JERUSALEM — Forty-five minutes after Israeli channels released their first exit polls, a silence had washed over the Likud election watch party held at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem. Supporters had waited in anticipation for the exit polls to appear on the screen. When Channel 14 — which had a broadcast desk stationed in […]
Continue Reading
JERUSALEM — Israel Police arrested a man carrying a large knife after he approached Yair Golan, head of the Democrats party, as Golan was campaigning in Tel Aviv on Election Day. “Contrary to reports, no stabbing attempt occurred,” the police spokesman said in a statement. The police said officers at the scene noticed a “suspicious […]
Continue Reading
Traders on the prediction market Polymarket are betting that former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot will replace incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s next prime minister following Tuesday’s election. That assessment comes despite polls released last week showing that neither candidate has a clear path to a governing coalition with a 61-seat majority. […]
Continue Reading
JERUSALEM – More than 7 million Israelis are eligible to vote Tuesday in an election that many are calling the most consequential in the country’s 78-year history. It’s the first parliamentary election since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, mass attack and comes amid security concerns that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday framed as a fight […]
Continue Reading
JERUSALEM — On Oct. 27, Yael Chernyvsky, 18, from Ramat Hasharon in central Israel, plans to cast her ballot for the first time. “I’m voting so we can change the future of this country,” the teen told Jewish Telegraphic Agency earlier this month. She was entering a Tel Aviv auditorium where some of Israel’s top […]
Continue Reading
JERUSALEM – Over the past few months, Israeli media has been full of reports of Israeli holidaymakers in Europe, Asia and the Americas being harassed or physically attacked after being identified as Israeli. In July, a group of Israeli tourists visiting Montenegro were reportedly confronted by a man and a woman, apparently locals, who asked, […]
Continue Reading
The Israeli army is planning a large-scale military operation against Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after Palestinian gunmen killed two soldiers and wounded three others outside of Hebron on Friday morning. Netanyahu visited the site of the attack along with Defense Minister Israel Katz, pledging that the IDF would […]
Continue Reading
Whether to extend military conscription to haredi men, a longstanding question fueling political tensions in Israel, has boiled over since Hamas launched the current war with Israel with its deadly raids on Oct. 7, 2023. Hundreds of thousands of Israeli soldiers and reservists battled on Israel’s southern and northern fronts and the manpower needs, especially […]
Continue Reading
JERUSALEM – Yehoshua Pfeffer is a popular British-born haredi rabbi in Jerusalem. He is unusual among the religious leaders in the ultra-Orthodox world because he believes that haredim can and should integrate into and contribute more to the wider Israeli society even as they uphold their Torah observance. Arguably the most fraught implication of this […]
Continue Reading
JERUSALEM – There’s a short video clip that’s been circulating on Israeli social media channels in recent days showing a massive crowd of jubilant young Israelis at a music festival singing along on repeat to “The Song of Peace.” The scene, using an anthem forever associated with assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and the peace […]
Continue Reading
