Ovadia Yosef, a Sephardi rabbi, politician and community leader, is born in Baghdad. He moves from Iraq to Jerusalem at age 4 with his family. While studying at Porat Yosef Yeshiva, he writes the first...
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Israel-Lebanon Agreement, Ratified by Israel but not Lebanon, 1983
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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.
Board of Peace Representative Updates U.N. on Gaza, March 2026CIE+
Nickolay Mladenov, the Trump-led Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, explains the progress made toward Phase 2 of the ceasefire and the necessity for Hamas’ disarmament and immediate housing and increased aid for Gazans.
Arjeh Tartakower, 1921-1922: “The Land Question and Land Politics in Palestine”CIE+
Writing early in the British administration of Palestine, sociologist Arjeh Tartakower assesses the inflationary effects of immigrant land purchases and the failure of absentee Arab landlords to provide any benefits or protection to tenant farmers.
“Zionism an Affirmation for Judaism,” 1942CIE+
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.
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President Trump’s Address to Nation on War With Iran, April 1, 2026CIE+
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…
