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Two days after the conclusion of the June 1967 War, Eshkol, recounts the series of events that led to war, the war itself and the immediate aftermath. He reaches out to Arab states for peace seeking a path to peace with her belligerent neighbors. A week later, Israel will quietly messages Cairo and Damascus through the US, hat Israel seeks an end to the conflict. No answers are received.

In four days the Israeli army swept through Sinai. He acknowledged Israel’s pre-emptive strike. Nasser blamed the US and Britain for aiding Israel’s success, yet took responsibility for the Arab defeat and resigned. Immediately millions of Egyptians poured into the streets angry that he led the country to defeat, but loving him as a father, demanded that he stay as President. All the Egyptian military command resigned, but Nasser stayed in office till his death in September 1970.

Assembled by Ken Stein and Eli Sperling Emory University and Center for Israel Education kenstein@israeled.org or kstein@emory.edu Meirav Arlosoroff, “Shabbat Costs Israel Billions of Dollars Every Year,” Haaretz, May 16, 2019. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-how-keeping-shabbat-costs-israel-tens-of-billions-of-shekels-every-year-1.7242501 Shay Atias, “The Barring of Eurovision from Jerusalem Is a Win for the BDS Movement,” BESA Center, May 14, 2019. https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/barring-eurovision-jerusalem-win-for-bds/ Naama Barak, “South Koreans are flocking to Israel […]

Conversion is a central theme of the upcoming holiday of Shavuot when the biblical story of Ruth the Moabite – widely considered the first convert to Judaism – is traditionally read. In the spirit of the holiday, we decided to examine what types of relationships Jewish Israelis are ready to have with non-Jews. We also looked into what Jewish Israeli think about the topic of conversions in general and the conversion process in Israel in particular.

Nasser asserts that the conflict with Israel is not over access to the Gulf of Aqaba but the very existence of Israel; Egypt’s foes are Britain and the US that support Israel.

With tensions on its borders, Eshkol tries to reassure Israeli public. Instead he gives a “painfully faltering” speech. Popular and party disgruntlement follow, opening the way for Eshkol to turn over the Defense Ministry two days later to General Moshe Dayan.

Notwithstanding Hamas’s recent success at partially overwhelming Iron Dome, it has failed to accomplish one of its signal goals: nothing it has done has succeeded in galvanizing the Arab population in Ramallah and Hebron to rise up against either Israel or the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The recent Israeli election campaign was heated and nasty; primarily a referendum on whether Netanyahu should continue to serve as Prime Minister. His personality and legal problems were the focus of opposition attacks, not his policies. In fact, beyond the harsh rhetoric one can discern a broad consensus in Israel behind the outgoing government’s actual diplomatic and defense policies.

Carefully sandwiched between Carter’s high-risk presidential visit to Egypt and Israel on March 10, 1979—to solve contentious disagreements between Sadat and Begin—and the Peace Treaty signing on March 26, 1979, his administration gladly votes at the UN to deplore Israeli settlement building; including demographic changes in Jerusalem. After the Peace Treaty signing, until it leaves office in 1981, the Carter administration will continue to barrage Israel with condemnation for settlement building.

While Cairo is exerting its influence in Gaza to avoid a new conflict and mediate a period of calm, Iran sees Gaza as one more base from which to grow and control a proxy terrorist army.

Jared Kushner, the senior advisor to President Donald Trump, was the keynote speaker of the Washington Institute’s 2019 Soref Symposium dinner. The on-the-record event, “Inside the Trump Administration’s Middle East Peace Effort: A Conversation With Jared Kushner,” took place on Thursday, May 2. Kushner was interviewed by Institute executive director Robert Satloff. Since becoming the President’s senior advisor, Kushner has traveled extensively in the Middle East and has met numerous times with the region’s key leaders. He has been present for major Middle East policy decisions, including moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. He has been central to the development of the administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

Lag B’omer is celebrated Wednesday evening, May 22-23. The Omer is the Hebrew term for the 49-day period between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot. This period commemorates the Spring harvest, and at the end, the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people.

The states of the Eastern Mediterranean should pay close attention to the upcoming European parliamentary election, as its outcome will influence geostrategic and economic developments in that region. Israel, Cyprus, and Greece will have a major role to play in strengthening Western relationships in the region for decades to come.

This whiteboard video focuses on this week’s (May 14-18, 2019) Eurovision music competition taking place in Tel-Aviv. The video explores the history of the event and Israel’s participation competing and hosting; examines why Tel-Aviv was chosen over Jerusalem to host the festival; and covers attempts by the BDS movement to generate controversy and protests.

This was the second UNSC Resolution within four months supported by the Carter administration condemning Israel’s settlement building in the territories. It too greatly angered the Israeli government and American supporters of Israel.

In response to President Eisenhower’s demand that Israel leave Sinai, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion provides a detailed history of Israel at the UN and Egypt’s denial to Israel of use of the Suez Canal. He stresses Egyptian “injustice, discrimination, hostility, and boycott” imposed on Israel.

After a year in which Iran opted for “strategic patience,” in the hope that European nations would compensate for the United States sanctions, it now seeks to present a price tag for the US measures against it, and has thus embarked on a response comprising action in three realms: nuclear, military, and oil exports from the Gulf. In the current circumstances, Iran and the United States are demanding conditions that would make a resumption of negotiations difficult, although both sides apparently understand that dialogue may ultimately be the less dangerous option for them.

Israel Democracy Institute experts provide research, background and insight into the controversial override clause issued by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. Many argue this bill will attenuate the power of Israel’s Supreme Court, placing fewer restrictions on the Knesset.

The concurrent success of American Jews and Israeli Jews, even if they are developing with two different understandings of Jewish identity, should not lead to distancing or sibling rivalry. Rabbi Cosgrove relates to the emergence, in both the U.S. and Israel, of two Jewish communities no different than the Sephardic and Ashkenazic. In Israel, the Sephardi-Ashkenazi divide belongs to the past. The greatest success of the Jewish state is Kibbutz Galuiot, the creation of a unifying identity for Jews of every stripe.

On the eve of Israel’s 71st Independence Day, 82% of the Israeli public thinks that the national balance of achievements shows more successes than failures and 62% think legal proceedings against Prime Minister Netanyahu should not be stopped, notwithstanding his success in the elections.

Até abril de 1948, não existia nenhum esboço da declaração de independência. Utilizando as estruturas da Declaração de Independência e da Constituição dos Estados Unidos, um pequeno grupo de advogados e políticos redigiu a Declaração de Independência de Israel.

Israel’s Declaration of Independence which was issued by David Ben-Gurion in Tel-Aviv on May 14, 1948 was drafted by a small committee. This video highlights the similarities and differences between the Israeli and American declarations of independence and outlines the Israeli Declaration’s contents including the state’s intentions towards its citizens, the historical connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, and the right of the Jewish people to determination.

Zionist leaders—David Ben-Gurion, Chaim Weizmann and Eliezer Kaplan—learning of the British intent to limit severely the Jewish national home’s growth. Increasingly, they are also aware of the German government’s hostilities towards European Jewry.

In a bold move, the Trump administration has designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). This is historical justice, since the IRGC has sponsored various terrorist militias and organizations, Shiite and Sunni alike, which have committed many attacks against Western, Israeli and Sunni targets.

Demographic pressures lie behind much of what is happening in Gaza. In 1948, 250,000 Palestinian refugees fled to Gaza, where the existing population was 80,000. Today, the population of Gaza is about 1.9 million of whom 1.3 million (68%) are refugees. Palestinians are the only people to retain refugee status generation after generation as a result of United Nations support.

The developing economic crisis In the Palestinian Authority warrants a heightened alert in Israel as to a possible strategic shift in the Palestinian system. The crisis, should it prove protracted, and all the more so should it worsen, is liable to ignite several threats concerning Israel: an expansion of the circle of Palestinians involved in violent acts, specifically civil disturbances and terrorist attacks; difficulties for the PA to provide services in the civilian realm, which could deepen the Palestinian public’s dependence on Israel; Hamas’s intensified presence and tactics in face of the PA’s weakness; and compromises in the security cooperation.

Assembled by Ken Stein and Eli Sperling Emory University and Center for Israel Education kenstein@israeled.org or kstein@emory.edu Said Affassi, “First Arab Cultural Center to open in Israel’s largest Bedouin city,” I24News, April 26, 2019. https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/society/1556210665-the-first-arab-cultural-center-to-open-in-israel-s-largest-bedouin-city Harriet Agnew and Mehul Srivastava, “Israel looks to ultraorthodox to fill tech skills shortage,” Financial Times, April 7, 2019. https://www.ft.com/content/dae642aa-5601-11e9-a3db-1fe89bedc16e Muriel Asseburg, […]

Por Ken Stein No final de tarde tempestuoso do dia 17 de setembro de 1978, na presença do presidente americano Jimmy Carter como testemunha, o presidente egípcio Anwar Sadat e o primeiro-ministro israelense Menachem Begin dirigiram-se a uma mesa na Casa Branca e assinaram os Acordos de Camp David, que consistiam em dois acordos-quadro: um […]

Avi Gil’s paper addresses the reality that we are witnessing the end of a rules-based international order emphasizing freedom, open markets, and liberal values, and wisely points out that this will have implications for Israel and the Diaspora. He does a service by explaining what is producing the break down, noting in particular, American weariness with its global responsibilities and conflicts in the Middle East; loss of faith in elites and international institutions after the global economic crisis of 2008; and loss of identity and social status in the face of changing demographics and immigration. He goes on to suggest what is likely to replace the rules-based order: either a multi-power world based on great power competition or global disorder with vacuums being filled by the worst forces.

Odds are that China and Russia will prove to be long-term US rivals. However, it may just as well be that their alliance will prove to be more tactical than strategic, with the China-Russia relationship resembling US-Chinese ties: cooperation in an environment of divergence rather than convergence.