http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php en nrubin@jewishtimes.com Copyright 2012 2012-02-10T19:04:19+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/kissinger_wins_israels_presidents_prize/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/kissinger_wins_israels_presidents_prize/#When:18:04:19Z - Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was among the recipients of Israel’s first President’s Prize. The new initiative, spearheaded by Israeli President Shimon Peres, honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to Israeli society and the country’s global image. Joining Kissinger in receiving the award Thursday at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem were Israeli Philharmonic… News - Israel 2012-02-10T18:04:19+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/is_hamas_trying_to_change_its_stripes/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/is_hamas_trying_to_change_its_stripes/#When:16:01:24Z Is Hamas trying to change its stripes? Terrorist attacks against Israelis appear to be on pause, and rocket fire from Gaza is down significantly. The Hamas leader in Damascus, Khaled Meshaal, is trying to distance himself from the Assad regime and align Hamas with the forces of the Arab Spring. Hamas’ parent organization in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood,… News - Israel 2012-02-09T16:01:24+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/bill_would_aid_people_who_leave_haredi_community/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/bill_would_aid_people_who_leave_haredi_community/#When:12:55:19Z A Knesset member from the left-wing Meretz Party has authored a bill that would provide financial aid to young people who leave the haredi Orthodox fold. The bill being advanced by Zehava Gal-On would provide a financial aid package similar to one given to a new immigrant to the country, Haaretz reported. … News - Israel 2012-02-07T12:55:19+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/madonna_to_launch_world_tour_in_israel/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/madonna_to_launch_world_tour_in_israel/#When:12:56:20Z International pop star Madonna—who just performed the Super Bowl half-time show—reportedly will launch her new world tour in Israel. The concert tour for Madonna’s new MDNA album will begin May 31 at Ramat Gan Stadium near Tel Aviv, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday, in advance of her Super Bowl halftime show. Fan websites have been publishing the rumor… News - Israel 2012-02-06T12:56:20+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/iran_well_help_those_who_confront_israel/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/iran_well_help_those_who_confront_israel/#When:13:18:14Z Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country is prepared to assist those who would confront Israel and the United States. “From now on, in any place, if any nation or any group confronts the Zionist regime, we will endorse and we will help,” the leader of Iran’s theocracy said in a Friday sermon… News - Israel 2012-02-05T13:18:14+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/netanyahu_wins_likud_chairmanship_yet_again/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/netanyahu_wins_likud_chairmanship_yet_again/#When:16:53:49Z Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the Likud Party chairmanship race with 75 percent of the vote. Netanyahu in Tuesday’s polling brought in about the same percentage of voters as the last race in 2007, again beating back a challenge by hard-liner Moshe Feiglin of the Jewish Leadership faction of the party to take the chairmanship for the fifth… News - Israel 2012-02-02T16:53:49+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/pressure_building_on_haredi_army_exemption_law/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/pressure_building_on_haredi_army_exemption_law/#When:17:11:58Z When Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, granted a few hundred haredi Orthodox Jews an exemption from army service, it’s likely he never dreamed that 63 years later, tens of thousands of haredi Israelis would claim the exemption—or that the issue would be among the most contentious in modern Israel. Haredi army service took center stage again this… News - Israel 2012-02-01T17:11:58+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/poll_most_jews_keep_kosher_observe_shabbat_somehow/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/poll_most_jews_keep_kosher_observe_shabbat_somehow/#When:12:46:20Z More than four of every five Israeli Jews believe in God and three-quarters of Israeli Jews keep kosher, according to a survey. The study, conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute’s Guttman Center and paid for by the Avi Chai Foundation, also found that 51 percent of Israeli Jews favor instituting civil marriage; in Israel, marriage is controlled by… News - Israel 2012-01-31T12:46:20+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/israeli_high_tech_explored/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/israeli_high_tech_explored/#When:22:37:05Z Ronni Zehavi got quite a Chanukah present last month. On Dec. 11, he sold Contendo, a Web services company he co-founded in Israel four years ago, to Akamai, a major global high-tech player. Sale price: $268 million. Score one for the startup nation. Contendo provides Internet acceleration services for customers; that is, it helps make websites run faster.