A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

Israel News

Or Garti takes a selfie with her campers at Camp Ben Frankel.

An ‘American Dream’: How 18 Israeli kids spent their summer at Camp Ben Frankel

BY MOLLY LEVINE, JEWISH LIGHT INTERNPublished July 24, 2024

MAKANDA, Ill. – For the past month, 18 Israeli children have explored the ins and outs of something foreign to them: Jewish sleepaway summer camp.  “I was nervous but more happy because I [knew] that I was going to meet tons of friends,” said...

Family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C., July 22, 2023. (Israeli Government Press Office)

Netanyahu meets with hostage families in DC as pressure mounts for a deal

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished July 23, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington, D.C. with families of Israeli hostages, one of his first stops on a highly anticipated trip to the United States and a sign of how much focus is being placed on talks over a hostage release...

Stella Levy, shown in 1970, commanded the IDF Women’s Corps for six years. Photo by Fritz Cohen, Israeli National Photo Collection, CC BY-SA 3.0

This week in Israeli history: July 18-24

CENTER FOR ISRAEL EDUCATION, ISRAELED.ORGPublished July 18, 2024

July 18, 1290 — England Expels Its Jews King Edward I orders the expulsion of the Jews from England, where they had settled in significant numbers only in the 11th century. Despite gaining legal protections early in the 12th century, Jews suffer massacres...

Israeli and Palestinian Jerusalem Youth Chorus advances on ‘America’s Got Talent’ with performance of ‘Home’

Israeli and Palestinian Jerusalem Youth Chorus advances on ‘America’s Got Talent’ with performance of ‘Home’

PHILISSA CRAMER, JTAPublished July 17, 2024

(JTA) — A chorus of Israeli and Palestinian teens won hearts, applause and a chance at $1 million with a successful “America’s Got Talent” audition that aired on Tuesday night. The Jerusalem Youth Chorus performed Phillip Phillips’ “Home,”...

Yitzhak Yifat (center) and other Israeli paratroopers reach the Western Wall in Jerusalem, June 7, 1967. Photo by David Rubinger/GPO.

Paratrooper at center of iconic Six-Day War photo dead at 81

David Issac, JNSPublished July 7, 2024

The central figure in an iconic 1967 photograph of three paratroopers at the liberated Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem died on Saturday. Yitzhak Yifat was 81. Yifat, 24 at the time the photo was taken, can be seen in the center of the...

El Al planes are seen at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Dec. 31, 2022. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto)

Public outcry prompts El Al to backtrack

Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTAPublished June 17, 2024

Steeply discounted shipping of donations to support the Israeli war effort aboard El AL aircraft is coming back days after Israel’s national airline said it planned to end the program.  El Al’s decision to reinstate the discount follows reporting...

The Jewish public building discovered in Lod. Aerial photo by Assaf Peretz/Israel Antiquities Authority.

Evidence of last Jewish revolt against Rome found in Israeli street

Published June 16, 2024

(JNS) -- In a historic first, evidence of the last Jewish revolt against Roman rule in Israel 1,650 years ago has been uncovered in the central Israeli city of Lod, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Sunday. The discovery of a large public...

Elliot Brandt, speaking at AIPACs 2019 conference in Washington, D.C. (Screenshot)

AIPAC taps its No. 2, Elliot Brandt, to be its next CEO

Ben Sales, JTAPublished June 4, 2024

The next leader of AIPAC will be Elliot Brandt, who has served as a senior official of the pro-Israel lobby for decades and will take the helm shortly after the November elections, as Israel faces volatile conflicts on multiple fronts. Brandt, currently...

An El Al Airlines plane is seen at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Dec. 31, 2022. (Jakub Porzycki/Getty Images)

Israel to require American visitors to apply in advance for electronic travel authorization

Ron Kampeas, JTAPublished June 2, 2024

(JTA) — Israel is joining the Western nations requiring an advance online application and a fee for citizens from visa-exempt countries, including the United States. Until now, Americans who want to travel to Israel haven’t needed to do anything...

Missouri lawmakers move forward with measures expressing solidarity with Israel

Missouri lawmakers move forward with measures expressing solidarity with Israel

By Bill Motchan, Special to the Jewish LightPublished May 8, 2024

Two resolutions supporting Israel advanced in the Missouri legislature this week. House Continuing Resolution 30 passed in the House of Representatives on May 6 by a vote of 108 to 8. Another 22 house members voted “present.” The resolution, known...

A flag of Israel was seen on the railroad tracks in KL Birkenau during the International March of The Living, April 28, 2022. (Wojciech Grabowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

How Yom HaShoah is being marked seven months after Oct. 7

Jacob Gurvis, JTAPublished May 5, 2024

(JTA) — Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, began Sunday night, marking the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and serving as a memorial day for the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. This year, as the Israel-Hamas war enters...

A long exposure picture shows Iron Dome firing interception missiles, as seen from the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on May 16, 2021. Photo by Avi Roccah/Flash90

Everything you need to know about Israel’s Iron Dome

By Naama Barak, Israel21cPublished April 17, 2024

The current round of violence between Israel and Iran, as well as Hamas in the Gaza Strip erupted with a literal boom as rockets and drones were fired from Iran toward Israel. They set off rocket attack sirens that have become the soundtrack of the...

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