Gridlocked Israel nears 4th consecutive election

By Associated Press— Israel’s president on Sunday turned down a request from Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz for a two-week extension to form a new coalition government. The announcement by President Reuven Rivlin means that Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have a midnight deadline on Monday night to reach a power-sharing deal.…

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Coronvirus update: 11,145 patients – 183 in serious condition

By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, JPost— For the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Israel, there has been a decrease in the number of people on ventilators. There were 123 being intubated at 8 a.m. Sunday vs.132 people 24 hours before. However, at press time, the total number was back to 131. While some…

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How to Contend with the Coronavirus Crisis: A Jewish View

By Michael Freund, Jerusalem Post— In the Great Plague of London in 1665-6, nearly a quarter of the city’s population perished, while the Third Plague Pandemic, which struck beginning in 1855, led to more than 1 million deaths in China and over 10 million in India. Sadly, there are numerous other instances as well. But…

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Jerusalem Divided Amid Corona Crisis

By Israel Today— Jerusalem, while small in geographical size, is a wildly diverse city, making its administration all the more difficult during times of national crisis like we are now experiencing amid the coronavirus pandemic. As a partial solution to the balagan (as we call such chaotic situations in Hebrew), the Jerusalem Municipality has effectively…

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Israel admits U.S. arrivals despite virus restrictions for second time in week

By Itay Blumenthal, Ynetnews— Dozens of passengers traveling from the United States were allowed entry to Israel on Thursday, despite regulations requiring any non-nationals to enter a 14-day quarantine at a state-run facility. It is the second time in days that such a breach has happened. According to health regulations that came into effect overnight…

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Colleges and Title VI: Stopping Anti-Semitism

By Sarah Stern, Emet— “Never underestimate the power of ideas. Philosophical concepts nurtured in the stillness of a professor’s study could destroy a civilization” – Heinrich Heine Among the manifestations of contemporary anti-Semitism are its ubiquitous nature, and its emergence in some of the least expected places. One might expect it, perhaps, in a working-class…

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Red Alert: What Choices will BDS Enthusiasts Make?

The COVID-19 Virus continues to haunt every nation, every people– nearly every corner of the globe. In so doing it has crippled life as we know it with stay-at-home and quarantine orders. Not only has it disrupted life, including freedom of movement and assembly, it has been crippling economies. Certain sectors, however, are flouring to…

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Southwestern Ends Largest Evangelical Archaeology Program

By Gordon Govier, Christianity Today— The nation’s leading evangelical archaeology program is closing, partly in response to COVID-19. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) will shut down its archaeology program in May, terminating five professors and discontinuing its degree program, which currently has more than 25 graduate students. The decision came as “part of campus-wide budgetary…

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Christian Zionism Isn’t the Caricature of Popular Imagination

By JOHN D. WILSEY, Christianity Today— Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president baptized in office. Shortly after his inauguration, Edward L. R. Elson of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington baptized the president in a private ceremony. For several reasons, Elson was an interesting figure during America’s civil-religious awakening of the 1950s. First, he…

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Infected health minister accused of flouting rules, endangering Israel’s leaders

By Jacob Magid, Times of Israel-— Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, who tested positive for the coronavirus late Wednesday, allegedly broke his own ministry’s guidelines on social distancing by attending group prayer services in the days before he was diagnosed, a TV report said Thursday. Litzman’s positive test has forced almost all the Israeli politicians, officials,…

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Number of corona cases in Israel exceeds 8,000 as death toll continues to rise

By Maytal Yasur Beit-Or , Gadi Golan , Ariel Kahan , Efrat Forsher, Israel Hayom—- The Health Ministry on Sunday released updated figures on the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel, which now stands at 8,018 people. The number of deaths caused by the virus is now 48, with the latest fatality being that…

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