Israel celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim over the weekend amid merriment, illegal costume parties and soaring infections. Undeterred by the public transport ban, thousands of revelers descended on Jerusalem by foot on Sunday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said victory over the coronavirus pandemic depends on just over half a million Israelis aged over 50 who have not yet vaccinated.
In a bid to combat the spread of coronavirus, Israel on Monday approved a week-long closure of the country’s airport. The country also expanded its velocious vaccination drive on Sunday to include 16- to 18-year-olds.
Israel on Sunday rolled out the second stage of its vaccination drive, the world’s fastest, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing people over the age of 60 — of which 72 percent have received the first dose — would receive a booster shot while the over-50s would receive the initial dose.
Only one week after its vaccine drive began, Israel administered its 500,000th coronavirus vaccine shot Tuesday evening, making it the leading country in the world by a large margin.
Israel’s nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign began on Sunday, with health officials estimating the country will be the first to vaccinate its entire at-risk population.
Israel could declare the coronavirus pandemic over as early as March 2021, thanks to Operation Warp Speed vaccines.
Israel will go on a nationwide lockdown for three weeks over the High Holiday period beginning on the eve of the Jewish New Year on Friday, the coronavirus cabinet announced Sunday evening after an hours-long debate on the matter.
JAFFA — Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh has demanded Israel seal off the West Bank, saying the Jewish state was to blame for a spike in coronavirus infections among Palestinians.
TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said Israel was applying the “emergency brakes” on easing coronavirus restrictions, amid an upward trend of cases in the country.
TEL AVIV – Likud MK Yuli Edelstein accepted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appointment as health minister Tuesday evening.
TEL AVIV – In an unlikely show of camaraderie, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and main rival Blue and White head Benny Gantz shared an affectionate moment on social media over a coronavirus post, prompting reluctant umpire President Reuven Rivlin to urge the two party heads to continue the solidarity offline as well.
Hundreds of people attended Thursday’s funeral of an 18-year-old Israeli soldier who was found dead hours earlier with stab wounds near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested Likud’s top 40 Knesset candidates – all of whom capitulated – to sign a pledge promising not to oust him after the elections.
TEL AVIV – Former prime minister Ehud Barak has come under fire from both Israelis and Americans on both sides of the political aisle for the choice of name for his newly formed Israel Democratic Party.
TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will consider a proposal by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to cancel the September 17 elections and form a new government, his Likud party announced Tuesday.
TEL AVIV – Nechama Rivlin, the wife of President Reuven Rivlin, died Tuesday morning a day before her 74th birthday.
TEL AVIV – Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) on Monday hit back against a wave of condemnation at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s push for a merger between the the national-religious Jewish Home party and the extremist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, saying there was no such outcry when unions were made with Arab parties who had outspoken supporters of terror.
TEL AVIV – Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Sunday said Australia’s recognition of only “West Jerusalem” as Israel’s capital may cause more harm than good by provoking further Palestinian violence.
National Public Radio fired film critic David Edelstein Tuesday over what is being inaccurately publicized as a “rape joke.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Sunday night paid condolence visits to the relatives of Ari Fuld, an American Israeli man who was killed in a terror attack earlier in the day, shortly before his funeral.
TEL AVIV – Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein on Monday slammed his Jordanian counterpart for praising the Arab-Israeli terrorists who killed two police officers in Jerusalem, telling the Jordanian Speaker of the House to “shut up” if he didn’t have the gumption to condemn terrorism.
The United States Congress held a special commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, with a live television link to a similar ceremony at the Israeli Knesset.
TEL AVIV – The Knesset announced on Tuesday that a ban on short skirts will remain in place but enforcement will be gradual, a committee of lawmakers and parliamentary staff ruled.
The leaders of the Israeli, Greek and Cypriot parliaments signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to increase cooperation and enhance ties between the three Mediterranean allies.
Israel’s parliament will ease its dress code rules, an official said Thursday, after staffers demonstrated when colleagues who wore skirts deemed too short were barred from entering the building.
TEL AVIV – More than thirty parliamentary aides showed up to work at the Knesset Wednesday wearing miniskirts and dresses in protest after a few of their coworkers were barred from entering the building for being dressed “immodestly.”
TEL AVIV – The Israeli government discriminates against Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount in order to protect their safety, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Monday at the Knesset.
Shimon Peres’s casket was brought Thursday to the Knesset in Jerusalem, where thousands of Israelis are expected to pay their respects to the former president and prime minister, who died in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
TEL AVIV – Israel is the key to combating global terrorism, a former U.S. army general said at a security conference Wednesday.
TEL AVIV – Israeli lawmakers opened the Knesset this week by expressing their condolences to the victims of the attacks in Orlando and Tel Aviv and equating the two instances of terror.
TEL AVIV – A former Syrian brigadier general who defected from the Syrian regime wrote a letter to the Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein saying that Israel should open a dialogue with the Syrian people and support the opposition in its fight against the regime, Ynet news reported.
JAFFA, Israel – PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat (pictured) has called on the British government to discontinue its punitive measures against universities and public associations that support boycotting Israel. Erekat condemned the British policy in a meeting with the British Secretary of
