Israel

Question 1

What are the Areas A, B, and C in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Answer 1

A: Areas A, B, and C refer to land divisions in the West Bank.

Elaboration:
* Area A: Administered by Palestinian Authority, e.g. Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jennin [18%]
* Area B: Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control. Includes many Palestinian towns and villages. [22%]
* Area C: Full Israeli civil and security control. Contains Israeli settlements, most of the West Bank’s natural resources, and open land. E.g. Ariel, Beitar Illit, Modiin Ilit, Ma’aleh Adumim [60%]

Question 2

What is the population of Israel?

Answer 2

A: Approximately 9 million people (as of 2023).

Elaboration:
* Israel’s population is diverse, including Jews, Arabs, Druze, and other ethnic groups.
* The Jewish population makes up around 74%, while Arabs are about 21%.
* The population is generally young, with a median age around 30 years.

Question 3

What is the Law of Return?

Answer 3

A: A law granting Jews the right to live in Israel and gain citizenship.

Elaboration:
* Passed in 1950, it symbolizes Israel’s establishment as a Jewish state.
* Facilitates Jewish immigration from around the world.
* Reflects the Zionist principle of a homeland for the Jewish people.

Question 4

What is the proposed reform for Judicial Selection in Israel’s 2023 judicial reform?

Answer 4

A: Changing the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee to give the government control over judge appointments.

Elaboration:
* The current system includes judges, Bar Association representatives, Knesset members, and ministers.
* The reform aims to give a majority to the government, affecting the appointment of all judges, including the Supreme Court.
* This change is seen as a move to increase government influence in the judiciary​​​​​​.

Question 5

What changes to Judicial Review are proposed in Israel’s 2023 judicial reform?

Answer 5

Limiting the Supreme Court’s power to review legislation, especially Basic Laws.

Elaboration:
* The reform seeks to restrict the Supreme Court’s ability to invalidate Knesset legislation.
* A full bench of Supreme Court justices would be required to evaluate the legality of laws, with a high majority needed for invalidation.
* Critics argue this could weaken judicial oversight of legislative and executive actions​​​​.

Question 6

What is the proposed ‘Knesset Override’ in the 2023 Israeli judicial reform?

Answer 6

A: Allowing the Knesset to overrule Supreme Court decisions on legal matters.

Elaboration:
* The Knesset could overturn Supreme Court rulings on the legality of legislation with a majority vote.
* This change could significantly reduce the Supreme Court’s authority in legal disputes.
* Critics fear it might lead to reduced checks and balances in the Israeli democratic system​​​​.

Question 7

What changes are proposed for Legal Advisers to Government Ministries in Israel’s 2023 judicial reform?

Answer 7

A: Politicizing the appointment of legal advisers to government ministries.

Elaboration:
* The reform aims to shift legal advisers from independent to politically selected counsel.
* Ministers would have the power to select, dismiss, and ignore the advice of their legal advisors.
* This is viewed as a move to increase executive power over legal matters​​.

Question 8

What does the ‘Limiting Scope of Judicial Review’ in Israel’s 2023 judicial reform entail?

Answer 8

A: Restricting judicial review over government decisions, especially against ‘unreasonableness’.

Elaboration:
* The reform seeks to prevent courts from hearing petitions against governmental decisions deemed ‘unreasonable’.
* Critics argue this would limit the judiciary’s role in overseeing executive actions.
* This aspect of the reform is seen as reducing the checks and balances necessary for a functioning democracy​​.

Question 9

How many changes is part of the judicial reform?

Answer 9

Five

Question 10

Describe the purpose of the judicial reform proposal

Answer 10

The intent of the measures is to curb the judiciary’s influence over lawmaking and public policy by limiting the Supreme Court’s power to exercise judicial review, granting the government control over judicial appointments and limiting the authority of its legal advisors

Question 11

Who are the main leaders of the judicial reform?

Answer 11

The effort was led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Yariv Levin and the Chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, Simcha Rothman.

Question 12

Why is Netanyahu not permitted to actively get involved in the judicial reform?

Answer 12

Netanyahu has been barred from actively taking part in the process of the judicial reform by the Attorney General, due to a conflict of interest stemming from his ongoing corruption trial.

Question 13

Who is Israel’s current Attorney General?

Answer 13

Gali Baharav-Miara

Question 14

What power does the Supreme Court in Israel currently have?

Answer 14

• Legislation etc. is subject to judicial review
• Can strike down laws which are in violation of Israel’s Basic Laws

Question 15

What’s the official name of Israel’s Supreme Court?

Answer 15

Hebrew: בֵּית מִשְׁפָּט גָּבוֹהַּ לְצֶדֶק, Beit Mishpat Gavo’ah LeTzedek; also known as its acronym Bagatz, בג”ץ

Question 16

How many members does the Supreme Court of Israel have?

Answer 16

15 judges

Question 17

Who appoints judges in the Supreme Court of Israel?

Answer 17

• Supreme Court Judges are appointed by the President of Israel,
• from names submitted by the Judicial Selection Committee,
• which is composed of nine members:
• 3 Supreme Court Judges (including the President of the Supreme Court), 2 cabinet ministers (one of them being the Minister of Justice), 2 Knesset members, and 2 representatives of the Israel Bar Association.
• Appointing Supreme Court Judges requires a majority of 7 of the 9 committee members, or two less than the number present at the meeting.

Question 18

How many cases has Israel’s Supreme Court struck down?

Answer 18

22 cases (since 1992)

Question 19

When did Israel’s Supreme Court assume the authority to exercise judicial review?

Answer 19

Since 1992, when the Basic Laws empowered the Supreme Court of Israel to exercise judicial review, and particularly since the 1995 United Mizrahi Bank ruling when the Court recognized this authority

Question 20

What happened in 1992 to change the rule of the Supreme Court in Israel?

Answer 20

• Introduction of Key Basic Laws: The enactment of “Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty” and “Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation” in 1992 provided a constitutional foundation for human rights and civil liberties in Israel.
• Empowerment of Judicial Review: These laws granted the Supreme Court of Israel the authority to exercise judicial review, enabling it to invalidate Knesset legislation that contradicted the principles enshrined in these Basic Laws.
• Enhancement of Checks and Balances: The 1992 changes significantly strengthened the checks and balances in Israel’s democratic system, particularly by enhancing the judiciary’s role in protecting individual rights and maintaining the rule of law.

Question 21

How is Israel’s current system of judicial review different to that of Britain’s?

Answer 21

Constitutional Framework:

• Israel has a de facto written constitution through its Basic Laws, especially after 1992, which include explicit protection of human rights.
• The UK operates under an unwritten constitution, primarily based on statutes, conventions, and court judgments.

Judicial Review:
* Israeli courts have the power to invalidate legislation that conflicts with the Basic Laws.
* UK courts cannot overturn primary legislation but can interpret it, especially in light of human rights standards.

Parliamentary Sovereignty:
* In Israel, the Knesset’s power is constitutionally constrained by the Basic Laws.
* The UK adheres to the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, where Parliament can make or repeal any law without legal constraints.

Question 22

What links Menachem Begin to Yariv Levin?

Answer 22

Menachem Begin was the Sandek at Levin’s circumcision ceremony.

Question 23

Explain the five points of the judicial review, briefly

Answer 23

• Judicial selection — The committee which is responsible for recommending the appointment of judges currently consists of serving judges, representatives of the Israel Bar Association, Knesset members and government Ministers, and is composed as such that agreement is required between these different groups. The proposed changes seek to change the composition of the committee, giving a majority of votes to the government and thus giving the government control over the selection and dismissal of all judges, including of the Supreme Court.
• Judicial review — The proposed changes seek to curb judicial review over legislation, including by explicitly legislating against the Supreme Court’s exercise of judicial review of Basic Laws, and requiring a full bench of Supreme Court justices to preside over any case in which the legality of regular legislation passed by the Knesset is evaluated, and 80% of them to rule for invalidation of such legislation.
• Knesset override — The proposed changes seek to allow the Knesset to overrule a decision by the Supreme Court on the legality of legislation, where the Knesset votes with a majority (of 61, out of 120 Knesset members) against the court decision.
• Legal advisers to government ministries — The proposed changes seek to reclassify ministry legal advisers from independent authorities, subject to the professional oversight of the Justice Ministry, to politically selected counsel whose opinions are explicitly non-binding upon the government and its ministers, thus allowing ministers to individually select and dismiss their legal advisors and decide whether or not to adhere to legal advice.
• Reasonableness — The proposed changes seek to limit the scope of judicial review of governmental and administrative decisions, by legislating against the concept of ‘reasonableness’. This would preclude the courts from hearing petitions or appeals against governmental and administrative decisions on the basis that such decisions are ‘unreasonable’.

Question 24

What is the planned change to the Judges Selection Committee?

Answer 24

• Expanding the committee to 11 members.
• Six political members: the Minister of Justice (chair), two additional ministers, and three Knesset committee chairs.
• Three judicial members: the President of the Supreme Court and two other Supreme Court judges.
• Two public representatives: chosen by the Minister of Justice, one being a lawyer.
• The new composition would give the government and political appointees a majority on the committee.

Question 25

What are the arguments FOR reforming the Judges Selection Committee?

Answer 25

• Juges and lawyers currently have veto power
• Only 4 out of 36 OECD countries appoint constitutional judges without the elected officials (Turkey, Greece, Luxembourg, UK) … and in the latter 2 they cannot void laws
• of the 36 OECD countries, Israel’s sole companions in giving a veto to non-elected officials over judicial appointed to the highest tribunal authorized to strike down parliament’s laws, are Greece and Turkey

Question 26

What are the arguments AGAINST reforming the Judges Selection Committee?

