04 Nov
Latest

Opinion // Israel’s Haven For Palestinian Informers

The unspoken challenge of protecting Palestinian informers—and continuing Yitzhak Rabin's legacy By Ofir Hadad Munir, a native of the West Bank, claims that he was jailed and tortured in Nablus by the Palestinian Authority for more than two years until 2002, following suspicion that he worked as a collaborator of the Israeli Security Agency Shin Bet with his cousin. Although authorities denied that Munir (not his real name) was a collaborator, they granted him a temporary permit to stay in Israel. In 2005, he petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice for a permanent permit. The court, however, ruled that his temporary permit is the only appropriate remedy he can have. Under this status, he is afforded none of the legal privileges of a permanent resident, other than sanctuary. Munir’s case illustrates the tension between Israel’s concern for...

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20 Nov
Latest, Religion

Could an Evacuation of the Jewish Settlement in Hebron Spark an Israeli Civil War?

By Jeremy Gillick There is an interesting drama developing around one of the West Bank’s most radical and controversial Jewish settlements. Home to the Ma’arat HaMachpelah—the Tomb of the Patriarchs—Hebron is a sacred cow for Israel’s religious right. Unlike most settlements, which stand on hills above Palestinian cities, the Jewish settlement in Hebron exists in the city’s very heart, protected vigilantly by the Israeli army. Although there’s no talk of dismembering the settlement altogether, much less of dismantling all the settlements, which, as both Shimon Peres and Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin have recently warned, could precipitate a civil war, Israeli security forces are threatening to evacuate a group of settlers from a building they occupied illegally in Hebron over a year ago. The settlers are fighting back. On March 19, 2007, hundreds of settlers from...

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05 Nov
Latest

Obama Wins–The Jewish Angle

In case you were just unfreezed from a cryogenic state, Senator Barack Obama was elected president yesterday. He will be America's first African-American president. I took the (admittedly very amateur) above photos/videos between midnight and 2:30 am this morning in front of the White House. UPDATE: Our apologies, the videos aren't working. Ignore slides 10 and 11. Exit polls show Obama got 78% of the Jewish vote. That's just about in line with the 76% John Kerry got, the 79% Al Gore got, and the 78% Bill Clinton got in 1996. So much for the theories of Jews transforming into a Republican base. Ha'aretz listed 36 Jews who helped shape the election. Amazing: Sheldon Adelson, David Axelrod, Steven Bob and Sam Gordon, Matt Brooks, Mark Broxmeyer, Eric Cantor, Laurie David, Ira Forman, Barney Frank, Malcolm Hoenlein, Cheryl...

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22 Sep
Latest

UN Roundup

What with non-stop hoopla at the convening of the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York, we offer a quick recap of the main issues to help you sift through the news coverage. Predictably, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has created the most amount of controversy. One example: The American Jewish Committee wrote an open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon protesting a dinner at which Ahmadinejad will be honored. Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has also made headlines, primarily because of her planned appearance at a rally organized today to voice opposition to Ahmadinejad. This is the rally that Hillary Clinton pulled out of because she didn't want to make it a political circus. In turn, it has become a political circus. Update 3:05 PM: JTA puts the number of protesters in the thousands. Palin...

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