By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” The mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) – 3,000ft above the Jordan Valley and 2,000 ft above Israel’s heavily populated coastal plain – constitute the “Golan Heights” of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion Airport, the key north-south transportation artery Highway 6, critical commercial…
There is a special account in the Jerusalem Talmud about Elkanah, the father of Samuel, the biblical judge and prophet. In the Talmudic teaching, Elkanah was blessed with being the father of Samuel the anointed because Elkanah pleased God by making regular pilgrimages to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. The Talmud says Elkanah campaigned to bring…
Sometimes we speak of antisemitism as systemic, a wide-reaching “thing” or “concept” that affects a group as a whole, rather than a series of events that affects various people individually. Sometimes the press or powers that be will dismiss what they think is an isolated display of poor judgement for what is a display of…
By Clyde Hughes, World News— Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000-year-old underground compound near Jerusalem’s Western Wall that hasn’t been seen in generations, officials said Tuesday. The Israeli Antiquities Authorities said the compound — which has an open courtyard, two rooms and several household objects — had been sealed during the Byzantine period some 1,400 years…
By i24NEWS— US biotech firm Moderna reported “positive interim” results on Monday in the first clinical tests of its vaccine against the coronavirus performed on a small number of volunteers. In the eight trial subjects who received it, the vaccine, mRNA-1273, appeared to produce an immune response of the same magnitude as that observed in…
By Caroline B. Glick, JPost— Should Jordan’s King Abdullah have veto power over Israel’s plan to apply its sovereign laws to its cities, towns and villages in Judea and Samaria and to the Jordan Valley, in accordance with the Trump peace plan? Monday morning, senior leaders of the Blue and White party began making noises…
By Michael Calvo, Gatestone Institute—- The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007, by a majority of 144 states in favor, 4 votes against, and 11 abstentions, recognized that indigenous people (also known as first people, aboriginal people or native people) have…
By Times of Israel Staff— Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemingly continued to face resistance as he met with lawmakers on Saturday evening in a bid to finish doling out ministerial posts ahead of the new government’s swearing-in, ostensibly scheduled for Sunday afternoon. As the clock struck midnight, only two positions had apparently been accepted, as…
By Elad Benari, Israel National News— The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, on Monday congratulated the new Israeli government but also made clear that the EU will not accept an Israeli move to apply sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria. “The European Union congratulates the new government in Israel. Israel…
By Shelley Neese— Thursday, May 28th, is the first night of Shavuot. Our friends at the Rogatchi Foundation are offering Jerusalem Connection readers a special chance to win a unique piece of Jewish art if you can answer a piece of Jewish holiday trivia. On Shavuot, Jews celebrate the events that took place on Mount…