History

The modern state of Israel was founded by a United Nations resolution in 1948. However, the Jewish connection to the land of Israel goes back to biblical times, continuing through the periods of the First and Second Temples. While the Jewish people scattered all over the world following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Israel continued to be a spiritual and cultural focal point.

Israel’s establishment as a modern Jewish state came about as a result of Zionism, a political and cultural movement whose aim was bringing the Jewish people to the land of Israel where they could rule themselves and be safe from anti-Semitism. In the decades before Israel’s founding, when the land was under Ottoman and then British rule, hundreds of thousands of Jews emigrated from other countries to settle there.

Demographics

Seventy-five percent of Israel’s citizens are Jewish, and 25 percent are non-Jews, of which most are Arab. Since its founding, Israel has welcomed millions of Jewish immigrants from all over the world, with large immigration waves from Europe in the late 1940s, from North Africa and the Middle East in the 1950s, from Ethiopia in the 1980s and ’90s and from the former Soviet Union in the ’90s. All Jews who settle in Israel are entitled to citizenship under the Law of Return.

Religious Outlook of Israeli Jews (Self-Identified)

Secular: 43 percent
Traditional: 37 percent
Religious (Orthodox): 11 percent
Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox): 9 percent

Jewish Population By Country/Region of Birth

Native born: 70 percent

Former Soviet Union: 12 percent

Africa: 6 percent

Europe: 5 percent

Asia: 3 percent

North and South America: 3 percent

Religious Identity of Israel’s Non-Jewish Citizens

Muslim: 82 percent
Christian: 9 percent
Druze: 9 percent
Other: 4 percent

Economy

Israel has a highly developed industrial economy with a GDP of $311 billion in 2016, the 35th largest in the world. Its GDP per capita is nearly $35,000, ahead of several European countries. Its dominant sectors include high-technology, where the “start-up nation” has emerged as one of the world’s most dominant players, attracting many of the largest tech companies to establish research facilities. Israel is also among the world’s largest exporters of military hardware and technology and is a major center for diamond cutting and pharmaceuticals.

Thanks in large part to its rich history and numerous biblical and other archaeological sites, Israel enjoys a vibrant tourism industry. It has welcomed approximately 3 million tourists annually in recent years, although the number fluctuates significantly depending on the political situation and the level of violence and terrorism.

Government

Israel is a parliamentary democracy in which parties are awarded legislative seats based on the proportion of votes received. Individual parties rarely earn enough votes to form a legislative majority, and coalition politics are the norm. Elections must take place by law at least every four years, though in practice they occur more often. Israel has no formal constitution, relying instead on a series of Basic Laws that govern the essential functions of state institutions. The executive branch is headed by the prime minister and legislative authority is vested in the parliament, known as the Knesset, which has 120 seats. Israel has an independent judiciary whose highest authority is the Supreme Court.

Culture

Israel’s official languages are Hebrew and Arabic. The country boasts several internationally translated writers, and has a diverse array of cultural institutions, such as orchestras, dance troupes, theater companies and museums —  the highest number of museums per capita in the world. The country’s film and television industries have gained international attention in recent years, with several TV shows adapted into American programs or broadcast internationally via streaming services like Netflix. Israeli cuisine, with its mix of cultural influences and use of fresh Mediterranean produce, has also become popular in many Western countries. Sports in Israel is dominated by soccer, but basketball, tennis and other sports also enjoy sizable followings.

Major Issues

Religious Pluralism

Equality for all Jewish religious denominations has been an elusive goal for non-Orthodox Israelis and a source of ongoing tensions in relations between the State of Israel and non-Orthodox Jewish communities abroad. Jewish conversions and marriages performed in Israel by non-Orthodox rabbis are not recognized by the state, prompting some non-Orthodox Israelis to go abroad for such services. Jewish converts from abroad routinely have their Jewish status questioned and encounter a range of related problems as a result. The ability of non-Orthodox Jews to worship in their chosen manner at Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, has been curtailed by police force for years despite Supreme Court rulings and the promises of Israeli authorities to establish a place for non-Orthodox prayer at the ancient pilgrimage site.

Arab-Israeli Conflict

Israel has been in a state of conflict with its neighbors since its very founding, and most Jewish Israelis are drafted into the Israel Defense Forces at age 18. (Men serve approximately three years followed by annual reserve duty, and women serve approximately two years.) Though peace treaties were signed with two neighboring Arab states — Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994 — the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is among the world’s most intractable. Israel has launched a number of military operations aimed at countering rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since it withdrew unilaterally from the coastal territory in 2005, dismantling 21 Jewish settlements and relocating 8,000 Israeli citizens. The West Bank, where some 400,000 Israelis live among 2.7 million Palestinians, has been the source of less violence aimed at Israel in recent years; however Israel’s 50-year occupation of the territory has resulted in mounting international criticism.

Inside Israel’s internationally recognized borders, its Arab citizens — who largely attend separate schools and live in separate neighborhoods from Jewish citizens — complain of discrimination in a wide range of sectors, and the poverty rate among Arabs is roughly double that of Israelis generally.

Terrorism

As part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, violence aimed at civilians has long been a concern in Israel. According to Israeli government sources, well over 3,000 civilians have died in terrorist attacks since 1920, the bulk of them carried out by groups or individuals professing anger over Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.

As a result, tight security is a fact of life for Israelis, with bags searched routinely at the entrance of government offices, transportation hubs, shopping malls and even some restaurants. Israel is also considered a global leader in counterterrorism, having staged a number of daring operations over the years aimed at rescuing hostages and exacting retribution against terrorist operatives.

Economic Inequality

Despite its socialist roots, Israel is today among the most unequal countries on earth, with Turkey, Chile and the United States the only affluent democracies that are more unequal, according to one recent study. In 2013, it also had the highest poverty rate among affluent countries and the seventh lowest rate of government spending on social services. In 2011, frustration over the rising cost of living led to mass protests that some said were the largest in the country’s history. Political parties focused on bread-and-butter quality of life issues have fared well in recent national elections.

International Isolation

In recent years, Israel has faced a rising tide of criticism of its policies toward the Palestinians that has taken aim at the country’s very legitimacy and alarmed Israel’s leaders. Most prominently, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, has had some limited success at pressuring Israel. Meanwhile, the Palestinians have become more aggressive in seeking to isolate Israel within international forums, most prominently at the United Nations. In 2004, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, at the urging of the Palestinians, issued an advisory opinion finding that Israel’s construction of a security barrier in the West Bank is illegal. In 2016, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution stating that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were flagrant violations of international law.

Intra-Ethnic Tensions Among Jews

The tension between Israel’s Middle Eastern and European identities is personified in the struggles between Ashkenazi Jews (who trace their heritage to Germany and Eastern Europe) and Sephardic or Mizrahi Jews (Sephardic Jews trace their heritage to Spain and Portugal; Mizrahi Jews are those Jews and their descendants from Arab countries).

Mass immigration of Sephardic Jews from Arab lands in the 1950s and ’60s made Sephardic/Mizrahi Jews a majority of the population, but Ashkenazi Jews continue to dominate positions of power in the Israeli establishment, and many Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews feel that they have been treated like second-class citizens by the Ashkenazi Jews.

Distinctions

• Israel was the third country to elect a female head of state, Golda Meir, who served as prime minister from 1969-1974. (The first two were Ceylon [now Sri Lanka] and India, in 1960 and 1966 respectively.)
• Israel’s largest city, Tel Aviv, is considered an international hub for LGBTQ culture. Its annual gay pride celebration, which draws tens of thousands of Israelis and tourists, lasts a full week , with a parade that attracts more than 150,000 and is the largest such parade in Asia. In 2016, Tel Aviv was pronounced “the gayest city on earth” by the Boston Globe.
• Israel has more vegans per capita than any other country. A 2014 survey found that 8 percent of Israelis are vegetarian and nearly 5 percent are vegan, meaning they abstain from all animal products. Just .05 percent of the world’s population is vegan.
• Israel has the world’s highest rate of venture capital investment as a percentage of GDP.
• Israel ranks 15th globally for overall number of Nobel Prize laureates
• Israel is home to both the lowest spot on earth, the Dead Sea, and the world’s lowest freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee.
• After Canada, Israel was the world’s second-best educated country in 2012, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Israel’s Largest Cities (by population):

Jerusalem: 815,000
Tel Aviv-Yafo: 415,000
Haifa: 272,000
Rishon LeZiyyon: 200,000+
Ashdod: 200,000+
Petach Tikvah: 200,000+

The post Modern Israel at a Glance appeared first on My Jewish Learning.

Jewish Immigrants Seek a Safe Haven

The war had its roots in waves of Zionist immigration to the Land of Israel, beginning in the 1880s and peaking in the 1930s and ’40s, with the flight of Jews from the Holocaust. Their plight and the absence of a single country willing to give them a home made urgent the need for a Jewish state.

READ: A History of Jewish Immigration to the Land of Israel

Following World War II, hundreds of thousands of Jewish displaced persons set their sights on aliyah, but the British government — in control of Palestine since 1917 and keen to maintain friendly relations with the Arab world — refused to admit them. As violence between Jews, Arabs, and the British mounted, Britain handed over the problem to the United Nations.

READ: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate

In 1947, Palestine’s population of 1.85 million was approximately one-third Jewish and two-thirds Arab. The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) proposed the end of British rule and the partition of the country into Jewish and Arab states and an internationally controlled area around Jerusalem. The Zionists, desperate to enable Jewish immigration and with an eye to future territorial expansion, accepted the plan. The Arabs rejected it as they opposed any Jewish rule in Palestine.

On November 29, on the heels of the UN General Assembly’s vote in favor of partition, Jewish settlements and neighborhoods were attacked by Palestinian guerrillas.

READ: The United Nations Partition Plan (General Assembly Resolution 181)

What ensued was, in effect, two separate conflicts: a civil war between Palestine’s Jews and Arabs (November 29 1947-May 14 1948) was followed by the establishment of the state of Israel and its invasion by five Arab armies; the ensuing war lasted until July 1949.

A Civil War

In the civil war, the Haganah — the Jews’ underground defense organization — together with two smaller paramilitary units, the Etzel (National Military Organization) and the Lehi (Israel Freedom Fighters), fought against loosely organized Palestinian fighters and volunteers from Arab countries. Between November and March, the Haganah’s main challenge was to repel Arab attacks on isolated settlements, Jewish areas of mixed cities, and on the roads.

The road to Jerusalem came under attack and the Jewish neighborhoods of the capital were cut off, unable to receive supplies, food, or water. The Jewish forces repelled most Arab attacks but suffered heavy defeats, for example the loss of 35 soldiers en route to defend the Etzion bloc of settlements.

In April 1948, in anticipation of the British departure, the Haganah launched Plan D, an offensive program for the expansion of Jewish-controlled territory. Operation Nahshon — hoped to open the road to Jerusalem. On April 9, the Etzel and Lehi invaded Deir Yassin, an Arab village near Jerusalem, killing more than 100 Arab civilians and prompting the flight of thousands of Palestinians from their homes. Tens of thousands of additional refugees fled following the Palmach’s conquest of Haifa, Jaffa, Safed, and Tiberias.

Jewish casualties followed: Seventy-seven medical personnel of Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus were killed by Arab forces on April 13, and on May 13, following the fall of Kfar Etzion, 129 of the settlement’s defenders were killed by Arab villagers from the Hebron area.

READ: The 1948 Fall of Kfar Etzion and Its Re-establishment After the Six Day War

By mid-May, the Haganah had routed the Arab forces and was in control of the major cities and more than 100 Palestinian villages. It had 30,000 fighters under arms and had taken delivery of a major arms purchase from Czechoslovakia. On May 14, 1948, the eve of Britain’s departure, David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel at a ceremony in Tel Aviv. The next day, the new state was invaded by the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq.

READ: The Complete Text of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel

The War Escalates

The immediate challenge faced by the newly formed Israel Defense Forces was to rebuff the Arab attack, defending Jewish settlements until the arrival of reinforcements. The first month of the war was marked by heavy fighting against Jordan’s Arab Legion in Jerusalem; by the end of May the Jordanians had conquered the Old City and expelled its Jewish inhabitants. Syria’s advance into the Galilee was repulsed by the inhabitants of Kibbutz Degania, and the Egyptian invasion was blocked just north of Gaza at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai.

Following a month-long truce brokered by the United Nations, hostilities resumed in July 1948. In Operation Dani, the IDF broke the siege of Jerusalem by capturing Lod and Ramle, two Arab towns in the Jerusalem corridor; 50,000 Palestinian refugees fled their homes. In October, following a second UN-sponsored truce, the IDF captured the upper Galilee in Operation Hiram and, in operations Yoav and Horev, drove the Egyptian army out of the Negev by December. In March 1949, Operation Uvda saw Israeli forces complete their conquest of the southern part of the country by capturing Eilat.

READ: Who Are the Palestinians?

The War of Independence was concluded by the signing of armistice agreements between Israel and the surrounding Arab states. Israel was left in control of 78 percent of mandatory Palestine — around 50 percent more than it had been allocated in the partition plan. The remaining 22 percent was split between Jordan (West Bank and East Jerusalem) and Egypt (Gaza Strip). An independent Palestine was never established, and no Arab state recognized Israel’s existence.

Repercussions of the War

In the shadow of the Holocaust, the victory of the new Jewish state over five Arab armies has sometimes been interpreted as little short of a miracle. Yet more prosaic explanations are available. Israel’s troops numbered twice as many as those under Arab command. Moreover, partly as a result of the high number of World War II veterans in its ranks, the IDF benefited from better training and organization than its adversaries had. Ben Gurion referred to the Arab armies as Israel’s secret weapon: “They are such incompetents, it is difficult to imagine.”

