Noga Tarnopolsky

In Jerusalem, One Murder Shattered A Whole Community’s Way Of Life

As Hamas and Israel trade fire, the family of Mohammad Abu Khdeir, kidnapped and burned alive, is still mourning. And the neighborhood, still bearing the scars of riots, is reeling.

Noga Tarnopolsky
By Noga Tarnopolsky
Tariq Abu Khdeir

JERUSALEM, Israel — The three traditional days of mourning were not enough to say goodbye to Mohammad Abu Khdeir, a fresh-faced boy of 16. After eight days, his family reluctantly planned to fold up the tent that has been their abode since his murder, and began stacking the plastic chairs used by visitors. Mohammad was kidnapped at dawn just

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Pope Francis Plays Peace Process Politics

To begin with, there will be an attempt to broker peace in the Middle East.

Noga Tarnopolsky
By Noga Tarnopolsky

JERUSALEM, Israel — If you strained your eyes while at Pope Francis' Mass in Bethlehem last Sunday, you might have seen, stage left, a man in a dark suit and a black skullcap. "Dude, they're all wearing kipot!" one of the journalists hollered to a friend, using the Hebrew word for the traditional Jewish head covering, which is, as it happens,

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Israel’s Got 99 problems. Are You One Of Them?

Because everyone else is. Even Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is on this list.

Noga Tarnopolsky
By Noga Tarnopolsky
Benjamin Netanyahu Sara Ben-Artzi

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minishttps://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpter Benjamin Netanyahu is having a bad week. Problems are literally dropping from the sky — in the case of the missiles in Southern Israel — but they’re also popping up in Netanyahu’s own household, in his scandal-ridden cabinet, and in the crucial ties between

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Some Families Exultant, Some Heartbroken As Palestinian Prisoners Released

Israeli politicians squabble over the release of Palestinian prisoners, while some families rejoice and others grieve.

Noga Tarnopolsky
By Noga Tarnopolsky

  JERUSALEM — The Palestinian city of al-Bireh and the Israeli settlement of Ofra lie exactly seven miles apart along one of the most beautiful ridges in the West Bank, in a breathtaking, craggy landscape colored dusky green and sandstone yellow. But the region's beauty exists in stark dissonance to the rifts and misfortune it

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Israel Freaks Out A Bit As Western Powers Meet With Iran

Israel is afraid that Iran’s new charm will convince the West to lighten sanctions prematurely.

Noga Tarnopolsky
By Noga Tarnopolsky
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, second right, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, left, talk to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as the wait for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, not pictured, for a group picture at the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria. Iran sits down with the United States, Russia, Europeans and key Arab states for the first time since the Syrian civil war began to discuss the future of the war-torn country. It will also break ground by bringing President Bashar Assad’s main supporter, Iran, to the same table as its regional rivals, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, who have been backing many of the insurgent groups. (Carlos Barria, Pool Photo via AP, File)

As representatives of Western powers and Iran gather in the pretty lakeside city of Geneva, it is difficult to imagine a more tense juncture in the annals of Israeli diplomacy than this. Israeli nerves are fraying as the nuclear program of its greatest nemesis is discussed in talks to which it is not a party. "You’ve got to keep in mind what

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PhD in Weed: Meet The 82 Year Old Cannabis Scientist

In 1964, he was the first person to synthesize THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, the principal active ingredient in weed.

Noga Tarnopolsky
By Noga Tarnopolsky
MarijuA caregiver picks out a marijuana bud for a patient at a marijuana dispensary in Denver. Pot smokers in Colorado were the biggest winners in the vote that legalized the drug. Now state regulators are working out the details of exactly how to tax it, so the benefits are shared statewide in the form of increased revenue. A state panel meets Thursday to draft final recommendations based on the voter-approved marijuana legalization question that asked for excise taxes up to 15 percent to fund school construction.(AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)ana

JERUSALEM — An award-winning professor of medicinal chemistry and natural products at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Raphael Mechoulam is a trim gentleman who wears tweed jackets and silk scarves. He is no slacker. At 82, he still works full-time. Despite Mechoulam's respectability, his greatest fame stems from two scientific

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Wounded Syrian Civilians Are Turning Up In Israeli Hospitals

Child victims have been extricated from Syria’s combat zone and transported to Israeli emergency rooms.

Noga Tarnopolsky
By Noga Tarnopolsky

NAHARIYA, Israel — On Thursday, four out of six beds in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Western Galilee Hospital were filled. In one bed was an 8-year-old Ethiopian boy who'd been mauled by a hyena, half his head caught in the animal's jaws. After languishing for five months in an Addis Ababa facility with his skull exposed, an American

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