What’s Killing Israel’s Lone Soldiers?

Young Diaspora Jews account for only 2 percent of soldiers serving in the Israeli army, but in the past year the suicide rate among them has been disproportionately high. Haaretz investigates why

Opinion Israel Should Keep Its Filipinos and Drop Birthright

Yad Vashem, Ramallah and Swimming in a Settlement: J Street Launches Its ‘Birthright’ Alternative

Inaugural 10-day tour, titled ‘Let Our People Know,’ arrives Tuesday and features meetings with settlers and peace activists

15 Jewish Anti-occupation Activists Arrested While Protesting Outside Birthright Offices in New York

Activists from IfNotNow were arrested following a protest against Birthright in which demonstrators held signs reading 'confront the crisis' and 'stop lying to young Jews'

Michael Steinhardt’s Staff and Family Say Sexual Remarks Were Just Humor

Family and foundations of Birthright co-founder respond to NYT report on Steinhardt's pattern of sexual harassment: Remarks were made in 'jest'

Opinion The Birthright vs. J Street Fight About Free Trips to Israel Is Completely Pointless

J Street has validated, rather than challenged, two controversial Birthright principles – that young Jews deserve freebies and that Israel should be at the center of their Jewish identity

J Street to Offer Competing Free Trip to Israel for Those Fed Up With Birthright

First trip, in July, will include visits to Palestinian cities and an Israeli settlement; organizers believe it’s the kind of ‘nuanced trip that our generation wants to go on’

Hillel International Confirms Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Donors

After a six month investigation, the Jewish student organization issued a confidential statement calling such allegations 'justified,' the New York Jewish Week reports

Opinion Why It's So Hard for U.S. Jews to Have a Serious Conversation About Arabs in Israel

The most polarizing voices on the left and the right police and dictate how we in the U.S. Jewish talk about and engage with Israel, Birthright and Arab society

Opinion Palestinian Narratives Are Always Right. Israeli Jewish Views Are Just Propaganda

That's the clear message from the anti-occupation activists of IfNotNow. Forget a more ‘balanced’ approach to the conflict: When they label views sympathetic to Israel as deceptive or malevolent – they’re trying to shut them down

After Summer Walkouts, New Birthright Contract Bans 'Efforts to Hijack Discussion'

Birthright revises contract with participants in bid to avert future anti-occupation protests, saying it rejects any attempt to manipulate trip's 'open climate'

Opinion Young American Jews Would Engage More With Israel if Birthright Stopped Lying About the Occupation

Showing the truth won’t alienate Birthright trip participants from Israel. But offering a sanitized, whitewashed Israel patronizes young Jews’ curiosity and intelligence – and sets them up for dissonance and disengagement

Sharp Decline in Number of American Jews on Birthright Trips

Numbers are down as much as 50 percent in some cases, with providers speculating that disengagement with Israel among young U.S. Jews is part of the problem

Birthright Participant From Uganda Told He’s Not Jewish Enough for Israeli Yeshiva Program

Asiimwe Rabbin, who led the first-ever Birthright group from Uganda, denied visa because Interior Ministry does not accept his community as eligible for Law of Return

What It's Like to Be a Socialist Zionist in the U.S.

This week at the Tel Aviv airport: A group of young Diaspora Jews talk about what Zionism means to them; an Israeli tour guide recalls how a busload of Jews and Arabs in Slovenia realized they weren't so different

Report: Jewish-American Philanthropist Michael Steinhardt Accused of 'Inappropriate Sexual Remarks'

Jewish campus organization Hillel investigating claims against the Birthright co-founder and has removed his name from their board, Jewish Week reports ■ Steinhardt: These women 'can’t be accusing me of anything other than words’

'My Great-grandfather Bit a Nazi in the Neck. That's How He Escaped the Shooting Pits'

This week at the Tel Aviv airport: Why this young Saint Petersburg resident left his family and moved to Israel

These Birthright Participants From Uganda Are Just Happy to Be Allowed Into Israel

Still not recognized as Jewish by Israel, three dozen members of the Abayudaya community celebrate their Judaism at the Western Wall in a unique way

Jerusalem Hostel Booted by Birthright Bans ‘Haters of Israel’

Several celebrities and newspapers, including Haaretz, are featured on the list of banned 'Haters of Israel'

Birthright Co-founder Says Walk-out Protesters Don’t Have Right to Criticize Israel ‘On Our Nickel’

Charles Bronfman tells Haaretz that protesters aren’t being fair to fellow participants, but admits complaints about a map that showed the West Bank as part of Israel are valid

Opinion IfNotNow Hijacked Our Birthright Trip

Our trip was shattered by premeditated walk-out in which we, unwillingly, became part of the media spectacle that their activists had sought from the start. This is our side of the story

Proving They're Not Too 'Bougie' for Birthright

This week at the Tel Aviv airport: Two young L.A. women explain why they decided to rough it out on Birthright trip to Israel ■ What it's like to be on the verge of being drafted into the Israeli army

Activists Hand Out Anti-occupation Materials to Birthright Participants en Route to Israel

The Jewish activists from the IfNotNow group were kicked out of the JFK International Airport after Birthright staffers allegedly asked airport security to intervene

Facebook Takes Down Video of Second Birthright Participants Walking Off a Trip

The social network took down the video over the weekend, which featured the moment of the walk-off, as well as a lengthy conversations with Palestinians

How Birthright Guides (Don't) Discuss the West Bank

After a video of participants walking off a trip went viral, many question whether Birthright has a responsibility to grapple with the occupation

Birthright Says It Won’t Vet Applicants Despite Recent Walkouts Protesting Israeli Occupation

The program that offers free trips to Israel reiterates that it does not inquire about its applicants’ political views

Birthright Drops Southern Israel From Tours Due to Gaza Violence

'At the moment, minor changes being made to daily itineraries in accordance with our security guidelines,' official says

Opinion Principled Activists or Entitled Brats? What's Wrong With the Birthright Walk-outs

Birthright’s programs are essentially a gift from the government of Israel and wealthy American Jews. The goal of these protests may be noble: the method – not so much

U.K. Jewish Group Gives Info About Occupation to Birthright Groups at the Airport

The group was eventually escorted off the premises by police after trip leaders complained, they say