Yet the Jews paid a high price for their victory. More than 6,000 Israelis — 1 percent of the population — were killed. Many of the casualties were refugees and Holocaust survivors, newly arrived in the country. The war also intensified divisions within the Jewish population. After the creation of the IDF, it had been agreed that independent paramilitary units (the Etzel and the Lehi) would be absorbed into the new national army.

But in June 1948, the Altalena — a ship carrying arms destined for the Etzel — reached Israel. Determined to head off separatism and the threat of civil war, Prime Minister Ben Gurion ordered the Etzel to hand over the weapons to the IDF. When the ultimatum was ignored, Ben Gurion ordered the ship to be shelled; 16 Etzel fighters and three IDF soldiers were killed during the confrontation.

READ: Israelis, Palestinians and the Clash of Nationalisms

Ultimately, the war’s biggest losers were the Palestinians, who were prevented from establishing a state, forced to live under Israeli, Egyptian, or Jordanian rule and, in the case of more than 700,000 refugees, unable to return to their homes. Traditional Zionist accounts of the war claimed that the refugees fled at the order of the Arab leadership, to clear the way for the invading armies. But contemporary historiography paints a more complex picture.

Drawing on government and military archives, Israeli historians such as Benny Morris have concluded that most Palestinians fled during the fighting, afraid of imagined — or occasionally real — atrocities committed by Jewish soldiers, but that some were victims of an ad hoc Israeli policy of deportation. Prevented by the Israeli authorities from returning home after the war and kept in squalid camps in every Arab country except Jordan, these refugees became an important catalyst for the escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict into the 1950s and beyond.

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A New Culinary Picture Emerges

The face of the new nation changed, and gradually a new culinary picture emerged. But first the infant state found itself surrounded by enemies, and absorb­ing 100,000 immigrants a year. This time the wave was comprised not only of displaced survivors of the Holocaust, but of Jews from all over the Middle East. With each ethnic group came different styles of eating and cooking.

The massive immigration was a strain on the economy, so the period from 1948 to 1958 was a time of government-regulated zena (food rationing) and ma’abarot (makeshift dwellings). Women cooked with khubeiza (wild greens) from the fields; new foods, like Ben-Gurion’s “Israeli couscous,” were intro­duced to satisfy the needs of the multicultural population; and surplus vegetables, like eggplant, were ingeniously used to simulate meat. Israel’s canning industry increased production, supplying canned tomato paste and puree, hummus, tahina, and mayonnaise in tubes.

READ: Recipe for Israeli Couscous-Stuffed Acorn Squash

One of the many issues to be resolved in this new Jewish country was the official position on the dietary laws [kashrut]. Ben-Gurion decided to remain with the “status quo” agreement, maintaining rabbinical supervision of kashrut in all government organizations, military service, schools, and hospitals.

Even the rabbis, however, had to compromise. The U.S. government, through the Agency for International Development, sent millions of pounds of preserved foods, such as dried eggs, dried skim milk, butter, dried codfish, and cheddar cheese. Maury Atkin, who worked at the newly created Israeli embassy in Washington at the time, recalled how the rabbis in Israel asked if the cheese was kosher. “We told them that cheddar cheese was the most wholesome cheese sold in America, even if it includes a small amount of non-kosher animal rennet. Because there were so many starving children, the Chief Rabbi of Israel issued an edict that the cheddar cheese sent over would be kosher for children up to the age of 14.”

READ: How to Make Israeli Hummus

Kosher meat was scarce as well. Before the war it was often imported to Pales­tine from Romania. After the war, it was eventually supplied from Uganda, Argentina, and Brazil. The only kosher beef in the early years of the state came from male calves produced from the rapidly growing herds of dairy cows. Under a Jewish Agency program, thousands of heifers were being sent to Israel from the United States by plane and ship. It was not until the late Fifties, however, when water sources had improved, that large herds of beef cattle were introduced into the Israeli agricultural economy.

Diversity of Israeli Food

As the fertility of the land increased, so did the excitement of creating food to meet the needs of the growing population. “Israel is unique,” said Shaul Homsky, author of Fruits Grown in Israel. “Within a small area, for example, a subtropical climate exists — near the Sea of Galilee, where mangoes, kiwis and bananas can grow — alongside a temperate climate in the mountains of Galilee and the Golan, where cherries and apples grow.”

Diversity of Israeli agriculture also has been affected by the constantly changing population; the European population that developed in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s was accustomed to eating apples, plums, and cherries, while later immigrants from Middle Eastern countries liked to eat and grow grapes, olives, and dates.

“Because of the lack of a deep agricultural tradition,” Mr. Homsky wrote, “farmers on the kibbutzim [agricultural collectives] were ready to accept new techniques and experiment with new fruits and vegetables, unlike in a coun­try like Greece, where for generations farmers have been tilling the soil in the same way and people have had the same diet.”

READ: Recipe for Israeli Salad

Sometimes the experiments did not work. In 1961, Moshe Dayan, minister of agriculture, decided to replace Israel’s favorite Marymont — a large, oval, and juicy tomato — with a thicker-skinned, cylindrical, and almost juiceless tomato, slightly larger than a cherry tomato. Dagan thought this “Moneymaker” would be heartier and cheaper to produce, and would appeal to the export market. In the transition from one strain of tomato to the other, 5,000 tons of Mon­eymaker tomatoes were to be grown in the first season, half for local consumption and half for export. Farmers were encouraged to grow only Moneymakers. But he experiment was a failure both inside and outside the country, and the local press dubbed it Dayan’s “assault” on agriculture.

READ: Recipe for Falafel

Still, new fruits and vegetables had an increasing presence in the local market, and ambitious young chefs began to take advantage of their novelty. Chef Uri Guttman, who from the late ’60s on was considered the ambassador of the Israeli kitchen, came up with innovative concoctions like a hot avocado soup; “St. Peter’s fish” with mango and pomegranate; and crepes stuffed with pears, nuts, dates, and figs. Schooled in the French culinary tradition, Guttman traveled around the world representing Israel in cook­ing competitions and adapted unusual recipes to what was available in the country. He also developed menus for army bases and restau­rants, using local products. “One of my dreams was to establish an Israeli cuisine,” he said. “It is hard, though, with Jews coming from so many countries.”

Golan Heights Wine and Grapes

When the Golan Heights were annexed in 1967, apples — one of the few fruits that the Israelis were not adept at growing — were planted there and thrived in the cold nights and the high, dry altitude. Israelis also had the same success with grapes at the Golan Heights Winery, close to the Syrian border. These new varietals were of a much higher quality than Baron de Rothschild’s plantings had been at his low-lying coastal wineries a hundred years earlier. The Golan Heights Winery, jointly owned by the nearby kibbutzim that supplied the grapes, introduced its first vintage in 1983, from grapes planted ten years earlier. These kosher wines have been winning sil­ver and gold medals in international competitions ever since.

In 1973, Dr. Itzhak Adate, a scientist with the Vulcani Institute in Rehovot [an Israeli city] went on a professional tour to New Zealand where he tasted the kiwi, which had been introduced from China. Bringing a few cuttings and seeds back, he asked the kibbutzniks at Kibbutz Ammiad, located down the road from his home, to plant them. By 1980 the first kiwis had come to the market. With the abundant crop, Scottish-born Jeff Marks, a wine hobbyist and a member of the kibbutz, suggested that kiwi wine might taste as good as cordials made from pears, berries, and plums. Today, the kibbutz exports kiwi wine to countries throughout the world. Ironically, although Israel’s agricultural industry is at the forefront of the global marketplace, kibbutz involvement has become proportionally less, with less than 2 percent of Israel’s population now living on the kibbutzim.

Throughout the Middle East, where emotions run high, politics also plays a major role in the complicated global market. Since the 1980s, for example, when all trade with Iran was blocked, Israel has become the main exporter of Iranian variants of mint, parsley, and other herb seeds for Iranian-American growers.

READ: “Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking” Wins James Beard Book of the Year Award

In the past two decades, with a general rise in disposable income and the elimination of travel taxes imposed on the struggling economy, Israelis have become open to new experiences in travel and food. After their two-year mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces, many young Israeli soldiers go abroad, most frequently to travel in East Asia or Latin America and to spend some time working in the United States. Many of these young people return home with new culinary tastes, as did American Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s. A number of them have become chefs, schooled in international cuisine and influential in the development of modern Israeli cooking.

Biblical Foods

Despite their global lifestyles, the new Israeli chefs still cultivate a link to the foods of the Old Testament. Grapes, dates, lentils, and chickpeas are but a few of the ancient ingredients that have captured their imaginations in producing signa­ture dishes. With constant waves of immigration, Israel is rapidly incorporating the native cuisines of its new populations.

The story of Israeli food is not just a Jewish story — its recipes cross borders more easily than people do. It is also the story of a land that has overcome harsh natural deprivation to bring forth new agricultural produce. Because it constantly incorporates so much from the rest of the world, Israel may never boast of one “cuisine,” but it will always retain a rich mixture of fine tastes. It reflects the modern mosaic of the country, embracing the culinary influences of its Arab neighbors and accommodating the varied tastes of the world’s Jews.

This article is reprinted from The Foods of Israel Today.

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A prominent member of the Israeli establishment for more than five decades, Rabin spent his early years of public service building the capacity of the Israel Defense Forces, which he led to a spectacular victory in the 1967 Six-Day War. But while he distinguished himself in his early years as a cunning military man, he is best remembered for enacting perhaps the most consequential shift in the history of Israeli foreign policy: the launch of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the signing of the historic Oslo Accords in 1993. The agreement, for which Rabin earned a Nobel Prize but paid with his life, would forever alter the basic terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Early Life

Rabin was born in Jerusalem in 1922 to Rosa Cohen and Nehemiah Rubichev, both immigrants from the Russian Empire. The family was poor, but Rabin’s parents were politically connected. When Rabin’s mother died in 1937, David Ben Gurion, the future prime minister, attended her funeral.

Rabin attended the Kadoorie Agricultural High School in the Galilee where he excelled, earning a prize at graduation from the British High Commissioner that would have entitled him to study abroad. Instead, Rabin stayed in Israel and, in 1941, enlisted in the Palmach, a pre-state militia.

Military Career

Rabin rose steadily through the ranks of the military, earning a reputation as an outstanding intellect and a capable thinker in matters of military strategy and operations despite his shyness and social awkwardness. During the 1948 war, he was instrumental in securing the besieged road to Jerusalem. In 1964, he became the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff.

Three years later, with Rabin at the helm of the IDF, the Six-Day War broke out. Israel’s lightning victory in the war and the vast enlargement of its territory helped burnish Rabin’s image as a legendary military figure. But a speech he delivered at Hebrew University seemed to foreshadow the complications of that victory — namely, the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which Rabin would be compelled to grapple with later as prime minister. “It is possible the Jewish people have never been educated or accustomed to feel the joy of conquest and victory,” Rabin said. “Therefore, it is received with mixed feelings.”

Rabin retired from the army following the war and went to Washington as Israel’s ambassador, a five-year period during which he gained valuable diplomatic experience and an extensive network of connections among American Jews and Washington political figures.

Entering Israeli Politics

Almost immediately upon his return to Israel, he began a career in politics, starting his first stint as prime minister in 1974 — the first native-born Israeli to hold that position.

His tenure began at a difficult moment for Israel. The 1973 Yom Kippur War had caught Israel unawares and the public fallout was significant. The Arab Oil Embargo led to a a quadrupling of global oil prices and an increase in Arab wealth and influence. And Rabin was forced to contend with a fragile parliamentary majority and an increasingly fractious Israeli public.

But Rabin nevertheless managed to achieve an interim agreement with Egypt in 1975, an accord seen as paving the way for the full peace treaty signed in 1979. He also presided over the spectacularly successful rescue of the passengers of a hijacked airplane at the Entebbe airport in Uganda, a mission considered one of the Israeli military’s most legendary feats.

Always an astute strategist, Rabin was already growing concerned about the long-term viability of Israel’s military presence in the West Bank and Gaza. Though he was often careful in his public statements at the time, documents revealed decades later show that he considered Israeli authority there to be untenable and would eventually lead to apartheid. Those views led to increasing conflict with Shimon Peres, Rabin’s longtime political rival, who at the time was sympathetic to the Israeli settler community, an increasingly vocal and potent force in Israeli politics.

Rabin’s tenure ended in disgrace after his wife Leah was prosecuted for maintaining an American bank account in violation of Israeli law. Rabin resigned as Labor Party leader ahead of the 1977 elections and was replaced by Peres, who led the party to a stunning defeat, ending decades of Labor hegemony.

But Rabin stayed in politics, becoming minister of defense under a national unity government in 1984. Three years later, the Palestinian uprising known as the First Intifada began. As defense minister, Rabin ordered the use of force to put down the uprising, which was largely the work of Palestinian civilians. But over time, Rabin came to believe that the Intifada was driven by deeper forces in Israeli-Palestinian relations that could not ultimately be put to rest without a political settlement.

Launch of the Peace Process

In 1992, Rabin was again elected prime minister and he began to translate this belief into actual policy. A secret negotiating channel with the Palestinians led, in 1993, to the signing of the Oslo Accords, a groundbreaking agreement in which Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization recognized one another and promised to negotiate a peace settlement based on the land-for-peace formula. Rabin was visibly uncomfortable shaking the hand of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at the signing ceremony on the White House lawn, a sign of his ambivalence about the agreement generally and about Arafat particularly.

