SDEROT, Israel — Schools closed and residents huddled in bomb shelters or fled in buses Wednesday as another barrage of rockets struck this Israeli border town, the target of thousands of Palestinian attacks since 2001. Late in the day, a homemade rocket hit an electrical transformer in southern Israel, the army said, knocking out power to the 24,000 resident of Sderot. … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) _ Ivri Lider is Israel’s newest freelance ambassador. The openly gay musician is one of a new breed of unofficial envoys trying to improve Israel’s international image — a battle the government has been waging for decades. Lider recently returned from a trip to the U.S., funded by a pro-Israel nonprofit group, where he performed concerts and spoke … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — An 86-year-old former teacher who risked her life to save more than 300 Jewish children from the Nazis in Belgium was granted honorary Israeli citizenship Wednesday at an emotional ceremony in which she was reunited with dozens of the people she rescued. “What I did was merely my duty. Disobeying the laws of the time was just the … Read More
PALMACHIM AIR FORCE BASE, Israel — The Israeli air force unveiled its newest unmanned aircraft Wednesday, saying the plane can fly longer, faster and higher than any other surveillance aircraft. The drone, called the Heron, already saw combat during last summer’s war in Lebanon, where Israeli officials said a prototype performed well, seeking out Hezbollah arms and directing airstrikes. The … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) – Toto Tamuz wants to be an Israeli citizen and he’s going to withhold his soccer talents from the country’s national team until he becomes one. Tamuz, who was raised in Israel and speaks fluent Hebrew, is the son of illegal Nigerian immigrants. But he has become famous for his soccer skills, which have made him the top … Read More
RAMLE, Israel (AP) -Plenette Pierson of the WNBA champion Detroit Shock is used to playing in front of thousands of fans back home in the U.S. This winter, the 6-foot-3 forward is showing off her skills in front of nearly empty stands in small-town Israel – and loving it. Pierson is among the growing number of WNBA stars who moonlight … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) _ Late on a Friday night, inside a dark, trendy club, a crowd of young men and women gaze at Ivri Lider and sing along as he performs his hit love song, “Zachiti Le’ehov – I Was Blessed To Have Loved,” an ode to the end of his romance with a longtime boyfriend. Outside, Jerusalem stands still, as … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli court convicted former Justice Minister Haim Ramon on Wednesday of forcibly kissing a young female soldier, a stunning censure of a top official that could reshape the Israeli Cabinet. Ramon, who faces up to three years in prison, joined a growing list of politicians who have fallen from grace — including Israel’s president, who … Read More
TZEELIM MILITARY BASE, Israel — Under the cover of thick smoke, a Muslim call to prayer sounding in the background, the masked Israeli commandos stormed a concrete building and “killed” two soldiers posing as Hezbollah guerrillas. Monday’s drill was accompanied by simulated helicopter, tank and rocket fire, but it was the setting that really made it realistic — a mock … Read More
BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Thousands of people joined by marching bands, clergymen in magenta skullcaps and children dressed as Santa Claus celebrated Christmas Eve in the center of Bethlehem Sunday, doing their best to dispel the gloom hovering over Jesus’ traditional birthplace. Most were local residents or Christian Arabs from neighboring Israel with a sprinkling of foreign tourists. “It hasn’t … Read More
JERUSALEM — Like moviegoing masses around the world, Israelis have crowded theaters to watch the hit spoof Borat. But they are laughing for another reason: They actually understand what the anti-Semitic, misogynist Kazakh journalist is saying. Few realize that comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s wacky comedic creation, Borat Sagdiyev, is not speaking Kazakh or even gibberish, but rather Hebrew, the biblical … Read More
PETAH TIKVA, Israel (AP)_Dan Duquette, the former general manager of the Boston Red Sox, took one look at me, nodded, and with a somewhat puzzled look said: “Try not to hurt yourself out there, OK?” Talk about a reality check. Who was I kidding? I’m 30 years old, mildly out of shape, asthmatic, and I’m trying to become a professional … Read More
AWARTA, West Bank — Standing in an olive grove, the 61-year-old Palestinian farmer smiled as red, green and black olives rained down from trees shaken by field hands. For six years, West Bank farmers have had little to be happy about: Jewish settlers often attacked them during the harvest. But spurred by a Supreme Court ruling, the Israeli army is … Read More
JERUSALEM — Nearly eight decades after their tragic deaths, two of Theodor Herzl’s children were buried Wednesday in Jerusalem in an official ceremony that fulfilled the founder of modern Zionism’s century-old will. The funeral, in the national cemetery that bears Herzl’s name, followed years of bureaucratic battles and a religious controversy about whether Herzl’s son – who converted to Christianity … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Hilda Shlick thought she lost nearly all her family in the Holocaust — until her Internet-savvy grandsons located her brother in Canada. “After 65 years, I have found the sister who I love,” Simon Glasberg, 81, said Monday in heavily accented English, his eyes filling with tears. “I can’t stop kissing her.” Using the database of Holocaust … Read More