Israel News

Bibi and Obama: Could a Clash Be in the Offing?

By Nathan Jeffay

Are they headed for a diplomatic divorce? Or can this relationship be saved?Read More

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Bibi’s ‘Economic Peace’ Faces Key Test at Quarries

By Nathan Jeffay

Complaints over Israel’s conduct on Palestinian land are well-known. Less commonly heard, however, is the accusation that Israel is actually removing the land.Read More

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Hebrew Catholics Follow Their Own Church

By Donald Snyder

The traditional Jewish blessings over wine and bread, the Kiddush and the Motzi, echoed through the sanctuary at 10 HaRav Kook Street in Jerusalem. It was a room of striking simplicity — with just one small cross in brown wood.Read More

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In Bibi’s Crowded Cabinet, Health Ministry Shelved

By Nathan Jeffay

Rarely has so much political interest been focused on a single piece of furniture. The extra table now standing in the Knesset chamber has come to symbolize Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government, a supersized — and poorly constructed — behemoth. In fact, wags note, the table is more solidly built than the government that will sit around it: At least the table has no holes in it.Read More

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Hollywood’s Spring Fling With Blooming Israeli Actresses

By Rebecca Spence

In Hollywood, Israeli actresses are stealing the show. No fewer than three Israeli starlets will be appearing in major American studio releases over the next month, while others are scooping up roles on television shows and in theater productions. Ayelet Zurer plays the female lead in the forthcoming “Da Vinci Code” sequel, “Angels & Demons,” while Noa Tishby has a smaller part in the romantic comedy “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.” A former Miss Israel, Gal Gadot, is appearing in the fourth installment of Vin Diesel’s cars and babes franchise, “Fast & Furious,” and onstage, Meital Dohan, known for her role in the Showtime series “Weeds,” recently appeared in the Los Angeles run of the play “Stitching.”Read More

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Politics And History Pollute Palestinian View of Shoah

By Debra Nussbaum Cohen

Strings of Freedom, the Palestinian youth orchestra from Jenin, has been silenced; its instruments confiscated, its rehearsal space sealed, its director barred from the West Bank refugee camp because she took the teens to play for elderly Israelis on a day designated for kindness.Read More

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Rump Group of Labor Lawmakers Buck Barak on Joining New Government

By Nathan Jeffay

Dissenters may have been unable to block the Labor Party’s recent decision to join the otherwise right-wing government coalition headed by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu. But with seven of the party’s 13 Knesset members among those who opposed the move, they are well positioned to make life very difficult for Labor leader Ehud Barak, who spearheaded the drive.Read More

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Are Religious Soldiers To Blame for Alleged Abuse?

By J.J. Goldberg

Two months after the cease-fire that ended the recent fighting in Gaza, Israel finds itself bombarded with war crimes accusations. They come from a wide spectrum of critics, but none has drawn a more emotional reaction in Israel than the graphic descriptions by a group of Israeli combat troops of abuses they saw during the war.Read More

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Orthodox, El Al Tensions

By Nathan Jeffay

Orthodox Jews are being urged to shun El Al, Israel’s national air carrier, over its in-flight entertainment — a push that is widely viewed as a gambit in a larger struggle with the airline.Read More

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IDF Lawyers Now Coming Under Fire for Their Counsel During Gaza Conflict

By Nathan Jeffay

Rarely has the appointment of a law lecturer led to so much controversy. Students will now be learning law “from someone who helped justify the killing of civilians,” a Tel Aviv University lecturer complained to Haaretz after learning that Pnina Sharvit-Baruch is now a fellow faculty member.Read More

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