BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP)—Israel deployed a cutting-edge rocket defense system on Sunday, rolling out the latest tool in its arsenal to stop a recent spike in attacks from the neighboring Gaza Strip. Israel hopes the homegrown Iron Dome system will provide increased security to its citizens, but officials warned that it can’t do the job alone. The system went into operation … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — It’s early in a scoreless Israel Bowl and a crowd that includes armed soldiers, ultra-Orthodox Jews and skullcapped settlers waving Israeli flags erupts in celebration after Palestinian linebacker Ayoub Elayyan intercepts a pass. His Gush Texas Judean Rebel teammates quickly convert the turnover into a touchdown and never look back, racing to a 32-30 victory in the … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) _ A blast Israel quickly blamed on Palestinian militants ripped through a bus stop in Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing a woman, wounding two dozen other people and intensifying fears that a period of relative calm could be ending as hopes for a negotiated peace fade. Violence has been on the rise, with the knife slaying this month of … Read More
JERUSALEM — Israel said Tuesday it seized a cargo ship loaded with weapons sent by Iran to Palestinian militants in Gaza, including sophisticated land-to-sea missiles that officials said could change the balance of power in the area. The takeover in the Mediterranean Sea was the latest in a series of Israeli naval raids meant to counter the growing influence of … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) _ Israel hunted for the perpetrators of a grisly murder of a family of five in a remote West Bank settlement Saturday, appealing for help from the Palestinian Authority, which sent security forces to join the manhunt. The knife attack, which killed two young children, a baby and their parents as they slept, was the deadliest in years. … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel — Students at the Bialik-Rogozin school in a rundown Tel Aviv neighborhood have survived genocide, war and famine. But they were all smiles on Monday after learning that a documentary about their plight had won an Academy Award. “Strangers No More” puts a human face on Israel’s absorption of African migrants — an issue that has divided … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) _ When British novelist Ian McEwan accepted a prestigious Israeli literary award this week, he used the occasion to criticize Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. His high-powered audience, which included the nation’s president and the mayor of Jerusalem, responded in an unexpected way: They gave him a warm ovation, ecstatic that the renowned … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — A decade ago, Ehud Barak was a popular Israeli prime minister and war hero on the historic verge of making peace with Syria and the Palestinians. Today, he is widely reviled as the country’s most despised leader. In his current post of defense minister, Barak has created enemies everywhere. Following a series of high-profile blunders, he is … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) _ Israel’s prime minister said Monday his country’s primary concern in Egypt is that the current crisis could create a void in which Islamic militants step in and endanger decades of peaceful relations between the two countries. Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting German chancellor Angela Merkel, Benjamin Netanyahu gave his most detailed assessment yet of … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) —Fifty years after Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann was brought to justice, the men who captured, investigated and prosecuted the Holocaust mastermind held a rare reunion Thursday in the Jerusalem hall where his famous trial took place. The gathering, marking the U.N.’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, revisited the landmark trial that brought to light in vivid detail the horrors … Read More
JERUSALEM — In a shocking move that instantly shook up Israel’s political scene, Defense Minister Ehud Barak defected from his Labor Party Monday, leaving in shambles the iconic movement that founded the country and ruled it invincibly for decades. The move appeared to shore up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition by leading to the resignation of the other Labor … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — After a successful run of high-tech and computer-related innovation, Israel is focusing its ambitions on the next big thing — preparing the world for life without coal and oil. Israel is driving to become a world leader in alternative energy, with the government throwing its support behind cutting-edge technologies. The number of private entrepreneurs entering the so-called … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Former President Moshe Katsav was convicted Thursday of raping an employee when he was a Cabinet minister, the most serious criminal charges ever brought against a high-ranking official in Israel and a case that shocked the nation. Katsav, 65, faces from four to 16 years in prison for the crimes, which included two counts of raping an employee in … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — For more than a century, planting trees in this mostly desert land has been an act of almost spiritual importance, starting with those who helped create the state of Israel. So, the emotional response to the worst wildfire in the country’s history, which tore through one of its few natural forests over the weekend and killed 42 … Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Ismail Abdul-Rasul and his family escaped war in Darfur, languished in squalid conditions in Egypt for five years and nearly suffocated in a harrowing journey across the Sinai desert before they were finally smuggled into Israel. “I was dancing with joy when I arrived,” said the 47-year-old father or four, who reached Israel in July 2007. … Read More