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☆ Jenin Has a Long Legacy as a Bastion of Palestinian Armed Struggle
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As Israeli forces hunted for wanted men, weapons and explosives in the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin this week, after using aerial drones to blow up what they described as terrorist hubs there, the city was living up to its reputation as a center of militant defiance in the occupied West Bank. To many Israelis, the city and its environs are a dreaded incubator of terrorism that has claimed many lives over the years. During the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, the Jenin refugee camp was a prime exporter of suicide bombers to Israeli cities. Israeli officials say that more than 50 shooting attacks on Israelis have emanated from the Jenin area this year, and that 19 militants have taken refuge in the camp after carrying out attacks since last fall. To many Palestinians, Jenin, in the hilly northern reaches of the West Bank, is a heroic symbol of resilience and resistance against Israeli rule, and the rule of others who came before.

Organizations: West Bank, Palestinian, United Nations Locations: Jenin

☆ Israeli Military Combs West Bank City for More Militant Targets
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel’s military pressed on for a second day on Tuesday with an operation aimed at rooting out armed groups in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, as the Palestinian death toll rose to 10, according to Palestinian health officials. Militant groups have so far claimed five of them as members. The assailant was shot and killed by a civilian on the scene, an Israeli police spokesman said. No Palestinian faction immediately took responsibility for the attack, though it was quickly praised by Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza. A spokesman for Hamas, Abdel Latif al-Qanou, said on Twitter that the attack was “the beginning of the response to the Zionist occupation’s aggression against Jenin.”

Persons: Israel, Abdel Latif al Organizations: West Bank, Militant, Palestinian, Twitter Locations: Jenin, Tel Aviv, Gaza, ”

☆ Israeli Military Launches Assault on West Bank City
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Israeli military said early Monday that it had embarked on what it called an “extensive counterterrorism effort” in the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank, a center of Palestinian militancy. The military announced shortly after 1 a.m. that it was striking “terrorist infrastructure” in the area of Jenin, a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank that has recently been the focus of deadly Israeli army raids and fierce gunfights between Israeli troops and militants. It has also been used as the launching point for Palestinian attacks on Israeli forces and civilians. Israel began with airstrikes and was also moving ground forces toward the city, according to initial accounts in the Israeli news media, which reported that at least four Palestinian militants had been killed in the opening strikes. The military said it had struck a joint operations center used by militants in the Jenin refugee camp where weapons and explosives were stored and where individuals accused of carrying out attacks on Israelis have found shelter in recent months.

Organizations: West Bank Locations: Jenin, Palestinian, West, Israel

☆ Hollywood Tycoon Testifies in Netanyahu’s Corruption Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the opening hours of his testimony, Mr. Milchan described his relationship with Mr. Netanyahu as “close friends, almost brothers,” and confirmed that he had given cigars and Champagne to Mr. Netanyahu and his wife, Sara. Mr. Netanyahu, who is on trial in three separate but interlocking corruption cases, has been charged with fraud and breach of trust in the case involving Mr. Milchan. Mr. Netanyahu has denied all wrongdoing. Mr. Milchan, 78, who produced blockbusters like “Pretty Woman,” “Mr. His colorful life and relationship with Mr. Netanyahu has helped turned the Case 1000 trial into a showcase of the nexus of money, power and influence in Israel.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Arnon Milchan, Milchan, Netanyahu, “, ”, Sara, Mr, Smith ” Locations: Hollywood, Israel

☆ The Hollywood Producer Who Could Bring Down Israel’s Netanyahu
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The life story of Arnon Milchan, billionaire Hollywood mogul and secret agent, could have been made for the silver screen: He produced blockbusters like “Pretty Woman,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and also made a fortune from arms dealing, including covert exploits procuring weapons for Israel, his native country. A decade ago, he went public about his work for Israeli intelligence, landing himself in a spot of trouble. But a longstanding relationship he had with Benjamin Netanyahu, then and once again the Israeli prime minister, proved to be useful. Mr. Netanyahu successfully lobbied senior American officials on Mr. Milchan’s behalf to reinstate his visa, according to an Israeli indictment against Mr. Netanyahu.

