Uncategorized
Shalom, Slurpee: Israel gets its first 7-Eleven in convenience store chain’s planned wave
(JTA) — Yoav Silberstein, 16, waited an hour and a half to get into 7-Eleven’s new flagship — and so far only — store in Israel. Located in the heart of Tel Aviv in Dizengoff Center, the store opening on Wednesday attracted throngs of mostly teenagers hoping to get a taste of America in the shape of a gallon-cup carbonated slushy called a Slurpee.
Silberstein was disappointed, though, to discover that the largest size on offer was a 650 ml (21 oz) cup. He has fond memories of Slurpees from visits with relatives in the United States, where the largest option is twice as big.
“I overheard people in the line calling it ‘barad,’” he said, using the Hebrew word for Israel’s version of slushies. “They have no idea about any of this.”
7-Eleven is the largest convenience store chain in the United States, with nearly 10,000 locations. But it is in some of its overseas markets where the chain really stands out — especially in Japan, where the more than 20,000 7-Elevens serve up everything from banking services to clothing essentials to high-end fresh and prepared foods. There, they can function as a person’s primary shopping destination.
With the store opening this week, Israel became the 19th country to welcome the megachain, and the first in the Middle East, after Electra Consumer Products inked a franchise deal in 2021. Thirty more stores are slated to open by the beginning of 2024; the company says several hundred will follow.
“It’s revolutionary,” Israel’s 7-Eleven CEO, Avinoam Ben-Mocha, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It’s more than a mini-market, it’s also a pizzeria, cafe and fast food restaurant all under one roof.”
The new stores will join more than 10,000 convenience stores already operating in Israel. In some big cities, including Tel Aviv, convenience stores that resemble New York’s bodegas can be found on every street corner, many of them open around the clock offering anything from cigarettes to diapers.
But the standard convenience stores known as makolets don’t serve coffee and hot food and are intended, like their American counterparts, for buying items in between larger shops at regular supermarkets. The am/pm chain of small-scale grocery stores gives off a 7-Eleven aesthetic but also does not serve fresh coffee or food. The closest things currently to a 7-Eleven in Israel are gas station stores that offer coffee and a range of sandwiches, salads and pastries, in addition to basic groceries.
At the new 7-Eleven, customers serve themselves Slurpees, Big Gulps and soft-serve ice cream (called American ice cream in Israel) as well as coffee from touchscreen machines that offer oat and soy milk alternatives at the same price. At 9 NIS ($2.60), the price is competitive locally but is still more than other 7-Elevens around the world, including the United States — reflecting Israel’s notoriously high cost of living.
In another innovation, the store’s cups have a barcode that allows customers to check themselves out. A mobile app, currently in a pilot phase, is meant to make it even easier for customers to grab and go.
Gabi Breier, one of only a few older customers at the store’s opening, hailed the self-serve, self-checkout policy.
“I’m walking around with this ice cream tub and wondering when someone is going to come and stop me and demand that I pay,” Breier said.
“It’s a new thing, this trust given to the customer. In the end, people will like it more than other places. It makes you feel like you’ve been invited.”
Asked if he thought an Israeli market might take advantage of this rare show of autonomy, Ben-Mocha was equanimous.
“Most of the kids here are getting it, but I’ve seen a few walk out of here with unpaid items and no one has stopped them,” he said. “But it’s part of the process and we’re on a learning curve too. Look, when you give the customer your trust, they will honor that.”
Israel has been an inhospitable home to some other foreign chains, notably Starbucks, which lasted less than two years before shutting its doors in 2003. Could the 7-Eleven venture be destined for the same fate?
“The problem with Starbucks was that they didn’t bother to understand the local taste profile,” Ben-Mocha said. “They just came with their own concept and tried to force it onto a market it wasn’t suited to.”
“Adapting to the local market is an inherent part of 7-Eleven’s DNA,” he said.
Israeli and American candies share the shelves at Israel’s new 7-Eleven, while the high-tech coffee stations are a novelty in the country. (Deborah Danan)
In Israel, that adaptation includes tweaks to the company’s signature operating hours — the “7” in the name refers to how many days per week the store is open — and to the way food is heated. The company initially said its Israeli stores would be closed on Shabbat, a requirement for food-service establishments that want to be certified as kosher. The Tel Aviv store’s fresh food is not kosher — it serves foods made with milk and with meat, heating them in the same ovens — but other branches will be, according to the company.
Out of around 2,000 products, just 80 are 7-Eleven branded products. Others reflect local tastes: Alongside 7-Eleven hot-food classics such as pizza, hot dogs and chicken nuggets, Israeli customers can also enjoy zaatar-and-spinach pastries and mini-schnitzels. In the candy aisle, American classics like Twizzlers and Mike and Ikes are juxtaposed with Israeli treats like fan favorite Krembo and Elite’s recently resurrected cow chocolate. And one striking import is that donuts will be sold year-round — a concept alien to Israelis, who typically only get to enjoy the fried dough confection when it’s sold around Hanukkah time.
It isn’t enough for everyone though.
“I hate this 7-Eleven, it’s totally fake,” said 16-year-old Moti Bar Joseph, who immigrated three years ago from the Bronx, in New York City. “It doesn’t have any of the real 7-Eleven feeling. There are no Lucky Charms, no Jolly Ranchers. It’s an Israeli bootleg version.”
Yuya Shimada, a Japanese national working in Tel Aviv, was more generous. Shimada came to the opening because he was familiar with the brand from his hometown of Nagoya. Asked if he was reminded of home, Shimada laughed. “No, not a bit. But this store is very stylish. I give it 8 out of 10.”
Asked whether his visit had been worth the wait, Silberstein, the teenager, said that it’s “always special to be first to something.”
He added, “But I stood four hours for the opening of the Lego store across the road so I’m probably not the right person to ask.”
—
The post Shalom, Slurpee: Israel gets its first 7-Eleven in convenience store chain’s planned wave appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Vance courts Jewish Republicans, but leaves Tucker Carlson ties unanswered
(JTA) — LAS VEGAS – Vice President JD Vance emphasized the importance of the American-Israel relationship, pinned rising antisemitism on immigration, and sidestepped a question about podcasters like Tucker Carlson, during a highly-anticipated, closed-doors appearance at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit on Monday.
Vance’s appearance came at a moment when a number of Jewish Republicans have turned against him over his reprimanding of Israeli officials, indulgence of anti-Israel conspiracy theories and his silence on Carlson, a prominent media personality who promotes such narratives.
Some donors have indicated that they would prefer Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Vance as the presidential nominee in 2028. Yet Vance was met with a standing ovation as he took the stage, and received another one as he left, according to multiple people who were in the room.
Following the event, RJC leaders said they felt the appearance was a positive step in the relationship.
“Today is not primary day. But I think today was progress day for JD Vance and the Jewish community,” RJC board member Ari Fleischer told reporters.
The summit’s Monday evening portion was closed to the press, but an audio recording of Vance’s 35-minute conversation with Norm Coleman — the RJC’s chairman — was sent to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
During the conversation, Coleman asked Vance where he drew the line when deciding which podcasts he could appear on. Coleman named Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Joe Rogan and Nick Fuentes as examples of hosts who have platformed antisemites, but Vance avoided mentioning Carlson, answering only about Rogan and Fuentes.
“I do not think that Joe Rogan and Nick Fuentes are the same, just substantively,” Vance said.
“Obviously I’m not going to talk to a guy who’s attacked my wife or said that Hitler is a good guy — but outside of some pretty bright lines, I try to talk to as many people as I can,” Vance said.
Vance’s response, which advocated for a wide-tent approach, drew applause in the room, though some were not pleased with the answer — nor the openness of the question.
“You might think that Norm Coleman — who owed his audience a bit more — would have said, ‘Let’s address this Tucker question once and for all: Where do you stand with him?’” said Neil Cooper, an RJC member who said he’s run out of patience with the vice president.
Sid Rosenberg, the right-wing firebrand radio host, wrote that Vance “had a chance to hammer @TuckerCarlson and @megynkelly but instead spent all his time defending @joerogan over Nick Fuentes.”
Ann Rubinfeld, an RJC member who supports Vance for 2028, said she is deeply opposed to Carlson but didn’t feel that the vice president needed to address Carlson head-on. “I don’t think that needs to be said,” she said.
Vance received a number of ovations during the conversation, including after Coleman commended him and Trump for leading what he said was the most pro-Israel administration in American history. Chants of “USA!” rang out as Vance took the stage. The warm reception may have come as a surprise for some in the room.
“This will be a tough crowd for him tomorrow,” Florida Rep. Randy Fine told reporters on Monday. In the morning leading up to Vance’s appearance, Rosenberg called on attendees to “give Vance a chance.” Ron Dermer, who has served as Israeli Ambassador to the United States and Strategic Affairs Minister, told the crowd, “I hope you all give him a warm welcome,” and thanked Vance for his “critical role” behind the scenes of the 12-day war fought with Israel against Iran in 2025.
Cooper said he’d expected “more skepticism, even bordering on stony silence” heading into the event, but hoped to be won over.
He added, “People get too excited by celebrities.”
Vance had made a stop in Michigan earlier on Monday, and told the room that he met with the rabbi of Temple Israel, as well as the security guards who helped prevent an antisemitic attack on the synagogue. Vance also referred to Michigan’s Republican nominee in the November senate race, Mike Rogers, who is facing Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, in what he called “maybe the single most important candidate right now in this midterm election.”
Asked about his opinion on the U.S.-Israel relationship, Vance said Israel is “certainly one of our most important alliances in the world,” and that Israel and America or any of its allies must always be pursuing their own interests.
“I’m very much a foreign policy realist,” he said.
Vance also brought up the “growing suspicion” of the U.S.-Israel relationship among people under 40, and said “we have to articulate why this is in the best interest of the United States of America,” listing benefits such as intelligence collection and technology sharing.
Some of the heat Vance has drawn from Jewish Republicans has stemmed from comments he has made about Israel. In June, in response to criticism of the Iran deal, Vance said that Israeli cabinet members should not attack “the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
“We don’t forget statements like that,” Valerie Greenfeld, an RJC member who lives in Jerusalem, said in a text to JTA.
Speaking about the rise of antisemitism in the United States, Vance blamed it partly on immigration policy. He said that the increase comes from “people who are bringing ancient ethnic hatreds into the United States,” and that it is not a problem by-and-large among white Americans.
“You know, the Fuentes character who really does hate Jews — and also by the way, really hates me and my family, so you’re in good company — that is real,” Vance said. “But it’s not common among most of our fellow citizens.”
Vance condemned antisemitism, and drew applause when he told attendees, on behalf of the White House administration, “We love you guys, we appreciate you guys, and you will very much always be on the team so long as I have any say in it.”
Vance spoke about his own Christian faith and the connections between it and Judaism. He said he noticed similarities during a previous RJC event and at the wedding of his Jewish former chief of staff, Jacob Reses, where Vance did a reading.
“There were all these liturgical similarities between Judaism and Catholicism that are very fascinating,” Vance said.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Jewish conservative activist who attended the RJC confab, wrote afterwards that he appreciates Vance’s commitment to his religious beliefs, and that he agrees on forming foreign policy from an “America first” perspective. But Vance had more to prove, he said.
“His refusal to unequivocally denounce and condemn Tucker, who just called for Trump’s immediate removal, will make it very hard for the American Jewish community to consider his otherwise stellar policies,” he said.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Vance courts Jewish Republicans, but leaves Tucker Carlson ties unanswered appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
At Jewish Republican summit, GOP casts midterms as a battle against DSA
(JTA) — LAS VEGAS – Speakers at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual convention at the Venetian Resort cast the upcoming midterm elections as a battle against not just the Democratic Party, but specifically its left-wing Democratic Socialists of America faction.
“A Democrat majority in November is not just a political setback for our party and our movement, it is a direct threat to the Jewish community,” said Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee. “The people in charge would not be moderate Democrats who have occasionally pushed back on antisemitism. It would be the Squad. It would be the DSA.”
Ed Gallrein, the farmer and former Navy SEAL who defeated Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in a Republican primary back in May, said that “radical socialism sentiment is gaining ground across our nation,” calling November’s elections a battle between “the Constitution versus the Communist Manifesto.”
Georgia Rep. Mike Collins, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, accused the Jewish senator of using November’s election as a springboard to run for president in 2028 as “the DSA candidate.” (Ossoff has repeatedly denied having interest in running for president. He is also neither a DSA member, nor has he been endorsed by the group.)
Even the WiFi password for the Vegas confab — “DSA=AntiUSA” — offered a rejection of the group.
The RJC’s summit comes after a string of victories by DSA members and DSA-backed candidates in Democratic primaries across the country, sparking criticism from Republicans and moderate Democrats who oppose tenets of the group’s left-wing ideology, including its anti-Zionist stance.
The total number of House members endorsed by a DSA chapter could rise from two to seven, depending on how November shakes out, in addition to candidates in downballot races. Though there are 212 Democrats in the House, Republican officials on Sunday and Monday painted the Democratic party as one that is ceding control to the DSA.
