Scott Abramson, November 2023 Throughout the history of their diaspora, the Jewish people had represented the definitive nation-in-exile and the quintessential minority, “the minority par excellence,” as philosopher Hannah Arendt described them. Jews had even…
The Declaration recounts the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, the birth of Zionism and U.N. recognition of a Jewish state’s legitimacy. It also promises that the state will be a democracy for all its citizens.
With no constitution, citizen rights and government responsibilities are stated in 14 laws. The Judiciary is covered in the Seventh Basic Law, February 1984.
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.
The findings of the Or Commission on the October 2000 clashes between Arab and Jewish Israelis provide context to the response of Arab citizens to the May 2021 Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
“And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse.” — Genesis 12:3 (verse commonly invoked by Evangelicals in support of Israel) In 1917, General Edmund Allenby was given…
Divided at home and condemned abroad, public opinion of Israel sinks in response to war and domestic politics.
June 2025 CIE has compiled the following list of books and articles to guide understanding of Israel’s minorities. Books Azarya, Victor. The Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem: Urban Life Behind Monastery Walls. Berkeley: University of California…
Dance along as waves of Jewish immigration mix with indigenous traditions to create a unique culture reflecting a world of Jewish and non-Jewish influences across Israel’s diverse society.
Israel’s diversity is reflected in the range of responses to four months of war since Hamas and others killed 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages Oct. 7. Amid many examples: Areas in which…
Since Hamas viciously killed more than 1,200 Israelis, unleashed brutal sexual assaults, and dragged away some 240 hostages, global focus has increasingly turned to the situation in Gaza as Israel tries to destroy Hamas and…
Get to know the lawyer who has spent the past six years leading efforts to root out racism from the Israeli government and agencies such as the police. Aweke Kobe Zena, who made aliyah from Ethiopia via a refugee camp in Sudan as a child, visited the CIE office for a conversation with CIE communications consultant Michael Jacobs on Jan. 25, 2023. The recording runs just under 20 minutes.
Pope Paul VI’s visit to the Holy Land in 1964 served as de facto recognition of the State of Israel. It was the first time any pope left Italy in over a century. In 1965,…
Abbas is a dentist who lives in the Galilee town of Maghar. Since 2019, he has served in the Knesset as the head of the Islamist party Ra’am. After Ra’am broke from the Joint List…
A major general since 2021, Alian is the highest-ranking Druze officer in the IDF. He commanded COGAT, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, during the 2023-2025 war with Hamas and thus oversaw aid…
Avdija, the son of an Israeli Jewish mother who was an athlete and a Kosovo-born Israeli Muslim who was a professional basketball player, is a small forward for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. He started…
A lifelong resident of the Druze village of Daliyat al-Karmel, Kamal-Mreeh in 2017 became the first non-Jewish woman to anchor a Hebrew-language news program on Israeli television. In 2019, as part of Blue and White,…
Kashua is a Palestinian-Israeli author and columnist born in Tira in Israel’s Arab Triangle. He attended the prestigious Israel Arts and Science Academy boarding school in Jerusalem. Writing mostly in Hebrew about being an outsider…
Joubran, a Maronite Christian born in Haifa, was the first Arab with a permanent seat on the Israeli Supreme Court, serving from 2004 to 2017 after a temporary appointment in 2003. He was often on…
In less than 45 minutes, Israeli educator Susan Nachman Fraiman presents a taste of the variety of voices in Israeli art that have emerged in the past 20 years: female, religious, Mizrahi, Ethiopian and Israeli-Palestinian, all of which are rich subjects in themselves. We examine a few examples of works from each of these sectors and try to understand the rich background from which they come. This video is from a session July 25, 2022, at the 21st annual CIE/ISMI Enrichment Workshop on Modern Israel.
Since the 1920s the Sacred Esplanade of Jerusalem came to symbolise the bone of contention in the conflict over Palestine. The maintenance and even definition of the lines of division between the communities was a clear aim of the British authorities from 1920-1948. The communal/religious conflicts intensified after 1967 with the Israeli capture of East Jerusalem and other Arab-populated territory, which left neither side fully content.
Speaking Feb. 14 to Jewish teen leaders, former Israeli Supreme Court clerk Gal Levy Ben Haim explains the Israeli judiciary and its role in society, using cases about LGBTQ and women’s rights as examples.
The Druze generally vote on utilitarian considerations, such as voting for parties expected to be included in the coalition and to influence government policy. Few of them vote for ideological motives. Social networks voiced fierce criticism following two legislative acts that have hurt Druze over the past year: Kaminitz Law and Nation State Law. Despite this, the Druze artificially separated their stance on these laws and voted for parties that supported those laws.
