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A series of “volcanic” eruptions are reported around the world: “trade war,” mutual imposition of tariffs, sanctions on companies, military signaling in the South China Sea, summits between leaders, and temporary “ceasefires.” All are manifestations of the historic clash between the “tectonic plates” of the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China. Like the processes that shaped the earth, the collision will shape the landscape for future generations: politically, economically and militarily. Israel has a marginal and secondary role in this dynamic, but the shockwaves reach its shores and present complex challenges to its policy and national security.

The elections of April 2019 were marked by a historic low in the participation rate of Arab citizens. According to the CEC, only 49.2% of eligible voters in Arab and Druze communities voted. For 20 years, Arab society’s voting rate in Israel has dropped by more than 25 percent. The national voter turnout also declined during this period, but only by 10%. The increase in voter turnout among the Arab population in the 2015 elections is therefore the exception to the general rule.

The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann  January 1907 – February 1913 Volume V, Series A Introduction: Barnet Litvinoff, based upon the Hebrew by Hanna Weiner General Editor Meyer W. Weisgal, Volume Editor Hanna Weiner and Barnet Litvinoff, Oxford University Press, London and Israel Universities Press, Jerusalem, 1974 [Reprinted with express permission from the Weizmann […]

The right-wing conservative New Democracy party’s accession to office in Greece will not weaken the country’s close ties with Israel and could even strengthen them, despite the presence in the government of a minister with an allegedly antisemitic past.

The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann  January 1905 – December 1906 Volume IV, Series A Introduction: Camillo Dresner General Editor Meyer W. Weisgal, Volume Editor  Camillo Dresner and Barnet Litvinoff, Oxford University Press, London and Israel Universities Press, Jerusalem, 1973 [Reprinted with express permission from the Weizmann Archives, Rehovot, Israel,  by the Center for […]

The integration process of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel has been especially difficult, given the complexity of their interaction with the host society. A number of factors are at the root of these challenges, even before we bring up the color of their skin and the racism it feeds or inspires. First of all, Israelis of Ethiopian descent, first and second generations are a relatively small group (around 150,000 people, 1.7% of the entire Israeli population). Hence their ability to exert political pressure via the institutionalized channels, mainly political parties and on Election Day is quite limited.

Begin tells Carter that Judea, Samaria (the West Bank) and the Gaza Strip will not be placed under foreign sovereignty; likewise, these areas will not be annexed, leaving them open for possible negotiations.

https://israeled.org/blog/weizmann-letters/ The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann are an enormously valuable but under-utilized source of modern Zionist History. The twenty-three-volume series offers an intimate perspective into the life of Chaim Weizmann, as he became one of half a dozen key leaders in the 19th and 20th century Zionist quest to establish a Jewish state. Each […]

The multiyear Tnufa (“momentum”) plan drawn up by IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi is meant to provide a response to changes affecting the IDF – those underway and those that are expected in the next five years – and to improve operational effectiveness. However, recently the situation assessment has been flooded with factors related to economic and political conditions that may delay and limit the plan’s launch.

Building on a collaborative relationship of over 50 years, the US once again affirms its strategic commitments to Israel through an additional “Security Cooperation Act.” The agreement bolsters American military and financial aid to Israel.

The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann  September 1903 – December 1904 Volume III, Series A  Introduction: Gedalia Yogev General Editor Meyer W. Weisgal, London, Oxford University Press, 1972 [Reprinted with express permission from the Weizmann Archives, Rehovot, Israel,  by the Center for Israel Education www.israeled.org.] The third volume of the Weizmann Letters is the […]

Another Election? It Has its Pluses for the Public and for Democracy. Voters got to see how parties behaved after elections, and parties now know the real risk of a hardline negotiation stance.

The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann  November 1902 – August 1903 Volume II, Series A Introduction: Gedalia Yogev General Editor Meyer W. Weisgal, Editorial Direction Gedalia Yogev,  Editor: English Edition Barnet Litvinoff, London, Oxford University Press, 1971 [Reprinted with express permission from the Weizmann Archives, Rehovot, Israel,  by the Center for Israel Education www.israeled.org] […]

The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann  Summer 1885 – 29 October 1902  Volume I, Series A, English Edition    Edited by Leonard Stein in collaboration with Gedalia Yogev, London, Oxford University Press, 1968 [Reprinted with express permission from the Weizmann Archives, Rehovot, Israel by the Center for Israel Education www.israeled.org] INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME I […]

In a general sense, east Jerusalem is disengaging from Ramallah and the West Bank and connecting with Israel. However, tensions over the Temple Mount are hard to control and may change this situation completely. The process of connecting to Israel shapes the city, but undermining the order on the Temple Mount may affect the whole of Jerusalem.

