Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu re-elected as voters swing to the right

Apr 18, 2019 Go comment!

As expected, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has named incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the best person to put together the next Israeli government.
Full story
Jews out in space

Apr 18, 2019 Go comment!

“We’re Jews out in space, zooming along protecting the Hebrew race.” This was sung by a bunch of tallit-wearing Jews depicted at the end of Mel Brookes’ 1981 comic classic, History of the World Part 1. Flying a magen david (star of david) shaped spacecraft, the Jews dance a hora each time they destroy an enemy spacecraft while singing, “When goyim attack us, we give them a smack and slap them right back in the face.”
Full story
King Bibi here to stay

Apr 11, 2019 Go comment!

“This is an unimaginable achievement,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told exuberant supporters in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Full story
Israeli election day dishes up some hard choices

Apr 11, 2019 Go comment!

(JTA) Even by Israeli standards, the country’s latest general elections have been exceptionally dirty, rife with personal attacks between candidates, and fake news.
Full story
Israelis watch the rising star of Gantz

Feb 07, 2019 Go comment!

There’s a popular weekly satirical show in Israel called Eretz Nehederet. In a recent episode, an actor playing Benny Gantz, the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and newcomer to Israeli politics, is asked how he’s feeling.
Full story
Israel among top five most innovative countries on the globe

Jan 24, 2019 Go comment!

Israel – commonly dubbed the “Start-up Nation” – has jumped to fifth place in the 2019 Bloomberg Innovation Index, skipping five places since last year. It is officially the fifth most innovative country in the world, according to Bloomberg, an international business news network that calls itself “the central nerve system of global finance”.
Full story
Israeli elections down to two men

Jan 17, 2019 Go comment!

Israeli elections are still three months away, which is a lifetime in Israel. So much can happen between now and then that when election day arrives on 9 April, much of what is written here could be obsolete.
Full story
Israel story based on a fake narrative

Dec 06, 2018 Go comment!

The Israel story is “malfunctioning or getting warped in translation”, says Canadian-born Israeli Matti Friedman, who is a senior journalist and author based in Jerusalem.
Full story
Rockets, mortars, retaliation, repeat – welcome to the Gaza belt

Nov 19, 2018 Go comment!

Fifteen hours. That’s all it took for Hamas to shoot 460 rockets and mortars at southern Israel.
Full story
Former deputy Israeli ambassador to SA drawn into Gaza rocket anguish

Nov 15, 2018 Go comment!

On Monday evening, the skirmish raging between Israel and Hamas became very real for former Deputy Israeli Ambassador to South Africa, Michael Freeman, and his wife, Sigalit. They learned that the home of Sigalit’s mother had been hit by rocket fire, and neither of them was in a position to do anything.
Full story
Ex-South Africans under fire near Gaza border

Nov 15, 2018 Go comment!

South African olah, Nava Uner, has lived through two previous Gaza attacks, but this past week was undoubtedly the worst.
Full story
Putin invites Netanyahu, Abbas to World Cup final

Jun 28, 2018 Go comment!

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to attend the World Cup final in Moscow next month.
Full story
The man who welcomed Prince William to Israel with tea and scones

Jun 28, 2018 Go comment!

Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, was welcomed to the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on Tuesday by a former South African, Sheldon Ritz, who is Director of Operations at the famous hotel, and a highly experienced manager of diplomatic entourages.
Full story
When a journalist becomes the news

May 03, 2018 Go comment!

For years I’ve covered conflict situations. It's never something I've feared. At The Star, I was known as “Bang Bang Betty” or “Burnick”. People called me brave. Some thought my bravery was mildly stupid; others respected it.
Full story
Die Antwoord to play in Israel despite calls for boycott

May 03, 2018 Go comment!

South African music duo Die Antwoord announced last Monday that they will perform a concert in Rishon LeZion in August, at the same venue where they performed in 2016.
Full story
Understanding Netanyahu and his Iran revelation

May 03, 2018 Go comment!

Fear is a powerful motivator, especially in politics. When an electorate is afraid, it isn’t difficult for a leader to convince them of almost anything.
Full story
Taking you through some of Israel’s firsts

Apr 19, 2018 Go comment!

1952 High-school dropout Stef Wertheimer sets up a small metal shop and tool-making company in the backyard of his home in Nahariya. His company, ISCAR, is today one of the world’s largest manufacturers of carbide industrial cutting tools used by carmakers like Ford and General Motors, employing 6 000 people in branches in 50 countries.
Full story
Why kibbutzim are thriving again

Apr 19, 2018 1 Comment

If there was ever a quintessential symbol of the Jewish State’s founding pioneers, it is the kibbutz – a phenomenon found only in Israel, and as intrinsic to the fabric of society as the Israeli flag.
Full story
Bibi defends controversial Kotel decision

Jun 29, 2017 1 Comment

Netanyahu says he didn’t betray anyone by effectively cancelling a historic agreement to provide a non-Orthodox space at the Kotel, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, and caving to the interests of his Haredi Orthodox coalition partners.
Full story
Being schooled in a new school system

Jun 08, 2017 Go comment!

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.
Full story