Middle East

Twice weekly flights possible between Tel Aviv, Baku

BAKU, Azerbaijan (Press Release)– Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman met in Baku with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and discussed with him the strengthening of bilateral relations, Lieberman’s office announced Thursday, May 1.  During the meeting, FM Liberman stated that Israel views the relationship with Azerbaijan as one of special importance, and praised Azerbaijan […]

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International, Middle East, Travel and Food

Reflections on Italian and Israeli tourism

By Ira Sharkansky PADUA, Italy — Living in Israel has several advantages that are not widely promoted among those trying to attract tourists or new residents. You can live a Jewish life, immersed in a rich culture and discussions of things that have been argued for more than two millennia, without having to visit a synagogue.

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International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, Travel and Food

Israeli Consul-General Siegel says Israel hopes Abbas will reverse his U-turn and return to the negotiations

  By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — David Siegel, Israel’s Consul-General in Los Angeles, said Thursday, May 1, that his government is still hopeful that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority “will reevaluate their position and come back to the negotiating table and move away from Hamas.” While the “ball is in

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East

Syrian attack on school another war crime — Cardin

WASHINGTON , D.C. (Press Release)– U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland.), a senior member of the Senator Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, condemned the Assad regime’s attack, on April 30, on a school in the city of Aleppo that killed as many as 47 people, mainly children. The students were preparing

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Jewish groups denounce ‘price tag’ attacks by extremists

NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Thursday strongly condemned the spate of “Price Tag” attacks in Israel, welcomed the commitment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue the perpetrators, and called on Israeli law enforcement to enhance crackdown efforts against those responsible. The so-called Price Tag attacks are carried out by extremist

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Middle East, USA

APN ‘appalled’ by Conference vote to exclude J Street

WASHINGTON, DC  (Press Release)– Americans for Peace Now (APN) is appalled and deeply disappointed at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization’s failure to accept J Street, an important player in the pro-Israel arena, into its ranks. As one of a handful of members of the Conference who focus on peace and security

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Middle East, USA

‘Jewish state’ amendment planned for Israel’s basic law

TEL AVIV (Press Release) — Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, May 1, made the following remarks during his tour of Independence Hall in Tel Aviv: “The Declaration of Independence sets, as the cornerstone in the life of the state, the national Jewish identity of the State of Israel. To my great regret, as we have

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Middle East

Day school Israel education feeds sense of connection

NEW YORK (Press Release) — Sixty-five years after its establishment, Israel remains a central feature of Jewish educational programming in North America, perhaps nowhere more ubiquitously than in Jewish day schools. The AVI CHAI Foundation’s newly released report, “Hearts and Minds: Israel in North American Jewish Day Schools,” takes the measure of what day schools seek to

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Toxins taken during pregnancy can turn baby’s genes off

TEL AVIV (Press Release) — In the 1950s and 1960s, pregnant women with morning sickness were often prescribed the new drug thalidomide. Shortly after the medicine was released on the market, a reported 10,000 infants were born with an extreme form of the rare congenital phocomelia syndrome, which caused death in 50 percent of cases and

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

Israel’s enemies deny, lie about, or exploit the Shoah

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. -For Palestinians, suffering — and sympathy for suffering — is a zero-sum game. Sympathy used up on the Holocaust means less for Palestinians in the territories. Even among Palestinian groups, while thousands suffer and die in Syria — most heinously starved in the Yarmouk refugee camp — Israelis joined relief

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Jewish History, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen

Israel boasts a beautiful park carved from trash

By Steve Kramer TEL AVIV — Did you know that metropolitan Tel Aviv has a park that is bigger than New York’s Central Park? Or, that the park’s most unique feature is a mountain of trash? That’s what you’ll find at recently opened Ariel Sharon Park, almost 2,000 acres of reclaimed land, located in Israel’s

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Middle East, Steve Kramer, The World We Share, Travel and Food