Barred from men’s soccer games at home, Iranian women flock to World Cup in Qatar

(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

By Isabel Debre - November 21, 2022

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — To 27-year-old Mariam, the World Cup match ticket was a precious gift. A sports fanatic, she traveled to the World Cup in Qatar from Tehran to catch Iran’s opening game Monday against England, her first live soccer match.

Women are banned from attending men’s matches in Iran.

“I’ve never attended a football match in my life so I had to take this chance,” said Mariam, a student of international relations who, like other Iranian women at the match, declined to give her last name for fear of government reprisals.

Iran is competing in the World Cup as a major women’s protest movement is roiling the country. Security forces have violently cracked down on demonstrations, killing at least 419 people, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests.

Read More: Times of Israel

Azerbaijan to open embassy in Israel, the first Muslim Shi’ite country to do so

(AP Photo/Franc Zhurda)

By TOI Staff - November 18, 2022

The Azerbaijani parliament on Friday approved a proposal to open an embassy in Israel.

The historic decision will make Azerbaijan the first Shi’ite Muslim country to open an embassy in the Jewish state.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid welcomed the move, saying “Azerbaijan is an important partner of Israel and home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Muslim world.

“The decision to open an embassy reflects the depth of the relationship between our countries. This move is the result of the Israeli government’s efforts to build strong diplomatic bridges with the Muslim world,” he said.

“The Azeri people… will now be represented for the first time in the State of Israel,” he added.

Read More: Times of Israel

In first phone call since 2013, Netanyahu, Erdogan pledge to build ‘new era’ in ties

By Lazar German - November 17, 2022

Presumptive incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Thursday, agreeing to work together to bring about “a new era” in Ankara-Jerusalem ties, which have been warming steadily over the past year.

“President Erdogan said that it was in the shared interest of Turkiye and Israel to maintain the relations by respecting sensitivities on the basis of mutual interests, and to strengthen them on a sustainable basis,” according to a Turkish readout of the call.

Erdogan’s office added that Netanyahu remarked that Turkey’s mediation efforts between Ukraine and Russia “were important to the world.”

Netanyahu expressed his condolences for the bombing on a popular Istanbul pedestrian street that left six dead and dozens wounded. He also offered Israel’s help in the fight against terror.

Erdogan thanked Netanyahu, and offered his own condolences over Tuesday’s deadly terror attack in Ariel.

Read More: Times of Israel

Tour the well-fortified Tel Gezer, the biblical Canaanite holdout that wouldn’t fall

(Photo: Shmuel Bar-Am)

By Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am - November 12, 2022

Rarely do archeologists and historians have written proof that positively identifies a Holy Land site mentioned in the Bible. That’s why the rock inscription discovered at Tel Jazer in the early 1870s made such a splash: the words written on the rock, in ancient Hebrew, read: “Boundary of Gezer.” Over the years, quite a few more Gezer boundary stones have been recovered on the tel, or hill.

The word “Gezer” appears in the Bible over a dozen times. Its third mention is within the context of the territories assigned to the Israelites who, after the Exodus and a 40-year sojourn in the desert, were primed to settle down in the land that God had said would be theirs. That Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey, was also filled with Canaanite cities that didn’t take the Israelite invasion lying down. And while the Israelites did manage to conquer a number of Canaanite cities, several others didn’t capitulate.

One of these was Gezer, which Joshua had assigned to the tribe of Ephraim. A large and important city, Gezer was part of the Egyptian empire and ruled by people who corresponded often with the Pharaohs. It was only during King Solomon’s reign hundreds of years after the Israelites failed to take the city that Gezer fell under Israelite control. Even then, this happened only because the reigning Pharaoh devastated the city, slew the inhabitants, and offered Gezer to King Solomon as a gift when the Israelite monarch married his daughter.

Read More: Times of Israel

Politics of Iran and Israel another spectacle to watch at Mideast’s first World Cup

(AP/Nariman El-Mofty, File)

By Isabel Debre - November 11, 2022

AP — Qatar may hope soccer fans ignore politics at the first World Cup in the Middle East. But Israel and Iran, foes locked in conflicts across the region, are bringing sensitive flashpoints to the tournament’s doorstep.

Israel is not competing, but it sees the massive spectacle as a way to further integrate into the Middle East after establishing ties with two of Qatar’s Gulf Arab neighbors. Thousands of Israeli tourists, long shunned, are expected to fly to the Qatari capital of Doha on unprecedented direct flights.

