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
JERUSALEM _ With the Israeli government enacting a series of emergency measures to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing accusations that he is exploiting the crisis to entrench himself in power and undermining the country’s democratic foundations. Amid a wave of sweeping restrictions that have put Israel in near shutdown mode, Netanyahu … Read More
JERUSALEM _ Israel braced for its first fatalities as the number of coronavirus cases spiked by 25% on Wednesday while Iraqis in Baghdad hunkered down as a week-long government-imposed curfew took effect and Iran pressed on with its struggle to control the Mideast’s worst outbreak. Israel’s health ministry said 90 more people had tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — The head of Israel’s shadowy Shin Bet internal security service said Tuesday that his agency received Cabinet approval overnight to start deploying the agency’s phone surveillance technology to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Israel, a move that sparked widespread criticism from lawmakers and civil rights groups. While Nadav Argaman acknowledged that using the … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel swore in its newly elected parliament on Monday under stringent restrictions because of the coronavirus outbreak, in a surreal ceremony reflecting the country’s unprecedented dual crisis in politics and public health. Instead of the typical festive gathering of parliament’s 120, the new lawmakers took the oath of office in groups of three over 40 staggered rounds, … Read More
JERUSALEM _ Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz will be given the first opportunity to form a new government, the country’s president said Sunday, raising questions about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future following an inconclusive national election earlier this month. The decision by President Reuven Rivlin was announced by his office after he consulted with leaders of all of the … Read More
TIRA, Israel (AP) — A surge in Arab voter turnout was key to depriving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist allies of a parliamentary majority in this week’s Israeli election. Undercutting Netanyahu’s ambitions was celebrated as sweet payback in the nearly 2 million-strong minority that the hard-line leader had relentlessly tried to tarnish as disloyal to the state. An … Read More