The Oslo process did not proceed smoothly, though it did pave the way for Rabin’s conclusion of a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994 and the softening of Arab exclusion of Israel from regional economic gatherings. Rabin, Peres and Arafat also shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

Nevertheless, Rabin’s peace agenda — both on the Palestinian front and with Syria, where he was willing to contemplate withdrawal from the strategically significant Golan Heights in exchange for peace — began to generate significant domestic opposition, fed by a surge in terrorist activity in 1994 and 1995. Rabin was increasingly the target of venomous rhetoric describing him as a traitor and a Nazi. After 22 Israelis were killed in a bus bombing in central Tel Aviv in October, 1994, Benjamin Netanyahu, then the leader of the opposition, went to the site of the attack and accused Rabin of favoring the welfare of the Palestinians over that of Israelis. A number of hardline rabbis suggested that Jewish laws which allow the killing of a Jew who endangers Jewish lives might apply to Rabin.

Assassination and Aftermath

With public support for the peace process in peril, Rabin appeared at a large rally at Kings of Israel Square (later Rabin Square) in Tel Aviv on November 4, 1995. Warning that violence was undermining the foundations of Israeli democracy, Rabin thanked the crowd for demonstrating Israel’s commitment to peace and vowed to persist in his efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. As he departed the stage, a young radical named Yigal Amir fired three shots at him. He was pronounced dead a short while later.

Rabin’s funeral was attended by more than 70 heads of state, including the leaders of Egypt and Jordan. U.S. President Bill Clinton bid an emotional farewell (“Shalom, chaver” — Goodbye, friend) to his partner in Mideast peacemaking. And Rabin’s granddaughter showed the world a softer side of the soldier-statesman.

But the outpouring of goodwill could not halt the shifting political winds. Peres assumed the premiership after Rabin’s death, but ongoing violence led to his narrow loss to Netanyahu in 1996. Rabin’s death ultimately proved to be a watershed moment in Israeli history, inflicting a deep wound on the Israeli peace camp and inaugurating a rightward shift in Israeli politics that has made the prospects of peace with the Palestinians seem more implausible than at any time since Rabin was at the helm.

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Though more Israelis have died in wars, the per capita death rate from terrorism in Israel is high, and the threat is acutely felt throughout the country. Security measures are widely in evidence, from guards at the entrances to public facilities to an ingrained national reflex to call attention to unattended bags. Decades of hard-won experience have also burnished Israel’s image as a global leader in counterterrorism. Israel’s national airline, El Al, and its principal international airport are routinely cited as the most secure in the world.

When did terrorism in Israel begin?

According to the Israeli government, Arab terrorism targeting Jews traces back to the 1920s, when a series of riots gripped the land, which was then under British rule — most famously, perhaps, the 1929 Hebron massacre, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 70 Jews. Following Israel’s establishment in 1948, Palestinian guerrilla fighters known as fedayeen mounted cross-border raids that resulted in hundreds of Israeli deaths and prompted a number of reprisal attacks by the Israel Defense Forces in the 1950s and ‘60s.

Terrorism grew more sophisticated in the 1960s, with Palestinians launching a number of attacks on Israeli targets abroad and carrying out deadly bombings at home. In the 1970s, Palestinians successfully pulled off a number of high-profile attacks, including the 1972 murder of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich, Germany, the 1976 hijacking to Uganda’s Entebbe Airport of an Air France plane en route from Tel Aviv to Paris, and the infamous 1974 attack on a school in the northern Israeli town of Maalot that culminated in the deaths of more than two-dozen people, 22 of them children.

In the 1990s, the first suicide bombings were carried out by members of the militant Palestinian group Hamas. According to data from the University of Chicago, 114 such attacks, in which the assailant blows himself (or herself) up, have been carried out in Israel since 1994, resulting in the deaths of 721 people (including the perpetrators).

Who perpetrates terrorist attacks in Israel?

In nearly all cases, terrorist attacks in Israel are carried out by Palestinian extremist groups, though the particular perpetrators have changed over time. Prior to 1967, most terrorist attacks were carried out by loosely organized groups of militants. After 1967, Palestinian terrorism grew more organized, with most of the high-profile attacks carried out by affiliate groups of the Palestine Liberation Organization, founded in 1964 to wage armed struggle against Israel. The first high-profile attacks, in the late 1960s, were carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular group responsible for a series of attacks on El Al planes in the late 1960s. A number of splinter groups from the PFLP also executed deadly raids during that period, including the 1972 attack that killed 26 people at Lod Airport (now called Ben Gurion Airport) and the Avivim school bus massacre in 1970 that killed 12. Black September, a group of Palestinian fighters who took their name from the 1970 conflict that resulted in the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan, was behind the 1972 Munich attack. Fatah, the largest PLO faction, carried out the 1978 coastal road massacre, in which 38 Israeli civilians were killed.

As part of the Oslo peace process in 1993, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace and security and further pledged that “the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators.” In the wake of the letter, terrorist violence against Israel was largely carried out by other Palestinian groups, although Israeli leaders have long alleged that Arafat never truly renounced violence and that he continued to incite and direct terrorist actions against Israeli civilians.

Two groups founded in the 1980s became major sources of terrorist violence in the 1990s and beyond and marked a shift from the avowedly secular Palestinian militants of the 1960s and ‘70s to an Islamic religious violence aimed at liberating Muslim lands from Jews. Hamas, which was founded in 1987 as an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, emerged as a major terrorist group after it carried out the first suicide bombings on Israeli targets in the mid-1990s. During the Second Intifada, Hamas was responsible for a number of high-casualty suicide attacks, including the Sbarro restaurant bombing in Jerusalem in 2001 (15 killed), the Dolphinarium disco bombing in Tel Aviv in 2001 (21 killed) and the 2002 bombing of a Passover seder at a Netanya hotel (30 killed).

Another Islamic terrorist group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, founded in 1981, is financially supported by Iran and is linked to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group active in Lebanon. Islamic Jihad was responsible for the Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa in 2003 (21 killed) as well as a number of bus bombings. Numerous other smaller Islamic terrorist groups have also carried out deadly attacks on Israeli targets in the last two decades.

Beginning in 2015, Israelis began to face a new form of terrorism perpetrated by so-called “lone wolf” attackers — individuals with no established connection to a recognized terror group. Known informally as the stabbing intifada, the unrest that began in the fall of 2015 featured a number of attacks by people who wielded knives at civilians or rammed vehicles into pedestrians. Some of the attacks were carried out by Hamas cells, but others were perpetrated by individuals with no known terrorist affiliation.

What motivates Palestinian terrorism?

According to many Palestinians and their supporters, violence against Israel is driven principally by opposition to Israeli occupation of lands they believe are Palestinian. While some Palestinians specify that this means the West Bank, others believe terrorism is a legitimate form of resistance to Israel’s sovereignty anywhere in the Middle East. In a 2015 op-ed in the Guardian newspaper, Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian activist currently serving multiple life sentences for murder in an Israeli prison, wrote that the “root causes” of violence in the region is “the denial of Palestinian freedom.” Some Israelis have also endorsed a version of this view, including, in 2016, the mayor of Tel Aviv Ron Huldai.

In a 2008 report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Special Rapporteur John Dugard wrote of Palestinian terrorism: “While such acts cannot be justified, they must be understood as being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or occupation.” In July 2017, the Trump administration’s annual terrorism report asserted that “continued drivers of violence” include, among other things, Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and lost hope in the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state — claims that drew immediate criticism from American Jewish groups.

To many Israelis and their supporters, this is nonsense. Far from being motivated by a desire to end the occupation, Palestinians are, according to this argument, truly driven by a continuing failure to come to terms with the legitimacy of a Jewish state in the Middle East. Many Israelis note, for instance, that violence against Jews predated not only the occupation of the West Bank, which began after the 1967 Six-Day War, but even prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948. They further note that Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the dismantling of all settlements there and the relocation of thousands of Israeli settlers did not bring an end to violence emerging from the coastal territory and aimed at Israeli population centers. These Israelis further argue that violence against Israeli civilians is not intended to bring about peaceful coexistence, citing as evidence Hamas’ longstanding refusal to recognize Israel’s legitimacy and right to exist.

Israeli leaders have routinely placed blame for terrorist activity on the Palestinian leadership, which it accuses of inciting violence against civilians by praising terrorists and demonizing Israelis in official media and educational materials. In 2016, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that terrorist attacks “don’t come because of [Palestinian] despair and the frustration over the inability to build. They come because of [Palestinian] despair and the frustration over inability to destroy.”

What has Israel done to protect itself?

Over the years, Israel has developed a broad range of counterterrorism strategies that are often regarded as the best in the world. Following the spate of airplane hijackings in the late 1960s, Israel implemented stringent aviation security protocols that successfully brought the practice to a halt. Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport employs multiple rings of security, beginning with perimeter inspections of entering vehicles by armed guards and including sophisticated screening technologies for people and baggage. Security personnel attempt to identify potential attackers for more extensive screening based on observed behavior or how they respond in an interview with a security officer, something to which all passengers are subjected. Though Israeli officials tend not to discuss such security measures, the process is widely understood to focus greater scrutiny on Arab and Muslim passengers, a practice that has drawn protests from civil rights groups. Similar methods are employed by El Al security personnel at airports around the world.

Israel’s counterterrorism strategy has both offensive and defensive components. Israeli intelligence and security agencies continually act to undermine terrorist groups, remove key terrorist figures through arrests and targeted killings, and foil emerging plots. Defensively, Israel has employed a number of controversial — some say counterproductive — measures, including the use of traffic checkpoints and the construction of a miles-long security barrier in the West Bank. On the home front, the Iron Dome missile defense system has proven extremely effective at taking out rockets fired at Israeli population centers. Meanwhile, Israel has successfully inculcated a culture of preparedness and caution that extends into virtually every aspect of civilian life. Nearly every public gathering place is protected by a guard or a metal detector — and often both. Bomb squads are routinely summoned when unattended items are spotted — known in Hebrew as a “hefetz hashud,” or suspicious object.

Are acts of terror ever committed by Jews?

Yes. Prior to Israel’s establishment, a number of Jewish militias carried out attacks that resulted in civilian deaths. Though much of the violence was targeted at British military personnel, many civilians died in those attacks. Palestinian Arabs were also directly targeted in reprisal attacks.

Among the most notorious acts of Jewish terrorism in pre-state Israel was the bombing in 1946 of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, where British authorities then ruling the area had their headquarters. Dozens were killed and over 100 injured in the attack, which was carried out by the Irgun, a paramilitary group that split from the larger Haganah. In 1948, in the weeks leading up to Israel’s establishment and the outbreak of the War of Independence, the Irgun participated in the infamous Deir Yassin massacre, in which over 100 Palestinians were killed in an Arab village near Jerusalem. The Lehi (sometimes known as the Stern Gang), which also participated in the Deir Yassin killings, was responsible for a number of attacks in the 1940s that killed civilians as well as British soldiers.

In the decades since Israel’s establishment, a number of Jewish groups, many of them associated with Israel’s settler movement, have committed acts of violence against Palestinians. The most deadly attack came in 1994, when American-born physician Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslim worshippers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killing 29 people before being beaten to death. Goldstein was a member of Kach, a movement associated with the American-born Israeli rabbi Meir Kahane who was assassinated in New York in 1990. Both Kach and its offshoot Kahane Chai (“Kahane Lives”) are designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department. Kach was officially outlawed in Israel in 1994, but the group still has supporters. In 2005, an Israeli army deserter believed to be a Kach supporter opened fire on a bus carrying Arab Israelis, killing four.

Israeli settlers have also been behind the so-called “price tag” attacks, which began in the early 2000s and were so named because they aimed to exact a price for Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians. Many of these attacks were acts of vandalism or harassment; however they included fatal attacks as well. In 2014, Israeli settlers abducted and murdered a Palestinian teenager, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, apparently in response to the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers some weeks earlier. That same year, the State Department mentioned price tag attacks in its annual terrorism report.  In 2015, three Palestinians, including an 18-month-old boy, were killed in the village of Duma when their home was firebombed by Jewish settlers.

Does terrorism make Israel risky for tourists?

Not really. Though terrorist attacks dominate the news, and foreign governments will occasionally warn their citizens about traveling to Israel at times of unrest, statistically the likelihood of being killed or injured in a terrorist attack in Israel remains small. According to the Israeli government, only 122 foreigners have been killed in attacks in Israel, a tiny fraction of the millions of tourists who typically visit Israel each year. Even in peaceful periods, foreign travel warnings will typically specify particular areas to avoid — among them the Gaza Strip and adjacent areas, as well as certain areas of the West Bank and along Israel’s northern border with Syria and Lebanon. Travel warnings also note the possibility of random violence and urge heightened awareness and the avoidance of crowds.

A few high-profile deaths have drawn attention to the dangers for tourists. In 2016, American military veteran Taylor Force died in a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv while in Israel with a study group from Vanderbilt University. In 2002, a bombing at a Hebrew University cafeteria in Jerusalem resulted in the deaths of nine individuals, including several American students. The 1995 death of American Alisa Flatow in a bus bombing led to a lawsuit by her family that resulted in a landmark $248 million dollar judgement against the government of Iran, which an American federal judge ruled was complicit in Flatow’s death. In 2017, the parents of an American killed in 1996 sued two Chicago-based Palestinian groups in an effort to recover a $156 million judgement against a number of Palestinian organizations.

The post Terrorism in Israel: Questions and Answers appeared first on My Jewish Learning.

Why is the Temple Mount holy to Jews?

The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as Har Habayit, is traditionally said to be the site where Abraham demonstrated his devotion to God by taking his son Isaac to be sacrificed. The mount is also the site of both ancient Jewish temples. The first, built by King Solomon, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The second was built in the sixth century BCE and stood for nearly 600 years before it was destroyed and the Jewish people exiled in 70 CE by the Roman Empire. Jews continue to mourn the destruction on the fast day of Tisha B’Av. According to Jewish tradition, a third temple will be built on the site during the messianic age.

Why is the Temple Mount holy to Muslims?

The Temple Mount is known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and, according to Islamic tradition, is the site of Muhammad’s ascent to heaven in the seventh century. Today, the mount is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, and the gold-topped Dome of the Rock, one of the most recognized symbols of Jerusalem.

