Ben Harris Email RSS

is JTA's former associate editor.

Latest

• In London, Netanyahu calls for new sanctions on Iran

  February 6, 2017 8:36am

  (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in London for talks with his British counterpart, Theresa May, called for new sanctions on Iran following its test of a ballistic missile. In remarks before the two leaders met privately on Monday, Netanyahu said Britain should follow the example of the United States, which on Friday introduced new sanctions…

• John Kerry rips Israel’s ‘pernicious’ settlement policy, lays out 6 principles for Mideast peace

  December 28, 2016 12:16pm

  (JTA) — Secretary of State John Kerry laid out six principles that the United States believes must govern the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while rebuking Israel’s “pernicious policy of settlement construction.” In lengthy remarks from the State Department in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Kerry said peace must provide for secure and recognized borders based on…

• John Kerry to deliver ‘comprehensive vision’ for Middle East peace

  December 27, 2016 5:35pm

  (JTA) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will deliver a speech laying out his vision for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed Tuesday that Kerry would deliver the speech Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C. “In the speech, the secretary will lay out a comprehensive vision for how he believes the conflict…

• UN passes anti-settlement resolution, US abstains

  December 23, 2016 2:32pm

  (JTA) — The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, with the United States abstaining. The resolution was adopted Friday afternoon with 14 votes in favor and only the U.S. abstention. It called Israeli settlements “a flagrant violation of international law” that damage the prospects of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict….

• Israeli forces train for Amona evacuation

  December 8, 2016 2:55pm

  (JTA) — Hundreds of Israeli security personnel trained ahead of the planned evacuation of an illegal West Bank outpost. Soldiers and Border Police officers took part in the exercise this week at the Tzeelim military base in southern Israel, according to a Channel 2 report cited by The Times of Israel. They are expecting to encounter…

• EU expresses ‘strong opposition’ to West Bank outpost bill

  December 8, 2016 11:57am

  (JTA) — The European Union expressed its “strong opposition” to a bill now under consideration in the Israeli Knesset that would pave the way toward the legalization of numerous settlement outposts in the West Bank. In a statement Thursday, the union said the Regulation Bill, which passed its first of three readings late Wednesday, threatened…

• Keith Ellison says Israel comments ‘taken out of context’

  December 1, 2016 5:01pm

  (JTA) — Rep. Keith Ellison, a candidate to head the Democratic National Committee, said an audio recording in which he said American foreign policy bows to Israeli interests was “taken out of context.” “The audio released was selectively edited and taken out of context by an individual the Southern Poverty Law Center has called an…

• Two Iranians charged in planned attack on Israeli Embassy in Kenya

  December 1, 2016 12:28pm

  (JTA) — Two Iranians were charged in plotting an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. The two men along with their Kenyan driver were charged Thursday after being caught photographing the Israeli diplomatic mission in the Kenyan capital, according to news reports. State Prosecutor Duncan Ondimu said Thursday that the men, Sayed Nasrollah…

• When Shimon Peres needed a speechwriter — and I needed a nap

  September 27, 2016 10:40pm

  (JTA) — It was 9 o’clock on a weekday evening and I was lounging around my Brooklyn apartment in pajamas when the call came summoning me to a Midtown Manhattan hotel. Shimon Peres needed a speechwriter; I was a speechwriter at the time for Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations. It was the fall of…

• Palestinian teen reportedly killed, dozens wounded in Israeli army raid

  August 16, 2016 3:56pm

  (JTA) — A Palestinian teenager reportedly died from wounds sustained in clashes with Israeli troops at a West Bank refugee camp near Hebron. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Mohammad Abu Hashash, 17, died Tuesday after sustaining live fire to the chest, according to news reports. Dozens of other Palestinians were wounded in the overnight action,…