Iran, convulsed by protests that erupted over the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of the country’s morality police, has much at stake. The pitch could provide Iranian activists with a vast audience for a protest. Or it could deliver Iran a victory on the world stage in a first-round match against its rival, the United States.

The tournament’s location in the Persian Gulf emirate, just a short flight away from Israel and Iran, adds another layer of tension. Iranian and Israeli fans have rubbed shoulders at World Cups before, but never at such an event in their own backyard.

“It’s always possible for Israeli and Iranian tensions to play out,” said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an Iran expert and college dean at Missouri University of Science and Technology. “One can expect hard-liners to try and make a statement.”

Read More: Times of Israel

World’s oldest lice comb dug up in Israel

(Photo: Dafna Gazit/Israel Antiquities Authority)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - November 10, 2022

Apparently, head lice are not only a modern problem.

An ivory comb unearthed at the Tel Lachish National Park archeological site in Israel is inscribed with the first complete sentence in Canaanite pictographic language ever discovered: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”

This discovery is quite significant, considering that the alphabet was invented around 1800 BCE, and the comb dates from only 100 years later.

The amazing find was unearthed by archeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) and Southern Adventist University in the United States, under the direction of Professors Yosef Garfinkel, Michael Hasel and Martin Klingbeil.

“This is the first sentence ever found in the Canaanite language in Israel,” said Garfinkel.

“The comb inscription is direct evidence for the use of the alphabet in daily activities some 3,700 years ago. This is a landmark in the history of the human ability to write.”

Read More: Israel21c

WATCH: Israeli, Bahraini, UAE, US paratroopers make joint jump over Gulf

By Emanuel Fabian - October 28, 2022

A delegation of Israeli paratroopers held a joint jump over Bahrain on Wednesday, alongside soldiers from the Gulf nation, the UAE, and the United States to mark two years since the signing of the Abraham Accords.

The event was another sign of closer defense ties between Israel and Bahrain, and it comes two weeks before several Israeli defense contractors are slated to participate in the Bahrain International Airshow.

The Israel Defense Forces said some 40 paratroopers participated in the event. Additionally, the sides held bilateral discussions “to strengthen cooperation between the armies.”

Read More: Times of Israel

Afghan woman cycling champ to join Israel’s cycling team

By Abigail Klein Leichman _ October 27, 2022

After the Hashimi sisters originally of Afghanistan — Fariba, 19, and Yulduz, 22 — finished first and second, respectively, in the Afghan national cycling championship held in exile in Switzerland, Fariba accepted a contract with Women’s WorldTour team Israel–Premier Tech Roland (IPT).

Her slot on next season’s roster gives Fariba a chance to race the Tour de France Femmes, and with the announcement of a U23 Continental team in the works, Yulduz will join her next year.

Read More: Israel21c

Geomagnetic field dating confirms biblical narrative

By Marion Fischel - October 26, 2022

A groundbreaking interdisciplinary study by Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) involving 20 international scientists and researchers has verified biblical accounts of the Egyptian, Aramean, Assyrian and Babylonian military campaigns against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

The study reconstructed changes in the magnetic field of the earth as recorded in 21 destruction layers in 17 archeological sites throughout Israel, constructing a variation curve of field intensity over time that can be used as a scientific dating tool.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study is based on the doctoral thesis of Yoav Vaknin, and supervised by Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef and Prof. Oded Lipschits of TAU’s Institute of Archaeology, and Prof. Ron Shaar of HU’s Institute of Earth Sciences.

Vaknin explained that Earth’s magnetic field comes from the movement of iron in its interior. When this iron moves around, it will always point north because of this field.

Archeological finds such as mud bricks and pottery vessels contain ferromagnetic minerals with tiny magnetic signals. If these artifacts are burned at high temperatures, when they cool down they record the magnetic signal that points to the magnetic north of the time.

“And we can come along thousands of years later and reconstruct the direction and the intensity of the magnetic field at the time of the fire,” said Vaknin.

Read More: Israel21c

Under pressure, Adidas cuts ties with Kanye West for ‘dangerous’ antisemitic remarks

(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

By AP - October 25, 2022

Adidas has ended its partnership with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West over his offensive and antisemitic remarks, becoming the latest company to cut ties with him in a decision that the German sportwear company said would hit its bottom line.

