יום רביעי, כ״ז אלול תשפ״וWednesday, September 9, 2026
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By the summer of 1947, British Mandatory Palestine was in flames. Jewish underground fighters waged guerrilla warfare against the British administration. Refugee ships, such as the S.S. Exodus, challenged London's refusal to let Holocaust survivors enter the Holy Land. A United Nations committee visited the region and returned with a plan to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, formerly the chief rabbi of Israel and currently chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, visited the United States recently to address the Siyum HaShas at MetLife Stadium and to appear at a Chabad Shabbos retreat in Fort Lauderdale.
It’s election season, so Republicans can’t be blamed for expressing outrage when the political platform at last week’s Democratic National Convention removed support for Jerusalem being the capital of Israel.
The delegates arrived from all over the world including Denmark, Sweden, Turkey and Australia, to take part in the New Media & Public Diplomacy Seminar at Ariel University in Samaria. Their formal goal is to "gain a better understanding of how public diplomacy shapes the Middle East conflict," but they are also counting on having a lot of fun.
By Dov Shurin
As we prepare for Rosh Hashanah, the ten days of repentance, and the awesome day of Yom Kippur when our judgment is sealed for the coming year, it’s so important for me to tell my readers how much I love the Ribbono Shel Olam, the Master of the Universe.
The 10-day period from Rosh Hashanah-Yom Kippur is, as is well known, a time to begin personal introspection – an occasion to look back at one’s mistakes of the past year and plan the needed changes to improve oneself in the New Year. In the U.S. it is also a time for Americans to make positive “resolutions."
Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) recently traveled to Israel where he joined Israeli and international leaders to call for better recognition of the rights of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. “I am proud to have visited Israel this week to speak about the absolute necessity of recognizing the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries,” said […]
We probably will never know for sure whether President Obama was involved or even aware of the decision not to carry over a reference to Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel in the Democratic Party’s 2008 platform to its 2012 platform.
President Obama may be enjoying a slight, if likely temporary, bounce in the polls this week. But one of the surveys showing him with a lead in a tight race over Mitt Romney also provides a breakdown of the data that confirms predictions that he is losing up to a quarter of the Jewish votes he got in 2008.
By Zev Hurwitz, Israel Campus Beat
A report recommended that UC consider banning all hate speech from its nine campuses.
Unwilling to issue an ultimatum, the U.S.will go no further than to repeat that “we will not allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon,” but it will not say — publicly or to Israel — how far it will allow Iran to go.
JERUSALEM – Barring any scheduling changes during the forthcoming UN General Assembly gathering, President Obama will not formally meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York. This follows Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s rejection of Netanyahu’s demand that the U.S. and its Western allies deliver a red line ultimatum to the Iranian regime regarding their escalating nuclear weapons program.
"Politically conservative Jewish students on campus were being treated like outcasts, even within the traditional Jewish campus organizations."
One inevitable fact I have learned after almost 20 years here is that tomorrow will come, as planned, as designed, no matter what I do.
Israelis have been forced to accept that just because you want something, does not mean that you can have it. And the United States will have to either accept that as well or end its relationship with Israel.
By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency
Nepal and Israel issued joint commemorative stamps to mark 52 years of friendly relations between the two countries last week. The stamps showcase the highest and lowest peaks in the world which are found in both countries: Israel’s Dead Sea which is 422 meters below sea level and Nepal’s Mount Everest, at 8,848 meters above sea level.
Despite President Obama's assertions at the 9-11 memorial that the fight against terror is only against al Qaeda, it was still good to hear him speaking about the enduring nature of a nation’s memory of its terror victims. Here in Israel, we (the bloggers behind This Ongoing War) waged a campaign for years to require the Jerusalem municipality to remember Jerusalem’s victims of terror.
UNRWA Gaza chief Robert Turner’s “prescription” for saving Gaza’s Palestinians, set out in an article on the Guardian's Comment is Free site, is based on a severe case of historical myopia. For it’s the one word that Mr. Turner neglected to use in his anti-Israel screed that is in fact behind Gaza’s rapidly devolving state: Hamas.
According to a new study released Tuesday, Israel is the world’s second most educated country, after Canada.
An Austrian couple is enjoying the sites in the Holy Land after winning an Israel Government Tourist Office competition for “the face of the German tourist in Israel.”
By Moshe Herman
Yishai is joined by Baruch Widen to discuss the upcoming arrival of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the United Nations and how it affects the relationship between Israel and the United States.
