Israel

Palestinian factions sign unity deal in Cairo

CAIRO (AFP) – Palestinian factions signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo on Tuesday to end the divide between the West Bank and Gaza and hold elections in a year in an agreement Israel called a blow to peace. Representatives of 13 factions, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fateh Party and […]

Interesting Theories

A mere day after US President Barack Obama announced that al-Qaeda leader and arch-terrorist Osama bin Laden has been killed by US Special Forces in Pakistan, and the World Wide Web is gushing with conspiracy theories, fed mostly by the White House statement that he was swiftly buried at sea, […]

Study finds drop in anti-Semitic reports

An annual report by Tel Aviv University says the number of anti-Semitic incidents worldwide declined in 2010 but remains high overall. Researchers at the university say 2010 saw a 46 percent drop in the number of violent incidents targeting Jews relative to 2009 – from 1,129 to 614. But the […]

Israel remembers victims of Holocaust

Holocaust Remembrance Day was honored Monday morning with a siren marking a moment of silence throughout Israel at 10 am. As on every year, flower wreaths were laid at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. The Knesset held its annual ceremony of the reading out of victims’ names. President Shimon Peres and […]

Hamas and “Peace”

Tal Aviv – PNN – In a first response to the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal in Cairo today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority must decide whether it wants peace or reconciliation with Hamas. “The Palestinian Authority must choose either peace with Israel or peace with […]

Kosher Smartphone

Telecom company offers haredi clients kosher cellular phone with Hasidic folk music ringtones, menu in traditional German-derived language An Israeli telecom company is offering ultra-Orthodox Jewish clients a kosher smartphone with Hasidic folk music ringtones and a menu in Yiddish, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday. While other firms have tapped into […]

Turning jeers into cheers

Beitar chairman Itzik Kornfein is making progress in his battle to eradicate racism in soccer. Beitar Jerusalem earned the reputation of being Israel’s most racist club long ago. Anybody who attended a Beitar match over recent decades could not have helped but hear the bigoted chants, which for some reason […]

Easter chronology conundrum

As Christians worldwide prepare to celebrate Easter on Sunday, they will follow a familiar chronology: Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose from the dead on “the third day,” in the words of the ancient Nicene Creed. But if Jesus died at 3 p.m. Friday and vacated h  is […]

Israel’s young crave normalcy

In the period leading up to Israel’s 2009 parliamentary election, several polls I conducted among the Jewish population turned up a consistent finding: The youngest respondents (18-35 ) disproportionately described themselves as right wing. They also supported Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party slightly more than others. Then weeks before the election, […]

‘Israel’s greatest dilemma’

Are the Arabs in Israel an enemy from within? In 1999, when Professor Dan Schueftan’s book “Disengagement: Israel and the Palestinian Entity” was published, his proposals appeared extreme; almost imaginary even. As there was no chance for securing an agreement with the Palestinians, Schueftan asserted at the time, Israel must […]