Articles written by linda gradstein
Sorted by date Results 26 - 40 of 40
Arab citizens of Israel feel left out of National Anthem
The scene in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, was not typical. Dozens of Arab women, most of them from villages in northern Israel wearing traditional dress, packed into the Galil Hall for a discussion about Israel’s national anthem, “Ha...
Preferential treatment bill for Israeli veterans called discrimination
A new law being proposed by an Israeli parliamentarian would give preferential treatment in housing, employment and higher education to anyone who served in the army or did alternative national civilian service. The bill, which has been approved by...
In Israel, there is no such thing as a civil marriage
A month ago, Rita Margulis and her fiancé Amit (as a career army officer he asked not to use his last name) got married at the Safari in Tel Aviv. There was a Reform rabbi and 450 guests. But according to the state of Israel, the wedding never...
Beyond the drip: Israeli agriculture continues to innovate
RISHON LETZION, Israel—Strange things are happening at the Volcani Center in this Tel Aviv suburb. Potatoes sprayed with spearmint oil are not sprouting for months, Granny Smith apples deprived of o...
Israel will build it so they will come
JERUSALEM—For a tiny country, Israel has a lot to offer: sacred sites, archaeology, beaches, mountains, food, wine—and even eco- and medical tourism. So officials are puzzled and concerned that the number of tourists visiting Israel has not gro...
Israel holds national practice for missile attack
As the siren began to wail, the children ran quietly down the steps of the Science and Technology Elementary School in Pisgat Zeev, a northern suburb of Jerusalem built on post-1967 land. They sat on the floor in the four classrooms in the basement,...
Knesset member wants to help
JERUSALEM—The Israeli parliament, or Knesset, is quiet on Sundays. The plenum does not meet, and the carpeted hallways are silent. But at the end of one corridor, in Room 2021, there’s a lot of foo...
Women worshipers score legal victory
JERUSALEM—Women praying at Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall, need not fear police threats of arrest if seen wearing traditional ceremonial attire associated with the religion’s males following a Jerusalem District Court ruling handed down...
Green pilgrimage comes to Jerusalem
For some, green is the color of money, but for others it’s the color of the environment. Those who favor the latter gathered in Jerusalem last week to experience everything from an “eco-cinema” (a solar-powered movie broadcast on the walls of Jerus...
Israel's novice lawmakers feel their way
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his most recent copy of Time magazine, with its list of the 100 most influential people in the world, to find that his name, which had been on the list for the past few years, was gone. Instead, the name of...
Jahalin Bedouin fear new Israeli transfer plan
Id Khamis Jahalin sits in his sparsely furnished, illegally-built shack, and worries about his future. A father of seven, he was born in this community of tents and shacks about 10 miles east of Jerusalem. Sitting on a thin mattress that substitutes...
19-year-old Israeli millionaire owns marketing company, 3 houses
It started around the time of his bar mitzvah at age 13, when Tomer Hen decided it was time to open his first business. “I wanted to be independent and not take money from my parents,” Hen told The Media Line. “I was too young to get a job so I start...
Israel trumpets fair treatment in prisons
Ofer Prison, West Bank—The long strings of blue and white Israeli flags, set up for Israel’s upcoming Independence Day, flap incongruously against the background of barbed wire and tall gray watchtowers. Inside, some 710 Palestinian prisoners, inc...
Locusts invade Israel as enterprising cooks offer new recipes
Last week’s invasion of locusts from Egypt offered adventurous home cooks an opportunity to try something new for dinner last week—locusts, which most rabbis say are kosher, can be prepared many different ways. “You can sauté them like shrimp with g...
Israel’s navy plans to protect offshore gas fields
TEL AVIV—Israel’s first large gas field, Tamar, is due to begin producing natural gas next April. It is an economic bonanza for the state, and a security nightmare for the navy, tasked with protecting the huge area, much of which is outside Isr...