“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “[Kanye’s] recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

The company faced pressure to cut ties with West, with celebrities and others on social media urging Adidas to act. It said at the beginning of the month that it was placing its lucrative sneaker deal with the rapper under review.

Read More: Times of Israel

US students report jump in mental scarring from campus antisemitism, but see no end

By Cathryn J. Prince - October 24, 2022

NEW YORK — Ofek Preis won’t walk to class by herself anymore. She’s afraid of being harassed for being Jewish.

“I’m just so burnt out from this. I just want to go to class and have a normal class. Then I remember that there is so much antisemitism here. It can be really debilitating,” said Preis, a 21-year-old senior at State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz.

“It’s shocking and triggering. You start to feel you have no control of your learning environment; you feel unsafe everywhere,” she told The Times of Israel.

Preis isn’t alone: Jewish students across the United States report being excluded from campus organizations, targeted on social media and harassed in classes by students and professors alike. Additionally, they’ve seen dormitories and sidewalks vandalized with swastikas, and buildings plastered with flyers that equate Birthright trips to Israel with genocide and call for Zionists to “fuck off.”

Yet, often lost in the coverage of these incidents is the emotional toll they take on the Jewish students.

Read More: Times of Israel

As Israeli-Arab Negev Forum prepares to reconvene, members try to bring in Jordan

By Jacob Magid - October 20, 2022

WASHINGTON — As Negev Forum countries prepare for their next gatherings in the coming months, an effort to bring Jordan into the fold has intensified, US and Mideast diplomats told The Times of Israel.

Jordan has been noticeably absent so far at Negev Forum gatherings, which have brought together representatives from the US, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt. Amman was not at the table when foreign ministers met in southern Israel for the inaugural gathering of the forum in March, and it did not send a diplomat to a steering committee meeting in Manama in June.

While the dates have not been finalized, the UAE is readying to host the Negev Forum working groups — six panels tasked with advancing regional projects in the areas of regional security, food and water security, energy, health, education and tourism — in November while Morocco is preparing to host the second annual ministerial gathering in January, according to four US and Middle East diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Read More: Times of Israel

Graffiti of medieval knight discovered in Jerusalem

(Photo: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority)

By Nicky Blackburn - October 20, 2022

Archeologists have discovered a 15th century graffiti inscription thought to be by one of Switzerland’s most admired medieval military figures, on a wall in the King David Tomb complex on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

Adrian von Bubenberg, a knight who won a famous victory at the Battle of Murten in 1476, came on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1466 and on his visit either he or his son – also called Adrian – left a charcoal inscription of his name and family emblem on a wall in Jerusalem.

Read More: Israel21c

Israel and Bahrain sign historic agriculture agreement

(Photo: Rotem Lahav)

By Zachy Hennessy - October 19, 2022

On Wednesday during the International Summit on Food Technologies from the Sea and the Desert taking place in Eilat, the agriculture ministers of Israel and Bahrain signed a first-of-its-kind agreement of cooperation in the field of agriculture.

During a meeting between Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Oded Forer and his Bahraini counterpart, Wael Bin Nasser Al Mubarak, the two signed a joint declaration for the promotion and expansion of cooperation between the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain in the fields of agriculture, livestock and food security.

Also agreed upon was the mutual sharing of knowledge, technology and diverse products to expand agricultural products and improve their production quality.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

With manmade islands and jetties, new hotel plan set to transform Dead Sea tourism

By Danielle Nagler and Joshua Davidovich - October 16, 2022

Israel’s plans to turn the lowest place on earth into one of the hottest tourist destinations on the planet will see the country taking inspiration from two places already drawing millions of visitors a year: the Maldives and Dubai.

Plans for a raft of new hotels along the Dead Sea will seek to revamp tourism in the region and remake the coastline, with a series of manmade islands, peninsulas and inlets — plus a tropical-style property featuring guest cottages perched on stilts in the sea — in the works to extend the coastline and put more tourists than ever right on the water.

Israeli officials see boosting Dead Sea tourism as key to reaching the goal of 10 million visitors a year by 2030. With the sea rapidly shrinking, leaving former beachside resorts miles from shore and turning the former coastline into a dangerous expanse of sinkholes, tourism efforts are focused on the massive evaporation ponds south of the Dead Sea, where most of the large hotels in the area are already located.

