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Articles written by josh hasten


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  • Is Israel's security barrier a terrorism deterrent or political tool?

    Josh Hasten|Jan 4, 2019

    (JNS)-Many have pointed to Israel's security barrier in Judea and Samaria as being one of the primary contributors to the reduction in Palestinian terrorism since the years of the Second Intifada, from 2000 to 2005. However, a growing chorus of experts disputes this notion, while pointing to the barrier instead being used as a political tool to divide the land. A new study on Israel's separation fence in Judea and Samaria asserts that while the yet-to-be-completed barrier was constructed under t...

  • "We need to talk..."

    Josh Hasten|Nov 2, 2018

    Observers lament lack of wide-ranging views at Federation's General Assembly in Tel Aviv (JNS)-The 2018 annual General Assembly, held this year in Tel Aviv, took on a decidedly different tone to previous conventions. Focused on the theme, "Israel and the Diaspora: We need to talk," calls came for a respectful but serious dialogue on key issues that have been troubling America's Jewish communal establishment. Yet many of the hard questions being asked of Israel by a largely liberal Jewish...

  • Deconstructing the Oslo Accords 25 years later: Was it a gift or a curse?

    Josh Hasten|Sep 21, 2018

    (JNS)-It's hard to believe that it's been a quarter of a century: Sept. 13 marked the 25th anniversary of the 1993 signing of the U.S.-brokered Declaration of Principles between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Known also as the Oslo Accords, the deal signed between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and PLO head Yasser Arafat recognized the PLO as the official representative of the Palestinian people. With peace between the two sides the ultimate goal, Israel gradually hande...

  • Why Israelis aren't as worked up about the Western Wall as Diaspora Jews

    Josh Hasten|Aug 24, 2018

    (JNS)-The future of prayer at the Western Wall has become one of the most contentious issues among Diaspora Jewry in the past year, mainly as a result of the Israeli government's June 2017, suspension of a plan, which would have changed the status quo at one of Judaism's holiest site. Leaders of Diaspora Jewry from the non-Orthodox streams, along with the Women of the Wall organization, a group that holds monthly controversial prayer services at the Western Wall, were enraged by the last-minute...

  • Jerusalem court issues lien on ships headed to Gaza, with proceeds going to Israeli victims of terror

    Josh Hasten|Jul 27, 2018

    (JNS)—In a rather rare judgment, a Jerusalem District Court just issued a lien on two large ships that are part of a Gaza-bound flotilla set to arrive in Israeli waters later this month, with the intent that the sea vessels can be sold, with proceeds going to families of Israeli victims of Hamas-sponsored terror attacks. The strategy to seek a lien on the ships in order to benefit the victims was introduced to the court by the Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center’ NGO on behalf of two Israeli families (Weinstein and Gavish) who for years have bee...

  • Filmmaker calls for UNRWA 'self-introspection' over Palestinian classroom incitement

    Josh Hasten, JNS.org|Jul 1, 2016

    A newly released 10-minute online video produced by the Jerusalem-based Center for Near East Policy Research says that many of the Palestinians who have murdered Israelis during the so-called "stabbing intifada," which began in September 2015, were educated in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Titled "The UNRWA road to terror: Palestinian classroom incitement," the video claims that the current wave of violence was not...

  • Christian Zionist film enlists humor in the fight against BDS

    Josh Hasten, JNS.org|Jun 24, 2016

    "When it comes to apartheid, Israel sucks." It's a key quote delivered by American comedian Brad Stine, a devout Christian and a featured personality in a new documentary film called "Hating Israel: In Search of the Truth Behind BDS." The premiere of the 90-minute film produced by Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder and president of the Christian Zionist organization Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), was held in Jerusalem on June 8, in front of an audience of Knesset members, Israel...

  • Humanitarian pressure helped create Israel's tunnel problem

    Josh Hasten, JNS.org|Aug 22, 2014

    By Josh Hasten With the withdrawal of ground troops from Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it completed its mission of dismantling a network of terrorist tunnels. But how did Hamas get its hands on materials to build the tunnels in the first place? Lt. Col (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi, an expert on the Middle East and radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), explained that some of the materials, including cement and iron, were smuggled into Gaza by Hamas through...

  • Defying BDS, Weiss brings big-name performers to Israel

    Josh Hasten, JNS.org|Mar 14, 2014

    While Pink Floyd's Roger Waters has in recent years acted as a de facto frontman for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, urging fellow artists against performing in Israel, Shuki Weiss Promotion and Production Ltd. for nearly 35 years has brought the biggest names in entertainment to the Jewish state for historic live shows. Musical guests attracted to Israel by the company have included Metallica, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Madonna, David Bowie, and Eric Clapton. Th...

  • Temple Mount report ignites concern over Israel's preservation of holy site

    Josh Hasten, JNS.org|Jan 17, 2014

    A recently revealed Israeli State Comptroller's report that remains under a government gag order has ignited concern over the Muslim Waqf's attempts to erase Jewish ties on the Temple Mount-Judaism's holiest site-and Israeli authorities' neglect of those activities. The classified document, whose contents were published by the New York-based newspaper The Jewish Voice, details ongoing illegal excavations being carried out on the Temple Mount by the Muslim Waqf (trust) and places blame on those...

  • Despite rising threats, Iron Dome manufacturer's CEO sleeps well

    Josh Hasten, JNS.org|Jan 3, 2014

    The security situation in Israel has grown increasingly tense of late, with a spike in terror attacks carried out on numerous fronts, and through various means, by both recognized terror groups and presumed “lone wolf” assailants. But such developments don’t rattle VADM (ret.) Yedidia Yaari. “I sleep well because I know we (Israelis) have the capability to outsmart our enemies in every respect,” says Yaari—president and CEO of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Israel’s second-largest government owned defense company—in an interview with...