Answer 26

• While 31 of the 36 countries in the study have public representatives selecting the judges, in 24 of them, judges are selected in consultation with the judicial system and upon its recommendation.
• Further, while in most of these countries such a recommendation carries no legal force, in practice it is binding, as the public representatives listen to the judges’ recommendations and act upon them. As noted in a study, “the political culture in these countries is such that public representatives select the judges with the consent and blessing of the judicial system — a political culture completely different than that in Israel.”[43]
• The other developed countries, in which there is no appreciable involvement of the justice system in judicial selection, are almost all countries with constitutions. Some have a federal structure of several states, each with its own additional supreme court protecting the residents of that federal state. Most have bicameral legislatures not necessarily controlled by the party controlling the executive branch, and so the government’s power is decentralized. Usually judicial selection requires the consent of the government as well as both houses of parliament, and almost always the choice in the legislative chambers requires a large majority (usually two thirds of the votes, and even an absolute majority). In other words, the coalition, which does not rule alone and cannot appoint judges on its own, needs the consent of the opposition as well. None of this exists in Israel, and that completely changes the picture.”[44]

Question 27

What’s Israel’s reform re. ministry legal advisers?

Answer 27

Instead of being under the Attorney General, each Minister can appoint their own legal adviser, and their advice is non-binding

Question 28

Who was the former Attorney General in Israel?

Answer 28

Avichai Mandelblit

Question 29

How do other countries appoint their ministerial legal advisers? Give some examples

Answer 29

• In the United States, General Counsels to department secretaries are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate, indicating a more political appointment process.
• In Canada, however, the Department of Justice provides legal advice to the government and its various ministries, and Deputy Ministers responsible for this are appointed in a manner that is essentially professional, based on the candidate’s experience and abilities.

Question 30

How are Supereme court judges appointed in the United States?

Answer 30

Supreme court judges are appointed by the president, with the confirmation of the Senate

Question 31

What is the proposed reform to Israel’s Surpreme Court’s power of judicial review?

Answer 31

• Cannot challenge Basic Laws
• Regular laws - needs full judges to preside over it, 80% majority to annul it

Question 32

What is the proposed Override clause?

Answer 32

• Simple majority can override a Supreme Court nullification (when it was done not in full consensus)
• Simple majority can override a full consensus Supreme Court nullification if done by a different Knesset

Question 33

Israel Democracy Institute: “Every country has checks and balances that set limits on the power of the political majority. In Israel, however, —- is the sole balancing mechanism”

Answer 33

The Supreme Court

Question 34

Give the landmark example example of where the US Supreme Court struck down a law passed?

Answer 34

Case Background: Marbury v. Madison (1803) involved William Marbury, who was appointed to a government position but did not receive his official papers due to a change in administration. He sued Secretary of State James Madison to deliver these documents.

Supreme Court Ruling: The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, ruled that while Marbury had a right to his appointment, the Court could not legally force Madison to deliver the documents. This was because part of the Judiciary Act of 1789, under which Marbury sought relief, conflicted with the Constitution and was therefore invalid.

Establishment of Judicial Review: This case established the principle of judicial review in the United States, giving the Supreme Court the power to declare laws passed by Congress as unconstitutional, thereby shaping the balance of power among the branches of the federal government.

Question 35

What is the landmark Mizrahi case involving the Supreme Court?

Answer 35

“United Mizrahi Bank v. Migdal Cooperative Village” case (1995):

Agricultural Debt Laws Challenged: The case involves laws passed by Israel’s Knesset (parliament) in the early 1990s to help farmers by allowing debts to be restructured or cancelled. These laws were later amended to cover more debts.

Constitutional Conflict: The laws came into conflict with a Basic Law (like a constitutional law in Israel) called “Human Dignity and Liberty.” This Basic Law protects property rights and other fundamental rights.

Supreme Court Review: The Supreme Court of Israel had to decide whether these agricultural debt laws violated the Basic Law. They considered if the Knesset had the power to pass laws that might limit its future law-making.

Judges’ Diverse Opinions: All nine judges on the Supreme Court wrote their own opinions. They discussed ideas like the Knesset’s power, the role of Basic Laws in Israel, and how to balance legislative actions with constitutional principles.

Final Decision: The Court decided that while the agricultural debt laws did impact creditors’ property rights, they were still in line with the Basic Law’s requirements. This meant some of the laws stayed, but others were changed.

Landmark as shows the hierarchy of laws: Basic Laws being the highest and the authority of the Supreme Court to uphold this.

Question 36

How many Jews live in the West Bank?

Answer 36

In total, over 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the W est Bank excluding East Jerusalem,[56][57] with an additional 220,000 Jewish settlers residing in East Jerusalem.[28][29]

Question 37

Name 5 Palestinian cities in West Bank from North to South

Answer 37

Jenin
Nablus
Ramallah
Bethlehem
Hebron

Question 38

Which Palestinian city is separated from the main area where the others are in the West Bank?

Answer 38

Jericho (on the East)

Question 39

What is “pay for slay”?

Answer 39

Payments by PA to families of individuals wounded or killed during confrontations with Israel

E.g. the families of the 200 suicide bombers share in about $1 million.
Bibi claims that $350m goes to terrorists and their families

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/03/14/does-the-palestinian-authority-pay-350-million-a-year-to-terrorists-and-their-families/

Question 40

What is the “reasonableness” idea in the Judicial Reform?

Answer 40

To stop the Supreme Court blocking administrative actions besed on them being “unreasonable”

Question 41

What has Aryeh Deri been accused of?

Answer 41

• Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as the interior minister, and was given a three-year jail sentence in 2000. He was replaced by Eli Yishai.[8][9] Due to good behavior, Deri was released from Maasiyahu Prison in 2002, after serving 22 months.[10]
• on 28 December 2014, Channel 2 released video footage in which Ovadia Yosef, the founder of Shas, attacked Deri, calling him a wicked man and a thief
• On 23 January 2022, he resigned from the Knesset as part of a plea bargain.[18] Deri admitted to underreporting the value of property sold to his brother Shlomo Deri to avoid land tax, failure to report income from the sales and evading tax on NIS 534,000 of income, by funneling payments from Green Ocean investment fund to his brother

Question 42

What recent ruling did the Supreme Court give about Aryeh Deri?

Answer 42

On 18 January 2023, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that Deri was not allowed to hold a position as a cabinet minister due to his conviction for tax offenses.[3] As a result, Deri was consensually dismissed from the cabinet on 22 January; his dismissal went into effect on 24 January.[26] In his place, Deri chose Michael Malchieli as the acting Minister of Interior and Yoav Ben-Tzur as the acting Minister of Health.[27]

The High Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that the appointment of Shas leader Aryeh Deri as interior and health minister was “unreasonable in the extreme” due to his criminal convictions, most recently for tax fraud in 2022.

Question 43

What’s Israel’s Defense Service Law?

Answer 43

• Passed in 1949
• All Israeli citizens at age of 18
• Drafted or perform national service
• explicit exemptions for religious, pregnant, and married
  women

Question 44

Do Israel’s minorities draft into the army?

Answer 44

• Arabs [Muslims and Christians], Bedouins - no (not through law, but through army directives)
• Druze, Circassians - yes

Question 45

How did Haredim originally get out of the draft?

Answer 45

• 1948 exemption for those who “Torato Omanuto”
• Deal between Ben-Gurion and Haredi community
• Not legislation, but Defense Ministry regulation
• Defer army service until age when draft no longer applies (technically 40, but practically 30)

Question 46

Under whose government was the cap on Haredim not serving removed?

Answer 46

Menachem Begin, Likud, 1977

Question 47

How did 1998 ruling of Supreme Court affect the Haredi draft?

Answer 47

• Rubinstein v. The Minister of Defense
• Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that the defense minister had no legal authority to exempt Haredi men from conscription
• called on the Knesset to find a solution to the issue through legislation
• In his majority opinion, Supreme Court President Aharon Barak argued that torato omanuto violated the principle of equality, and that “the current situation, in which a significant portion of these individuals of service age do not risk their lives for the security of the State is very discriminatory.”

Question 48

What is the Tal Law?

Answer 48

• The, the Knesset passed the so-called Tal Law in July 2002
• implemented as a temporary measure that could be
  renewed by the Knesset every five years.
  The Tal Law permitted full-time yeshiva students to postpone their conscription into the IDF until age 23,
• after which they could choose to participate in a shortened, 16-month stint of IDF service; do a year of civilian national service; or continue studying full-time in yeshiva.
• The goal of this arrangement was to pave the way for Haredi men to join the workforce earlier and non-coercively encourage conscription among Haredim

Question 49

Was the Tal Law effective in getting Haredim to serve?

Answer 49

No
Less than 1500 volunteering by 2010

Question 50

Why was the Tal Law struck down in 2012?

Answer 50

Violating Basic Law: Human
Dignity

Question 51

What Haredi draft legislation was passed in 2014?

Answer 51

• Coalition including Bibi and Yesh Atid
• Sharing the burden
• 60% of men to be drafted by 2017
• If not, ALL to be drafted (and face criminal penalties if don’t)

Question 52

What is the current exemption status for Haredim?

Answer 52

Under this temporary system, Haredi men are
required to stay in yeshiva until age 26, after which they are permanently exempt from service.

Question 53

What is the current draft bill re. Haredi draft?

Answer 53

• While not yet finalized, the new draft bill is expected to lower the exemption age from 26, where it currently sits, to 23,
• meaning thatHaredim would have the option to leave yeshiva and join the workforce earlier without fear of being drafted.
• As a consolation for non-Haredi Jews, the government will also move to reduce the term of service for those who do serve to two years (men typically serve 32 months), increase benefits for conscripts, and raise salaries for those who serve beyond the minimum two-year term.

Question 54

What is the population of Israel?

Answer 54

9.73m
(definition: the CBS defines the population of Israel to also include Israeli settlers living in the Area C of West Bank and the Muslim residents of East Jerusalem and Area C, who have Israeli residency or citizenship.)

Question 55

How many Israelis live in East Jerusalem, West Bank, Golan Heights?