China, Russia and Iran, Gallrein said, are hoping that “Democrats controlled by the DSA take the House and the Senate, and that they can exploit and divide America.”
Speakers panned other DSA-backed politicians such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, as well as the streamer Hasan Piker, who has fundraised for numerous DSA-endorsed candidates.
Florida Rep. Randy Fine specifically attacked Muslim politicians in the Democratic party, saying he was addressing “the elephant in the room.” He was among the speakers to say that there are anti-Israel and antisemitic voices on both ends of the political spectrum. The difference, he said, is that Republicans “repudiate this evil” with actions like voting out Kentucky’s anti-Israel congressman Massie, while Democrats elect anti-Israel candidates.
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News personality who has spread antisemitic conspiracy theories in recent years, was repudiated by the RJC and also cast aside by the party’s leader, President Donald Trump. Trump’s second-in-command JD Vance, however, has made no such condemnation, to the chagrin of many Jewish Republicans.
With Vance set to speak at the RJC’s summit on Monday night, multiple Jewish Democratic groups blasted the RJC for hosting him, particularly in a session that is closed to the press.
“JD Vance may be speaking behind closed doors, but he should not be able to avoid questions about his attacks on Israel, his failure to confront antisemitism within the MAGA movement, and his continued alliance with Tucker Carlson,” said Brian Romick, president and CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, in a statement.
“What’s next, a live taping with Tucker Carlson on the main stage?” the Jewish Democratic Council of America wrote.
In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the JDCA’s CEO Halie Soifer said, “The RJC may choose to highlight the less than ten DSA candidates on the ballot in November for their own cynical political purposes, but Jewish voters see past their deflection and lies, just as they see the Republican Party for what it is — the party of Donald Trump.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post At Jewish Republican summit, GOP casts midterms as a battle against DSA appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Israel and Greece ink defense deal to protect against regional threats
(JTA) — Israel and Greece finalized on Monday a $3.5 billion deal providing the Hellenic Republic with a multilayered antimissile system designed to protect the European Union country against aerial attacks from nations such as Iran and Turkey. It is one of the largest defense export deals in the history of the Jewish state.
The two countries “share common strategic interests and face shared regional challenges,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a press statement sent out after the deal was signed at Tel Aviv’s Ministry of Defense.
Called the “Achilles Shield,” the agreement was inked by the General Director of the General Directorate for Defense Investments and Armaments of Greece, Maj. Gen. Ioannis Bouras, and Israel’s Ministry of Defense Director-General reserve Maj. Gen. Amir Baram.
“At a time when actors with hegemonic ambitions are seeking to expand their influence and undermine stability in the region, Israel and Greece will continue to deepen their defense and strategic cooperation, and will act with determination to preserve stability and safeguard their security and shared interests.” Katz said.
Katz didn’t name Iran or Turkey in his remarks, but it was widely understood that the two countries pose regional concerns for both countries. Turkey and Greece are not just neighbors but historic enemies with several current disputes. As Israel’s relationship with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has deteriorated, Jerusalem and Greece have drawn closer in an effort to counterbalance Turkey’s growing power.
At the same time, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel multiple times since 2024. Greece has not been under Iranian fire, but Tehran has threatened to attack European countries. Greece hosts a U.S. naval base and is among those European countries that are closer to Iran.
The agreement isthe “largest defense export deal in the history of Israel-Greece relations, and one of the largest in the history” of the country, Israel’s Defense Ministry noted.
The multilayered system Israel will build for Greece will mark the first time that it provides a country with a system that can combat a wide array of threats from ballistic missiles to drones, the ministry explained.
Among the systems included in the “Achilles Shield” architecture are David’s Sling, SPYDER, BARAK MX and MMR multi-mission radars for air surveillance.
The two countries on Monday also signed a supplementary deal valued at $30.2 million for the sale of the Israeli company Rafael’s Drone Dome systems.
Chairman of Israel Aerospace Industries Boaz Levy said during the recent fighting with Iran that Israel’s aerial defense systems had shown they could intercept “a range of threats, chief among them exoatmospheric ballistic missiles.” The same systems that defended Israel could also be used to help allies in Europe, Levy explained.
“We are proud to take part in the important ‘Achilles Shield’ project, and will continue to be key partners in additional projects in Greece and around the world, as we develop and build the next generation of defense technologies,” he added.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Israel and Greece ink defense deal to protect against regional threats appeared first on The Forward.
