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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 428

Ilan Ben Zion

Ilan Ben Zion

Ilan Ben Zion is an AFP reporter and a former news editor at The Times of Israel.
Members of Kibbutz Be'eri set up tables for the Seder on the first night of Passover, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. April 22, 2024. The kibbutz was among the worst hit in Hamas's October 7 massacre, and its residents have not been able to return. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
April 22, 2024, 2:43 pm
With empty chairs and forlorn homes, Israelis prepare for solemn Passover
Celebrating freedom of ancient Israelites is a struggle with 133 hostages in Gaza and over 100,000 displaced, as some look to mark trauma of past months within holiday traditions
By Ilan Ben Zion
This underwater photograph taken on December 26, 2023, shows Yamit Avital and her husband Benny, who are among the survivors from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taking part in a free diving session offered to evacuated Israelis and survivors of the October 7 Hamas attacks, off the coast of Eilat. (Photo by Ilan Ben Zion/AFP)
January 2, 2024, 12:11 pm
Finding solace under water: Displaced Oct. 7 survivors learn to scuba dive in Eilat
Diving clubs in Eilat mobilize to offer evacuated Israelis free courses and sessions; one Nir Oz resident finds activity ‘very therapeutic, very healing’
By Ilan Ben Zion
Religious and secular women take refuge from a summer heat wave at a public beach on one of three days in the week designated for women in Tel Aviv, Israel on July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
October 5, 2023, 10:38 am
Religion has outsized role in Israel, yet most of its Jews aren’t really observant
Over three-quarters of country’s Jews define themselves as secular or traditional; ultra-Orthodox birthrate is 6.5; some 4,000 Haredim leave their communities each year
By Ilan Ben Zion
An Israeli archaeologist points at a nearly 1,800-year-old decorated floor from an early Christian prayer hall that Israeli archaeologists discovered adjacent to Megiddo prison, on November 6, 2005. (Ariel Schalit/AP)
August 15, 2023, 5:04 pm
Israel may uproot ancient Christian mosaic, send it to US Evangelical museum
Megiddo Mosaic could be loaned to Museum of the Bible in Washington; some worry it will be used in ideological, rather than archaeological, context
By Ilan Ben Zion
Members of three families from the Hebrew Israelite community facing deportation, pose for a portrait in the Village of Peace in Dimona, Israel, Monday, July 17, 2023. For two years, Toveet Israel, bottom left, and dozens of other residents of the Village of Peace have lived in fear. Her eight children, including two of her daughters Yahlital, standing left, and Ahmeeteeyah standing right, were born here and know no other country. With them are Ben Israel, center, his granddaughters, and Estella Rivers, right. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
July 21, 2023, 6:14 pm
Two years after deportation orders, 130 African Hebrew Israelites linger in limbo
Dozens of community members have no formal status in Israel and were ordered to leave, but Israeli authorities have yet to rule on their appeals
By Ilan Ben Zion
Nissim Kahlon's home, chiseled out of the sandstone cliffs, overlooks the Mediterranean Sea in Herzliya, June 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
July 13, 2023, 8:05 pm
After 50 years, government seeks to evict squatter from cave home on Herzliya beach
Nissim Kahlon has been carving out elaborate, mosaic-filled labyrinth since 1973; Environmental Protection Ministry claims home is illegal, threatens coastline
By Ilan Ben Zion and Ariel Schalit
Holocaust survivor Tova Gutstein, 90, who lived in the Warsaw Ghetto as a child, poses for a photo at her apartment in the central city of Rishon Lezion, April 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
April 14, 2023, 1:43 pm
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising survivor to light torch at Yad Vashem on 80th anniversary
Tova Gutstein was 10 years old at time of rebellion against Nazis, fled to forest after defeat and hid with partisans, says she ‘can’t forget’ horrors of war
By Ilan Ben Zion and AMI BEN TOV
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man buys disposable plastic dishes in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, January 20, 2023. (Oded Balilty/AP)
January 30, 2023, 7:04 pm
Disposable plastics trigger culture war, testing government cohesion
A tax on single-use tableware that took a bite out of pollution is seen by ultra-Orthodox as an assault on their community; repealing it became a priority for Haredi parties
By Ilan Ben Zion
Winter sunlight fills the Armenian Museum in the Old City of Jerusalem, January 11, 2023. (AP Photo/ Maya Alleruzzo)
January 16, 2023, 4:25 pm
Jerusalem museum showcasing Armenian history reopens after 5-year renovation
Mardigian Museum in Old City features the rich culture and travails of a community that has maintained a continuous presence in holy city even as rulers have come and gone
By Ilan Ben Zion
People snorkel in the Mediterranean Sea in Gador sea reserve, in Hadera, northern Israel, Oct. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
November 14, 2022, 11:04 am
As Mediterranean warms, Israel takes action to protect its marine life 
Israel works to protect parts of coastline, a measure experts say is crucial to maintain biodiversity and shield ecosystems from humanity, and could be blueprint for rescuing seas
By Ilan Ben Zion
Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu delivers an election campaign speech from inside a modified delivery truck with a side wall replaced with bulletproof glass, in Beersheba, southern Israel, September 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
September 15, 2022, 12:29 pm
Wooing voters, Netanyahu campaigns aboard a bulletproof ‘Bibibus’
The former prime minister, famed for his flair for the dramatic, drums up support ahead of November elections with a new shtick
By Ilan Ben Zion and Sam McNeil
The sun sets over the Mediterranean Sea near Ashkelon on September 12, 2014. (AP/Tsafrir Abayov)
August 17, 2022, 1:26 pm
From Israel to Spain, scientists warn of dire effects as Mediterranean heats up
Researchers say sea temperatures are currently 3-5° C (5-9° F) higher than normal, with ever-rising heat killing many marine species, and even potentially endangering human habitat
By Ciaran Giles and Ilan Ben Zion
A painting by the secretive British graffiti artist Banksy that was mysteriously transferred from the West Bank is revealed in Urban Gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. . (Oded Balilty/AP)
August 5, 2022, 10:16 am
Banksy protest painting sprayed in West Bank resurfaces in swanky Tel Aviv gallery
Artwork depicting a slingshot-toting rat was originally painted on a 900-pound concrete slab, part of an abandoned Israeli army position next to Bethlehem security barrier
By Ilan Ben Zion and ISAAC SCHARF
German sharpshooters from the police force take position atop the building facing the Israeli delegation residence, to try and free the hostages held by the Arab terrorists during the Munich Olympics, Sept. 5, 1972. (AP Photo)
July 27, 2022, 6:32 pm
Families of 1972 Olympic attack victims reject ‘insulting’ German compensation offer
Berlin willing to pay further undisclosed damages, but spokesperson for ‘disappointed’ victims’ families says they won’t attend 50th anniversary memorial unless amount increases
By Kirsten Grieshaber and Ilan Ben Zion
The site of a Jewish ritual bath or mikveh, left, discovered near the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, July 17, 2022 (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
July 20, 2022, 1:15 pm
Elevator project at the Western Wall unearths an ancient archaeological trove
Old City excavations, ahead of work to improve disabled access at holy site, uncover ornate 1st century villa, oil lamps and a ritual mikveh that overlooked the Temple esplanade
By Ilan Ben Zion
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