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Death to Fanatistan!
The gospel choir sang "God Bless America." If you weren't thinking of the Jewish immigrant Irving Berlin who wrote that song, you couldn't appreciate the beautiful irony of the moment.
Vatican invites rabbi to speak; IDF using Facebook to catch draft dodgers
The Vatican for the first time invited a rabbi to speak at its World Synod of Bishops
Clash of ‘right and right’ festers in Jordan Valley
But more than the physical barriers that separate them, the residents of this valley stand on either side of an unbridgeable ideological chasm. The Palestinians are bent on seeing the Israelis go, and the Israelis won't leave.
Arab attacker strikes in Jerusalem; dozen injured, terrorist killed
Arab attacker strikes in Jerusalem
The soldier in the center ring
As far as he has traveled, from Israel to Southern California, Ben-Binyamin has come an even greater distance in recent years in his transition from the IDF to the circus, a change he refers to as "extreme."
VIDEO: Girls of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
Girls of the IDF. Video photo montage plus music
What’s so good about Israel? Let me tell you!
Whether it is the imprint of the Israel Defense Forces' unit cohesion, the Jewish sense of a shared destiny or the remnants of a socialist system, Israelis strongly -- and genuinely -- care about each other. It's simply lovely to know there is always someone who'll be there to help you out and that you're never truly alone
Israeli and Palestinian shed their armor in ‘Desert Sunrise’
The play opens in the south Hebron hills in the West Bank with Tsahi, an off-duty Israel Defense Forces soldier, pointing his gun at Ismail, a Palestinian shepherd. Having just broken up with his settler girlfriend, Tsahi is lost and seeking a way back to the main road. Ismail, waiting for his girlfriend, is the only one who can help Tsahi find his way.
A Zionist without quotation marks
Yaron Amitai was the oldest soldier killed in the Second Lebanon War. At 45, he was past the required age for army reserve duty. Amitai nevertheless volunteered to serve as a combat medic in the Paratroopers Brigade scheduled to go into Lebanon
Israel-Hamas truce begins and Israelis are ready if it fails
Israeli officials said Egypt has agreed to hold off on opening its border with Gaza -- a key Hamas demand -- until there is progress in talks on Shalit's return. The IDF is expected to be ready for a last-resort invasion of Gaza, if the cease-fire fails.
Capturing the ‘Real World’ transition for Israeli teens
"I like to challenge people and show them a side of Israel not everybody sees," the now full-time filmmaker said. "Everyone brings different things to the table and as a result people get different things out of it."
VIDEO: IAF destroys Iraqi nuclear reactor, June 1981
The story of the IAF's attack on the Iraqi Nuclear reactor near Baghdad in June 1981. From The Military channel.
Briefs: Some West Bank settlers would agree to leave, Israel OKs Palestinian police stations
Approximately one in five Israelis living east of the West Bank security fence would leave if offered government support, a poll found. According to an internal government study, whose results were leaked Tuesday to Yediot Achronot, approximately 15,000 of the 70,000 settlers whose communities are not taken in by the fence would accept voluntary relocation packages.
Ashkelon is the new front line in the war with Gaza
Practically overnight, life in this quiet coastal city has changed dramatically. Thirteen rockets landed in Ashkelon over the course of four days, and with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) having launched a ground invasion into Gaza over the weekend, shaken residents here suddenly find themselves in a war zone.
Israel weighs novel ideas to counter Hamas rockets
With Israel still facing Hamas rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip following the end of the army's limited ground operation there, the Israeli government is considering stronger follow-up measures.
My father’s war
"This is what we grew up praying for and dreaming of," my father told me in a recent conversation, "so I did not need to read any further." Nessim Bouskila made his way to the headquarters of the Jewish Agency in Paris, where he found more than 400 young men and women already lined up, eagerly awaiting the "privilege," as Papa worded it, to help defend Israel.
