A State That Has Nothing to Hide Has No Reason to Fear an ICC Investigation

Podcast: Food, sex, atheism and guilt – Just your typical YidLife Crisis diet

Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel. This week we’re speaking with the brains and brawn behind the hit web...

Yet another poll shows Meretz failing to enter Knesset, while Ra’am squeaks in

A new poll Thursday once again showed the left-wing Meretz party failing to pass the electoral threshold in the coming March 23 election, while it...

Black Death Weakened the Catholic Church. COVID-19 Will Do the Same for Israel's Rabbis

When Europe was hit with plague in the 14th century, the Church offered its frightened followers indulgences, not spiritual comfort, a pattern that...

Biden’s China Challenge

Guantanamo Bay is America's enduring shame

On 12 February, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked by a reporter whether the new Joe Biden administration intends to shut down the...

Our imperfection is the source of our blessing

Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. Parker J. Palmer The sin of the Golden Calf, and in...

The Silence in Between

I don’t have a good voice. There, I’ve said it. Now that doesn’t mean I can’t carry a tune. Usually, I can sort of keep on key (with usually...

Opinion – Covid-19 and Africa

Despite rising numbers due to second waves across the continent, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa, is still within manageable...

AG says won’t rule now on whether PM can eject Gantz from gov’t after election

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has informed Defense Minister Benny Gantz that he will not currently examine whether the prime minister can...

Canadian newspaper deletes op-ed comparing COVID lockdown to Anne Frank’s ordeal

JTA — The Globe and Mail, a leading Canadian newspaper, has taken down an opinion piece comparing COVID-19 lockdowns to Anne Frank’s experience as...

Thousands protest police response to Arab crime; dissident MK Abbas chased away

Thousands of demonstrators marched Friday in the northern city of Umm al-Fahm to protest against what they called the police’s failure to stem a...

Israeli Deni Avdija named to NBA’s Rising Stars team

JTA — As he tries to acclimate to the NBA, Deni Avdija got some much-needed good news: The Israeli first-year pro was picked for the Rising Stars...

Charles Barkley fears hora at daughter’s Jewish wedding

JTA — NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is looking forward to his daughter’s wedding to a Jewish entrepreneur. He’s just a little worried about...

A so-called human rights action plan for Turkey

In its current form, Erdoğan government's last package has nothing more to say than “we’ve just found out there is such a thing as law.” It has...

Controversial resignation

Ruling bloc to blame for top prosecutor's quit Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl resigned Thursday to protest the ruling bloc's campaign to weaken...

South African women are taking a stand against rape culture

In January, a Johannesburg woman publicly accused popular South African DJs Thato Sikwane, known as DJ Fresh, and Themba Nkosi, known as Euphonik,...

The Benjamins may be losing their ability to get US politicians to toe the Israeli line

As a working journalist who reports frequently on the machinations of the pro-Israel lobby, one of the most common claims I come across is that it...

Building a Better SDR

NEW YORK – The G20 has agreed on a new allocation of special drawing rights, the International Monetary Fund’s reserve asset. This is great news:...

Biden and the ICC: Partial cooperation, selective justice

If you listen closely, you might just hear a collective sigh of relief from advocates of international justice and staff at war crimes tribunals....

A path to end 70 years of India-Pakistan bitterness

Last month, the two nuclear armed neighbors India and Pakistan agreed on a ceasefire along the 740 km-long Line of Control (LoC) from midnight of...

Making chips requires lots of water, and Taiwan has a drought

Turns out, semiconductor manufacturing doesn’t just require multi-billion dollar factories and a lot of smarts, it also takes water. Gallons and...

Swiss mull ‘burqa ban’ in vote centering on security, women’s rights

GENEVA (AP) — At a time when seemingly everyone in Europe is wearing masks to battle COVID-19, the Swiss go to the polls Sunday to vote on a...

Digitalne valute, javne ali privatne?

Tehnološka revolucija na področju finančnih storitev in pojav privatnih digitalnih valut sta odprla številna vprašanja o vlogi države in...

The PRC and DPRK in Late 2020 and Early 2021

Two factors have the greatest impact on the development of relations between the two countries: the coronavirus pandemic, which is hitting economic...

