Why do Jews dress up for Purim? ■ Why do Jews eat hamantaschen on Purim ■ Was Jesus the real villain in the Purim story? ■ And also: 15 hamantaschen recipes

Poppyseed for the mainstream, chocolate for the addicted, vanilla cream for those who like it gooey, and Lotus spread for the innovative – four variations of traditional Purim treats

The Purim custom seems to have arisen in 13th century Italy, as festivities and masquerading escalated toward Shrove Tuesday

Russia invades Ukraine: After 20 days of fighting, none of Putin's key objectives have been reached, despite thousands of people killed and more than two million made refugees

A 16-year-old was shot dead in the Balata refugee camp during an Israeli raid, and another Palestinian was killed near Jerusalem

According to police, the incident occurred during a Shin Bet arrest of two suspects. There were no police casualties reported

Six Israeli drones struck a base in western Iran, reports say, in what may have been the motive for Tehran's Saturday night missile strike on Irbil

The ruling overturned the acquittal of a Border Police officer who was indicted for fraud and breach of trust despite the warrant against him seeking to prove bribery, a more serious crime

The Israeli Holocaust memorial had turned down a request by Ukraine to hold an event at the site in which Zelenskyy would speak, but sources at Yad Vashem say that the discussions are still ongoing

Amnesty International's executive director claimed U.S. Jews don't want Israel to be a Jewish state, just one month after the release of AI's report accusing Israel of being an 'apartheid state'

Iran has also reportedly made several arrests in a plot by an Israeli-recruited ring to sabotage the country's Fordow nuclear site

During cabinet meeting, Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata demands the urgent rescue of eligible Ethiopian immigrants, who have themselves been in a war zone for over a year

A defense establishment source claims that this is the largest-ever cyberattack carried out against Israel

A Ukrainian woman who fled shelling in Kyiv cannot be deported until a final decision is made on her request to stay, judge rules

Schwarzbaum was the only one of his family to survive the concentration camps at Auschwitz and appeared on German television and schools to speak about the Holocaust's unbearable sufferings

Abramovich, who denies having close ties to Putin, is on the U.K. and EU's sanctions list meant to isolate the Russian president for his invasion of Ukraine

Israel and the UAE pressure the U.S. to bolster their aerial defense systems and to boost intelligence cooperation should the Iran nuclear talks be successful, Bloomberg reports

In a letter co-signed by 27 organizations, the Jewish community tells the Biden administration they know all too well what happens when 'America shuts its doors'

The newspaper claims that sources in the police stand by their claims and that a Justice Ministry team investigating the allegations of the force's misuse of NSO's Pegasus spyware has not been thoroughly examined

Russian disinformation about the invasion of Ukraine has been met with fierce opposition on Wikipedia; now, a top editor has been arrested for 'distributing fake anti-Russian information'

Tehran is backing Putin, happy with the upset to the U.S.-led international order, but many Iranians – even former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – are impressed by Ukraine’s resistance

Though the digital boycott of Russia is much more widespread outside of Israel, more and more Israeli tech firms are halting operations over Ukraine

Israel's current R number is the highest recorded since January 26, although it is far from the recent peak of 2.12 on December 30

When the two presidents met in Ankara last week, there were handshakes, flag-bearing horses, even a slick if revisionist film on Turkish-Jewish history. But how long will Erdogan’s U-turn towards Israel last, and how far can it go?

Lebanese Iron Maidens: They curse, sing about sexuality and social injustice and argue with relatives who want them to wear pink instead of “the devil’s color.” This is the story of 'Slave to Sirens,' which responds to gender and cultural stere...