Persons: Arnon Milchan, ”, Smith ”, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Mr Locations: Israel, United States

☆ Spiraling Violence in the Occupied West Bank Signals a Loss of Control
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The northern West Bank was once viewed by Israeli, Palestinian and international authorities as a kind of pilot program for Israeli disengagement from the occupied territory, and by some even as a potential prototype for a future Palestinian state. But a sharp escalation of violence in the region in recent days involving Palestinian militants, Israeli security forces and extremist Jewish settlers underlines the failure of that vision. The northern West Bank is witnessing an explosive mix of the rise of local, armed Palestinian militias carrying out shooting attacks against Israelis; almost daily raids by the Israeli military to arrest militants, which often turn deadly; and reprisals by extremist Jewish settlers, who have rampaged through Palestinian villages setting fire to property. Heightening tensions, the coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — which includes far-right, ultranationalist parties that reject any talks with the Palestinian leadership — has been pressing a more aggressive military response to attacks. The government is also pushing for the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which most countries see as an obstacle to resolving the conflict and a violation of international law.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu —, — Organizations: West Bank, Palestinian Locations: West, Palestinian, West Bank

☆ At Least 5 Palestinians Killed in Clashes After Israeli Raid in West Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Armed clashes on Monday between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in and around the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank left at least five Palestinians dead, including a 15-year-old boy, and dozens more wounded, according to Palestinian health officials. Seven Israeli security force members were also wounded, the military said. The battle in and around Jenin, long a center of Palestinian militancy and the target of frequent Israeli raids, was unusually intense, according to Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a spokesman for the Israeli military. That prompted the Israeli forces to deploy a helicopter gunship in support of ground troops battling the militants, he added. At least one powerful explosive device laid by Palestinian militants and other fire disabled several Israeli armored vehicles in a village near Jenin at around 7 a.m. on Monday, complicating what had started out as an arrest raid, the military said.

Persons: Richard Hecht Organizations: West Bank, Palestinian Locations: Palestinian, Jenin

☆ In Israel, Tough Questions Follow Fatal Attack on the Egyptian Border
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A breached emergency gate at Israel’s southern border with Egypt that was held closed only with plastic handcuffs; the passage of hours before two Israeli soldiers’ bodies were discovered; and the botched pursuit of an infiltrator that led to the death of a third soldier. On Sunday, a day after three Israeli soldiers were killed at Israel’s mostly peaceful border with Egypt, the Israeli authorities were examining a series of failures and mishaps that allowed a lone suspect identified by both the Israeli and Egyptian authorities as a member of the Egyptian security forces to cross the heavily fortified boundary undetected, spend several hours inside Israeli territory and kill three Israeli soldiers in two separate locations before being encircled and fatally shot. And as Israel prepared on Sunday to bury the three soldiers, analysts were raising painful questions about the apparent blunders involved. Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty more than 40 years ago, and the Israeli troops patrolling the border are more used to dealing with drug-smuggling gangs than with armed militants. The episode on Saturday was the first of its kind along the Egyptian border in more than a decade.

Persons: Israel Locations: Egypt

☆ 3 Israeli Soldiers Killed in Rare Attack on Egyptian Border
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A man identified by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities as an Egyptian security officer entered Israeli territory on Saturday and killed three Israeli soldiers in two separate shooting incidents in a remote desert area along the border between the two countries, according to an initial investigation by the Israeli military. Many details remained murky hours after the events unfolded, but Israeli military officials appeared to be treating the incident along the usually quiet border as a rogue assault and said the investigation was being conducted in cooperation with the Egyptian Army. The Israeli and Egyptian militaries offered different versions of the episode. A spokesman for the Israeli military said the sequence of events began at about 2.30 a.m. on Saturday when Israeli soldiers thwarted a major cross-border drug smuggling attempt, which involved ladders being placed along the border fence. Then, at about 8 a.m., when Israeli soldiers stationed at a border post failed to answer calls on their radio, a commander went to the scene and found the bodies of a male soldier and a female soldier, the spokesman said.

Organizations: Egyptian Army

☆ Conflict With the Far Right Shrouds Jerusalem’s Pride Parade
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One ultraconservative member of the Israeli government had pledged to abolish the Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance Parade. Another far-right minister with a history of homophobia, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who now oversees the police, is tasked with securing it. The Jerusalem parade is normally a relatively staid annual tradition. But the event on Thursday is taking place at a fraught moment, five months after the most hard-line and religiously conservative government in Israel’s history took power. activists have reported a sharp increase in anti-gay abuse and violence in Israel in recent months, and say that they are expecting a large turnout for this year’s parade and bracing for possible violence.

