Israel’s sexist family law is bent to demands of the country’s Orthodox community, including divorce requiring the man’s consent. But what if the husband is violent?
country: Israel
Stay updated with comprehensive news on Israel from Worldcrunch. Discover insights on Israeli politics, economic strategies, societal issues, and cultural landmarks with translations from top international sources. Highlights include Jerusalem, Israeli history, and cultural events.
The PLO gives monthly allowances to the families of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails. The Israeli and U.S. governments want the practice to stop.
Occupied by Israel for fifty years, the area on the Syrian border is a favorite destination for Israeli tourists. But most of the Druze who have lived there for generations do not feel Israeli.
It’s a match made in hummus!
In southern Israel, a group of well-off Bedouin entrepreneurs is trying to help the community grow economically, reduce discrimination and improve education.
-OpEd- TEL AVIV — We know the importance of Messianism in Judaism. The figure of the Messiah is none other than the universally shared incarnation of hope. But while it might have been moving and comforting to imagine, by the rivers of Babylon or at the ruins of the Temple, a messenger of God bringing […]
JERUSALEM — In front of Zion Gate in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem, just a short walk from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, lies a soccer pitch. Standing on the field, nestled beside an Armenian church, you can see the city walls and the rising minarets of mosques. This pitch and […]
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish’s three daughters were killed by an Israeli air strike in 2009. For the past seven years, the Palestinian doctor just wants an apology from Israeli officials.
NABLUS — The historic West Bank city of Nablus spreads out in front of Mount Gerizim, also known as Jebel et-Tur in Arabic. Through his binoculars, Israeli Army Major Elitsur Trabelsi gazes from the mountain’s peak at the sprawling urban area below — home to almost half a million people. “Do you notice anything? There […]
‘We wondered how we should react until they told us they’d been wounded by the regime forces and had nowhere else to go …’
Right-wing populists are advancing in every corner of the world, but let’s not forget the Israeli prime minister who has been in power for years. Here’s his formula.
JERUSALEM — The pounding of the hammer resonates in Jerusalem. “They are in the process of constructing a synagogue,” said the Israeli tour guide in front of the tunnel, which attracts hundreds of tourists even though they have difficulty navigating it. “One might say that there are plenty of places of worship like this,” said […]
“If only the world’s shattered people carried a sign, a small mark of Cain so that we could be gentler with them, maybe smile a bit more — not to pity them, but to console …”
Last year, the price of vegetables surged 140% during the high holiday season, yet the Israeli government still opposes the import of cheap, high-quality produce from Gaza.
Since its creation, the Hebrew state has adapted to a permanent terrorist threat, thanks to a dynamic model of which the central elements are intelligence and the involvement of the civil society.
As births by Israeli settlers tops Palestinians in the West Bank, the “demographic advantage” could vanish, and undermine hopes for a peace settlement.
Imprisoned in Israel since 2002, Marwan Barghouti may be the only figure who could unite all Palestinians. Israel must decide if it’s more risky to release him or keep him in jail. Barghouti offers a rare written exchange with Le Monde.
-OpEd- PARIS — If you travel to the far north of England, you’ll see Hadrian’s Wall still proudly standing almost 19 centuries after it was built. Of course, it’s no match for the Great Wall of China, in length or in what remains of its fortifications. But it’s still an impressive construction, and its message, […]
DUBAI — Unlike other places, where building a new subway line can wind up taking a decade or more, the United Arab Emirates offers a very different approach to major public project deadlines: It meets them. This Gulf metropolis has made itself a regional and global hub for commerce, financial services and investment, and virtually […]
TEL AVIV— The recent wave of violence and Mahmoud Abbas’ threats to dismantle the Palestinian Authority could represent not just a security emergency for Israel, but also an economic nightmare. More than 1,000 factories in the West Bank rely solely on the manpower of Palestinian workers. And they’re just a small part of the financial […]
With renewed violence raging between Palestinians and Israelis, and an international community caught up with other conflicts, the two-state solution is all but dead and buried. Another reason to mourn the Israeli leader, assassinated Nov. 4, 1995.
