JERUSALEM (AP) —Shahar Peer’s stirring run to the semifinals last week at the Dubai Championships was significant in more ways than one: The challenges the Israeli athlete faced off the court were as formidable as the dominating play of Venus Williams on it that ultimately sent her packing. Because of security concerns, Peer was largely confined to her hotel room … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — The neat lines and red rectangular sketches look like any typical architectural design. But the handwritten initials H.H. – belonging to the infamous Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler – indicate what the drawings represent: wooden barracks, gas chambers and crematoria. Just ahead of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem is … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — When Tel Aviv marked its centennial last year, part of the festivities honoring 100 years since the founding of the first modern Hebrew city included restoration of its oldest buildings. Now, thanks to a chance archaeological find, the residents of Tel Aviv have discovered that their city dates back millennia earlier. Two weeks ago, Israeli … Read More
NAHAL OZ, Israel (AP) — Until less than a year ago, Nahal Oz was a place to stay away from or risk being hit by rockets from neighboring Gaza. Since then, 10 new families have moved in. The village’s sudden population spike to 320 inhabitants epitomizes a renaissance in southern Israel, driven largely by the cease-fire that followed Israel’s war on … Read More
JERUSALEM — Open crates from a cargo ship seized Wednesday by Israel revealed dark green missiles inside. Containers from the vessel bore writing in English that said “I.R. Iranian Shipping Lines Group.” Israel alleged that the shipment of hundreds of tons of rockets, missiles, mortars, grenades and anti-tank weapons – the largest it ever seized – was headed for Hezbollah … Read More
JERUSALEM — When the popular former manager of Israel’s most famous basketball team killed himself last week, it seemed like a sad tale of a heartbroken man who couldn’t adjust to life after sports. Now it appears there’s more to the story. Authorities suspect Moni Fanan was running a multimillion dollar investment scheme for some of Israel’s top sports figures, … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel — Shimon Peres has been a prime minister and a peacemaker. Now he’s a poet. To mark the 86th birthday of Israel’s elder statesman and ceremonial president, Israeli artists launched an album featuring songs adapted from the largely unknown poems he penned over a political career spanning nearly seven decades – including some scribbled during meetings of … Read More
After surviving the Holocaust as a child, Israel Meir Lau, a former Israeli chief rabbi, spent decades searching for the man who saved his life. The AP’s Aron Heller reports from Jerusalem. [url href=”http://aronheller.com/articles/holocaust-memorial-honors-rabbi-laus-savior/”] [url href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT4ODRYDC9A&feature=channel_page” content=”Watch the Video” target=external]
JERUSALEM (AP) – After surviving the Holocaust as a child, Israel Meir Lau — a former Israeli chief rabbi — spent decades searching for the man who saved his life. That journey ended with an Associated Press report about a recently discovered Nazi document confirming the identity of the teenager who shielded him from German gunfire when his concentration camp … Read More
SDEROT, Israel — Six months after Israel ended its bruising offensive against Gaza Strip militants, the people of this rocket-scarred border town are enjoying their calmest stretch in recent memory. The rocket attacks that made life unbearable have all but stopped. Playgrounds are filled with children on summer vacation, stores are bustling and the town’s public swimming pool is open for … Read More
Dozens of priceless timepieces went on display this week in a much-anticipated exhibit, more than a quarter century after they were stolen in one of Israel’s most audacious robberies. The AP’s Aron Heller reports from Jerusalem. [url href=”http://aronheller.com/articles/never-too-late-israeli-cops-finally-name-time-bandit-who-stole-clocks/”] [url href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDCunQjpph0″ content=”Watch the Video” target=external]
JERUSALEM — Bruno’s flamboyant sashay across the Middle East has succeeded in one thing – uniting Sacha Baron Cohen’s unwitting Israeli and Palestinian victims in their joint disdain for his latest comedic creation. Bruno is an over-the-top gay Austrian fashionista with a Nazi streak whose goal is to become the biggest Austrian celebrity since Hitler. To do so he travels … Read More
JERUSALEM — As a slave laborer in Auschwitz, Meyer Hack was forced to sort through the tattered clothing stripped off inmates before they were sent to the gas chambers. He gathered valuable belongings hidden inside the clothes, stuffed them in a sock, hid them and later spirited them to freedom. On Monday, the 95-year-old survivor from Boston donated eight pieces … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Hanita Leshem’s parents handed her over to a Christian family in Ukraine in 1941, when she was just a year old, to save her from the Nazi troops murdering the Jews there. Leshem, now a 69-year-old grandmother living in Jerusalem, never saw her mother and father again. On Tuesday, she stood among other child survivors as Israel … Read More
JERUSALEM—As terrified teenagers 65 years ago, Menachem Sholowicz and Anshel Sieradzki stood in line together in Auschwitz, having serial numbers tattooed on their arms. Sholowicz was B-14594; Sieradzki was B-14595. The two Polish Jews had never met, they never spoke and they were quickly separated. Each survived the Nazi death camp, moved to Israel, married, and became grandfathers. They didn’t … Read More