This is the Forward’s coverage of Israel, the Jewish state in the Middle East founded in 1948.
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Israel News When Theodor Herzl Lit His Christmas Tree
Natalie Portman made headlines this month when she told the host of “The Tonight Show,” Jimmy Fallon, that she would be decorating her home with a Christmas tree for the first time this year, thus fulfilling “every Jew’s secret wish.” But Portman is far from the first high-profile Jew to deck the halls. In fact,…
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Israel News Why Trump’s #DrainTheSwamp Slogan Means Something Totally Different in Israel
Naftali Bennett sounded a lot like Donald Trump when he congratulated the Israeli parliament for “draining the swamp” by pushing a bill to retroactively legalize West Bank outposts built on stolen Palestinian land. At first, the far right wing Israeli minister seemed to be parroting Trump’s call to clean up government. But it’s more likely…
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Israel News Jerusalem Mayor Hopes Ivanka and Jared Will Push for Embassy Move
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has a wish-list for President-elect Donald Trump, and the top item is moving the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the holy city. Barkat thinks Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner will help him at long last tick off this item. “My impression is, because I know some of…
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Fast Forward Is the FBI Stalling on Transferring a Guantanamo Inmate to Israel?
(JTA) — The United States asked Israel to take and prosecute a Kenyan imprisoned at Guantánamo implicated in the 2002 attack on Israelis in Mombasa, Kenya, but the proposed transfer has hit a snag over reported FBI foot dragging. A report on the existence of talks to deliver Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, 43, for trial…
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Fast Forward Istanbul Court Drops Charges Against Israeli Commanders
(Reuters) – A Turkish court on Friday dismissed a case brought by victims of an Israeli raid on an aid flotilla that killed 10 people in 2010, said a lawyer for the victims’ families, who stormed out of the courtroom as the judge ordered one co-plaintiff to be ejected. The judge accepted the prosecutor’s plea…
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News Anti-Semitism Bill Will Not Pass Congress This Year
A controversial bill that would have defined some criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism will not make it through Congress this year. The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2016 would have instructed the U.S. Department of Education to consider a definition of anti-Semitism that includes “judg[ing] Israel by a double standard” when investigating federal discrimination claims. The…
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Israel News New Jersey Family to Pay Rabbis Shunned by Israeli Rabbinate
(Ha’aretz) — If the state of Israel won’t pay the salaries of rabbis of certain denominations, then we will. That, in a nutshell, is how one family from Livingston, New Jersey, hopes to foment a religious revolution in Israel. By providing a living wage to rabbis who are not eligible for state funding – and…
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Opinion Like Houdini, Netanyahu Is a Great Escape Artist — Just Look at His Contortions On Settlements
October 31 marked 90 years since the death of Harry Houdini, the rabbi’s son who became the world’s most famous magician. Houdini dazzled audiences around the globe by conjuring up unforgettable performance art out of the most essential practice in Jewish tradition: escaping danger. It’s appropriate, then, that in the month since Houdini’s yahrzeit we’ve…
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Opinion Epstein and Iran are an antisemitism mega-crisis. Here’s what Jewish organizations should do about it.
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Steeped in history, Pensacola Jews celebrate the 150th anniversary of Florida’s oldest synagogue
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Fast Forward Rahm Emanuel joins calls for end to US ‘financial aid’ to Israel
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Fast Forward Michigan Democrats nominate Eli Savit, progressive Jewish prosecutor, for state attorney general
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Fast Forward At soldiers’ graves, the rows keep growing: Israel’s Memorial Day is shaped by new loss
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