There is no need to bring the Russian president to a psychologist’s couch in order to realize that he is in distress, while Israeli neutrality is being served with a twisted irony by Russia

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked's hardline demands on refugee absorption from Ukraine were technically illegal – not to mention immoral

Dozens of oligarchs have already been sanctioned as part of European efforts against the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The West could have averted this war, but now, Putin has responded to the worst demons of his nature and unleashed indiscriminate destruction. We can’t know what level of risk he will take to achieve his goal

Such a string of cold days in March has not been measured in Israel since 1910 and 1894

Lapid also condemned Russia's 'unjustified' invasion of Ukraine on a visit to Romania on Sunday

Mariupol said the besieged Ukrainian port city was running out of food and water as Russian forces continued to shell non-military targets

Iraq was warned about being used against Iran, Tehran says after missile assault

Ukrainian leaders are eager to claim her as a native daughter, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying the first female Israeli prime minister was 'a great woman who I admire'

Russia invades Ukraine: As the war enters its third week, none of Putin's key objectives have been reached, despite thousands of people killed and more than two million made refugee

Lines for basic goods in Kherson are lengthening, and in Melitopol residents are protesting the Russian kidnapping of the mayor. 'The occupiers thought they’d be greeted with flowers, but it didn’t happen'

Drawn up by the Department for Socioeconomic Development of the Bedouin Society, the plan's investments range from employment and infrastructure to education and youth programs

Jerusalem city hall removes images of both flags after harsh criticism

Throughout the tenure of five prime ministers, Israel's top court hasn't managed to reach a ruling on a cluster of Palestinian villages in the arid South Hebron Hills to make way for IDF training grounds

Tehran has adopted a policy of responding to any attack against it attributed to Israel, such as the one last week in Syria. Meanwhile, Israel fears new demands would see Iran getting more out of Vienna nuclear talks

Washington is signaling to Israel that joining the economic pressure on Putin's regime, including the oligarchs closest to him, is more important than mediating between Russia and Ukraine

As millions of Ukrainians flee Russia's invasion of their country, tens of thousands of elderly Jews, including Holocaust survivors, have remained behind

Israel's Foreign Minister Lapid has tried to schedule a call with his Ukrainian counterpart, who 'said he had been busy,' official says. Despite Kyiv's growing criticism of Israel's stance, a political source says the two are likely to speak soon

Interior Minister Shaked moves to further relax Israel's policy on Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia's invasion, as its implementation stalls because forms aren't available online

Iran says the attack on Iraq's northern Kurdish regional capital of Irbil was retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria, which killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard earlier this week

The airstrike on a base in the Lviv region, near the border with Poland, represents the westernmost target hit by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began 18 days ago

Amid China's latest COVID surge, mainland authorities are enforcing a 'zero tolerance' strategy and have locked down entire cities to find and isolate every infected person

Ukraine has said it is willing to negotiate, but not to surrender or accept any ultimatums, while Russia says talks made substantial progress

'The coexistence between Jews and Palestinians is like a man who beats his wife at home, yet they look like a perfect couple on the outside,' says Tamer Nafar, Israel's most successful Palestinian rapper

Filmmaker Brent Renaud, who had a New York Times press badge but was not on assignment for the newspaper at the time, was killed in Irpin, near the Ukrainian capital

Iran reportedly halts aimed at defusing tensions between Tehran and Riyadh, a day after Saudi Arabia carries out its largest known mass execution

Associated with the Bronze Age Tagar culture, the amulet provides rare insight into the rituals associated with death in this balmy region of Siberia

For nearly 10 years the unicorn StoreDot promised a breakthrough – a battery that charges in a few minutes. With no product on the market, their story proves a lesson for Israeli tech

Why is AIPAC, which condemned Trump's incitement of violence on Jan 6th and the assault on America's democratic values, endorsing 'pro-Israel' candidates who align with insurrectionists and white supremacists?