Answer 55

• 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem,
• with an additional 220,000 Jewish settlers residing in East Jerusalem.
• Additionally, over 20,000 Israeli citizens live in settlements in the Golan Heights.

Question 56

What is the ethnic breakdown of Israel?

Answer 56

Jews 7,181,000 – 73%
Arabs 2,065,000 – 21%
Other 549,000 – 6%
Total 9,795,000 – 100%

Question 57

What is the ethnic makeup of the Jews in Israel?

Answer 57

Mizrahi 44.9
Ashkenazi 31.8
Soviet 12.4
Beta Israel 3
Mix 7.9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel

Question 58

What is religious breakdown of Jews in Israel?

Answer 58

In 2022:
* 45% of Israel Jews self-identified as “secular”;
* 10% as haredi (ultra-orthodox);
* and 12% as dati (lit. ’religious’ or ‘orthodox’, including religious zionist).
* 33% as masorti (lit. ’traditional’);

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Israel#:~:text=In%202022%2C%2045%25%20of%20Israel,’%2C%20including%20religious%20zionist).

Question 59

What percentage of Israel are Haredim?

Answer 59

• 13% of Israel population
• expected to grow to 16% by 2030
• The growth rate of the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) population in Israel is the highest of any of the populations in developed countries, at around 4% per year

https://en.idi.org.il/haredi/2022/?chapter=48263

Question 60

Who argued that the Basic Laws should be treated as Israel’s constitution?

Answer 60

Aharon Barak
The Israeli Supreme Court President Aharon Barak ruled that the Basic Laws should be considered the state’s constitution, and that became the common approach throughout his tenure (1995-2006)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Laws_of_Israel

Question 61

What is the Harari Resolution?

Answer 61

• Harari is best known as initiator of the Harari Resolution (הַחְלָטַת הֲרָרִי‎; also referred to as the Harari Proposal) of 13 June 1950, a landmark in Israeli constitutional law.
• According to this proposal “the First Knesset assigns to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee the preparation of a proposed constitution for the state.
• The constitution will be made up of chapters, each of which will constitute a separate basic law.
• The chapters will be brought to the Knesset, as the Committee completes its work, and all the chapters together will constitute the constitution of the state.”
• Following the passing of this resolution, the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee set up a sub-committee on the Constitution.
• Several Basic Laws have been enacted since, and yet Israel still has no formal constitution.[2]

Question 62

How many Basic Laws are there?

Answer 62

14

Question 63

How do you say Basic Lasws in Hebrew?

Answer 63

חוקי היסוד

Question 64

Which political party ruled for around the first 30 years of the State of Israel?

Answer 64

Until the 1977 Knesset election, Israel was ruled by successive coalition governments led by Mapai or the Mapai-dominated Alignment.
Mapai (Hebrew: מַפָּא”י, an acronym for מִפְלֶגֶת פּוֹעֲלֵי אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael, lit. “Workers’ Party of the Land of Israel”) was a democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the modern-day Israeli Labor Party in 1968

Question 65

Which party won the elections in 1977 Israel?

Answer 65

Menachem Begin’s centre-to-right Revisionist Zionist Likud bloc

Question 66

In what way was 1977 a significant year in Israeli politics?

Answer 66

Likud’s landslide victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country’s political history, marking the first time the left had lost power. In addition, it was the first time in Israel that a right-wing party won the plurality of the votes

Question 67

Likkud ruled from 1977 until when?

Answer 67

After ruling the country for most of the 1980s, the party lost the Knesset election in 1992.

Question 68

Who founded Likkud?

Answer 68

It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing parties

Question 69

List the Prime Ministers of Israel

Answer 69

30 years of the left…
* David Ben-Gurion (Mapai) - 1948–1954
* Moshe Sharett (Mapai) - 1954–1955
* David Ben-Gurion (Mapai) - 1955–1963
* Levi Eshkol (Mapai, later the Alignment) - 1963–1969
* Golda Meir (Alignment) - 1969–1974
* Yitzhak Rabin (Alignment) - 1974–1977

The right takes the reigns
* Menachem Begin (Likud) - 1977–1983
* Yitzhak Shamir (Likud) - 1983–1984
* Shimon Peres (Alignment) - 1984–1986
* Yitzhak Shamir (Likud) - 1986–1992

Labour are back
* Yitzhak Rabin (Labor Party) - 1992–1995
* Shimon Peres (Labor Party) - 1995–1996

But not for long…
* Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) - 1996–1999
* Ehud Barak (Labor Party) - 1999–2001
* Ariel Sharon (Likud, later Kadima) - 2001–2006
* Ehud Olmert (Kadima) - 2006–2009
* Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) - 2009–2021
* Naftali Bennett (Yamina) - 2021–2022
* Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) - 2022
* Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) - 2022-23

Question 70

What number Israeli government are we currently on?

Answer 70

37th

Question 71

Who are the 7 parties of the coalition?

Answer 71

• Likud (32) Netanyahu
• Shas (11) Aryeh Deri
• United Torah Judaism (7) Moshe Gafni
• Religious Zionist Party (7) Betzalel Smotrich
• Otzma Yehudit (6) Itamar Ben-Gvir
• Noam (1) Avi Maoz
  …..
• National Unity (12) Benny Gantz

Question 72

Who is Israel’s National Security Adviser?

Answer 72

Tzahi Hanegbi

Question 73

2 settlements to the south of Jerusalem

Answer 73

Gilo
Har Homa

Question 74

1 settlement in the East of East Jerusalem?

Answer 74

East Talpiyot

Question 75

5 settlements in the north of East Jerusalem?

Answer 75

• Ramat Shlomo
• Ramat Eshkol
• Ramot
• Pisgat Zev
• Neve Yaakov

Question 76

What large Jewish city is to the East of Jerusalem?

Answer 76

Maale Adumim

Question 77

What were the original names of Israel’s first four PMs?

Answer 77

David Ben-Gurion had been born David Gruen. Moshe Sharett was born Moshe Shertok; Levi Eshkol was originally Levi Shkolnik. Golda Meir (Israel’s first female prime minister) had been Golda Meyerson.

Gordis, Daniel. Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn (p. 5). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Question 78

In Russia in the 1800s, Jews were confined to live mostly in which area?

Answer 78

The Pale of Settlement
…
The Pale of Settlement[a] was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (de facto until 1915) in which permanent residency by Jews was allowed and beyond which Jewish residency, permanent or temporary,[1] was mostly forbidden

Question 79

What was the haskalah?

Answer 79

A movement that began in the 1770s and lasted until the 1880s, the haskalah sought to reform the Jewish emphasis on tradition and collectivism and to import into Jewish society a more rational, analytical, intellectual, and individualistic way of life.

Gordis, Daniel. Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn (p. 13). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Question 80

When and where was the first Zionist Congress?

Answer 80

Basel, 1897

Question 81

Which journalist / novelist came to the defense of Dreyfus?

Answer 81

Emile Zola in J’Accuse (accusing the government of both flagrant anti-Semitism and of unfairly jailing Dreyfus)

Question 82

What was Herzl’s best known book?

Answer 82

The Jewish State

Question 83

Who published the first modern Hebrew novel in 1853?

Answer 83

Avraham Mapu
(The Love of Zion, was set in ancient biblical Israel, during the period of the prophet Isaiah.)

Question 84

Who wrote the Zionist work Rome and Jerusalem in 1862?

Answer 84

Moshe Hess
…
he argued that for Jews, Europe’s welcome would forever be tenuous. “We shall always remain strangers among the nations. They may tolerate us and even grant us emancipation, but they will never respect us as long as we place the principle ubi bene ibi patria [wherever things go well, there is one’s homeland] above our own great national memories,” he wrote.27 Jews should return to Palestine, he said—the ancestral homeland of which they had dreamed and spoken for millennia—where they should work the land and create a socialist society.

Question 85

A year after the 1881 pogroms he wrote Auto-Emancipation, which he subtitled “A Warning to His Fellow People, from a Russian Jew” and in which he urged Jews to seek a national rebirth and independence.

Who wrote it?

Answer 85

Leon Pinsker

Question 86

When was the Al-Aqsa mosque built?

Answer 86

691–692 CE

Gordis, Daniel. Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn (p. 35). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Question 87

From 733 to 732 BCE, which Assyrian king annexed the Galilee and Transjordan, deporting a large portion of the inhabitants?

Answer 87

Tiglath-Pileser III

Question 88

Which two rivers flow through Iraq and into the Persian Gulf?

Answer 88

Euprhates and Tigris

Question 89

Who was the son of Solomon, under whom the kingdom divided?

Answer 89

Rehoboam

Question 90

When was the first Temple destroyed?

Answer 90

586 BCE

Question 91

Which prophet witnessed the fall of Jerusalem and the first Temple?

Answer 91

Jeremiah

Question 92

In 130 CE, the emperor Hadrian announced plans to rebuild Jerusalem. What name did he call it?

Answer 92

Aelia Capitolina

Question 93

When was Bar Kokhba’s revolt?

Answer 93

132-5 CE

Question 94

When and where was the Protocols of the Elders of Zion published?

Answer 94

Imperial Russia, 1903

Question 95

When did the Kishniev pogrom take place?

Answer 95

1903

Question 96

What plan was mooted at the 6th Zionist Congress?

Answer 96

Uganda Plan

Question 97

Asher Zvi Ginzberg is better known by his pen name …

Answer 97

Ahad Ha’am

Question 98

In what way did Ahad Ha’am argue with Herzl?

Answer 98

State would be a mistake
Focus should be on setting up a colony that can provide spirtual influence

Question 99

Who was Arthur Ruppin?

Answer 99

An economist who held a senior position in the Jewish Agency

Question 100

Who founded Revisionist Zionism?

Answer 100

Ze’ev Jabotinsky

Question 101

What is the name for Revisionist Zionim’s youth movement?

Answer 101

Betar

Question 102

Which leader stressed the importance of working the land?

