Israel

‘King’ Bibi Seen Having More Leeway

Bibi Netanyahu and Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz: New coalition partners. getty images

How he’ll move forward with unity coalition unclear.

05/08/2012
Stewart Ain
Staff Writer

Israeli columnists are calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “King of Israel” after the new unity government he forged together early Tuesday gave him the political leverage he craved to remake parts of Israeli society.

“He has brought in [to his coalition government] a large centrist party, which tends to somewhat neutralize the right-wingers in his coalition and gives him more leeway to maneuver,” observed Yossi Alpher, an Israeli political analyst and co-editor of the Israeli-Palestinian online publication BitterLemons.net.

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Vote Early, Vote Bibi?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

PM seeks to move election up a year; analysts speculate his next coalition would be more dovish.

05/01/2012
Joshua Mitnick
Israel Correspondent

Tel Aviv — With polls giving him a big lead over a fractured opposition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the odds-on favorite in Israel to win re-election if the Knesset decides to hold elections a year ahead of schedule at the end of the summer.

After months of denying speculation that he was mulling moving up a vote from October 2013, Netanyahu said early this week he would be discussing possible dates with party leaders.

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At Jerusalem Seminary, Hoping LGBT Shift Signals More Openness

Ian Chesir-Teran, a gay rabbinical student at HUC, welcomed the Schecter Rabbinical School's decision to accept gay students.

Many hope landmark decision at Masorti-Conservative’s Schechter leads to more inclusion, less acrimony.

04/25/2012
Michele Chabin
Israel Correspondent

Jerusalem — Mikie Goldstein, a gay rabbinical student at New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary, is gratified that the Masorti movement — the Conservative movement’s Israeli branch — decided late last week to permit gays and lesbians to study toward ordination at the Schechter Rabbinical School in Jerusalem. 

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Nefesh B'Nefesh

Rabbi Yehoshua Fass: 
Founding Father of Nefesh B’Nefesh Shepherds Over 30,000 New Olim To The Promised Land
By Ken Stephens

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Fallout From ‘Flytilla’ Incident

An IDF officer restrains a protestor during a Palestinian bicycle rally in the West Bank.

Israelis debate actions of IDF soldier caught on video striking a Danish protestor.

04/17/2012
Joshua Mitnick
Israel Correspondent

Tel Aviv — Video images of a high-ranking Israeli army officer striking a pro-Palestinian demonstrator with the butt of his M-16 rifle touched off a storm of controversy in Israel this week, prompting a round of condemnation by politicians and a spate of soul searching among commentators.

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‘So Much For The Arab Spring’

Palestinian women wave during a demonstration marking Land Day. Getty Images

Palestinians are bankrupt and demoralized — yet politics and intifadas have lost their appeal.

04/12/2012
Michele Chabin
Israel Correspondent

Jerusalem — Just as he does every day, on March 30 Mahmoud Abu Sneineh trimmed succulent pieces of lamb off a vertical spit, wrapped them in a fresh pita brushed with tehina, and served the shwarma to hungry customers lined up at his eatery in east Jerusalem.

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The Rapid Rise And Fall Of Tzipi Livni

Tzipi Livni lost last week’s vote for party leader. Getty Images

How the Kadima leader, once a global symbol of female power, lost it all.

04/03/2012
Mati Wagner/ JTA

Jerusalem — Tzipi Livni’s resounding fall in the leadership vote for Kadima, Israel’s largest political party, was as dramatic as her rise to political power.

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For Terror Victims, No Freedom From Mourning

Loved ones of those killed in the Park Hotel bombing lit memorial candles in the hotel’s dining room.

Passover is a heavy time for those who lost loved ones 10 years ago at the Park Hotel seder massacre.

04/03/2012
Michele Chabin
Israel Correspondent

Netanya, Israel — For Jews all over the world the Passover seder is traditionally a time to relish friends and family over a festive holiday meal.

For terror victims — especially those who survived and lost loved ones in the Park Hotel massacre 10 years ago this month — Passover and other family-oriented holidays are often filled with grief and longing.

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Einstein Online

Albert Einstein.

Expanded Internet archive at Hebrew University offers window into physicist’s life and work.

03/20/2012
Linda Gradstein / JTA

Jerusalem — Ever wonder about Albert Einstein’s love life?

Now you can get a firsthand glimpse by searching the newly improved Einstein Archives website, which relaunched Monday with expanded offerings.

The online archive now makes available digitally 2,000 documents from Einstein’s papers and other sources, as well as a searchable catalogue of more than 80,000 documents held in the Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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For South Sudanese, Back To Africa?

A South Sudanese protester at a demonstration last Saturday against a government decision to deport South Sudanese.

Asylum seekers in Tel Aviv protest Israel’s plans to deport them.

03/20/2012
Joshua Mitnick
Israel Correspondent

Tel Aviv — As actor George Clooney campaigned in Washington about the growing turmoil in Sudan, fear is heightening here about the uncertain fate of some 700 South Sudanese who the government says must leave the country by the end of the month or face deportation.

Eight months ago, hundreds of migrants welcomed South Sudan’s independence with song and dance in the streets of Tel Aviv. Encouraged by statehood, many of them even accepted Israeli government assistance and plane tickets home.

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