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…
Israel

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…
Israel
Identity

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…
Identity
US Jewry

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…
US Jewry
Science and Technology

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…
Science and Technology
Asia

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
Asia