Israel

Israel shows off its homeland security technologies to international visitors

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s security technologies were on display as the country hosted two separate international contingents. An Interpol European Regional Conference brought 110 senior law enforcement officers from 49 countries to Tel Aviv, while a homeland security conference drew 37 mayors from two dozen worldwide cities to sites throughout Israel last week. “Israel has [...]

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Kadima Party chairman Shaul Mofaz at a joint news conference in the Knesset announcing that Kadima has joined the coalition government. May 8, 2012. (Miriam Alster/Flash90/JTA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Kadima Party chairman Shaul Mofaz at a joint news conference in the Knesset announcing that Kadima has joined the coalition government. May 8, 2012. (Miriam Alster/Flash90/JTA)

In a surprise move, Likud and Kadima form Israel’s broadest government coalition

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israelis went to sleep Monday night expecting early elections in September for the 19th Knesset. They woke up to the news that elections would take place as planned in October 2013. A behind-the-scenes deal clinched overnight between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Shaul Mofaz created Israel’s broadest coalition government ever. According to [...]

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Molok Shamshiri, an Iranian-Israeli restaurant cook, left Iran in 1964. (Ben Lynfield)
Molok Shamshiri, an Iranian-Israeli restaurant cook, left Iran in 1964. (Ben Lynfield)

With fond memories of native land, Iranian Israelis worried by talk of war

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Avi Nobel lived in Tehran and is sure the Iranian people want peace. “There are a lot of poor people there and what they want is food and to work, not a nuclear bomb,” says Nobel, a spice seller here whose goods include some imported from Iran through third countries. Still, [...]

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As Israel gears up for early elections, Netanyahu appears home free

JERUSALEM (JTA) — With the Sept. 4 date all but officially set as the day for early elections for Israel’s 19th Knesset, the question now is which political parties are poised to gain and which stand to lose. With four months remaining before the election, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have no real [...]

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With Obama and Bibi both running, is 2012 a replay of 1988 or 1992?

WASHINGTON (JTA) — If Israel goes to elections as expected this summer, will it be a replay of 1988 or 1992? Both Israeli election years also were American presidential election years, as 2012 is. In 1988, the Dukakis-Bush race had no discernible effect on a race that saw Yitzhak Shamir edge Shimon Peres for Israel’s [...]

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IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz walks by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Defence Minister Ehud Barak at an arrival ceremony of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit at the Tel Nof air force base. october 18, 2011. Schalit was moved into Egypt from captivity in Gaza in a prisoner swap deal including hundreds of Palestinian prisoners  to be freed in return for Shalit. Gilad Shalit has been held in captivity by Hamas militants since June 2006. (Yossi Zeliger/FLASH90)
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz walks by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Defence Minister Ehud Barak at an arrival ceremony of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit at the Tel Nof air force base. october 18, 2011. Schalit was moved into Egypt from captivity in Gaza in a prisoner swap deal including hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to be freed in return for Shalit. Gilad Shalit has been held in captivity by Hamas militants since June 2006. (Yossi Zeliger/FLASH90)

Are Netanyahu and Barak bluffing on Iran, or are they already committed to war?

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Has Israel’s game of chicken with Iran jumped the shark? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in recent months have been more explicit than ever about the likelihood of an Israeli strike on Iran to keep it from obtaining nuclear weapons capability. A number of current and former [...]

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A general view shows the illegal Ulpana outpost, adjacent to the Beit El Jewish settlement near the Palestinian West Bank city of Ramallah, on April 23, 2012. The Israeli government appeared divided following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice to demolish Ulpana before the end of the month as it was set up without government permission on Palestinian land. (Noam Moskowitz/ Flash90)
A general view shows the illegal Ulpana outpost, adjacent to the Beit El Jewish settlement near the Palestinian West Bank city of Ramallah, on April 23, 2012. The Israeli government appeared divided following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice to demolish Ulpana before the end of the month as it was set up without government permission on Palestinian land. (Noam Moskowitz/ Flash90)

Battle lines drawn in the West Bank’s Ulpana neighborhood, with far-reaching implications

BEIT EL, West Bank (JTA) — Alex Traiman stands under a tarp in his spacious backyard as his 10-year-old, Tmima, turns cartwheels on the lawn. “This is our home,” Traiman says, pointing to his single-floor apartment filled with books and children’s toys. “We did not come here to trample on anyone’s rights — we came [...]

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his father, Benzion, at a memorial day for Yoni Netanyahu at Mount Herzl military cemetary in Jerusalem, June 26, 2007. (Michael Fattal/Flash90)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his father, Benzion, at a memorial day for Yoni Netanyahu at Mount Herzl military cemetary in Jerusalem, June 26, 2007. (Michael Fattal/Flash90)

ESSAY: Benzion Netanyahu’s role in U.S. politics

NEW YORK (JTA) — Benzion Netanyahu — historian, one-time political activist and father of Israel’s prime minister — died Monday in Jerusalem at 102. An accomplished scholar and the patriarch of one of Israel’s most important political families, he also played a surprising and little-known role in American political history. Netanyahu was born in Poland [...]

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Arab and Israeli students holding hands at the Max Rayne Hand in Hand School for Bilingual Education in Jerusalem. (Kobi Gideon/Flash90/JTA)
Arab and Israeli students holding hands at the Max Rayne Hand in Hand School for Bilingual Education in Jerusalem. (Kobi Gideon/Flash90/JTA)

At Yom Ha’atzmaut, school shows it’s OK for Jewish, Arab students to have differences

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The two seventh-grade girls walk together down the hall, their heads touching as they talk excitedly. Dana’s dark auburn hair is pulled back in a ponytail. Waard’s head is covered by a hijab, the traditional Arab headscarf, held with a fashionable pin. Dana is Jewish and lives in the German Colony, a [...]

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Israel must overhaul education system

NEW YORK (JTA) — The teacher stands in front of the sparse classroom, its walls bare and paint peeling. “This school looks like a prison,” one of my fellow travelers whispers. Many of the children are huddled in coats; schools in this neighborhood do not have heat, and the unexpected rain and cool air chill [...]

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