People waiting in line for food packages at a distribution center for needy in Lod, near Tel Aviv, September 2012. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90/JTA) TEL AVIV (JTA) — The numbers tell a consistent storyline: Nearly one in four Israelis lives in poverty. A report last week by Israel’s National Insurance Institute showed that 1.8 million of Israel’s 8 million people live below the poverty line. In 2011, the year for which the report… Read more »
Kiryat Malachi residents crying at the funeral of Itzik Amsalem on Nov. 16, 2012. Amsalem was killed in a missile attack the day before. (Ben Sales) KIRYAT MALACHI, Israel (JTA) — They pick through the tangled foliage, Orthodox men with long beards and black kipahs, wearing white gloves and bright yellow vests, searching for body parts. A few yards over and four stories up, construction workers drive drills into a bombed apartment building. They speak… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Growing up secular in Tel Aviv, Gilad Kariv often would spend Saturdays hiking around rural Israel with his family, appreciating its nature and telling its history. But one Shabbat early in his childhood, Kariv decided to go to his neighborhood Orthodox synagogue. “To the place my… Read more »
(Forward) — An upcoming haredi Orthodox mega-rally in New York about the dangers posed by the Internet has a promotional Twitter account. The event’s box office has an email address. Speeches will be live streamed. And one of the event’s organizers owns a Web marketing company specializing in search… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — With the Sept. 4 date all but officially set as the day for early elections for Israel’s 19th Knesset, the question now is which political parties are poised to gain and which stand to lose. With four months remaining before the election, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin… Read more »
Yair Lapid, alongtime television anchor, is quitting journalism to enter politics. (Yair Lapid's official Facebook page) JERUSALEM (JTA) — One of the big open questions after Israel’s social protests last summer was whether or not the one-time mass movement would be able to translate its newfound clout into lasting political power. During the weeks of protests and for months afterward, none of Israel’s political parties… Read more »
