Dozens Crushed To Death, Scores Injured In Stampede At Israeli Religious Festival At least 45 people were killed and some 150 injured in a crush at the gathering of ultra-Orthodox Jews in northern Israel, where tens of thousands of faithful had convened. Daniel Estrin
Vaccines For Data: Israel's Pfizer Deal Drives Quick Rollout — And Privacy Worries Israel paid a premium, locked in an early supply of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines and agreed to share data from Israel's centralized trove of medical statistics. Privacy advocates have some misgivings. Daniel Estrin
Biden Won't Reverse All Of Trump's Foreign Policy. Here's What He'll Keep President Biden's Iran policy is significantly different from that of his predecessor. But there are some things started by former President Donald Trump that Biden plans to build on. Scott Detrow
Biden Administration Restores Aid To Palestinians, Reversing Trump Policy The acting U.S. ambassador to the U.N. announced a renewed commitment to the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a resumption of U.S. contact with Palestinian leaders. Mark Katkov
World Leaders Express Hope As Joe Biden Is Sworn In As President Leaders, former officials and citizens expressed optimism with the dawn of the new U.S. administration. China's state news agency tweeted: "Good Riddance, Donald Trump!" Brakkton Booker
As Israel Leads In COVID-19 Vaccines Per Capita, Palestinians Still Await Shots Israel aims to vaccinate 25% of its citizens by end of January. But the country has not provided any to the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, which are scrambling for shots. Daniel Estrin
Israeli Prime Minister Secretly Flew To Saudi Arabia, Israeli Media Reports It is the first such meeting between Israeli and Saudi leaders to be reported widely in Israeli media. Netanyahu reportedly met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Daniel Estrin
Trump Administration Labels Movement To Boycott Israel 'Anti-Semitic' The same day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo paid an unprecedented visit to Israeli settlements, he also announced policies targeting the movement to boycott, divest and sanction the country. Colin Dwyer
Airline Food For Sale. No Plane Ticket Required "Chicken or beef?" A leading Israeli airline food company, which is struggling with most flights grounded, is selling its meals to the public as a low-cost delivery option during the pandemic. Daniel Estrin
Where Jesus Was Baptized, Jordan Vies With Israel For Tourists While UNESCO and the Vatican agree the site is in Jordan, a spot across the Jordan River, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, draws more visitors. Jane Arraf