The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann Series A 1885-1952 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX This is a composite biographical index, collected from each of the twenty-three individual biographical indexes published originally at the end of each separate volume of Weizmann’s Letters. Identifying information includes a persons affiliations, birth and date dates, important turning points in a careers, […]

Assembled by Ken Stein and Eli Sperling Emory University and Center for Israel Education kenstein@israeled.org or kstein@emory.edu Muriel Asseburg and Nimrod Goren, “Divided and Divisive Europeans, Israel and Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking,” SWP Berlin, 2019. https://www.swpberlin.org/fileadmin/contents/products/fachpublikationen/Asseburg_PAX_REPORT_Divided_Divisive.pdf Laura Adkins, “This 20 year-old Israeli combat soldier is also a drag queen,” Jewish Telegraph Agency, June 28, 2019. https://www.jta.org/2019/06/28/culture/this-20-year-old-israeli-combat-soldier-is-also-a-drag-queen Ami Ayalon, “Donald […]

Moshe Sharett urges the British and Americans to open Palestine to unimpeded Jewish immigration from Europe.

Edited by Leonard Stein in collaboration with Gedalia Yogev,  London, Oxford University Press, 1968 [Reprinted with express permission from the Weizmann Archives, Rehovot, Israel,  by the Center for Israel Education www.israeled.org.] THE purpose of the work commencing with this volume is to make available, in Hebrew and English, a comprehensive collection, with explanatory notes, of […]

The economic workshop in Bahrain is the first part of the “deal of the century”; the political portion will apparently be presented only after the Israeli elections in September. The workshop in Bahrain leans heavily on Donald Trump’s political doctrine, whereby the economic power of the United States is the key to resolve economic, political, and social issues. However, a review of peace treaties that Israel has signed shows that the economy has consistently played only a secondary role, behind significant political solutions. The economic incentives were not the main channel of Israel’s peace treaties, but rather, a complement to the political channel. Therefore, despite the American desire to present a chiefly economic agenda for the Middle East, the success of the plans presented at the conference are tightly tied to the forthcoming political portion of the “deal of the century.”

During the 2019 CIE/ISMI Educator Workshop on Modern Israel, Professor Yitzhak Reiter of Ashkelon Academic College discusses Israel’s Arab minority. The talk focuses on the factors that impact relations between Israel’s Jews and Arabs, the impact of the 2018 Nation State Law, and the conflict between civic and national identities.

Twenty-five years after the signing of the Jordan-Israel peace treaty, the bilateral relationship is in a challenging phase, but nothing should obscure the crucial benefits strategic and security cooperation affords to both sides, and the centrality of the relations to each side’s national security.

Israel’s government must nurture a spirit of unity and national purpose by building a policy consensus as broad as possible. This is necessary both in preparation for likely combat operations against Iran and its proxies, and in order to respond wisely to the American peace plan and to intelligently manage conflict with the Palestinians.

CIE President Ken Stein speaks with David Makovsky, the Ziegler distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on June 19, 2019. The major focus of the discussion was on the upcoming US led Peace to Prosperity workshop which was held in Bahrain June 25 and 26, 2019 at which Makovsky was an observer. Stein and Makovsky discuss, in-depth, the economic summit, the Trump administration’s Middle East Peace Plan, and the prospects for success.

With Israel set to host an unprecedented meeting of the national security advisors of the US, Russia, and Israel, this week’s efforts by German FM Heiko Maas and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to mediate between the US and Iran could prove to be but a sideshow. The meeting of the national security advisors, against the backdrop of Syrian and Russian forces pummeling Idlib, the last major stronghold of Syrian rebels, takes on added significance with strains emerging in relations between Moscow and Tehran.

Since its establishment, the State of Israel has committed itself to the principles of the rule of law and the protection of human rights, both in times of combat and in times of calm. Israel’s battle against threats to its national security must be waged within the framework of the law, and in accordance with the legal norms practiced among the family of democratic nations. One of the supervisory and control mechanisms to ensure that these legal norms are indeed followed is judicial review conducted by the Israeli Supreme Court in relation to matters of national security. The judicial review, which is not intended to replace, and cannot replace, the operational decision making process of IDF commanders, is not only a key element of national security; in many respects it is the source of Israel’s strength and reflects the State’s commitment to the rule of law.

Will Arab politicians take advantage of the second chance that the new elections have presented? Runing in a Joint List and reaching out to their younger voters – 60% of which didn’t vote in the last election, would be the right place to start.

Much like many other Jewish holidays, Shavuot was ascribed new meanings as Hebrew culture developed in the Yishuv (pre-state Zionist, Jewish community in Palestine). With strong agricultural emphasis, Shavuot became a cultural staple of the Kibbutz movement (communal, agricultural settlements).

In early June 1967, Following three weeks of building tension with Egypt—particularly Cairo’s dispatch of 200,000 troops into Sinai, the removal UN peace keeping troops from there, the blockade of Israeli shipping access to its port at Eilat, and blistering verbal barrages from Arab leaders threatening Israel’s destruction—Israel preemptively struck Egypt on June 5. In six days Israel defeated three Arab armies and increased its size three-fold, without pre-determined plans to take either the Golan Heights or the West Bank. Its victory included the reunification of Jerusalem, divided in the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli War.

While the results of the recent European Parliament elections indicate a weakening of parties that for years have directed the course of the European Union, they also show relatively high support for a strong organization that wields power and influence.