Alona Ferber
By Alona Ferber
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Opinion Is It Just Me or Was That Anti-Semitic? A British Jew’s Constant Question
A few months ago, here in London, I was at a party talking to a man who worked in artificial intelligence. We were discussing what a robot-filled future might look like, but when he found out I was Jewish we got onto the subject of Jews. The AI researcher admired Judaism because it was the…
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Opinion Israel’s ‘Bikini Ban’ Is Just as Bad as France’s Burkini Ban
Hot on the heels of France’s burkini ban mania, Israel seems to be coming up with its own version. An Israeli singer claims that her set at a Culture Ministry festival on Friday was cut short when she was asked to cover up. Hanna Goor, who was wearing shorts and a bikini top, says she…
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Life The Thread that Links Israel’s Female Murder Victims
This week, after months of perseverance, I finally finished Roberto Bolaño’s “2666.” Those familiar with the book will understand why I am so smug. At a cool 1,000-plus pages, “2666” is no easy read. It is also deeply violent. At its centre lies the Mexican fictional border town of Santa Teresa, which is plagued by…
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Life Israeli Women Should Keep Sexual Assault on the Agenda
It is that time of year again. February is almost halfway over. The year, which was new not so long ago, is already in its second month. December’s stock-taking – if you go in for that sort of thing – seems like a distant memory. Our resolutions probably didn’t become manifest. We probably didn’t become…
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Life When Israel Classifies Rape As Terror — and Not
It isn’t making headlines around the world like it was back in October, but Israelis and Palestinians continue to ride their “latest wave of violence.” Only this week, a Palestinian into a bus stop in Jerusalem, wounding more than 10 people, including an infant, and was shot dead by security forces. Over the weekend, clashes…
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Life Why Not All Israeli Feminists Are Interested in Hanukkah Candles
A Hanukkah near-miracle reminds us of feminist divisions The quarter-century-old feminist prayer group Women of the Wall was on the receiving end of its very own Hanukkah near-miracle this week, when Israel’s attorney general’s office ordered the Kotel rabbi to include women in the state’s official Hanukkah ceremony. Women of the Wall launched a campaign…
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Life When Modesty Endangers Women’s Lives
Israel’s election feels like a lifetime ago. Those of you with a suitably long memory, however, will recall that one of its defining features was empowerment of the underdog. There was the historic unification of Arab parties and Jewish-Arab party Hadash on one slate. And then there was the small matter of a feminist revolution…
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Life Can Women Solve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?
For Israelis and Palestinians, October has been a grueling month. The violence we are used to ramped up to include near-daily confrontations, stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks. If war-weary civilians on either side of the Green Line were hoping the crisis would bring out strong leadership and some shred of hope, they were very much…
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