Are Jews permitted to visit the mount?

Yes. However, traditional Jewish law has been understood to bar entry to the site. Jewish tradition regards entry to the Holy of Holies, the innermost sanctum of the temple where God’s presence dwells, as strictly forbidden, and as a result Jews traditionally did not enter the Temple Mount at all for fear of treading on sacred ground. (The exact location of the Holy of Holies is not known.) The Western Wall, the last standing retaining wall of the Temple Mount, is the closest to the mount that Jews are traditionally permitted to pray. However, Jews do visit the Temple Mount regularly.

Who controls the Temple Mount?

Since Israeli forces regained control of the Old City of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel has extended its sovereignty over the site, though most of the world regards Israeli authority in all of eastern Jerusalem to be illegitimate. Day-to-day authority over the site rests with the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf. A waqf is a charitable trust recognized by Islamic law. Jordan, which had controlled eastern Jerusalem and the Islamic holy sites prior to 1967, continued to exercise a special guardianship over the mount, an arrangement later codified in the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, under which Israel “respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem.” Overall security for the site, including entry to visitors and worshippers, rests with Israeli security forces.

What is Israel’s policy on access to the mount?

The Temple Mount may be accessed by anyone, but entry to the Dome of the Rock is restricted to Muslims. Though there are multiple gates to access the site, non-Muslims must enter through the Mughrabi Gate, located near the Western Wall plaza. Israeli security controls the entry points. At moments of elevated tensions, Israel has occasionally closed the site to visitors, including Muslim worshippers.

Why is the site a flashpoint for violence?

The religious sensitivities surrounding the Temple Mount have repeatedly made the site a flashpoint for violence and unrest. Palestinians have long suspected that Israel intends to alter the status quo established for the site following the 1967 war, and some Palestinian leaders have even claimed that the Jewish temple never stood there. In 2015, rumors that Israel was preparing to impose a change at the site was said to be a contributing factor to the so-called “stabbing intifada,” during which a number of knife attacks were perpetrated against Israeli civilians in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country. In September 2015, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Palestinian television that Israelis would not be permitted to “defile” the Al Aqsa Mosque with their “filthy feet.” Israel has emphatically denied that it wants to change current arrangements at the site; however several Israeli leaders have made symbolic shows of asserting Israeli sovereignty there and there have been plots by Jewish fringe groups to blow up the Dome of the Rock. In September 2000, then opposition leader Ariel Sharon undertook a visit to the site under heavy guard, sparking riots that would eventually blossom into the Second Intifada. Tensions are frequently elevated during Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) on which Jews celebrate the 1967 recapture of the Western Wall and during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

Why are some Israeli Jews pushing for greater access to the site?

Efforts to secure Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount have gained traction in recent years,  despite the mainstream rabbinic opinion that Jews should not set foot there. A number of rabbis have issued contrary rulings, saying that visitation and prayer should be permitted, and by some estimates the number of Jewish visitors has vastly increased. Among the most prominent activists is Yehuda Glick, an American-born rabbi and current member of the Israeli Knesset. Glick is a leading figure in efforts to secure Jewish prayer rights on the mount, framing his campaign in the language of civil rights. In 2014, he survived an assassination attempt by a suspected member of Islamic Jihad.

The post What Is the Temple Mount? appeared first on My Jewish Learning.

The First Aliyah brings an estimated 25,000-35,000 immigrants to Palestine, the majority of them fleeing anti-Jewish pogroms in Eastern Europe.

1894: Dreyfus Affair

French Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of espionage. The case has a galvanizing effect on the development of Zionism by underscoring the precariousness of Jewish life in Europe.

1896: Herzl’s “The Jewish State”

Theodor Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian journalist who covered the Dreyfus trial as a correspondent, publishes Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”), in which he proposes the creation of a Jewish state as the solution to anti-Semitism.

Aug. 29, 1897: First Zionist Congress

Herzl convenes the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland.

April 19, 1903: Kishinev Pogrom

The Kishinev Pogrom in the Russian Empire, in what is now Moldova, kills dozens of Jews and results in the destruction of hundreds of homes and business, prompting tens of thousands of Russian Jews to flee to Palestine.

April 11, 1909: Tel Aviv Founded

Tel Aviv, the first modern Jewish city, is founded on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

1910: First Modern Hebrew Dictionary Published

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda begins publishing the first Hebrew dictionary, hastening the revival of the ancient language.

Nov. 2, 1917: Balfour Declaration

Britain issues the Balfour Declaration, endorsing the establishment of a national home in Palestine for the Jewish people.

Oct. 30, 1918: World War I Ends

The Armistice of Mudros ends World War I in the Middle East and begins the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, which had occupied Palestine since the 16th century.

June 1920: Haganah Founded

The Haganah is founded as an independent defense force for Jews in Palestine.

July 24, 1922: British Mandate Starts

The League of Nations adopts the Mandate for Palestine, granting Britain temporary authority over the territory.

Aug. 24, 1929: Hebron Massacre

Palestinian Arabs kill dozens of Jews and wound scores more in what will come to be known as the Hebron Massacre.

JTA ARCHIVE: At Least 66 Jews Dead in Saturday’s Palestine Warfare

1929: Fifth Aliyah Begins

The Fifth Aliyah begins, bringing over 200,000 Jews mainly from central and eastern Europe to pre-state Israel over the course of the decade leading up to World War II. Driven in large part by the Nazi rise to power in Germany in the early 1930s, the large numbers of new arrivals exacerbate tensions between Jews and Arabs.

1936: Arab Revolt

Palestinian Arabs revolt against British rule, demanding Arab independence and the end of Jewish immigration.

JTA ARCHIVE: Arab Strike Partially Halts Palestine’s Activities

May 23, 1939: The White Paper

The British House of Commons approves the White Paper of 1939, which severely restricts Jewish immigration to Palestine at precisely the moment when the Nazi rise to power is prompting growing numbers of European Jews to seek refuge there.

May 15, 1941 : Palmach Created

The Haganah creates an elite fighting force called the Palmach to protect the local Jewish community.

Nov. 29, 1947: UN Partition Plan

The United Nations votes to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Zionist leaders agree to the plan, but the leaders of several Arab countries and of the Palestinian Arab community reject it, leading to intercommunal clashes that ultimately develop into a full-blown civil war.

JTA ARCHIVE: UN Decision Prompts Celebrations in Jewish DP Camps Throughout Germany

December 1947: Arab Siege of Jerusalem Begins

Anger over the partition vote prompts rioting in Jerusalem that claims more than a dozen lives. The fighting marks the beginning of the Arab siege of Jerusalem, which seeks to cut off the 100,000 Jewish residents of the city from the rest of the country.

JTA ARCHIVE: Zionist Political Body Hopes Arabs Accept Friendship Offer

April 9, 1948: Deir Yassin

More than 100 Arabs, including women and children, are killed by Jewish fighters in the village of Deir Yassin.

May 14, 1948: State of Israel Established

David Ben-Gurion proclaims the establishment of Israel in a ceremony in Tel Aviv on the day the British officially end their rule in Palestine. The following day, Israel is invaded by the armies of five Arab states, beginning the War of Independence.

JTA Archive: Jews Throughout US Celebrate Proclamation of State

Feb. 24, 1949: Armistice with Egypt

An armistice agreement is signed between Israel and Egypt, formally ending hostilities. Israel signs similar agreements with Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in the months to come.

May 11, 1949: Israel Admitted to UN

Israel is admitted as a member state of the United Nations following a vote of the General Assembly.

June 1949: Major Immigration Waves Begin

Israel launches Operation Magic Carpet, which brings tens of thousands of Yemenite Jews to the Jewish state. Hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern Jews will eventually resettle in the Jewish state, driven by mounting persecution and expulsion prompted by Israel’s establishment. More than two-thirds of Jewish displaced persons in Europe also arrive in the Jewish state between 1948 and 1951.

JTA ARCHIVE: First Stage of Airlift Flying Yemenite Jews to Israel Completed

Oct. 29, 1956: Suez Crisis

Israel invades Egypt as part of a secret pact with France and Britain, prompting intense international criticism that eventually leads the three nations to withdraw.

1962: Dimona Nuclear Reactor

Israel’s nuclear reactor at Dimona begins operations. Israel has never formally acknowledged that the reactor produces weapons materials, but the country is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons capacity.

June 1, 1962: Eichmann Execution

Adolf Eichmann is executed after having been found guilty by an Israeli court of crimes against humanity. The trial marks a turning point in Israeli discussion of the Holocaust and prompts many Holocaust survivors to speak of their wartime experiences for the first time.

JTA ARCHIVE: Eichmann Hanged; Plea for Clemency Denied

June 2, 1964: PLO Founded

The Palestine Liberation Organization is founded to “mobilize the Palestinian people to recover their usurped homeland.”

JTA ARCHIVE: “Palestine Liberation Organization” Established by Arab Refugees

June 5, 1967: Six Day War

The Six Day War begins. In the course of the war, in which the Jewish state’s survival is threatened by forces of five Arab armies, Israel vastly expands the territory under its control, seizing the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel also reunifies Jerusalem after capturing the city’s eastern half and the West Bank from Jordan.

JTA ARCHIVE: Israeli Forces Destroy Arab Air Might, Rout Their Armies, Liberate Old City and Gaza Strip

Sept. 1, 1967: Khartoum Resolution

The Arab League issues the Khartoum Resolution with its famous “three no’s”: no peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel and no recognition of Israel.

September, 1967: First West Bank Settlement

Construction begins in Kfar Etzion, an Israeli community in the West Bank destroyed in the 1948 war and re-established following the Six Day War. The construction sets off decades of Israeli settlement building in the territory that most of the world considers illegal.

Nov. 22, 1967: UN Resolution 242

In a unanimous vote, the U.N. Security Council adopts resolution 242, calling for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the Six Day War and respect for the rights of all states to live in peace and security. That formula — land for peace — will form the basis of Arab-Israeli peacemaking efforts for decades.

Sept. 5, 1972: Terror at Munich Olympics

During the Summer Olympics in Munich, Palestinian gunmen sneak into apartments housing 11 members of the Israeli team, taking them hostage and eventually killing them during a failed rescue operation.

JTA ARCHIVE: 80,000 from 120 Nations Pay Homage to 11 Slain Israeli Athletes

Oct. 6, 1973: Yom Kippur War Begins

The Yom Kippur War begins when a coalition of Arab states launches a surprise attack on Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

JTA ARCHIVE: Eban Says Israel’s Casualties Heavy

Nov. 10, 1975: UN Resolution 3379

The United Nations General Assembly adopts resolution 3379 declaring that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”

JTA ARCHIVE: Reform Leaders “Say Kaddish” for “Moral Collapse” of the UN

July 4, 1976: Entebbe Rescue Operation

Israeli commandos mount a successful rescue operation at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, freeing over 100 hostages taken after the hijacking of an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris.

JTA ARCHIVE: How the Rescue Took Place

May 17, 1977: Likud “Upheaval”

The right-wing Likud party, led by Menachem Begin, wins parliamentary elections in a landslide, ending decades of left-wing domination of Israeli politics in an event that comes to be known as “the upheaval.”

JTA ARCHIVE: West Bank Mayors React to Likud Victory

Nov. 19, 1977: Sadat Addresses Knesset

Egypt’s Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to visit Israel, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and addressing lawmakers in the Knesset.

JTA ARCHIVE: Sadat Says Egypt Ready for Peace

Sept. 17, 1978: Camp David Accords

Israel and Egypt sign the Camp David Accords after days of negotiations brokered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The agreement leads to awarding of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and to the 1979 signing of Israel’s first peace treaty with an Arab state.

June 6, 1982 — Lebanon War Begins

Israel invades southern Lebanon in an effort to stop attacks on civilians in northern Israel, resulting in the expulsion of the Palestinian Liberation Organization from Lebanon.

Sept. 16, 1982 — Sabra and Shatila Massacre

Christian Phalangists begin massacring hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in what becomes known as the Sabra and Shatila massacre. An Israeli governmental commission will later find Defense Minister Ariel Sharon indirectly responsible for the killings.

JTA ARCHIVE: Cabinet Rejects Accusations that Israel Was Responsible for Massacre of Palestinians in Beirut

Nov. 21, 1984: Operation Moses

Israel launches Operation Moses, the covert evacuation of thousands of Ethiopian Jewish refugees from Sudan.

Dec. 9, 1987: Intifada Begins

Protests erupt in a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, setting off the violent uprising that comes to be known as the First Palestinian Intifada.

JTA ARCHIVE: Violence in Gaza Leads to Stormy Debate Over Territory’s Status

Jan. 18, 1991: Scud Missile Attacks

Iraq launches the first of dozens of missiles at Israeli in response to U.S. bombardment during the Persian Gulf War. Several dozen Israelis die in the attacks, the majority from heart attacks and suffocation due to difficulties managing gas masks.

JTA ARCHIVE: New Israeli Line for Reversing Tourism Slump is “Come Anyway”

May 24, 1991: Operation Solomon

Israel launches Operation Solomon to transport over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel over the course of just 36 hours.

JTA ARCHIVE: For Veteran Israelis, Excitement; For Immigrants, Joy and Confusion

Oct. 30, 1991: Madrid Peace Conference

The Madrid conference opens in an effort to kickstart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Dec. 16, 1991 — UN Rescinds Resolution 3379

The United Nations rescinds its 1975 declaration equating Zionism with racism.

Dec. 26, 1991: Soviet Union Breakup

The Soviet Union is dissolved, prompting a massive wave of Jewish immigration to Israel from Russia and the former Soviet republics that will forever alter the country’s demographics.

