Aron Heller

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on June 30, 2019. (Oded Balilty/Pool/AFP)

July 17, 2019, 4:40 pm

Netanyahu, paradigm shifter of Israeli politics, set to break another record

Poised to become country’s longest serving PM at week’s end, leader is described by both fans and critics as a master maneuverer who has shattered several conventional wisdoms

By Aron Heller

In this July 7, 2019, photo, Russian Jewish songwriter Psoy Korolenko, left, and Canadian historian Anna Shternshis perform a song from "Yiddish Glory," a Grammy-nominated project that brings to life the lost songs of World War II, in Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

July 9, 2019, 2:23 pm

Long-lost Holocaust-era Soviet songs in Yiddish brought to life in Israel

Grammy-nominated project reaches Tel Aviv, revives songs describing hardships of Jews being persecuted during World War II

By Aron Heller

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, speaks after receiving Genesis Prize in Jerusalem, Thursday, June 20, 2019. (AP/Sebastian Scheiner)

June 21, 2019, 3:37 am

Patriots owner Kraft pledges $20 million to battle anti-Semitism, BDS

NFL team owner and philanthropist accepts Genesis Prize in Jerusalem, laments ‘disconcerting times’ for Israel in announcing new initiative

By Aron Heller

Neil Patrick Harris looks on during an interview with the Associated Press in Tel Aviv on June 12, 2019 (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

June 13, 2019, 1:49 am

In town for Tel Aviv Pride, Neil Patrick Harris says he’s no gay icon

TV star, who is this year’s official envoy to city’s parade, describes himself as ‘just a guy who is married to another guy and we have kids’

By Aron Heller

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block a highway during a protest against the detention of a member of their community who refused to serve in the military service, in Bnei Brak, Israel, March 12, 2018. (AP/Oded Balilty, File)

June 4, 2019, 1:55 pm

Israel’s new election highlights tense ties to ultra-Orthodox

Legislation on religion and state prevented the formation of a coalition, likely making the status quo a key issue in the coming vote

By Aron Heller

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a Likud party meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 3, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

June 3, 2019, 9:34 pm

Israel’s ‘do-over’ election brings new threats to Netanyahu

PM faces challenges from right and left; would still be presented with tough task of cobbling together a coalition should Likud gain most seats in September

By Aron Heller

In this photo from April 23, 2019, Israeli Holocaust survivors Rachel Zeiger 91, center, and her brother Moshe Akerman 84, left, speak with Orit Noiman, head of Yad Vashem's collection and registration center, at their home in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

May 1, 2019, 5:29 pm

With fewer survivors, focus turns to preserving Holocaust artifacts

On eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yad Vashem lays cornerstone of new center for storing testimonies, objects from Shoah

By Aron Heller

A library official shows celebrated author Franz Kafka’s Hebrew vocabulary notebook at Israel’s National Library in Jerusalem, October 2014. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

April 17, 2019, 11:15 am

Long-hidden Kafka trove within reach after series of trials

Zurich court upholds Israeli ruling that several safe deposit boxes in the Swiss city can be opened and their contents shipped to Israel’s National Library

By Aron Heller

Zehut party leader Moshe Feiglin attends a party conference in Tel Aviv on February 28, 2017. (Flash90)

March 19, 2019, 1:42 am

Upstart legal cannabis party seen as out of sync with other liberal values

Ultra-nationalist libertarian Moshe Feiglin has a realistic chance of leading his Zehut into the Knesset, but some warn that beyond the smokescreen lies some fringe ideology

By Aron Heller

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) speaks with Joist (Arab) List MK Ahmad Tibi during a Knesset plenum session on June 29, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

March 9, 2019, 9:46 am

Bibi or Tibi: Facing hard reelection bid, Netanyahu campaign zones in on Arab MK

PM ramps up claims that his political rivals will team up with Arab lawmakers to force him from office; would likely walk back rhetoric after election day, as in 2015

By Aron Heller

A man who identified himself as Michel Lambert but whose real name is Aharon Almog Assoulin and was linked in investigations by Channel 12's Uvda program and AP with an alleged undercover operation targeting critics of the Israeli tech firm NSO Group, seen in a screen capture from AP video footage. (AP Photo/Joseph Frederick)

February 28, 2019, 4:46 am

Court filing links exposed spy to Israel’s Black Cube

Canadian attorney says he appears to have been targeted by a recently unmasked undercover operative, drawing line between the man and the private intelligence firm

By Raphael Satter and Aron Heller

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of the Visegrad Group -- Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland -- in Budapest, July 19, 2017 (Haim Tzach/GPO)

February 18, 2019, 6:00 pm

Central Europe summit in Israel nixed as Poles pull out over Holocaust remarks

Hungarian, Czech and Slovakian PMs to hold bilateral talks in Jerusalem following Warsaw’s decision to boycott Visegrad group meeting

By Vanessa Gera and Aron Heller

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner at a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, on February 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

February 14, 2019, 8:42 pm

Kushner tells diplomats he believes in peace plan, despite long odds — report

Participant at Warsaw conference quotes Trump’s son-in-law as saying that ‘privately, people are much more flexible’ than in public; proposal to be released after Israeli elections

By Aron Heller

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on February 5, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

February 13, 2019, 10:04 am

Heading to Warsaw, Netanyahu hopes summit brings Arab ties out into the open

Observers doubtful that Gulf states, Saudi Arabia will be willing to use conference on Iran to go public on clandestine cooperation with Israel

By Aron Heller

Likud billboard on the side of the busy Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, February 3, 2019. The title reads 'Netanyahu, in a different league.' (Courtesy)

February 7, 2019, 3:08 pm

From billboards to webcast, Netanyahu taps his inner Trump for campaign

PM increasingly emulates American leader’s populist messaging while parlaying his popularity here, but risks alienating Democrats and others

By Aron Heller