JERUSALEM (AP) — The U.N. envoy for the Middle East warned Israel on Thursday that carrying out its plans to annex parts of the West Bank could set of a spasm of violence that would upend Israeli-Palestinian relations and reverberate across the region. Speaking to a group of foreign correspondents in Jerusalem, Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N. special coordinator for the … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli top model Bar Refaeli signed a plea bargain agreement with authorities on Tuesday to settle a long-standing tax evasion case against her and her family. The deal will require Refaeli to serve nine months of community service while her mother, Zipi, will be sent to prison for 16 months. The two are also ordered to pay … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s national cyber chief Thursday officially acknowledged the country had thwarted a major cyber attack last month against its water systems, an assault widely attributed to arch-enemy Iran, calling it a “synchronized and organized attack” aimed at disrupting key national infrastructure. Yigal Unna did not mention Iran directly, nor did he comment on the alleged Israeli retaliation … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — He named names of police investigators and prosecutors. He accused them of using “Soviet style” extortion to turn witnesses against him. He even claimed that elderly Holocaust survivors were on his side, sympathizing with his plight. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long faced accusations of using his formidable oratory skills and flair for the dramatic to sow … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — To the sounds of his impassioned supporters chanting outside, a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strode into a Jerusalem courtroom Sunday to face corruption charges in a long-awaited trial that has overshadowed three inconclusive elections and deeply divided the country. As he entered the courthouse to become the country’s first sitting prime minister to go on … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s new opposition leader said Thursday that Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming corruption trial is “embarrassing” the country and that he believes the only reason the long-time prime minister is still in office is because lawmakers never imagined a scenario in which an indicted premier would not have the decency to step down himself. In his first … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — After three deadlocked and divisive elections, a year and a half of political paralysis and another three-day delay because of political infighting in his Likud party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally swore in his new government on Sunday. The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed a vote of confidence in Netanyahu’s new administration to end over 500 days of … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — With the Nazis murdering Jews and ransacking their property outside on the infamous nights of Kristallnacht in 1938, 13-year-old David Toren sat in the sunroom of his wealthy great-uncle in Germany admiring a favorite painting depicting two men on horseback on a beach. Within a year, Toren would be smuggled out in one of the … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — For those of us from a region where outbursts of violence are an occupational hazard, coping with coronavirus seemed simple enough: Stay at home and you’ll be fine. For the most part it has been. Other than taking the dog out for walks, I’ve been homebound, working remotely and waiting for the plague to pass. … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — With the global coronavirus pandemic ravaging the elderly, Israel’s aging population of Holocaust survivors finds itself on the country’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day this year much like they were during World War II — alone and in fear of the unknown. Some survivors say the current isolation and sense of danger has triggered difficult memories linked with … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli researchers reported Monday that the global coronavirus outbreak has sparked a rise in anti-Semitic expression blaming Jews for the spread of the disease and the economic recession it has caused. The findings, which came in an annual report by Tel Aviv University researchers on anti-Semitism, show an 18% spike in attacks against Jews last … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — As a child in Hungary, Arie Even survived the Holocaust by taking shelter along with his mother and brother after his father was shipped to a notorious concentration camp. Even’s well-connected grandfather found them refuge in a Swiss-protected home in Budapest before they were rushed to another shelter, under the cover of night, thanks to the Swedish … Read More
RAANANA, Israel (AP) — While hunkering down at home and keeping three young children entertained in coronavirus isolation, Adi Karmon Scope had a thought: How much harder was it for those on the front lines of the pandemic? So Karmon Scope, a 44-year-old startup entrepreneur took to Facebook to ask Israelis to assist both the health care professionals who are … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s parliament speaker abruptly resigned Wednesday, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and deepening the country’s political turmoil as the embattled Israeli leader tries to cling to power amid a fast-spreading outbreak of the coronavirus and a looming corruption trial. The resignation of Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein clears the way for the opposition to move … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel appeared on the verge of a constitutional crisis Tuesday as top members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud urged their party colleague and parliament speaker to defy a Supreme Court order to let lawmakers hold a vote for his successor. After suspending parliamentary activities last week, citing procedural issues and restrictions on large gatherings due to the spread … Read More