Needy Israelis at a soup kitchen in Jerusalem. Photo: AJN file

JERUSALEM — The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is providing $4.6 million to help needy Israelis purchase food for the high holy days.

The evangelical group is distributing 46,000 gift cards to be used at local supermarkets at a cost of $4 million, as well as distributing 15,000 food baskets through the Latet and Colel Chabad organisations at a cost of $600,000.

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, said: “This is the largest and most far-reaching food campaign ever in the history of Israel.

“While we have supported tens of thousands of people in Israel with food each year for quite a while, especially before the New Year holiday period, the number of people in need has unfortunately skyrocketed this year.”
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Israeli Andy Ram. Photo: AJN file

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ISRAEL’S Andy Ram and Belarusian doubles partner Max Myrni are through to the quarterfinals of the US Open, after edging Italians Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 6-2 at Flushing Meadows.

Israeli Dudi Sela and his doubles partner Yen-Hsun Lu moved into the third round after their opponents pulled put because of injury. The pair will face third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Sela suffered an early exit from the singles tournament following a four-set loss to US unknown Kevin Kim 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 in their first-round match.

It has been a disappointing tournament for top Israeli player Shahar Peer, who went down to world number six Svetlana Kuznetzova in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 in the third round.

Peer and her Argentine partner Gisela Dulko were knocked out of the women’s doubles by third seeded Australian pair Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs 7-5, 6-3, ending the Israeli’s campaign in New York.
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ANALYSIS: AHRON SHAPIRO

ISRAELI Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made the best of a no-win situation with his long-awaited policy speech at Bar Ilan University on Sunday. The Palestinians, rest assured, were going to criticise him no matter what he said. Among Israelis, he was criticised from his Left for offering too little, criticised on his Right for offering too much, and even the people who more or less agreed with what he said criticised him for waiting too long to say it. Read the full story

By FANIA OZ-SALZBERGER 

ARE Israelis turning toward the political Right? In one sense, the answer is a resounding yes.  Look at the recent election results: Likud and the six parties on its right scored 65 out of 120 Knesset seats. 

By contrast, Labour and Meretz, the only parties of the Zionist Left, have experienced dramatic falls, with 13 and 3 seats respectively. Clearly, Israeli voters have abandoned the peacenik wishful thinking of the left-of-centre doves, and embraced the grim hardline of the right-of-centre hawks. Or have they? Read the full story

By HAVIV RETTIG 

On the eve of general elections, Israelis are pondering the outcome and lessons of the war on Gaza. On a democracy’s political calendar, the run-up to elections is a seminal moment, a time of ambiguity and indecision that precedes a new order of things. For Israelis, however, this is a time of ambiguity for reasons that go farther and deeper than an election season.

Operation Cast Lead, the 22-day expedition into Gaza’s rocket fields, has ended. With the safe return of IDF troops from across that enemy border, the debate has begun over the goals and achievements of the ­operation. During the fighting, the political camps were eerily silent, with the peacenik Left initially supporting the operation and remaining largely silent even when the world’s opinion turned, as images of destruction were broadcast abroad. The Right, too, was quiet about Israel’s return to the Gaza Strip, which they believe it should never have withdrawn from. Read the full story