BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) _ After days of incessant rocket fire, the largest city in southern Israel has been turned into a ghost town. Schools are closed, stores are shuttered and normally bustling streets are empty. Aside from emergency errands, residents avoid the outdoors and hunker down in their homes around the clock. Yet they still insist the military should carry on … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) _ With pinpoint airstrikes on militant targets in the Gaza Strip and Iranian-made rockets flying deep into Israel, the current conflagration between Israel and Hamas reflects the vast changes that have taken place on the battlefield in just four years. Israel, armed with precise intelligence and newly developed munitions, has carried out hundreds of surgical airstrikes in a campaign … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Leehee Goldenberg was having lunch at an outdoor cafe in Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest metropolis, when an air-raid siren wailed. She and other diners knew the drill: They dashed inside the coffee shop and kept away from the windows. Then, from a distance, came the boom. Minutes later, everyone was back outdoors, chatting loudly. “It’s … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — The major operation Israel launched to stop Gaza rocket fire bears some striking similarities to a punishing three-week campaign it unleashed against Hamas militants four years ago. Both began with a sudden series of airstrikes that caught Hamas off guard, included a threat to invade the coastal strip and came shortly after an American election and before … Read More
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel killed the commander of the Hamas military wing in one of some 20 airstrikes on the Gaza Strip Wednesday, the worst barrage on the Palestinian territory in four years in retaliation for renewed rocket fire on southern Israel. Gaza’s health minister said 10 people were killed, two of them young children. The Israeli … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel acknowledged Thursday it killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s deputy in a 1988 raid in Tunisia, lifting a nearly 25-year veil of secrecy and allowing a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of its secret operations. One of the commandos was disguised as a woman on a romantic vacation, and one of the weapons was hidden in … Read More
JERUSALEM—He’s been Israel’s prime minister, military chief, the country’s most decorated soldier and, for the past five years, its defense minister and moderate face to the West. Now Ehud Barak’s long and distinguished career might be coming to an end. He is unpopular with the public, and polls predict his Independence Party will barely make it into parliament in the … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — The popular ultra-Orthodox Israeli politician Arieh Deri is preparing a comeback after a 13-year hiatus that included a brief prison term for accepting bribes. A return of the former kingmaker to lead the powerful Shas Party could complicate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bid for re-election: Under Deri, who is considered to be more dovish than Shas’ current … Read More
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — In his most detailed plea to date for global action against Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the world has until next summer at the latest to stop Iran before it can build a nuclear bomb. Netanyahu flashed a diagram of a cartoon-like bomb before the U.N. General Assembly showing the progress … Read More
UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ After a 2-hour security screening in Tel Aviv, a 12-hour flight to New York and another hour in Big Apple rush-hour traffic, we were starting to run out of gas. But the oddest part of our journey was still to come. Crammed into a minibus along with 20 Israeli journalists, we were the final vehicle in … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Throughout much of Israel’s history, the Maariv daily was known as the “country’s paper,” the newspaper with the highest circulation and a cornerstone of Israeli media. Now it is on its last legs — the victim, some say, of a Jewish-American billionaire who is a close friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson launched … Read More
JERUSALEM—When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to fill a sensitive Cabinet post recently, he turned to an old army buddy from his days in an elite commando unit. His choice for minister of civil defense, Avi Dichter, replaced another graduate of the legendary Sayeret Matkal unit. Netanyahu’s defense minister and vice premier, as well as Israel’s opposition leader, also served … Read More
SDEROT, Israel (AP) — For the first time in years, the children of Sderot can study in peace. Living under a constant threat of rocket fire from militants in the nearby Gaza Strip, their schooldays were often interrupted by mad dashes to bomb shelters. But on Monday, they started the school year safe from attack in a new, fortified, rocket-proof … Read More
KIRYAT MALACHI, Israel (AP) — When Israeli archaeologist Yoram Haimi decided to investigate his family’s unknown Holocaust history, he turned to the skill he knew best: He began to dig. After learning that two of his uncles were murdered in the infamous Sobibor death camp, he embarked on a landmark excavation project that is shining new light on the workings … Read More
HERZLIYA, Israel — One of the world’s most decorated Olympians is living quietly in Israel, a country that just wrapped up its participation in the world competition without a single medal. Agnes Keleti, 91 now, won 10 Olympic medals in gymnastics, including five golds, for Hungary in the 1950s before defecting and emigrating to Israel. That was just one chapter … Read More