JTA ARCHIVE: Immigrant Influx Poses Challenge for Israel’s Universities

Sept. 13, 1993: Oslo Accords

Israel and the Palestinians sign the first Oslo Accord at the White House, creating a framework for the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The agreement provides for the creation of an interim Palestinian self-governing authority and for the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from certain Palestinian territories.

Feb. 25, 1994: Baruch Goldstein Massacre

In a rare act of Jewish terrorism aimed at Arab civilians, Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein opens fire at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killing 29 Muslims at prayer. Goldstein is beaten to death at the scene by survivors.

JTA ARCHIVE: Murders at Hebron Mosque Prompt Violence, Shame, Shock and Sorrow

Oct. 14, 1994: Peres-Rabin-Arafat Nobel Peace Prize

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announces it will award the 1994 Peace Prize jointly to Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Oct. 26, 1994: Jordan Peace Treaty

Israel and Jordan sign a peace treaty.

JTA ARCHIVE: Israel-Jordan Treaty Guarantees Normalization Between the Two Nations

Nov. 4, 1995: Rabin Assassination

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated in Tel Aviv by an Israeli ultra-nationalist following an address at a peace rally. Shimon Peres takes over as prime minister and calls for early elections.

JTA ARCHIVE: Rabin’s Death Leads US Jews to Reflect on Impact of Rhetoric

Feb. 25, 1996: Suicide Bombing Wave Begins

A Palestinian suicide bomber blows up the Number 18 bus in central Jerusalem, killing 26 people. The same bus line is attacked again on March 3, resulting in 19 deaths. Combined with a third suicide attack in central Tel Aviv, the bombings prompt a severe military crackdown by Israel and erode public faith in the peace process.

JTA ARCHIVE: Stunned by Wave of Terror, Jerusalemites Question Peace

May 29, 1996: Netanyahu Victory

Benjamin Netanyahu narrowly wins the premiership over Shimon Peres, who held a commanding lead in the polls prior to a spate of deadly terrorist attacks in February and March.

Feb. 4, 1997: IDF Helicopter Disaster

Two Israeli helicopters collide in the air over southern Lebanon, killing 73 Israeli soldiers in the worst air disaster in the country’s history.

JTA ARCHIVE: Gripped by Grief, Israelis Mourn Loss of “So Many Boys”

May 25, 2000: Lebanon Withdrawal

Israel completes the withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon, where it had maintained a security zone since 1985.

July 25, 2000: Barak-Arafat Peace Talks End

Two weeks of negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David end without a peace agreement.

JTA ARCHIVE: Israel Braces for Turmoil After Camp David Failure

Sept. 28, 2000: Second Intifada Begins

Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem amid heavy security, sparking riots and protests that will eventually become known as the Second Intifada.

JTA ARCHIVE: As Israeli Arabs Join Riots, Many Wonder if Nation Can Heal

Oct. 17, 2001: Tourism Minister Assassinated

Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi is assassinated by Palestinian terrorists at a Jerusalem hotel.

March 28, 2002: Arab League Peace Proposal

The Arab League, meeting in Beirut, unanimously adopts a peace initiative calling for Israeli withdrawal from Arab territories, a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem and the establishment of a Palestinian state in exchange for recognition of Israel and full normalization of relations.

March 29, 2002 : Operation Defensive Shield

Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale military incursion into the West Bank, and places Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat under siege in his compound in Ramallah.

June 23, 2002: Security Barrier Planned

Israel approves the first phase of a West Bank security barrier. Palestinians describe it as an “apartheid wall” and a land grab, but Israel insists it’s a necessary and effective counterterrorism measure.

Aug. 15, 2005: Gaza Withdrawal

Israel commences the evacuation of all Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip and the unilateral withdrawal from the coastal enclave.

JTA ARCHIVE: Is Gaza Part of the Land of Israel? It Depends Who You Ask.

July 12, 2006: Second Lebanon War Begins

The Second Lebanon War begins after Hezbollah operatives launch a cross-border attack, killing three Israeli soldiers and abducting two others.

June 10, 2007: Hamas Controls Gaza

The long-simmering power struggle between the militant group Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction breaks out into open battle in Gaza. The five days of fighting end with Abbas dissolving the Palestinian unity government and Hamas assuming total control of Gaza.

JTA ARCHIVE: Israel Grapples With Hamas Takeover

Dec. 27, 2008: Operation Cast Lead

Israel launches Operation Cast Lead, a three-week military campaign aimed at stopping Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza.

July 2011: Cost-Of-Living Protests

Demonstrations begin against the rising cost of living in Israel. The protests spread over the course of the summer, leading hundreds of thousands of Israelis into the streets in opposition to rising housing costs and growing economic inequality.

JTA ARCHIVE: Just How Expensive Is It To Live in Israel?

Nov. 14, 2012: Operation Pillar of Defense

Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense, an eight-day military campaign sparked by an intense round of rocket fire from Gaza aimed at Israeli civilians.

June 12, 2014: 3 Teens Kidnapped

Three Israeli teenagers are kidnapped in the West Bank, sparking a massive military operation to locate them. The remains of the three are located on June 30 in a field near Hebron.

July 17, 2014: Operation Protective Edge

Israel launches Operation Protective Edge, a military campaign that includes a ground invasion aimed at destroying Palestinian tunnels used to smuggle weapons into the coastal enclave and launch attacks against Israel.

July 2014: “Stabbing Intifada”

A wave of Palestinian firebombing, car-ramming and stabbing attacks breaks out, mostly in the Jerusalem area, leading some to raise concerns that a Third Intifada, sometimes referred to as a “stabbing intifada,” is underway.

July 31, 2015: Duma Firebombing

Jewish extremists firebomb a Palestinian home in the village of Duma, killing 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh and his parents. An Israeli Jew, Amiram Ben-Uliel, is later indicted for the murder, and an unnamed teenager is charged as an accomplice.

For up-to-date news about Israel, visit our partner site JTA.

The post Modern Israeli History: A Timeline appeared first on My Jewish Learning.

In addition to those in the West Bank, which Israel’s government sometimes refers to as Judea and Samaria, Israeli settlements existed previously in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula. Since 1967, Israel has also built new Jewish neighborhoods in the Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem; while Israel does not consider these communities to be settlements, because it has annexed these regions, the international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty there and considers Jewish communities in the Golan (home to 20,500 Jews as of 2016, according to Haaretz ) and eastern Jerusalem (home to approximately 180,000 Jews as of 2014 according to the Jewish Virtual Library) to be settlements as well.

Find maps of Israeli settlements by a group that supports their growths here.

Find a map of Israeli settlements by a group that opposes their growth here.

Who lives in the West Bank?

The area is today home to roughly 2.7 million Palestinian Arabs, many of them descendants of refugees from Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, and more than 400,000 Jewish settlers. The settler population, now inhabiting some 130 West Bank communities, has more than doubled since the year 2000, when fewer than 200,000 Israelis lived in the West Bank.

Why are the settlements so controversial?

Because they are situated on land that many proponents of a two-state solution say should be part of a future Palestinian state, settlements are widely seen as a chief obstacle to the achievement of an independent and contiguous Palestinian state. Critics of settlements contend that the ongoing presence of these Jewish communities in the West Bank — and the resultant judicial system in which settlers and Palestinians are subject to different treatment and have different rights — will eventually present Israeli leaders with a difficult choice: between granting full citizenship to all Palestinians under its control and thus threatening Israel’s character as a Jewish state or maintaining the status quo, in which West Bank Palestinians are not eligible to become Israeli citizens, and thus threatening Israel’s status as a democracy.

Are settlements the source of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Not by themselves. Among the other issues Israel and the Palestinians agreed to negotiate are the fate of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, security and final borders. Many defenders of the settlements point to the fact that Jewish-Arab tensions preceded even the establishment of the State of Israel and that two existential wars were waged against the Jewish state, in 1948 and 1967, at a time when no settlements existed. They note that the existence of settlements in Sinai did not prevent a peace agreement with Egypt, and that the complete unilateral evacuation of settlements from Gaza in 2005 did not lead to a cessation of hostilities there; instead, countless rockets have been launched at Israeli population centers from the coastal territory, which has been governed for nearly a decade by the terrorist group Hamas.

READ: The West Bank’s World-Class Wines Have Some Israelis Toasting the Settlements

What are settlement blocs?

Settlement blocs, sometimes also referred to as consensus settlements, are a handful of settlement groups that are widely expected to remain in Israeli hands under any peace agreement. Overall, these blocs — most of them located just over the Green Line, the pre-1967 boundary between Israel and the areas it took control of in the Six Day War — constitute a tiny percentage of the overall land area of the West Bank but are home to the majority of its Jewish residents. Under this arrangement, Israel would be expected to give up an equivalent amount of its territory inside the Green Line for inclusion in a Palestinian state. The settlements blocs have never been explicitly demarcated, but they are generally understood to include Ma’ale Adumim, Modiin Illit, Ariel and Gush Etzion.

What are outposts?

Outposts are settlements established by Israeli settlers without government approval. They are often rudimentary and established by parking a handful of trailers on a hilltop. As of January 2017, there were 97 such settlements according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement Israeli nonprofit that maintains data on their growth. [ ] Violence has occasionally flared at these outposts, which tend to be established by the most ideological right-wing settlers.

How do settlements affect Palestinians?

Settlements and settlers require protection from the Israeli military, forcing the country to dispatch soldiers to the areas around them. The presence of settlements has led to the establishment of a network of bypass roads reserved for Israeli citizens and military checkpoints that have limited Palestinian freedom of movement, often adding lengthy travel delays. Palestinians and their advocates also claim that the checkpoints and heavy military presence are a source of frequent humiliation and that settlements have taken land that would otherwise be available for their use, making it difficult for Palestinian villages to expand. (Critics of the Palestinians counter that the threat of Palestinian terror attacks makes the military presence and checkpoints necessary.) The vast majority of Palestinians in the West Bank live in two administrative areas, determined by a 1995 agreement between Israelis and Palestinians; those areas comprise roughly 40 percent of the West Bank and are governed by elected Palestinian civil authorities. Citing security concerns, the Israeli military continues to make periodic incursions into those areas.

Why do some people refer to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria?

The territory of the West Bank is so named because it lies on the west bank of the Jordan River. Though most of the world refers to the territory by that name, some Jews make a point of using the biblical names Judea and Samaria — in Hebrew, Yehuda and Shomron. As with much else related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the usage of these terms is politically loaded. To proponents of using Judea and Samaria, the terms underscore the region’s deep Jewish roots and counter the perception that Israel’s presence there is illegitimate. Others say that using Judea and Samaria serves to obscure the longstanding Palestinian connection to the land.

Why did Israel encourage Jews to settle in the West Bank?

While Jews have lived in the West Bank for centuries, and some settlements are re-established communities that were destroyed during or in the years leading up to Israel’s War of Independence, most contemporary settlements were established after the Israeli victory in the Six-Day War. These post-1967 settlements were originally clustered predominantly in the strategically important Jordan Valley region and at sites of religious or historical significance south of Jerusalem. Early on, Israeli governments on both the left and the right supported the settlements in the belief that they gave the country strategic depth, widening the area under Israeli control and helping to defend against an attack from the east. Over time, the settlement project expanded, with some Israeli leaders asserting Jews had a right to settle in any territory of historic Jewish significance, which includes much of the West Bank. Others warned that settlements were untenable and made Israel less secure.

Why do Israelis choose to live in settlements?

For some, the West Bank offers an enhanced quality of life, enabling residents to live in less congested areas within commuting distance of major Israeli cities at a more affordable cost. The lower cost in part stems from Israeli government subsidies for housing in the settlements. Other Israelis have chosen to reside in the settlements for ideological reasons. These are typically highly nationalist or religious individuals — or both. Ideological settlers are generally the most devoted to the settlement enterprise and populate the more remote areas of West Bank further from the Green Line.

Whatever happened to the Jewish settlements in Gaza and Sinai?

In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, dismantling all of the 21 Jewish communities there and another four in the northern West Bank, and removing approximately 8,000 Jewish residents. In addition, following Israel’s 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, the settlements in Sinai, most notably the community of Yamit, were dismantled and their residents resettled in Israel.

What is Israeli public opinion on settlement activity?

Today, Israeli settlements enjoy firm support from Israel’s right-wing political parties, but polling indicates they are a divisive issue among Israelis generally. A 2014 survey found that about one-third of Israeli Jews see the settlements as illegal and as impediments to peace. A 2016 study found that a slim majority of Israelis (51.6 percent) think the settlements have helped Israel’s national interests. Another 39.3 percent of Israelis believe they have harmed its interests.

Where does the American government stand on settlement expansion?

Until the presidency of Donald J. Trump, who appointed a pro-settlement ambassador to Israel, successive U.S. administrations, while staunchly supportive of Israel’s right to exist and defend itself, have criticized Israeli settlement growth. Despite the known views of its ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, the Trump administration noted in February 2017 that settlement expansion“may not be helpful” to advancing peace in the region.

Are settlements legal under international law?

Most of the world believes settlements contravene the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bars an occupying power from transferring parts of its population into occupied territory. The illegality of Israeli settlements has been upheld by numerous international bodies, including the U.N. Security Council in a controversial resolution adopted in December 2016. Israel maintains that the territory is not legally occupied since there was no recognized sovereign power in the West Bank at the time it seized the territory. (Jordan controlled the land at that time.) Israel prefers to refer to the West Bank as “disputed” territory whose final status will be resolved through peace negotiations.

The post Israeli Settlements: Questions and Answers appeared first on My Jewish Learning.

BDS has come to be seen as a growing challenge to Israel internationally. In the United States, its impact has largely been felt on university campuses. Israeli leaders and American Jewish groups have pushed back forcefully against BDS, seeing it as at best counterproductive to peace and at worst blatantly anti-Semitic. They have won significant support in this effort from American political leaders. In 2016, President Barack Obama signed a trade law that barred cooperation with entities that engage in BDS, though Obama indicated he would not apply that requirement to boycotts of West Bank settlements. A number of American states have also adopted anti-BDS laws.