Confusing the Means with the Maker

“The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Go down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted basely’” (Exodus 32:7). The sin of...

The Power of Two

One of the challenges of the past year has been the restrictions on celebrations, the postponement and limitations on bar mitzvahs and weddings....

Rags and Riches

In Exodus 30:15, the children of Israel are commanded to pay the half-shekel to ensure that their enrollment in the census will not bring to the...

A Politician and Rabbi to the Pope: Sergio Bergman

Sergio Bergman is a social activist, climate-change activist, former Argentinian Environment Minister, friend to Pope Francis – and a rabbi. He is...

The Triumph of Teshuva

This post and the Torah learning invested is fully dedicated to the Ilui Neshama of Chaim Schneur Zalman Yehuda “Yudi” ben Aaron Leib, may his...

I’m Looking for the G-d in Me–Have You seen Him?

From catastrophes to quarantines, from synagogues to supermarkets, if you believe in G-d then you must know that He is everywhere. “And where can...

Zakaj iščemo “naravo”

Zase pravim, da imam rad naravo. Koliko je ljudi, ki bi rekli enako? Ampak kaj dejansko pomeni imeti rad naravo? Ali se pravzaprav zavedamo, kaj je...

Street of the Prophets

Israel is coming back to life slowly. (Unfortunately this doesn’t pertain to air travel, which may be in hiatus until after Passover – but we...

Will we ever truly go back to shul? Do we want to?

With Purim just behind us and Pesach steadily approaching, we find ourselves at many unwelcome anniversaries. Among them is the one-year mark since...

At Last!

After a year of living in a cultural desert, the ban on public performances in Israel has finally been lifted. And last night when we were able at...

Hazon’s director Nigel Savage announces Shmita prizes

(If you want to go straight to info on The Shmita Prizes – click here.) But first, I want to put these prizes in context, beginning with a word...

Torascope. March 5 2021

THE BIG IDEA According to the Torah’s Omens this is an auspicious time to take accountability for the most constricted aspects of ourselves. Pay...

Converting the Torah

The latest Israeli pre-election brouhaha revolves around the High Court of Justice’s ruling that non-Orthodox conversions are legitimate for...

We washed our hands way before the CDC

In the last 12 months, the CDC has often reminded us to keep social distance, wear a mask, and… Wash our hands as often as possible. Excellent...

What have we learned in a year turned upside down? 

JTA — What’s most heartbreaking about reading the essays published in March 2020 was that they could have been written today. The tired joke is...

Czech Republic is in lockdown, but factory workers still have to show up

Analysis. Instead of the closure, the government has introduced the obligation to wear a mask in the workplace and intends, in the coming weeks, to...

Longhouse lockdown

With lockdown now as inevitable as death and taxes, our confinements have become as regular as the seasons. Like recidivists in and out of prison,...

(GLOBALNA ARENA) Mit o Zlatolaskinih spodbudah

Ameriški predsednik Joe Biden, ki se je soočil z velikim izzivom spodbujanja gospodarstva svoje države v obdobju po pandemiji in ki ga je še...

The U.S. military and the Capitol mob

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA – Revelations that the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol included many former and current members of America’s armed forces...

Israel is reopening – but not because of the success of vaccinations

Analysis. Twenty days before the legislative elections—the fourth in two years—parties want to avoid appearing to the voters as the one holding...

Parshat Ki Tisa: Who is for Me?

“If I am not for myself, who is for me?” (Pirkei Avot 1:14). This famous saying from Pirkei Avot speaks to the imperative we each have to live...

A Tale of Two Tallitot

Prayerful Creations is the name I call my tallitot- prayer shawls that are unique, made with a technique called, Swedish Weaving. It’s a...

Returning to Asia: What's Moving Britain?

The convergence of the Indian and Pacific Oceans into a single geostrategic space — the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR) — and the growing competition...

Navigating heartbreak with Aleyna Tilki and Melike Şahin

What connects the folk song, dance hit, and even indie singer-songwriter ballad is emotion, not genre. Despite the difference in sound, what new...

Biden has boxed himself into a corner on Iran, but the solution is simple… rejoin the nuclear deal with no preconditions

The US Senate confirmation hearings for President Joe Biden’s nominee for the position of deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, offer...