Kollek was Jerusalem’s mayor from 1965 to 1993 and, after the city’s 1967 reunification, helped develop it into a modern metropolis with a vision for coexistence and religious protection. Born in Hungary, he was named for Theodor Herzl. His family made aliyah in 1934. He helped 3,000 Jews leave German concentration camps on British visas in 1939, then smuggled Holocaust survivors into Palestine in the 1940s. He also secured money and arms for the Haganah and Mossad.
Efforts through a judicial overhaul to increase political control over Israel’s judiciary and civil service are simmering. In March 2025, the Knesset passed a controversial law to change the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee….
December 4, 2025 Source (Hebrew): Conference of the Association for Public Law, https://www.maariv.co.il/news/law/article-1259010 Introduction Aharon Barak argues in a speech to the Israeli Association for Public Law’s conference in Haifa that Israeli democracy is being…
Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit warns about the danger to the Israeli public and democracy of sustained political attacks on the judiciary and individual judges.
Updated January 5, 2026; originally posted October 2023. By Ken Stein Hamas’ Origins The 1988 Hamas Charter and remarks by its leaders and other publications express hatred of Zionism, Israel and Jews. It is thus unmistakable that Hamas…
January 2, 2026 A week of unrest in Iran does not guarantee a revolution even if 85-plus million Iranians are angry at the country’s autocratic, theological rulers. Iran is a security-clerical oligarchy where kleptocracy, cronyism…
Maya Rezak and Ken Stein, December 31, 2025 Yousef Algoos, “MBS in Washington: A new era of strategic tech-alliance,” Al-Arabiya, December 14, 2025. Thomas Albery, “A Crisis of crises: What is going on in Iran?”…
In their fifth U.S. meeting of 2025, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu show unity on Gaza, Hamas, Iran and their mutual appreciation for each other but offer glimpses of differences on Turkey, Syria and the West Bank.
Secretary of State James A. Baker III brings a realistic and prescient vision of Arab-Israeli peace negotiations and U.S. mediation to AIPAC early in the George H.W. Bush presidency.
The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act shifts U.S. military cooperation with Israel to a postwar focus, including support for neighbors facing Iranian proxies and a response to military embargoes of Israel.
