Response ·
Why the Israeli Declaration of Independence Is So Popular
By Martin KramerCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Martin Kramer
Martin Kramer is a historian at Tel Aviv University and the Walter P. Stern fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He served as founding president at Shalem College in Jerusalem.
Latest Content
Monthly Essay ·
How Israel’s Declaration of Independence Became Its Constitution
By Martin KramerIsrael's founders made little of the declaration at the time. It took decades of work by figures of widely different political stripes to make it the towering document it is today.
Observation ·
Whose Rights Did Israel Recognize in 1948?
By Martin KramerIn all but one of the instances in which "rights" appear in the Israeli declaration, they refer to a collective right, not an individual one.
Response ·
The Tel Hai Paradox
By Martin KramerCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Did the UN Create Israel?
By Martin KramerOn May 14, 1948, Israel’s founders wanted to emphasize to the world that while the Jewish people had been born in the Land of Israel, its state was the adopted child of the United Nations.
Observation ·
Was Menachem Begin a Founder of Israel?
By Martin Kramer, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, Avi Shilon, Jonathan SilverIsrael's sixth prime minister was a leader of consequence and achievement. But how does he relate to Israel's origins?
Observation ·
Did Israel’s Founders Declare a Secular State?
By Martin KramerGoing by the usual telling of the founding, religious and secular Jews clashed over whether Israel's declaration should evoke God's covenantal promise. How accurate is that account?
Observation ·
Why Israel Is Called Israel and Not Judea
By Martin KramerThe name Israel came by a process of elimination, because there wasn’t time to come up with anything better.
Observation ·
Three Weeks in May: How the Israeli Declaration of Independence Came Together
By Martin KramerThe declaration came together so hurriedly that if the drafters had argued for even a few hours more it would have read much differently.
Observation ·
The Most Significant Document Composed by Jews since Antiquity
By Martin KramerThe beginning of a new series investigating how the Israeli Declaration of Independence came about, and what the text reveals about the country it brought into being.
Observation ·
David Friedman on How the Abraham Accords Came Together Behind the Scenes
By Martin Kramer, David M. FriedmanThe historian Martin Kramer interviews the former American ambassador to Israel in order to discover how the historic Middle East deals came together.
Observation ·
The Significance of San Remo
By Eugene Kontorovich, Martin KramerEugene Kontorovich thinks that the 1920 San Remo conference sits at the foundation of Israel's legitimacy. Martin Kramer disagrees. Who's right?
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2020, Chosen by Mosaic Authors (Part II)
By Haviv Rettig Gur, Ed Husain, Martin Kramer, Robert W. Nicholson, Dr. Ruth Wisse, David WolpeFive more of our regular writers pick several favorites each, featuring what Jews are for, magicians, assassins, call signs, chaos, separated siblings, and more.
Observation ·
Did the San Remo Conference Advance or Undermine the Prospects for a Jewish State?
By Martin KramerAs a Jew, I wish that the resolution signed 100 years ago had been what today’s celebrants claim it was. As a historian of Israel, I must report that it was much less.
Observation ·
The Parallel Lives of David Ben-Gurion and Abdullah bin Hussein
By Martin KramerBorn within four years of each other, David Ben-Gurion and Abdullah bin Hussein emerged out of the same political womb to forge Israel and Jordan in battle. Both nations should be grateful.
Observation ·
Was the Balfour Declaration a Colonial Document?
By Martin KramerSo goes the accusation. But the public commitment Britain made to the Jews in Palestine is very different from the Sykes-Picot accord and other secret "treaties" carving up native lands.
Observation ·
The Most Expensive House in Israel
By Martin KramerThe American billionaire Sheldon Adelson just paid $87 million for the seaside residence of America's ambassadors to Israel. The house has an interesting history.
Response ·
The Misrepresentation of the Past in the Cinema
By Martin KramerCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
Kramer: The West Bank Was Annexed Once Before. It Ended in Regret.
By Martin KramerCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Monthly Essay ·
The Truth of the Capture of Adolf Eichmann
By Martin KramerSixty years ago, the infamous Nazi official was abducted in Argentina and brought to Israel. What really happened, what did Hollywood make up, and why?
Observation ·
What “Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Stricken in Jaffa” Teaches About Our Own Plague-Stricken Time
By Martin KramerA famous and sorely misunderstood painting of Napoleon touching plague victims in Palestine illuminates the current moment.
Observation ·
A Tribute to Mosaic’s Founding Editor
By Eric Cohen, Dr. Ruth Wisse, Martin Kramer, Hillel Halkin, Rabbi Meir SoloveichikSome of Mosaic' s regular writers reflect on Neal Kozodoy and his accomplishments.
Response ·
Ben-Gurion at the Moment of Crisis
By Martin KramerCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Monthly Essay ·
Ben-Gurion’s Army: How the IDF Came into Being (and Almost Didn’t)
By Martin KramerOn the eve of Israel's statehood in 1948, with the massed forces of five Arab nations threatening invasion, David Ben-Gurion picked a fight with his own army. Why?
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2019, Chosen by Mosaic Authors (Part II)
By Martin Kramer, Sarah Rindner, Neil Rogachevsky, Michael Weingrad, Dr. Ruth Wisse, David WolpeSix more Mosaic writers share their favorites, featuring shadow strikes, orchards, gleanings, constitutional evolutions and revolutions, serotonin, odd women, and more.
Observation ·
What Did (and Didn’t) Happen in Room 16 of the American Colony Hotel
By Martin KramerIt's said that the Oslo peace process was born in that room in Jerusalem in 1992. The truth is much different.
Observation ·
The Balfour Declaration and the Jewish Threat that Made Britain Honor It
By Martin KramerHow Zionist leaders held Britain to its promise of a Jewish national home.
Observation ·
Seven Black Swans in the Middle East
By Martin KramerFrom the Yom Kippur War to the Arab Spring, events considered impossible happen in the Middle East with unusual frequency. Here are seven; when will the eighth appear?
Observation ·
Three Turning Points that Led to the Birth of the State of Israel
By Martin KramerAt each point—1897, 1917, and 1947—one Jewish leader appeared, and showed greatness.
Observation ·
Where MLK Really Stood on Israel and the Palestinians
By Martin KramerOn Martin Luther King Day, the ghost of the great civil-rights leader was summoned to condemn Israel. The problem? While alive, King had plenty of opportunities to do so—and never did.
