Israeli Jews

Even the Israeli prime minister’s usual supporters — and much of the Israeli public — question Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to address Congress on March 3 without an invitation from President Obama. The address, at the request of House Speaker John Boehner, comes two weeks before Israeli elections. Is Bibi being savvy, or playing the pawn?

Shimon Peres has been Israel’s president for seven years, and now he’s moving on. The job has no political power, but is full of symbolism. And that makes finding a successor tough.

Former Israeli leader Ariel Sharon has died after spending nearly eight years in a coma that followed a stroke. Sharon was highly controversial — both loved and hated. And few individuals in recent memory have had as much of an influence on the recent history of the Middle East.

Every Christmas Eve, Jewish Israelis flock to churches in the Old City of Jerusalem for Midnight Mass at the Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion. There are often more Jews in the church than Christians. And a priest knows just what to tell them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu usually gets around by motorcade. But, last Saturday, I looked over the balcony of my fourth-floor apartment in Jerusalem and there he was, standing below wearing sneakers and a black shirt. He’d stopped to help an old man take out the trash.