Daily Briefing Nov. 28 – The politics of the Omicron variant

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 15-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East, and the Jewish...

Israeli held in Belarus on suspicion of smuggling in 2.5 grams of medical marijuana

An Israeli woman is being held in Belarus on suspicion of having tried to smuggle some 2.5 grams (under a tenth of an ounce) of medical marijuana...

Lauded indie film uses porn to launch a discussion on Jewish persecution in Romania

JTA — It begins with a hardcore sex scene. It ends with a debate about Holocaust education. This is the strange and — for better and worse —...

Azeem not knowing about Auschwitz is a symptom of a much wider problem

The real tragedy behind Azeem Rafiq is the profound gaps in his knowledge, typified by the fact he didn’t know what Auschwitz was. We all now...

Building a Better Global Health Framework

GENEVA – It is incredible to think that when the last Paris Peace Forum was held, in November 2020, no COVID-19 vaccine had yet been approved. A...

Preparing for Hanukkah 2021: Our annual sufganiya taste-test comparison

We are traditionalists, so we’ve always had a family rule of not eating sufganiyot before “Hanukkah proper.” Our kids hide jelly-smeared faces...

Omicron: Vaccine nationalism will only perpetuate the pandemic

The United Kingdom and wealthy European nations are in a panic. Unsurprisingly, hoarding huge swaths of the global vaccine supply has enabled the...

Time for mandatory vaccinations

Some German politicians insist a COVID-19 vaccine mandate would divide society. Others argue it would be unconstitutional. Ines Eisele believes...

UAE says it will enact largest legal reform in its history

The United Arab Emirates on Saturday said it would legislate over 40 new laws and amendments by January, in what the country called the largest...

Herzog Wants to Be the President of the Settlements. It's Not Too Late to Change It Herzog Decided He Wants to Be the President of the Settlements. It's Not Too Late to Change It

President Isaac Herzog decided to kick off the celebration of Hanukkah by lighting the first candle in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Of all...

Chanukah: The Dreidel

The dreidel for Chanukah and the gragger (Ra’ashan) for Purim have the exact same structure, have you ever noticed? Both have a round bulb from...

Biden’s democracy summit: Just talk or can it effect change?

On Dec. 9 and 10, U.S. President Joe Biden will host what the White House calls the Summit for Democracy — or, in other words, a meeting focused...

NSO blacklisting: It is time for the US to end its Cold War ways

On November 3, the United States Department of Commerce announced it was blacklisting the Israeli technology firm, NSO Group. The decision to add...

Cabinet okays Amir Peretz as IAI board chair over objections of vetting panel

The cabinet on Sunday approved the appointment of former Labor party leader Amir Peretz as chairman of the Israel Aerospace Industries board, after...

European nations condemn Iran’s ‘excessively invasive’ searches of inspectors

Germany, France and the United Kingdom on Thursday accused Iran of conducting “excessively invasive physical searches” on international nuclear...

Boris Zala: Bez Dubčeka si neviem predstaviť odstavenie starej stalinistickej gardy

Už v čase „odmäku“ či „predjaria“, ako historici volajú obdobie po Stalinovej smrti, sa Dubček zapája do nápravy krívd a zločinov...

Ministers okay limited Shin Bet tracking program in bid to head off Omicron threat

Ministers on Sunday approved the reintroduction of the controversial Shin Bet program to track carriers of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus,...

Shin Bet boosts security for religious affairs minister threatened over reforms

The Shin Bet security service informed Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana on Sunday that his level of security was being raised and that from...

Nurses strike at Haifa hospital after violent assault on staff

Nurses at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center held a strike for several hours Sunday morning in protest of the latest incident of violence by members of...

Could an Apple lawsuit mean the end of Israeli cybercriminals NSO?

This week it emerged that Silicon Valley giant Apple is suing Israeli spyware maker NSO Group. The creators of the iPad, the iMac, the iPhone and...

Visitors to terror victim’s family turned back at airport, forced to violate Shabbat

Several foreigners arriving from South Africa on Friday were blocked from entering the country, after the government introduced new measures to...

Justice minister: New COVID measures unwarranted without ‘very, very strong reasons’

After the government approved several major new measures intended to limit the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus,...

Arm the Israeli Left So It Can Protect Palestinians From Settler Violence

Several facts cannot be disputed: The Palestinians in the territories, especially the rural folk, are a population at grave risk, with no defender....

The tours, events and shows that will light up your Hanukkah

The holiday of lights, dreidels and sufganiyot doughnuts approaches, starting Sunday evening, November 28 through Monday, December 6, with...

