Jim Zanotti, “Major Issues and U.S.-Israel Relations,” Congressional Research Service
This is an excellent historical review of the relationship, including discussion of the Israel-Hamas War (31p.).
Explainer: Egyptian-Israeli Negotiations, 1977-1981
By Ken Stein, October 28, 2024 When Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter became the 39th President of the United States in 1977, he had little foreign policy experience, particularly regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict. Despite this, he…
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…
Explainer: What Is Zionism?
From biblical times to the present, Jews and Judaism have had an unbroken connection to Zion, a reference to Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, derived from the hill at the heart of Jerusalem. Zionism…
Congressional Research Service, Israel and Hamas Conflict in Brief: Overview, U.S. Policy, and Options for Congress, October 2024
On Oct. 7, 2023, the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas (a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, or FTO) led surprise attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals (including at…
“Jimmy Carter’s Middle East Legacies,” Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, September 2024
September 2024 By Kenneth Stein Kenneth Stein is Emeritus Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History, Political Science and Israel Studies at Emory University and President of the Atlanta-based Center for Israel Education. He is the author…
Asher Sussser, “The Rise of Hamas in Palestine and the Crisis of Secularism in the Arab World”
Asher Sussser, “The Rise of Hamas in Palestine and the Crisis of Secularism in the Arab World,” Brandeis, 2006 (79pp). (with permission) Read full article
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…
Gil Troy, “The Essential Guide to October 7 and Its Aftermath: Facts, Figures, History,” Jewish People Policy Institute, Jerusalem, July 2024; 65 pages, CIE Board Member
This guidebook seeks to help Jews and non-Jews, in Israel and worldwide, understand the events that have unfolded since October 7 in historical and ideological context. These are difficult times – and this is no…
David Makovsky, “Disagreements on Hostages Loom Over Netanyahu’s Washington Trip,” July 19, 2024, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
With permission Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s latest Washington visit will center around a July 24 speech to a joint session of Congress and a meeting with President Biden two days earlier, marking their first…
Ronald E. Neumann, “Lessons for Postwar Gaza From the American Experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, July 2024
(with permission) “Don’t repeat our mistakes—we can do it ourselves.” This line occurred to me as I listened to discussions of “the day after” in Gaza. Plans and ideas need to address the detailed problems…
IDF Details October 7 Failures at Kibbutz Be’eri
The Israel Defense Forces “failed in its mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri,” with those failures ranging from planning and communication to command and control, when Hamas overwhelmed the Negev kibbutz on Oct….
Moshe Dayan Center, “The Struggle for Stability: Arab Reactions to the Hamas-Israel War”
Posted by the Moshe Dayan Center in March 2024 and shared with MDC permission, this collection of seven essays plus an extensive introduction examines Arab views of the war across the Middle East and North…
Patrick Clawson: “Khamenei’s Presidential Choice: Weak Reformer or Strong Hardliner”
Iranian presidential elections often produce surprising results, so a victory by Massoud Pezeshkian, the one reformist candidate, could not be ruled out. Three of Iran’s last four presidents were not expected to be elected when…
Musa Alami, “The Lesson of Palestine,” 1949
Musa Alami, “The Lesson of Palestine,” Middle East Journal, Volume 3, No. 4, October 1949, pp. 373-405 Reprinted with permission of The Middle East Institute, October 2021 In this 1949 article published in Middle East…
(Podcast) Begin, Sadat and Carter: Camp David Breakthrough
This episode focuses on the first Arab-Israeli peace breakthrough, the Camp David Accords of 1978. Camp David resulted from Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s electrifying visit to Jerusalem. Host David Makovsky discusses this major decision point with Dr. Ken Stein, who has been a professor of contemporary Middle Eastern history, political science, and Israel studies at Emory University for forty-three years.
Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism, Then and Now
By Scott Abramson, May 2024 Introduction — A Unique Hatred If the Bible nearly 3,000 years ago described the Jews as “a people who shall dwell alone,” Jewish history has since validated this as prophecy….
Reassessing Sadat, Begin and Carter
It is now apparent that distances between the Carter administration and Israel did not begin in earnest after Begin’s May 1977 election or over the settlements. Newly available materials show that from its outset, the Carter administration prioritized curbing Israeli influence in Washington.
April 2024, David Shenker — Changing the Israel-Lebanon Status Quo: U.S. Options (with permission)
Nearly six months into the Gaza war, Israel has come to the realization that the pre-October 7 status quo in south Lebanon is no longer tenable. Whether a new status quo is established through negotiation…
Scott Abramson, “Gen Z, Infected With Antisemitism, Is Spreading the Very Disease It’s Committed to Eradicating, Racism”
April 8, 2024 By Scott Abramson If, in the eyes of a generation, social justice is the highest good and racism the greatest evil, shouldn’t that generation fiercely oppose history’s oldest and deadliest bigotry, antisemitism? …
Explainer: Minorities in Israel
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…
A Short Summary of Israel’s Geography
Scott Abramson, October 2023 The state of Israel lies at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, at the intersection of three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. Together with its Lebanese, Syrian, and Jordanian neighbors,…
Biden’s Lifelong Support for Israel: Compatibility to American Strategic Interests in the Middle East
Scott Abramson and Ken Stein, Center for Israel Education Common political, emotional and strategic threads are present in President Joe Biden’s speeches and comments about the brutal reality of the Hamas attacks on Israel and…
Ken Stein: Assessment of the Hamas-Israel War After 4 Months, February 2024
February 13, 2024 — Dr. Kenneth Stein and Pastor Dr. Armando Alducin, Israel y el Medio Oriente Entrevista (Israel and the Middle East) with Mauricio Friedman, (75 minutes in English and Spanish) Five points stressed in…
