History

Games of chance and society in the Middle East

A historical look at how chance-based games shaped culture, law, and society in the Middle East.
Israeli cabinet minister and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot is consoled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he attends the funeral of his son Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, an Israeli solider, who was killed in northern Gaza during the ground operation by Israel's military in Gaza.

Was Netanyahu chosen by God, or judged too harshly by man? - opinion

Kai Wegner (L,CDU), Governing Mayor of Berlin, Manja Schreiner (C,CDU), Senator for Mobility, Transport, and Christian Gaebler (L,SPD), Senator for Urban Development, view a public housing construction project

Outcry in Germany over controversial plans to demolish Nazi bunker for luxury apartment building

 Demonstrators hold signs against what they describe as international silence over sexual violence perpetrated against Israeli women during the attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, at a protest in Jerusalem, November 27, 2023.

Breaking the individual to break the collective - opinion


The Somme, 110 years on: The Jewish soldiers who fought and died

The Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest and most infamous battles in history, was intended to break the German lines and bring World War I closer to an Allied victory.

British infantry soldiers running out of their trenches at the signal to assault  the Somme, France, 1916.

Sorin Hershko, soldier most severely wounded in Entebbe, honored on operation's 50th anniversary

The recognition was awarded by the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, whose chairman is Chemi Peres, son of former prime minister Shimon Peres.

An Israeli hostage is greeted on her return to Israel after Operation Entebbe on 3rd July 1976, in which, Israeli special forces rescued 100 hostages held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine following their hijack of Air France Flight 139.

On this day: Bodies of Gil-Ad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrah found in West Bank

The murder of the three teenagers led to the IDF’s invasion of Gaza the next week, launching the 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge.

Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel (L-R).

Jewish hero’s inclusion in French Panthéon uncorks divisions over who wears mantle of resistance

About 80 national heroes have been inducted over two centuries in the Paris monument, from philosopher Voltaire and writer Victor Hugo to magistrate and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil. 

A portrait of the late historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch adorns the facade of the Pantheon before his induction ceremony along with his wife Simonne Vidal in Paris, France, June 23, 2026.

Damascus synagogue tours highlight renewed interest in Syrian Jewish history and diaspora ties

Tours of synagogues and meetings with religious leaders highlight renewed interest in Jewish history and unresolved questions over historic sites, property, and diaspora ties.

A rabbi holds a Torah scroll at the Ifrange Synagogue in the Jewish quarter in Old Damascus on April 29, 2025.

Resurrecting Herodium: A royal desert fortress awakens After 2,000 years

"Herodium became a living testament to the enduring roots of Jewish history."

The quiet weapon: Sexual violence is a strategy, not a byproduct of war - opinion

The United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict later concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe conflict-related sexual violence had occurred during the attacks

 The area of ​​the Nova party where hundreds of Israelis were killed and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists who infiltrated to Israel, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, photo taken on October 12, 2023.

Unearth World War II art history through people's eye

The true artistic and historical depth of renaissance of evil.

“Renaissance of Evil masterfully blends history, art, and fiction into an engaging and enlightening story.”

On this day: Russian Tsarist forces start Bialystok Pogrom, killing at least 70 Jews

Bialystok, an industrial town in modern-day Poland, had a major Jewish population that was terrorized by local antisemitic Russian military members and police officers.

Nurses stand with victims of the Bialystok pogrom in June 1906.

An unbounded revolution: The power of the Iranian diaspora - opinion

Iranian diaspora communities abroad are amplifying pressure on Tehran, but sustaining momentum for change is proving difficult.

People display placards during a rally in support of US President Trump’s military actions towards Iran, in Toronto, earlier this year.