Western powers were close to reaching a deal with Tehran on its nuclear program, before Russia intervened to seek guarantees on its trade with Iran

Turkey’s options, amid shifting economic and political considerations in the region, now include Israel as well

From the collapse of the Russian cyber prowess to the links between the Kremlin and cybergangs, here are the big changes in the cyber world and what they mean

'This year we will celebrate Purim in schools one day earlier,' Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion says as weather forecasts predict snowfall

Almost three weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin's propaganda machine is laying the groundwork for a chemical attack with false accusations that Kyiv is working on 'military biological programs'

Salah Hamouri, hailing from East Jerusalem, faces a four-month administrative detention for membership of the outlawed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Putin sees his assault on Ukraine as part of a wider war for a multipolar world, but his 'alternative model' is failing. China is the only real rival to Western dominance, and that's what America and the West should worry about

What is its origin? When did it begin? Why did many Jews scorn Purim – and is the underlying tale of love, murder and betrayal true?

Israel's foreign minister condemns 'unjustified' invasion in a tour of Ukraine's neighbors, and says Israel has a 'moral duty' to take in more refugees at a visit to the Romania-Ukraine border

Though Israel claims that Bennett's mediation efforts are much appreciated by Kyiv and Washington, U.S. and Ukraine officials are expecting Bennett will step up his mediation attempts

Rabbi Julia Gris – a Russian-born Jew, said she always felt very much at home in Ukraine, and had never felt discrimination

Russia invades Ukraine: As the war enters its third week, none of Putin's key objectives have been reached, despite thousands of people killed and more than two million made refugee

Kurdish and U.S. officials say there are no confirmed casualties so far from the estimated 12 missiles fired by Iran at Iraq’s northern city of Erbil. Iran's Revolutionary Guards took responsibility for the attack

The new law replaces temporary legislation that barred Palestinians who marry Israeli nationals from resident status in Israel

Israel's military has been on heightened alert since Iran threatened retaliation for the deaths of two officers in Syria, which foreign media attributed to Israel

The Biden administration is welcoming Israeli mediation efforts, but insisted Israel join the growing list of 'democracies' sanctioning Russia over its brutal invasion of Ukraine

The executed Saudis were convicted of murder and membership in Islamic militant groups, local news agencies say

Alpine skier Sheina Vaspi, an above-the-knee amputee, talks to Haaretz about facing her fears and the challenge of combining an athletic career with Chabad Hasidism

The Israeli silence as Iran nuke talks continue signals that Jerusalem has accepted a new deal will be signed, and is preparing for next steps ■ Russia-Ukraine war highlights the demand – and danger – of cyberweapons

Saturday's meeting was the first sit-down meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers since 2009

Oil minister's remarks follow reports of a recent seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in the Bahamas, even as indirect Iran-U.S. nuclear deal talks could see the lifting of U.S. sanctions in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear work

On Friday, an unnamed Ukrainian senior government official harshly criticized Bennett's effort to mediate the crisis with Russia, saying that Bennett pressured Zelenskyy to accept Putin's conditions for ending the war

While thousands of refugees are begging to enter Israel, a few hundred people are making the trip in the opposite direction, including some aiming to join the fight

Rabbi Daniel Litvak detained as part of an ongoing inquiry by public prosecutors into the Portuguese citizenship granted to the oligarch in 2021 as part of naturalization process for Sephardi Jews

The U.S. administration aims to rebuild the Mideast scaffolding that it started to dismantle as it strives to shore up its Russia sanctions policy without destroying the global oil market or economy

We may think that veganism can play only a limited roll in combating global warming, as greenhouse gases have so many other sources. But a new study suggests a shift to plant-based nutrition could indeed turn the tables

There is talk in Israel of a ‘wave of terror attacks,’ but the surge in killings of Palestinians is barely mentioned

Throughout history many heads of state have seemingly made their mark thanks to their powerful personalities. In fact, something else entirely makes a leader great

When even traditionally dovish Social Democrats are beginning to change their minds about joining NATO, it's clear that Putin's assault on Ukraine is causing Sweden and Finland serious second thoughts on the subject

These Ukrainian refugees – unlike many other refugees – are eligible to come to Israel under the Law of Return, creating a fault line between them and those who don't have the privilege of being titled 'new immigrant'