Answer 102

A.D. Gordon
Philosopher of Labour Zionism

Question 103

Which leader stressed the importance of a Jew being strong/physical (aligned with Jabotinsky)?

Answer 103

Max Nordau

Question 104

Who wrote the poem “City of Slaughter” about the Kishniev massacre?

Answer 104

Chayam Nachman Bialik

Question 105

Who argued that Zionism needed to be a revolt against Judaism?

Answer 105

Micha Josef Berdyczewski

Question 106

What was religious Zionim’s first significant organization?

Answer 106

Mizrahi
(joined the Fifth Zionist Congress)

Question 107

Who argued that religion was the cancer that had destroyed the Jew

Answer 107

Bialik

Question 108

What was the area called where Jews lived pre-State?

Answer 108

Yishuv

Question 109

Since when did the Ottomans control Palestine?

Answer 109

1517

Question 110

Describe Jewish life in Israel in 1870

Answer 110

• twenty-seven thousand Jews already living in Palestine,
• concentrated primarily in Jerusalem, where they constituted a majority.
• These Jews were almost exclusively poor, deeply religious, and committed to having as little to do as possible with people outside their community
• Old Yishuv

Question 111

What was the First Aliyah?

Answer 111

Wave of immigration to Israel, began in 1882 and continued, with breaks, until 1903.

Question 112

Which two organizations were central to the First Aliyah?

Answer 112

The first was Hovevei Zion (“Lovers of Zion”), which Pinsker had helped create. The second, known as Bilu, was composed of a tiny group of university students (called Biluim), who in spite of their small numbers—and relatively minimal accomplishments—became legendary for their passion and fervor and for the settlement they helped establish, Gedera.

Question 113

When did Rav Kook die?

Answer 113

1935

Question 114

Who is the father of modern Hebrew?

Answer 114

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda

Question 115

Who won Israel’s first Nobel prize?

Answer 115

Shmuel Yosef (Shai) Czaczkes,

aka Shai Agnon

Question 116

Who was the “Benefactor” who gave money to the early settlments of the Yishuv?

Answer 116

Baron Edmond de Rothschild
(By the turn of the century, his monetary assistance totaled $6 million, equivalent today to almost $150 million.)

Question 117

How many came on the First Aliyah?

Answer 117

Twenty to thirty thousand Jews to Palestine. Yet some 60 to 90 percent of these early immigrants ended up leaving just a few years after they arrived.

Question 118

When was the Second Aliyah?

Answer 118

Second Aliyah (1904–1914) began. During this period, approximately forty thousand Jewish immigrants made their way to the Land of Israel, mostly from eastern Europe.

Question 119

What were some of the acheivements of the Second Aliyah?

Answer 119

• First Kibbutz - Degania
• First self-defence org
• Founding of Tel Aviv

Question 120

Who was the main cultural icon of the Second Aliyah?

Answer 120

Yosef Chaim Brenner

Question 121

When was the peak of kibbutzim? (in terms of % of population working there)

Answer 121

At its peak in 1947, the kibbutzim accounted for only 7 percent of the Jews living in the Yishuv.

Question 122

When was Tel Aviv founded, and what’s the significance of the name?

Answer 122

• In 1909, Tel Aviv was born. “Tel Aviv” was the title of the Hebrew translation of Herzl’s utopian novel, Altneuland.
• Some sixty modest professionals decided to create the first “Jewish suburb” in Palestine just north of Jaffa.
• For some it was to be a Palestinian Odessa. For others it was to be Vienna on the Mediterranean.

Question 123

Who was Menachem Ussishkin?

Answer 123

Russian-born Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund.

Question 124

What was the first Hebrew speaking city?

Answer 124

Tel Aviv

Question 125

His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.

Who said this?

Answer 125

Balfour
1917

Question 126

Who said: “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”

Answer 126

Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary, about WW1

Question 127

What was the Zion Mule Corps? Name two members

Answer 127

Jewish military unit on the side of the British, fighting against the Turks WW1
Members: Jabotinsky, Trumpledor

Question 128

What is the Armenian Genocide?

Answer 128

• Time and Location: Occurred during World War I (1915-1923) in the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey).
• Victims and Scale: Targeted the Armenian population, resulting in the death of approximately 1.5 million Armenians through mass killings and forced marches.
• Legacy and Recognition: Recognized as genocide by numerous countries and entities, it remains a contentious issue with some denial, notably by Turkey. Commemorated annually on April 24th as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

Question 129

Who were Nili?

Answer 129

• Spy ring in WW1, to assist the British against the Turks
• Led by Aaronsohn family

Question 130

How did Weizmann have such good access to British Government officials?

Answer 130

• Director of British admirality laboratories
• Developed acetone, ingredient for explosives and important for WW1

Question 131

What political change in UK happened in 1916 to help the Zionist cause?

Answer 131

David Lloyd George became Prime Minister
…
“And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, and future hopes of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land. In my opinion that is right.”

Question 132

Who was Edmund Allenby?

Answer 132

• British Campaign in the Middle East: Allenby was the commander of the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force during World War I.
• Conquest of Jerusalem: He is most renowned for his successful campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the region, which culminated in the capture of Jerusalem in December 1917. This was a significant military and symbolic victory for the Allies.
• Impact on the Region: Allenby’s victories in this region were pivotal in the eventual dismantling of the Ottoman Empire and the reshaping of the Middle East, including the area that would become the State of Israel. His actions had far-reaching consequences for the post-war political landscape in the Middle East.

Question 133

When and where was Hebrew University set up?

Answer 133

1918, Mount Scopus

Question 134

When was the 3rd Aliyah?

Answer 134

Palestine. The Third Aliyah (1919–1923) brought 35,000 people to Palestine.

Question 135

When did the Yishuv hold its first election?

Answer 135

1920
…
Continuing the voting tradition of the World Zionist Organization from Herzl’s day, parties were allocated seats proportionally, based on the percentage of the vote that they received. A party that received 30 percent of the vote would be awarded 30 percent of the seats, and so forth.
In fact, no party would ever win an outright majority in any subsequent vote, either in the Yishuv’s Assembly of Representatives or in the Israeli parliament, which would replace it after independence.

Question 136

What was the Council of Four Lands?

Answer 136

• Time Period: Existed from the 16th to the 18th century (approximately 1580 to 1764).
• Geographical Scope: It was based in Poland, which at the time included parts of present-day Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.
• Jewish Autonomy: The Council was a central body of Jewish autonomy in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, governing Jewish communities.
• Function: It handled internal Jewish matters, including religious affairs, education, and taxation, and represented the Jewish community to the Polish monarchy and nobility.
• Composition: The “Four Lands” referred to in its name were Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Volhynia, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, each sending representatives to the Council.

Question 137

By the early twentieth century, European Jews had been voting, legislating, and taxing themselves for some 350 years. How is this true?

Answer 137

The Council of Four Lands was democratically elected, started 1580 approx

Question 138

What happened at San Remo? What was the Arab response?

Answer 138

• 1920 - WW1 victors (Britain, France, Japan, Italy) recognised Balfour Declaration
• Arab riots - Jerusalem 1920 killing six, Jaffa 1921 killing four dozen (including Yosef Chaim Brenner)

Question 139

How did Churchill harm Zionist aspirations in 1921?

Answer 139

As Secretary of State for Colonies he redraw the map of the middle East, and created Transjordan (later Jordan)
Three quarters of expected future Jewish state thus given away

Question 140

Who said: “[T]he only way to obtain such an agreement, is the iron wall, which is to say a strong power in Palestine that is not amenable to any Arab pressure. In other words, the only way to reach an agreement in the future is to abandon all idea of seeking an agreement at present.”

Answer 140

Jabotinsky

Question 141

What is the Temple Mount in Arabic?

Answer 141

al-Haram al-Sharif

Question 142

What happened in the 1929 Arab riots?

Answer 142

133 dead; 67 in Hebron
August 1929, on the Jewish Sabbath, Arab mobs, wielding clubs, knives, and axes, began to surround the Jewish community of Hebron. Arab women and children threw stones at the Jews, while men ransacked Jewish homes and destroyed Jewish property.
…
The Hebron massacre was the killing of sixty-seven or sixty-nine Jews on 24 August 1929 in Hebron, then part of Mandatory Palestine, by Arabs incited to violence by rumors that Jews were planning to seize control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The event also left scores seriously wounded or maimed.

Question 143

What policy was the watchword of the early Haganah?

Answer 143

halvagah - restraint
(They could prevent attacks to the best of their abilities, but they were not to initiate any actions before they learned that an attack was being planned.)

Question 144

In 1931, which group broke away from the Haganah? They would take battle to the enemy

Answer 144

Haganah Bet
later: Irgun Tzve’ai Le’umi
Supreme Commander was Jabotinsky

Question 145

What was David Ben Gurion’s first job on arriving in Palestine?

Answer 145

Working the orange groves of Petach Tikvah

Question 146

What was the name of the Yishuv’s labour union?

Answer 146

The Histadrut

Question 146

Who was one of the heads of the Jewish Agency’s political departments, effectively its foreign minister (during the time of the Yishuv)?

Answer 146

Chaim Arlosoroff

Question 146

What was the pre-WW2 plan that moved 20,000 Jews from Germany to Palestine as well as $30m?

Answer 146

Ha’avarah (transfer agreement)

Question 147

What was the backlash within Palestine over the ha’avarah?

Answer 147

Strong opposition from Jabotinsky (revisionists), leading to assassination of Arlosoroff in 1933

Question 148

What anti-Jewish policies were passed in Germany in 1935?

Answer 148

The Nuremberg Laws

Question 149

What cultural event was set up by the Yishuv in 1932?

Answer 149

Maccabiah Games

Question 150

What was the Arab Revolt in the 30s?

Answer 150

1936-9
Violence to resist the Yishuv’s development and Jewish immigration

Question 151

What was the Peel Commission?

