Shimon Peres in Tel Aviv, Nov. 30, 2015 (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Updated 9/13/16 at 1:18 p.m. MST. JERUSALEM (JTA) — Former Israeli President Shimon Peres was hospitalized after having a stroke. Peres’ office said in a statement Tuesday evening that the 93-year-old statesman “is stable and fully conscious.” The office later announced that Peres’ doctors decided to sedate him and… Read more »
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton celebrating their respective victories in the New York primaries in New York City, April 19, 2016. (Spencer Platt and John Moore/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Most Israeli Jews would prefer Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump as the next president of the United States — even though more of them think Trump would be better for the “Israeli government’s policy.” According to a poll released Wednesday, 43 percent of Israeli Jews prefer Clinton as president, compared to 34 percent who… Read more »
Mira Marcus, the city of Tel Aviv's director of international press, with her dog Shani at the Kelaviv dog festival in Tel Aviv, Aug. 26, 2016. (Andrew Tobin)
It’s not every day you see a dog getting a massage. But in this Israeli city, somehow it seems expected. At Tel Aviv’s first official dog festival, hundreds of dogs took over Yehoshua Park and its dog park on Friday afternoon. As canine customers wandered among vendors selling dog-related products… Read more »
Sunset over the Old City of Jerusalem, as seen from the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem. ( Andrew McIntire/TPS)
Jerusalem (TPS) – The Jerusalem Municipality has been promoting a unique initiative to build a cable car that would connect the city’s western neighborhoods with the Old City and Mount of Olives in its east. While the city intends for the project to serve its residents as well as… Read more »
The Khirbet Qeiyafa Archaeological Site. (Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem Spokesperson)
Biblical archaeology was revolutionized several years ago when evidence of the existence of the alleged kingdom of David was brought to light in the form of a fortified Iron Age town excavated in the Elah Valley by Hebrew University Professor Yosef Garfinkel and Israeli Antiquities Authority archaeologist Saar Ganor.… Read more »
Israeli sailors marching in Manhattan during the 1976 festivities for the bicentennial and Operation Sail. (Courtesy of Hadar Shalev)
The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. (JTA) – The Israeli missile boat Tarshish had just returned home in June 1976 when crew members learned near midnight that they would be heading back to sea two days later for another couple of months. They… Read more »
The Turkish government ship Lady Leyla in Mersin before being sent to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza following the completion of the reconciliation deal between Turkey and Israel, July 1, 2016. (Sezgin Pancar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel and Turkey ought to be friends, geopolitically speaking. As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put it in January: “Israel needs a country like Turkey in this region. We, too, should admit that we need a country like Israel.” But the regional powers often can’t seem to make… Read more »
Israeli soldiers seizing dozens of illegal weapons in the West Bank, Aug. 23, 2016. (Courtesy of IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli security forces shut down six illegal weapons manufacturing factories in the West Bank in what the army said was the biggest such operation of an ongoing crackdown. The raids conducted jointly by the Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet security service and Israel Police took place Monday night in Bethlehem and Hebron.… Read more »
Florida State Sen. Dwight Bullard, wearing a Palestinian kaffiyeh, or headscarf, at the Democratic National Convention, July 2016. (Ben Sales)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Pro-Israel activists in the Miami area plan to protest a Florida state senator active in the Black Lives Matter movement who visited the West Bank as the guest of a group that backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Organizers of the protest against Dwight Bullard said… Read more »
Shaul Ladany in his suburban Beersheba home with a prized piece of his Theodor Herzl collection, left. (Hillel Kuttler)
OMER, Israel (JTA) – Shaul Ladany, a two-time Olympian, acknowledged that he was “very happy” that the International Olympic Committee finally held an official memorial for the 11 Israelis who were killed in a terrorist raid at the 1972 Munich games. But Ladany, an Israeli racewalker who still… Read more »
Andrea Murez recalls Israelis telling her at the 2013 Maccabiah Games that she should swim for Israel -- and now she is. (Hillel Kuttler)
NETANYA, Israel (JTA) – Andrea Murez steps on the diving board, adjusts her goggles, swings her long arms and propels herself into the water at the Wingate Institute athletic complex here. Murez is training with a dozen other swimmers. She is the one preparing for the Summer Olympics a… Read more »
Oded Revivi (Courtesy of Avi Hyman Communications)
EFRAT, West Bank (JTA) — The Yesha Council has represented Israel’s settlement of the West Bank for nearly five decades. They’ve helped create what appears to be an irreversible reality to both critics and champions: Some 400,000 settlers live in settlements, where they enjoy their own wineries, Israeli chain stores,… Read more »
New Ben-Gurion University of the Negev robot has applications in medicine, homeland security and search and rescue BEER-SHEVA, Israel — The first single actuator wave-like robot (SAW) has been developed by engineers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). The 3D-printed robot can move forward or backward in a… Read more »
Members of Knesset Zehava Galon (L) (Meretz) and Shuli Mualem (R) (Jewish Home) (Hillel Maier/ TPS)
Jerusalem (TPS) – The Education, Culture and Sports Committee decided to recognize the Armenian genocide on Monday at a meeting initiated by Meretz Chairwoman MK Zehava Galon. “It is our moral obligation to recognize the holocaust of the Armenian nation,” said the committee’s chairman and Shas MK Yaakov Margi.… Read more »
Israel Broadcasting Authority
Jerusalem (TPS) – The Israeli political spectrum lit up with debate after an extremely heated Knesset session about the new Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) on Sunday evening. Several public figures from inside and outside the government alleged that Prime Minister Netanyahu is harming freedom of press. Both left-wing and… Read more »
Israeli gymast Neta Rivkin competes in the women's rhythmic gymnastics all-around individual final at the Baku 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19, 2015, is one of Israel's best hopes to medal. (David Ramos/Getty Images for BEGOC)
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – When the 2016 Olympic Games open here on Friday evening, Israel will proudly show off its largest delegation ever, with 47 athletes competing in 17 sports. Among them are golfer Laetitia Beck, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor; Lonah Chemtai, a Kenyan-born marathoner, and Ron Darmon, the first triathlete to represent… Read more »
"Zore" gun-lock cartridge (Hillel Maeir/TPS)
Jerusalem (TPS) – Jerusalem-based startup Zore has developed a unique lock for weapons that would prevent them from being used by any unauthorized personnel. The founders of the company have already raised almost half a million dollars and argue that the product is more efficient and user-friendly than traditional… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the launch of a new innovation center at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa, July 21, 2016. (Yair Sagi/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The Israeli prime minister is being investigated, and the media is atwitter. The probe is preliminary and no details have been released. But reports sayBenjamin Netanyahu is suspected of money laundering. His former chief of staff was interrogated recently and held under house arrest, reportedly in connection… Read more »
Israeli soldiers check Palestinian IDs at the Qalandia checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem, July 1, 2016. (Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — “Lone wolf” terrorism in Europe is making headlines around the world. But in Israel, the phenomenon of angry or troubled individuals taking up arms is old news. Since October, Israelis have endured a wave of violence that has been carried out largely by individual Palestinians without backing from terrorist… Read more »
Hanin Zoabi, an Israeli Arab lawmaker at the center of a controversial bill to oust Knesset members, seen at the Israeli parliament, July 11, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s government, sometimes called its most right-wing ever, is on a roll. The Knesset was expected to pass a law Tuesday evening allowing lawmakers to oust their colleagues from office for supporting terrorism or inciting racism — the third new government-backed law targeting anti-Zionist expression and leftist… Read more »
