Defeating Denormalization: Shared Palestinian and Israeli Perspectives on a New Path to Peace
The current Palestinian political economy, influenced far too greatly by the BDS and anti-normalization campaigns, amounts to a corrupt, unsustainable, terror-supporting regime that is disinterested in the economic well-being of its own people and the development of a new state.
The Keystone: Sisi, Egyptian Stability and the Future of the Eastern Mediterranean
Egyptian President Al-Sisi’s greatest challenges are combatting terrorism in Sinai and beyond, spurring economic growth, capitalizing on the country’s energy opportunities, carrying forward great national projects, solving the Nile waters challenge posed by Ethiopia, and addressing critics in Europe and the United States.
Memorandum of Conversation between US President Jimmy Carter, US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan at Camp David
In this meeting, the contents of which have not been released by the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) but are available from the Israel State Archives (ISA), Begin clearly committed that “perhaps one military settlement” in the Jordan Valley would be established during the three months of the treaty negotiations. The extraordinarily contentious public dispute on the settlements would mar the diplomatic success of the Camp David Accords and add tension to the already fraught Carter-Begin relationship.
The Global Trade War: Scenarios and Significance for Israel
On July 6, 2018, the first tariffs imposed by the United States and China on one another following the American initiative to reduce its trade deficit with China took effect. Prior to that, the US imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from the European Union, Mexico, and Canada, which responded with their own tariffs.
Loss of Precious Faith: The Deep Rift between the State of Israel and American Jewry
While heralding the flourishing political relations between the United States and Israel, American media channels over the last six months have also reported that recent measures taken by the Israeli government, such as the passage of the National Conversion Law and the freeze on the pluralistic Western Wall plan, have significantly exacerbated the crisis of faith in the State of Israel among extensive segments of the American Jewish population.
#65 Contemporary Readings, July 2018
Assembled by Ken Stein and Eli Sperling Emory University and Center for Israel Education kenstein@israeled.org or kstein@emory.edu Amiram Barkat, “Moody’s Gives Israel a ‘Positive’ Economic Outlook,” Jerusalem Post, July 23, 2018. https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Moodys-gives-Israel-a-positive-economic-outlook-563202 Nicky Blackburn, “Rescuers Turn to Israeli Tech to Help Save Trapped Thai Boys, Israel21c, July 4, 2018. https://www.israel21c.org/rescuers-turn-to-israeli-tech-to-help-save-trapped-thai-boys/ Yonah Jeremy Bob, “U.S. Defense Official Works […]
Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People
(9 July 2018) https://www.timesofisrael.com/final-text-of-jewish-nation-state-bill-set-to-become-law/ 1 — Basic principles A. The land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established. B. The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which it fulfills its natural, cultural, religious and historical right to self-determination. C. […]
The Ramifications of the Nation State Law: Is Israeli Democracy at Risk?
The discussion surrounding the Nation State Law has sparked a heated debate in Israeli society. One side claims that the law is a proper and necessary legislative anchor for the national character of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, against those who seek to deny the Jewish people’s right to a national home in its homeland. The other side argues that this is discriminatory legislation, which undermines the democratic nature of the State of Israel.
Integrating the Arab-Palestinian Minority in Israeli Society: Time for a Strategic Change
The existence of a large Arab minority within the State of Israel has presented the Israeli leadership and Jewish society in the country with a challenge that continues to help shape the fundamental character and historical entity of the state.
The Model of Iranian Influence in Syria
Iran is the dominant actor in Syria. It dictates the fighting on the ground by the pro-Assad coalition, controls the Syria-Iraq and Syria-Lebanon border crossings, and tailors the re-organization of areas and communities based on an ethnic element.
The European Union in Turbulent Times: Challenges, Trends, and Significance for Israel
The European Union in Turbulent Times maps, reviews, and analyzes the urgent issues on the European agenda. The essays in this collection review the political, social, and economic consequences of these issues and assess their significance, both for Europe and for Israel.
Memorandum of Conversation between US President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and their Delegations
After a year in office, the Carter administration’s initiative to achieve a comprehensive Middle East peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors had stalled. At this White House meeting, Dayan reviewed Israel’s concerns about the West Bank and Brzezinski criticized Begin’s autonomy plan for the Palestinians. Begin and Carter’s mutual dislike over policy decisions continued to rise.
Not Necessarily “A People that Dwells Alone”
Six pillars comprise Israel’s national defense doctrine: deterrence, early warning, short conflicts, defensive capabilities, and strategic alliance cooperation. Seventy years of Israel’s Alliances and Cooperation are reviewed.
Jewish Liturgical Music from Muslim Lands: Piyyutim and Pop Culture in Israel
By Dr. Eli Sperling Representative of a greater resurgence of Judeo-Arabic music in Israel, the piyyut movement is continuing to spread throughout religious and secular segments of Israeli culture and society. Piyyut, the Hebrew word for poem, likewise refers to diverse Jewish traditions of chanting liturgical poetry to music. For centuries, Jews in Muslim lands developed […]
Minutes of a Policy Review Committee Meeting About the Middle East
When the Carter Administration entered office in 1977, an early foreign policy priority was to kick-start Middle East negotiations. In this Policy Review Committee Meeting, Carter’s staff proposed a negotiating outcome that would pass through a conference, including the withdrawal of Israel’s forces to almost the 1967 borders, bringing the PLO into talks as Palestinian representatives, all the while seeking to uphold Israel’s security requirements.