Answer 151

1936-7
Led by Lord William Robert Peel
To survey the land and hear from both sides
Report suggest partition: 20% to Jews, 70-75% to Arabs

Question 152

What was the name of the mufti of Jerusalem?

Answer 152

Haj Amin al-Husseini

Question 153

What happened on Kristallnacht?

Answer 153

Marked the beginning of the Holocaust
November 9-10, 1938
Across Germany and Austria, Jewish homes, synaogogues, and businesses destroyed
26,000 Jews sent to concentration camps

Question 154

Where did the term “Shoah” come from?

Answer 154

• Used in the Yishuv a month after Kristallnacht
• From the book of Zephania
• Unprecedented calamity

Question 155

What was the White Paper?

Answer 155

1939 British policy, that accepted most of the Arab demands from the 1936-39 Arab Revolt:
* Jewish immigration restricted (75,000 over 5 years)
* Restriction of Jewish purchase of land in many areas
* 10 year plan for Palestine to become a state (with Arab majority)

Question 156

What was Ben-Gurion’s policy towards the British at the time of WW2?

Answer 156

“We will fight with the British against Hitler as if there were no White Paper; we will fight the White Paper as if there were no war.”

Question 157

What were the illegal immigrants to Israel known as?

Answer 157

ma’apilim

Question 158

Where was the biggest detainment camp for illegal immigrants?

Answer 158

Atlit
(South of Haifa)

Question 159

How many people from the Yishuv joined the British army?

Answer 159

30,000

Question 160

What strike force did the Haganah set up in 1941 to protect the yishuv?

Answer 160

Palmach

Question 161

What was the Nazi conference in 1942 to discuss the Final Sollution?

Answer 161

Wannsee Conference

Question 162

Where did Field Marshall Rommell reach in 1942?

Answer 162

El Alamein (Egpyt)

Question 163

Who was the head of Betar in Poland?

Answer 163

Menachem Begin

Question 164

Who was the leader of the revolt against the British in Palestine during WW2?

Answer 164

Menachem Begin (as head of the Irgun)

Question 165

What extermist group splintered from the Irgun in 1940?

Answer 165

Lechi (Lochamei Cherut Ysirael)
Stern Gang
Led by Avrham Stern

Question 166

What was the Saison (Nov 44 - March 45)?

Answer 166

Hunting Season
Palmach searched for members of Irgun and Lechi, and handed them over to the British

Question 167

What was Begin’s position during the Saison?

Answer 167

Continued fighting the British
Would not fight against the Haganah
(1944-45)

Question 168

Why did the 3 armed forces in Israel come together in 1945?

Answer 168

Haganah, Irgun, Lechi come together to fight against British who were upholding the White Paper (and restricted immigration)

Question 169

What was Black Sabbath?

Answer 169

1946
Jewish cities under lockdown
Raids by British
2,700 Jews arrested

Question 170

What major attack was carried out in Palestine in 1946?

Answer 170

Bombing of King David Hotel
By the Irgun
HQ for British command
91 people died

Question 171

Why did Weizmann lose his reputation in the World Zionist Congress of 1946?

Answer 171

He argued for peace with the British, but he lost the vote to Ben Gurion who aruged for resistance

Question 172

How many soldiers were guarding the Mandate after WW2?

Answer 172

100,000
(one tenth of army)

Question 173

What was UNSCOP?

Answer 173

United Nations Special Committee on Palestine - representation from 11 countries - charged in 1947 to find a solution for Palestine

Question 174

Compare UNSCOP vs. Peel Report? What was better for the Jews?

Answer 174

UNSCOP better (55% vs. 45%, although much of it desert)
as opposed to Peel Report (20% vs. 80%)

Question 175

What is UN Resolution for Israel to withdraw from its captured territories in 1967?

Answer 175

Resolution 242

Question 176

What resolution was discussed by the UN to set up the State of Israel?

Answer 176

Resolution 181

Question 177

What arguments did th USA consider against the setting up of the State?

Answer 177

George Marshall, Secretary of State, was staunchly anti a Jewish state
CIA warned that it could only last 2 years, and then the USA would get sucked into a war

Question 178

Who were the Lamed Hey?

Answer 178

• Siege of Etzion bloc in early 1948
• Thousand Arab villagers against hundreds of Jewish men
• Jan 16 1948, 35 men, brightest of Hebrew U, set out to provide relief (from the Palmach)
• They were ambushed and killed

Question 179

What were the 2 phases of the War of Independence?

Answer 179

• November 1947 to May 1948 (more like civil war)
• May 1948 to early 1949 (war involving armies)

Question 180

What were the hidden stashes of weapons and ammunition in War of Indpendence called?

Answer 180

“slicks”
1500 of them by 1948
Those who knew about them were sworn to secrecy

Question 181

What was the impact of Ben Gurion’s Plan Dalet in March 1948?

Answer 181

By Declaration of State, some three hundred thousand Arabs had left Palestine (Jewish state area)
…
Plan Dalet (Hebrew: תוכנית ד’, Tokhnit dalet “Plan D”) was a Zionist military plan executed in the civil war phase of the 1948 Palestine war for the conquest of territory in Mandatory Palestine in preparation for the establishment of a Jewish state.[1] The plan was requested by the Jewish Agency leader and later first prime minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion, and developed by the Haganah and finalized on March 10, 1948.

The plan was a set of guidelines to take control of Mandatory Palestine, declare a Jewish state, and defend its borders and people, including the Jewish population outside of the borders, “before, and in anticipation of” the invasion by regular Arab armies.[2][3] According to the Israeli Yehoshafat Harkabi, Plan Dalet called for the conquest of Arab towns and villages inside and along the borders of the area allocated to the proposed Jewish State in the UN Partition Plan.[4] In case of resistance, the population of conquered villages was to be expelled outside the borders of the Jewish state. If no resistance was met, the residents could stay put, under military rule.[qt 1][5][6][7]

Plan Dalet specifically spoke of gaining control of areas outside the borders of the Jewish state wherever Yishuv populations existed.[8] The issue is subject to much controversy, with some historians asserting that it was defensive, while other historians assert that the plan aimed at the expulsion, sometimes called an ethnic cleansing, on the grounds that this was an integral part of a planned strategy.

Question 182

Which country supplied the Jews with arms in April 1948 to help turn the tide of war in their favour?

Answer 182

Czechoslovakia
(one of the few countries willing to violate the international arms embargo)

Question 183

Arms delivered to Israel by Czechoslovakia, in 1948, was signed by their Foreign Minister, called…

Answer 183

Jan Masaryk
…
Son of Thomas Masaryk (a great friend and supporter to Israel)

Question 184

What’s the significance of Deir Yassin in the War of Independence?

Answer 184

• Fought by Irgun and Lechi
• April 9th 1948
• Arabs using this village to shoot onto roads into Jerusalem
• Loudspeakers, not heard, giving choice: leave or surrender
• Panic - Arabs killed - 100-250
• Claims of rape, denied
• Part of claim by Arabs that Israel “born in sin”

Question 185

What happened to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus during the War of Independence?

Answer 185

• April 13, 1948
• Caravan of vehicles headed to hospital ambushed
• Two buses remained trapped
• Massacre of 78 Jewish people
• Closed until reopening in 1967

Question 186

Who was the King of Jordan at the time of Independence?

Answer 186

King Abdullah

Question 187

When did the British Mandate of Palistine end?

Answer 187

May 14, 1948

Question 188

How much did the Jewish poppulation increase under the British?

Answer 188

Tenfold
From 56K to 600K

Question 189

What day of the week was the State established?

Answer 189

Friday (14 May, 1948)

Question 190

Who said the she’he’cheyanu blessing at the State’s declaration?

Answer 190

R’ Yehuda Leib Fishman-Maimon

Question 191

Who was the IDF’s head of operations during the War of Independence?

Answer 191

Yigal Yadin

Question 192

Who conqured the Old City in the War of Independence?

Answer 192

Arab Legion
Jordanians

Question 193

What were the mortar weapons used by Israel in the War of Indpendence called and what was their best quality?

Answer 193

Davidka
Loud noise and bright flash (causing panic and fleeing in local Arab populations such as in the battle for Safed in May 1948)

Question 194

How was beseiged Jerusalem supplied during the War of Independence?

Answer 194

Burma Roud route

Question 195

What was ironic about the Czech arms delivered to Israel in War of Independence?

Answer 195

some of the arms and uniforms had swastikas on (they were previously produced for the Nazi regime)

Question 196

Which planes were used by Israel to help turn the tide of the war of Independence?

Answer 196

Messerschmitts

Question 197

What was the Altalena?

Answer 197

• June 1948
• Weapons on ship, organized by Irgun
• IDF demand weapons
• Fight between IDF and Irgun
• 19 men in total died
• Potential civil war
• Begin calls for restraint

Question 198

How many Arab towns and villages did the Jews conquer during the 1948 War?

Answer 198

400

Question 199

How many Jews were forced to leave Arab countries after its founding?

Answer 199

more than 850,000 Jews were forced to leave their homes in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Morocco, and several other Arab countries in the 20 years that followed the Arab-Israeli war of 1948

Question 199

How many Arabs were forced to flee from Israel in the 1948 War?

Answer 199

700,000

Question 200

Who was the UN Lead Negotiator on the 1948 War?

Answer 200

Folke Bernadotte (Swedish dimplomat)
…
On September 17, 1948, four Lechi members, taking the matter into their own hands, donned IDF uniforms and assassinated Bernadotte, with the yet-unpublished draft of his plan in hand, in west Jerusalem.