Government approves immigration of thousands of Ethiopian Jews

The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold. The High Court has given the state 21 days to justify a controversial plan to...

NATO and Russia’s Balkan chess game

The clock is ticking on the fate of the peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina that has held since the imposition of the Dayton Accords, officially known as...

Remembering the Partition Vote: Israel’s Forgotten Founding Father

For anyone who considers himself a Zionist, November 29, 1947, was a momentous day. A day that should be remembered and celebrated – perhaps no...

Omicron may be unstoppable, but Israel’s moves to slow the spread may save lives

Israel will not be able to keep Omicron at bay, but delaying its spread could save lives, experts believe. “If it’s as infectious as suspected it...

Iný kraj, iný mrav. Poučme sa v „cudzine“

Rovnako v Nemecku. Tam sa o novej vláde rokuje už vyše dvoch mesiacov. Pritom nová, semaforová koalícia červených sociálnych demokratov,...

Nový variant a staré chyby

Nový variant koronavírusu s názvom omikron bol identifikovaný v Južnej Afrike 24. novembra. V súčasnosti disponujeme len obmedzenými...

Leaders Blaze Trails with Their Mental Health Stories

Health minister says Omicron COVID variant under control, no need for panic

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said Sunday that Israel has the Omicron variant of the coronavirus “under control,” after the government slammed...

Man shot dead in northern Druze town

An Arab Israeli man was shot dead early Sunday in the northern Druze town of Yarka, police said. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said...

Emirates airline delays launch of Tel Aviv route after Israel bars entry to tourists

The launch of the Emirates airline’s much-vaunted route between Tel Aviv and Dubai will be delayed due to new coronavirus travel restrictions,...

Government approves immigration of thousands of Ethiopian Jews

Ministers voted on Sunday to okay the immigration of thousands of Ethiopians who have been waiting for years to fly to Israel, many spending the...

Protect Our Present and Look Toward the Future, It's Time to Vaccinate

After the delta variant, which was at the center of Israel’s fourth COVID-19 wave, this weekend we learned a new, sinister name – Omicron. This...

Facing new wave of virus

Korea needs to reintroduce stricter measures South Korea is facing a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections amid the spread of the potentially more...

Booming global markets kept shekel ‘too strong,’ says ex-Bank of Israel deputy head

Israel’s shekel has been “too strong and under undue pressure” — propped up by the until now booming international stock markets — and a...

What killed macroeconomics?

By Robert Skidelsky LONDON ― The problem with quantitative easing (QE), quipped then-U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke in 2014 about the...

Another COVID Thanksgiving - sigh

Remember how depressing it was in late November 2020? Even after six months of living with strict stay-at-home orders, COVID-19 still lurked unseen...

Testing the waters: Russia explores reconfiguring Gulf security

By James M. Dorsey Russia hopes to blow new life into a proposal for a multilateral security architecture in the Gulf, with the tacit approval of...

You Can Be a Hanukkah Miracle (Zechariah 2:14-4:7)

The Ramban (13th century Spain) distinguished between two types of miracles, “nes nistar” – “hidden miracles” and “nes nigleh” –...

Grandma Loved Chanukah: When Holocaust Survivors Celebrated Again

My grandmother, Clara Neuman, a Holocaust survivor, chose to live simply and laugh often, especially at Chanukah time. Beneath the joy of lighting...

Is The Inevitable Crash on its Way?

Is a market crash coming?  In this case, we could be on one of two sides: the winners or the losers. The latter could lose their shirts and...

Menorahs and abortions

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman’s recent blog, “How a menorah may bring about a ‘Christian nation,’” purports to offer a “reminder of how...

Can vaccines get rid of long COVID?

One of the lingering mysteries of the pandemic is long COVID, the term used for a range of symptoms, from shortness of breath and fatigue to...

Can Korea and Japan survive issues of history?

By Ahn Ho-young Korea's Supreme Court rendered its final ruling on the case brought by victims of forced labor during the Japanese occupation of...

Turkey’s Expansion into Central Asia Intensifies

Under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, claiming the role of a new regional superpower, Turkey has been increasingly active in recent...

Od utópie k humanizmu (Dubčekovo vyzrievanie)

Napokon Dubček bol a je politická osobnosť, a tak o jeho dedičstvo sa budú prieť rôzne politické prúdy; presne tak ako o Štefánika,...

Mandatory vaccinations won't help now

Even if mandatory vaccinations are deemed legal and the unvaccinated show up for their shots, requiring everyone to get vaccinated won't solve...