Israel Freedom Convoy persists amid media blackout and police crackdown
Israeli Minister Eli Avidar calls the police’s breakup of the protest at the Knesset “violent and brutal.”
Israeli Politics
‘Roots’ seeks to make flashpoints of peace in Samaria
“Getting to know each other and seeing each other as human beings—with families, with lives—it was eye-opening to me,” said Natalie Zacks, who moved to Israel in 2008 from Detroit.
Meet Ashraf Jabari: The Palestinian populist
He shatters myths about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, finding his greatest Israeli allies in his quest for peace and normalcy among those living in Jewish settlements.
For Israeli right, Trump’s Mideast legacy will outshine his last days
The outgoing president set a new standard among Republicans for what it means to be pro-Israel.
Find The Nazi!
Orit ventured to the Bundestag, the German parliament, to take down those Nazis on the day German lawmakers voted against Israeli plans to apply sovereignty over Israeli-controlled areas. But she ran into some snags. Will the real Nazi please stand up!
German lawmakers denounce Israel’s sovereignty plan, say ‘silence is not an option’
In a series of speeches at the Bundestag, every German party except for the right-wing AfD voted to condemn Israeli plans to apply sovereignty over Israeli-controlled areas, in the name of international law, regional stability—and friendship.
Behind the Bundestag’s vote against banning the political arm of Hezbollah
Germany’s political parties shut down a motion to ban Hezbollah in large part because of the messenger: the right-wing Alternative fur Deutschland.
The winners and losers of Israel’s 2019 Eurovision Song Contest
The contest lured expected calls for boycotts by Israel-haters, but the show went on—almost without a hitch—at the Expo Tel Aviv convention center. During the vote tally, representatives from other countries praised Israel’s top-notch production.
Communal pressure helps put pro-Israeli speakers on teacher-training program in Switzerland
A course designed for high school teachers on the Israeli-Arab conflict now offers a better range of opinions after an immediate outcry that it was biased.
Confronting Germany’s mixed record on tackling BDS
Some German federal states, cities, institutions and politicians have put word to action, and Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt have barred BDS-affiliates from receiving municipal funding and space. Nevertheless, anti-BDS activists say a country that should know better still has a long way to go.
In Warsaw, A Survey of the ‘Polish Law’s’ Damage
What are Jews and non-Jews in Warsaw saying about the Polish law that could derail Polish-Israel relations?
Settler Opens Her Home to Peace
“Most of the Palestinians, they’re people who want to live well — that’s what’s important to them,” she said. “And part of the good and simple life is to live in harmony with the Jews. Many of them don’t have extreme political views. If you succeed in having Jews and Palestinians meet each other, and the Palestinian sees the Jew is not the enemy, he’ll break out of his stereotypical view, and vice versa.”
Hanukkah and Christmas lights intertwine in former Nazi hotbed
The bearers of these Hanukkah candles aren’t Jewish. In fact, many of them are descendants of avowed Nazis. They are members of TOS Ministries, a church in Tübingen that for the past 10 years has made it a religious mission to redeem the town, the souls of its residents and the Christian faith by connecting Christianity to its Jewish roots, researching personal family history as it relates to the Holocaust and standing up for Israel.
Milking Israelis for What They’re Worth
“Israel’s not holding onto its citizens, especially new immigrants, because of the low pay and high expenses,” he said, explaining how difficulty in making a living ranks as the No. 1 reason why olim leave.
German Jews and Germany’s Elections
How will the Jewish community channel its feelings towards the ongoing refugee crisis in Germany and Europe into a political decision?
European Christian Groups Shine Light on Israeli Counter-Terrorism Expertise
On December 8, in the heart of the European Union (EU) headquarters in Brussels, pro-Israel Christian organizations sought to convey practical advice from Israel to help Europe deal with its terror crisis.
Team Trump Pulls Tense Jerusalem All-nighter
Jewish Journal, November 11, 2016 An hour before the initial election results came in, attorney Marc Zell, co-chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, took out a chart of American states and crunched numbers. He predicted Donald Trump would take Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and South Carolina — that’s 44 electoral votes. “If Georgia is too close to …
Israel-German Congress aims to ensure support for Jewish state
Shifting Israel-German discourse away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Holocaust and toward the countries’ common values and interests emerged as a new strategy for Israel advocacy at a time when third-generation offspring of the World War II era are distancing themselves from Nazi crimes.
Navigating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through Airbnb
What happens when an American Jew from Tel Aviv tries to book an AirBnb room in Palestinian cities?
Israel trips add hasbara to Oscar swag bags
Israel is in the headlines again, but this time for glitz and glamour rather than politics.
A tour through the new Berlin
The Magazine ventures to Berlin to learn firsthand how the influx of refugees – and non-refugees – are changing the landscape of the German capital
Germany’s new refugees and the Jewish question
Publisher of Jewish German monthly believes crime and threats by Muslims generally go unreported because the German government and mainstream media are wary of criticizing Islam.