#64 Contemporary Readings, June 2018
Assembled by Ken Stein and Eli Sperling Emory University and Center for Israel Education kenstein@israeled.org or kstein@emory.edu Anna Ahronheim, “Israel and Germany Green Light Billion Dollar Killer Drone Deal,” Jerusalem Post, June 14, 2018. https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israel-and-Germany-green-light-billion-dollar-killer-drone-deal-559938 American Jewish Committee, “Twenty-Five Essays about the Current State of Israeli-American Jewish Relations,” American Jewish Committee, June 2018. https://tinyurl.com/yafr3rzf Shimon Arad, “The […]
Diaspora to 1949
Emory Professor of Contemporary and Middle Eastern History, Political Science, and Israeli Studies and Center for Israel Education President Ken Stein outlines the history of Zionism and the British Mandate at the CIE 2018 Educator Enrichment Workshop.
Origins of Jewish Nationhood
Dr. Rabbi Michael Berger analyzes the history of Judaism and the origins of Jewish nationhood — from the initial settling of Eretz Yisrael to the aftermath of the Bar-Kochba Revolt — at the 2018 CIE Educator Enrichment Workshop.
Netanyahu’s Visit to Amman: A Timely Reminder of Jordan’s Strategic Importance
Israel’s national interest, and the broader patterns of cooperation among key regional partners in the “camp of stability,” require close attention to the needs of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. For decades, it has been, and remains, part of Israel’s strategic depth.
United States Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995
In 1995, Senators Robert Dole and Jon Kyl introduced the Jerusalem Embassy Act to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. The bill was adopted by an overwhelming majority in both houses of Congress; it provided Presidential authorization to effectively delay the embassy move every six months, if deemed necessary for U.S. national security interests.
Reevaluanado a Sadat, Begin y Carter
Ken Stein Los Acuerdos de Camp David de 1978 y el Tratado de paz egipcio-israelí de 1979 son hitos en la historia de Israel, Egipto y Oriente Medio. Cómo recordamos estos eventos y cómo estos son transmitidos por generaciones posteriores depende de quién escribe la historia y qué fuentes fueron utilizadas. ¿Qué sucede cuando nos […]
CIE’s 17th annual educator workshop commencing soon
On June 24, seventy Israel educators from across North America will gather in Atlanta for an intensive week of learning about Modern Israel.
Steve Kerbel: Spring Training: Israel Content in Camp Context
With the cooperation of the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the National Ramah Commission, Center for Israel Education, conducted a three-day Israel learning retreat in May 2018 for 35 overnight and day camp staffers, most of them either in college or recent college graduates.
#63 Contemporary Readings, May 2018
Assembled by Ken Stein and Eli Sperling Emory University and Center for Israel Education kenstein@israeled.org or kstein@emory.edu Wajat Ali, “I Talked to Zionists—Then I Was Disinvited by a Major Muslim Group,” The Atlantic, May 30, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/05/i-talked-to-zioniststhen-i-was-disinvited-by-a-major-muslim-group/561575/ Jon Alterman, Heather A. Conlet, Haim Malka and Donatienne Ruy, “Restoring the Eastern Mediterranean as a US Strategic Anchor,” Center […]
Israel on Campus, Ken Stein, (1:06)
Emory Professor of Contemporary and Middle Eastern History, Political Science, and Israeli Studies and Center for Israel Education President Ken Stein discusses the teaching and status of Israel on college campuses at the CIE 2018 Educator Enrichment Workshop.
Jacob Zack: Language of Diplomacy at Play in ‘West Bank’
Ambassador David Friedman nearly changed U.S. policy with a request to use “Judaea and Samaria.”
Yigal Allon, Lecciones de la Guerra de la Independencia
Extracto de Sefer Hapalmach Israel: United Kibbutz, Israel, 1952-3, Vol. 2, pp. 430-436. Traducido por Roni Eshel y resumido y editado por Ken Stein, para su utilización aquí.
David Ben-Gurion
Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel and its leading political voice for the country’s first decade. In 1930, he formed Mapai, the Zionist Labor Party, and in 1935 he became chairman of the Executive Committee of the Jewish Agency for Palestine. He emphasized the development of the Negev as a […]
Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel’s current Prime Minister, Netanyahu is the only Prime Minister in Israeli history to win a fourth term for the position. Prior to entering politics he served in the elite Sayeret Maktal unit of the IDF.
Rocky Independence Path Delayed Declaration Work
In the months before the UN vote to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish states in November 1947, the Jewish Agency leadership there had to overcome a series of foreign policy obstacles working against the Jewish state’s establishment.