Author: David Leibermann

(JTA) — A video of a prominent Palestinian activist getting thrown to the ground and kicked in Hebron went viral on Twitter on Monday, prompting the Israel Defense Forces to acknowledge the error and jail the soldier. The video was posted by Lawrence Wright, a New Yorker staff writer on a tour of the West […]

(JTA) — An Israeli parliamentary committee voted to advance parts of the government’s proposed judicial reform on Monday, as tens of thousands of Israelis protested in Jerusalem and opposition lawmakers attempted to disrupt the vote. But following an address on Sunday by Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, begging for negotiations over the reforms, the coalition said […]

(JTA) – Less than a hour after a terror attack in eastern Jerusalem on Friday killed three people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a succinct message: Destroy the Palestinian attacker’s home. “Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to take immediate action to seal and demolish the home of the terrorist,” said the statement from Netanyahu’s […]

(JTA)  — An Israeli border police officer has died after a Palestinian teen stabbed him on a bus outside the Shuafat refugee camp in eastern Jerusalem on Monday. The 13-year-old was shot and arrested following the attack, which took place at a checkpoint outside Shuafat. Earlier, police arrested a 14-year-old Palestinian after he allegedly stabbed […]

(JTA) — President Joe Biden has weighed in against the Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms, saying that an independent judiciary is part of “the genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy.” Biden made the comments in a 46-word statement Saturday to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, a longtime chronicler of the U.S.-Israel relationship. “This […]

(JTA) — Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, issued a stern warning to Israelis on Sunday night: The country is “on the brink of constitutional and social collapse” over proposed judicial reforms that would give lawmakers veto power over the Supreme Court. In a televised address on the eve of a pivotal moment in the proposal’s trajectory, […]

(JTA) — One of the Israeli teams dispatched to Turkey to assist after the devastating earthquakes there has headed home after being informed about a “concrete and immediate threat” against them. United Hatzalah told its team of roughly two dozen personnel in Turkey to end their rescue mission and leave the country, the emergency services […]

(JTA) — An 8-year-old boy injured in a car ramming attack on Friday in eastern Jerusalem died of his wounds the following day. The boy’s 6-year-old brother was killed in the terror attack at a bus stop outside Ramot, a neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, along with a 20-year-old man. At least four others, including the […]

(JTA) — When a group of mostly American Jewish baseball players arrived in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics, they had multiple responsibilities. First among them was to represent Team Israel in its first-ever Olympic baseball outing. Many of the players were new Israelis, having obtained citizenship just to satisfy Olympics eligibility rules. But they were […]

TEL AVIV (JTA) — “Everyone who answers, ‘Thank God’ when asked, ‘How are you,’ raise your hand,” Brit Yakobi asked the crowd of 700 people gathered in an Orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem. The overwhelming majority of hands shot up. “Everyone who is mortified with our current government, raise your hand,” continued Yakobi, the director of […]