Category: Lead Story

The Huffington Post, January 21, 2010

After spending over a week in a small, windowless room in Ben Gurion International Airport, Jared Malsin, the Jewish American editor of a Palestinian news agency, was deported to New York yesterday. The move brought Malsin’s legal battle to gain reentry into Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to a sudden halt.

Malsin, who was residing and working in the West Bank, was detained by Israeli authorities at the airport on Tuesday, January 12, as he returned from a holiday in Prague. Malsin is the editor of the English section of Maan News Agency, an independent news service that focuses on local events. Maan is widely considered a reputable, unbiased source and receives over 3 million visitors a month.

Continue reading “Jewish American editor deported from Israel, claims coerced into dropping case”

The Huffington Post, January 14, 2010

Jared Malsin, the editor of the English edition of Maan News Agency, has been detained by Israeli authorities.

Malsin, a Jewish-American who lives and works in the West Bank, was picked up on Tuesday at Ben Gurion International Airport, as he and his partner returned from vacation in the Czech Republic. After being subjected to eight hours of interrogation, Malsin was deemed a security threat and was slated to be deported to Prague Thursday morning.

Why?

Maan states: Hebrew-language interrogation transcripts obtained by Ma’an reveal that Malsin was deemed a security risk on the apparent basis of his political beliefs. Interrogators gathered online research into the journalist’s writing history, which the transcripts indicate included news stories “criticizing the State of Israel,” among other allegations that he “authored articles inside the territories.”

Continue reading “Israel Cracks Down on the Press”

The National, November 14, 2009

At a time when most Israeli girls her age are fantasizing about their post-army travels, Emelia Markovich, 19, is considering the jail time that looms ahead.

Markovich is a member of a group of shministim, Hebrew for 12th graders. But these shministim aren’t your average high school students. They are conscientious objectors, referred to refuseniks because they are unwilling to participate in the army service that is mandatory for non-religious Jewish men and women.

In October, 88 shministim—some still enrolled in school, some recent graduates—signed a letter of refusal addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and IDF Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazi. “We hereby declare that we will toil against the occupation and oppression policies of the Israeli government,” the statement reads.

Continue reading “Young Israeli women follow their consciences into prison”

Israel imports palm fronds from Gaza for Sukkot

Maan News Agency, September 30, 2009

Yesterday the Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, approved the immediate importation of palm fronds from the Gaza Strip to Israel, according to the Hebrew daily Ma’ariv. The move came at the behest of Minister of Religious Services, Yakov Margi, who feared that a shortage of palm fronds and a local monopoly on the item would send prices skyrocketing for the Jewish holiday Sukkot.

For the weeklong holiday, many Israelis build a sukkah (literally booth) using palm fronds for the hut’s roof. The temporary shelter is constructed in remembrance of the forty years that, according to religious tradition, the ancient Israelites wandered in the desert.

Minister Margi reportedly thanked Minister Barak for the decision, stating that it would keep the prices of palm fronds down and would preclude local merchants from overcharging customers.

Continue reading “Israel imports palm fronds from Gaza for Sukkot”