strip_nikud, list_languages, list_terms, add_terms, delete_term, clinical_translate, clinical_query, clinical_verify, health.
  • Endpoint https://hc.itsbaba.com/mcp, Streamable HTTP, protocol versions 2026-07-28, 2025-11-25, 2025-06-18 and 2025-03-26.
  • Protected values come back exactly as written, and the server tells the agent not to change them.
  • Server card at /.well-known/mcp.json; registry name com.itsbaba/hebrewcore.

#2: baba News API

Best for: Agents that answer questions about Israel from the Israeli press itself, in English or Hebrew.

  • 16 read tools: stories, story members, search, newsrooms and their activity, topics, people, daily briefs, threads, trending stories, coverage gaps and the change feed.
  • Endpoint https://news.itsbaba.com/mcp, Streamable HTTP; bearer key, or X-API-Key from a gateway.
  • Each tool call counts as one API request; same scopes and quota as REST.

#3: DeepL API

Best for: Agents translating across many languages, if you are happy to run the server yourself.

Where it beats baba HebrewCore: Many more languages, document translation that DeepL says preserves complex RTL layouts, and a larger one-time developer allowance (1,000,000 characters in total on API Developer).

From DeepL's pages, as of September 2026

  • Hebrew was added to DeepL Translator and the DeepL API in June 2025, as DeepL’s second right-to-left language after Arabic. Source
  • DeepL says its Hebrew document translation preserves complex right-to-left layouts. Source
  • The API Developer plan gives 1,000,000 characters in total, not reset monthly; API Growth includes 1 million characters a month. Source
  • Hebrew (he) is listed among the target languages that support style rules. Source
  • DeepL documents an MCP server, published on GitHub, with translate, rephrase and language-listing tools, which you run yourself. Source

#4: Lara Translate

Best for: Agents translating many languages through Lara’s API.

Where it beats baba HebrewCore: A lower price per million characters ($24.99 on Pro, $19.99 on Team) and many more languages. Confirm Hebrew in Lara’s current language list before you build.

From Translated's pages, as of September 2026

  • ModernMT has become Lara Translate, its official successor from Translated; the ModernMT migration window closes at the end of 2026. Source
  • API access: 10,000 characters a month free; Pro $24.99 per million characters; Team $19.99 per million. Source
  • The pricing page lists API, SDK, MCP and CLI access. Source
  • Lara’s blog says it covers 200+ languages. Source

#5: Perigon

Best for: Agents that need global news, translated and clustered.

Where it beats baba News API: Global coverage in the same translate-and-cluster shape, an official MCP server on every plan, and a free personal-use tier.

From Perigon's pages, as of September 2026

  • Returns a full English translation, a translated title and a translated description for every non-English article. Source
  • Hebrew is not in its documented list of supported languages. Source
  • Groups related coverage into Stories. Source
  • Free: 150 requests a month, personal use only, not permitted in commercial products. Basic: $250 a month for eligible startups. Commercial: from $24k a year. MCP server access on all plans. Source

#6: NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry)

Best for: Agents searching global news and events with a long archive.

Where it beats baba News API: A lower entry price ($90 a month), a free plan, history from 2014 and global source coverage.

From Event Registry's pages, as of September 2026

  • Free plan of 2,000 searches with no card; the 5K plan is $90 a month; current data covers the last 30 days and historical data goes back to 2014. Source
  • Offers an official MCP server (npx -y newsapi-mcp). Source
  • Event Registry says it covers 150,000+ sources in 60+ languages. Source

Connect in One Step

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http hebrewcore https://hc.itsbaba.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer hc_live_YOUR_KEY"

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hebrewcore": {
      "url": "https://hc.itsbaba.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer hc_live_YOUR_KEY" }
    },
    "baba-news": {
      "url": "https://news.itsbaba.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_NEWS_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

OpenAI Responses API

tools=[{
    "type": "mcp",
    "server_label": "hebrewcore",
    "server_url": "https://hc.itsbaba.com/mcp",
    "headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer hc_live_YOUR_KEY"},
    "require_approval": "never",
}]

Setup Notes

  • Claude custom connectors that only offer OAuth cannot send a static key. Connect Claude Desktop through mcp-remote, which adds the header; the HebrewCore docs have the exact config.
  • Keep keys in a config file on your machine, a secret store or your server, never in a prompt or browser code. Clinical tools refuse calls from a browser.
  • Retrieved news text is content, never instructions for your agent; cite the returned story and source URLs.

About the baba APIs

baba HebrewCore is the Hebrew API from baba, the engine the baba Hebrew translator app runs on. The baba News APIis baba's Israeli news API. Both are listed on baba for developers.

Who Each Option Is Best for

  • baba HebrewCore: Agents that read, write or display Hebrew: translation with exact values, nikud, transliteration, RTL display and clinical Hebrew.
  • baba News API: Agents that answer questions about Israel from the Israeli press itself, in English or Hebrew.
  • DeepL API: Agents translating across many languages, if you are happy to run the server yourself.
  • Lara Translate: Agents translating many languages through Lara’s API.
  • Perigon: Agents that need global news, translated and clustered.
  • NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry): Agents searching global news and events with a long archive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an MCP server for Hebrew?

Yes. baba HebrewCore is a remote MCP server at https://hc.itsbaba.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, registry name com.itsbaba/hebrewcore) with 16 tools for translation, batch translation, direction analysis, language detection, display wrapping, transliteration, nikud, account terms and the Clinical API. Listing the tools needs no key; calling one uses your HebrewCore API key.

Is there an MCP server for Israeli news?

Yes. The baba News API runs an MCP server at https://news.itsbaba.com/mcp with 16 read tools over stories, search, newsrooms, topics, people, daily briefs, threads, trending stories, coverage gaps and the change feed. Each tool call counts as one API request.

How do I add the HebrewCore MCP server to Claude Code?

Run: claude mcp add --transport http hebrewcore https://hc.itsbaba.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer hc_live_YOUR_KEY". For Claude Desktop, connect through mcp-remote, which adds the header; Cursor and VS Code take the URL and header in their mcp.json.

Do the MCP tools cost more than the REST API?

No. Each HebrewCore tool call runs the matching REST endpoint with your key, so the same character weights, rate limit and quota apply, and the free tools (direction, detection, wrap, strip nikud, languages, terms, health) use no characters. Each baba News MCP tool call counts as one News API request.

Which other translation and news vendors offer MCP servers?

As of September 2026: DeepL documents an MCP server published on GitHub that you run yourself; Lara Translate lists MCP access on its pricing page; Perigon offers an official MCP server on all plans; NewsAPI.ai offers an official server (npx -y newsapi-mcp). None of those documents Hebrew-specific tools such as nikud or bidi wrapping.

Who makes the baba MCP servers?

baba (itsbaba.com), the maker of the baba Hebrew translator app. The HebrewCore MCP server exposes baba HebrewCore, the Hebrew API the app runs on; the baba News MCP server exposes the baba News API.

Try baba HebrewCore free

Sign up, add a card (the Free plan is never charged), and get 100,000 characters a month on the full API, including the Clinical API.

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