Unpacking Israeli History

Eleven months after Oct.7, Israel and the Jewish people are still grieving. Last week we received the terrible news that six hostages were murdered, after surviving for nearly a year. Navigating grief and hope during ongoing heartache and war is extremely complicated to navigate, especially in the wake of such tragic news. In this episode of Unpacking Israeli History, Noam pays tribute to the six beautiful lives taken too soon: Carmel, Almog, Eden, Alexander, Ori, and Hersh. He then shares an interview with Kibbutz Beeri resident Yarden Tzemach about his family’s experience on Oct.7 and its aftermath. Yarden and Noam discuss Kibbutz Beeri’s history and future while reflecting on what it means to rebuild.

By January 1993, the Israelis and the Palestinians had opened secret negotiations, culminating in the Oslo Accords, a series of agreements between Israel and the PLO, as the representatives of the Palestinians. So, what was Oslo? What is its legacy? How did the Israeli public, including the settlement leadership, view Oslo? What about the Palestinians? And, what lessons can we learn from this haunting story? ~~~~

Unpacking Israeli History is generously sponsored by Alan Fisher and Barbara Sommer, and Jon and Rachie Teller, and this episode is generously sponsored by Yoni and Lisa Wintner, Beverly and Blake Lorenz, and Dr. Neil and Pam Weissman.

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Learn more about Unpacked: https://jewishunpacked.com/about/

Visit Unpacked on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/unpacked

Unpacking Israeli History about Baruch Goldstein: https://jewishunpacked.com/baruch-goldstein-legacy-of-a-massacre/

Unpacking Israeli History about Rabin's assassination: https://jewishunpacked.com/the-assassination-of-yitzchak-rabin/

Unpacking Israeli History about UN Resolution 3379: https://jewishunpacked.com/is-zionism-racism-un-resolution-3379/

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8CFL6gHgxI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD0YmVwYJpA

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/madrid-conference

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-original-palestine-national-charter-1964

Rise and Kill First, by Ronen Bergman

https://www.adl.org/education/resources/glossary-terms/the-oslo-accords-oslo-process

https://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20principles.aspx

https://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/the%20israeli-palestinian%20interim%20agreement%20-%20main%20p.aspx

https://iris.org.il/arafats-johannesburg-speech/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1994/05/26/arafats-loose-lips/ffd735a8-fe5f-4172-87fa-a77b4261c820/

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/yasser-arafat-a-fake-hero-a-lord-of-corruption/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=6x25gf58ezI

https://www.smh.com.au/world/sharon-not-frightened-by-ancient-jewish-death-curse-20050728-gdlrql.html

https://www.haaretz.com/1.4853346

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-great-revolt-66-70-ce

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-they-heard-yitzhak-rabin-speak-right-before-his-murder-and-they-ll-never-forget-it-1.9291295

https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/palestineremix/the-price-of-oslo.html#/14

https://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/terrorism/palestinian/pages/suicide%20and%20other%20bombing%20attacks%20in%20israel%20since.aspx

https://sci-hub.se/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41289422

Like Dreamers, Yossi Klein Halevi

https://open.spotify.com/track/1aO1Pg9yuW6aVe6yYObjpk?si=2f2589b4f8dc479b

https://rabbisacks.or...

UIH survey here: https://jewishunpacked.com/uihsurvey

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Qibya is one of the saddest and most difficult events in Israeli history. A military unit enters a village, and when the raid is over, 43 homes had been demolished, and 69 civilians – mostly women and children – had been killed. This week, Noam asks, what happened here, and how does it impact the story we tell ourselves about Israel?

This season of Unpacking Israeli History is generously sponsored by Marci & Andrew Spitzer and Barbara Sommer & Alan Fisher, and this episode is generously sponsored by the Center For Advancement of Jewish Education, and The Jewish Federation of Northern NJ.