During the summer of 1948, Count Folke Bernadotte was sent by the UN to Palestine to mediate a truce and try to negotiate a settlement. Bernadotte’s plan called for the following:

That the State of Israel surrender the Negev to the Arab State;
That international Jerusalem with a large Jewish majority be turned over to the Arabs;
That the port of Haifa, belonging to Israel, become a “free” port;
That the airport of Lydda, belonging to Israel, also become “free”;
That immigration to Israel be limited or suspended, depending on the desire of the Arabs in their neighboring state, after two years of free immigration.
The Arabs were expected to trade Western Galilee, occupied by Israeli troops, for the larger Negev. They were not asked to make any concessions from the rights allotted to them by the partition plan. They were asked merely to recognize the State of Israel, which, according to the plan of the mediator, would no longer be independent, since he envisaged economic union between the Arab and Jewish States of Palestine, a common defense or military union, and dependence of Jewish immigration to Israel on Arab consent. The Israelis were expected to extend the same courtesy and recognize the Arab State in Palestine.

This was similar to the boundaries that had been proposed prior to the partition vote and had been rejected by all sides. Bernadotte offered the proposal after the Arabs had gone to war to prevent partition and a Jewish state had been declared. The Jews and Arabs both rejected the plan.

Ironically, Bernadotte found little enthusiasm among the Arabs for independence. He wrote in his diary:

The Palestinian Arabs had at present no will of their own. Neither have they ever developed any specifically Palestinian nationalism. The demand for a separate Arab state in Palestine is consequently relatively weak. It would seem as though in existing circumstances most of the Palestinian Arabs would be quite content to be incorporated in Transjordan.

Bernadotte was subsequently assassinated by members of the Lehi Jewish underground group.

Question 201

Who was David Remez?

Answer 201

Minister of transportation (at declaration of State) and Signatory on Declaration of Independence

Question 202

How many Jews died in the 1948 War?

Answer 202

6,000
About 1% of the population

Question 203

What do Palestinian Arabs refer to 1948 as?

Answer 203

The Nakba

Question 204

What party did Begin lead at the beginning of the State?

Answer 204

Herut

Question 205

Which 2 parties did Ben-Gurion refuse to have as part of his coalition?

Answer 205

Communists
Menachem Begin

Question 206

Robert Frost: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there,…

Answer 206

they have to take you in”

Question 207

What is the law of Return?

Answer 207

Passed in 1950
Every Jew has the right to emigrate to Israel
and another law: they get full citizenship immediately

Question 208

What was the largest single migration in 20th century (relative to the size of the population)

Answer 208

First 3 years of State, population doubles

Question 209

In 1948, 6% of Jews lived in Israel, by 2015 it was…

Answer 209

46%

Question 210

Between 1948 and 1951, a period of merely three years, over XX percent of the Jews from Islamic countries immigrated to Israel.

Answer 210

37%

Question 211

How did Iraq stop mass migration to Israel after founding of State?

Answer 211

from 1951
Freezing assets
forbidding taking of assets with them to Israel

Question 212

What was Operation Magic Carpet?

Answer 212

Entire Yemen Jewish community flown to Israel between June 1949 and September 1950 (~50k Jews)

Question 213

Israel developed —, designed to alleviate the terrible conditions of the immigrant camps and to serve as temporary dwelling places until “real” housing was available.

Answer 213

ma’abarot (“transit camps”)

Question 214

Why did Ben Gurion delay ratifying a constitution?

Answer 214

Israel’s Declaration of Independence, for example, had stipulated that the Knesset would ratify a constitution by October 1, 1948. But Ben-Gurion was anxious to avoid the battles between the fledgling state’s religious and secular powers, a political and cultural conflict that might derail his efforts at state-building. Ben-Gurion also understood that a constitution might well create a judiciary that could strike down laws, would entrench the electoral system of proportional representation that made it impossible for a party to win a majority, and could, in myriad ways, curtail the powers of the prime minister.* For the long run, he favored a role for the prime minister that would be governed by standard democratic limits, but for the time being, he felt that he needed the broad powers that not defining his role allowed him.* So he delayed the adoption of a constitution—a document that to this day Israel has never ratified.

Gordis, Daniel. Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn (pp. 207-208). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Question 215

What was Ben Gurion’s focus on statehood culture called?

Answer 215

mamlachtiyut

Question 216

What religious state laws were enacted from the beginning? Israel

Answer 216

The Sabbath would be a public day of rest,
government and army kitchens would be kosher,
religious law would govern matters of personal status such as marriage, divorce, and conversion,
and the religious communities would maintain their autonomy in matters of education.

Question 217

What concessions did the haredim get at the beginning of the state by being part of the coalition?

Answer 217

(1) to establish an independent school system (in which students were taught virtually no non-religious subjects) and (2) to procure an exemption from military service for their sons so that the young men could continue studying in yeshivot and be spared exposure to the secular Jews they would undoubtedly encounter during military service.

Question 218

How many Haredi draft exemptions are given each year - beginning of State vs. 2010?

Answer 218

Whereas in Ben-Gurion’s time, 400 exemptions from military service were given each year, by 2010, the number of Haredim excused from military service through the same arrangement would reach 62,500 annually

Question 219

After the War of Independence, what % of Israel was Arab?

Answer 219

About 20%

Question 220

How were Arabs in Israel treated at the beginning?

Answer 220

Until 1966, they were under martial law…
Under the military government, Israel’s Arabs were tried by military courts and their freedom of movement was restricted (they had to obtain permission to leave their villages), opportunities for higher education were de facto severely limited, and employment in the center of the country was difficult to find. Even elementary education was affected; under the military administration, the security services determined who could teach in Arab schools, and not always on the basis of their pedagogical skills.

Question 221

Which Diaspora community irked Ben Gurion?

Answer 221

USA
Only 2,000 migrated in the early years

Question 222

Who led Unit 101?

Answer 222

Ariel Sharon

Question 223

Why was Unit 101 set up?

Answer 223

Set up in 1953
Small elite force
Swift and ruthless punishment on Israel’s enemies; reprisals, raids etc

Question 224

What’s the Arabic name for infiltrators

Answer 224

Fedayeen (self-sacrificers)

Question 225

What was the Qibye massacre?

Answer 225

1953
Retaliation agains the murder of Kanias family by infiltrators
(in Yehud)
Unit 101 took retribution by striking West Bank village of Qibye
Killing around 60

Question 226

What was Sabra and Shatilla?

Answer 226

1982
Killing of Muslims by Christians in Lebanon
Ariel Sharon held accountable

Question 227

What happened in Egypt in 1952?

Answer 227

Coup by Gamal Abdel Nasser
Against King Farouk

Question 228

When did the Suez canal open?

Answer 228

1869

Question 229

What are the locations at the beginnig and end of Suez Canal?

Answer 229

Port Said (North)
Suez (South)

Question 230

Who was Israel’s Prime Minister at the time of the Sinai Campaign?

Answer 230

Ben Gurion

Question 231

What happened at Kfar Kassem?

Answer 231

In preparation for Sinai Campaign (1956), curfew imposed on Arab villages for 5pm. Laborers who were out after this time (unwittingly) were shot be Israel military, killing 47, mostly women and children. Kfar Kassem is in the North - the little triangle.

Israel has officially apologised for this since (e.g. Shimon Peres, Reuven Rivlin).

Question 232

In the wake of Kfar Kassem massacre, what phrase was developed to frame the tension between military order and morality?

Answer 232

פקודה בלתי חוקית בעליל
Manifestly illegal order

Question 233

Where is the Straits of Tiran?

Answer 233

Narrow passage between Sinai and Arabian Peninsula

Question 234

President Dwight Eisenhower said that there was not much point in selling arms to Israel inasmuch as 1.7m Jews could not possibly defend themselves agasint….

Answer 234

40m Arabs

Question 235

What is Israel’s relationship with African countries?

Answer 235

• Originally positive - Israel helped emerging countries with technology, agriciulture, hydration
• Turned negative - bloc is one of Israel’s largest foes in the United Nations

Question 236

When was Eichmann captured by the Mossad?

Answer 236

1960

Question 237

Which PM was behind the White Paper?

Answer 237

Neville Chamberlain

Question 238

Who was Konrad Adenaur, and what is his significance re. Israel?

Answer 238

Postwar German Chancellor
Reparations with Israel (1951)

Question 239

Who was Rudolf Kasztner?

Answer 239

• Head of Zionist Rescue Committee in Hungary
• Made deal with Nazis to provide trucks in exchange for Jews leaving
• 1700 Jews
• Critics called it “blood for goods”
• Accusations made against him in 1952
• After court case in which he was declared to have “sold his soul to the devil”
• Assassinated in 1957 outside his home in Tel Aviv

Question 240

Why did France agree to help Israel set up nuclear weapons capabilities in the mid-1950’s?

Answer 240

• anti-Arab sentiment (see 1956 Suez Campaign)
• Obligtaion due to pro-Nazi Vichy government

Question 241

What agreement did Golda Meir reach with Nixon in 1969 re. nuclear weapons?

Answer 241

Israel could purse its nuclear goals
but not reveal it had the weapon (to not goad the Arab nations into seeking weapons of their own)

Question 242

Who was the mayor of Jerusalem in 1967?

Answer 242

Teddy Kollek

Question 243

In what ways did the International powers renege on agreements to Israel in the build up to the 1967 War?

Answer 243

They had agreed 11 years earlier in 1956 (Sinai Campaign) that b/c of Israels’ withdrawal from the Sinai, they will have the right to self-defence in the case of an Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran.

now the message to Israel was “don’t shoot first”

Question 244

Who were the main people in the Six Day War?

Answer 244

Egypt: Gamal Abdel Nasser
Jordan: King Hussein
Israel: Levi Eshkol (PM), Yitzchak Rabin (IDF), Abba Eban (FM), Moshe Dayan (DM)
International: Lyndon Johnson, Charles de Gaulle, Harold Wilson, Brezhnev

Question 245

What was the cuases of the six day war?

Answer 245

Egyptian troop build up in the Sinai
Blocking of the Straits of Tiran

Question 246

What is the “Stammering Speech” in connection with the Six Day War?

Answer 246

Levi Eshkol’s radio address to calm the nation, full of stammering and “errs”

Question 247

When was Israel’s first unity government made?