Persons: Itamar Ben, Gvir, Ben, ” Locations: Jerusalem, Israel

☆ Militants Fire Rockets Into Israel From Gaza, Responding to Airstrikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Militants in Gaza fired almost 300 rockets toward Israel on Wednesday afternoon, reaching as far north as the sky above the suburbs of Tel Aviv, as Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes against what it described as rocket-launching squads and sites operated by the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Palestinian coastal enclave. The flare-up in fighting came after an attack on Islamic Jihad by Israel on Tuesday that killed three of its top commanders, along with 10 civilians, four of them children, according to Palestinian officials. The killings left both Israelis and Palestinians bracing for an escalation in cross-border attacks at a time when violence in the region has been surging. After Israel’s initial assault before dawn on Tuesday, at least eight more Palestinians were killed in subsequent Israeli strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The Israeli military said that its strikes on Wednesday were defensive ones aimed at thwarting attacks by Islamic Jihad, which Israel, the United States and many other Western countries classify as a terrorist organization.

☆ Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 3 Leaders of Palestinian Militant Group in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a surprise attack early Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had struck Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, killing at least three leaders of the Palestinian militant group, as both sides braced for a possible sharp escalation in cross-border violence. The airstrikes, which came a week after Islamic Jihad fired dozens of rockets at Israel, hit residential buildings across the Palestinian coastal territory. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said at least 12 people were killed, including women and children, and at least 20 were injured. The Israeli military said it had targeted and killed Khalil Bahitini, who it said had been responsible for launching rockets against Israel over the past month; Tareq Ezzedine, who had directed attacks against Israelis in the occupied West Bank; and Jihad Al-Ghanam, another high-ranking leader of the group. The military wing of Islamic Jihad — which Israel, the United States and many other Western countries classify as a terrorist organization — confirmed the deaths of the three leaders, saying in a statement that they had been killed “as a result of a cowardly Zionist assassination at dawn today.”

☆ Right-Wing Israelis Come Out in Force to Support Judicial Overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM — In a defiant show of force, masses of right-wing demonstrators converged on Jerusalem on Thursday evening in support of an Israeli government plan to overhaul the judiciary that has deeply divided the country. The crowd was largely made up of Israelis from the religious Zionist camp. Many said they wanted a more Jewish Israel that put their brand of traditional values ahead of the liberalism championed by the country’s old, secular elites. Those elites, in the demonstrators’ view, control an overactive judiciary, the mainstream media and the bureaucratic establishment. But despite the turnout — up to 200,000 people, according to estimates in the Israeli news media — the prospects for the government’s judicial plan remained unclear.

☆ Political Chaos Unsettles Israel as It Looks to Honor the Fallen and Its Independence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Every Memorial Day, thousands of families who have lost brothers, sisters and siblings to Israel’s endless wars and terrorist attacks gather to remember the dead, a commemoration that was to have been followed this year by a jubilant celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the country. But Israel is deeply divided as never before, and what should have been a time of national contemplation and celebration is being overshadowed by protests and political chaos, which have rived the country for the past few months. The minister overseeing the televised state ceremony for the country’s 75th Independence Day celebration, which will be marked from sundown Tuesday until sundown Wednesday, has instructed the event’s director to cut from a live broadcast to a prerecorded dress rehearsal in the event of a disruption by protesters. Yair Lapid, the leader of the parliamentary opposition, has announced that he will not attend. And bereaved families are pleading for politicians to forgo the usual speeches that they deliver on Memorial Day at military cemeteries across the country, fearing angry outbursts at a time when Israelis are supposed to unite in honoring the dead.

The city of Phoenix's aviation department, which runs the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, has launched a childcare program for airport workers and plans to build a childcare facility on airport property. Since its launch, 37 airport workers have joined the program, which covers daycare costs partially. At Kelowna International Airport in British Columbia, Canada, construction is underway for a daycare primarily for children of employees who work on airport property. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is similarly weighing offering childcare on-site or nearby in a bid to offer attractive benefits to workers, said airport spokesperson Mindy Kershner. And then there are others - like Jared Barker, a 33-year-old baggage handler at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport who quit and left the industry altogether last year after mass departures during the pandemic led to a heavier workload.

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