Martin Kramer, at The Blogs

Martin Kramer

on Israel and the Middle East

Apr 29, 2026, 8:42 PM

Netanyahu lost the Iran argument—until he didn’t

There is much talk about how Israel promoted the idea of regime change in Iran to the Trump administration. It’s been particularly primed by a New York Times piece by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan (“How Trump Took the...

Apr 16, 2026, 11:58 PM

He dreamed of regime change

Uri Lubrani, 1991. Dan Hadani Collection, The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, National Library of Israel. CC BY 4.0.

The Iran war has entered a new phase, a “double-sided ceasefire.” Eventually, we will learn the backstory, and it won’t look like anything we were led to believe while it was unfolding. Much of what seems true today will...

Mar 12, 2026, 3:11 PM

In Iran, Survival Isn’t Victory

President Donald J. Trump attends transfer of remains of six US soldiers killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait, March 7, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. Official White House photo by Daniel Torok, public domain.

On February 27, 1991, President George H.W. Bush addressed the American people, announcing the end of offensive military operations against Saddam Hussein’s forces. Iraqi troops had been completely expelled from Kuwait, which they had invaded the previous summer. During...

Nov 18, 2024, 9:45 PM

Aida in Old Tel Aviv

The Eden Theater in Tel Aviv as it appeared in 1914. Public domain.

Some years ago, I purchased a delightful 1924 poster at auction, advertising a performance of Verdi’s opera Aida by the Eretz-Israel (Palestine) Opera in Tel Aviv. The date of the performance? Exactly a century ago: November 18, 1924. The...

Oct 27, 2024, 1:25 PM

The bindings of Isaac: Goldziher’s library in Jerusalem

Ignaz Goldziher’s Budapest study, Goldziher family photo album, F72.94, Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives.

This past Sukkot holiday marked an important anniversary for the National Library of Israel and the study of Islam in Israel. A century ago, the Hebrew University opened a prized acquisition to the Jerusalem public: the 6,000-volume private library...

Sep 11, 2024, 10:04 PM

Bernard Lewis: Remade in America

Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Wikimedia Commons.

“When newly-appointed Professor of Near Eastern Studies Bernard Lewis arrives in Princeton next Wednesday, his presence will make the university ‘the strongest school in Near East history in the country.’” Thus did the Daily Princetonian report Lewis’s arrival, expected...

Aug 25, 2024, 5:09 AM

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Scenes from the massacres

Delacroix's painting depicts as much brutality as Western art dares, but the real-life graphic images from October 7 are too much for us to bear

Aug 16, 2024, 12:28 AM

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Down and out at Columbia

Minouche Shafik's departure as university president is being hailed as a win for Israel supporters. It's not.

Aug 10, 2024, 11:53 PM

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Bibi’s evolving Hamas story

Image created by DALL-E, OpenAI's image generation model.

Netanyahu recently said he held back on Hamas due to lack of domestic and foreign support. That's not what he said in his 2022 memoir

Jul 5, 2024, 8:03 AM

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The day the Mufti died

“To His Eminence the Grand Mufti as a memento. H. Himmler. July 4, 1943.” Israel State Archives.

Yes, Hajj Amin al-Husayni collaborated with the Nazis, but that's not why he was dropped from the Palestinian narrative

About Me

Martin Kramer is a historian of the Middle East at Tel Aviv University and the Walter P. Stern fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

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