On Friday afternoon in the Tel Aviv Museum, David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the Provisional State Council, declares Israel’s independence. The United States is the first country to recognize the new and already besieged state of Israel.
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Israel-Lebanon Agreement, Ratified by Israel but not Lebanon, 1983
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a treaty in 1983 through U.S. mediation, only for Syria’s dominance and Lebanon’s dysfunction to block ratification.
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Almost two weeks into the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses the country to explain what has been achieved and what remains to be done.
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“Zionism an Affirmation for Judaism,” 1942
From the end of World War I until the June 1967 war, American Jewish attitudes toward Zionism moved from lukewarm embrace to full-throated support. The debate of American rabbis in the 1940s exemplified by this letter reflects attitudinal differences. The Holocaust, Israeli statehood and Israel’s stunning military success in June 1967 established Israel as a valued element in American Jewish identities.
Michael Eisenstadt: Hamas-Israel War With Comments on U.S.-Israel-Iran War
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President Trump’s Address to Nation on War With Iran, April 1, 2026
President Trump’s speech a month into the war makes the case for Iran as a longtime U.S. enemy and argues that the war has largely succeeded and will soon be over.
#157 Contemporary Readings March 2026
Maya Rezak and Ken Stein, March 31, 2026 Videos and Multimedia Phillip Brown, “Middle East Oil,” Congressional Research Service, March 3, 2026. Yonit Levi, Nadim Koteich, Amer Al Sabaileh and Robert Satloff, “How Middle East…
