WorldcrunchStay 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.
TEL AVIV — One day, six years ago, while working on a documentary for Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day, television producer Ronnie Sarnat came across a strange story. “I sent a crew to film testimonies of Holocaust survivors and the crew came back deeply distraught,” she says. “One of the survivors came out to them, crying […]
TEL AVIV ― Annual results for 2014 for Israeli tourism companies, hotels and airlines are not good, though few are surprised. Every sector linked to the travel and tourist industry is losing money due to the consequences of last summer’s conflict in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had approved a measure that promised that […]
YOTVATA — There are mud huts to block out the heat, solar micro panels for cooking, bio-gas production from waste, and wet mattresses to grow vegetables and flowers in the desert. This is the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Yotvata, the most torrid and depopulated area in Israel’s Negev desert, where a community of […]
In southern Tel Aviv, some 50,000 refugees amass on the margins of society. Too many in Israel, once the refuge for European Jews, have turned their back on these migrants.
TEL AVIV — After the final breakdown of the election results were confirmed, it was clear who sent Benjamin Netanyahu back for another term as prime minister: the people of the so-called “periphery” of Israel, far away from the urban centers in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. Support from small towns and distant suburbs had […]
TEL AVIV — When the coalition agreement is signed and the next Israeli government is officially formed as expected next month, it will have exactly 107 days to pass the state budget that will chart the country’s economic course. So even while the rest of the world may focus on the profiles of the incoming […]
A final survey by Calcalist focused not on the candidates, but on the issues. It doesn’t sound good for incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu.
-OpEd- PARIS — With just days to go before the Israeli election, it becomes increasingly difficult to predict who will win the race. The latest polls show the center-left Zionist Union candidates Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni leading over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ruling Likud party. Of course, the country’s proportional system means […]
It’s the consultants …
Just as companies are graded by social rating agencies on their environmental record, they’re now being judged on whether they have ties with Israel. It’s the latest weapon in the ongoing “BDS” Boycott movement to protest Israel’s
-OpEd- TEL AVIV — Israel’s high-tech industry has experienced a major boost in recent years. The 2014 numbers are notable: a record $3.4 billion in investments and mergers and acquisitions valued at $7 billion. There was also an increase in venture capital funds raised, totaling approximately $914 million. None of this is by chance. The […]
In Hebron, military intelligence recently broke up what it claims was an ISIS cell. Some say there’s real cause for concern. Others see the crackdown as a convenient way to justify Israel’s occupation of the area.
TEL AVIV — Israel’s diplomatic campaign against the Palestinian Authority and last summer’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza are no doubt among the factors contributing to Israel’s current economic slowdown. A study by economists Joseph Zeira and Tal Wolfson from the Israeli-Palestinian think tank Aix Group offers some data illustrating the differences between the recession […]
Turns in the war in Syria, as well as shifting resources and alliances across the Muslim world, mean tensions are easing between Israel and both Hamas and Hezbollah.
He’s coined everything from the PowerBook to Blackberry to your kitchen mop. There’s a method to his magic.
TEL AVIV — After Israel announced plans to freeze the transfer of $126 million in taxes it collected for the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah attended a round of meetings in Saudi Arabia to nurture solidarity for his government. And they obliged. The Arab States promised that if Israel wouldn’t transfer the money, […]
The U.S. offers the weakest worker protections, Brazilian employees are entitled to serious severance, the UK’s mandatory notice period is the longest. A quick tour of the global pink slip.
JERUSALEM — I was walking down Via Dolorosa — the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem. In front of me were three young Germans. They found the whole thing laughable, and kept confirming this to each other by pointing out all the stupid details. “Here, look, we’re at the next station. What does it say […]
Though some top executives have learned the art of apologizing, others compound their company’s PR problems by failing to take responsibility. Welcome to the “aquarium!”
SAFED — Two unarmed UN peacekeepers stand beside a rusty telescope observing the Syrian border from the Golan Heights on the Israeli side of the 1974 ceasefire line. The air is cold and wintery. Nearby, in the Coffee Anan store (anan, meaning cloud in Hebrew), an Israeli intelligence officer points down towards the bottom of […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done great harm to Israel’s reputation, and the early elections he’s called for March are a perfect chance to end his hold on the nation.
The former chief of Israel’s elite intelligence unit addresses a technology conference, waxing on privacy, cyber war and a new generation used to documenting and sharing everything.
Referred to as ‘sponsored content,’ it is the Internet’s way of blurring lines between information and advertising – and Outbrain is leading the charge ahead of a reported $1 billion IPO.
TEL AVIV — Olive branches are a symbol of peace, but Palestinian olive production has become a sign of the economic troubles that come with Middle East conflict. The approximately 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of olive groves represent around 45% of Palestinian agriculture land, with most centered in the West Bank’s mountainous territories. With […]
In Jabel Mukaber, in East Jerusalem, relatives of Oday and Ghassan, the two Palestinians who attacked a synagogue this week, are ready to continue their fight.
Professor Asher Tishler has long been a highly respected researcher in both Israeli military and business domains. It’s high time for him to dish on those in the highest positions of power.
From the Israeli side of the border, a view of how the whole of the Middle East seems to be maneuvering.
After a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, an Arab-Israeli businessman imagines how a Saudi-brokered peace across the region could help solve economic problems for all.
TEL AVIV — An Israeli company says it has developed an easy and accurate new method for detecting breast cancer. The technique, developed by the company Eventus Diagnostics, involves a simple blood test measuring how the body’s immune system reacts to the presence of a cancer tumor. Eventus Diagnostics, located near Jerusalem in Moshav Ora […]
Welcome to Moonshine, where it would all seem illegal if everyone didn’t look so cool.
TEL AVIV — In recent days we have been witnessing growing discontent among Hamas public employees in Gaza who have not been paid their salaries. The situation endangers the coalition government between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and it is without exaggeration to say that the non-payment by the government in Ramallah could restart the […]
From Golda Meir to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli leaders have too often put off decisions on key questions for the country’s future. The cost of “conflict management” is no longer sustainable.
TEL AVIV — With Israeli students returning to school this week, Calcalist decided to ask a few how they spent what turned out to be an unusual summer holiday, given the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Seven weeks of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and Hamas rocket attacks aimed at targets in Israel have […]
Egypt’s President al-Sisi shares with Israel a common enemy in Hamas, but Egyptians are outraged at the recent attacks in Gaza. Chronicle of a high-stakes diplomatic balancing act.
TEL AVIV — A summer of fighting in Gaza has reignited a wave of global protests against Israel. Companies operating in Israel — such as maritime cargo giant Zim and major food producers — are finding themselves under attack. But they are fighting back. “The move to a sweeping boycott of anything Israeli, the violence […]
Hamas methods for getting information to and from its fighters can pose intelligence challenges for the Israeli army, preventing it from deploying its full technological capabilities.
Despite a seven-year blockade, Israel’s control of movement and goods in the Gaza Strip has only strengthened the enemy Hamas and exposed Israel to global criticism. Time for a new policy.
From Gaza to the U.S.-Mexican border, the latest innovations in detecting illicit tunnels that transport people and goods below the radar.
In his 40s, Ra’ed al Atar has emerged as a key to the future of Hamas, both militarily and economically.
TEL AVIV — Last February, a court in Jerusalem ordered a seven-year prison sentence for Kifah Sarhan, a senior Hamas official based in Jerusalem, on charges of membership in a terror organization and dealing with property for terrorism. A resident of East Jerusalem and member of the organization’s advisory council, Sarhan had a key position […]