Israel

(JTA) — Iran is stockpiling short-range ballistic missiles in Iraq that can reach Israel, according to a New York Times report that cited American intelligence and military officials. The hidden rockets are part of a larger effort by Iran to intimidate countries in the region and assert its power,… Read more »

(JTA) — The United Nations General Assembly passed five resolutions against Israel, but for the first time, 13 countries switched their positions and voted against a pro-Palestine measure. The five resolutions passed Tuesday are among 20 against Israel that the international body will vote on during the 74th session… Read more »

(JTA) — Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour took to Twitter to clarify recent controversial comments she had made about Israel. Speaking Friday at the annual conference of American Muslims for Palestine in Chicago, Sarsour had criticized progressive Zionists. “Ask them this, how can you be against white supremacy in America… Read more »

(JTA) — Moshe Holtzberg, whose parents were killed in the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai when he was 2, was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah. Holtzberg celebrated on Saturday in his hometown of Afula, in northern Israel, Chabad.org reported. A party was held on Sunday night in… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Two production companies are teaming up to make a film about WeWork and its founder, Adam Neumann. Universal and Blumhouse Productions have fast-tracked a film written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Charles Randolph, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It is based on an upcoming book by… Read more »

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (JTA) — The indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an understandably confusing and emotional moment for American Jews. Thursday was a “difficult and sad day” for Israelis, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said when announcing the indictment. Netanyahu is the first sitting prime minister in Israel’s… Read more »

David Hazony

David Hazony, Ph.D., will present “Aliyah of the Mind: Zionism as Jewish Emancipation” on Monday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, as part of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series. Most people think Zionism is about supporting… Read more »

(JTA) — Violence erupted at a a protest by pro-Palestinian students against an appearance by Israeli army reservists at York University in Toronto on Wednesday night. Members of the university chapter of Students Against Israeli Apartheid, or SAIA, tried to shut down a university-approved panel discussion featuring Reservists on… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Satmar Rebbe distributed $5 million to 150 anti-Zionist institutions Zalman Teitelbaum was in Israel to present the heads of the institutions with checks made out in shekels, The Jerusalem Post reported. The checks were distributed on Thursday night in the Satmar stronghold of Beit Shemesh.… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — More than 30 heads of state will gather in Jerusalem on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The leaders will be attending the fifth World Holocaust Forum in January, which will coincide with the anniversary. Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Emmanuel Macron of France,… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin handed the mandate to form a government coalition to the Knesset for the first time. Rivlin met Thursday with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to hand him the formal notice a day after Blue and White party head Benny Gantz announced he was… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli Border Police officer who shot a Palestinian man in the back with a sponge-tipped bullet has been charged with assault and reckless use of a firearm. The Palestinian victim was walking away from the policewoman at a West Bank checkpoint when he was shot… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged in three corruption cases, marking the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister has been indicted. The charges, announced on Thursday evening by the Justice Ministry and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, include bribery and breach of public trust. Netanyahu has denied… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued a travel warning for visiting Americans in the aftermath of the U.S. announcement that the government does not consider the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank as illegal. The warning issued Monday said the visiting Americans could… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Trump administration will no longer regard West Bank Jewish settlement as illegal, another dramatic change that aligns it with Israel’s right-wing government. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in reviewing the history of U.S. policy on settlements said that since 1978, the United States has regarded… Read more »

(JTA) — Time magazine is building on its list of the most influential people of the year by releasing a list of “rising stars,” or what it calls the Time 100 Next. The list features what the publication says is an increasing number of influential people who aren’t establishment… Read more »

(JTA) — Fifty-eight Israelis were injured during the wave of rocket attacks fired by terror groups from Gaza this week. Thirty-four Palestinians, most of them reported to be members of Islamic Jihad and other Gaza terror groups, were killed in retaliatory strikes. The attacks cost the Israeli economy $315… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A cease-fire went into effect between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as other terrorist groups in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that the cease-fire went into effect at 4 a.m. Thursday, and Egyptian negotiators said it would begin at 5:30 a.m. Several rockets… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza struck an assisted-living facility in the southern Israel city of Ashkelon on Wednesday afternoon, injuring a woman in her 70s. The resident was injured in the face and arms by flying glass after the rocket crashed through her… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — U.S. filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and his Israeli wife, actress, and model Daniella Pick, are renting a home in Tel Aviv. The home in an affluent neighborhood in the northern part of the city rents for nearly $23,000 a month, the Israeli business daily Globes reported. It is… Read more »