What does the BDS movement do?

BDS supporters seek to pressure Israel in three principal ways: boycotting Israeli goods, universities and cultural institutions; divesting from companies that provide vital equipment to the Israeli military; and urging countries to slap sanctions on Israel. BDS has inspired a number of divestment campaigns aimed at university endowments. public pension funds and companies it has identified as supporting or profiting from the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank. The movement has also inspired demonstrations at Israeli cultural events abroad.

Does BDS support boycott of everything Israeli or just products from West Bank settlements?

According to its website, BDS supports boycotting “Israel’s entire regime of oppression.” In practice, this is so widely defined that virtually every Israeli product is potentially subject to boycott. BDS targets the entire Israeli agricultural sector, alleging that all Israeli farm businesses are involved in human rights abuses. It has also targeted Hewlett-Packard, because the company allegedly makes a technology used by the Israeli military against Palestinians, and Sabra hummus, because it “provides financial support” to the Israeli military.

READ: Detroit’s Jews Ask, Are Targeted Israel Boycotts the Same as BDS?

Some, including some Jews, have proposed narrower boycotts aimed specifically at products produced in the Israeli settlements. Both the liberal “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby J Street, and the writer Peter Beinart, support a boycott of Israeli settlement products, because they believe the settlements are obstacles to a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Groups of Israeli academics, artists and students have also announced that they will not participate in activities at West Bank institutions.

Is the BDS movement pro-peace?

It certainly claims to be. Proponents of BDS consider its tactics inherently peaceful and cite previous examples of successful boycott campaigns — most commonly, the fight against apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s — as models of non-violent resistance to oppressive regimes. The movement does not, however, explicitly endorse the two-state solution, the framework most of the world considers the only realistic means of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rather, BDS is officially agnostic on that question, claiming its concerns are the basic rights of Palestinians, not the particular parameters of a peace settlement. In the eyes of many critics, because the movement offers unconditional support to the Palestinians and rarely, if ever, condemns terrorism, BDS contributes to violence and unrest, effectively incentivizing the Palestinians to oppose Israel rather than negotiate with it.

Is the BDS movement anti-Semitic?

Proponents of the anti-Semitism charge typically make two arguments. First, by focusing solely on Israel’s alleged abuses, BDS ignores countless other worse human rights abusers around the world, effectively singling out the Jewish state and holding it to a unique standard. Second, by including in its stated goals protecting the right of Palestinian refugees to return to homes they lived in prior to Israel’s establishment — something Israel considers an existential threat to its Jewish character — the movement is effectively calling for the end of the Jewish state.

“The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement aims to demonize, delegitimize, and destroy the Jewish nature of Israel, with the result of denying to Jews their right of national self-determination,” says the AMCHA Initiative, which fights anti-Semitism at American colleges and universities.

BDS defenders vigorously dispute this charge, arguing that theirs is a peaceful movement to force Israel to comply with international law. They assert that they target Israel because of its actions, not its identity, and point to the movement’s Jewish supporters as proof that it is not driven by anti-Jewish animus.

When did the BDS movement begin?

The BDS effort officially traces its origins to a 2005 call by a coalition of 170 Palestinian organizations, though some observers see its roots in the Arab League boycott of Israel launched in the 1940s. The contemporary BDS movement began to take shape during the Second Intifada, which began in 2000. Escalating violence and various major Israeli military operations in the West Bank led to a number of boycott calls beginning in 2002. The construction of Israel’s West Bank barrier, which the Palestinians largely opposed, alleging that it was a land grab rather than an effort to reduce terrorism, gave further momentum to these efforts. The 2005 BDS declaration opens by noting that Israel’s construction of the barrier was continuing despite an International Court of Justice ruling a year earlier that it was illegal.

Has BDS been successful?

The BDS website notes a number of successes, among them a 2014 UN report claiming that boycotts partially accounted for a significant drop in foreign investment in Israel that year. It also cites a small number of foreign multinationals that have pulled out of Israel under pressure and Israeli corporations whose businesses have been harmed. Several well-known artists, such as Roger Waters and Elvis Costello, have also declined to perform in Israel, citing its treatment of the Palestinians.

On the whole, the movement has been less successful in the United States than in Europe, where a number of pension funds and private banks have divested from targeted companies. In the United States, several university student bodies have called on their schools to divest. Though to date none have done so, the movement has made Israel a polarizing issue on U.S. campuses. The divestment question has also been raised in a number of liberal American Christian denominations. Despite all this, Israel has faced nowhere near the level of global isolation faced by apartheid South Africa, and its GDP continues to grow.

What are anti-BDS laws?

A number of U.S. states and the federal government have adopted laws aimed at countering the BDS movement. While the specifics differ, in general they bar the authority in question from doing business with any entity that engages in boycotts against the Jewish state. Critics charge that is a violation of free speech rights, claiming that the government should not be permitted to deny state contacts to companies simply because they disagree with their position on BDS.

Do any Jewish organizations support BDS?

Very few, and none of the major ones. The best-known is Jewish Voice for Peace, a San Francisco-based group that does not endorse a two-state solution or the principles of Zionism and which the Anti-Defamation League lists among the top anti-Israel groups in the United States. Among mainstream Jewish organizations, there is wall-to-wall rejection of BDS. The Jewish campus group Hillel officially bars pro-BDS groups from speaking under its auspices, though this policy has been challenged at a number of schools. J Street, the liberal lobbying group, rejects BDS because the BDS movement does not support a two-state solution or recognize the Jewish right to a state. J Street does support boycotts that are targeted at Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territory, however.

The post What Is BDS? appeared first on My Jewish Learning.

Our version adds the step of de-shelling the chickpeas to make an even smoother product. Of course if you are crunched for time or just don’t feel like it, you can skip this step.

Watch our short video above and then get cooking, er, processing. Did we mention this recipe requires no actual cooking!?

Note: The hummus can be stored in airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.

Simple Hummus Recipe

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This simple homemade hummus is easy and cheap.

Ingredients

Units USM

• 1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• ¼ cup tahini
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 garlic cloves
• juice of 1 lemon
• ⅓–½ cup olive oil
• 1–2 Tbsp water
• paprika or za’atar for serving (optional)

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Instructions

1. Start by removing the skin from the chickpeas. Yes, this will take a little time, but it makes a difference in creating a smooth consistency.
2. Place chickpeas, tahini, cumin, salt, lemon juice and garlic cloves in a food processor and start pulsing. While food processor is running, drizzle in olive oil. Check consistency and add more olive oil.
3. If consistency is still too chunky add a few Tbsp of water and pulse again.
4. Sprinkle top with paprika or za’atar and serve with pita, chips or veggies. 

Notes

The hummus can be stored in airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.

• Author: Shannon Sarna
• Category: Appetizer
• Method: One pot
• Cuisine: Israeli

The post VIDEO: How to Make Simple Hummus appeared first on My Jewish Learning.

The Importance of Covenant

The Israelites’ relationship with YHWH, however, set them apart from their neighbors.  This relationship was based on a covenant binding YHWH and Israel to one another through a series of obligations. Thus, the biblical authors depicted a direct correlation between the patriarchs’ (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) prosperity and their fidelity to YHWH.  Similarly, the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt into the Holy Land is cast as being conditional on the Israelites’ following YHWH’s precepts. It follows that the biblical authors attributed the misfortunes that befell the Israelites (e.g. plagues and military failures, etc.) to the Israelites’ failure to comply with terms of this covenant.

The First Temple

The establishment of the Temple under David and Solomon (c. 1000 BCE) marked a major development in Israelite religion.  The Temple, intended to be the official focal point for Israelite religion replacing the family shrines and cultic places of earlier periods, served as a primary place for sacrifices, worship, and regular pilgrimages.  Perhaps most importantly, the Temple served as a symbol of YHWH’s presence among the Israelites, and by extension, divine protection.

Despite this effort to centralize the Israelite cult, biblical and archaeological evidence indicates that traditional cultic sites and family shrines continued to exist throughout the monarchy (c. 1000–587 BCE).

The biblical prophets played a special role in Israelite religion.    They fervently condemned religious infidelities, including the worship of foreign gods. They were also very vocal in their intolerance of social injustice, especially abuses of power committed by Israelite elites.  The eighth-century BCE prophet Isaiah went so far as to declare that religious practices, including sacrifice and observance of festivals, were meaningless as long as social injustices remained.

The Babylonian Exile

The Babylonian exile had a grave impact on Israelite religion.  The Temple was destroyed, the “eternal” Davidic dynasty interrupted, and the people driven from the land YHWH had given them.  Little is known about religious life during the exile except that solemn days were designated to mourn the loss of Israelite institutions.  The prophets attempted to soothe the pain of these losses by promising a glorious restoration, the promise of which was never fully realized.

The Second Temple

The return from exile witnessed efforts to unify the Jews by the likes of Ezra and Nehemiah (early leaders of the Second Temple period) including the canonization of scripture and reaffirmation of the covenant with YHWH.  Such measures, however, were countered by growing discontent, as evident from the apocalyptic writings of the period and the emergence of numerous sects.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were the two most prominent groups of the period.  The Pharisees, the presumed predecessors to the rabbinic tradition, promoted incorporating religion into every aspect of life and generally rejected Hellenism. The Sadducees, with ties to the priesthood, maintained their religious identity, but were more open to Hellenistic culture. Other groups, such as the Essenes (who some scholars associate with the Dead Sea Scrolls) held more radical beliefs. The early Jewish Christians were yet another significant Jewish sect–not yet adherents of a separate religion.

The Second Temple’s Destruction and the Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism

The destruction of the Temple, which had served as the religious and political center for the Jewish people, presented a major challenge. The Jews survived this crisis by giving new prominence to institutions that played only minor roles during the Second Temple period. Synagogues absorbed the role of the Temple as places for worship and learning; prayer took the place of sacrifice; rabbis sought to replace priests as teachers and guardians over the law.

The rabbis’ ability to adapt biblical traditions–including dietary laws, observance of Shabbat and the festivals, and worship–for life in exile enabled Judaism to survive the transition beyond the Temple period, and ultimately to persevere throughout the ages.  The Mishnah (a collection of law edited around the year 200 CE) and the Gemara (a commentary on the Mishnah, discussing its teachings and connecting it to the biblical text, compiled in approximately 500 CE), record opinions and discussions relevant to life in a world that no longer preserved Temple-based institutions and traditions.

Rabbinic authority, however, did not remain unchallenged.  In addition to references to resistance in rabbinic writings, there are numerous amulets and incantation vessels attesting to the use of magic among the Jews of this period.

The post A Crash Course in Early Jewish History appeared first on My Jewish Learning.

The importance of praying for the welfare of the ruling body was established by the prophet Jeremiah after the first exile from Jerusalem, in 586 B.C.E. He tells the exiled Jews, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have caused you to be exiled, and pray to God on its behalf, for in its prosperity you shall prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7).

By instructing the Jews to pray for Babylonia, Jeremiah is teaching them to recognize that in exile they were physically, economically, and politically dependent upon Babylonia and the good will of its rulers. The situation of powerlessness and dependence demanded that God be implored to direct the leaders of the country to rule the Jewish population in a just and merciful way.

The first siddur [prayerbook] including a prayer for the government is from the 14th century, and the practice is described there as an “established custom.” Hundreds of different prayers for various governments under which Jews have lived (and live) exist today, and are valuable windows to these Jewish communities.

This background is important to understand the thinking of the authors of the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel.

Composing the Prayer

On the Fifth of Iyar–May 15–1948, the Jewish people became sovereign rulers in the Land of Israel. This new situation posed many challenges to the Jewish people, a people that had lived most of its history under the direct control of others. Confronting and understanding the meaning of sovereignty and independence created a high level of political, cultural, and religious creativity during the early years of the state.

For the first time since antiquity, Jewish religious leaders had the opportunity to compose a prayer for the Jewish leaders of a Jewish state. Should the prayer express the ideology, hopes, and aspirations of the Zionist movement? Or, should it be a prayer for the leaders of Israel (treating them like any other political leaders of any country), without taking into account the profound meaning of Israel to many Jews?

Here is the translation of the prayer:

“Our Father Who art in Heaven, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless Thou the State of Israel which marks the dawn of our deliverance. Shield it beneath the wings of Thy love. Spread over it Thy canopy of peace; send Thy light and Thy truth to its leaders, officers, and counselors, and direct them with Thy good counsel.

“O God, strengthen the defenders of our Holy Land; grant them salvation and crown them with victory. Establish peace in the land, and everlasting joy for its inhabitants.

“Remember our brethren, the whole house of Israel, in all the lands of their dispersion. Speedily let them walk upright to Zion, the city, to Jerusalem Thy dwelling-place, as it is written in the Torah of Thy servant Moses: ‘Even if you are dispersed in the uttermost parts of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather and fetch you. The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it.’

“Unite our heart to love and revere Thy Name, and to observe all the precepts of Thy Torah. Shine forth in Thy glorious majesty over all the inhabitants of Thy world. Let everything that breathes proclaim: The Lord God of Israel is King; His majesty rules over all.” Amen.

This is much more than a prayer for the government. It is a proclamation of belief that:

1)      the establishment of the State of Israel is a divine event and that this event is the fulfillment of God’s promise to the Jewish people and part of the divine plan to redeem the world;

2)      the maintaining of the state and its defense is a matter for God’s intervention;

3)      God will bring all Jews to live in Israel from the Diaspora.

