Martin Kramer, at The Blogs

Apr 1, 2022, 6:13 PM

The membership of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) has endorsed a resolution to boycott Israeli academe. The general referendum took place over nearly two months, and the final count came to 768 for a boycott, 167 against. My longtime readers won’t...

Nov 20, 2021, 12:52 AM

Ardeshir Zahedi: legend and lesson

Pahlavi Iran’s last ambassador to the United States, Ardeshir Zahedi, who died on Thursday at the age of 93, was nothing short of legendary. He was arguably the most flamboyant foreign ambassador in the history of Washington, an icon...

Jan 20, 2021, 11:11 AM

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Repudiated presidents and Israel

Some of the worst leaders of the American people, at least according to the usual measures of presidential success, have been the most effective allies of the Jewish state

Sep 29, 2020, 6:15 PM

Had Nasser lived…

Fifty years ago, on September 28, 1970, at 6:15 pm Cairo time, Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser died. Cause: heart attack. A minute before midnight, Egyptian vice-president Anwar Sadat announced the death to the nation. “Abdul Nasser is more than...

Sep 18, 2020, 10:55 PM

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Israel’s vulnerable new friends

Ties with Israel shore up US backing at a time when huge wealth disparities in the UAE and Bahrain, both ruled by minorities, threaten their stability

Apr 27, 2020, 9:59 PM

1948: Why the name Israel?

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared statehood in the old Tel Aviv Museum, now Independence Hall, on Rothschild Boulevard. The climax was this sentence: “We hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known...

Mar 3, 2020, 8:18 AM

The Trump plan: History can’t be reversed

Gregg Roman of the Middle East Forum has interviewed me on the Trump plan for Israel and the Palestinians. I've written about it previously on this blog; in the interview, I offer some further reflections. (If you prefer, click here...

Feb 4, 2020, 2:17 PM

How Ben-Gurion tamed the IDF

On what day did the Israel Defense Forces come into being? If you guessed May 14, 1948, you’re wrong. The actual date was May 31, two weeks after independence, upon publication of an ordinance establishing the army, signed by...

Jan 29, 2020, 3:46 PM

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How does Trump’s partition plan compare?

Partition plan maps, left to right: 1937 Peel plan, 1947 UN plan, 2020 Trump plan.

The 'Deal of the Century' emerges from the political needs of Trump and Netanyahu; no one else is desperately awaiting such a plan, so few will make sacrifices for its success

Jan 19, 2020, 5:26 AM

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Martin Luther King and Israel, then and now

Would the civil rights leader have taken up the Palestinian cause?

About Me

Martin Kramer teaches Middle Eastern history and served as founding president at Shalem College in Jerusalem, and is the Walter P. Stern fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

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