Israel & Zionism
The majority of Israeli Jews, Lyn Julius points out in her book Uprooted, are not new to the Middle East—they were moved from one part of it to another.
In 1948, he served as a stark counter-example to the view (which he mostly held) that history is driven by material factors and not by great leaders.
Ancient Jewish history, with which he was well acquainted, showed what could happen in the absence of a central military command. He made sure it wouldn’t happen again.
If the Jews could hang on through the tough early months, he thought, they would grow considerably stronger while their opponents might well become weaker. And so it proved to be.
The pre-state militia had actually prepared well for the outbreak of war in 1948. But its commanders generally hailed from rival political parties to Ben-Gurion’s.
What separates language from language, and language from dialect.
On the eve of Israel’s statehood in 1948, with the massed forces of five Arab nations threatening invasion, David Ben-Gurion picked a fight with his own army. Why?
A bomb scare during the film about the murderer of Yitzḥak Rabin prompts musings on behavior private and public.
I was reproached for questioning whether Jews should be creating new communities in places from which they were cleansed. Let me explain.
As the nation gears up for its third election in a year, the time may have come to consider a different way of voting.
By a number of measures Israeli sensibilities have always been fairly conservative, but conservatism as an ideology was long frowned upon—until recently. What’s next?
A series of defense-trade treaties among the world’s leading democracies would help defend all of them, and us, against China.
Americans may soon face the unfamiliar challenge of a rival with as many resources as the U.S. has, or more: precisely the situation in which Israelis have always excelled.
The historian and foreign-policy expert joins us to talk about strains between friends and how to overcome them.