… News - Israel 2012-01-29T22:37:05+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/first_conservative_minyan_held_in_knesset_synagogue/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/first_conservative_minyan_held_in_knesset_synagogue/#When:13:37:42Z A Conservative minyan was held reportedly for the first time at the Knesset synagogue. Leaders from the Conservative movement of North America met Tuesday with Israeli lawmakers at the Knesset building in Jerusalem. Following the meeting, the group held an egalitarian afternoon service in the men’s section of the Knesset synagogue, which traditionally holds only Orthodox worship services,… News - Israel 2012-01-27T13:37:42+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/shimon_peres_on_what_ben-gurion_would_do_today/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/shimon_peres_on_what_ben-gurion_would_do_today/#When:13:06:45Z David Ben-Gurion must be spinning in his grave. The handful of haredi Orthodox Jews to whom he gave indemnity from military service has become a million. Israeli presidents and Cabinet ministers have landed themselves in jail for rape, corruption and nepotism. The Knesset and the Supreme Court are locked in a battle to the death, and the Knesset… News - Israel 2012-01-26T13:06:45+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/difficult_integration_in_israel_for_young_filipinos/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/difficult_integration_in_israel_for_young_filipinos/#When:12:18:25Z With eyes closed, it would have been difficult to guess that the female voice with the amazing range singing a Hebrew classic was a shy-looking, 11-year-old Filipina. But there was Kathleen Eligado performing Miri Aloni’s “Ballad of Hedva and Shlomik” before a prime-time television audience of a million Israelis. Eligado, born in Israel to Filipino migrant worker… News - Israel 2012-01-23T12:18:25+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/u.s.-israel_anti-missile_exercise_delay_fuels_speculation/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/u.s.-israel_anti-missile_exercise_delay_fuels_speculation/#When:16:48:25Z The decision by Israel and the United States to delay a massive joint anti-missile exercise set off a frenzy of speculation as to what the move says about relations between the two allies amid mounting tensions with Iran. U.S. and Israeli officials confirmed to JTA over the weekend that they had delayed until the second half of 2012… News - Israel 2012-01-19T16:48:25+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/will_yair_lapid_be_israels_new_political_force/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/will_yair_lapid_be_israels_new_political_force/#When:16:46:43Z One of the big open questions after Israel’s social protests last summer was whether or not the one-time mass movement would be able to translate its newfound clout into lasting political power. During the weeks of protests and for months afterward, none of Israel’s political parties seemed able to capture the demonstrators’ voice or allegiances. But that… News - Israel 2012-01-18T16:46:43+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/israel_heads_back_to_the_oscars/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/israel_heads_back_to_the_oscars/#When:00:52:54Z Joseph Cedar is on a pretty good run: The Israeli director has made four movies in his 11-year career, and the first three have represented his country at the Academy Awards for best foreign-language film. One made the cut of five finalists, but a Cedar film has yet to capture a golden statuette. In fact, no Israeli film… News - Israel 2012-01-18T00:52:54+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/u.s._condemns_vandalizing_of_west_bank_mosque/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/u.s._condemns_vandalizing_of_west_bank_mosque/#When:14:19:38Z The United States condemned the vandalizing of a mosque in the northern West Bank. “The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms today’s most recent vandalizing of a mosque, as well as the burning of three cars, in the West Bank village of Dir Istiya. Hateful, dangerous, and provocative actions such as these are never justified,”  the… News - Israel 2012-01-14T14:19:38+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/israel_demolishse_third_illegal_outpost_this_week/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/israel_demolishse_third_illegal_outpost_this_week/#When:14:16:57Z Israeli security forces demolished an illegal West Bank outpost, the third this week. Israel Defense Forces troops and Civil Administration inspectors early Thursday morning evacuated and demolished the Mitzpe Avichai outpost near Kiryat Arba. The outpost was home to nine families, including 20 children. The forces evacuated the families from the outpost at about 3 a.m. and then… News - Israel 2012-01-13T14:16:57+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/israeli-greek_defense_ties_ramped_up/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/israeli-greek_defense_ties_ramped_up/#When:13:15:58Z Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak pledged to ramp up defense cooperation with Greece at a meeting with his Greek counterpart in Athens. Barak and Greek Defense Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos on Tuesday discussed defense cooperation for 2012, including cooperative air maneuvers, as well as the possibility of Greece producing the Israeli-made SPICE 1000/2000 weapons system. Avramopoulos said Greece is… News - Israel 2012-01-12T13:15:58+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/jordan_river_returns_to_forefront_of_interest/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/jordan_river_returns_to_forefront_of_interest/#When:17:23:54Z The mighty River Jordan cuts a tiny ribbon through the geological depression stretching from Syria to Ethiopia. The river’s output is paltry. But for millennia the Jordan has been a thread in Western consciousness; and it has now returned to the forefront of attention, courtesy of politics and science. Yahud, a site east of Jericho on the Jordan’s… News - Israel 2012-01-11T17:23:54+00:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/olmert_indictment_keeps_up_corruption_pressure/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/olmert_indictment_keeps_up_corruption_pressure/#When:17:20:38Z The indictment of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and 17 other Israelis on charges related to one of the largest real estate scandals in Israeli history is the latest shoe to drop in a country where political corruption has come to be seen as an epidemic. The indictment issued Jan. 4 alleges that Olmert and several other Israeli… News - Israel 2012-01-09T17:20:38+00:00