Ten of the best: The Times of Israel’s 2012 must-reads
An end-of-year selection from our first 10 and a half months of reporting Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world
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For The Times of Israel, this year actually only started in mid-February — the 14th, to be precise — with our launch. Since then, we’ve been working 24/7 (with the exception of Yom Kippur) to cover Israel, the region and the Diaspora with accuracy and flair.
Choosing pieces for an end-of-year “best-of” wasn’t easy. But here, with no further ado and in no particular order, are 10 of our favorite stories from our staff’s first 10 and a half months’ reporting on the fascinating, out-of-the-way corners of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.
Stay healthy, keep reading, and spread the word in 2013.
1. Ankie Spitzer’s 40-year quest for Olympic justice
In 1972, Ankie Spitzer watched on TV as terrorists pushed her husband toward a window in Munich’s Olympic Village and then pulled him away. She never saw him again.
2. In a remote corner of Europe, a Jewish quest for quick salvation
A day spent looking for redemption in Bulgaria with a kabbalistic rabbi of questionable reputation and several planeloads of his followers
Torah, grapes, and the unlikely rise of Israeli wine.
4. For the last Nazi hunter, the inevitable comes into focus
When you’re the last person on earth whose job is tracking down German war criminals, retirement is not to be taken lightly.
5. The latest ‘novel’ idea: Jewish vampires
He may be undead, but at least he’s Jewish.
6. In the exceptional rise of a gutsy Arab kid from the Galilee, many harsh truths for Israel
The journey of Forsan Hussein — from an Israeli construction site to Harvard and back home again — is both an inspiration and an indictment.
7. Prisoners, still: The ongoing trauma of the Yom Kippur War POWs
“There are scars,” fighter pilot Ori Shahak says, “and sometimes you forget you have them until they start to bleed.”
8. Hacker: We have Iran’s nuke secrets now
An Israeli hacker says that he and his friends have thousands of documents on Iran’s nuclear program — and that they plan to give them to the IDF and CIA.
A group of Israelis and Jordanians return to the place where they tried to kill each other as young men.
10. A funny thing happened on the way to Netanyahu’s UN speech
A Times of Israel reporter was trying to get to the United Nations to hear an important policy address. Fate had other plans
And finally:
After eight days of fighting, ceasefire is put to the test
The Times of Israel live-blogged Operation Pillar of Defense last month from soon after its inception until its end, using our innovative platform to keep readers up-to-the minute with what was unfolding on the battlefield and on the home front. Here is the final live blog in the series — a unique portrait of the conflict fed minute-by-minute by our entire staff of reporters and editors, which drew record numbers of readers.
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