This Arabic-language, M.I.A.-inspired Israeli girl band from the Negev desert is looking to become the Arab world's next pop superstar. History isn't on its side. [...] From the shisha-smoking old lady with kohl-lined eyes, to the Yemeni dance sequences and classically Arabic mournful undertones, “Habib Galbi” looks like it could be straight out of southern Arabia. And in some ways, it is: The song is sung in authentic Yemeni dialect and is composed from the lyrics of ancient Yemeni folk songs. 

On the morning of Tuesday, May 19, 2015, Israel’s public diplomacy awoke form a deep slumber. It had been blissfully reposing for more than two years, since the day Yuli Edelstein completed his term as minister of diplomacy and Diaspora affairs. Has anyone even noticed that no one took over that ministry in the interim? So let’s give a warm round of applause as we welcome his replacement: Minister Gilad Erdan. 

Commenting last week on Israel’s surprising ninth-place Eurovision finish, achieved thanks to votes from millions of usually anti-Israel Europeans, Avshalom Halutz of Haaretz wrote sarcastically that the dramatic improvement over previous results “seems to validate Israel’s decision...to send its carefree ‘Golden Boy’ party anthem to Eurovision, after years of trying in vain to find favor with the Europeans with apologetic and hypocritical songs about peace and tolerance, and failed gimmicks like candlelight or a duet between a Jewish and an Arab singer.” Despite being an exaggeration, ther

Israel to send its largest ever sport delegation to the first European Games in Baku Azerbaijan, June 12-18. While months of fighting by the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) to suspend Israel from international soccer competitions with FIFA has ended, Israeli diplomats have warned that the next battle is near, the Olympics, Israeli news site Ynet reported.

Harriet Rossetto, the founder and executive vice president of Beit T’Shuvah, a residential treatment center and educational institution in Culver City, has been named a 2015 Advocate for Action by the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).  ONDCP Director Michael Botticelli recognized Rossetto during a ceremony at the White House on May 20.

Recent developments in the Israeli Foreign Ministry seem to take this approach to a whole new level. At the first meeting with her staff, Tzipi Hotovely, freshly appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, delivered the following message: no need to be wise, being RIGHT is quite enough.