Author: David Leibermann

(JTA) — For the first time, players currently on Major League Baseball rosters are joining Team Israel in next year’s World Baseball Classic — and there could be a lot of them. As many as 12 current Major Leaguers could be playing for Israel in the event, set for Miami in March. They include Baltimore […]

(JTA) — Two weeks ahead of an Israeli election in which he is campaigning to allow security forces to shoot stone-throwers, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, drew his pistol during a confrontation in eastern Jerusalem. The incident took place after several days of clashes in Jerusalem sparked by the killing […]

(JTA) — Concerned that progressive values widely held by American Jews were fueling growing skepticism about the Jewish state, the Israeli government launched an unprecedented plan to counter the trend, according to internal documents obtained by the Israeli watchdog newsroom Shomrim. The documents reveal a $2.3 million partnership between Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and the […]

(JTA) — Australia’s new left-leaning government is reversing the decision made nearly four years ago under a conservative administration to move the country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced in December 2018 that Australia would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The move put him in line with then-U.S. President Donald Trump, […]

(JTA) — Intelligence officials say Russia has removed troops and an air defense system from Syria, removing a factor that until now has inhibited Israel from assisting Ukraine in defending itself from Russia’s war against the country. Israel has delivered substantial humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the war’s launch but has resisted calls from the […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Biden administration rejected comparisons between Russia’s annexation of parts of Ukraine and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. “We categorically reject the blanket comparison between [Israel’s occupation and] the actions of the Kremlin – Russia in this case – that has launched and waged a brutal war of aggression against another […]

(JTA) — An $18 million museum dedicated to the legacy of Albert Einstein will be built in Jerusalem.  The Israeli government approved a plan Sunday to establish a new home for Einstein’s extensive materials, including some 85,000 documents, on the campus of the Hebrew University, which Einstein helped found a century ago.  It’s the largest […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli president Isaac Herzog had a message and stuck to it: Israel and the United States are on the same page no matter who wins elections in both countries next month. “We have elections in Israel, and you’re having midterm elections in the United States,” Herzog told President Joe Biden in the […]

(JTA) — After years of negotiation and military posturing, Israel and Lebanon signed a U.S.-brokered agreement that establishes maritime boundaries between the countries, allowing each to explore for fossil fuels unthreatened by the prospect of an attack. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, heading into an election next Tuesday and under fire from his rival, former […]

(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid was all smiles on Thursday, as he signed a long-delayed maritime deal with Lebanon, an adversary in the region. “It is not every day that an enemy state recognizes the State of Israel,” he boasted at a cabinet meeting. But his good mood likely won’t last long.  Despite […]