Jan. 2, 2021
The paramedic shut the door of the ambulance fast. The soldiers arrived on the run, rifles at the ready. One of them fired a tear-gas grenade into the air. A passerby muttered a curse at him. The soldiers came to a halt momentarily, consulting among themselves about what to do. But then one of them quickly made his way into the ambulance – a Palestinian vehicle belonging to the Red Crescent organization. The shouts of pain and terror from inside the vehicle, where a wounded man was lying on a stretcher, grew louder.
Inside the ambulance, a violent tug of war took place between the paramedic in his scarlet uniform and the soldier in olive-green, who entered through the sliding side door. The soldier pulled the wounded man toward him, trying to remove him by force from the ambulance; the paramedic pulled the other way, trying to protect the wounded person and keep him on the stretcher. It was an ugly scene, and the shouting reached a crescendo. Additional soldiers appr
Play audio
1XChange playback rate from 1 to 1
Mute audio
Open gallery view
Graffiti reading leftist traitor near anti-Netanyahu activist Zvi Paltiel s home in Ness Ziona, Israel, December 12 2020.Credit: Tomer Appelbaum
This act of vandalism is the latest in a string of actions against local activists. Earlier this week, Haaretz reported that the Shin Bet secret service department responsible for the prevention of Jewish terrorism is investigating an incident in which a stun grenade was thrown at a home in Nes Tziona. The suspected motive is the family s involvement in the protest movement against Netanyahu. The Shin Bet is also investigating the graffiti incidents.
Follow
Dec. 17, 2020
One of my strongest childhood memories relates to the first Lebanon war in the early 1980s. I was seven and my father returned from an extended period in Beirut, sporting a beard and a shirt emblazoned with a green tree and red stripes. He pulled an orange glass giraffe out of his backpack along with Swiss chocolate and a letter in French written by a Lebanese girl who was my age. As an Israeli army officer, he had been living with the girl’s Lebanese Christian family in Beirut, and the girl had wanted to send me a message of friendship and hopes for peace.
Follow
Dec. 14, 2020
Kahol Lavan Chairman Benny Gantz dismissed on Sunday Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel over the latter’s decision to endorse former Likud lawmaker Gideon Sa’ar’s candidacy for prime minister, as Israel is set for its fourth election in two years.
Hendel ran with Gantz’s Kahol Lavan in Israel’s 2020 election, which gave Gantz the authority to fire him, but broke off from the party together with Zvi Hauser to form their Derech Eretz faction. In a press conference on Wednesday – a day after Sa’ar announced he would start a new party – Hendel and Hauser said they would join forces with him.
Play audio
1XChange playback rate from 1 to 1
Mute audio
“We are distributing prepared meals, prudence and food basic to the area around Hadera, Or Akiva, Pardes Hannah and even (the wealthy community of) Caesarea,” she added.
The nonprofit prepares 3,500 meals a day for the needy every day, with the number rising to 5,000 on Fridays.
“What’s happening here is a testament to poverty in the State of Israel,” she said. “It shouldn’t happen. I’m not giving out gold and diamonds. I’m distributing food. When people come to us we want to cry. People who used to donate to us. Business owners now need to rely on us and get food aid. People who were kings of the land come for bread. We try to give help to everyone who turns to us, but we can’t help them all.”