A labor dispute between the Tel Aviv municipality and lifeguards has brought on the indefinite closure of acity beach, over what city officials say is the lifeguards’ refusal to work overtime. Of the 13 public beaches with supervised swimming, only Hilton beach will be closed all week, with Tzuk Darom beach to be closed on…
An organization in Israel wants to use unmanned aerial vehicles to check the national eruv in problematic spots. The Shabbat Fund has placed a proposal on the table to purchase the UAVs at a cost of more than $6,000 a drone, the Hebrew language Beharedi Haredim website reported. The drone could save manpower hours and…
Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama, Israeli President Shimon Peres called for a renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians. “Israel and the Palestinians are ripe today to restart” peace talks, Peres said at the White House ceremony on Wednesday. “A firm basis already exists. A solution of two national states: A…
At 88, after 65 years in politics, it seems that the veteran statesman Shimon Peres won’t be excited about yet another award bestowed upon him – but Wednesday night at the East room of the White House the Israeli President had a shy smile on his face, looking at the faces of the U.S. and…
Activists threw rocks at contractors inspecting the Ulpana neighbohood in preparation for the evacuation of five apartment buildings there. The inspection came as caravillas, or portable homes, were being delivered Wednesday to a military base adjacent to the community where the evacuees will be housed until their apartments are relocated. The caravillas reportedly were disguised…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to visit Israel, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced. It will be Putin’s first visit to Israel since 2005. No date has been set for the visit, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing the ministry. The Times of Israel reported Wednesday that the visit is set for June 25, and that Putin…
Following a meeting with the top Pentagon officials on Monday and a public event with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday at the Brookings Institute, President Shimon Peres’ visit to Washington will reach its peak on Wednesday with his meeting with President Barack Obama – and an official dinner and reception at the White…
Ron Barber, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, won her seat in a special election. Barber, who decided to run after Giffords formerly resigned her seat earlier this year to recover from a shooting in January 2011, defeated Jesse Kelly, a Republican who suffered a narrow defeat to Giffords in the 2010 election…
Rabbi Shumley Boteach invited his opponent in a New Jersey congressional race to Shabbat dinner. Boteach, the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in northern New Jersey’s 9th District, made an open invitation to Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat, asking the veteran lawmaker to join in “the weekly Jewish tradition of a Shabbat…
Tzipi Livni, former head of the Kadima Party, said that the centrist party will not be in existence by the next Knesset elections. Livni, who stepped down as head of Kadima and as head of the opposition after losing party primaries in March, when asked if Kadima will be part of the next government, which…
New York health officials have proposed requiring that Jewish parents sign a consent waiver in order to use a controversial circumcision-related rite. At a city Board of Health meeting on Tuesday, the department’s deputy commissioner for disease control proposed that the board require all parents who want direct oral-genital suction, known as metzitzah b’peh, to…
