Israel Matters!

Netflix series, “The Spy” – The Story of Eli Cohen Sophie Ben-Dor, the daughter of Israeli spy Eli Cohen said “it hurt” to watch the new Netflix series about her father’s life and execution in Syria, noting some historical inaccuracies in the adaptation but praising Sacha Baron Cohen’s performance. Ben-Dor laments ‘the distance from the truth’ about her legendary agent father, but understands and respects the show. click Israel Matters! 137 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal  

Israelis Test Classified Tunnel Tech To Stymie Terrorists Israel has developed systems that are uncovering a great number of tunnels that cross the Israeli border from Gaza and Lebanon. click Israel Matters! 136 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal  

The New York Times — Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism The New York Times editorial board said in an editorial that the newspaper’s recent pub-lication of “an appalling political cartoon” [right] is “evidence of a profound danger — not only of anti-Semitism but of numbness to its creep.” The newspaper also acknowledged its own historical contributions to the rise of anti-Semitism. “In the 1930s and the 1940s, The Times was largely silent as anti-Semitism rose up and bathed the world in blood,” it wrote. “That failure still haunts this newspaper.” click Israel Matters! 134 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal  

Unit 9900 - The Israeli Army Unit That Recruits Teens With Autism For eight hours a day, E., 21, sits in front of multiple computer screens, scanning high-resolution satellite images for suspicious objects or movements. As a decoder of Israel’s complex and often heavily civilian battlegrounds, he’s been critical in preventing the loss of life of soldiers on the ground in several different situations, his officers say. For many people, combing through each millimeter of the same location from various angles would be tedious work—but E., who is on the autism spectrum, describes the job as relaxing, “like a hobby.” click Israel Matters! 133 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal  

Prominent Democrats Form Pro-Israel Group to Counter Skepticism on the Left Several prominent veteran Democrats, alarmed by the party’s drift from its longstanding alignment with Israel, are starting a new political group that will try to counter the rising skepticism on the left toward the Jewish state by sup-porting lawmakers and candidates in 2020 who stand unwaveringly with the country. click Israel Matters! 132 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal  

Not Strictly Kosher T.V. I travel to Israel twice a year, each time for a few weeks. I see Israel through several perspectives; that of a Jewish American, a former resident, and as a sociologist. As a sociologist I am interested in the daily lives of people; how they relate to each other on a face to face basis, what they eat, how they work and how they play. Being in Israel now I chose to write about what they watch on T.V. and how some of the locally produced T.V. series reflect what is going on in Israeli society. click Israel Matters! 130 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal  

Israeli Snapshots-End of the Year Operation Northern Shield The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has launched Operation Northern Shield. What’s it about and what does it mean? Northern Shield is a military operation on the Israel side of the Israel-Lebanon border for the purpose of exposing and destroying Hezbollah’s cross-border attack tunnels dug from Lebanon into Israel. Reports of Hezbollah tunneling activity near Metula, the northernmost town in the Galilee, has been going on for a number of years. Until recently, that was all there was- reports and supposition. However, thanks to recent intelligence efforts plus the introduction of new advances in engineering and detection technologies countering Hamas tunnels from Gaza, Hezbollah tunnels can now be found… and they are. click Israel Matters! 129 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal