ONE MEAL – All Food is Israeli Food

Published in Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine  [url href=”https://www.aronheller.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/OneMeal-Israel.pdf” content=”See magazine layout” target=external] HOLON, Israel _ Roni Ben-David sometimes is brought to tears by his wife’s cooking. Particularly on Fridays, when Yafa cooks the Sabbath dinner for the family, three generations strong. It can feel like the world joined on one table. “This is the taste of a Friday night,” says … Read More

Trump’s Yad Vashem visit highlights mixed Holocaust record

JERUSALEM (AP) — President Donald Trump paid a short visit to Israel’s national Holocaust memorial on Tuesday, calling the Nazi extermination of 6 million Jews “the most savage crime against God and his children” during the most sensitive stop on his two-day visit to Israel. Trump had come under criticism in some quarters for planning just a brief half-hour stop … Read More

Jerusalem mayor: City’s diverse residents ‘all my children’

JERUSALEM (AP) — Fifty years after Israel conquered east Jerusalem, the city’s mayor says the upcoming anniversary is a time to celebrate, despite the deep rifts and occasional bursts of violence that disrupt daily life in the volatile city. But like other prominent politicians of the hard-line Likud Party, Nir Barkat says Jerusalem must remain united under Israeli control, rejects … Read More

Israeli barrier: Defensive measure or illegal land grab?

JERUSALEM _ In many ways, Israel is at the forefront of the wall as defense barrier doctrine. It built a 250-kilometer (150-mile) structure that has halted an influx of African migrants across the Egyptian border, as well as a high-tech fence separating the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip from Israel and Syria from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights in the north. But its … Read More

Jewish war veterans bemoan stalling of Israel’s WWII museum

LATRUN, Israel (AP) — Two years after Israel’s prime minister vowed to complete the establishment of a museum honoring Jewish World War II veterans, funds have dried up and an abandoned construction site is all that remains of the grand project. The story of the 1.5 million Jews who fought the Nazis — and the 250,000 who died in battle … Read More

Artwork Nazis stole in WWII returning to Jewish owner’s heir

JERUSALEM (AP) — Against an empty white wall in a nondescript Jerusalem law office hangs an impressionist work of art that encapsulates 80 years of tragedy, conflict, mystery and redemption. Max Liebermann’s “Basket Weavers” is set to return to the American heirs of its original Jewish owner after it was confiscated by the Nazis, jockeyed by an unscrupulous German art … Read More

Israel prepares for next war with Hezbollah in mock village

ELYAKIM MILITARY BASE, Israel (AP) — Between a collection of concrete buildings with Arabic graffiti that are designed to simulate a typical Lebanese village, dozens of Israeli officers are gearing up for their next battle with Hezbollah guerrillas. It’s a mission the Israeli military has focused on intensely in the decade since it fought an inconclusive month-long war with the … Read More

Police shooting stokes anger among Israel’s Arab minority

UMM AL-HIRAN, Israel (AP) — On a wind-swept hilltop in this Bedouin village, a cracked solar panel lying atop a mattress and slabs of broken concrete provide an eerie reminder of a clash that has come to symbolize the strained relations between Israel’s government and its Arab minority. On a frigid January morning, Yaakub Abu al-Qiyan was shot dead as … Read More

Polish historian’s book on killing of Jews exposes raw nerve

JERUSALEM (AP) — A prominent Polish historian presented evidence Wednesday about Polish villagers’ widespread killing of Jews fleeing Nazis during World War II, touching a raw nerve in a country still grappling with its role during the Holocaust. The research is likely to irk the nationalist Polish government, which has taken aim at those seeking to undermine its official stance … Read More

Israel soars at World Baseball Classic, and a nation shrugs

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is the big surprise of the World Baseball Classic, upsetting three teams, generating buzz and offering a mascot like no other — “The Mensch on the Bench.” Back home, no one seems to notice. Baseball has long been overlooked in Israel, seen as an arcane and boring game. This team consists almost entirely of American pros … Read More

AP Interview: Potential Netanyahu heir promotes Gaza island

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s powerful transportation and intelligence minister says he is pushing forward with a proposal to build an artificial island with a seaport off the coast of Hamas-ruled Gaza that he believes will alleviate hardship in the blockaded territory and offer residents their first real bridge to the outside world in a decade. With an independent … Read More

Israeli and Iranian musicians unite for Tel Aviv concert

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli rocker Aviv Geffen broke into “The Hope Song,” a signature hit he wrote after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that is often referred to as the Israeli version of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” But his peace anthem took on new meaning when his on-stage partner sang along in Farsi — the language of … Read More

Israel fumbles goodwill visit of NFL players

JERUSALEM (AP) — It was supposed to be a feel-good visit by a group of professional football players to give a boost to image-conscious Israel. But in an embarrassing fumble by the Israeli government, only five of 11 NFL players in the delegation showed up after being blitzed by Palestinian activists opposed to the visit. Israel’s ministry for strategic affairs … Read More

Israelis seek to comfort Holocaust’s loneliest survivors

RAMAT HASHARON, Israel (AP) — Surrounded by more than 100 fellow Holocaust survivors and young volunteers, a blind Ernest Weiner sat in his wheelchair with a puffy crown on his head as the crowd sang happy birthday and showered him with hugs and greetings. The widowed and childless 92-year-old Weiner lives on his own and the cheerful gathering offered him … Read More

Israel’s Netanyahu mired in series of corruption allegations

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu should be upbeat these days: The economy is growing, his opposition is weak and the incoming Trump administration seems friendly, even to the much-maligned Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Instead, the long-serving leader is mired in a series of eye-popping corruption investigations in a country that has already jailed a prime minister and … Read More