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Fast Forward Israeli Defense Minister Bans Army’s Chief Rabbi From Military Ceremonies
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A meeting between Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi and the Israeli army’s chief rabbi was canceled after the defense minister banned the chief rabbi from military ceremonies. On Saturday, Avigdor Liberman banned Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and two other rabbis from the military events after they criticized the Israel Defense Forces’ mixed-gender units. The…
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Community Why I’m Becoming An Orthodox Jewish Marine
Ever since I was a little boy, I dreamed of joining the American military. As a child, my reasoning was expectedly juvenile. I wanted to have a uniform, I wanted to carry a gun, I wanted to be applauded during the 7th inning stretch. As I grew up, I developed more genuine reasons for wanting…
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Fast Forward Palestinian Man Killed In Clashes With Israeli Troops
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Palestinian man was killed during clashes with Israeli soldiers near Qalqilya in the West Bank. Dozens of Palestinians were protesting in Jayyus, located near the western border of the West Bank, and began throwing rocks at Israel Defense Forces soldiers deployed near Qalqilya. The soldiers responded with riot dispersal methods and…
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Fast Forward Syrian Army Says Israel Attacked Military Base Outside Of Damascus
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel attacked a military base outside of Damascus with airstrikes and ground missiles, the Syrian army said. An arms depot was destroyed in the early Tuesday morning attacks, according to reports. The Syrian army announced the attacks on state television. It claimed to have hit one of the Israeli jets and intercepted…
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Fast Forward Israel Strikes Hamas Military Compound In Response To Gaza Rocket Fire
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli airstrike hit a Hamas military compound in southern Gaza in response to a rocket fired hours earlier at southern Israel. The attack early on Tuesday morning reportedly caused damage to the facility. The attack came hours after a rocket launched from Gaza landed in an open field in southern Israel….
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Fast Forward Michael Oren Calls For IDF To ‘Shoot To Kill’ Suspected Terrorists
(JTA) — Michael Oren tweeted that the Israel Defense Forces should “shoot to kill” suspected terrorists, rather than just “neutralize” them. Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States who serves as a deputy minister in Israel’s Knesset, made the call for extrajudicial killing while tweeting Wednesday about Omar al-Abed, who was convicted on the…
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Fast Forward 63 Israeli Teens Sign Open Letter To Netanyahu: We Refuse To Serve IDF
(JTA) — Some 63 Israeli high school students signed a public letter declaring that they will refuse to be drafted into the Israel Defense Forces. The letter, published on Thursday in the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Acharonot, was addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Education Minister Naftali Bennett and IDF Chief of…
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Opinion Video Of A Palestinian Girl Hitting Soldiers Shows The IDF’s Moral Fiber
Video of a violent confrontation last Friday between a 16-year-old Palestinian girl, Ahed Tamimi, and two IDF soldiers went viral. As Tamimi proceeds to hit the soldiers, they refrain from any reaction, stoically absorbing her blows without responding to them. In retrospect, it was obvious that the video would go viral. For Israelis, the video…
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Culture Why saying ‘L’shana Tova’ on Rosh Hashanah may not be the correct phrase
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Culture A Jewish prophet of the 1980s would be horrified to see that we didn’t heed his warnings
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Opinion With killing of Hezbollah’s chief, Israel occupies the inarguable moral high ground
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Opinion This is the most disorienting Rosh Hashanah in memory
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