LA Actor Steven Schub Stars as Avraham Stern
A new play in English seeks to honor the memory of the Lehi founder.
I’m a potential martyr, too
Orit Arfa’s essay on her personal reaction to the Tel Aviv shooting – a horror that somehow felt different.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Peter Beinart face off in Tel Aviv (Jpost)
Will the real Maccabee please stand up?
A day tour through Rahat
During the recent outbreak of violence in Israel, Orit spends the day in Rahat with a Bedouin young leader.
Jewish Journal: Gush Katif – Rebuilding and healing 10 years later
How have the evacuees fared ten years since they were removed from their homes?
JNS: 10 years on, Gaza pullout celebrity finds his peace and quiet
Galed became somewhat of a poster boy for the evacuated Gush Katif communities after he reached second place in last year’s Israeli adaptation of the popular reality show “Big Brother.”
10 years since losing their home – and almost their religion
Three Gush Katif evacuees open up about the loss of their home, their faith, and their return to the roots that were never uprooted
What ordinary Palestinians are saying about the election [German Version]
The JNS feature on Palestinian reactions to the Israeli elections has been translated to German by Chaya Tal.
What ordinary Palestinians are saying about the Israeli election
Orit talks with Arabs living under the Palestinian Authority to get their take on the Israeli election results.
Interview with Yehudah Glick, the “Smiling Survivor”
Having miraculously survived a late-October assassination attempt, Temple Mount activist Yehudah Glick and his supporters are upbeat, and stronger than ever in his status as an ‘extremist’ – of faith
Israel’s Modern Foremothers
Thrust into the public light after the murder of their sons, Rachel Fraenkel, Bat-Galim Shaer and Iris Yifrah are turning their tragedy into meaning.
10 Observations about Ariel Sharon’s Death
As people awaited the follow-up to my Miley Cyrus parody, “Jews Can’t Stop,” I didn’t imagine that Ariel Sharon would die right before the release of “Gaza Wrecking Ball.” Read my 10 observations about Ariel Sharon’s death.
The AIPAC Obama Drama
Obama’s remarks calling for 1967 borders as the basis for negotiations cause a flurry at the 2011 AIPAC Conference
Israeli and Palestinian shed their armor in ‘Desert Sunrise’
The play opens in the south Hebron hills in the West Bank with Tsahi, an off-duty Israel Defense Forces soldier (Oren Dayan), pointing his gun at Ismail, a Palestinian shepherd (Dominic Rains). Having just broken up with his settler girlfriend, Tsahi is lost and seeking a way back to the main road. Ismail, waiting for his Muslim Palestinian girlfriend, Layla (Miriam Isa), is the only one who can help Tsahi find his way.
Debra Winger explores Jewish/Arab day schools
Students at the Hand in Hand Max Rayne Bilingual School in Jerusalem didn’t know they were meeting a celebrity. They weren’t born when the films “Officer and a Gentleman” and “Terms of Endearment” garnered Debra Winger her Oscar nominations. But Winger’s tour last month to the Hand in Hand Arab-Jewish day schools was not necessarily …
Letter to My Secular Friend in Tel Aviv
Reflections following the terrorist attack on the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva
Continuing But Not Moving On
After the first few minutes of speaking with Shifra Shomron over the phone, the similarities between this young author and the heroine of her debut novel, Grains of Sand: The Fall of Neve Dekalim, become apparent. She’s busy studying for finals, and she asks to hold the interview when they are over. Shomron, 20, like …
Engaging the Disengagers
This article appeared in the Jerusalem Post on August 9, 2007. Click here for the original. How were the soldiers who performed the pullout affected by the emotional turmoil? Gil stood on a steaming sidewalk in a row of soldiers awaiting orders, while kids and teenagers darted out of the Kfar Darom homes, randomly approaching …
Combining fact and fiction confuses peace event
I decided to attend the event with an open mind, to approach it as an opportunity to learn more about the occupation, to show my solidarity with my leftist brethren and to express my appreciation for their humanitarian instincts. While we may disagree on how to end the occupation – I believe in Palestinian disarmament, not reckless Palestinian empowerment –we agree that the status quo is untenable
Pride and Politics
Readers of Emuna Elon’s columns in Ma’ariv and Yediot Aharonot over the past 15 years might find her debut novel, If You Awaken Love, a striking, unlikely diversion from her political crusading. In her novel, political rhetoric is cooled and sympathies are spread over the political Left and Right alike. If You Awaken Love is …
Losing Their Homes, and Their Religion
It can be argued that the evacuation from Gaza hit the younger generation particularly hard, making them particularly susceptible to rebellion against any type of authority, religious included
Blue Oranges
Last year at the Israel Independence Day Festival in Woodley Park, anti-disengagement activist Shifra Hastings of Los Angeles was clad all over in orange, the color of protest, right down to her painted fingernails. She tirelessly handed out free orange ribbons, bracelets and T-shirts — even orange soda — to passersby at her booth, speaking to them about the dangers of Israel’s planned, unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria.