Tel Aviv

Israel's ages-old city, Jerusalem , is rightly famous for its warm, honey-colored limestone architecture. But its lazily hip rival, Tel Aviv , has lately begun garnering attention for a contrasting — and equally abundant — assemblage of cool and creamy Bauhaus buildings. Erected by the hundreds as the city grew dramatically and welcomed new immigrants in the 1920s and '30s, the city's bright white edifices have become a hallmark, typically portrayed as glowing entrancingly under brilliant blue skies.

JERUSALEM — Israeli police say vandals have defaced graves at a Christian cemetery in Tel Aviv. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the words "price tag" were found on Thursday, sprayed on a number of graves in Jaffa, a mixed Arab-Jewish part of the city. That phrase is usually used by a fringe minority of Jewish extremists to protest what they perceive as the Israeli government's pro-Palestinian policies and retaliation for Palestinian attacks. Rosenfeld says police are searching for...

TEL AVIV, Israel — Drag queens, politicians, grandmothers and shirtless men descended on Tel Aviv in their thousands Friday to party in the annual gay pride parade, the 15th march to be held in an Israeli city that has emerged as one of the world's most gay-friendly. Loud dance music beat along the parade's route, with rainbows painted on participants' faces, arms and bellies. Drag queens in sequins and platform heels waved to the crowd from floats as scantily-clad men bopped and bounced to...

JERUSALEM — Yoram Kaniuk, a celebrated Israeli author and harsh critic of his homeland, has died, his relatives said. He was 83. His daughter Naomi Kaniuk said Sunday he died Saturday night after a long illness. He leaves behind his wife, two daughters and a grandson. Kaniuk was a prize-winning author who published numerous books, many of which were translated into other languages. He wrote about Holocaust survivors, the 1948-49 war that followed Israel's creation in which he...

The Tel Aviv timeline As the son of Holocaust survivors forced out of Berlin to Bolivia, while my grandfather fled to Palestine, I read with interest JoAnn Greco's article about Bauhaus architecture in Tel Aviv ["Tel Aviv, built on Bauhaus," April 1]. But I was struck by a glaring historical mistake. Greco describes the origins of Bauhaus style in Tel Aviv as the result of Jews leaving Nazi Germany for what she characterizes as the "brand-new Israeli city. " One cannot refer to Tel Aviv during that...

JERUSALEM — Israeli police say vandals have defaced graves at a Christian cemetery in Tel Aviv. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the words "price tag" were found on Thursday, sprayed on a number of graves in Jaffa, a mixed Arab-Jewish part of the city. That phrase is usually used by a fringe minority of Jewish extremists to protest what they perceive as the Israeli government's pro-Palestinian policies and retaliation for Palestinian attacks. Rosenfeld says police are searching for...

details GETTING THERE Air France offers connecting flights from Washington Dulles to Tel Aviv, with early May fares currently starting at $925 round trip. WHERE TO STAY Cinema Hotel 1 Zamenhoff St. 011-972-3-5425555 www.atlas.co.il/cinema-hotel-tel-aviv An adaptive reuse of a Bauhaus movie theater built in 1930, this boutique hotel features movie artifacts and a complimentary bucket of popcorn upon check-in. Rooms from $208. The Diaghilev ...

JERUSALEM — Israeli police say the killing of two people at a gay youth center in Tel Aviv four years ago is no longer being treated as a hate crime. Police arrested four suspects this week in connection with the killing, originally seen as the most serious homophobic attack in a country that is fairly gay-friendly. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Friday that the motive behind the killing was of a personal nature. He said the suspects intended to shoot someone else at the center.

For months, Israel has threatened to strike Iran's nuclear sites. The United States has urged restraint. If such an operation were launched, how might Tel Aviv react? "Our pilots," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaims on the Channel 2 TV news, "carried out their difficult and dangerous task for the sake of the state of Israel. They have struck several Iranian nuclear facilities and have returned safely. " For months, Israeli officials had been debating whether a strike would be...

JERUSALEM — Israeli police say they have arrested three suspects in connection to the killing of two people at a gay youth center in Tel Aviv four years ago. Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the suspects were arrested Wednesday. These were the first arrests in connection to 2009 incident in which a masked gunman shot and killed two people at the club in Tel Aviv and seriously wounded four others. Rosenfeld said the suspects will be brought before a Tel Aviv court on...

