Rabbi Dov Haiyun in Jerusalem, July 19, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash 90)
(JTA) — As he waited to be interrogated by the Israel Police for conducting a non-Orthodox wedding, Rabbi Dov Haiyun began a Facebook post with three words: “Iran is here.” Haiyun awoke at 5:30 a.m. Thursday at his home in Haifa to a knock on the door from two… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Knesset passed controversial legislation making Israel the “nation-state of the Jewish people,” angering groups in Israel and the Diaspora. The so-called Nationality Law enshrines in Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Law that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. It passed early Thursday morning after hours… Read more »
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seated second from left, leading a Likud faction meeting in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, July 16, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel is debating legislation that supporters say states the obvious. Critics, meanwhile, say the measure will divide Israeli society and damage its relationships with the rest of the democratic world, especially Jews in the United States. The premise of the so-called Nationality Law is simple: It… Read more »
Draymond Green, right, shown before a playoff game between his Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center in Houston, May 28, 2018. (Bob Levey/Getty Images)
NBA star Draymond Green on his recent visit to Israel got to meet the nation’s president and take some shooting practice — with guns, not basketballs — on a military base. Green’s visit, particularly his jovial use of Israeli military weaponry, prompted criticism from notable figures on the American… Read more »
Benjamin Friedenberg, an Israeli filmmaker, interviews Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, July 5, 2018. (Natasha Kuperman)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg described how grateful she was for her Jewish heritage during a screening of a new documentary film about her life and career at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. “The demand for justice, peace and enlightenment runs through Jewish history and tradition,” she… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban hold a joint news conference at the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, July 18, 2017. (Haim Zach/Israeli Government Press Office)
(JTA) — It has become a staple of his stump speeches to audiences in Israel and abroad: Far from being isolated politically, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues, Israel is forming new and stronger alliances with a host of countries around the world. In recent years, Netanyahu has either… Read more »
Congregation Bet Shalom trip participants at the Haas Promenade in Jerusalem (L-R): Morrie Shoob, Alvin Juntiff, Alan Burke, Salley Juntiff, Louise Good, Bruce Dawson, Linda Kunsberg, Vickie Dawson, Andy Kunsberg, Geoff Winston, Sharna Shoob, Bernie Engelhard, Elinor Engelhard, Carol Richelson, Gary Richelson, Rachel Snyder, Ezra Alpert, Maiella Alpert, Sandra Snyder, Allan Schwartz, Anne Kobritz, Stewart Kobritz, Rabbi Avi Alpert
Each time we put together a Congregation Bet Shalom tour, we focus on a different aspect of life in the Holy Land. This time we concentrated on the idea of living as a non-Jew in the Jewish State. This two-week tour was aimed at proving the theory that non-Jews… Read more »
An Israeli soldier holds a national flag as he smokes a cigarette near the Israel-Gaza border, Jan. 18, 2009. (Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — On June 11, the Knesset’s official no smoking day, the Likud party’s Yehudah Glick announced that he was embarking on a hunger strike until the body passed a tax on loose tobacco equal to the tax on cigarettes. Glick’s dramatic gesture was a sign of a seldom-discussed crisis… Read more »
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Tel Aviv has been decked out in rainbow flags for weeks. Suddenly, it seems, every restaurant, coffee shop and store is super “gay friendly.” The city’s Pride Parade is traditionally held on the second Friday of June. Fifteen years ago, estimates were that 9,000 people… Read more »
Uri Shani at May 21 University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center lecture on "The Red-Dead Conduit — A Regional Approach to Water Scarcity.”
As part of the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center’s ongoing efforts to compare water management experiences of Israel and Arizona, the WRRC has scheduled two lectures this spring and summer. On May 21, Uri Shani, Ph.D., a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, presented “The Red-Dead… Read more »
The group made its first visit and shehecheyanu (blessing for new experiences) at the Kotel on Wednesday, May 9, and returned to the Western Wall for a pre-sunset Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday, May 11. (Courtesy Tucson Hebrew Academy)
Tucson Hebrew Academy eighth graders enjoyed the annual graduation trip to Israel, May 6-17. Highlights included an archeological dig at Beit Guvrin and Bar Kochva Caves, and a Bedouin experience with a drum circle and desert tent sleepover in Kfar HaNokdim, along with the requisite camel ride. Unique on… Read more »
President Donald Trump holds a news conference ahead of his early departure from the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Canada, June 9, 2018. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli and American Jews disagree on much — settlements, religious pluralism, even the degree to which they are “family.” And now you can add Donald Trump to the mix. Twin polls of Israeli and American Jews published by the American Jewish Committee on Sunday uncovered divides… Read more »
Flaming kites sent from Gaza have caused thousands of shekels of damage on Israel's western border. (Sam Sokol)
NAHAL OZ, Israel (JTA) — Dani Ben David fiddles with his radio, switching between it and his cellphone as he drives through the Beeri Forest, a nature reserve located on the border of Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. As his Jeep jolts over the dirt road, he quickly… Read more »
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump at their historic summit in Singapore, June 12, 2018. (Kevin Lim/The Strait Times/Handout/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Amos Yadlin likes talking about the Begin doctrine, which calls for removing existential threats to Israel before they are manifest — maybe because he lived it twice. As an Israeli Air Force pilot, Yadlin flew one of the planes that took out Iraq’s nuclear reactor… Read more »
U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks at the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, waded into the debate over media coverage of Israel with a pointed request to journalists. Reporters should “just keep your mouths shut until you figure it out,” he was quoted as saying at a conference launching a new Jerusalem… Read more »
Iris Yifrach speaks at a June 2014 rally in Tel Aviv calling for her kidnapped son Eyal's safe return. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
JERUSALEM — It’s easy to spot Iris Yifrach as she walks through the crowds in a packed shopping mall in central Israel. And it’s not just because she’s wearing a bright yellow blouse and matching headscarf. Yifrach has been a public figure since June 2014, when her 19-year-old son,… Read more »
Josh Phillips stands inside his new e-cigarette shop, London Vapes. (Tracy Frydberg)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The idea came to Yotam Gross as a commander in the Givati Brigade following 2014’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza: Instead of heading back to school after his Israeli military service, he wanted to spend his days bringing people together over warm plates of hummus… Read more »
Tucson educators visit with Israeli partners in Israel on Tuesday.
The Weintraub Israel Center, in partnership with Tucson Hebrew Academy and local synagogues as part of its school twinning program, sent a group of educators to Israel this week. On Tuesday, the group was visiting the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s partners in Hof Ashkelon and Kiryat Malachi, which… Read more »
Wounded protesters outside Gaza's main hospital, in Gaza City, May 14, 2018. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Of the more than 60 deaths that occurred during the recent clashes between Israel and Palestinians at the Gaza border, none was as divisive as that of Layla Ghandour. Ghandour, an 8-month-old girl, died after an uncle, himself only 12, brought her to the edge of the… Read more »
Employees of Sus Ye'or, a Mexican restaurant in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market, pose behind the counter. Small eateries have taken the place of many traditional food shops in the market. (Ben Sales)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — In another life, Kobi Frig would have been sitting behind vats of spices in Jerusalem’s bustling, labyrinthine Mahane Yehuda market, hawking paprika, zaatar and cinnamon like his grandfather and father did before him. Instead, Frig obeyed his father’s wishes, went to college, and started a chain… Read more »