Answer 247

01 June 1967

Question 248

What were the stats of soldiers and weapons in the Six Day War? For the opposing sides

Answer 248

In total, Israel faced a potential force of 207,000 soldiers and 1,600 tanks. With full mobilization, Israel could muster 264,000 soldiers but had only 800 tanks. When it came to planes, the situation was even worse. The Arabs had 700 combat aircraft, while Israel had only 300.

Question 249

Who was the Commander of the 55th Paratrooper Brigade that took back the Old City in 1967?

Answer 249

Motta Gur

Question 250

When Israel captured which area, did Syria agree to a ceasefire in 1967?

Answer 250

Kuneitra

Question 251

How many Israeli soldiers died in 1967?

Answer 251

679 (later revised by some to 800)

Question 252

How much did Israel grow - land-wise - in 1967?

Answer 252

Tripled in size
(Captured Sinai, Gaza, West Bank and East JLM, Golan Heights)

Question 253

How many Palestinians were under Israeli control in 1967 (in West Bank and Gaza)?

Answer 253

1.25m

Question 254

How many Jews moved from America in the year after the 6-day-war?

Answer 254

16,000
More than the total that had moved from America since Israel’s founding

Question 255

Who was the leader of the settler movement

Answer 255

Chanan Porat

Question 256

Where was Chanan Porat born (and exiled from in 1948)?

Answer 256

Kfar Etzion

Question 257

What was the political party of the settlers?

Answer 257

Gush Emunim

Question 258

Who was Yigal Allon?

Answer 258

Founder of Palmach
Later deputy PM and minister for immigration absorption (in 1970)
Developed the Allon Plan for what to do with captured terrirtories (giving back most, keeping some for security reasons)

Question 259

After 1967, what changed in Palestinian political landscape?

Answer 259

Yasser Arafat becomes Chairman of PLO (1968)

Question 260

What was the confident mindset called, that followed the 6 day war? (of trust in the superiority of the IDF)

Answer 260

conceptzia

Question 261

What was Israel’s military defence line along the Suez Canal called (in 1973)? Acting as an early warning system to invasion

Answer 261

Bar-Lev line
In use 1969-73
(Chaim Bar-Lev was the IDF’s Cheif of Staff)

Question 262

What is the War of Attrition?

Answer 262

Between 1969-70
Along the Egypt-Israel border
Border did not move but many casualties
Israel lost around 920 people, Egypt 10k

Question 263

What is the Twelfth Grade Letter?

Answer 263

Letter from 58 high school students
Questioning Golda Meir, if enough is being done for peace
Why should they fight in fruitless wars
In 1970

Question 264

How did the Egypt led pan-Arab project end?

Answer 264

With death of Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970

Question 265

Where was Yasser Arafat born?

Answer 265

Cairo

Question 266

How did Arafat put the Palestinian cause on the world’s agenda?

Answer 266

Starting in mid 1960’s he waged terror both in Israel and against Israeli/Jewish targets in Europe
Through Fatah and the PLO

Question 267

What is Black September? And how did PLO cause chaos in Jordan?

Answer 267

PLO based in Jordan from 1970
Try to bring down Hashemite monarchy through terrorist acts
Leads to civil war between PLO and Jordanian army (1970-1)
Thousands of PLO’s and Palestinians die
PLO expelled to Lebanon - leading to civil war (1975)

Question 268

How did the Soviets help the Arab countries in the early 1970’s?

Answer 268

Providing ammunition to Syria and Egypt

Question 269

Who were the leaders of Israel’s enemies in 1973?

Answer 269

Egypt: Anwar Sadat
Syria: Hafez al-Assad (father of Bashar)

Question 270

Who was Israel’s IDF’s Cheif of Staff for the YK War?

Answer 270

David “Dado” Elazar

Question 271

Who was Israel’s Mossad agent in Egypt in the YK War?

Answer 271

Ashraf Marwan (son in law of Nasser)
He warned Israel in October 1973 that attack imminent, but this report did not make its way to PM’s Office

Question 272

What did Golda Meir do on eve of YK War?

Answer 272

• Refused to strike first (ignoring request of David Elazar)
• Denied full mobilization; only did a limited one

Question 273

Despite mobilizing 200,000 soldiers in the YK war, Israel was outnumbered by enemy soldiers by how much?

Answer 273

6:1

Question 274

What was the english date of the YK War?

Answer 274

6th October 1973

Question 275

How long did the YK War last?

Answer 275

16 days

Question 276

What was America’s role in the YK War?

Answer 276

After some waiting around they agreed to supply Israel with weapons (on day 5), to be carried on El Al planes, changed later to allow US planes to carry the weapons

Question 277

What was the tide of the battle in the YK War?

Answer 277

Israel taken by surprise, attacked and overrun by both Egypt and Syria
Israel then takes on Syria and pushes them back to Damascus
Then turns attention to Egypt and crosses the Suez Canal

Question 278

How many casualties were there in the YK War?

Answer 278

Arab: 8k-15k
Israel: 2,656

Question 279

How did Israel feel towards outside countries at the time of the YK War?

Answer 279

Negatively
USA - Kissinger was slow in giving weapons
France - supported Arabs
Britain - trained Eyptian pilots
Third World Countries - cut off ties with Israel

Question 280

What oil organization was created during the YK War?

Answer 280

OPEC

Question 281

What song did Naomi Shemer compose in the wake of YK War?

Answer 281

Lu heyi

Question 282

What was the investigation called in the wake of the YK War and what did it say?

Answer 282

Agranat Commission
Assigned most of the blame to the army (rather than the politicians)

Question 283

Who was PM after Golda Meir (1974)?

Answer 283

Yitzchak Rabin

Question 284

How was Rabin a “new” type of leader for Israel?

Answer 284

He was born in C20
He was educated entirely in Israel
He was born in Israel
He rose up through the army

Question 285

What other blow shook Israel after the YK War?

Answer 285

Death of Ben Gurion

Question 286

What is UN’s Resolution 3379, passed in 1974?

Answer 286

“Zionism is … racism”
(passed by a vote of 72 to 35)

Question 287

Who was the Attorney General that prosecuted against Eichmann?

Answer 287

Gideon Hausner

Question 288

Who was the uncontested king of Israeli rock in the 1960s?

Answer 288

Arik Einstein

Question 289

What was muzikat ha-kasetot?

Answer 289

In 1970’s
Mizrachi musicians distributing their songs via casette, starting off in Tel Aviv

Question 290

Who was one of the original stars of mizrachi music?

Answer 290

Zohar Argov

Question 291

What was the mahapach?

Answer 291

The 1977 election of Menachem Begin
Giving voice, finally, to the mizrachi segment

Question 292

Who were the main players in the Israel-Egypt peace?

Answer 292

Menachem Begin
Anwar Sadat
brokered by Jimmy Carter

Question 293

What were the terms of the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel?

Answer 293

Israel withdrew from Sinai
But kept onto West Bank (did not give into Sadat’s demands on this to give it to the Palestinians)

Question 294

What was Arab response to the Egypt-Israel Peace?

Answer 294

• Arab League closed its Egypt headquarters in Cairo
• Expulsion of Egyptian students studying in Arab countries abroad
• Sadat’s assassination in 1981 by soldiers of his own army (associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad)

Question 295

Which settlement in the Sinai (near Gaza) was dismantled after peace with Egpyt (in 1982)?

Answer 295

Yamit

Question 296

Which settlement in the West Bank did Begin and Sharon visit in 1977 and say: “there will be many more ….”

Answer 296

Elon Morehs

Question 297

Wher is Elon Moreh?

Answer 297

East of Nablus (Shechem)

Question 298

What military action did Israel take in 1981 to protect itself from enemy countries?

Answer 298

Bombing of nuclear reactor in Iraq

Question 299

Although US were cirtical of Israel’s bombing of nuclear reactor in Iraq, in 1991 they changed their tune. Provide evidence.

Answer 299

Dick Cheney (Sec. Defence) sent a picture of the bombed reactor in Osirak, with a note of thanks to Israel

Question 300

What is the Begin doctrine?

Answer 300

Israel will not stand for any of its enemies developing / acquiring weapons of mass destruction

Question 301

What PLO high profile terrorist acts were committed in the 1970’s?

Answer 301

1972 - Munich Olympics, Israel team taken hostage, botched rescue operation, 11 die
1976 - Air France flight hijacked and taken to Entebbe, Uganda, over 100 hostages; Special Forces rescue mission rescues hostages; 3 die in the fighting + Yoni Netanyahu

Question 302

What is Land Day 1976?

Answer 302

• Protests by Israeli Arabs, at appropriatioin of some of their land (in North, around Haifa)
• 6 died

Question 303

What was the triggers for Operation Peace for Galillee - both immediate and big-picture?

Answer 303

Big-picture: rockets being fired from PLO (Arafat) in Lebanon, raining down on Galil
Immediate: Shooting in 1982 of Ambassador to London, Shlomo Argov

Question 304

What happened in Sabra and Shatilla?

Answer 304

Following killing of Beshar Gemayal (Christian) and the chaos that followed, IDF secured the two refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla. Palestinian refugee camps where PLO operatives were hiding

Christian Phalangists were let in and committed a massacre (800 killed)

Question 305

When did Israel leave Lebanon and under which PM?

Answer 305

2000 under Ehud Barak

Question 306

What happened to Begin in the end?

Answer 306

Resigned in the wake of the 1982 War, the next year - poor health, depressed, alone after death of his wife - did not leave his house (pretty much) for a decade, died in 1992

Question 307

What was the outcome of the 1982 war?

Answer 307

ended up serving as a base for Hezbollah - terrorist threat to Israel

Question 308

What was Begin’s watchword?

Answer 308

Hadar
(dignity)

Question 309

Where did Deri’s family come from and when?

Answer 309

Morocco, post 1967 persecution

Question 310

At what age and when did Deri become interior minister?