TEL AVIV, Israel — Drag queens, politicians, grandmothers and shirtless men descended on Tel Aviv in their thousands Friday to party in the annual gay pride parade, the 15th march to be held in an Israeli city that has emerged as one of the world's most gay-friendly. Loud dance music beat along the parade's route, with rainbows painted on participants' faces, arms and bellies. Drag queens in sequins and platform heels waved to the crowd from floats as scantily-clad men bopped and bounced to...

JERUSALEM — Israeli police say the killing of two people at a gay youth center in Tel Aviv four years ago is no longer being treated as a hate crime. Police arrested four suspects this week in connection with the killing, originally seen as the most serious homophobic attack in a country that is fairly gay-friendly. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Friday that the motive behind the killing was of a personal nature. He said the suspects intended to shoot someone else at the...

JERUSALEM — Israeli police say they have arrested three suspects in connection to the killing of two people at a gay youth center in Tel Aviv four years ago. Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the suspects were arrested Wednesday. These were the first arrests in connection to 2009 incident in which a masked gunman shot and killed two people at the club in Tel Aviv and seriously wounded four others. Rosenfeld said the suspects will be brought before a Tel Aviv court...

LOS ANGELES In electing Eric Garcetti their mayor on Tuesday , voters here chose a candidate who personifies the multiracial, multicultural city of L.A.'s hipster youth. At 42, Garcetti will be the youngest mayor this city has had in more than 100 years. Ethnically, Garcetti is not only the first elected Jewish mayor of Los Angeles but also the city's second Latino mayor in more than 100 years (he'll succeed the termed-out Antonio Villaraigosa). His Italian forebears settled in Mexico; his mother's...

TEL AVIV — Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Friday that he hopes Israel will refrain from further Jewish settlement expansion on land Palestinians claim for a future state, although he would not say whether he has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze settlement home building, the major obstacle to peace talks. "I'm not going to comment on what was asked for or not asked for," Kerry told reporters at Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv at the end of a two-day visit...

TEL AVIV — If Chuck Hagel didn't know his Middle East geography before, he does now — thanks to a birds-eye tutorial from the Israeli military. In his first visit to Israel as secretary of defense , Hagel took a one-hour, 40-minute tour of the northern half of the country Monday in an Israeli Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, flying from Tel Aviv to the Golan Heights before circling over Jerusalem's Old City. Just in case he didn't immediately absorb the main lesson of the flight — that Israel is a...

The Startup Genome has analyzed 50,000 startups around the world to create what it is calling the first "data-driven ranking" of the top 20 tech hubs on the planet. And to highlight just how important startups are to national and global economies. Who knew, for example, that Sydney, Australia, is global capital of "data driven startups?" Or that the top nine startups of the last 15 years have generated nearly a trillion dollars in value, helped along by the likes of Facebook, Google,...

LOS ANGELES In electing Eric Garcetti their mayor on Tuesday , voters here chose a candidate who personifies the multiracial, multicultural city of L.A.'s hipster youth. At 42, Garcetti will be the youngest mayor this city has had in more than 100 years. Ethnically, Garcetti is not only the first elected Jewish mayor of Los Angeles but also the city's second Latino mayor in more than 100 years (he'll succeed the termed-out Antonio Villaraigosa). His Italian forebears settled in Mexico;...

L. Ronald Scheman international trade specialist L. Ronald Scheman, 81, a specialist in international trade, development and finance who from 2000 to 2004 was director general of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development, died of pneumonia and respiratory failure April 1 at Sibley Memorial Hospital. He lived in Washington. His son, Daniel Scheman Neu, confirmed his death. For more than four decades, Mr. Scheman worked in the public and private sectors on issues relating to...

L. Ronald Scheman, 81, a specialist in international trade, development and finance who from 2000 to 2004 was director general of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development, died of pneumonia and respiratory failure April 1 at Sibley Memorial Hospital. He lived in Washington. His son, Daniel Scheman Neu, confirmed his death. For more than four decades, Mr. Scheman worked in the public and private sectors on issues relating to international economic development and cooperation.