Explainer: What Is Zionism?
From biblical times to the present, Jews and Judaism have had an unbroken connection to Zion, a reference to Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, derived from the hill at the heart of Jerusalem. Zionism…
Explainers: Hezbollah and the Hamas-Israel War (4 videos)
Hezbollah has used its stronghold in southern Lebanon to launch continual attacks on northern Israel since October 8, 2023. Hezbollah says it is motivated by its support for Hamas, a fellow member of Iran’s Axis of Resistance surrounding Israel. While Hezbollah is Shia and Hamas is Sunni, both are devoted to Israel’s destruction, and both receive funding from and coordinate with Iran.
Explainer: Hezbollah’s Assault on Israel Explained (video, 4:05)
On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets at northern Israel that escalated tensions in the region and prompted a substantial increase in the IDF presence along the border with Lebanon. It was not the first instance of such hostilities, however, as both sides have a long history of conflict.
Explainer: Hezbollah’s Response to the Oct. 7 Attacks (video, 2:52)
Hezbollah and Hamas have significant ideological and religious differences, but they are united in the goal of destroying Israel and in their alliance with Iran. Before Hamas’ attacks on October 7th, the two terrorist organizations had significant coordination, although Hamas did not warn Hezbollah what it planned for that day.
Explainer: Hezbollah’s Presence in Lebanon (video, 3:09)
Hezbollah emerged in Lebanon in the 1980s, rooted in the historical marginalization of the country’s Shiite community. Today, Hezbollah is a major player in Lebanese social and political life, wielding significant influence over both the government and the military situation.
Explainer: Iran’s Influence Over Hezbollah (video, 3:24)
Iran exerts an immense amount of influence over its most successful proxy creation, Hezbollah.
Middle East Map, 2025
This 2018 map of the eastern Mediterranean, which remains current, shows all of Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Cyprus, plus parts of Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, within the context of the…
Map of Regional Boundaries After Israel’s Disengagement From Gaza, 2005
This regional map shows Israel and its neighbors after the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, completed in 1982, and the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in August 2005.
Map of Regional Boundaries After the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, 1979
Under the 1979 peace treaty, Israel withdrew completely from the Sinai, abandoning settlements and oil fields, by 1982. But Egypt did not reclaim the Gaza Strip, which it had controlled from 1948 to 1967.
Map of Israel After the 1967 War
With its six-day victory in the June 1967 war, Israel added the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the West Bank (Judaea and Samaria) to the territory under its control. Israelis moved…
Map of Israel’s 1949 Borders
This map shows the territories controlled by Israel, Jordan (including the West Bank(, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt (including the Gaza Strip) at the end of Israel’s War of Independence in 1949. An Arab state was…
Map of U.N. Partition Plan, 1947
The United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 181 on Nov. 29, 1947, to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state along the lines in this map, with an…
Map of the Separation of Transjordan, 1921
As shown in this map, the British in 1921 separated a new emirate, Transjordan, from what officially became the Mandate for Palestine the next year. The British officially maintained political and military control of both…
Map of the Levant’s Political Boundaries After World War I
The British and French zones of influence, or mandates, in the eastern Mediterranean region were ratified by the San Remo Agreement in 1920 and approved by the League of Nations in 1922.
Map of the Levant Under Ottoman Rule Through World War I
This map shows the Ottoman Empire’s administrative districts before World War I broke out in August 1914 in areas that today are Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and part of Iraq.
Map of the Levant: Continental Land Bridge From Ancient Times
This map shows the Levant, including the Land of Israel, which serves as a bridge linking Africa, Asia and Europe. The map shows ancient trade routes but not political borders before or after World War…
Map of Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916
Great Britain and France secretly negotiated the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916. The two European powers agreed, according to their respective spheres of influence, to divide the Middle East territories previously administered by the Ottoman Empire.
David Ben-Gurion, “Jewish Survival,” 1953
Israel’s first prime minister was a prolific writer. In this excerpt of a 50-page document, he notes that the Jewish nation’s DNA included relentless challenges marked by dispersal, ostracism and hatred by many people. Despite these adversities, Israel’s establishment symbolizes a remarkable victory against all odds — a culmination of the Jewish people’s tenacity and unyielding spirit. The state and Zionism were not remotely close to being finished, nor having succeeded in the quest for the Jewish people’s normalization.
Loy Henderson, State Department Director of Near Eastern and African Affairs, Vehemently Opposes Jewish State in Memo to Secretary of State George Marshall, 1947
Loy Henderson, Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs, U.S. State Department, to U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall
Writing two months before the U.S. voted at the United Nations in favor of Palestine’s partition into Arab and Jewish states, Henderson voices profound dislike for Zionism and a Jewish state. He advocates for cultivating positive relations with Muslim and Arab states. He is one of many at the State Department at the time who saw Zionism as contrary to American national interests.
Ken Stein, “Anti-Israel Teaching on American Campuses: Origins, Extent and Remedies”
Since the June 1967 war, Anti-Israeli sentiment on US campuses has grown to extraordinary proportions merging with previously evolved anti-Zionism into sporadic mention to regular embrace.
Palestinian Arab Grievances Against the British for Supporting the Jewish National Home, 1936
Five Arab political parties sent a memorandum of protest to the British asking for a halt to Jewish immigration, a stoppage in Arab land sales to Jews,and a measure of self-determination. The British did not change their policies in these three areas. In 1939, they did severely limit Jewish land purchases and severely curtailed Jewish immigration.
Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, 1979
Signed sixteen months after Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem, it calls for establishment of diplomatic relations, staged Israeli withdrawal from Sinai, and American security arrangements to support the bilateral treaty.
Hamas Charter Totally Rejects Israel and Zionism, 1988
Hamas absolutely opposes Israel’s right to exist, with its leadership repeatedly declaring that all of Palestine belongs to Moslems.
Dr. Susan Nashman Fraiman: Against the Canon: Voices of Diversity in Israeli Art (44:21)
In less than 45 minutes, Israeli educator Susan Nachman Fraiman presents a taste of the variety of voices in Israeli art that have emerged in the past 20 years: female, religious, Mizrahi, Ethiopian and Israeli-Palestinian, all of which are rich subjects in themselves. We examine a few examples of works from each of these sectors and try to understand the rich background from which they come. This video is from a session July 25, 2022, at the 21st annual CIE/ISMI Enrichment Workshop on Modern Israel.
