Jerusalem Controversy

The official leading Iran's response to the new coronavirus acknowledged Sunday that the pandemic could overwhelm health facilities in his country, which is battling the worst outbreak in the Middle East while under heavy US sanctions. Iran's Health Ministry reported another 113 deaths, bringing the country's total death toll to…

With Jerusalem’s tourist scene decimated just before Passover and Easter, its tourist chiefs are launching an online platform to give people a “virtual” experience in the city. Museum staff will run trips inside empty museums, accompanied by cameras instead of tour groups, and guides will do the same on the…

JERUSALEM — Religious authorities moved to cancel or limit weekly prayer gatherings across the Middle East on Friday to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus as they encouraged the faithful to pray for those afflicted by the global pandemic. Iran, which is mired in the worst outbreak in…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday sought to reassure Israelis that the raft of restrictions imposed to try and stem the spread of the coronavirus would not affect the food supply, saying there was “no reason to storm supermarkets.” Netanyahu’s comments came after he met with ministers and senior officials…

JERUSALEM (AP) — Religious authorities cancelled or limited weekly prayer gatherings across the Middle East on Friday to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus as they encouraged the faithful to pray for those afflicted by the global pandemic. Iran, which is mired in the worst outbreak in the…

JERUSALEM (AP) — Religious authorities cancelled or limited weekly prayer gatherings across the Middle East on Friday to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus as they encouraged the faithful to pray for those afflicted by the global pandemic.Iran, which is mired in the worst outbreak in the region,…

After finishing up his prayers at the Western Wall on Tuesday, 22-year-old Mendel Leib puckered up and pressed his lips against the cold, ancient limestone, holding contact for three slow seconds as he wrinkled his eyes shut in one last personal plea. The gesture is customary among spiritually overwhelmed worshipers…

Israel’s chief rabbis, David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, issued religious edicts on Thursday instructing observant Jews to obey health officials’ instructions to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. “No halachic instruction exists that would overrule the instructions of the Health Ministry,” wrote Yosef, the Sephardi chief rabbi. “The halachic…

NAZARETH—So far, 58 Israelis have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus illness, but close to 400,000 out of this country’s 9 million citizens are being affected by the new quarantine imposed to fight it.As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced new strictures on all arrivals, no matter from where, only a…

The movie featured a key sequence set in Jerusalem, in which the Israeli authorities quarantine healthy people in the courtyard of the Western Wall compound. Jews gather at the Western Wall on February 16 under the slogan, ’The Nation of Israel prays for China,' calling for the eradication of the…