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Learn more about Unpacked: https://jewishunpacked.com/about/

Visit Unpacked on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/unpacked

Unpacking Israeli History about Black Saturday: https://jewishunpacked.com/black-saturday-how-far-would-you-go-for-a-homeland/

Unpacking Israeli History about the Mossad: https://jewishunpacked.com/the-mossad-three-tales-of-assassination/

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Bibliography:

• Daniel Gordis, “Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn.”
• Howard Sachar, “A History of Israel, From the Birth of Zionism to Our Time.”
• Sapir Journal on power, vol 2, 2021.
• Rise and Kill First, Ronen Bergman
• On the Kanias family
• https://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/1.853441
• https://www.sharett.org.il/downloads/doc-pics/doc03486.pdf
• On Israel’s GDP: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?end=2020&locations=ZQ&most_recent_value_desc=true&start=2020&view=map
• On tzenna (austerity): https://gould.usc.edu/why/students/orgs/ilj/assets/docs/18-1%20Seidman.pdf
• On Israeli borders:
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54116567#:~:text=The%20fighting%20ended%20in%201949,Bank%20(occupied%20by%20Jordan)
• https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/arm01.asp
• On Moshe Dayan:
• Mordechai Bar-On, “Moshe Dayan: Israel’s Controversial Hero.”
• https://jiss.org.il/en/henkin-high-price-blood-israels-security-doctrines/#:~:text=The%20Dayan%20doctrine%20was%20designed,war%20of%20attrition%20against%20Israel
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzVrRStVo9k&ab_channel=ThamesTv
• On Ariel Sharon:
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ariel-Sharon,
• “Warrior: The autobiography of Ariel Sharon,” p. 1989
• Battle for Latrun: https://www.jpost.com/israel-guide/tel-aviv-and-center-tours/latrun-the-battle-for-latrun
• Participant account of Qibye (note he wasn’t actually in the village, he was outside of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nQpBsvdzZ4&ab_channel=ToldotYisrael)
• Letter to UN Security Council from Jordanian envoy: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-185828/
• On the aftermath: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2538005,

Begin and Ben Gurion had some epics battles, but one of the biggest ones happened in 1952, as these two Israeli giants battled about whether to take German reparations after the Holocaust. In this episode, Noam looks all the way back at this crazy story, and leaves us asking, who was right? ~~~~ Unpacking Israeli History is generously sponsored by Alan Fisher and Barbara Sommer, and Jon and Rachie Teller.

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Learn more about Unpacked: https://jewishunpacked.com/about/

Visit Unpacked on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/unpacked

See the full season of Unpacking Israeli History here: https://jewishunpacked.com/podcast-series/unpacking-israeli-history/

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Sources

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/us/ta-nehisi-coates-reparations.html

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/67de380e-8b71-412c-8d06-70af9b31da25

https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/displaced-persons/daily2.htm

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/israel-breaks-50-year-record-for-most-rainfall-613693

tastecooking.com/truth-israeli-couscous/

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144226014.pdf

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/07/700356426/thousands-of-israelis-now-call-berlin-home-and-make-their-cultural-mark

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/labor-and-internment-camps-in-north-africa

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110255386.100/html

http://auschwitz.org/en/history/punishments-and-executions/

https://blog.nli.org.il/en/reparations-agreement/

https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/28248/1001729.pdf?sequence=1

https://www.aicgs.org/2019/11/the-september-1952-reparations-agreement-between-west-germany-and-israel-the-beginning-of-a-remarkable-friendship/

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/german-holocaust-reparations

Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel's Soul, by Danny Gordis

Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel, Anita Shapira

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Unpacked is a division of OpenDor Media

UIH survey here: https://jewishunpacked.com/uihsurvey

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On the night before Shavuot, 1981, Prime Minister Menachem Begin shocked his cabinet by announcing they would be launching a surprise attack on a nuclear reactor in Iraq, known as Osirak. It was a gamble, one that the outside world, not to mention in Israel itself, most people didn't approve of. In this episode, Noam takes us on a tour of Begin's decision, the aftermath, and how it still impacts Israel today.

~~~~ This season of Unpacking Israeli History is generously sponsored by Marci & Andrew Spitzer and Barbara Sommer & Alan Fisher, and this episode, is generously sponsored by Jack Zager and Ellen Kahan, and by Pam and Neil Weissman, in memory of their parents, Mama Bashe and Saba Royal Rockman, and Safta Alice and Saba Irving Weissman.