Films: It would never happen in Hollywood
The Israeli film, "Beaufort," has earned international recognition for its unvarnished portrayal of men at war and for its acting, directing and cinematography. But the movie is even more remarkable for what it tells us about the inner strength of the embattled country in confronting the vulnerabilities of its most revered institutions, even while the wounds of the first and second Lebanon wars are still fresh.
VIDEO: Shopping in Israel can get intense
Things are a little tense in Israel these days -- even when you're just shopping!
The living dream
I signed up for Sar-El, an international program affiliated with the U.S.-based group, Volunteers for Israel, through which participants from all over the world travel to Israel to help out the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for up to three weeks.
Diaspora must face painful realities in Jerusalem’s future
The Jewish community is now openly discussing whether Jerusalem should be on the negotiating table for a Palestinian-Israel peace agreement.
Israel booming but helicopters may be an omen of trouble ahead
Just as the IDF works constantly to keep a small patch within Gaza clear of terrorists, so, too, Hamas makes efforts every day to get through, over or under the fence -- and to engage the IDF. Hamas' success rate has been minimal, he says, and their casualties significant, "but they're still coming, still trying, every day."
VIDEO: Israel tries to sex up its image
Britains' Sky News reports from Tel Aviv on an Israeli advertising campaign to sex up its image.
The all-too-brief life of American Israeli hero
In a new documentary, "A Hero in Heaven," directed by Sally Mitlas, a nation mourns the loss of a son. Trucks roved the streets of Jerusalem announcing the death of a holy man -- 22-year-old Michael Levin, who had immigrated to Israel to fulfill a dream. A procession walked for miles, during a holiday fast, to reach the hill where thousands of mourners gathered to bury their hero.
The Second Lebanon War—one year later
One year after the Second Lebanon War, Israel's northern front is quiet, U.N. forces are patrolling the border area and Hezbollah fighters have been pushed back deep inside Lebanese territory.
Israel’s military image—then and now
Cartoon.
How the victorious IDF of 1967 become the defeated IDF of 2006
Nearly a year has passed since Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon and 40 since the June 1967 war. Those familiar with last summer's war might well rub their eyes in disbelief. Given how badly the Israel Defense Forces performed in Lebanon, where it was stymied by a guerrilla organization numbering just a few thousand fighters, is it really true that once upon a time the IDF routed four Arab armies in just six days?
The leaders of Israel and of the Jewish people are failing us
Almost 25 years ago, I read a one-line description of Jewish leadership that has haunted me ever since. The author, whose name I have repressed, wrote: "Only a confirmed anti-Semite could believe that the Jewish people have the leadership they deserve." I protested his statement then, but I am not sure I can disagree now.
Rocket attacks pose huge policy dilemma for Israel
More than a week of unabated Qassam rocket attacks on Sderot has created a huge policy dilemma for the Israeli government: What should it do to stop radical Gaza-based terrorists from firing missiles on Israeli civilians and causing pandemonium in the border town of 22,000.
What now after Winograd?
With "failure" officially stamped on Ehud Olmert's management of last summer's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the question is: What happens now?
Israel needs to rethink national security
Celebrations of Israel's 59th year of independence may be overshadowed by the Winograd Commissions' interim report on the political and military leadership's conduct during the Second Lebanon War last summer.
U.S. Jews choose to serve in the Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) want a few good men like Zach Taylor (photo). Actually, the IDF wants a lot of them. Taylor is a 20-year-old volunteer from North Hollywood serving in an Israeli infantry battalion of Torah-observant and predominantly ultra-Orthodox soldiers.
Nahal Haredi: Unorthodox battalion seeks to change Orthodox image
In Israel, where service in the armed forces is every man's -- and most women's -- duty, the majority of Israelis, from secular to Modern Orthodox, have long scorned the ultra-Orthodox "black hats" for avoiding military service by studying in yeshivas. Now, a battalion of ultra-religious young men, known as Nahal Haredi, is seeking to change this image by combining Torah study with the bearing of arms.
