DALIYAT AL-KARMEL, Israel (AP) — Members of Israel’s Druze minority, long among the Jewish state’s most loyal citizens, have become increasingly concerned about the plight of their beleaguered brethren in neighboring Syria. Now, they are asking the state of Israel to help their fellow Druze next door — and some are even offering to go fight in Syria if needed. … Read More
RAANANA, Israel (AP) — In 1933, the promising young Jewish-German violinist Ernest Drucker left the stage midway through a Brahms concerto in Cologne at the behest of Nazi officials, in one of the first anti-Semitic acts of the new regime. Now, more than 80 years later, his son, Grammy Award-winning American violinist Eugene Drucker, has completed his father’s interrupted work. … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — As a proud patriot, Brooklyn-born Dan Nadel enlisted in the U.S. army right after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But there was another force driving him to battle — his Jewish faith. “What Hitler was doing to the Jews, I knew he had to be killed and stopped,” the 95-year-old decorated veteran said from his home … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — As the new Israeli government prepares to take office, the West Bank settler movement appears poised to wield influence perhaps like never before. After squeezing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in coalition negotiations, the pro-settler Jewish Home party has gained control over several powerful government ministries — putting it in position to push forward with an agenda that … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — The formation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition government has cleared the way for Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties to return to power after two years in the opposition. This religious resurgence could have deep implications as the ultra-Orthodox seek to reinstate a system of subsidies and preferential treatment that have long angered Israel’s secular majority, potentially setting the stage … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — When Israel secretly airlifted waves of Ethiopian Jews in the 1980s and 1990s, saving them from war and famine in the Horn of Africa, it was celebrated as a triumphant show of unity for the Jewish people. Thirty years after the first large groups of Ethiopians arrived, few in the community are celebrating. Israel’s black Jewish minority … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Nazi genocide of European Jews is widely commemorated in Israel and etched deeply into the psyche of a country founded in the Holocaust’s aftermath. But when it comes to the 1915 Armenian genocide, Israel has largely stayed silent. Fearing repercussions from its former ally Turkey and wary of breaking ranks with American policy, Israel has refrained … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — He was Tevye the milkman of “Fiddler on the Roof” fame, James Bond’s wingman in “For Your Eyes Only” and a nutty professor in the 1980’s cult classic “Flash Gordon.” Long before Israelis like supermodel Bar Refaeli and Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot made their names internationally, Chaim Topol was winning Golden Globe awards as … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — With a resounding election victory last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to have an easy path toward quickly establishing a coalition government with his traditional nationalist, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies. But after weeks of negotiations with potential partners, Netanyahu is finding the task harder than expected and is flirting with the idea of reaching … Read More
KFAR HAROEH, Israel (AP) — When David Hershkoviz was a child, he used to wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of his mother screaming in her sleep, knowing that she was reliving the horrors of the Holocaust. In time, he learned of the traumatic wartime experience that haunted her most — being torn away from … Read More
ROSH HA’AYIN, Israel (AP) — Israel’s visceral election campaign has exposed a rift that many here thought had long subsided — the deep-seated schism between Jews of European and Middle Eastern descent. Mizrahi, or Middle Eastern, Jews heavily backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, while Ashkenazi, or European, Jews mostly identified with the opposition Zionist Union. That dynamic has … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party scored a resounding victory in the country’s election, final results showed Wednesday, a stunning turnaround after a tight race that had put his lengthy rule in jeopardy. With nearly all votes counted, Likud appeared to have earned 30 of parliament’s 120 seats and was in a position to … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The new kingmaker of Israeli politics grew up in a hardscrabble town in northern Israel, one of seven children of Libyan Jewish immigrants, and worked stints as a fisherman and fruit vendor before becoming a working class hero in politics. With TV exit polls indicating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line Likud and Isaac Herzog’s center-left … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — He was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s envoy to the United States for more than four years. But when former Ambassador Michael Oren decided to enter politics, he joined an upstart rival and began questioning Netanyahu’s handling of relations with the Palestinians. Oren is now a key figure in Kulanu, a new centrist party that may play the … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Washington next week on a last-gasp effort to seal what he hopes will become his signature achievement: preventing Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon. But the centerpiece of the visit, a much-hyped speech to Congress arguing against the international community’s emerging nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic, has been overshadowed … Read More