By JTA
The “Red Hot Chili Peppers” performed in Tel Aviv on Monday night, a decade after they canceled their show due to security issues. It was the group’s first visit to Israel, and to make the most of it, the members went to the Western Wall in Jerusalem straight from the airport. The band talked about Hillel Slovak, one of their founding members, who died from a drug overdose in the early 1990s.
By JTA
Iran has moved further along in its ability to build nuclear weapons, according to some diplomats.
By Tzvi Fishman
When you are sick, do you go to the doctor, or the student of the doctor? So why go to Uman where Rebbe Nachman is buried, when you could go to the cities in Israel where his teachers are buried?
According to reports in the Arab media, Hamas security forces confiscated weapons and made several arrests over the past few days among Salafi terrorists, in an attempt to prevent continued shooting and to uncover additional information about their arsenal of weapons. Hamas is focusing on the Shura Council organization, a relative newcomer on the Gaza front, established last June. As of now, more 30 Salafi terrorists have been arrested by Hamas security.
The U.S. reiterated its rejection of Israel's call for "clear red lines." Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded, saying those "who refuse to put red lines in front of Iran, don't have a moral right to put a red light in front of Israel." Here is the Prime Minister in his own words - responding to a reporter's question about the State Department's position:
Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, the former president of the Union of Reform Judaism, has argued that the reform movement should look to Orthodox Judaism for guidance. Harry Maryles argues that this provides an important kiruv opportunity.
Haim Saban, a proud Jew, staunch supporter of Israel, and noted philanthropist, nevertheless parses President Obama’s record on Israel in The New York Times to deliver a sanitized rendition of a President whose relationship with the Jewish state is unreliable at best and troubling at worst, writes Congressional candidate Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.
By Moshe Herman
Yishai is joined by Baruch Widen to discuss recently-broadcast pieces on Al Jezeera that discuss the future of Israel and its neighbors.
Israel and Japan are celebrating sixty years of diplomatic relations, and so, a week ago, the Israel-Japan Chamber of Commerce marked the occasion with a festive event. But the current commercial ties between the two countries gives less cause for celebration. Israeli businesses find it difficult to understand the Japanese market and Japanese companies are not in a hurry to reach Israel.
The Hashava Company, established by the Israeli Knesset to locate heirs of Holocaust victims entitled to assets currently held in Israel, is set to embark on a campaign in the United States and Canada to find rightful heirs of more than 60,000 unclaimed Holocaust assets.
By Hannah Kark
When I walk in to the grocery store it is second nature for me to just check to make sure that that bag of chips or that cookie has an OU or other kosher symbol on it. To many Jews, it is just something that they do, and it usually is like that for me. But when this question was asked, I thought deeper. I began to think about how this label gives me a sense of community; and as I made that connection, I thought of our rich heritage, and once that relationship was made I thought about our homeland – Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an interview stating that the U.S. would not be setting any deadlines for Iran.
According to the Prime Minister, “Ariel is an inseparable part of the State of Israel and it will remain an inseparable part of the country in any possible future arrangement, just like all other population blocs.
In two weeks millions of Jews will cry out, "Next Year in Jerusalem" and millions more will cry out, "Vote for Obama." And we shall see whose faith will prevail.
There are many Halachic reasons to disqualify a witness. Owning an iPhone is not one of them.
Students are drawn into psycho-political cyclotrons and are insulated from all other voices. What begins as a concern for human rights is amplified by contact with more and more extreme expressions of anti-Israel ideology.
A new poll released at an international conference on Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries shows that a great proportion of Arab Israelis (54%) than Jewish Israelis (48%) believe issues pertaining to Jewish refugees from Arab countries deserve as much attention as those pertaining to Arab refugees from Israel’s war of independence.
By Moshe Herman
Rabbi Mike Feuer, the Educational director at Yeshivat Sulam Yaakov joins Yishai to discuss the need for strength for the Nation of Israel.
KKL-JNF's ( Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael- Jewish National Fund) “Forester For a Day” program is a new ecological initiative that offers visitors a unique opportunity to assist in maintaining Israel's forests, prevent forest fires and promote an overall atmosphere of environmental awareness. The Jewish Press sat down with Revital Ovadia, the program's coordinator to find out more.
President Morsi is continuing the evolution toward an Egyptian definition of Egyptian interests that began with the decline of Hosni Mubarak and that promises to hasten the decline of American influence.
