Dennis nabs Giro pink jersey, Viviani takes 2nd stage

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A day after his opening stage lead slipped away to Giro d’Italia defending champion Tom Dumoulin — the last of the 175 riders in the individual time trial — Rohan Dennis got a measure of revenge by taking the pink jersey on Saturday. Elia Viviani won the second stage in less than four hours, nudging … Read More

Dumoulin wins opening stage of Giro d’Italia, Froome – after crash – 21st

JERUSALEM (AP) — With Chris Froome likely feeling the ill effects of a training crash, defending champion Tom Dumoulin won the opening stage of the 101st Giro d’Italia on Friday. Froome, who bloodied his right knee and ripped his shorts and jersey in the crash shortly before the time trial started, finished 37 seconds behind Dumoulin in 21st place. Dumoulin … Read More

Israel Cycling Academy hopes Giro launches sport in country

JERUSALEM (AP) — Of the 22 teams competing in this year’s Giro d’Italia, the Israel Cycling Academy squad has perhaps the most at stake. Israel’s first pro cycling team is the event’s undoubted underdog. And while team officials say they hope to win a stage or two, their ultimate goal is far loftier — to parlay their maiden participation in … Read More

Israel’s Mossad spy agency shrouded in mystery and mystique

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s seizure of Iran’s purported nuclear program archive and the dramatic display of the documents taken from a facility in the heart of Tehran marked a rare case of Israel going public about the operations of its top-secret Mossad spy agency. The Mossad, long shrouded in mystery and mythology, is legendary in international intelligence circles for being … Read More

After political snag, Israel in gear to host Giro d’Italia

JERUSALEM (AP) — After resolving a brief crisis over the status of its proclaimed capital, Israel is ready to finally get things underway this week with its historic hosting of the Giro d’Italia cycling race. The world’s best riders will start the race in Jerusalem on Friday in the first time a cycling Grand Tour will ever be held outside … Read More

As numbers dwindle, Jews who fought Nazis recall struggle

KFAR SABA, Israel (AP) — While most of his fellow Jews were being killed or brutalized in Nazi death camps and ghettos, Baruch Shub and his friends were hiding in the forests of the former Soviet Union, trying to undermine the Nazis by derailing trains, burning bridges, sabotaging communication lines and killing the occasional collaborator. “You couldn’t really fight the … Read More

Israeli leader nixes UN deal to resettle African migrants

JERUSALEM (AP) — In an abrupt and startling reversal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nixed his own deal Tuesday with the United Nations to resettle tens of thousands of African migrants in Israel and other Western nations, caving in to nationalist critics who have demonized the migrants for taking over poor neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. The move leaves unresolved one … Read More

Israeli military confirms it hit Syrian nuclear site in 2007

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli military confirmed Wednesday it carried out the 2007 airstrike in Syria that destroyed what was believed to be a nuclear reactor, lifting the veil of secrecy over one of its most daring and mysterious operations in recent memory. Although Israel was widely believed to have been behind the Sept. 6, 2007, airstrike, it … Read More

African asylum seekers facing expulsion have embraced Israel

HERZLIYA, Israel (AP) — Even as he faces a potential deportation from Israel, 30-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker Johny Goytiom Kafl brims with satisfaction as he looks out upon thousands of fellow protesters rallying against the impending expulsions, all while peacefully secured by police. It’s such displays of civil action that he most admires about his adoptive home of the past … Read More

A look at the scandals surrounding Israel’s prime minister

ERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting for his political life as a dizzying array of scandals has engulfed him, his family and his inner circle. Police last week announced they have sufficient evidence to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two separate cases. And this week, a new case emerged that threatens … Read More

Scandals highlight Israeli leader’s media obsession

JERUSALEM (AP) — Benjamin Netanyahu came to prominence as a star of the media age, an upgrade from older Israeli politicians in his telegenic poise, mastery of message and gift for the sound bite in English and Hebrew. But those skills may have morphed into a darker obsession with controlling the media that now accounts for much of the scandal … Read More

Israel slams Polish PM for WWII ‘Jewish perpetrators’ remark

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli politicians accused Poland’s prime minister of anti-Semitism Saturday for equating the Polish perpetrators in the Holocaust to its supposed “Jewish perpetrators,” setting off a new chapter in an angry dispute over Poland’s new bill criminalizing the mention of Polish complicity in the Nazi-led genocide. Yair Lapid, head of the centrist opposition Yesh Atid party, said Israel … Read More

Israeli leader vows to carry on despite corruption charges

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry on Wednesday after police recommended indicting him on corruption charges, angrily dismissing the allegations and the critics calling on him to step down. With his coalition partners dutifully lining up behind him, the longtime leader readied himself for a prolonged battle over his political legitimacy as the attorney general … Read More

Israelis protesting pending deportation of African migrants

JERUSALEM (AP) — A government plan to deport tens of thousands of African migrants has sparked an unexpected backlash from liberal Israelis and their American Jewish allies who say Israel — established in the wake of the Holocaust — should never be turning away those in need. The showdown could come to a head on April 1, when the state … Read More

Israel slams bill to outlaw blaming Poles for crimes of WWII

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli leaders angrily criticized pending legislation in Poland that would outlaw blaming Poles for the crimes of the Holocaust, with some accusing the Polish government of outright denial Saturday as the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the proposed law “baseless” and ordered his country’s ambassador to Poland to meet with Polish … Read More