Ben Sales
By Ben Sales
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News Father of Jewish Arson Suspect Claims Son Only Confessed Due to Israeli Torture
(JTA) – The father of Elisha Odess, the American-Israeli Jewish teen held by Israel’s internal security service, says his son is innocent and that he confessed to terrorism under torture. “We are sure he didn’t commit this crime,” Rabbi Moshe Odess told JTA in a telephone interview. “When they put him through the most aggressive…
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News Why Russian Jews Love Their (Don’t Call Them Christmas) Trees
(JTA) — Every December Elana Snitman’s family gathers at her home, where they decorate a fake pine tree with ornaments, placing gifts underneath to exchange. After gathering for a dinner of chicken, eggplant and beet-and-potato salad, they sing a traditional song about the festive tree and the coming of winter. It’s a sacred tradition for…
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Fast Forward Breaking the Silence Comes Under Withering Attack for Questioning Israel’s Military
They’ve been banned from Israel’s schools and forbidden from speaking to Israeli soldiers. Israel’s prime minister denounced them from the floor of Knesset. A right-wing group has accused them of being foreign moles. The Israeli veterans’ group Breaking the Silence has been controversial since it was founded in 2004 by soldiers who had served in…
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Fast Forward John Kerry Pointedly Tells New Yorker Israel Must Take Steps for Peace
(JTA) — John Kerry hasn’t given up on a two-state solution. But the party responsible for making it happen, the secretary of state and his subordinates make clear, is Israel. A lengthy profile in the New Yorker traces Kerry’s work with Iran, Syria, Israel and the Palestinians, as well as his lingering bitterness over his failed…
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Fast Forward Climate Activists Rap Israel for ‘Minimalist’ Commitments in Enviro Deal
(JTA) — During last week’s climate summit outside Paris, the 195 delegate countries — including Israel — committed to implementing plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improving their goals every five years. The aim: Keep Earth from warming more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the 21st century. “This demands international discipline,…
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Fast Forward Soldiers With Autism Take on Key Roles in Israeli Military
(JTA) — Sitting in front of a computer at the center of Israel’s largest army base, a soldier stares at the screen, moving pixel by pixel over a satellite photograph, picking out details and finding patterns. A few years ago N.S., who has autism, thought the Israel Defense Forces wouldn’t take him. N.S., who like…
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Fast Forward With Israeli-EU Relations Strained, Netanyahu Looks Toward Asia
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, sat kiddy-corner in armchairs at this week’s international climate summit near Paris, talking and laughing. “We have the best of relations, and they can be made even better,” Netanyahu told Modi at the meeting. To which Modi responded, “I am happy that…
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Fast Forward Ezra Schwartz Mourned With Israeli Flag and New England Patriots Jersey
(JTA) — His best friend remembered him starting up a children’s game on their senior school trip. His teacher retold the time he made Hebrew jokes on a whiteboard during class. His rabbi recalled him committing to study the entire Bible this year. His parents wrote of him reciting whole paragraphs of “Harry Potter” by…
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Sports First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
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Holy Ground One of America’s first Jewish farms was nearly lost to history. Now these Brooklyn parents are risking everything to keep their family’s legacy alive.
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Culture Waiting on line on Christmas is a time-honored New York tradition — was it ever thus?
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Fast Forward It’s not just a myth that Jews head to Chinese restaurants on Christmas. It’s science.
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