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Six years after being critically wounded during the Second Lebanon War, Noam Gershuny won a gold medal at the Paralympics Games in London playing tennis.
Israel's cabinet approved today the appointment of Shai Nitzan to the position of Deputy Attorney General for Special Assignments. Nationalist activists and politicians say that as Deputy State Prosecutor for eight years Nitzan had a left-wing, anti-settlement, anti-nationalist agenda.
The global Jewish population grew by more than 88,000 people over the past year, and now stands at 13.75 million, according to a new study published y Professor Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The virus of antisemitism is alive and well in Eastern Europe, and so is the denial of the Holocaust. It is particularly disconcerting that a younger generation in Rumania, and more than likely everywhere else in the world, should be infected with this virus, and is -- or claims to be -- ignorant of the real treatment of Jews in the 20th century.
By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency
The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has launched a new campaign to mark the expulsion of Jews from Arab countries, called "I am a Refugee", which seeks to bring the forgotten and often overlooked stories of Jewish refugees from Arab countries to both Israel and the international community.
While recognizing pitfalls of the Israeli economy such as Israel's significant social and political problems as well as a slowdown in growth, Moody's 2012 credit report seems to have more confidence in israel's economy relative to the G-20 advanced countries.
By Hadar Sela
In the Judean lowlands, rising above the Elah Valley, lies Tel Azeka (also Azekah) – mentioned numerous times in Biblical texts. Perhaps most famously, it is associated with the story of David and Goliath, which is etched into blocks of stone set by the path up to the top of the Tel, its dramatic ending overlooking the Elah Valley below on one side and views as far as the Mediterranean coast on the other.
By Ted Belman
According to Franklin Lamb in the anti-Israel website Foreign Policy Journal, the pro-Israel Community is all hot and bothered by an alleged new study: It’s a paper entitled “Preparing For A Post Israel Middle East”, an 82-page analysis that concludes that the American national interest in fundamentally at odds with that of Zionist Israel. The authors conclude […]
Canada suspended diplomatic relations with Iran, closing down its embassy in Iran and giving Iranian diplomats in Canada five days to leave Canadian soil.
Mark 2012, however, as the year the Obama administration took its most overt steps yet to tell the Arab and Muslim World the the U.S. was severable from Israel. How much of what the US and Israel developed over the years was shared with countries overtly hostile to Israel?
Her family descended from Portuguese Marranos who had sought asylum in England in the eighteenth century. Grace Aguilar was born there at the onset of the nineteenth century (1816), and her remarkable work would exercise an impact on the historiography of Jewish life in the ensuing three decades of that century.
By JTA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu erupted in anger at the U.S. ambassador to Israel over what Israel's government regards as unclear signals from the United States on Iran. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, described an encounter he wtinessed last month when he was visiting Israel for […]
By JTA
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praising the Obama administration in a bid to show that Republicans have "lied" about Obama and Israel. "Barack Obama promised always to stand with Israel to tighten sanctions on Iran—and take nothing off the table," Kerry said Thursday night in Charlotte, N.C., where Democrats are […]
Fein is wrong. The corruption of the Jewish soul did not begin in 1967. It began with the adoption of the idea that surrender is pro-Israel.
Less than 24 hours after the "Jerusalem is the capital of Israel" language was reinserted, this administration has once again shifted course. In today's State Department's daily press conference, the United States officially refuses to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This is after DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz insisted on CNN that the position of President Obama has always been that Jerusalem is and always will remain the capital of Israel.
By dvora
Hosted by Esther and Rafi Katz and attended by a wide spectrum of the L.A. Jewish community, the 4th Annual Los Angeles Puah Brunch was recently held to support the groundbreaking endeavors of Puah – the Israel-based international organization that assists Jewish couples with fertility problems within halachic parameters.
Jewish community and organizational leaders gathered recently at the home of Sarita Spiwak in Century City, California to meet and hear from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The congresswoman, the first Cuban-American female elected to Congress, is the longest-serving Republican woman the House of Representatives.
The Oslo peace process had “more failures than advantages,” French Ambassador to Israel Christophe Bigot told a delegation of pro-Land of Israel rabbis.
By JTA
At President Obama's behest, and to boos from some delegates, Democrats on Wednesday night inserted a few lines into their party platform affirming Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
By Moshe Herman
Yishai is joined by Dr. Mordechai Kedar, expert on Israel's Arab population to discuss Israel's relationship with its neighbors.
