Brooklyn Nets Draft One-Fifth of a Minyan
June 27, 2025 The Brooklyn Nets drafted two Israelis, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf, back to back in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft on June 25. Saraf and Wolf, the first Israelis…
June 2025 Pew Research Center Surveys on Israel
Divided at home and condemned abroad, public opinion of Israel sinks in response to war and domestic politics.
Lewin-Epstein and Cohen, “Ethnic Origin and Identity in the Jewish Population of Israel”
Noah Lewin-Epstein and Yinon Cohen, “Ethnic Origin and Identity in the Jewish Population of Israel,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (June 2018). The multifaceted ethnicity in the Jewish population of Israel is addressed by…
Dr. Eli Sperling, 75 Zionist/Israeli Songs for 75 Years
Dr. Eli Sperling, April 15, 2025, for CIE © Center for Israel Education, 2025 Israeli music offers a powerful lens through which we can understand the country’s cultural and political evolution, serving as both a…
Explainer: Jewish Immigration to the Land of Israel (Zion) to 1949
By Scott Abramson and Ken Stein In his famous 2004 essay “Between Right and Right,” Israel’s most celebrated novelist, Amos Oz, reflects on Israeli society, summing up his fellow citizens with this appraisal: “What we,…
Israel, the Christian World and Christians in Israel
“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…
Explainer: The New Yishuv, an Introduction
April 14, 2025 The period of the New Yishuv lasted from the last 40 years of Ottoman rule in Palestine through the British Mandate until the establishment of Israel in 1948. It saw the growth…
88 Israelis Go for Gold in Paris
Michael Jacobs, July 24, 2024 Israel is sending 88 athletes to the 2024 Summer Olympics, officially opening Friday, July 26, in Paris. It’s the second-largest Israeli Olympic delegation ever, behind the 90 competitors at the…
Jewish Cultural Life in Palestine, 1945-1946
Gerda Luft’s, “Cultural Life in Palestine,” is representative of the dozens of excellent analyses of Jewish life and politics in Palestine/Israel and the world located in the annual Palestine Yearbooks, later the Israel Yearbook, published from 1945 forward.
Amichai Magen, ‘Israel’s Summer of Discontent,’ Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs
The summer of 2023 left Israeli society more divided than ever, with the direction of the Jewish state an unknown.
Origins of Israeli Democracy: Jewish Political Culture and Pre-State Practice
Neither Israel’s political culture nor Israel’s democracy based on Jewish self determination simply materialized on May 15, 1948. A connection exists from Jewish self-rule in the Diaspora to Zionist political autonomy during the Yishuv and to contemporary Israeli political culture. Likewise, the origins of Israeli democracy are found in the hundreds of years of Jewish Diasporas transitioning into the Zionist movement to the state; from aliyot before the Palestine Mandate to 1948 and since. Components of Israeli political culture…
Reaction and Review of the Four Elements of the Planned Overhaul of Israel’s Judiciary
Ken Stein, May 1, April 4, March 22, March 5, February 11, 2023 Four months after Benjamin Netanyahu, was sworn in as Prime Minister to lead Israel’s 37th government in late December 2022, his cabinet focused…
Shmuel Rosner, Camil Fuchs, and Noah Slepkov, “Pluralism Index: 2023: Israelis Want a Democratic and Jewish State.”
(with permission) Read Article The vast majority of all Israelis want Israel to be a democratic state; strong support for Israel as a Jewish state and adherence to articles in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, (Espanol) (עִברִית) (Português)…
Examining Newly-Formed Mixed Arab-Jewish Municipal Coalitions
Through a national-political lens, political cooperation between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel seems unlikely, as their national issues seem to be insurmountable and of central importance. However, the formation of a mixed Jewish-Arab municipal coalition in Lod brings the supposed centrality of national politics into question, and points to cooperation on shared local issues.
Tamar Hermann, et.al “A Conditional Partnership Jews and Arabs,” Israel Democracy Institute, June 2022
The nature of the relations between Jewish and Arab citizens in the State of Israel have undergone, and are currently undergoing, significant changes. However, one fact remains unaltered: Israel is defined as the nation state of the Jewish people alone—a democratic state, but at the same time—the state of the Jewish majority, and a state in which the Arab minority constitutes around 22% of the population.
Israel National Security Index: Public Opinion 2020-2021
The National Security Index tracks trends in Israeli public opinion on national security issues in a systematic and consistent manner. Included are levels of confidence in public institutions, handling the pandemic, security establishment, and taking military action against the Iranian nuclear threat.
The National Library of Israel
The first version of the Jewish National Library was founded in 1892 in Jerusalem, five years before the First Zionist Congress met; its location evolved to Mount Scopus in Jerusalem during the British Mandate and then after the 1948 war, the library’s books were moved to the Rehavia section of Jerusalem, and then in 1960 to Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University. As a visiting graduate student from The University of Michigan in the summer of 1971, I walked into the mediocrely lit yet vast reading room of the Library.
Lessons to Strengthen Israel Education
Newsworthy stories unfold in Israel at breathtaking rates. Repeated elections, COVID-19 responses, path-breaking Supreme Court decisions, the Abraham Accords — all are worthy of community discussion and age-appropriate student exploration. Yet few Jewish students and their parents possess sufficient understanding or discussion skills to explain them beyond a passing headline.
Hannukah: Predictions, Politics, the Pandemic, and Accountability
Do you think any of the Maccabees would have guessed that the one jar of oil would have kept the menorah burning in Mod’in for eight days rather than one? If one had predicted yes or no, there probably would not have been either good or bad consequences in the years after 165 BCE.
Israelis Pessimistic on the Country’s Outlook but Hopeful on Peace with UAE
As the new year approaches, two-thirds of those interviewed described the public mood in Israel as pessimistic and a fourth as optimistic. There is skepticism about the country’s collective mood but personally the public is optimistic about the future. Two-third of Israelis think that there is a high or very high chance that there will be new elections in four months. (Published with Courtesy of the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute, 2020).
A Panacea in the Pandemic: Distance Learning
June 10, 2020 By Dr. Ken Stein, Founding CIE President The pandemic has had a blistering impact on our lives. When and where will it end? Unexpected and unnecessary deaths. We have learned that some…
A Guide for Streaming Israeli Content
In this new world of social distancing and staying at home, life can slip into a monotonous routine, but there are good ways to liven up your time at home. One is by watching captivating television. But even that can become stale. How many times can you watch Love Is Blind, Tiger King or The Office? Instead, try streaming shows that deal with Israel. The past twenty years have seen an onslaught of exciting, mesmerizing and thrilling productions that offer insights into the nuances of Israel’s history and culture.
Israeli/Hebrew Music Collections — Easily Accessible
Contemporary Israeli music has long and varied roots. It is rich and dynamically innovative. Instrumental and vocal streams reflect Jewish and Israeli history. Engage your senses in diversely eclectic flavors. Listen wherever you are—links to free online sources; stream Israeli music from many genres and eras.
The Calm Before the Storm? Coping With Corona in the Middle East
The coronavirus is making its way across the Middle East, forcing states to prepare for the possible collapse of governing systems. The virus struck a region already buckling under the weight of armed conflicts, social upheaval, severe economic distress, and identity-related clashes. The data on corona’s spread is far from precise or reliable, given the lack of testing, lagging policies, and likely efforts at concealment on the part of certain regimes.
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