Sigal Samuel is the former Opinion Editor at the Forward. When she’s not tackling race or identity politics, she’s hunting down her Indian Jewish family’s Kabbalistic secret society. Her novel THE MYSTICS OF MILE END tells the story of a dysfunctional family with a dangerous mystical obsession. Her writing has also appeared in The Daily Beast, The Rumpus, and BuzzFeed. Follow Sigal on Twitter.
A spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing said on Sunday the group had captured an Israeli soldier during fighting in the Gaza Strip. Speaking on a Hamas television station, the masked spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said “Qassam Brigades have captured a Zionist soldier and the occupation has not admitted that.” Israeli television stations ignored the report in…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of cynically exploiting Palestinian deaths to create striking televised images that will garner international sympathy. In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sunday, Netanyahu said Palestinian members of Hamas “don’t care” about the casualties they have inflicted on their own people. “These people are the worst terrorists…
“Prisoners of War,” the Israeli TV drama that inspired “Homeland,” will be released on DVD in the United States on July 8 — and the timing couldn’t be better. “POW” concerns three Israeli soldiers who finally get to return to their families after 17 years in captivity, only to discover that life in the public…
An undated family handout picture of Mohammed Abu Khdeir. Now that Israeli police have arrested six Jewish suspects for the kidnap-murder of 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir, it’s safe to say that the teen was not killed by his own family for being gay. Of course, Mohammed’s family has been saying that all along. They’ve…
The families of murdered Israeli teen Naftali Fraenkel and murdered Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khdeir are drawing comfort from an unexpected source: each other. Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat took to Facebook on Sunday to write about an “emotional and special telephone conversation between two families that have lost their sons.” He said that during his…
“They hit me — and they kept hitting me,” said 15-year-old Palestinian American Tariq Abu Khdeir of Israeli police, who beat him during a protest at the home of his slain cousin Mohammed Abu Khdeir. Tariq Abu Khdeir spoke about his experience in a video published by Addameer after he was released from Israeli custody on…
In two of the West Bank’s major cities, Palestinians woke up Sunday morning to a strange surprise: hundreds of lollipops filled the streets, courtesy of the Israeli army. The lollipops, distributed throughout Nablus and Ramallah, contained notes saying, “Ramadan Kareem. Here are some sweets because Hamas is making life bitter in the West Bank.” An…
Moroccan Jews living in the Jewish ghetto in Marrakesh circa 1955 / Getty Images I wish I could cheer the latest bill approved by Israel’s Knesset. I should, theoretically, be happy about it — the new law is designed to address the issues of people like me. And yet, when I read about it, I…
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