Following violent street protests by hundreds of Arab Christians and several complaints by senior clergy against a display at the Haifa Museum of Art entitled “Sacred Goods” which includes the “McJesus” sculpture by Finnish artist and BDS-supporter Jani Leinonen, the Ministry of Culture attempted to defund the Museum on Tuesday before being blocked from doing so by the Department of Justice.

Labor MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin, a highly popular lawmaker who has publically opposed many policies of party chief Avi Gabbay, announced Wednesday morning that she won’t be a candidate for the upcoming Knesset elections, citing the dramatic changes in the Labor Party. Analysts were quick to speculate about the possibility that the move would erode Labors support in the elections scheduled for 9 April.

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis issued a directive this week that state employees are not to use the online travel lodging service Airbnb while on official business following that organizations announcement in November that it will de-list apartments in Jewish settlement communities in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. “We have a moral obligation to oppose the Airbnb policy. It does target Jews specifically. I think that’s wrong,” DeSantis said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that he will accept a request from US President Donald Trump to establish a “security zone” in northern Syria as an alternative to a feared invasion of the area which many feared would involve massacres of US-allied Kurdish factions, which Ankara considers terrorists. “Comparing Turkey’s presence in Syria with that of any other state or power is an insult to both history and our civilisation,” Erdogan said, in response to accusations that he was planning to invade and occupy a large section of his neighboring country.

Ali Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told a local news agency on Tuesday that despite the clerical regime’s oft-repeated insistence that it is complying with the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement, “If we want to come out of the nuclear deal and produce, within four days we could start our 20 percent. But we already have stockpiles of 20 percent, and the capability.”

On Tuesday, January 15, 2019, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi assumed his position as the 22nd IDF Chief of Staff. From political and security perspectives, his tenure begins in a stormy, unstable period, when the IDF’s strategic and operational environment continues to be marked by vast uncertainty.

On the 9th of April, Israel will hold general parliamentary elections, some seven months ahead on schedule. based on Israel’s political history, popularity shifts dramatically within short time-periods, leaving the outcome of Jerusalem’s future leadership unknown. Some of Israel’s leading analysts weigh in and try to provide context to the heated contest between parties and politicians.

Since 1996, the Nursing Homecare Program has been a significant arm of the ICEJ. Our team in Jerusalem provides basic nursing assistance and physical care to elderly and disabled Russian Jewish immigrants, while also considering their social, and emotional well-being. Encouragement, friendship, shared moments of joy and sadness, the competent hands of a nurse, financial support for critical needs – these are the elements of Homecare.