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


Could you hold a lost piece of Western Wall history? Jerusalem museum seeks rare photos

A new exhibition hopes to uncover rare Western Wall photographs tucked away in attics, basements, and family albums.

‘Tower of David,’ taken by A.O. Freedman, c. 1920.

Six Day War: When Israel moved from survival to revival - opinion

The Six Day War demonstrated that when the Jewish people are united, determined, and prepared to defend their sovereignty, they are capable of changing the course of history.

Israeli soldiers driving a tank pass a line of waving civilians on the side of a road while advancing into Syria during the Six Day War, June 1967.

On This Day: Six-Day War begins in 1967

In only six days, the IDF conquered the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and east Jerusalem, defeating the armies of Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon.

Six Day War page 4

What is Beaufort Castle, the historic Crusader fortress Israel now holds in Lebanon? - explainer

Aside from a smaller fortification present at the site of the current Beaufort Castle, little else is known about the site prior to its capture by the Crusader forces.

An Israeli flag flies over the medieval Beaufort Castle, known locally as Qalaat al-Shaqif or Shaqif Arnoun, as seen from the Marjayoun area of southern Lebanon on May 31, 2026.

British heritage charity constructs replica of 4,500-year-old prehistoric building near Stonehenge

It is expected to be completed and open to the public by summer, before becoming in September a “living-history learning space for school groups."

Kusuma Neolithic Hall, replica of prehistoric building, constructed near Stonehenge, May 26, 2026.

‘Copenhagen’ in Jerusalem revisits the Nazi-era meeting that shaped the nuclear age

Copenhagen in Jerusalem’s Khan Theatre probes truth, memory, and nuclear ethics through the enigmatic 1941 meeting of Bohr and Heisenberg.

The Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen was founded in 1921 as the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Copenhagen by Danish theoretical physicist Niels Bohr.

Last remaining survivor of 1929 Hebron massacre passes away at 100

Yitzhak Ben Hebron was about four years old at the outbreak of the riots that led to the massacre, and managed to escape the violence through the window of the Avraham Avinu Synagogue.

An officer of the Palestinian Police stands guard outside the Hebron Yeshiva (school for Talmudic study) in the aftermath of the Hebron massacre in Mandatory Palestine, 1929.

Harassing Christians undermines both Israel and Jewish history - opinion

Jews who harms Christian institutions, clergy, or symbols violate not only a civic norm but also a supreme moral and religious principle. It is doubtful the authorities are doing enough to combat it.

 Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Diplomatic courage: How Trump’s embassy decision strengthened Israel’s position – opinion

Donald Trump is the first courageous American president to implement the law to move the American embassy to the Jewish capital, thereby strengthening regional stability

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he departs the White House in Washington in May.

On this day: Adolf Eichmann captured in Argentina by Mossad

Eichmann was hanged at midnight on June 1, 1962; he was the only person in Israel’s history to be executed by the state.

 Adolf Eichmann, pictured in 1941/1942, in his SS uniform. Eichmann fled to Argentina in 1950 before being captured by the Mossad in 1960.