Answer 310

Age of 29
In 1988

Question 311

What does Shas (political party) stand for?

Answer 311

Shomrei Sefarad

Question 312

In what year was Shas founded?

Answer 312

1984
…
It got 4 seats in the Knesset that year

Question 313

Which Islamic movement rose in prominence in the 1970’s and 80’s?

Answer 313

Muslim Brotherhood

Question 314

When was Hamas founded?

Answer 314

1987

Question 315

What sparked the first intifada?

Answer 315

Israeli truck driver accidentally ran over 4 Arab workers in the Gaza strip

Question 316

What did Joran do after the start of the first Intifada?

Answer 316

1988 - renounced claims to West Bank (did not want spillover of Palestinian violence)

Question 317

What were the dates for the first Intifada?

Answer 317

1987-1993

Question 318

What was Shranksy’s party called, founded in 1996?

Answer 318

Yisrael Ba’aliyah

Question 319

What was Operation Solomon?

Answer 319

1991 rescue of Jews of Ethiopia (14,000 Jews)
Israel had already started doing this in 1984, with the help of the Mossad

Question 320

What name is given to Ethiopian Jews?

Answer 320

Falashas

Question 321

Why did Sadaam Hussein fire rockets at Israel in 1991?

Answer 321

In retaliation for the US-led invasion (following Iraq’s attack of Kuwait)

Question 322

Who was appointed PM in 1992?
(Israel)

Answer 322

Yitzchak Rabin

Question 323

What were the Oslo Accords?

Answer 323

• 1993: Mutual recognition of Israel and the PLO, Arafat and fighters allowed to return
• 1995: Dividing West Bank into A, B, C

Question 324

How many Arabs did Baruch Goldstein kill in 1994?

Answer 324

29 in Hebron

Question 325

What happened between Israel and Jordan in 1994?

Answer 325

They made peace

Question 326

When was Rabin assassinated?

Answer 326

1995

Question 327

What did Israel do after Rabin’s assassination?
Re Palestinians

Answer 327

In 1995…
Pulled out of major West Bank cities (other than Hebron)
Elections held
Arafat/Fatah elected

Question 328

Who was elected after Shimon Peres (in 1996)? and why?

Answer 328

Benjamin Netanyahu
Shift to the right due to security concerns
….
Palestinian terrorists changed that, however, with two attacks in Jerusalem, one in Tel Aviv, and another in Ashkelon, killing almost sixty Israelis in the heart of Israel’s cities within nine days. Israelis were outraged and frightened, and Peres was voted out of office a mere seven months after he had assumed Rabin’s place.

Question 329

Who came after Netanyahu in 1999?

Answer 329

Ehud Barak
(centrist)

Question 330

When did Israel leave Lebanon?

Answer 330

2000

Question 331

Who runs Lebanon?

Answer 331

Sectarian Political System: Lebanon has a unique political system based on sectarian power-sharing. Key political positions are reserved for members of specific religious groups: the President must be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of Parliament a Shia Muslim.

Political Parties: Various political parties, often based on sectarian lines, play significant roles. These include the Future Movement (Sunni), the Free Patriotic Movement (Christian), and Hezbollah (Shia).

Hezbollah’s Influence: Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militant group, has substantial influence in Lebanon. It operates independently of the Lebanese state and has its own armed wing.

Foreign Influence: Lebanon is subject to significant foreign influence, particularly from countries like Iran (supporting Hezbollah) and Saudi Arabia (supporting Sunni groups), as well as Western nations.

Economic and Social Entities: Various non-political entities, like business elites and civil society groups, also influence Lebanon’s governance, particularly in economic and social spheres.

Internal Instability: The country faces internal challenges such as economic crises, sectarian tensions, and governance issues, which affect its stability and control.

Question 332

What happened in Camp David in 2000?

Answer 332

Barak offers 92% of West Bank and parts of Jerusalem, and all of Gaza
Arafat refuses, doesn’t even give a counter-offer.

Question 333

What triggered the second Intifada in 2000?

Answer 333

Ariel Sharon (leader of the opposition) goes up to the Temple Mount; the next day 20,000 Palestinians riot … violence escalates

Question 334

What did Ariel Sharon do in 2002 in response to escalating Palestinian violence (part of the Second Intifada)?

2 things

Answer 334

• Launched Operation Defensive Shield (to take control and root out terrorits infrastructure from major West Bank cities) - largest West Bank Operation since 1967
• Building of wall in West Bank - took 5 years - reduced suicide attacks by 84%

Question 335

Yossi Klein Halevi later commented that the years of 2000 to 2004 turned Israelis into…

Answer 335

Centrists
…
They agreed with the Left that creating a Palestinian state was critical for Israel, so that Israel would not continue to rule over millions of Palestinians. Yet they also agreed with the Right that creating a Palestinian state would put Israel in grave danger.21 They were stuck.

Question 336

What did Jabotinsky advocate in his 1923 paper?

Answer 336

Iron Wall
…
that the Arabs would never end the conflict until they understood that the Israelis would not budge

Question 337

Where was Abbas born?

Answer 337

Safed
…
Fled during 1948 war

Question 338

What was Abbas’s PhD thesis about?

Answer 338

Zionism and Nazism
Number of victims of Holocaust exaggerated

Question 339

What did Sharon announce about Gaza in 2003?

Answer 339

Unitateral withdrawal of soldiers and settlements
Took place in 2005

Question 340

How much land and people were in the Gaza settlements at the end?

Answer 340

8,800 settlers
(surrounded by a million Arabs)
20% of land area

Question 341

Who argued with Sharon about the disengagement?

Answer 341

His party (Likud)
Particularly Netanyahu (Finance Minister) resigned

Question 342

How did Sharon betray the settlers of Gaza?

Answer 342

Ran election promising not to disengage, and then did!

Question 343

What happened to Sharon four months after Gaza disengagement?

Answer 343

Massive stroke, falls into coma

Question 344

Which party did Sharon set up for centrists from both Labour and Likud?

Answer 344

Kadima

Question 345

What was Sharon’s nickname?

Answer 345

The Bulldozer

Question 346

Who came after Sharon?

Answer 346

Ehud Olmert (former mayor of Jersualem)
2006-2009

Question 347

What was Olmert’s plan?

Answer 347

Handing over majority of West Bank territories to PA
Paving way for state
Negotiations to follow after that

Question 348

What happened on the day that Olmert announced his plans to give back the West Bank?

Answer 348

Hamas elected by a landslide (2006)

Question 349

What attack did Hamas achieve in 2006?

Answer 349

Tunnelled under Gaza border and captured Gilad Shalit

Question 350

When was the second Lebanon War?

Answer 350

2006

Question 351

Despite Hamas having won the elections in 2006, Fatah did not give up power; in response, what did Hamas do?

Answer 351

Violent coup
Blew up Fatah headquarters in Gaza
Threw Fatah personnel off buildings

Question 352

By 2010, though the national religious community represented no more than 10 percent of Israel’s population, they made up some …. percent of soldiers in combat units.

Answer 352

25-30%

Question 353

Who said about the UN:
“If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.”

Answer 353

Abba Eban

Question 354

Prior to 2023, what two wars did Israel have with Hamas?

Answer 354

• 2008-09: Cast Lead - Oferet Yetzukah
• 2014: Protective Edge - Tzuk Eitan

Question 355

What are the main aims of the BDS movement?

Answer 355

• Give back occupied lands
• Right of return for Palestinian refugees to Israel
• Equal rights for Israeli Arab citizens

Question 356

What is the income gap between Jews and Arabs in Israel?

Answer 356

Median monthly income (U.S. dollars) $4,652 $3,048
in 2019
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-know-about-arab-citizens-israel#:~:text=Arab%20citizens%20have%20the%20same,experts%20attribute%20to%20structural%20discrimination.

Question 356

Since the year 2000, what’s the average immigration to Israel?

Answer 356

27K
(https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/total-immigration-to-israel-by-year)

Question 356

What did Israel do against Syria in 2007?

Answer 356

Ehud Olmert ordered a hit on their nuclear reactor, completely destroying it

Question 357

Who was Uri Zohar? Who did his children marry?

Answer 357

Israeli comedian, turned rabbi in 1977
His two sons married two daughters of Israeli secular rockstar Arik Einstein

Question 357

What threat emerged from Iran in 2015?

Answer 357

JCPOA agreement between Iran and the USA (Obama), allowing them NOT to dismantle their arsenal, and restrictions would be in place for only 10 years; and many sanctions lifted

Question 358

Which Israeli musical family reflects the cultural shift of Israel from secularism to religion?

Answer 358

Banai family - started off secular musicians, but two generations later they are religious.
…
The Banai family, the first “Israeli musical family,” illustrated the pattern best. The first generation of Banai performers, Yossi and Gavri Banai, were staunch secularists. In the next generation, first cousins Ehud and Yuval Banai were in bands that brought East-West fusion into Israeli culture, a reflection of the spiritual search that often took Israelis abroad. Still later, in the 1990s, Ehud and Evyatar (also first cousins) became religious and were soon bringing overt Jewish themes into their music. It was one family, with several stages of spiritual searching that represented Israeli life at large.

Question 359

What Zionist phrase effectively excluded the Rabbinic tradition from Israeli life?

Answer 359

“From Tanach to the Palmach”

Question 360

Who wrote a 1943 short story “The Sermon,” in which he declared that he was opposed to Jewish history.

Answer 360

Haim Hazaz

Question 361

What is the birth rate for Haredi vs. non-Haredi Jewish women in Israel?

Answer 361

the average fertility rate for Haredi women was 6.2 children, while for the non-Haredi Jewish population it was 2.4

Question 362

Who are the hilltop youth?

Answer 362

• Grew out of Gush Emunim
• Want the whole of land of Israel
• Under Jewish law monarchy
• (rejection of secular zionism)
• Follow R’ Yitzchak Ginsburgh (an admirer of Baruch Goldstein)