Category: Israel

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — An American Jewish tourist was arrested in Israel for allegedly destroying two Roman-era statues inside the Israel Museum, claiming to police that they were “idolatrous and contrary to the Torah.” The suspect’s alleged actions caused “substantial damage” to the nearly 2,000-year-old pieces, police said. Police officers were called to the prestigious Jerusalem […]

(New York Jewish Week) – After a whirlwind trip around the globe, the Codex Sassoon, the world’s oldest nearly complete Hebrew Bible, and the most expensive book ever sold, was packed up in New York on Tuesday to head to its permanent home: ANU-Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. “It was a fantastic […]

JERUSALEM ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Every Saturday night, Michal Muszkat-Barkan heads out to the streets of Jerusalem to oppose the government’s effort to weaken the judiciary. As the leader of a protest group called Safeguarding Our Shared Home, she is one of many activists who have brought out hundreds of thousands of Israelis to demonstrate against […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Israeli Police arrested five Jews who allegedly spit at Christian pilgrims, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to show “zero tolerance” for assailants, as Christian leaders in Israel called for more action to combat a spate of attacks on their community. The five suspects who were arrested are accused of perpetrating spitting […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi held a Sukkot prayer service in Riyadh on Tuesday, a sign of warming ties as Israel and Saudi Arabia move toward establishing diplomatic relations. A video and photos of the Orthodox morning service on social media showed a small group of men engaging in the fall festival’s rituals: […]

WASHINGTON ((JEWISH REVIEW)) — As of November, Israelis will be able to enter the United States without a visa, a major change that Israel has long sought and that will ease travel for hundreds of thousands of its citizens. Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program, which now includes 41 countries, means that Israelis traveling […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Multiple dimensions of Israel’s ongoing civil strife came to a head on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, as secular activists shut down a public Orthodox Yom Kippur service in the center of Tel Aviv that had been barred by the Supreme Court. On Yom Kippur and in the hours afterward, […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — As they prepared to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, leaders of U.S. Jewish organizations expected to ask him about his contentious effort to weaken the Israeli judiciary.  They didn’t expect to get an answer from Netanyahu’s wife, Sara.  But that’s what happened when Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president […]

((JEWISH REVIEW)) — Benjamin Netanyahu used his address to the United Nations to tout the prospect of a diplomatic agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and to broach a topic that he has previously downplayed: Israeli-Palestinian peace. The Israeli prime minister also used the end of his 25-minute speech to herald the benefits — and […]

(New York Jewish Week) — Steven Lax awoke at 3 a.m. on Tuesday to greet Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrived in New York City — enough time for Lax to brew coffee and await the Israeli prime minister at the Loews Regency Hotel in East Midtown with about 100 others.  Lax is the board chair […]