Cluster Silence
Major Jewish groups haven't rushed to comment on Israel's use of cluster bombs in the war against Hezbollah. What a mistake.
Lebanon War: Mission Accomplished
From a military perspective, there can be absolutely no doubt as to the results of Hezbollah and Iran's offensive against Israel. It was a defeat. Every part of their war plan, except the manipulation of the media, failed.
Tallying Success and Failure
Olmert's perceived blunders have given the Israeli right a new lease on life. They believe the war has dealt a lethal blow to Olmert's plans for a major unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank.
Siblings of Fallen Israeli Soldiers Take a Camp Break
Living with the trauma and sorrow of losing a brother or sister in the Israel Defense Forces has scarred all of the 30 12- and 13-year-olds who spent 10 days at Camp Ramah in Ojai earlier this month. The Legacy/Moreshet program, sponsored by Friends of the IDF (FIDF), gave kids who lost a sibling or parent in combat a bar or bat mitzvah present that allowed them to have an American-style summer blast -- if not to forget, then at least to enjoy a respite from the sadness that follows them at home.
We Will Not Capitulate or Be Trampled Upon
Ben Caspit proposes the text for a speech by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that would explain to the world exactly what Israel is fighting for.
Cracks Appear in Jewish Support of Israel Offensive
At a time when the majority of Jews around the world have banded together as perhaps never before to support beleaguered Israel, cracks of dissent have appeared as Israel's two-front war in Lebanon and Gaza becomes increasingly bloody and costly.
Mission To Israel
They say that Israel is a place where a man might push you over on the bus to get to his seat and break your leg, but he will drive you to the emergency room and stay up with you all night to make sure you are all right -- better than all right, actually.
Groups Rally to Raise Funds for Israel During Crisis
Jewish organizations throughout the Los Angeles area, as well as supportive Christian groups, are shifting their fundraising efforts into high gear to succor civilians and soldiers in embattled Israel.
The IDF and Civilians: A Personal Account
It was July 12, 1984, my first day on the Ketziot basic training base, my new "home" as an IDF soldier in the Givati Infantry Brigade. One by one, we were issued what was then the standard IDF infantry weapon, the Israeli-made Galil rifle.
Attacking Syria Would Ensure Cease-Fire in North
Nearly 40 years ago, Israel and the Arab world fought a war that altered the course of Middle Eastern history. Now, as the region teeters on the brink of a new and potentially more violent cataclysm, it is important to revisit the lessons of the Six-Day War, a conflict that few Middle Eastern countries wanted and none foresaw.
Summer Tours to Israel Rerouted, But Not By Much
"All of us that have kids in Israel are trying to make the best of the situation," said Jules Gutin, international director for USY, the youth arm of the Conservative movement, which has about 50 California teens in Israel this summer. "We want the experience to be worthwhile and positive, as well as safe."
Hip Cynics for Export
In Israel, no one wants to be a friar -- a sucker, a patsy, a flunky, a tool.
It's the Israeli equivalent of the Chinese never wanting to lose face. And in Israel, this primary motivation explains much of the country's machismo -- and perhaps even its political situation.
The Circuit
Circuit
The Circuit
Circuit
Judgment on ‘Munich’
Although there are flashbacks to the massacre throughout the film, the focus shifts to a meeting between Prime Minister Golda Meir and her top military and intelligence leaders.
The Disengagement Summer
The column of armored SUVs waited, engines humming, as a phalanx of bodyguards ushered Prime Minister Ariel Sharon into the third truck from the end. As the convoy cleared the main gate of the Israeli government head's residence, a set of decoy vehicles turned north, toward Jerusalem, while the remaining units proceeded south toward the Negev, where Sharon planned to tour absorption sites being built for hundreds of Israeli families soon to be evacuated from their Gaza Strip homes.
