Israel

Does Israel give Jewish extremists a pass on violence against Arabs?

Family members of Ali Saad Dawabsheh outside their home in a West Bank Palestinian village after an arson attack that killed the 18-month-old boy, July 31, 2015. Jewish extremists are suspected of setting the fire. (Oren Ziv/Getty Images)
August 5, 2015 / Uriel Heilman, JTA

(JTA) – There are some striking similarities between last week’s arson attack on a Palestinian home that killed an 18-month-old boy and last summer’s kidnapping and immolation of a 16-year-old Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Khdeir. Then, as now, Jewish extremists were the prime suspects in the attack. Then, as now, the murder… Read more »

A year after Gaza war, border communities are growing

Children in the southern Israeli kibbutz of Nahal Oz playing near a colorfully painted concrete shelter, July 6, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
August 4, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Few communities were as battered during last summer’s conflict between Israel and Hamas as Nahal Oz, a kibbutz of some 350 people located just a mile from the Gaza border. At one point in the fighting, 40 missiles landed on the community in a single… Read more »

Jerusalem Pride Parade murder sparks calls for change to laws — and pushback, too

Some of the participants mourning at a Jerusalem vigil for Shira Banki, the teenager who died three days after being stabbed at the Jerusalem gay pride parade, Aug. 2, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 4, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) — The murder of a 16-year old girl at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade has sparked calls for LGBT-rights legislation — as well as pushback from those who oppose it. Shira Banki died Sunday after being stabbed while marching in the parade on Thursday night. Five others were wounded… Read more »

After Palestinian baby’s death, Israelis say condemnation not enough

Tali Mizrahi, a member of the anti-racism group Light Tag, visiting the home of a Palestinian baby allegedly killed by Jewish arsonists. (Ben Sales)
August 3, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

DUMA, West Bank (JTA) — The smell of stale smoke wafted from the burnt concrete home now marked by a banner bearing the grinning face of a baby and, in bold red letters, a name: Ali Saad Dawabsha. Some 100 Jewish visitors trudged hesitantly under the banner and into the… Read more »

Jewish terror draws Netanyahu’s focus homeward

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting the hospitalized family of a West Bank Palestinian baby killed in an arson attack, July 31, 2015. (Flash90)
July 31, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

  Updated 8.5.15 WASHINGTON (JTA) – Ahead of what may be the toughest diplomatic battle of his career, a final bid to kill the Iran nuclear deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suddenly found himself facing down a terrorist threat – apparently from Jews. The flow of Iran… Read more »

McSally to join lawmakers meeting Netanyahu in Israel
July 31, 2015 /

Rep. Martha McSally (R.-Ariz.) will be one of more than 40 U.S. lawmakers traveling to Israel next month to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to a Congressional vote on the nuclear deal with Iran. Congress has until Sept. 17 to vote on the agreement the United States and five other countries (known… Read more »

Netanyahu to speak on Iran nuclear agreement in live webcast
July 31, 2015 /

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak to the American Jewish community and friends of Israel in a live webcast on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015 at 1 pm EDT. Register here to receive the web link for access to the address. Participation is free and open to all. The… Read more »

Six marchers stabbed at Jerusalem gay pride parade
July 30, 2015 /

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Six marchers were stabbed at Jerusalem’s annual gay pride parade — allegedly by the man who stabbed three people at the parade in 2005. One victim in Thursday’s stabbings was in critical condition and two were in serious condition. The alleged assailant — Yishai Schlissel, a… Read more »

Pollard’s wait not over: Fight to bring him to Israel will outlast his release

Israelis calling for the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in Jerusalem, March 21, 2013. (Liar Mizrahi/Getty Images)
July 29, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Barack Obama will not alter the terms of Jonathan Pollard’s parole once he is released, a signal that Israel’s struggle to bring him to the country whose citizenship he has assumed will outlast his November release date. “Mr. Pollard will serve his sentence as mandated… Read more »

