Category: Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has joined a chorus of Israelis and Jews denouncing his national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, for posting a video that showed Ben-Gvir taunting detained activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that had been intercepted by the Israeli navy. “Welcome to Israel, we are the masters,” Ben-Gvir said in the video as […]

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and a minister in the Ministry of Defense, said on Tuesday that the International Criminal Court is seeking a warrant for his arrest and announced he would retaliate by clearing Palestinians from a herding village in the West Bank. Smotrich said in a press conference that the ICC prosecutor “submitted […]

JERUSALEM — Far-right activists chanted “death to Arabs” and engaged in violent clashes ahead of the annual “Dance of the Flags” march through the Old City that commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War. Journalists, left-wing activists and Arab residents all faced assaults during the march, in what police described as “isolated” […]

As alternative Eurovision events gathered momentum across Europe in protest of Israel’s participation in the famously schmaltzy singing contest, Israeli candidate Noam Bettan, fresh off the semifinals in Vienna, said he chose to look past chants of “stop the genocide” that marred his performance and focus instead on the “huge wave of love and support,” […]

A week after a university commencement speaker was canceled because of a tweet claiming that Israel trains dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, the allegation leapt into the pages of The New York Times. The columnist Nicholas Kristof included the claim in a column alleging widespread sexual abuse against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Detailing the […]

A New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof published Monday detailed graphic allegations of sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli guards, amplifying claims that guards had used dogs to rape Palestinian detainees. As the allegations in the column, “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” sparked a widening online debate over their credibility, […]

A sweeping new Israeli report on sexual violence committed during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks and against hostages in Gaza concludes that the crimes formed part of a deliberate strategy. It also lays out a roadmap for turning two years of documentation into legal prosecution. The report concludes that “sexual and gender-based violence was systematic, […]

The European Union decided to sanction Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians in the West Bank on Monday, moving forward a measure that had been blocked for months. The EU’s 27 foreign ministers agreed on the sanctions at a meeting in Brussels after Hungary’s new government gave its approval. The measure had been blocked by […]

Israel’s Diaspora affairs minister, Amichai Chikli, confirmed on Monday that right-wing YouTube provocateur Tyler Oliveira had been barred from entering Israel, accusing him of coming to the country with the “aim of spreading hatred.” Amid reports that Oliveira had been rebuffed at Ben Gurion Airport, Chikli resurrected a weeks-old post from the YouTuber asking, “You […]

As Israel’s Eurovision contestant Noam Bettan walked the “turquoise carpet” at the annual song competition’s opening ceremony on Sunday in Vienna, this week’s contest was already being eclipsed by controversy over his participation — and a debate over how his fellow Israelis should show their support. The competition, which kicks off on Tuesday and ends […]