Women Arrested at Western Wall For Refusing To Remove Prayer Shawls

Since the first arrest of this nature back in 2009, a number of women have been detained by Israeli security for attempting to pray at Jerusalem's Western Wall with tallitot, fringed prayer shawls that are traditionally reserved for men. While the Wall (called the Kotel by some) is considered one of the great…
Watch Israeli Kids Play 'Bomb Shelter' Game at a Playground
Regardless of what you think about the Israel-Palestine conflict, this video of Israeli kids pretending to hide under a makeshift "bomb shelter" at a playground is pretty fucking heartbreaking. Also: man, little kids are shrewd.
Supermodel Bar Refaeli Stars in Bizarre, Rapey Ad for New Israeli App
There's a new video featuring supermodel Bar Refaeli as the victim of a date-rape drug, but it's not a PSA warning about the dangers of Rohypnol. Rather, it's an ad for a new Israeli app designed to help diners pay their restaurant and bar tabs more quickly.
Israeli Women Fight to Be Seen and Heard
Some of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish women say they have a problem: their community, which makes up about 10 percent of the Israeli population, wants to pretend they don't exist. So Kolech, the first Orthodox Jewish feminist organization in Israel, is filing Israel's first-ever gender segregation class-action…
Israeli Patch Adams Brigade Facilitates Healing and IVF
Hospitals can be pretty terrifying places even without grotesquely painted jesters shuffling through their wards in oversized shoes, but that hasn't stopped Israeli hospitals from relying on medical clowns to help put tremulous patients more at ease because apparently not enough Israelis know who Pennywise is.
Footloose and Fancy-Free Republicans Enjoyed Drunken, Semi-Naked Night Swimming in Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee — which is not a sea at all but a lake — has now been confirmed as the site of at least two remarkable occurrences: it's the body of water Jesus supposedly tip-toed over as well as the body of water a bunch of boozed-up GOP lawmakers floundered around in last summer during what we can only assume…
Ultra-Orthodox Men Now Wearing Special Blinders to Avoid Seeing Sexy Things
Feeling tempted by scantily-dressed women on the bus, or sexy billboards by the side of the road? If you're an ultra-Orthodox man in Israel, you're in luck: you can now buy special blinders to prevent sin-enticing images from sneaking into your peripheral vision. As the Times of Israel reported yesterday, an…
Romney Aide Urges Press to Respect Polish Holy Site by Kissing His Ass and Shoving It
Coverage of Mitt Romney's hilariously bumbling world tour has been better than coverage of the Olympics, and with even more heartbreak, tears, and disastrous dismounts — that's what makes good television. During today's stop at Poland's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Romney's traveling press secretary responded to…
Alice Walker Refuses to Let The Color Purple Be Published in Israel
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker has taken the very unusual step of making a public case for why she's refusing to let an Israeli publisher release her famous novel The Color Purple in Hebrew. Her choice is raising some eyebrows since her decision is motivated by her belief that Israel is an "apartheid"…
Man Divorces Wife After She Refuses To Get Rid of Her 550 Cats
If you're a nascent cat lady who has pondered, hypothetically, how many cats you could get away with having before any and all human relationships you have might be destroyed, a woman in Israel has provided you with an answer. The magic number, at least in her case, is 550 cats. Thatsa lotta cats-a.
Archeologists Discover Jewelry Stash from 1100 B.C.
Archeologists from Tel Aviv University have discovered a collection of jewelry in the Jezreel Valley of northern Israel that they believe dates all the way back to the Iron I period (circa 1100 B.C.). The design and solid gold material of several of the pieces have researchers hypothesizing that the jewelry is…
Prospect of Boring Paperwork Keeps Chicago Mother from Obtaining U.S. Citizenship for her In-Vitro Twins
Chicago native Ellie Lavi's attempts to obtain citizenship for her twin daughters has gotten caught on the snaggle-tooth of America's bureaucracy, with the U.S. State Department refusing to grant the children citizenship because Lavi, who used donor sperm and egg from an Israeli clinic, can't prove that either of the…
'Underweight' Models Banned in Israeli Advertisements
In the past few years, we've heard rumblings of different laws in different countries, with the same goal: To keep advertisers and magazines from using super-skinny models. In France, Parliament voted in favor of a bill that outlaws "publicly inciting extreme thinness." An ad in the UK was banned because the model had…
Purim Skipper Is a Limited Edition
Orthodox Jewish sisters Simcha and Miri, dressed as dolls in boxes, wait for their mother to join in the celebration of the Purim festival in Bnei Brak, an Ultra Orthodox Jewish town near Tel Aviv, Israel,Thursday, March 8, 2012. The Jewish holiday of Purim celebrates the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient…
Meet the Speed Sisters, Palestinian Race Car Drivers Intent on Winning
Pictured above is Noor Daoud. She was born in Texas, likes fast cars, but also was on an Olympic swim team and on the Palestinian national soccer team. Right now, though, she's focused on racing Formula 3. According to reports, Daoud is the first Palestinian, male or female, to participate in and win an Israeli race.…
Israeli Women Enraging Some Men By Refusing To Move To Back of the Bus
Controversy has erupted in Israel over several women refusing to move to the back of the bus for men. Proponents of public transportation gender segregation say that they're only looking out for the ladies' modesty, but opponents say forcing women to move for men puts Israeli society on a slippery slope that could…
