Jerusalem Central Bus News Today

POLITICAL AFFAIRS: The issue of a law that would give ultra-Orthodox youth an exemption from compulsory IDF service has risen many times over Israel’s history and especially so recently.

Embodying the rage that drives the Israeli right’s judicial assault, the chair of the Knesset’s Law and Justice Committee is poised to bring his once-fringe ideas to fruition. And, he tells +972, he is just getting started.

The sirens began just after seven in the morning. Police and security forces across the city were responding to a bombing at the entrance to the city. I was in traffic. Jerusalem has a certain feel every time there are terror attacks or incidents like

One siren. Then two. Then police cars. Then police on motorcycles. Then ambulances. The city is used to terrorism, and this is their routine.

Perhaps all our prayers and recitations of Kaddish for the previous generations can make us deserving of better times. Perhaps someday the terror will stop.

Israel’s capital, rich in ancient history and spirituality, has surprisingly few legends of haunted homes and cursed buildings. Those that do exist are recent, and none are in the Old City.

From the blog of Susannah Schild at The Times of Israel