Hebrew poet and novelist Avigdor Hameiri, Israel’s first poet laureate, dies at age 79. Born into a farm family in a small Hungarian village, Hameiri had a typical Jewish education and was studying to become...
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Palestine High Commissioner Sir John Chancellor Seeks to Stop Jewish National Home in Dispatch to Colonial Secretary, 1930
Palestine’s High Commissioner Chancellor seeks to halt the Jewish National Home in favor of the Arabs. He fails to overcome the Zionist drive and Arab unwillingness to cooperate with his intentions.
CIA Assessment, March 1980: Iran’s Aggressive Ideology Aims to Reshape the Middle East; Why Did the Carter Administration Not Understand the Islamic Clergy’s Intentions 18 Months Earlier?
The CIA report details Iran’s aggressive foreign policy of promoting Islam as a radical platform for governance, noting also the new regime’s vigorous anti-U.S. outlook. Viewing Iran exclusively as an asset in the Cold War and not comprehending the potential power of political Islam developing with Iran proved to be one of the greatest oversights in U.S. Middle East foreign policy in the last 100 years.
#158 Contemporary Readings, April 2026
April 30, 2026 Compiled by Maya Rezak and Ken Stein Videos and Multimedia Hasan Alhasan, Nicole Grajewski and Matthew Tavares, “Wartime Support to Iran: Implications for the Middle East and Beyond,” Washington Institute for Near…
Yizhak Sadeh, “A History of the Haganah’s Development,” 1952
Yitzhak Sadeh, a founder of the Haganah, provides a short history of the Haganah published in Hebrew in 1952. It is a unique verbal snapshot of the Zionist/Yishuv’s self-defense evolution taken from Sefer Toldot Hapalmach (History of the Palmach).
Former PMs Bennett, Lapid Announce Joint Israeli Political List, April 2026
Former Israeli Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, who formed a governing coalition after running separate electoral lists in 2021, put aside their differences in 2026 in their shared quest to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu.
Obama Administration Official Testifies on Iran Nuclear Talks, 2015CIE+
House testimony from a Treasury Department official during the 2015 Iran nuclear negotiations shows that U.S. priorities and nonmilitary approaches toward Iran remain the same in 2026.
The 1979 Fall of the Shah and the Rise of the Islamic Republic — Jimmy Carter’s 1985 Recollections
Jimmy Carter, “The U.S.-Iran Relationship, the Shah’s Downfall, Khomeyni’s Rise to Power, and the Hostage Crisis,” an Emory class presentation, Atlanta, March 24, 1985, recorded and transcribed with permission.
Israel-Lebanon Agreement, Ratified by Israel but not Lebanon, 1983CIE+
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a treaty in 1983 through U.S. mediation, only for Syria’s dominance and Lebanon’s dysfunction to block ratification.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Statement on Iran War, April 11, 2026CIE+
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlights strategic if incomplete achievements in wars fought since October 2023 while working to solidify his political support before fall elections.
