Israel

World News

Journalist says Netanyahu's new government is a 'threat to Israeli democracy'

7:59pm January 12, 2023

by Terry Gross

Journalist Anshel Pfeffer says the Israeli prime minister has a "strange detachment" when it comes to social issues — which opens the door for conservative members of his coalition to make changes.

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NPR's Steve Inskeep interviews U.S. President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5, 2023.

Biden's national security adviser is hopeful war over Taiwan can be prevented

8:27am January 06, 2023

by H.J. Mai

In an exclusive interview at the White House, Jake Sullivan spoke with NPR's Steve Inskeep. They discussed China-Taiwan tensions, the war in Ukraine, and his upcoming trip to Israel.

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An Israeli far-right leader's Al-Aqsa visit sparks outrage and calls for U.N. meeting

2:26pm January 04, 2023

by Daniel Estrin

Israel is lobbying against calls for an urgent session of the U.N. Security Council, following Tuesday's visit by far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to a sensitive holy site.

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Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Prime Minister and the head of Likud party, speaks to his supporters after first exit poll results for the Israeli Parliamentary election at his party's headquarters in Jerusalem on Nov. 2, 2022.

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Benjamin Netanyahu's new Israeli government will make West Bank expansion a priority

4:07am December 29, 2022

by The Associated Press

The incoming Israeli ruling coalition agreements will make it the country's most religious and right-wing government in history, potentially putting it at odds with large parts of the Israeli public.

Israel's Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in Jerusalem on Nov. 13 after being assigned the task of forming a government.

World News

'They are joining me. I'm not joining them': Netanyahu defends far-right allies

5:00am December 15, 2022

Israel's longest-serving prime minister is poised to return to office, even while on trial for corruption charges. He spoke with Morning Edition about his comeback and controversial coalition.

Visitors, including Dead Sea researcher Yael Kiro from Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science (second from left), examine salt formations on the shore of the Dead Sea in Israel on Nov. 5.

The Dead Sea is dying. These beautiful, ominous photos show the impact

6:00am December 11, 2022

Its water level is dropping. Big sinkholes are swallowing up whole tracts of land around it. Here is why a disaster is unfolding at the Middle East's iconic salt lake.

A man walks past a banner of Bollywood movie The Kashmir Files outside a cinema in the old quarters of Delhi on March 21, 2022.

An Israeli director sparks outrage in India over a film about Hindu persecution

4:52pm November 30, 2022

by Lauren Frayer

Controversy has erupted at one of India's top film festivals over the screening of a movie with Hindu nationalist themes. Were the jury head's comments an artistic critique or political commentary?

Choreographer Polina Mitryashina, artist Victor Melamed, and jazz producer Evgenii Petrushanskiy, from left, in Tel Aviv on Nov. 2. All three are Russian artists who have recently fled Russia to live in Israel.

Russia's biggest talents flee to Israel, seeking freedom from Putin's repression

6:01am November 19, 2022

by Daniel Estrin

Russia is losing creative talent. Some of its biggest artists have immigrated to Israel this year to rebuild their careers and safely voice their conscience about the war in Ukraine.

As Netanyahu forms Israeli government, U.S. may boycott one of his far-right allies

3:42pm November 07, 2022

by Daniel Estrin

As the former Israeli prime minister returns to power, he's expected to give a post to a politician once convicted of inciting racism — whom the Biden administration might choose not to engage with.

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Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu enters an election night event in Jerusalem on Monday.

World News

With most votes now counted, Netanyahu seems poised to return as Israel's leader

10:28am November 02, 2022

by Daniel Estrin

"We are on the cusp of a very big victory," Benjamin Netanyahu told supporters. He has partnered with the far-right and vowed to impose tougher law enforcement on Palestinians.

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