Author: David Leibermann

(JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu withdrew his firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing a sharp rise in violence in recent days, and suggested that proposed changes to the country’s judicial system that have sparked widespread protest were no longer imminent. In another concession to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have flooded […]

(New York Jewish Week) — Rep. Ritchie Torres, the Bronx Democrat known for being an outspoken supporter of Israel, has issued his first statement on the country’s proposed judicial overhaul, writing that he is “pleased to see that the ‘judicial reforms’ have been put on pause.” The statement, published last week as a letter in […]

(JTA) — A driver rammed his car into pedestrians walking along Tel Aviv’s popular boardwalk and emerged shooting, killing a tourist and wounding at least four others on Friday night. A policeman shot and killed the attacker. The attack, just hours after gunmen killed two Israeli sisters traveling through the West Bank, left Israel bracing […]

(JTA) — Gunmen shot and killed two Israeli sisters and critically injured their mother in an attack on a car in the West Bank on Friday. First responders responded to what at first was believed to be a car accident at Hamra junction in the northern Jordan Valley, Israeli media reported. They found a car […]

(JTA) – Israeli combat aircraft hit targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip after a day of rocket attacks from both areas, as the fallout from clashes at a Jerusalem holy site rolled into their fourth day. The air strikes before dawn on Friday came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting […]

(JTA) — Dozens of rockets fired from Lebanon hit Israel’s north in a significant escalation of tensions that followed clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian worshipers at a Jerusalem holy site. Israel’s government-run Kan broadcaster said at least 34 rockets had crossed into Israel on Thursday, the first full day of the Passover holiday. All […]

(JTA) — Columbia University has announced that it will launch a “Global Center” in Tel Aviv amid dueling letters from faculty supporting and opposing the decision. The university’s Global Centers act as hubs for local scholars and researchers to work with the New York City school’s faculty, students and alumni to study and address a […]

Over the last few weeks, while Israel has been roiled by demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands, and President Isaac Herzog has warned about the possibility of civil war, American Jews have been watching with grave concern. Even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a delay in the government plan to overhaul the judiciary that […]

(JTA) — The Israeli government approved the creation of a new, 2,000-member national guard demanded by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister of national security, in a cabinet vote on Sunday. The new force won’t begin operating immediately while a government committee spends 90 days evaluating its details — meaning that its future, including whether Ben-Gvir […]

CHICAGO (JTA) – At one point ahead of an international conference on Israel education, as raucous anti-government protests filled the streets of Israeli cities, conference organizers considered leaning into the tension created by the news: What if they focused one day of the gathering on conflict, and the next day on hope? Ultimately, they decided […]