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Israel News
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Women of the Wall Leader Arrested for Smuggling Torah Scroll Into Kotel
Women of the Wall executive director Lesley Sachs was detained by Jerusalem police on June 7 for smuggling a small Torah scroll into the women’s section of the Western Wall. The group said she was detained for “disturbing the public order” after a prayer service of about 80 female worshippers read from the Torah. Sachs…
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Benjamin Netanyahu Says He’ll Keep His Promise, Orders New Prayer Podium for Western Wall
The Israeli government will order a permanent bimah, the elevated platform on which a prayer leader stands, to be built in the southern section of the Western Wall holy site as a signal to American and Israeli non-Orthodox movements that it is serious about implementing its plan for an egalitarian prayer space there. The gesture…
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Will Israel Live Up To Deal on Western Wall Prayer? Benjamin Netanyahu Sets 3-Week Deadline
American Jewish leaders have told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Jewish diaspora’s relationship with Israel is at stake if it fails to implement a plan — already approved by the government, but blocked by the ultra-Orthodox — for an egalitarian plaza at the Western Wall. At a June 1 meeting, called in emergency…
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Why Israel’s Occupation Is Becoming Irreversible — and That’s the Idea
In the hills east of Jerusalem, overlooking the Palestinian city of Jericho and the Jordan Valley, stands a religious Jewish settlement whose red-tile roofs, neat gardens and brightly colored playgrounds give the sense of permanence. Mitzpe Yericho has stood on this escarpment, close to the Dead Sea – the lowest point on earth – since…
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Orthodoxy and Right-Wing Extremism Go Hand-in-Hand in Israel — Pew Study Explains Why
TEL AVIV — Why are Israeli Orthodox Jews more attracted to politically extremist views than their non-Orthodox fellow citizens? The question is not a provocation. It’s one that grows out of a new analysis of data from the Pew Research Center’s study in March showing that nearly half of all Israeli Jews want Arabs expelled…
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As Western Wall Deadline Approaches, Prayer Activists Fight for Face Time with Government
Since Haredi threats to break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau’s goernment torpedoed a plan for an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall about two months ago, the Israeli government has been trying to craft a compromise deal that will satisfy both sides before a June 1 deadline. But so far government representatives have…
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Avigdor Lieberman’s Return to Israel Government Fails To Make Waves in Washington
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest political move has set off a role reversal in the United States and Israel. At home, where many tend to brace themselves against outside criticism, the commotion ignited by Netanyahu’s appointment of Avigdor Lieberman to defense minister has yet to subside. Prominent figures from left to right on the…
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Israel Demands Names of Soldiers Who Blew Whistle on Gaza ‘War Crimes’ to Breaking the Silence
Israel is trying to force a leading anti-occupation NGO to reveal the identities of the soldiers who testified to it about alleged military misconduct during the 2014 Gaza war — a move that the group says will effectively put it out of business. Government lawyers told a May 22 hearing that they need to question…
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Six Reasons That Avigdor Lieberman Being Named Israel’s Defense Minister Is a Very Big Deal Here
The Obama administration has remained silent regarding the political makeover of Netanyahu’s coalition government, which is set to put right-wing leader Avigdor Lieberman in charge of Israel’s defense ministry and push out Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief of staff and Likud party pragmatist, from the position he’d been holding since 2013. But as the…
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Will Israel’s Labor Party Eat Its Young To Join Bibi’s Right-Wing Government?
Israeli opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog is poised to risk losing a passionate cohort of his party — the youth — if he succeeds in his push to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing governing coalition. Young Labor members have come out strongly against Herzog’s negotiations with Netanyahu, staging a small protest outside Herzog’s Tel Aviv…
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Reform and Conservative Leaders Hope To Rescue Western Wall Prayer Deal With Crisis Visit to Israel
The leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements in North America are organizing a special trip to Israel later this month to notify Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in person of their strong opposition to any changes in the plan to build a new egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall. According to the plan approved…
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