“The Center for Israel Education (CIE) website is terrific idea, a much-needed extraordinary resource…There are far too many young people, including committed Jews, who simply do not know the story of Israel. Having a central site where they can learn the history, be guided to additional resources and most importantly — get a sense of the grandeur and the complexity of Zionism and the State is created — is a gift to all of us who seek to educate Jews and non-Jews alike about what Israel is, how it came to be, and where it might go from here.”
Dr. Daniel Gordis, Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College, Jerusalem, March 2022
“The CIE website is “an indispensable and unique resource for anyone interested in Israel and the Middle East. Balanced and fair, and giving expression to more than one voice. Extremely user friendly, and responsive to both those seeking historical knowledge as well as wishing to be up-to-date on current events. Students, scholars, journalists, politicians, community leaders – and members of the general public – will find here an authoritative, reliable and easily accessible source of knowledge, information, commentary – and wisdom.”
Professor Shlomo Avineri, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and former Director-General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry. August 2021
“The Center for Israel Education (CIE) has built an online treasure house of information on the state of Israel, and the students, educators, and researchers who make use of this website know the value of the riches it contains. In the spirit of Ahad Ha’am’s exclamation, “Learning, learning, learning!” the CIE brings together, on one user-friendly website, various maps, primary sources, chronologies, contemporary political analyses, and bibliographies—resources all offered in the service of its mission: to enlarge the sphere of public knowledge of Israel. Of these I must mention one by name—a monograph on pre-state Jewish settlement called “Forming a Nucleus for the Jewish State: 1882-1947”—because I have drawn on it to very useful effect in my course on the history of Zionism. That this work was the effort of Kenneth Stein, author of the definitive text on Jewish land purchase in Mandatory Palestine and the CIE’s own president, stamps the Center’s website with a hechsher of scholarly excellence. In sum, all those involved in Israel education, whether as purveyors or consumers, would do well to bookmark the CIE’s website and avail themselves of this very worthy contribution to Israel studies.”
Dr. Scott Abramson, Postdoctoral Fellow, Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, April 2020
“The endless search for a single, comprehensive compendium of information and analysis on modern Israel can now come to an end. The Center for Israel Education website provides a rich, updated and user-friendly entrée to contemporary literature, documents, time-lines, and graphic resources that will be indispensable to anyone interested in learning or teaching about Israeli politics and society and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Too much of the academic and popular discourse about Israel is informed by prejudice or ignorance. Little, perhaps, can be done about the former. Eliminating any excuse for the latter appears to be the ambitious objective of the Center for Israel Education. By all accounts, it has succeeded.”
Dr. Mark Heller, Principle Research Associate, Editor Strategic Assessment, Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv University, December 2019
“The CIE website provides a treasure trove of information, data, and resources for students, teachers, researchers, and all interested or even curious about Israel’s history, society, culture, and identity. Carefully organized and user-friendly, the website provides background on critical themes ranging from immigration to the economy to Israel’s wars and foreign policy. Educators will find the accessibility of relevant documents an invaluable resource for classroom use. Researchers may utilize the website as point of departure guiding them to full bibliographical materials on particular subjects. Most importantly, the CIE website enhances users’ knowledge and understanding of Israel’s narrative of what has been realized and what remains unfinished in the return of the Jews to homeland, statehood and sovereignty.”
Dr. Steven Bayme, National Director, Contemporary Jewish Life Department, American Jewish Committee, New York, NY. August 2018
“Who would have thought that there could be a one-stop-shop for history, analysis and primary documents about modern Israel and its place in Jewish and Middle Eastern history? We now have it! With easy navigation and creative functionality, the Center for Israel Education site is trustworthy and powerful. The CIE site should be a “favorite place” for students, scholars, the media, and educators.”
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, Park Avenue Synagogue, NYC, April 2015
“Israel and Israel Studies have emerged in recent years as litmus-test issues in public discourse, in education, and in the academy. The growing interest in Israel is in part a function of the central role Israel plays in global politics, in the media and at the forefront of many fields of cultural and scientific development. It is precisely the confusing array of views and the virtually uncontrollable mass of information surrounding Israel that makes the Center for Israel Education’s undertaking and website so valuable. The materials represent a spectrum of views, and—most importantly—the direct access to sources allows users to makes sense of that spectrum and to form educated views of their own. The Center for Israel Education’s undertaking and website… together transform the perplexing into the accessible and intelligible… an invaluable resource.”
Professor Arieh Saposnik, Ben-Gurion University, Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, April 2015
“If ever there was a need for a site like this, the time is now. A “Wikipedia of Israel knowledge”, it gives us a resource that has been sorely lacking, with substantiating data and a “go-to” destination for any discussion or presentation that is needed on the subject. Kudos.”
Beth M. Mann, Vice President, Institutional Advancement, Jewish Federations of North America, May 2015
“The Center for Israel Education website is a powerful resource for people interested in modern Israel. From the newly curious to college professors looking to invigorate their syllabi with exciting readings, the CIE offers something for everyone. Written in a straightforward style, the content on the CIE website tells you what you need to know- and it does it on an easy to use, intuitive and simple platform. If ever a website needed to be in your “bookmarks bar”, this is it!”
Dr. Ariel Ilan Roth, Executive Director, Israel Institute, Washington, DC, May 2017
“The CIE website is an innovative, creative and reliable tool of scholarship, brilliantly conceived and crafted. It is an essential and indispensable kit for serious in-depth teaching about modern Israel including a wealth of assets of learning, original documentation, polls and surveys, syllabi, historical background and information, teaching guides and even updates on current affairs. Courses on modern Israel, on all levels, high school and collegiate, undergraduate and graduate, can all make excellent use of this extraordinary resource. In fact, they cannot do without it.”
Professor Asher Susser, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, former Director of The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University, October 2017
“The new Center for Israel Education website is the “go to” treasure trove for the 21st Century Israel Educator, student, advocate or those in the media. Everything is there: original source documents for student research, maps for classroom use, curricula guides, current articles, context for reporting, and an amazing bibliography to support and inspire further research. The Timeline of Israeli History is unprecedented along with a daily “Today in Israel History.” The site is well organized, and easy to navigate, whether your focus is history, policy or current information. It is a gift to students, media, and educators and those that want to be informed and supportive of Israel; the site will quickly become the first place to turn for research, casual learning, and lesson planning for the study and teaching of modern Israel.”
Steve Kerbel, Educational Consulting, Washington, DC, August 2015
“The CIE website is an immensely valuable resource for anyone who wishes to learn or to teach about Israel. In an era where globalization and technology allegedly make the world smaller, it’s still exceedingly difficult for Diaspora Jews or others who care about Israel to really understand this remarkable nation without living there. The CIE website is a one-stop shop for academics, students, rabbis, and curious seekers who want to know more about Israel’s past, present and future. The site’s resources are varied, relevant, and easy to find. Bookmark it!”
Rabbi Jay Henry Moses. Director, Wexner Heritage Program, Columbus, Ohio, March 2015