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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

Kadima Party leader Shaul Mofaz speaking at a news conference in Petach Tikvah about Kadima's reasons for leaving the Israeli government coalition, July 17, 2012.

Israeli political constellation realigns as Kadima quits government

By Uriel Heilman, JTAPublished July 17, 2012

For the second time in just two months, the Israeli political universe was upended when Shaul Mofaz’s Kadima Party voted to quit Israel’s governing coalition. Kadima's departure, the result of a breakdown in negotiations over reforming Israel’s...

Benjamin Netanyahu and Shaul Mofaz.

Netanyahu promises ‘historical law’ for equal sharing of national service burden

By Israel Hayom, Exclusive to JNS.orgPublished July 12, 2012

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Vice Prime Minister and Kadima Chairman Shaul Mofaz have agreed to establish a team to hash out the new law for equality of the national burden, the replacement to the Tal Law, a statement from the Prime Minister’s...

Guards carrying the coffin carrying of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir from the Knesset on the way to his funeral at Mount Herzl, Israel's national cemetery, July 2, 2012.

Shamir remembered for saying little, standing strong

By Ron Kampeas, JTAPublished July 2, 2012

WASHINGTON — When Yitzhak Shamir was Israel’s prime minister, he liked to point American visitors to a gift he received when he retired as director of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service.It was a depiction of the famed three monkeys: See no...

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in his office in Jerusalem in 1992, one week before he lost the elections to the Labor's Yitzhak Rabin.

Yitzhak Shamir, former Israeli prime minister, dies at 96

JTAPublished July 1, 2012

JERUSALEM -- Yitzhak Shamir, who served as Israel's prime minister from 1986 to 1992, has died at the age of 96. Shamir had been living in a nursing home in Tel Aviv and had Alzheimer's disease for several years. He died Saturday. "Yitzhak Shamir belonged...

President Obama drops by a meeting between National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz of Israel, third from left, in the White House, June 21, 2012.

Mofaz grabs attention in U.S. with hopes of peace talks

By Ron Kampeas, JTAPublished June 25, 2012

WASHINGTON — With his recent return to the top ranks of Israel’s government, Shaul Mofaz is receiving plenty of attention in high places for emphasizing renewed talk of peace with the Palestinians. It’s yet another high point in a relatively short...

For new Israeli coalition, haredi army exemptions issue is front and center

By Uriel Heilman, JTAPublished May 9, 2012

Israel’s new unity government may not alter Jerusalem’s strategy for curbing Iran’s nuclear weapons program or do much to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But it could dramatically change something at home about which a huge number...

Editorial: Man in the Mirror

Published May 9, 2012

What will the surprising and sudden deal struck between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Kadima Party to expand the ruling coalition mean for the coming months? According to Netanyahu, it will help him focus on successfully executing...

Likud-Kadima coalition nixes early elections

By Mati Wagner, JTAPublished May 8, 2012

JERUSALEM—Israelis went to sleep Monday night expecting early elections in September for the 19th Knesset. They woke up to the news that elections would take place as planned in October 2013. A behind-the-scenes deal clinched overnight between Prime...

Livni’s fall followed meteoric political rise

By Mati Wagner, JTAPublished April 4, 2012

JERUSALEM—Tzipi Livni’s resounding fall in the leadership vote for Kadima, Israel’s largest political party, was as dramatic as her rise to political power. Ahead of last week’s vote, most polls were predicting that Livni would defeat Shaul Mofaz,...

Israeli lawmakers inaugurate Diaspora caucus

JTAPublished March 21, 2012

JERUSALEM -- Israeli lawmakers from across the political spectrum launched a caucus to strengthen relations with Diaspora Jewry. At least 40 Knesset members have joined the ad hoc committee co-founded by coalition chairman Zeev Elkin of the Likud Party...

Knesset passes law banning underweight models

JTAPublished March 20, 2012

JERUSALEM -- Israel's Knesset approved a new law that would ban the use of underweight models in advertising. The law passed Monday night also requires that any ad digitally altered to make a model look thinner must say so in the advertisement. Kadima...

Israeli court rules that lesbian couple can both be child’s mother

JTAPublished March 5, 2012

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court has ruled that both members of a lesbian couple who had a child together can be recognized as the child's mother. The egg of one of the women was fertilized with donated sperm and implanted in the second woman's uterus....

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