The threatened Knesset investigation of the New Israel Fund by the Israeli right has been halted, for now, following several angry phone calls to Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin from irate American Jewish communal leaders, warning that an Israeli investigation could backfire on other Jewish organizations involved in Israel. Abe Foxman of ADL is quoted telling…
So they say that an army marches on its stomach. Is the success of the Israeli cabinet also based on its nourishment? There are clear similarities between feeding an army and feeding the Israeli cabinet, most obviously the sheer quantity of food required. In Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s panic to pull together a coalition, he…
While the attention of world Jewry was riveted on the United Nations, Israel’s Knesset quietly gave initial approval on September 22 to legislation that’s intended to ease the process of conversion to Judaism in Israel. The bill authorizes local rabbis to perform conversions at the request of would-be converts, permitting converts to seek out friendly…
You may have heard about the White House fly. But have you heard about the Knesset cockroach? Shas secretary Tzvika Yakobson discovered the roach in his meal on Tuesday. The unkosher bug caused the Knesset management to close the two kosher meat cafeterias immediately for inspection and kashering. One Shas official reportedly called the incident…
It’s just days after the general election, and Likud and Kadima are at it again — arguing over the issue of territory. But if you’re getting the impression that the two parties have stopped bickering over who won the election and started talking about Israel’s peacemaking policy, you are mistaken. Instead, think teen movies and…
One Member of the Knesset issued an ethics claim against himself after he got into a drunken argument with nightclub security guards; another MK attempted to diagnose a “sexual perversion”; still another was arrested for smuggling 25,000 Ecstasy tablets into Israel. And a fellow parliamentarian delivered a moving eulogy for a colleague who was still…
Could there really be a connection between how much fruit is consumed in Israel today and the composition of the next Knesset? Today is the festival of Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish arbor day of sorts. And when it was originally mooted that the election could come the day after Tu B’Shevat, the ultra-Orthodox parties were…
Ha’aretz reports: A senior Knesset official on Monday said fear of offending ultra-Orthodox MKs led the institution to exclude women singers from the parliamentary choir at a special session in honor of visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier in the day. Two-thirds of the Knesset choir, headed by MK Zevulun Orlev (National Union-National Religious…
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