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IMF Walkout, No MERS Ban, Buried With Fido

GAZA CHILD KILLINGS “TRAGIC ACCIDENT” Israel Defense Forces have closed an internal investigation into its controversial bombing in last year’s Gaza war, in which an Israeli missile killed four children aged 9 to 11 on a Gaza beach, clearing itself of any culpability, Haaretz reports. The Israeli advocate general’s office described the attack as a […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

FIFA’s Other Crisis: Israeli-Palestinian Feud Plays Out In Soccer World

While attention was focused on alleged corruption at FIFA, another kind of drama was playing out between the Israeli and Palestinian soccer delegations.

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Geopolitics Society

How The Russian Crisis Hurts Medical Tourism In Israel

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, […]

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Ideas The Endless War

Israel’s Deadly Logic, As Seen By A Former IDF Soldier

-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 […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

The New Netanyahu Government, The Worst In Israeli History

-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 […]

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Society

Welfare Babies: The Economics Of Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Power

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.

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blog

Eurovision Contestants 2015: Israel

Nadav Guedj, Israel’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, is only 16 years old. Although he looks like a 28-year-old financial strategy advisor, his age makes him one of the youngest contestants this year. And, as heard in our office, he might well get some older ladies in trouble. Especially when the “Middle Eastern […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

The Holocaust’s Last Taboo: Talking About Nazi Child Sex Abuse

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 […]

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Geopolitics Society

When A Muslim Doctor Saved A Jewish Teenager From The Nazis

It’s an untold story that offers hope during troubled times in Europe, the Middle East and beyond. Anna Boros survived the Holocaust thanks to a courageous Egyptian doctor.

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Economy Food / Travel

Israel Needs Tourism Lessons From Its Neighbors

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 […]

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Future

In Israel’s High-Tech Desert, Food Solutions For The Third World

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 […]

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Migrant Lives Society

Immigration In Israel, A Different Story

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.

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Economy Society

Netanyahu, A Promise To The Forgotten Periphery Of Israel

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 […]

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Economy Geopolitics

Will Netanyahu Be Able To Work With His Finance Minister This Time?

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 […]

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blog

Extra! Netanyahu On His Way To Fourth Term

Like most Israeli dailies, the Wednesday edition of Haaretz went to print too early to call Tuesday’s election results, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was declaring victory. The 65-year-old is indeed heading to a fourth term as his Likud party defied final polls that had showed him trailing the centrist Zionist Union party led […]

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blog

Israel Votes, Greece Gets The Finger, Cervantes’ Tomb

ISRAEL VOTESPhoto: Omer Messinger/ZUMAMillions of Israelis are voting today to elect a new parliament and potentially a new prime minister in a tightly fought election that has become a referendum on incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu, who is running for a fourth term. Late polls show center-left opponent Isaac Herzog, leader of the Zionist Union, with a […]

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Geopolitics

Israel Election: It’s The Economy, Stupid

A final survey by Calcalist focused not on the candidates, but on the issues. It doesn’t sound good for incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Israel Election And The World: Netanyahu Or An End To Isolation?

-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 […]

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Economy Society

The Problem In Israeli Politics Isn’t Just The Politicians

It’s the consultants …

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blog

Obama/GOP Clash On Iran, Apple Watch, Senior Sprint

GOP, WHITE HOUSE CLASH ON IRANRepublican senators appear determined to derail a possible deal with Iran on the country’s nuclear program, and their decision to send a letter signed by 47 senators to Tehran has worsened tensions between the GOP and the White House, The Washington Post reports. In the letter, the senators tell Iranian […]

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Society Terror in Europe

From Shoah To Jihad, Some French Jews Still Choose To Hide

In a middle-class home in southern France live a survivor of World War II, her daughter and granddaughters. All three generations are Jewish, but both past and recent history dictate a certain reticence of their identity.

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blog

Nusra Commander Killed, Kremlin Critic Freed, Ancient Love Songs

SENIOR NUSRA COMMANDER KILLEDAbu Hammam al-Shami, a senior commander of al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda branch operating in Syria, was killed by a Syrian government airstrike in the Idlib province, both the terrorist organization and state media have confirmed. Shami, who held the title of general military commander, was apparently meeting with other commanders when he […]

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Economy Geopolitics The Endless War

The Boycott Israel Movement Takes Aim At Corporations

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

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blog

Extra! Israeli Press On Netanyahu’s Hard D.C. Landing

Even as the U.S. and world media mark every step of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s U.S. visit, the Israeli press is keeping even closer eye on his reelection bid later this month. The Israeli leader is set to address the U.S. Congress Tuesday in a speech that has already increased friction with President Barack […]

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Economy Ideas

An Israeli Pitch On The Benefits Of “Patriotic” High-Tech Investing

-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 […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Has ISIS Really Wormed Its Way Into The West Bank?

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.

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Geopolitics Syria Crisis

Israel Befriends Rebels As Hezbollah Leads Syria’s Pro-Assad Offensive

Syria’s tangled web grows even more intricate. Hezbollah is key to Assad’s strategy, moderate rebels avoid ISIS and al-Nusra at all cost, and Israel helps the Free Syrian Army.

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Economy Society

Israel’s Conflict-Battered Economy

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 […]

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Geopolitics

How ISIS And Iran Are Keeping Israel’s Borders Quiet

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.

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blog

ISIS In Libya, Japanese Mother’s Plea, Apple Breaks Bank

ISRAEL-LEBANON-SYRIA SKIRMISHES INTENSIFYAn anti-tank missile was fired at an Israeli military vehicle near the Lebanon border Wednesday, wounding four soldiers, Reuters quoted a military source as saying. The incident came several hours after Israel launched an air strike in Syria amid tensions that have escalated in the frontier area over the past 10 days. According […]

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blog

Tel Aviv Stabbings, Confident Obama, Brazil Drought

12 WOUNDED IN TEL AVIV BUS ATTACKTwelve people were injured, including 3 seriously, in a stabbing attack Wednesday morning in Tel Aviv. A 23-year-old man from the West Bank city of Tulkarem was arrested after being shot in the leg as he attempted to flee the scene, Haaretz reports. EXTRA! STATE OF THE UNIONIn a […]

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Economy Future

The Brand Man, How David Placek Names Things You Want To Buy

He’s coined everything from the PowerBook to Blackberry to your kitchen mop. There’s a method to his magic.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Why Israel’s Tax-Freeze Threat Against Palestinians Is Different This Time

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, […]

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Economy Society

The World’s Best And Worst Places To Get Fired

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.

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Geopolitics

In Jerusalem, The Delicate Art Of Ignoring Each Other

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 […]

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Economy Society

Why CEOs Still Can’t Say ‘I’m Sorry’

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!”

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Geopolitics Syria Crisis

Syrians Wounded Near Israeli Border Treated By ‘Enemy’ Doctors

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 […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Leadership-By-Paranoia, Why Netanyahu Must Go

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.

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Future Society

Former Top Israeli Spy On Internet Risks To Privacy And Peace

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.

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Economy Future

Internet Advertising, Rewired: Yaron Galai, An Israeli Brain Behind Outbrain

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.

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