The shocking video of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa trying to push through Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in the Democratic platform highlights the strong reservations that many American Jews are feeling toward the Democratic party.
A strategy of stopping Iran by getting the US to promise to enforce red lines is only a promise; and nations — the US is not alone in this — do not keep promises when doing so is not determined to be in their interest.
By Tzvi Fishman
Today, the “evil thing” in our communities and homes is the onslaught of immodest websites and images on the Internet.
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) strongly declared that most Democratic party members support the concept of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
If it wants to survive and thrive, Israel must base itself upon three key concepts: identity, meaning, and liberty.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
It would be reasonable to assume that a language that contains the verb “to command” must also contain the verb “to obey.” The one implies the other, just as the concept of a question implies the possibility of an answer. We would, however, be wrong. There are 613 commandments in the Torah, but there is no word in biblical Hebrew that means “to obey.” When Hebrew was revived as a language of everyday speech in the nineteenth century, a word, letsayet, had to be borrowed from Aramaic. Until then there was no Hebrew word for “to obey.”
“Fair and Balanced” is fast becoming more slogan than operating system at Fox News, and nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the way Israel is increasingly being treated and the extent to which anti-Semitism is tolerated as part of the cable channel’s conversation.
By Steven Plaut
It is now official. Rachel Corrie, patron saint of the pro-terror radical left and its Islamofascist allies, essentially committed suicide in order to assist Palestinian terrorists. She was not killed in cavalier fashion by Israel. Israel had no particular reason to want her dead (as opposed to deported).
Bob Weintraub chuckled appreciatively the first time he heard that Barack Obama described his job before he went into politics as “community organizer.” Bob knows a thing or two about community organizing: during the late 1940s, he helped organize a series of remarkable grassroots election campaigns in New York City that sent a powerful warning to President Harry Truman about the Jewish community’s unhappiness over his administration’s waffling on Zionism.
JERUSALEM – White House and Israeli government officials criticized Israel’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper for publishing what they described as two patently false stories during the past week.
By Ron Kampeas
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jewish swing voters could make or break President Obama’s bid for reelection. At least that’s the case that Democratic Party leaders made in a training session that packed one of the larger halls at the convention center here on Monday, the day before the formal start of the Democratic National Convention.
Also missing is what had been a solid commitment to isolate Hamas. Instead, the only pre-conditions imposed are the same for all Arabs in the area - "we will insist that any Palestinian partner must recognize Israel's right to exist [not to exist as a Jewish State, just to exist], reject violence, and adhere to existing agreements." That's it. There have also been changes regarding Israel between the 2008 Republican Party Platform and the one just passed in Tampa at last week's Republican Party Convention - and those appear to be more favorable to Israel.
The Weekly Standard is already advancing the speculation that Debbie Wasserman Schultz be let go from her post as DNC chair following her blatant lie regarding Republicans, Israel, and Israel's ambassador Michael Oren. In a TV appearance Tuesday night, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was asked about the Michael Oren email. But instead of acknowledging her misstatement, […]
By JTA
A group of some 20 African migrants is trapped between Israel's border fence with Egypt and Israeli soldiers who have been ordered not to let them in.
By JTA
The 2012 Democratic Party platform omits language recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and suggests that military force is "on the table" as an option for addressing the Iranian nuclear issue.
By Tibbi Singer
Back in August, Hadassah Magazine interviewed Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and one of their question was: "Why did you call on both parties to refrain from challenging each other over support for Israel?" The DNC chair answered: "What the Republicans are doing is dangerous ... Israel’s ambassador Michael Oren, has said this." Then she repeated the allegation at a DNC convention forum. So the ambassador sent out an email.
My pro-Obama friends tell me that nothing’s changed, that this administration is as pro-Israel as any previous one, Democratic or Republican, and I needn’t fear that a reelected President Obama will punish Israel. With all due respect, they are full of it.
By DovBear
G-d blessed Facebook’s CEO with this poignant lesson. Right as we approach the Day of Judgment, followed by times of Repentance, and the final celebration of Atonement, He blesses all of Israel with this lesson as well.
The interesting question is “why did they change it?” A platform is not a binding document; it is intended as a general statement of a party or candidate’s positions. Its planks are generally written to appeal the broadest possible constituencies. Most voters never read platforms or care about them. Is the change is intended to send a message to the leadership of the Muslim nations that Obama has been courting since his 2009 speech in Cairo that he is taking concrete steps to weaken the bond between the U.S. and Israel?
