Israel's second settlement in the Occupied Territories was Kfar Etzion, established in the West Bank on the ruins of a destroyed Jewish kibbutz. It was the first settlement of the Religious Zionism movement, merging the ideas of Zionist settlement with messianic redemption, and spawned both public support and criticism ..read more

Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territory began just five weeks after the Six Day War, in a small community called Merom Golan on the Syrian border. This was not a right-wing nationalist endeavor but a left-wing socialist one, intended to reinvigorate the Zionist Movement with the spirit of the early pioneering generations. But wait — isn’t this illegal under international law ..read more

Today we’re laying the conceptual foundations of the Occupation and Israel’s decisions immediately after the Six Day War. Having found itself in charge of an empire — territory three times its own size, with 1.2 million Palestinians — Israel flailed about for a coherent strategy to meet the challenges posed by the land, the people in it, and competing political agendas of Israel’s leaders ..read more

In the days and weeks following the Six Day War, Israel made three big decisions regarding Jerusalem: to raze the Mughrabi Quarter to create a central plaza in front of the Western Wall, to bestow exclusive religious rights on the Tempe Mount to the Muslims, and to annex East Jerusalem to create a unified Israeli capital. Each of these decisions had lasting consequences ..read more

For six days Israel fought. On the seventh day it rested. What was the impact on Israelis, and Jews around the world? How did they come to understand the greatest Jewish military victory in two thousand years? It turns out the reaction was very mixed ..read more

Season 7 begins! This is an action-packed season exploring ten crucial years in Israel, 1967-1977. We'll hear about wars and The Occupation, triumphant rescues and the tragedy of the Munich Olympics, the settlements and the rise of the right-wing. We're kicking off with the run-up to the Six Day War and an introduction to some of the ideological ideas crucial for understanding this era ..read more

Why the sudden burst of horrific violence in the West Bank this week? Hamas is making a play to take over the West Bank, ratcheting up attacks on Israel. And Israeli settler extremists are emboldened by support from their government to ramp up their own attacks on Palestinians, including the destruction of the village of Huwara. A weak Palestinian Authority that can’t provide security…plus increased Israeli raids targeted terrorists…all makes for a highly combustible situation that many fear is now igniting ..read more

Why are hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting in the streets? Why are global headlines screaming about the end of Israeli democracy? The country is griped by a profound crisis over the independence of its judicial system, as its ultra right-wing government tries to pass legislation reforming the Supreme Court. Come find out how we got here and what Israeli's are so angry about ..read more

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Baruch Spinoza, it is said, wrote a book "forged from Hell by the Devil himself," rejecting 1600 years of medieval philosophy in favor of pure reason. He so angered the religious authorities that his Amsterdam Jewish community excommunicated him. He advocated for free speech, expression, and worship, ushering us all into the modern age way back in the 1600s. Today we're exploring some of his radical ideas ..read more