יום שני, ז׳ תמוז תשפ״וMonday, June 22, 2026
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Rafi Harkham is an Editor and Senior Analyst at The Jewish Press.
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By Rafi Harkham
Danny Goldstein, founder and chairman of 'Calcala' ('Finance'): “We are focused on making Israel a better place to live and a better place to invest by merging the best of Israel and America - representing Israelis, but with an eye on the American perspective.”
By Rafi Harkham
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "The Israeli economy grew more than most Western economies, almost 2.5 times the OECD average...In contrast to the collapsing economies around us, Israel's credit rating was upgraded last year."
By Rafi Harkham
Deputy FM Danny Ayalon said Israel would not be cooperating with the Council in the wake of its passage of a resolution ordering a 'fact-finding mission' into Israel's conduct in Judea and Samaria: "We have no reason to continue cooperating with a hypocritical organization which specializes in double-speak and has a mission to smear us."
By Rafi Harkham
Since Kadima's fracturing is inevitable, the leadership primary becomes significance in that it will determine which leader will secure the votes of those Kadima MKs whose allegiance is to the party, and not its leader.
By Rafi Harkham
PM Netanyahu: "Israel will do everything to help" find the killer, who had "strong murderous anti-Semitic motive"; UN Human Rights Council "should be ashamed" to host a Hamas official on the day of a terrorist attack.
By Rafi Harkham
Dalia Itzik, Kadima's Knesset Faction Chairwoman and the last faction member yet to announce who she will support in the upcoming primary between Livni and Shaul Mofaz, has been linked to discussions with Mofaz's campaign over the weekend.
By Rafi Harkham
Noted Israeli author and Israel Prize Laureate A.B. Yehoshua said that living outside Israel "is a very deep failure of the Jewish people," and lamented that immigration numbers from the United States are "minimal" and "embarrassing." He was equally acerbic regarding the large Israeli ex-patriot community.
By Rafi Harkham
The resolution read, "Egypt after the revolution will never be a friend of the Zionist entity, the number one enemy of Egypt and the Arab nation." It also supported Palestinian resistance "in all its kinds and forms."
By Rafi Harkham
The Obama administration has begun "serious discussions" about directly arming the opposition, deploying troops to secure a humanitarian corridor, or establishing a no-fly zone in Syria.
By Rafi Harkham
Anonymous diplomatic and intelligence sources tell Israeli paper that the Obama administration would supply Israel with weapons that would extend its time-line for military action – like advanced GBU-28 bunker-busting bombs and long-range refueling aircraft, so that Israel could wait till after the 2012 presidential election to launch a strike.
By Rafi Harkham
The Israel Export Research Institute reported that from October 2011 to January 2012, the US share of Israeli exports had drastically declined as compared to the same period the year before. In contrast, Israel's exports to the Asian market have seen healthy growth, with an increase of 9% over the same period, totaling $3.1 billion.
By Rafi Harkham
President Obama: "I do not have a policy of containment, I have a policy of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons." He also hailed himself as Israel's greatest friend, and said he plans to honors Israeli President Shimon Peres with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor.
By Rafi Harkham
President Peres said "there is NO space between" Israel and the US, and insisted that Obama's "commitment to Israel is deep and profound." Regarding peace with the Palestinians, he said "the principle of the 'The Two State solution' was "a paramount Israeli interest."
By Rafi Harkham
The New York Times quoted a former senior Israeli official as saying that the Iranian retaliation against an Israeli military strike would be the functional equivalent of Iraq's scud missile attack on Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, the 3000+ Hizbollah rockets fired on Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, and the terror attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s, multiplied in scale at least three times.
By Rafi Harkham
More than anything else, the likes of Arab MKs Hanin Zoabi and Ahmed Tibi frame the tension of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in stark terms, and reveal what is in store for the country should it shift more towards modern liberal democracy and away from a state that reflects a Jewish character culturally and politically.
By Rafi Harkham
The Robert M. Beren Academy has reached the semifinals of its league play, but players and coaches are adamant that they won't play the game, which is scheduled for Friday night. The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools was unmoved by the school's appeal and has replaced Beren with the team it had vanquished to reach the semifinals.
By Rafi Harkham
The 9th president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Beinisch presided over an active term, in which she wrote landmark decisions like the 2005 ruling against the IDF’s use of “human shields,” the 2007 ruling that Israel's separation fence route must be modified, and the 2009 ruling declaring private prisons unconstitutional. But the most memorable ruling of her legacy may be her penultimate one – the High Court's revocation of the Tal Law.
By Rafi Harkham
The Knesset has quickly assumed a proactive role in filling the void left by the the Israeli High Court's decision to annul the Tal Law. Two bills pertaining to mandatory service were already debated and voted upon today, Opposition chairwoman Tzipi Livni continued to blast the low enlistment rate of the Haredi population, and FM Avigdor Lieberman pledged to propose more legislation on the matter in the future.
By Rafi Harkham
Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Lau responds with dismay to a resolution passed by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Council to operate public transportation on Shabbat. He appealed to Mayor Ron Huldai, who supported the resolution, not to "allow the candle of Shabbat to burn out."
By Rafi Harkham
Although the Rabbi is conscious and responsive, he is still breathing with the assistance of an artificial respiration machine.
By Rafi Harkham
Khadar Adnan, a self-described leader of Islamic Jihad, is currently on a hunger strike against his administrative detention in an Israeli prison. Human rights groups are lining up to support him, solidarity marches are being held in his name, and the EU foreign policy chief has expressed her concern. But who really IS Khader Adnan?
By Rafi Harkham
Coinciding with a scathing press release by the Zionist Organization of America, 30 senior activists from Temple Mount groups and organizations around Israel recently convened an unprecedented meeting and resolved to challenge the Israeli government's discriminatory treatment of Jews on the Temple Mount.
By Rafi Harkham
The intensified cooperation between Iran and Syria reflects their understanding that Iran's nuclear ambitions and the unrest in Syria are linked: Western nations' arming of the Syrian Opposition would cause a serious rift with Russia and China at a time when their consensus is crucial to constraining Iran's nuclear program.
By Rafi Harkham
ZOA Director Jeff Daube: "Our co-religionists want to practice a simple act of faith at the ultimate Jewish holy site, they just want to pray quietly and respectfully, and we must advocate for them. For if not here, then where?”
By Rafi Harkham
A war of words has erupted between Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan and American Novelist Paul Auster. Auster seemed to hit a nerve, suggesting that his allegations might be true.
By Rafi Harkham
Russia and China, constrained by outdated Cold War outlooks, continue to frustrate attempts to end the conflict in Syria.
By Rafi Harkham
Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Mashaal came to an agreement on an interim unity government on Sunday. Mashaal: We are seeking unity "to resist the enemy and achieve our national goal."
By Rafi Harkham
High-ranking officials from the Jewish Leadership faction of the Likud cite numerous discrepancies in vote tallies around the country.
By Rafi Harkham
After the incident, Michaeli was unrepentant: "Majadle will learn not to insult women. He hurt the honor of the Knesset and of this place. The times when a man can curse a woman in public, offend her and act violently are over. Times have changed."
June 21, 2026 