For Sharon, the site inspections this spring were a welcome excursion beyond his Jerusalem office compound or his Negev ranch. But for officers charged with protective security, the outing rivaled an elite combat operation.
Two Families’ Dreams Were Not Demolished
It'll be a heart-wrenching summer in the Gaza Strip, when Israeli forces order Jewish settlers to leave as part of the government's historic disengagement plan.
Hezbollah Faces Identity Crisis
On the eve of elections, scheduled to begin May 29, Hezbollah is trying to retain its pose as the ultimate guardian of Lebanese interests vis-รก-vis Israel, stoking a flare-up along the border with Israel last week.
Cease-Fire Appears on Verge of Collapse
Just three months after it was ushered in at a peace summit in February, there are growing signs that the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians may be on the verge of collapse.
Israelis Question Army Morality
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the IDF remains the most moral army he knows, but critics suggest that the relentless terrorist war has brutalized young soldiers who frequently vent their frustrations on Palestinian civilians.
Your Letters
Your Letters
If the Situation Were Reversed
What would happen if a Palestinian terrorist were to detonate a bomb at the entrance to an apartment building in Israel and cause the death of an elderly man in a wheelchair, who would later be found buried under the rubble of the building?
Sharon Plan Raises Myriad Questions
Ariel Sharon's major policy statement at the Herzliya
security conference last week might have made world headlines, but it's far
from clear what the Israeli prime minister has in mind. Sharon called on
Palestinian leaders to open negotiations with Israel and threatened unilateral
Human Rights Activists or Aids to Terrorists?
Yuri Gottesman is a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a motley group of activists from around the world that converge in the West Bank and Gaza ostensibly to encourage the Palestinians to engage in nonviolent resistance against the Israelis.
The Making of a Potential Suicide Bomber
Since last Sunday, a question has been running around in my head and troubling my sleep: What induced the young Palestinian, who broke into Kibbutz Metzer, to aim his weapon at a mother and her two little children and kill them?
World Briefs
Variety, the daily newspaper covering the entertainment industry, admonished Egyptian television in a Nov. 13 editorial for running its 41-part series called "Horseman Without a Horse," a series which is based on the anti-Semitic tract "Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
Community Briefs
Israel Announces ‘Land for Terror’ Policy
In recent weeks, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) has moved rapidly in and out of Palestinian cities and villages on the basis of pinpoint intelligence.
IDF Refuseniks
It was Yuval Lotam's first time in many years at a rally. "I always mean to go, but somehow I never get moving in time," he said sheepishly.
Purity of Weapons
Here we were, 18-year-old kids who barely knew anything about life, and being entrusted with weapons that had the potential to save lives or to take lives.
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Picks and Clicks
Calendar Girls Picks and Clicks Nov. 29 - Dec. 5: NFL to frum; Shiksa syndrome, ‘Waltz with Bashir’
Los Angeles
Half a world away, Los Angeles mourns
The overwhelming majority of mourners had never met the Holtzbergs. But that didn't matter. They have become, for Americans, the public face of this tragedy.
Food
Kosherfest 2008 is heaven on earth for foodies
Each year Kosherfest organizers hold a competition for the best new kosher-certified products. This year, Zelda's Sweet Shoppe of Skokie, Ill., took top honors with a "Southern Pecan Pie."
Torah Portion
Listen, will you?
Parshat Vayetze (Genesis 28:10-32:3) Men equate the inability to solve a problem with weakness, so when men are in the same situation they feel that they must solve the problem.
Education
Thanks, Cal State —thanks a lot
When we hear that the one option that has always been guaranteed to us is now an uncertain variable, we can do nothing but doubt. When competition rages from all angles, and the safety we counted on no longer exists, we can do nothing but give up, right?
U.S.
Analysis: Obama sounding similar to Bush on foreign policy
Not only is Barack Obama inheriting President Bush's Middle East, it looks like he's adopting his strategies.
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