Amy Spiro

Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel.

Prime Minister Menachem Begin during a debate in the Knesset on March 20, 1979. (AP Photo/Max Nash)

January 24, 2023, 1:35 pm

‘There are judges in Jerusalem’: A famous Begin quote or misquote?

As discourse over the judicial system reaches a fever pitch, the former prime minister’s purported words echo louder than ever – even if he never said them

By Amy Spiro

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Jerusalem on January 19, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

January 19, 2023, 3:40 pm

Meeting US national security adviser, Netanyahu stresses bid to build Saudi ties

In 1st Jerusalem visit since new government sworn in, Jake Sullivan notes shared ‘challenges and opportunities,’ mum on Biden administration’s concern over Israeli domestic issues

By Amy Spiro and Jacob Magid

Emily Austin at the 71st Miss Universe competition in New Orleans on January 14, 2023. (Courtesy)

January 19, 2023, 3:03 am

Why an intern at Israel’s Mission to the UN judged this week’s Miss Universe pageant

At 21, social media star Emily Austin served as a judge at the annual beauty pageant, in between sports reporting gigs and an internship with Gilad Erdan’s team in New York

By Amy Spiro

Magen David Adom personnel at a blood donation drive in Moshav Yashresh, central Israel, on March 24, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

January 15, 2023, 6:06 pm

Former UK residents no longer banned from giving blood in Israel

Magen David Adom says risk of infection no longer ‘justifies turning away blood donors’ who had been barred since 1999 over mad cow disease

By Amy Spiro and Ash Obel

Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine stand on the stage after winning the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest at Palaolimpico arena, in Turin, Italy, May 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

January 3, 2023, 11:15 pm

Eurovision organizer warns Netanyahu against threatening Israel’s public broadcaster

EBU director general asks PM to ‘safeguard the independence of Kan’ in order to remain a member; communications minister: I am ‘beholden to Israeli public and not any other body’

By Amy Spiro

Police at the site of a sinkhole on the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv on September 17, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

December 27, 2022, 2:23 pm

Hebrew Academy picks ‘sinkhole’ as its word of 2022

Selected by online voters, word narrowly beats out ‘governance’ and ‘hallucination’ to take the top spot

By Amy Spiro

December 23, 2022, 9:42 am

Susie Fishbein led a kosher cooking revolution. A whole new generation has followed

23 years after ‘The Kosher Palette’ upended the kosher cookbook world, a growing slate of authors have entered the genre – though some prefer to stay out of the spotlight

By Amy Spiro

The Frank, van Pels, and Gies families celebrate Hanukkah in a scene from 'A Small Light' slated to air on National Geographic and Disney+ in 2023. (Dusan Martincek/National Geographic for Disney)

December 21, 2022, 12:32 pm

Disney releases sneak peak of new Anne Frank miniseries

Eight-part limited series ‘A Small Light,’ starring Liev Schrieber as Otto Frank, slated to air on National Geographic and Disney+ in the spring

By Amy Spiro

President Isaac Herzog lights the first candle of Hanukkah alongside his wife, Michal, at the President's Residence on December 18, 2022. (Haim Zach/GPO)

December 19, 2022, 12:45 pm

In Hanukkah message to world Jewry, Herzog welcomes ‘tough questions’ about election

President says it is ‘no secret’ that Diaspora Jews have concerns about expected incoming government, but ‘earnest voices’ should continue to engage in dialogue

By Amy Spiro

Israeli MMA athlete Natan Levy training in Israel in 2022. (Aviv Tal)

December 16, 2022, 10:40 pm

UFC’s only Israeli fighter believes all Jews ‘should know how to defend themselves’

Natan Levy made headlines for telling Kanye West to ‘come find me, bro’ in post-fight press conference earlier this month, but says the message was ‘a firm warning, not a threat’

By Amy Spiro

Ukrainian immigrants to Israel who fled fighting in Ukraine arrive on a rescue flight at Ben Gurion Airport, on March 17, 2022. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

December 15, 2022, 2:02 pm

Likud said to weigh residency, not citizenship, for ‘grandchild clause’ immigrants

Yesh Atid’s Razvozov says such a change to Law of Return would be ‘shameful,’ Reform movement warns it would ‘lead to an irreversible rift with Diaspora Jewry’

By Amy Spiro and Judah Ari Gross

Jeremy Jordan and Yael Grobglas are the stars of the new Hallmark movie 'Hanukkah on Rye.' (Pooya Nabei/Hallmark Media)

December 15, 2022, 2:20 am

Hallmark’s new Hanukkah movie is ‘perfect timing’ amid antisemitism spike, says star

Israeli actor Yael Grobglas had to brush up on US Jewish traditions to play Molly Spiegelman in ‘Hanukkah on Rye,’ a kitschy romcom about dueling deli owners on the Lower East Side

By Amy Spiro

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in a scene from 'Wonder Woman 1984.' (Clay Enos/Warner Bros Pictures via AP)

December 8, 2022, 12:27 pm

Gal Gadot’s future as ‘Wonder Woman’ thrown into question

New heads of DC Studios at Warner Bros reportedly axe third installment of franchise, day after Gadot tweets about the superhero’s ‘next chapter’

By Amy Spiro

Julia Haart in an episode of season two of 'My Unorthodox Life' on Netflix. (Netflix)

December 1, 2022, 3:47 pm

Messy divorce, religious battles headline season 2 of Netflix’s ‘My Unorthodox Life’

Julia Haart says she refused to turn off cameras even at her ‘lowest point’; after season 1, sister cut off contact due to pressure from community: ‘She didn’t want to be a pariah’

By Amy Spiro

Attendees at the 2018 INTV conference at the YMCA in Jerusalem. (Oded Karni)

November 30, 2022, 9:22 pm

INTV television conference returns to Jerusalem after hiatus

Local competitors Keshet and Reshet to join forces for international confab, which hasn’t been held since 2019

By Amy Spiro