TEL AVIV — Israeli Defense Forces are turning their attention to a new front: the war raging in cyberspace. And in an attempt to coordinate what up to now have been disjointed, sometimes overlapping operations, the Israeli military’s chief of staff recently announced the creation of a special cyber unit. The unit will be similar […]
It’s home economics, not geopolitics.
TEL AVIV — From the beautiful beach of Palmachim, on the Israeli coast, it’s hard to picture what’s happening below your feet, where 624,000 cubic meters of sea water are being sucked up every day by two enormous pipes and transported more than two kilometers inland to be transformed into drinkable water. Welcome to Sorek, […]
Having built one of the world’s most successful algorithmic trading companies, Israeli entrepreneur Kalkstein now is putting his mathematical wizardry to saving lives.
The so-called Silicon Age of IT may soon give way to an era of see-through clarity to help usher in ever more wearable technology and the Internet of Things.
While lawmakers wage political battles every day about how much religion the government should impose, ordinary Israelis, both religious and secular, are surprisingly unified on the notion of keeping the government out of their private lives.
-OpEd- TEL AVIV — The reactions to last week’s Locker Commission report that calls for massive cuts to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) budget is perhaps the best proof to date that the Israeli people don’t understand the mechanisms that keep them safe. The report recommends keeping the defense budget at $15.4 billion for the […]
DANIA BEACH — On the stage are two large furry creatures — one pink, one green — examining, then admiring, a human-sized box that reads “Thwaxo’s strangely demented space fudge.” In the background is the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. An astronaut then enters and approaches a microphone. “Before I begin my […]
HOLON — “The Bible is great raw material — an eternal soap opera …” The most famous story ever told is the latest subject matter for one of Israel’s best-known satirists, 52-year-old Israeli artist and illustrator Ze’ev Engelmayer. With the opening of his exhibit at Holon’s Israeli Cartoon Museum, Calcalist spoke with Engelmayer about his […]
The language of the Nazis will now be offered as an official course in public high schools.
TEL AVIV — A whole lot of money is involved in the current Palestinian political struggles, with some suggesting that the ability to bring in the bucks is a non-official competition for the title to be the next president of the Palestinian authority. And no better way to judge that than to measure how notable […]
MAJDAL AL-SHAMS — Anger is boiling over in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where local Syrian Druze on Monday attacked an ambulance and killed a wounded Syrian opposition fighter seeking medical treatment from the Israeli military. The fighter was a member of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) in Quneitra and the Golan, according to that group’s Facebook page. The RCC is a coalition of different armed factions in Syria, many of which are hardline Islamist groups. The Druze, an offshoot sect of Shia Islam, are spread across the map of the Middle East, particularly in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. In the […]
-OpEd- JERUSALEM — The government regularly shares its fears about the politically motivated economic boycott of Israel, worried about the long-term damage to the country’s economy and the specter of foreign investors running away. Unfortunately, we don’t see the same energy in battling the international boycott also put into fighting the rampant corruption in Israel, […]
JERUSALEM — The biggest Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds published a long interview last week with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. The interview is an unusual event in the political landscape of this nationalist Palestinian newspaper that has long spent its ink attacking Israeli policies. In the interview, Barkat lays out details of construction plans for a new […]
While attention was focused on alleged corruption at FIFA, another kind of drama was playing out between the Israeli and Palestinian soccer delegations.
JERUSALEM — Three patients are sitting in the spacious waiting room at the offices of the Israeli medical tourism agency iMer. Through the large glass windows of its offices inside the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, they can see the scenic Ein Karem valley with the surrounding mountains and green forests. Despite the breathtaking biblical landscape, […]
-Op-Ed- JERUSALEM — I finished my military service as a fighter in the Israeli military’s Nahal Brigade 11 years ago. That’s when, together with some friends, I founded the NGO Breaking The Silence. Since then, I’ve talked to hundreds of soldiers who’ve told me about their service in the occupied territories. From what the dozens […]
-OpEd- TEL AVIV — Who would have thought that we’d miss Avigdor Lieberman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Well, we don’t really miss him, but unlike Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, Lieberman at least understood the importance of good relations with the United States. So sure that relations with the U.S. are “excellent,” she […]
Ultra-Orthodox parties in coalition with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have obtained bonus welfare benefits for their religious schools and families. How the government is undermining the country’s future generations.