By MARCY OSTER JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s upcoming elections in September — just five months after the last ones in April — are essentially a do-over. In the April election, the right wing won a majority. But because Israel has a parliamentary system, a bunch of small right-wing parties had to agree to join a governing coalition. They were too divided […]

By (JNS) The Israel Navy led a first-of-its-kind multinational exercise dedicated to earthquake response recently, in a drill, which brought representatives from 10 naval forces, as well as NATO, to the Haifa Port on Israel’s northern coast. The week-long “Mighty Waves 2019” exercise, which included ships and personnel from the United States, France and Greece, as well as representatives from […]

DC Report By Douglas Bloomfield Former Republican Congressman Paul Findley, who died recently at 98, blamed his 1982 defeat on AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby giant. That is understandable since so many in the pro-Israel community tried to take credit, but as so often happens, his career really succumbed to self-inflicted wounds. The veteran Republican congressman lost his bid for a […]

By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ BUDAPEST (JTA)  – More than 2,000 Jewish athletes from 42 countries and thousands of spectators gathered at a stadium in the Hungarian capital for the opening of the 15th European Maccabi Games. Delegations With 180 athletes, Israel sent its largest ever delegation to opening ceremony, Tuesday July 30, which is the 15th edition of a tournament that […]

By ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL, LAURA E. ADKINS NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – The Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s editor in chief, Andrew Silow-Carroll, and its opinion editor, Laura E. Adkins, shared their thoughts on a recent New York Times article answering “some of the most difficult questions” about BDS, or the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. Andrew Silow-Carroll: Hey Laura, I wonder what […]

By MARCY OSTER JERUSALEM (JTA)  – Mikhail (not his real name), who immigrated to Israel with his parents during a wave of migration from the countries of the former Soviet Union, recently was engaged. He went to the chief rabbinate to register his upcoming wedding — couples must prove their Jewish identity — and like many “Russian” Israelis was asked […]

By SAM SOKOL JERUSALEM (JTA)  – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has launched a new ad campaign featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin, coinciding with one of the Kremlin’s largest crackdowns on political dissent in years. A Different League Large multi-story banners featuring Netanyahu with Putin, as well as others featuring President Donald Trump and Indian premier Narendra Modi, were […]

By YAAKOV LAPPIN (JNS) – In the West Bank, a number of factions, militias and armed terror organizations have been thinking for a while now about the day after the leadership of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas comes to an end. Competition as to who will fill in the power vacuum that will be left behind has ignited a power […]

By MARCY OSTER NEW YORK CITY (JTA) – White House senior adviser Jared Kushner will travel to the Middle East to continue to push for the economic component of the Trump administration’s peace plan. He will be joined next on the trip by U.S. special peace envoy Jason Greenblatt and special Iran envoy Brian Hook, a senior administration official confirmed […]

By MARCY OSTER JERUSALEM (JTA) – Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak hoped to make a splash this summer in mounting a political comeback as the head of a new left-wing political party formed for the sole purpose of unseating Benjamin Netanyahu in September. Instead his campaign has been hindered by reports of his ties to billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, […]