Ben Sales
By Ben Sales
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Fast Forward A Year after Gaza War, Border Communities are Growing
(JTA) — Few communities were as battered during last summer’s conflict between Israel and Hamas as Nahal Oz, a kibbutz of some 350 people located just a mile from the Gaza border. At one point in the fighting, 40 missiles landed on the community in a single day. Hamas militants attempting to infiltrate the kibbutz…
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Fast Forward Israelis Insist Jonathan Pollard Release Wouldn’t Help on Iran Deal
(JTA) — Should the U.S. free convicted spy Jonathan Pollard later this year, many in Israel will celebrate the moment that they had hoped and fought for. What Pollard’s release won’t do, officials and analysts said, is make most Israelis feel any better about the nuclear deal with Iran. The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported…
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Fast Forward Israel Will Now Push Congress To Reject Iran Deal — and Mull Strike
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decried an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program hundreds of times — most notably in a March speech to a joint session of Congress. Now that the agreement is signed, experts say Netanyahu has one way left to block it: Go to Congress again and persuade it to reject…
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Fast Forward Bias Against Non-Orthodox Has Deep Roots in Israel
(JTA) — Israeli Religious Services Minister David Azoulay — from the haredi Shas Party — drew a wave of backlash earlier this week when he said that Reform Jews aren’t Jews. Among those who spoke out against the minister was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “A Reform Jew, from the moment he stops following Jewish law,…
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Fast Forward Israel Balks at France’s Deadline for 2-State Talks
(JTA) — For months, France has considered taking a more active role in advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Israel wants no part of it. The French peace proposal reportedly would have three components: a return to direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, a committee of representatives from world and regional powers to facilitate the negotiations, and a United Nations…
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The Schmooze Michael Douglas Talks About Reconnecting With His Jewish Identity
(JTA) — Michael Douglas hadn’t heard of the Genesis Prize when he found out that he’d won it. In fact, the Oscar-winning actor was surprised to discover he was even in the running for an award designed for those who inspire fellow Jews. His father, actor Kirk Douglas, is Jewish. But his mother, actress Diana…
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Fast Forward Conservatives Outraged at Being Shut Out of Disabled Bar Mitzvahs
(JTA) — Conservative rabbis are protesting Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, claiming that he shut their movement out of a bnai mitzvah ceremony for Israeli children with disabilities. The ceremony, scheduled to take place at the end of June, was supposed to be co-officiated by one Conservative rabbi, Mike Goldstein, and one Orthodox rabbi, Benny Lau, Conservative…
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Fast Forward Deep Splits Bared in Israeli Coalition on Peace With Palestinians
(JTA) — When Israel’s coalition government formed last month, its constituent parties all but ruled out establishing a Palestinian state in the near future. But that doesn’t mean they can agree on what to do instead. Speaking at the Herzliya Conference this week, Israel’s premier diplomatic and security policy gathering, senior Israeli government officials struck…
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