The ideology that is the basis of the prayer is expressed best by Rabbi Yehudah Amital, a former government minister and leading religious leader in Israel. He writes that Zionism is “…the Lord’s vehicle for preparing Israel for its redemption. The habitation of the Land of Israel by a group of its children, transforming wastelands into gardens, and the establishment of independence within its borders, are stages in the process of redemption…and even though they are accompanied by suffering and tribulation, the strides are certain and the course is clear…”

The authorship of the prayer is unclear. Some say it was written by Chief Rabbis Yitzhak Herzog and Ben Zion Uziel with the assistance of other rabbis. Others suggest that the prayer was revised by the rabbis after suggestions made by Nobel Laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature. Still others are convinced that Agnon wrote the prayer himself and that it was later adopted by the Chief Rabbinate.

Community Acceptance

A prayer for the State of Israel is recited in synagogues of most religious streams in Israel and the Diaspora (outside of the ultra-Orthodox communities). In Israel, most use the text of the Chief Rabbinate, although there are congregations that use their own versions and variations. In the Diaspora, there is even less conformity, and while many communities use the text of the Chief Rabbinate, many utilize other prayers.

There are many reasons why all congregations haven’t adopted the Chief Rabbinates prayer.

Most of the arguments surrounding the prayer concern the Messianic role of the state. The first line of the prayer pleads, “Bless Thou the State of Israel which marks the dawn of our deliverance.“The belief that the Jewish state is the first step in redemption is seen by Rabbi Amital as “certain” and “clear,” but the fact is that not everyone is certain and clear on this point.

For most haredim (ultra-Orthodox), no matter where they live, redemption will not be brought by the establishment of a secular state, but by the observance of Torah. Although the vast majority in this community are deeply connected to the state and are proud of it in many ways, they do not see the state in Messianic terms.

They are not alone. The notion that Israel is the “dawn of our deliverance” sits uncomfortably with many Jews of all streams of Judaism. Some say that while we may hope and pray that Israel is the “dawn of our deliverance,” it is pretentious to proclaim that this is a known and proven fact.

Others hold that Messianic beliefs in God’s impending intervention in history are fine for the realm of the spirit, but have no place in the affairs of a sovereign state. They point to many examples in Jewish history when Messianic ideas caught the imagination of the people and led to disaster, such as the war against the Romans that ended in the destruction of Jerusalem.

There are other problematic passages in the prayer. Jews in the Diaspora, who are quite comfortable in their homes, may not relate to a prayer that pleads with God to speedily return them to Israel. Such an idea may be acceptable in a spiritual, theoretical sense, but when tied to a prayer for the sovereign Jewish state, it may be difficult to accept.

Others find the triumphant nature of the prayer problematic. In my own congregation in Israel, there is a constant debate over the words that ask God to grant the defenders of the land with “victory.” Why do we need to ask for military victory in addition to peace, as if war is an inevitable, permanent part of living in Israel?

These tensions have led many religious leaders to re-write the prayer in a way that expresses love and devotion to the State of Israel, without the Messianic overtones and with less of the triumphant spirit of the original.

The Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel is the product of one of the great creative avenues within Judaism: the crafting of religious poetry and liturgy that expresses our basic desires and beliefs. Over the centuries some of this literature has touched the community deeply and has made its way into the liturgy. Whether or not the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel (in its present form) will be universally adopted is still an open question. In any case, this prayer is an eloquent and moving religious expression of the Zionist dream.

The post Praying for the Welfare of the State of Israel appeared first on My Jewish Learning.

Most of the Jewish communities in the Western world have incorporated this modern holiday into their calendars, but some North American Jewish communities hold the public celebrations on a following Sunday in order to attract more participation. In the State of Israel it is a formal holiday, so almost everyone has the day off.

Yom Ha’atzmaut in Israel is always preceded by Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers. The message of linking these two days is clear: Israelis owe their independence — the very existence of the state — to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for it.

The “Switch”

The official “switch” from Yom Hazikaron to Yom Ha’atzmaut takes place a few minutes after sundown, with a ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem in which the flag is raised from half staff (due to Memorial Day) to the top of the pole. The president of Israel delivers a speech of congratulations, and soldiers representing the Army, Navy, and Air Force parade with their flags. In recent decades this small-scale parade has replaced the large-scale daytime parade, which was the main event during the 1950s and ’60s. The evening parade is followed by a torch lighting (hadlakat masuot) ceremony, which marks the country’s achievements in all spheres of life.

Other than the official ceremonies, Israelis celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut in a variety of ways. In the cities, the nighttime festivities may be found on the main streets. Crowds will gather to watch public shows offered for free by the municipalities and the government. Many spend the night dancing Israeli folk dances or singing Israeli songs. During the daytime thousands of Israeli families go out on hikes and picnics. Army camps are open for civilians to visit and to display the recent technological achievements of the Israeli Defense Forces. Yom Ha’atzmaut is concluded with the ceremony of granting the “Israel Prize” recognizing individual Israelis for their unique contribution to the country’s culture, science, arts, and the humanities.

The religious character of Yom Ha’atzmaut is still in the process of formation, and is still subject to debate. The Chief Rabbinate of the State (which consists of Orthodox rabbis) has decided that this day should be marked with the recitation of Hallel (psalms of praise), similar to other joyous holidays, and with the reading of a special haftarah (prophetic portion). Most ultra-Orthodox Jews, in Israel and abroad, have not accepted this ruling, and some Orthodox Jews chant the Hallel psalms without the blessing which precedes it.

On the other hand, HaKibbutz HaDati (Modern Orthodox Kibbutz Movement) initiated a version of  the prayer Al HaNissim (“Concerning the Miracles”) to be added to the Amidah (the central prayer recited while standing) on Yom Ha’atzmaut, as it is on Hanukkah and Purim.

This special addition to the liturgy of the day was not approved by the Chief Rabbinate but was adopted by the Masorti (Conservative) and the Progressive (Reform) congregations in Israel. Some rabbis argue that Yom Ha’atzmaut should be viewed in conjunction with Hanukkah and Purim, since all three commemorate a “miraculous” victory of the Jews over an enemy of superior military might. It should be noted that most Israelis do not consider Yom Ha’atzmaut a religious holiday at all.

For American Jews

For American Jews, celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut has been a way to express solidarity with the state of Israel and to strengthen their alliance with it. In many communities, it is one of few occasions in which Jewish organizations and synagogues of different ideologies and denominations cooperate in forming a common celebration. In many North American congregations, the joint public celebration often is augmented by a religious service. In some cases, this would occur on the Shabbat closest to Yom Ha’atzmaut and would consist of additional readings added to the service and, usually, the singing of Hatikvah (the Israeli national anthem).

The standard Reform prayerbook, Gates of Prayer (Shaarei Tefillah), includes a service for Yom Ha’atzmaut, while the Conservative prayerbook, Sim Shalom includes Hallel and Al Hanissim to be recited on this occasion.

There is not yet an accepted “tradition” of how to celebrate this holiday, and only time will tell whether certain customs, foods, prayers, and melodies will be linked in the Jewish mind with this holiday, as with holidays that emerged many centuries before Yom Ha’atzmaut. For Jews around the world, joining with Israelis celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut has become a concrete link in the Jewish connection to the land of Israel.

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Everywhere else society preceded the nation; in this case, the national sentiment came first, and then, in order to be transformed into reality, it needed to go through a stage of immigration to an ancestral homeland where the nation‑building process could begin. This was a unique case of a society of potential immigrants who felt they belonged in a specific land long before they had set foot on its soil, and in less than two generations succeeded in forming a nation endowed with all the attributes of national “normality.” Thus, although a minority in the demographic sense, the Jews of Palestine were not a minority in the national sense.

The mandate of the League of Nations represented them as a national community aspiring to independence, and the relations between the mandatory au­thorities and the yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) did not resemble the usual interaction between a ruling power and ethnic minorities.

The nature of this new society, its structures, and the pace of its growth were determined by several factors.

• First, the magnitude of each wave of immigration and its social composition, both largely determined by the immigration policy of the Mandate and the division of the immigrants into categories–workers, capital holders, and professionals.
• Second, the financial resources available to the colonizing institutions and the volume of private investment (between 1918 and 1945, the investment foreign capital amounted to 153 million pounds, 109 million of which were private funds). This enabled the leaders of the yishuv to establish a network of agricultural settlements embodying the predominant collectivist ideology, and marking the borders of the future state.
• Third, the nature of this emerging society was shaped also by political tensions within the Zionist leadership, and ideological conflicts among the immigrants who perceived the Zionist enterprise in vivid utopian colors.

Therefore, dividing the history of modern Jewish Palestine according to the successive aliyot is well justified, since each wave of immigration brought with it specific ideological and social characteristics which shaped the development of the yishuv. The First Aliyah (1881‑1903) created the moshavot, villages of independent farmers; the Second Aliyah (1904‑1914) brought the collective settlement (the kibbutz); the Third (1919‑1923), Fourth (1924‑1928), and Fifth Aliyot (1933‑1939) were responsible for spectacular urban and industrial growth.

In 1880, the total number of Jews in the country was 20,000‑25,000, two‑thirds of whom were in Jerusalem; on the eve of independence they ­numbered about 650,000, in old and new towns and in hundreds of settlements throughout the land. There were 44 Jewish agricultural settlements, mostly moshavot, when the British conquered Palestine in 1917; by the time the State of Israel was established in 1948, the pioneering ideology of “conquest of soil and labor” of the Second and Third Aliyot added another 148 kibbutzim and 94 cooperative villages (moshavim). Even more impressive was the development of the urban sector, which absorbed more than three‑quarters of the immigration. Tel Aviv, the “first Hebrew city,” numbered 40,000 inhabitants in 1931, 135,000 at the end of the Fifth Aliyah, and 200,000 in 1945.

From the beginning, the Zionist movement considered the yishuv as a territorial political entity, a united, autonomous, and democratic community, even before the British conquest and at an accelerated pace afterwards. The Palestinian Jewish community created governmental institutions based on universal suffrage and principles of western democracy–notably the Assembly of Deputies and the National Council–which had departments corresponding to government ministries.

However, the most typical feature of political life in Palestine was the central role played by the parties–comprehensive political societies with networks of clients, colonization federations, economic, cul­tural, and sports institutions, even para‑military units. And first among them was the left‑wing Labor Party which held sway over the yishuv and later over the State of Israel for several decades.

Reprinted with permission from A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People (Schocken Books). 

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The Jews, for the most part, tended to bear with the laws that regulated their daily lives and cumulatively humiliated and impoverished them. But when wholesale expulsions from certain areas and successive waves of physical attack were added to the long‑familiar misery, life under Russian rule in the 1880s began to be judged intolerable.

The Jewish predicament precipitated several reactions, all with a view to finding a lasting solution: a vast movement of emigration, chiefly to the West; the radicalization and politicization of great numbers of young Jewish people, many bending their energies to the overthrow of autocracy; and, among the increasingly secular intel­ligentsia, a rise in modern­ nationalist consciousness. It was the latter tendency — Zionism — that bore the most radical implications and­ was to have the most remarkable results.

The Zionist analysis of the nation’s afflictions and its prescription­ for relief consisted of four interconnected theses. First, the fundamental vulnerability of the Jews to persecution and humiliation required total, drastic, and collective treatment. Second, reform and rehabilitation — cultural, no less than social and political — must be the work of the Jews themselves, i.e., they had to engineer their own emancipation. Third, only a territorial solution would serve; in other words, that establishing themselves as the majority population in a given territory was the only way to normalize their status and their relations with other peoples and polities. Fourth, only in a land of their own would they accomplish the full, essentially secular, revival of Jewish culture and of the Hebrew language.

These exceedingly radical theses brought the Zionists into endless conflict with an array of hostile forces, both Jewish and non-Jewish. On the one hand, Zionism implied a disbelief in the promise of civil emanci­pation and a certain contempt for Jews whose fervent wish was assimila­tion into their immediate environment. On the other hand, by offering a secular alternative to tradition, Zionism challenged religious orthodoxy as well — although, given the orthodox view of Jewry as a nation, the two had something in common after all. The Zionists were thus con­demned from the outset to being a minority among the Jews and lack­ing the support that national movements normally receive from the people to whose liberation their efforts are directed.

The other struggle that the Zionists had to face resulted from their political and territorial aims. They had to fight for international recognition and for acceptance as a factor of consequence, however small, by the relevant powers. In the course of time they have had to contend with the political and, eventually, armed hostility of the inhabitants and neighbors of the particular territory where virtually all Zionists desired to re‑establish the Jewish people as a free nation: Palestine, or in Hebrew, Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.

They were more successful in the broader international arena than on the local front. Ottoman opposition hobbled the movement almost totally in its early years, and the violent opposition mounted by Arab states and peoples has to this day shaped the physical and political landscape in which Zionism has implemented its ideals. In the final analysis, it is nonetheless the reluctance of the majority of Jews worldwide to subscribe to its program in practice that has presented the strongest challenge to Zionism, and has proved the greatest obstacle to its ultimate triumph.

Reprinted with permission from A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People, published by Schocken Books.

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The Jews of Israel reflect a diversity of languages, religious traditions, cultural customs and oral histories. While some Jewish Israelis are descended from Jewish communities that have lived continuously in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and elsewhere in Israel, the vast majority are descended from Jewish immigrants, many of them refugees who fled to the Jewish state to escape persecution, bringing a wide range of customs, languages and folkways with them to the Jewish state.

While Israeli Jews are descended from immigrants who arrived from virtually every country on earth, they are often broadly categorized into four main groupings based on their geographic origins and the ritual and prayer customs they follow. 

• Ashkenazi Jews — the Jews of Europe
• Sephardic Jews — the Jews of Iberia who relocated across Europe, North Africa and Turkey after the Spanish Inquisition 
• Mizrahi Jews — Jews from Iraq, Iran, Yemen, North Africa and other Middle Eastern Jewish communities 
• Ethiopian Jews — Jews from the Beta Israel community 

Waves of Immigration

Jews were first exiled from the land of Israel around 722 BCE by the Assyrian Empire. They returned to the land of Israel at various times since then, but the emergence of Zionism in the late 19th century led to five major waves of aliyah, or Jewish immigration to pre-state Israel. 

