This is the Forward’s coverage of Israel, the Jewish state in the Middle East founded in 1948.
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Fast Forward Likud Attacks ‘Hypocrite’ Natalie Portman For Snubbing Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party condemned Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman on Saturday for refusing to accept the $2 million Genesis Prize because of her opposition to him and his government. “Such hypocrisy!” the party said in a statement on Saturday, according to the Times of Israel. “Natalie Portman speaks about democracy but she…
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Fast Forward IDF Investigating Death Of Palestinian Teen During Border Protests
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s military is investigating the death of a Palestinian teen killed during protests on the Gaza-Israel border. Mohammed Ayoub, 15, was killed Friday during the fourth week of protests along Gaza’s border with Israel, part of the so-called “Great March of Return.” His shooting about 100 meters from the border was captured…
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Fast Forward Natalie Portman’s Boycott Is Practically Anti-Semitic: Israeli Minister
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman’s decision not to accept the Genesis Prize and her statements on the matter border on anti-Semitism. Portman said she would not accept the award in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was scheduled to speak at the award ceremony to be held in Jerusalem….
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Life If You Want To Understand Israel, Read Its Literature
If you want to understand a people, read the stories it tells. In the work of Israel’s fiction writers, we meet the real Israeli, the one behind the headlines, stripped of hasbara. We get to know Israeli soldiers and Palestinian suicide bombers, Jewish settlers, Arab university students, Holocaust survivors. Here, they collide, just as they…
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Culture Why Israel’s National Library Is Such A Treasure Trove For The Jewish People
Did you know that Stefan Zweig’s suicide note is housed in the National Library of Israel? So are Gershom Scholem’s love letters to his first wife, which mention the time he saw the poet Chaim Nachman Bialik at lunch, along with the philosopher Ahad Ha’am. In a recent visit, I held my breath as I…
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Opinion Actually, Natalie Portman, You ARE Practicing BDS
Dear Natalie (If I may), In recent days, I have followed closely your decision not to appear at a prize ceremony in Israel and your statement about it. Your decision was important to me not only because I am Palestinian, but because I realized we have some things in common, you and I. I was…
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Opinion Hamas, Not Israel, Is Responsible For Deaths In Gaza
It’s now been a month. An entire month of Palestinian organized, initiated and funded violence at the border with Gaza. What began with a promise of non-violence has cost some 35 Palestinian lives and hundreds of reported casualties. But the leaders of Hamas keep promising us that the worst is still ahead. Indeed, we are…
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Fast Forward Natalie Portman Breaks Silence On Prize Snub — And BDS
Natalie Portman says she refused to visit Israel to receive a $2 million prize as a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and because of Israeli “atrocities” — but insisted she doesn’t back the boycott of the Jewish state. The Hollywood superstar said she didn’t want to seem to be endorsing the escalating violence against…
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
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Film & TV A new documentary challenges stereotypes about Orthodox Jewish women — and their wigs
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Sports NBA coach Steve Kerr: ‘Israel sought revenge for Oct. 7 and now 72,000 Palestinians have been killed’
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News Analysis: As Democrats unite behind Platner, Schumer’s future as leader faces tests
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News Indiana synagogue that shaped Reform movement is sold — and will become a coffee shop, event space