Background Papers
Israeli Election: Initial Lessons
The most recent Israeli elections, like all election campaigns, can be analyzed on the tactical, short-term level or in regard to longer-term trends. On the tactical level, the elections did not result in a decisive victory to any of the political camps. This deadlock could lead to a fifth election cycle, or alternately, to the piecing together of an ideologically…
Should Moral Considerations be Brought to Bear in Foreign and Security Policy? Attitudes of Israeli Jews
Main findings of the Report A large majority of Israeli Jews feel that Israel is a moral country and that the IDF is a moral army. A large majority believes that in foreign and defense policy, interests and moral considerations must be balanced. However, the more prevalent tendency is for a balance that prioritizes interests over morality. There is a…
Despite the Gloomy Headlines, American Jewry has Grown in Size
American Jewry has grown in size, is largely connected to Israel, and the young generation can be engaged; is more diverse and divided than in the past Highlights from Prof. Leonard Saxe’s lecture at JPPI (edited by Dan Feferman). Despite (some of) the gloomy headlines from the recent Pew Study of American Jewry, along with reports about anti-Semitism, BDS and…
The View Through Big-Data: An Initial Analysis of 15 Million Tweets by AIPAC and J Street Followers
Main Findings Twitter followers of AIPAC and J Street are equally likely to have bios that contain the word “Jewish”, while AIPAC supporters are significantly more likely to have “Israel” in their bios. Around the same percent of AIPAC followers (48.1%) and J Street followers (39.5%) mention Israel at least once in their previous 200 tweets. J Street followers are…
The Jewish Camp of the Nine Percent
The Pew Research Center’s new study of American Jews offers a wealth of data. Some of its findings are headline-making and can be expected to dominate the news, while others are more obscure. It is often the more obscure information that is truly important and interesting. Here I suggest examining one particular finding. The researchers examined the degree of connection…
On Genetics and Jewish History
Conference on Genomics – From Disease Prevention to Treatment, Population, Medicine and Society, Haifa, Technion and Clalit Health Fund, 2-5 Oct. 2018 During the first international conference on this subject, which took place in Haifa in 2016, I deplored the gap between the fast advancing genetic sciences and Jewish historiography. Historians should have discovered the human genome as a new…
India’s Israel relations, the Middle East and China
India’s Israel relations, the Middle East and China This article was originally published by SIGNAL (Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership) and appeared on the SIGNAL website: en.sino-israel.org
Shifting Trends in the West and their Impact on Israel and the Jewish People
JPPI’s 2017 Conference on the Future of the Jewish People will explore the social, political, economic, and ideological shifts taking place in the Western world that could influence the future of the Jewish people. The conference seeks to identify key trends and gauge their possible ramifications. A special emphasis will be placed on developing recommendations for policy measures that can…
Background: Mideast Peace, the Jewish Dimension
Reaching permanent peace agreements with the Arab world raises a set of issues of great significance for the Jewish people. In the same way that we can examine the security, economic and social implications of future peace agreements, we can — and should – also examine their implications from the viewpoint of the interests of the Jewish people as a…