Alexandra Vardi

A couple of astronauts from a team from Europe and Israel walk in spacesuits during a training mission for planet Mars at a site that simulates an off-site station at the Ramon Crater in Mitzpe Ramon in Israel's southern Negev desert on October 10, 2021. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

October 12, 2021, 1:48 am

Six ‘astronauts’ on month-long mission in Israeli desert to prepare for Mars

Participants from Austria, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain simulating life on the Red Planet to perfect the survival skills needed for eventual voyage

By Alexandra Vardi

Hundreds of people demonstrate during a swearing-in ceremony of the new Knesset in Jerusalem on April 6, 2021, against a group of newly elected lawmakers who oppose gay rights (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

April 6, 2021, 10:09 pm

As anti-gay MKs sworn in, activists fear ‘step backwards’ on LGBT rights

Calling for ‘a normal people in our land,’ Religious Zionism’s Noam faction opposes recognition of gay and lesbian couples with children as families

By Nir Kafri and Alexandra Vardi

Bar Pinto (R) and Gilad Levi, two red-bearded 29-year-olds and founders of 'Beard for All' ('Ptor Zakan' in Hebrew), a campaign challenging Israeli military rules compelling all male troops to be cleanshaven, in Tel Aviv on February 7, 2021 (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

March 3, 2021, 11:52 am

IDF faces battle over bearded soldiers who choose not to shave

Two campaigners have taken up the cause on behalf of thousands of secular servicemen who want the same rights to facial hair granted to religious troops

By Alexandra Vardi

A young couple share a picnic in front of a view of the Tel Aviv skyline, in the Israeli coastal city, on February 15, 2021 (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

February 18, 2021, 9:07 am

A decade after social protests, affordable housing remains a dream for many

Prices have continued to rise since the summer of 2011, which saw dozens join tent encampments across Israel to protest the high cost of living

By Alexandra Vardi

Holocaust survivor Motti Liber, 88, receives care from a volunteer on the premises of the Yad Ezer L'Haver foundation, which supports survivors of the Holocaust by providing them food as well as medical and psychological assistance, in Haifa on January 24, 2021. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

January 27, 2021, 8:38 am

Foundation boosts its aid to isolated Holocaust survivors in shadow of pandemic

Haifa-based Yad Ezer L’Haver has been providing food and assistance to survivors for 20 years, is now operating a call center that connects with 3,500 people every day

By Alexandra Vardi

A mountain gazelle is pictured on a hill next to a forest in a suburb of Jerusalem on January 7, 2021. (MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)

January 15, 2021, 2:37 pm

Israel studies new forest home for endangered mountain gazelle

Wildlife experts hope population numbers can recover in woodlands like the Forest of the Martyrs west of Jerusalem

By Alexandra Vardi

Israeli Naama Goldman-Shwartz, 45, walks with a guest at Juha's Guesthouse in the northern coastal village of Jisr az-Zarqa on September 30, 2020 (Jack Guez/AFP)

October 4, 2020, 5:31 pm

Israelis seek to save embattled Jewish-Arab hostel amid pandemic

Celebrities, anonymous donors raise funds for Juha’s Guesthouse in Jisr az-Zarqa, hailed as a model of coexistence, as travel ban keeps tourists away

By Alexandra Vardi

Harel Barak (R) and his husband Yakir Kanneli (L) pose for a picture with an empty stroller at a park in Tel Aviv, on August 14, 2020. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

August 19, 2020, 3:47 pm

Israeli same-sex couples seek end to surrogacy discrimination

Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn says government intends to pass a surrogacy bill by the end of the year in order to comply with recent Supreme Court ruling

By Alexandra Vardi

Members of the Palestinian Authority security forces patrolling in the village of Beitunia in the central West Bank on April 6, 2020. (Credit: Wafa)

July 14, 2020, 8:17 am

Palestinians said arrested after backing annexation in Israeli TV report

Journalist behind hidden camera footage of West Bank residents saying they want to become Israeli claims at least 6 of them detained by PA security; Ramallah denies it

By Alexandra Vardi and Michael Blum

Professor Hadas Mamane holds a tube containing ethanol made from waste at her laboratory in Tel Aviv University on July 8, 2020. (JACK GUEZ/AFP)

July 9, 2020, 4:32 pm

To battle virus, Israeli scientists use waste to make hand sanitizer

Prof. Hadas Mamane touts breakthrough of using low dose ozone gas to make ethanol, which she says lowers production costs and is ‘good for the environment’

By Alexandra Vardi

Israeli sit at a cafe in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, on July 1, 2020. (Jack Guez/AFP)

July 1, 2020, 10:59 pm

Annexation? Residents of Ariel settlement prefer that old time status quo

Move would have no impact, say shrugging locals of major West Bank settlement, as start date for planned Israeli extension of sovereignty passes

By Alexandra Vardi and Michel Blum

Protesters rally against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his residence in Jerusalem on May 24, 2020. (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

May 24, 2020, 10:17 pm

Netanyahu trial divides Israelis, as rival rallies held in Jerusalem

With some traveling from afar, premier’s supporters claim he is ‘pure and clean,’ while others decry ‘death of democracy’ and claim leader must resign

By Alexandra Vardi and Jonah Mandel

IDF tanks near houses in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on July 22, 1982. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

May 24, 2020, 6:49 pm

Some of Israel’s Lebanon veterans still searching for help

Former soldier seeking to set up support center for comrades suffering from PTSD caused during 18-year conflict on other side of northern border

By Alexandra Vardi

Israeli director Amos Gitai attends a photocall for the film "A Letter to a Friend in Gaza," presented out of competition on September 3, 2018, during the 75th Venice Film Festival, at Venice Lido. (AFP Photo/Alberto Pizzoli)

May 21, 2020, 7:54 am

Israeli director Amos Gitai calls for ecological rethink after coronavirus

Award-winning filmmaker says that a time of crisis is ‘the moment to try to find some perspective,’ warns ‘greed and advanced capitalism’ are destroying planet

By Alexandra Vardi

Haredi Orthodox men praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, January 12, 2017. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images/via JTA)

February 25, 2020, 8:19 pm

Many ultra-Orthodox who lose their faith must live a ‘double life’

‘The price to pay is so high’ for openly rejecting religious life that many lapsed Haredim prefer to live a lie within their community, says head of support group

By Alexandra Vardi