Israelis say Pollard release won’t change stance on Iran

Uri Ariel, left, Israel's minister of housing, and Knesset Chairman Yuli Edelstein at a Passover seder held in honor of Jonathan Pollard, pictured, at the Knesset, April 8, 2014. (Flash90)
July 28, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

  TEL AVIV (JTA) — When the United States frees convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in November, many in Israel will celebrate the moment for which they have fought and hoped. What Pollard’s release won’t do, officials and analysts say, is make most Israelis feel any better about the nuclear deal with Iran. Pollard, who was convicted… Read more »

Following Iran deal, Israel to lobby Congress — and reconsider a strike

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to the media from his office in Jerusalem following the finalization of a nuclear deal with Iran, July 14, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
July 15, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decried an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program hundreds of times — most notably in a March speech to a joint session of Congress. Now that the agreement is signed, experts say Netanyahu has one way left to block it: Go… Read more »

Israeli woman, 65, gives birth to first child
July 9, 2015 /

(JTA) — A 65-year-old haredi Orthodox woman became the oldest woman ever to birth a child in Israel and one of the oldest in the world. Chaya Sarah Schachar of Bnei Brak delivered her first child, a healthy boy, on May 18 at the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba,… Read more »

How realistic is ‘no daylight’?

Michael Oren, shown speaking at the Holocaust Day of Remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in 2010, caused a stir with accusations against President Obama in an Op-Ed. (Astrid Riecken/Getty Images)
June 25, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israel’s former ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, caused a stir last week by publicly accusing President Barack Obama of abandoning the two core principles that undergird the U.S.-Israel relationship: no public disagreements and no surprises. But should there be no public disagreements – “no daylight,” in diplomatic… Read more »

For this U.N. report on Gaza War, Israel came prepared

A Palestinian child amid the rubble of buildings in Gaza City that were destroyed during the summer of 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, June 22, 2015. (Aaed Tayeh/Flash90)
June 23, 2015 / Ron Kampeas and Marcy Oster, JTA

(JTA) – This time, Israel and its supporters came prepared. Anticipating what they believed would be an unfair U.N. report on last summer’s Gaza War, the Israeli government and friendly groups in the United States were ready with at least three reports they say better reflects the reality of… Read more »

Could an Israeli startup have prevented Charleston church massacre?

Mourners sing hymns during a community prayer service for the nine victims of last week's shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, at Second Presbyterian Church June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
June 22, 2015 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

As Wednesday’s massacre in Charleston demonstrated,  houses of worship face a particularly difficult security challenge. Unlike schools, churches such as the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal, where nine people were gunned down by a lone shooter on Wednesday, need to stay open and accessible to carry out their mission of… Read more »

Op-Ed: An incentive for a two-state solution you can take to the bank
June 21, 2015 / Uri Dromi, Miami Herald

Last week, a team of the Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation came to Israel and to the Palestinian Authority to present a new study, calculating the costs of different Israeli-Palestinian scenarios. According to the study, in the case of a two-state solution, the Israeli economy would gain more than $120… Read more »

Israel trip offer expands on ‘people to people’ connections

Members of a Partnership2Gether group celebrate together in Israel. (Jewish Agency for Israel)
June 11, 2015 / Craig S. Baker, Special to the AJP

The Weintraub Israel Center has embraced the mission of creating a “living bridge” between Southern Arizona and Israel since it was founded in 1997. At the forefront of this mission are the Israeli shlichim — Hebrew for “messengers” or “emissaries” — who serve as directors of the WIC during… Read more »

At security confab, Israeli coalition members split on West Bank policy

Israeli Minister of Education Naftali Bennet speaks at the Herzliya Conference, June 7, 2015. (FLASH90)
June 11, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

HERZLIYA, Israel (JTA) — When Israel’s coalition government formed last month, its constituent parties all but ruled out establishing a Palestinian state in the near future. But that doesn’t mean they can agree on what to do instead. Speaking at the Herzliya Conference this week, Israel’s premier diplomatic and security policy gathering,… Read more »