Read More: Times of Israel

Wanted: More Christians to Dig in Israel

By Gordon Govier - October 12, 2022

Biblical archaeology is back in full swing in Israel—after a two-year pandemic delay—and now the digs across the country are going to get a new boost from tourist-volunteers.

Israel’s Tourism Ministry has launched a new initiative aimed at getting Christian tourists involved in excavations. And a group affiliated with the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), the largest organization for professional American archaeologists working in Israel, is starting a 13-day tour with visits to 27 sites.

American archaeologists working in Israel welcome the new programs. Encouraging “archaeotourism” is good for archaeology—boosting the local economy, cultivating interested in the ongoing academic work, and supplying archaeologists with a steady flow of volunteers.

“We couldn’t get anything accomplished without them,” said Steve Ortiz, director of the Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Ortiz co-led a 10-year excavation at Tel Gezer, and is now a codirector of the Tel Burna Archaeological Project.

Read More: Christianity Today

Qatari sheikh behind giant replica of World Cup trophy urges ties with Israel

By TOI Staff and Agencies - October 14, 2022

A Qatari sheikh who has become a media sensation in his home country after installing a gigantic stone replica of the World Cup soccer trophy outside his home, called Thursday for normalization with the Jewish state in an interview with Israeli media.

Hamad Al Suwaidi first found fame in the late 1980s as a race car driver. Since then he has also set up Qatar’s first peacock sanctuary, but it was the recent unveiling of a three-meter high, four-ton copy of the iconic Mondial cup that catapulted him back into the headlines recently.

Suwaidi, also an avid sculptor, commissioned the project to celebrate his country’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup next month, the first Middle Eastern country to do so.

Read More: Times of Israel

Peace with Israel, Jewish agricultural law have Morocco’s etrog industry blossoming

(Photo: Ben Sales/JTA)

By David I Klein - October 13, 2022

JTA — A bumper crop of etrogs is taking a more direct route to Israel this year, thanks to a historic confluence of geopolitics and religious observance.

Once home to the largest Jewish community in the Arab world, Morocco has a long history of producing the citrus fruit used by millions of Jews every Sukkot — in fact, tradition holds that etrog trees were first planted in the Atlas mountains nearly 2,000 years ago by Jews who found shelter amongst the Berber tribes there after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Jewish communities around the world import hundreds of thousands of Moroccan etrogs every year: They’re more affordable than the Calabrian variety, the Diamante Citron, prized by some Hasidic groups, which can command hundreds of dollars for an unblemished specimen.

Read More: Times of Israel

With $92m in hand, Nazareth-based VC looks to invest in the Arab community

(Photo: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)

By Ethan Freedman - October 12, 2022

NGT, a venture capital firm based in the northern city of Nazareth, is looking to find a niche in a relatively under-resourced and untapped area of the Israeli medical field: the Arab community.

The company’s newest fund, HealthCare II Impact Fund, specializes in medtech and biotech ventures and received a capital infusion of $92 million this year to fund Arab-Israeli entrepreneurs in the lucrative Israeli medical industry.

The Arab Israeli community has experienced a spurt in the medical field over the past two decades. In 2000, Arab Israelis constituted just 11.2% of all new physicians; by 2020, that number ballooned to nearly half, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Health.

In order to tap into this wellspring of talent, NGT, which focuses on early-stage, breakthrough technologies coming out of academic and medical institutions, was created to capitalize on this.

“It’s really part of our impact factor, this is what we’re focused on — integrating the Arab society into the ecosystem of the startup nation,” Tamar Kedar Harris, Director of Investor Relations at NGT, told The Times of Israel.

Read More: Times of Israel

Israel announces ‘historic’ maritime border agreement with Lebanon

(Photo: Dalati Nohra, Lebanon's official government photographer, via AP)

By Lazar German and Jacob Magid - October 11, 2022

Israel announced on Tuesday morning that it had reached a “historic” agreement with Lebanon over the maritime border between the two countries in gas-rich Mediterranean waters.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the deal would “strengthen Israel’s security, inject billions into Israel’s economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border.”

The premier will convene the security cabinet on Wednesday, followed by a special meeting of the full cabinet to approve the agreement, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Israeli announcement came minutes after Lebanese President Michel Aoun tweeted that “the final version of the offer satisfies Lebanon, meets its demands and preserves its rights to its natural wealth.”

Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite terror group that has threatened Israel over natural gas extraction, agreed to the terms of the deal and considers the negotiations over, Reuters reported.

Read More: Times of Israel