This is the Forward’s coverage of Israel, the Jewish state in the Middle East founded in 1948.
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News What Israel has learned from its battle with COVID-19
This Q&A is adapted from one of four public conversations about the future of Israel being held every Wednesday at noon ET in a collaboration between JTA and the Israel Democracy Institute in the lead-up to Israel’s March 23 elections. The program is being funded by the Marcus Foundation. To register for the upcoming sessions,…
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Fast Forward On Fox News, Netanyahu calls Biden a friend, but highlights disagreement on Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning — occupying the slot once reserved for former President Donald Trump — and showed some unease when talking about the current occupant of the White House, President Joe Biden. “What’s your relationship like with President Biden? He’s been in office for 44…
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Opinion To Israel, converts are still just a political football
This week, Israeli converts to Judaism found themselves once more caught in a political power struggle between Israel’s religious right and left. After 15 years of waiting for the Knesset to find a legislative solution to Israel’s conversion crisis, the Supreme Court dropped a legal bombshell by issuing a verdict requiring Israel’s Interior Ministry to…
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Opinion With conversion decision, Israel moves one step closer to being genuinely inclusive
It is the rainy season in Israel, so I have been thinking about umbrellas. It is tempting to make a benign, even cozy, metaphor, imagining Israel as a protective force shielding us from threatening storms, and a means of uniting us as we huddle together to stay warm and dry. I wish I could give…
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News Netanyahu allies compare Reform Jews to dogs in racist election ads
Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners have ratcheted up their election campaigns with incendiary material comparing Reform Jews to dogs and xenophobic ads warning that African asylum seekers would convert to Judaism. The video, circulated on Wednesday by the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, depicted dogs wearing ritual items like kippot, tallit, and tefillin, along with…
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Opinion Israel’s conversion news isn’t good for converts
As a convert to Judaism, it’s frequently the case that when conversion and Israel come into the news, I avoid reading the stories. It’s simply never good news. This week’s Israeli High Court decision recognizing converts via the Reform and Conservative movement might appear to be different — that is, until you read the fine…
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News Interview | Trump’s Middle East diplomat reflects on a sleepless tenure
David Schenker, who spent 19 months as an assistant secretary of state in the Trump administration, said in a recent interview that he is “very happy to be sleeping at night again.” “I didn’t sleep well — it was really a lot of responsibility and I was incredibly concerned with the well-being and safety of…
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News Israel’s top court orders recognition of non-Orthodox conversions under Law of Return
Israel’s High Court ruled Monday that the state must recognize Reform and Conservative conversions to Judaism performed in Israel for the purpose of the Law of Return. The Law of Return allows anyone born to a Jewish mother, who has at least one Jewish grandparent, as well as converts to Judaism or spouses of Jews…
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Opinion New York’s Israel Day parade was a shanda — but not because of Mamdani
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Books In ‘Something We Said,’ Richard Pryor’s daughter finds words to discuss the unspeakable
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Opinion Israeli and diaspora Jews live in different realities. The Israel Day parade proved it
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Opinion Trump’s humiliation of Netanyahu marks a sea change in the US-Israel relationship
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Fast Forward Trump urges Iran to make a deal after Iran fires missiles at Israel for first time in 2 months
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News Maine Democrats are poised to nominate Graham Platner, as Jewish Democrats withhold support
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Fast Forward Some Jewish Republicans say Tucker Carlson is no longer a threat. Others worry he’ll run for president.
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Fast Forward Canada’s new council to tackle antisemitism divides Jewish groups