The first two consisted primarily of Jews fleeing pogroms and antisemitism in the Russian Empire, as well as smaller numbers of Yemenite, Kurdish, Bukharan and Iranian Jews. Later aliyot included a large number of Ashkenazi Jews from both Western and Eastern Europe fleeing Nazi persecution, as well as Jews from major Sephardic communities in Greece, the Balkans and Western Europe.

The influence these immigrants had on the formation of the State of Israel cannot be overstated. Many of Israel’s leaders — including David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol, Chaim Weizmann and Golda Meir — arrived during these waves. European immigrants in particular left an indelible imprint on the early character of the state, establishing its universities, government and legal system on the European model. Jews from Central and Eastern Europe, involved in Jewish labor movements in their home countries, would establish Israel’s famous kibbutz communities, the influential Histradrut union, and the Haganah, the pre-state militia that would evolve into the Israel Defense Forces. 

Immigration to Israel Post-1948

Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, and the subsequent expulsion of 700,000 Jews from several Arab states, led to the largest and most diverse influx of immigrants in Israel’s history. With its expanded infrastructure, the Israeli army also began bringing Jews in danger to the state through special operations between 1949 and 1951. Operation On Eagles’ Wings airlifted an estimated 49,000 Jews from Yemen to Israel between 1949 and 1950, while an estimated 125,000 Iraqi Jews were brought to Israel through Operation Ezra and Nehemia in 1950 and 1951. Nearly 90,000 Jews from Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt also immigrated in the state’s earliest years. By the end of 1951, Mizrahi Jews accounted for 56% of all Jewish immigrants to Israel. 

By 1972, a total of 600,000 Mizrahi Jews had immigrated to Israel. However, tensions between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Israelis were commonplace.Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews were sometimes stereotyped as less educated and less intellectual. Ashkenazi Israelis received access to better resources for new immigrants, such as housing, stipends and higher quality education. Few non-Ashkenazi Jews served in prestigious army units or in governmental leadership positions, and marriages between an Ashkenazi Jew and a Sephardic or Mizrahi Jew were known in Hebrew as nisuei ta’arovet, or mixed marriages.

Simmering Tensions, New Immigrants

By the 1980s, divisions between ethnic groups lessened greatly as Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews became more integrated into Israeli society. In 1978, Yitzhak Navon made history when he became the first Sephardic Israeli president. David Elazar was the first Sephardic Israeli to become the army Chief of Staff in 1972. And in 1998, the Iranian-born Shaul Moraz became the first Mizrahi Jew to hold the position. In the 1980s and 1990s, non-Ashkenazi Jews also gained more influence in the Knesset with the formation of the Shas political party in 1984. The party has often been key to forming Israel’s governing coalition and has given a prominent platform to issues of importance to Sephardic and Mizrahi Israelis.

Sephardic and Mizrahi culture also became popular among all Israelis. Singer Ofra Haza, whose songs included traditional Mizrahi elements, rose to fame within Israel in the late 1970s and internationally by the mid-1980s. The daughter of Yemenite immigrants, Haza is often credited as being a driving force behind Israel’s embrace of Mizrahi music. She also paved the path for future Mizrahi Israeli musicians like Achinoam Nini, Rita and A-WA.

Beginning in the 1980s, Israel also saw two more large immigration waves: Russian-speaking Jews from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopian Jews. 

Russian-speaking Jews began relocating to Israel in 1989; by 1995, more than 600,000 had immigrated. Due to the sheer number of newcomers, the post-Soviet aliyah had a tremendous impact on Israel in terms of demographics and culture. As of 2020, nearly 1 in 5 Jewish Israelis were of Russian origin. State services are often offered in Russian (in addition to Hebrew and Arabic) to accommodate the more than 1.5 million Israelis who speak the language. 

Many immigrants who arrived during this wave were accomplished academics, scientists and musicians who were eager to contribute to Israeli culture. Israel’s Russian community is also often credited with shaking up the political scene. Russian Israelis tend to be more politically conservative and have exerted influence through political parties established to represent their interests. 

Some Ethiopian Jews had relocated to Israel in small numbers during the 1970s. But in the mid-1980s, antisemitism and political unrest led the Israeli army to conduct three major rescue campaigns — Operation Moses in 1984-85, Operation Joshua in 1985 and Operation Solomon in May 1991. An estimated 22,000 Ethiopian Jews were flown to Israel through these covert operations.

At first, many Ethiopian immigrants faced challenges receiving the support and services needed to fully integrate into Israeli society. However, since the 2000s, Hebrew literacy rates among Ethiopian Israelis have continued to rise, leading to greater access to higher education and well-paying jobs. Ethiopian Israelis have also left a cultural mark: Traditional Ethiopian cuisine has become a mainstay in many Israeli cities, and some of the most popular musicians in Israel today are Ethiopian.

Contemporary Israel: Coming Together

As Israel’s establishment fades farther into the past, Israelis define their identity less by where their parents or grandparents immigrated from and more by being Israeli. Marriages across ethnic lines are commonplace, and nearly half of Israelis have a parent or grandparent that immigrated from a Sephardic or Mizrahi Jewish community. It’s common to be at a Shabbat dinner table and find classic Ashkenazi cuisine like kugel or brisket served alongside Sephardic and Mizrahi foods, such as hummus, tahini, pita, jeweled rice and stuffed vegetables.

As Israeli society has become more multicultural, more and more leaders in the arts, academia, politics and culture are from non-Ashkenazi backgrounds, helping to bring greater awareness to the challenges non-Ashkenazi immigrants faced in Israel’s early years. While Israeli society faces many contemporary challenges, immigrants have become more integrated and the diverse ethnic backgrounds of Israel’s Jews have become more celebrated.

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“The solution can only be a political one.”
From a 1989 interview, referring to the conflict with the Palestinians.

“We must fight terrorism as if there’s no peace process, and work to achieve peace as if there’s no terror.”
Responding to terrorist attacks that imperiled the Oslo peace process

“I, military ID #30743, retired general in the Israel Defense Forces in the past, consider myself to be a soldier in the army of peace today. I, who served my country for 27 years as a soldier, I say to you, to your majesty, the King of Jordan, I say to you our American friends, today we are embarking on a battle which has no dead and no wounded, no blood and no anguish. This is the only battle which is a pleasure to wage, the battle for peace.”
Speech to U.S. Congress, July 26, 1994

“In the current reality, there are only two options: either a serious effort will be made to make peace with security … or that we will forever live by the sword.
Speech to the Knesset, July 13, 1992

“[The Palestinians] did not in the past and do not in the present constitute an existential threat to the state of Israel.”
Speech to the Knesset following the ratification of the Oslo II Accords, October 5, 1995.

“I was a military man for twenty-seven years. I fought as long as there were no prospects for peace. Today I believe that there are prospects for peace, great prospects. We must take advantage of this for the sake of those standing here, and for the sake of those who do not stand here. And they are many among our people.”
Speech to rally in Tel Aviv, November 4, 1995

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In Diaspora, Purim celebrations tend to center on the synagogue, where Jews spend a few hours. They dress in costume, hold Purim spiels, host carnivals, give one another gifts, trade l’chaims, and make merry to celebrate an ancient Jewish escape from genocide. Purim celebrations in Israel, however, where in many places the majority of the population is Jewish, last all day (sometimes two days!) and spill out into the street. In major cities, it’s common for the streets to be filled with thousands of costumed partygoers from across the country who have traveled to celebrate with friends and family. These public celebrations start on the evening of Purim and stretch until the next evening.

Two Purims

Purim is celebrated by most Jews on 14 Adar. However, Jews in Jerusalem instead observe  Purim on 15 Adar, known as Shushan Purim. Shushan Purim is only celebrated in a city that has been walled since the days of Joshua (circa 1250 B.C.E.), and Jerusalem is the only place where Jewish authorities are confident that Shushan Purim should still be observed. 

Some Israelis, regardless of where they live, plan their Purim itinerary carefully so that they can celebrate both Purim and Shushan Purim. They will celebrate Purim on 14 Adar outside Jerusalem and then travel to Jerusalem in time to enjoy another 24 festive hours. 

Fun for Everyone

In many Diaspora Jewish communities, Purim celebrations are often family oriented: synagogue carnivals, costume parades and crafts can be just as prominent as adult-oriented Purim spiels and festive wine banquets (seudot). In Israel, the raucous, partying aspect of Purim is taken just as seriously by adults.

While Purim is not a day on which labor is prohibited, Jewish organizations in Diaspora do not usually close for this holiday, universities and some workplaces in Israel, however, are closed on Purim, and legally, Jewish Israelis can choose to take Purim off as a paid holiday. While most secular Israelis may skip other holidays, both secular and religious Jewish Israelis partake in traditional Purim observances like hearing the megillah, preparing mishloach manot, giving tzadekah and enjoying a festive meal.

The Adloyada

In Israel, Purim is also a common time for desert retreats, raves, circuses, music festivals, theater performances and other organized fun. The most notable widespread Purim celebration is the adloyada. Colloquially, this phrase refers to Purim parades, but the term actually comes from the talmudic commandment to drink “until one doesn’t know” (Aramaic; ad d’lo yada) — meaning one cannot distinguish between the name of Haman (the villain) and Mordechai (the hero).

The first adloyada was organized in Tel Aviv in 1912. Today, an adloyada is often organized by the local municipality and features colorful processions of dancers, musicians, cartoonish characters, street performers and kids donning their costumes.

Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv, hosts the largest Purim parade each year — an estimated 4,500 people march in the adloyada, and more than 150,000 Israelis of all ages from across the country come to watch. 

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There were in fact several Jewish Temples on the same site over the course of centuries. Originally, the Israelites had a portable Temple, called the mishkan or tabernacle, which traveled with them in the wilderness until they settled in the land of Israel. About 1,000 years before the Common Era, King Solomon built the first permanent Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. This was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and rebuilt about 70 years later when the Jews were allowed to return from exile. The Second Temple remained on that site for more than 500 years. It was radically renovated by Herod the Great in about 20 BCE. It was finally destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans.

The Temples were large complexes. At the center was the Holy of Holies, a sacred room only entered by the high priest on Yom Kippur. Beyond it were a series of courtyards arranged concentrically in order of decreasing sanctity. The First Temple and the earlier version of the Second Temple had fewer of these than the renovated version of the Second Temple designed by Herod. There were also rooms for many kinds of activities throughout the Temple complex.

This article lists some of the best-known ritual items in the Temple.

Ark of the Covenant

Inside the Holy of Holies was the sacred Ark of the Covenant, a large box which, according to legend, housed the Ten Commandments (and possibly also a scroll of the Torah). According to the Hebrew Bible, it was to be 2.5 by 1.5 by 1.5 cubits — or about 45 inches long and 27 inches square on the end (Exodus 25:10). It was supposed to be gilded all in gold and have four rings secured to the sides so two poles could be threaded through and used to carry it. The lid of the ark was called the kapparot, or “mercy seat,” and it was guarded by two gold cherubim perched on top of it.

According to tradition, the ark contained two sets of the Ten Commandments, the original set that Moses threw at the Golden Calf and broke into pieces, and the second set he retrieved after that incident. The ark was sometimes carried in front of the Israelite army and it was, for a time, captured by the Philistines. According to the Talmud, the location of the ark was already a mystery by the late Second Temple period.

Parochet (Curtain)

In the tabernacle and in earlier versions of the Temple, a special curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple complex. In many modern synagogues, the Ark has a curtain hiding the Torah scrolls from view, also called a parochet, in imitation of this original curtain.

Mizbeach (Altar)

The Temple sanctuary had a large altar for sacrifices. It was tall and square-shaped, with a flat top and four “horns” on the corners and a ramp on the south side leading up to the top. The top had a fire for burning sacrifices, and blood was often applied to different parts of the altar depending on the type of sacrifice offered.

Menorah

This seven-branched candelabrum stood outside the Holy of Holies and was kept lit day and night. It is for this reason that synagogues today often have a ner tamid, or eternal light, hanging near the ark where the Torah scrolls are housed (which imitates the Holy of Holies). The design, a center flame with three branched flames on either side, is the inspiration for the classic design of the Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah. 

Incense Stand

Incense was burned daily in the Temple to create a sweet smell for God — and possibly to cover the smell of the other sacrifices, as Maimonides suggests. The talmudic rabbis understood the incense to also be a kind of offering. A special stand was used for this purpose. On Yom Kippur, the high priest brought the incense into the Holy of Holies, where it created a kind of smoke screen over the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 30:36).

The Torah gives a recipe for compounding the incense (Exodus 30:34) but rabbinic literature elaborates on this recipe with more ingredients and also indicates that the precise recipe was the province of the priestly family of Avtinas (Mishnah Yoma 3:11).

Showbread Table

The showbread, lechem panim or “bread of faces” in Hebrew, was a bread that sat out at all times in the sanctuary on a specially designated table (Exodus 25:30) as an offering for God. It was baked and replaced each week.

Mikveh (Ritual Bath)

Purity, of people and objects, was required in God’s house. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Temple complex was surrounded by many mikvehs where priests and pilgrims could immerse in order to purify themselves before entering. Today, Jews use mikvehs for a variety of purposes, including conversion and observing the laws of niddah.

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Click on each location to learn more about what happened there and what is currently at this site. Dates listed are from Wikipedia, which cites Josephus Flavius, the First Book of Maccabees and the Second Book of Maccabees. My Jewish Learning’s article on the Hanukkah story, reprinted from Celebrate! The Complete Jewish Holiday Handbook, features a somewhat different timeline.

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