By Tibbi Singer
Israel's Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Minister of Religious Affairs Yaakov Margi and the Chief Rabbinate Council to explain why they not allow single women to immerse in state-run mikvahs.
Reason #1. Iran's regime is outspokenly dedicated to the goal of destroying the State of Israel. Iranian political, religious, and military leaders have expressed their desire to annihilate Israel at every opportunity they have received....
By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency
According to Dr. Eldad Pardo, a senior researcher at IMPACT-SE, (Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education) and a teacher at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, hateful language against Israel is characteristic of the themes taught in Palestinian Authority school textbooks. “Jewish holy places in Israel are not recognized. They are presented as Muslim holy sites taken over by Jews. There is no recognition of Jewish people as a nation. Israelis are depicted as criminals and thieves.”
By Moshe Herman
Yishai and Baruch Widen discuss the beginning of the school year in Israel along with the relationship between Israel and Turkey.
When it comes to Metzitza B’Peh, we are not discussing a Biblical Commandment, nor are we referring to a Rabbinical enactment from the Gemarah's time. We are referring to a hallowed Minhag from days of yore to use the mouth only.
In "liberal-speak", pundits say that countries don't have allies, they have interests. That's incorrect; political leaders have interests...countries still have allies.
An article in the August 28 "Foreign Policy Journal" entitled "US Preparing for a Post-Israel Middle East" claims to be based on a leaked document from a CIA staffer, commissioned by the US Intelligence Community, comprised of all four branches of the military, the Coast Guard, the Departments of State, Treasury, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI and the National Security Agency. The document "conclusively reveals" that the CIA thinks Israel is the greatest threat on the face of the Earth to the interests of the United States.
The Egyptian army has slowed down its all-out attack on terrorist enclaves in the Sinai, several weeks after its initial, aggressive spurt on August 5. The terrorist culprits who murdered 15 Egyptian Border Guards remain at large, and the lack of progress appears rooted in political uncertainty back in Cairo. Here's one unexpected aspect of what was touted as a jihad against the murderers: the Egyptian government is going through unofficial channels, employing negotiators to talk to the Sinai terrorists. This has enraged the secular law and order types at home.
By Moshe Herman
Yishai is joined by Chaim Mayer Werthheimer to discuss the growing link between Ultra-orthodox Jews and the Land of Israel.
In March, President Obama said "when the chips are down, I have Israel’s back," but U.S. actions since have shown otherwise.
By Tzvi Fishman
How can it be that in this clear time of Redemption, when millions of Jews have returned to the Land of Israel from the four corners of the world, in the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy that crises and setbacks like the evacuation of Migron still occur?
By J. E. Dyer
The U.S. is being made to look weak in Egypt, and is actually acting weak with allies and foes alike.
By Zev Hurwitz, Israel Campus Beat
In 2002, California State University system cancelled study abroad programs in Israel due to U.S. State Department warnings. The University has 23 campuses in different cities throughout California and almost 427,000 students.
Russian worries about Israel gas potential may be causing it to lesson support for Iran; More U.S. companies are investing in Israel; Will Congress pass the US-Israel Water Cooperation Act?
By Hadar Sela
Mount Tabor, standing 575 meters above sea level at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, is the site of the battle fought by Deborah and Barak against the Canaanite king Sisera, according to the Bible. Now it is the site of two monestaries, with three Bedouin villages nestled at its base.
By JTA
Israeli Paralympic swimmer Inbal Pezaro finally brought Israel its first medal in London. Pezaro, 25, took a bronze in the 50-meter freestyle final in the S5 disability swimming class. She finished with 37.89 seconds, coming in respectively behind a Ukranian and a Spanish swimmer. The athlete, swimming since the age of 5, was paralyzed at […]
By JTA
President Obama’s approach to Iran has made Americans “less secure,” Mitt Romney said in his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination. “Every American was relieved the day President Obama gave the order, and Seal Team Six took out Osama bin Laden,” Romney said Thursday evening at the Republican National Convention. “On another front, every American […]
The first step to remaking Zionism in the future is learning what Zionism meant in the past.
By Tzvi Fishman
There is an old aphorism which claims that two things in life are certain: death and taxes. To this, Rabbi Kook would add a third certainty — t’shuva.
September 4, 2026 
