Middle East

Parents: Encourage Your Children to Participate in Student Government

By Elior Amar (JNS) On one Tuesday night in February, a small group of Jewish students at UC Santa Cruz, where I serve as a shaliach (Israeli emissary) for the Jewish Agency for Israel, logged into the weekly Zoom meeting of the Student Union Assembly to support the adoption of a working definition of antisemitism. The […]

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California, Middle East, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Iran Assembles ‘Building Blocks for Long-Range Ballistic Missiles’

By Yaakov Lappin (JNS) Iran is gradually assembling the building blocks necessary to construct ballistic missiles with very long ranges, an Israeli missile and space expert has said, adding that Islamic Republic’s elite military Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “can reach space.” Iran’s space program uses ballistic-missile technology to launch spy satellites into orbit around

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International, Middle East, USA

Reframing the Arguments in Israel and the Palestinian Authority

Almost all arguments about Israel revolve around one or more of the following themes: security, collective identity, freedom, and territory. Authors Gringras and Sterne help us to conceptualize these arguments with a series of analogies.  They challenge us to argue, in the classic sense of the word, about right and wrong in the hope that we may learn from each other. Arguments are different from fights; they are mental exercises, not physical, and they are laid out methodically, with each side trying to educate the other using such tools as logic and empathy. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

Tradition

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — As Passover approaches the word “tradition” assumes increasing prominence in the lives of Jews — and Israelis. Each ethnic group, and each family, has its own traditions regarding the way the festival is celebrated (cue musical interlude “Tradition” from “Fiddler on the Roof”). This was brought home to

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Lifestyles, Middle East

First Rehabilitation Hospital in Israel’s Negev Poised to Put Region ‘On the Map’

By Jacob Kamaras (JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, while serving as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war as well as grappling with a wave of terrorism in Israel and the collapse of his governing coalition, has dealt with anything but “good news” in the weeks leading up to Passover. But just in time for

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Jacob Kamaras, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

The Jewish Agency to Hold Unique Passover Seders for Ukrainian Refugees and in Ethiopia

JERUSALEM (Press Release) — The Jewish Agency for Israel will hold a special Passover seder for hundreds of Ukrainian refugees who are staying at the organization’s Aliyah (immigration to Israel) processing centers in the region and are preparing for their departure to Israel. In addition, The Jewish Agency will also host special seders in Ethiopia

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International, Middle East

Bennett Vows He Will Not Ask Joint Arab List to Join Israeli Coalition

(Israel Hayom via JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday denied rumors that he intends to ask the Joint Arab List to shore up his shaky coalition following the resignation last week of Yamina Knesset member Idit Silman. In special interviews with Israel’s three major news channels, Bennett discussed the current terror wave as

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Middle East

Coalition Confusion

By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — A week ago, the whip of the Israeli coalition indicated her resignation. Involved were the efforts of the government to allow hospital visitors to bring non-kosher food with them during Passover. The woman who resigned was a member of Naftalt Bennett’s political party, a rightist group in the confused

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, Opinion

Breaking Down Bennett’s Coalition Breakdown

(JNS) For all the bluster by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid that they had saved Israeli democracy and stabilized a fragile political system, reality has proven that at best, they provided a temporary respite from political uncertainty. Bennett lost his one-seat parliamentary majority on Wednesday when

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Middle East, Opinion