Tagged Israel

Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank cityof Ramallah hold a rally advocating Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, March 15, 2011. A reconciliation deal was announced in late April (Ruben Salvador/Flash 90/JTA)

Skeptics and optimists in Israel are squaring off following the surprise reconciliation between the two rival Palestinian factions. The skeptics argue that by mending fences with Hamas, a terrorist organization that denies Israel’s right to exist, the secular Fatah party led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has shown… Read more »

Re-Vital Dance Ensemble will perform its new show, “Hatikvah,” at the Israel 63 Festival on May 15, 2011.

A dance performance by Israel’s acclaimed Re-Vital Dance Ensemble, which played to a standing-room-only crowd here two years ago, will be the climax of Tucson’s Israel 63 Festival, to be held Sunday, May 15 from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. But the festival, celebrating… Read more »

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon

The speaker invited then uninvited. The signature on the petition removed. The activity joined, then unjoined. The job threatened. Rabbis and Jewish professionals increasingly are being faced with a dilemma over discussing divisive topics — especially regarding Israel — central to how they see their Jewish missions without losing… Read more »

The day before the official start of Passover, I jokingly posted on my Facebook status update, “For the first time in my life, I actually feel semi-comfortable saying the phrase ‘Chag Sameach.” Ha. Ha. Those were the days. Back when I had the long holiday (extended even longer for… Read more »

The Federation’s TIPS Partnership incorporates the Regional Council of Hof Ashkelon, a consortium of kibbutzim and moshavim that border Gaza. This update from our partners, written Sunday, April 10, reveals how life is being impacted on a day-to-day basis by the uptick in missiles coming into the region from… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

Why do I expect American Jews to commemorate Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day?” This question has been keeping sleep from my eyes for the last several weeks. As a shaliach, getting people to come and celebrate the Israel 63 Festival on May 15 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center… Read more »

I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that Israelis missed out on the pop culture icon that is The Grinch, the anti-Christmas, anti-fun Dr. Seuss character who ruins the holiday season for the people of Whoville. Whether or not there is an Israeli equivalent of the mean,… Read more »

David Abraham and his mother, Marlene, in Israel

David Abraham, a former Tucsonan who made aliyah in 2008 after graduating from the University of Arizona and spent two years in the Israel Defense Forces, where he was a tank commander, has joined with other “lone soldiers” and native Israelis to launch a website that provides information, in… Read more »

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, right, with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at a Capital Hill reception for Jewish American Heritage Month, May 19, 2009. (Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s first day as a sophomore in the U.S. House of Representatives, on Jan. 8, 2007, was marked by a number of extraordinary achievements for a woman barely out of her first term. Named to the Democratic caucus leadership. Named to the all-powerful Appropriations… Read more »

Can someone who is a lot more informed than I am explain to me what’s the problem with socialized medicine? Because so far, it’s working out for us. Please don’t forward me links to good articles in The Washington Post or transcripts of speeches from well-spoken congressmen. I just… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

In June 2010 Peter Beinart published his famous article in The New York Review of Books, “The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment,” in which he concludes that young American Jews have checked their Zionism at the door of liberalism. Based on Beinart’s assessment, I arrived in the United… Read more »

Richard Goldstone, left, shown meeting on June 1, 2009 with Ghazi Hamad of Hamas at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, now says his report’s finding that Israel intentionally targeted civilians in the Gaza war was mistaken. (Rahim Khatiz/Flash 90/JTA)

Richard Goldstone’s original U.N. report on the Gaza war of 2008-09 landed like a bombshell in the PR war over Israel, damaging Israel’s reputation around the world with its finding that Israel potentially committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during its three-week war against Hamas. Now that Goldstone… Read more »

I was very pleased to see the article on J Street Policy Director Hadar Susskind’s visit to the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Acknowledgment of different voices within the Jewish community in regards to our relationship with Israel and Israel’s current policies is a breath of fresh air. Moreover, the… Read more »

With the turmoil rocking the Middle East now threatening the regime in Syria, Israel faces potentially grave dangers and huge opportunities. The dangers are clear: The emergence of a more radical regime in Syria could mean a stronger Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis. Iran could get direct access to its allies in… Read more »

Joel Chasnoff, author of "The 188th Crybaby Brigade"

Unlike aspiring doctors or lawyers, would-be artists have no set career path, says author and stand-up comedian Joel Chasnoff. But even by the free-wheeling standards of the arts, the former Ivy Leaguer’s path took an unusual detour — right through the Israel Defense Forces, an experience he chronicles in… Read more »

Ishmael Khaldi

Israel’s first Arab Bedo­uin diplomat, Ishmael Khaldi, will speak at a breakfast event hosted by the Weintraub Israel Center, the Israel Consulate in Los Angeles and the America-Israel Friendship League on Friday, April 15, 8:15-9:30 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Khaldi, who currently serves as an advisor… Read more »

Max Rusinov, UA Hillel Israel Fellow, points to information about suicide bombings prevented by the Israeli-Palestinian border fence, posted on the mock border fence on the UA campus, March 23. (Sheila Wilensky)

If there’s a difference between the U.S.-Mexico border wall and the one dividing Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, you might not have known it by looking at the nearly 1,000-foot mock border fence on the University of Arizona campus last month. The fence was erected by student members… Read more »

One of the best decisions I made before making Aliyah was the decision to let my husband lead the way. This was not easy for me. I’m a born supervisor and taskmaster. I met Avi a little more than ten years ago when I was a madricha (counselor) on a… Read more »

The topic of the day-long conference was torture, and Palestinians were describing the horrific methods the Shin Bet used in prison to get information out of them. Photos and illustrations of these practices were shown on a screen. Human rights activists, Palestinian and Israeli, spoke at length and in… Read more »

Israel is staring at a fork in the road, with potential disaster along either path. On the path to the left lies a major Israeli peace initiative that deals with all the core issues under dispute with the Palestinians. On the path to the right lies more waiting, possibly… Read more »