Israel

Netanyahu meets with head of Ukrainian party that includes neo-Nazis
July 10, 2019 / Sam Sokol, JTA

(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has come under fire in recent years for allegedly failing to confront anti-Semitism and revisionism in Central and Eastern Europe, met Wednesday with the head of a European political party whose membership includes ultranationalists and neo-Nazis. Oleh Lyashko of the Ukrainian… Read more »

Israeli city inaugurates a ‘Donald Trump Square’
July 10, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The central Israel city of Petah Tikvah inaugurated a city square in honor of President Donald Trump. Donald Trump Square was inaugurated on Wednesday to thank Trump for his support of Israel, especially the president’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The square is… Read more »

‘Politics is not for women,’ leading religious Zionist rabbi says
July 10, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A leading religious-Zionist rabbi in Israel rejected the possibility of asking former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to head the Union of Right Wing Parties because “politics is not for women.” Rabbi Shlomo Aviner was one of dozens of rabbis who signed a letter objecting to seeing… Read more »

The protests by Ethiopian Israelis, explained

Ethiopians and supporters have protested across Israel against police violence following the death of a 19-year-old Ethiopian Israeli, Solomon Tekah, who was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Shown here is a protest in Kiryat Ata, July 3, 2019. (Flash90)
July 10, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Protests by the Ethiopian-Israeli community and their supporters entered a third day on Wednesday in Israel in the wake of the killing of an Ethiopian-Israeli teen by an off-duty police officer. While the protests are tied to the death of Solomon Tekah, 19, on Sunday night… Read more »

UA seeks Middle East travel photographs
June 28, 2019 /

Visiting Israel or other parts of the Middle East this summer? The University of Arizona Center for Middle Eastern Studies is seeking photo submissions for its 29th annual exhibit, “Ordinary and Extraordinary.” Each year, the UA Center for Middle Eastern Studies organizes a photography exhibit featuring images from the… Read more »

James Caan’s latest character: A Jew who moves to Israel to become a pig farmer

In "Holy Lands," James Caan plays a secular American Jew who moves to Israel to escape the drama of his family -- and to raise pigs. (Cinedigm)
June 28, 2019 / Stephen Silver, JTA

(JTA) — “Raising pigs in Israel? Couldn’t you play golf like everyone else?” That’s a quote that doubles well as the concept behind the movie “Holy Lands,” which stars Hollywood veteran James Caan as a relatively secular American Jew turned Israeli pig farmer. The film, directed by the French… Read more »

Israel’s next spacecraft will shoot higher than the moon
June 26, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two months after the Beresheet spacecraft crashed on the surface of the moon, the SpaceIL organization said it will not make a second attempt. Instead, the Israeli non-profit organization announced late on Tuesday in a statement and on social media, “we will seek out another, significant… Read more »

Dead Sea area rocked by earthquake
June 26, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — An earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter Scale was felt in the area of the Dead Sea. The epicenter of the temblor that took place early on Wednesday afternoon was Ein Bokek in southern Israel, according to Israel’s Geophysical Institute. There were no injuries or damage… Read more »

At Israel’s first student-run health clinic, the mantra is health care for all — and it’s free

Neta Sagi, a volunteer at Haifa’s student-run Ruach Tova Health Center, examines a patient with an ultrasound machine. (Larry Luxner)
June 26, 2019 / Larry Luxner

Sponsored content from JTA: HAIFA — At the Ruach Tova Health Center in this northern Israeli city, three medical students are hard at work trying to keep up with the steady flow of patients. Nicole Kasher, a third-year student from Los Angeles, reviews patient charts. Galilee native Neta Sagi… Read more »

A former lawmaker hopes HBO’s ‘Chernobyl’ spurs change in Israel

A new HBO series portrays the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and aftermath. This image shows a building at the Chernobyl exclusion zone in the abandoned city of Pripyat, Ukraine. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
June 25, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — The HBO historical drama “Chernobyl,” which dramatizes the events surrounding the 1986 nuclear explosion in the now-Ukrainian city, has generated plenty of buzz around the world. In addition to garnering critical acclaim, the series has renewed conversation about the incident and even spiked tourism to the area of… Read more »

White House unveils economic portion of Middle East peace plan

A picture shows the new West Bank Palestinian town of Rawabi, described as the largest privately-funded development project in Palestinian history, just north of Ramallah, on September 29, 2017. (ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)
June 24, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Days ahead of a workshop where Jared Kushner will seek tens of billions of dollars for his Middle East peace plan, the White House unveiled an outline of its economic portion, including proposals, like a Gaza-West Bank travel corridor, that are sure to rattle Israel’s government.… Read more »

Long-awaited Israel trip is ‘amazing’ for THA eighth-graders

Participants on Tucson Hebrew Academy’s 18th annual eighth grade Israel trip and their Partnership2Gether school twinning counterparts on Zikim Beach in southern Israel, May 2019. Standing, from left: Adi Shacham, Hodaya Shoshani, Yuval Cohen, Carly Wright, Ziv Yona, Lily Goldberg, Robin Garcia, Yoni Green, Yuval Nir, Gaya Benaim, Lila Season, Adamari ‘Mari’ Pasillas, Ben O., and Ziv Gibli; seated: Noam Amitay, Avia Gez, Talya Fleisher, Isabella ‘Izzy’ Garcia, Rylee Herman, Dahlia Tolby, Hadlie Polonski, Orli Levy, Eitan Otmasgin, Shahar Kahana, Davis Yalen, Bodhi Teufel, and Eli Kahana (Courtesy Tucson Hebrew Academy)
June 14, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Last month, Tucson Hebrew Academy graduate Davis Yalen had the kind of Israel experience every Jewish parent and educator dreams of. He enjoyed floating in the Dead Sea: “It was such a cool experience, because I’ve heard about it, and learned about it in school.” Riding on the world’s… Read more »

Rocket fired from Gaza strikes school building in southern Israel
June 13, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A rocket fired from Gaza hit a school building in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Thursday evening. The building, identified as a Jewish religious school, was damaged but no injuries were reported. It was reported to be empty at the time of impact and… Read more »

For these Israeli startups, design is just as important as technology

At the Jerusalem-based Lightricks, a producer of image and video editing apps, the company has integrated design elements at all levels of product development, with a tech lead and a design lead working on every product the company makes. (Courtesy of Lightricks)
June 12, 2019 / Ben Harris

Last year, a group of students at Jerusalem’s renowned Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design set to work imagining the future. Their specific goal was to envision the next generation of wearable devices for the blind. Working in collaboration with the technology company Orcam, a Jerusalem-based producer of devices… Read more »

David Friedman gave Netanyahu half a nod for West Bank annexation. What happens next?

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks at the AIPAC policy conference in Washington, D.C., March 26, 2019. (Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
June 12, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said Israel “has the right to retain” some of the West Bank. Palestinians fumed, Jewish settlers rejoiced, and the punditocracy predicted gloom and doom. What was it exactly that Friedman said in a New York Times interview. And what… Read more »

When young Israelis move to Germany or Austria, it’s a hard pill for their families to swallow

Dan Peled, center, with his father, Gidi, and grandmother Lea. Peled is a main subject of "Back to the Fatherland," a documentary on Israelis moving back to Germany and Austria. (First Run Features)
June 12, 2019 / Curt Schleier, JTA

(JTA) — On the surface, Gil Levanon and Kat Rohrer seem unlikely friends. Levanon is an Israeli, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. Rohrer, an Austrian, is the granddaughter of an avowed Nazi officer. If their friendship seems a little odd, their collaboration on the documentary “Back to the… Read more »