Total current articles · 4,831
The online encyclopedia of Israel & the Jewish people
Discover Articles
Recently Published
- place
Jordan River
Jordan River is a river in southwestern Asia that flows from the slopes of Mount Hermon through northern Israel and the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. Its winding lower course extends about 215 kilometers between two lakes separated by only about 105 kilometers. Revered in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the river is associated with the Israelites’ crossing in the Book of Joshua and the Christian tradition of Jesus’s baptism. Its waters sustain agriculture and regional water-supply systems, while diversion, pollution, and reduced flow have made rehabilitation and cooperation between Israel and Jordan important concerns.
- concept
Gaza Strip Famine
Gaza Strip famine is a food-security crisis encompassing severe hunger, malnutrition, and the August 2025 classification of Gaza Governorate as experiencing famine under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). An assessment published that month estimated that 514,000 people across the Strip faced catastrophic conditions, while the formal area-level famine classification applied specifically to Gaza Governorate. Famine was not identified as occurring in June 2024 after increased assistance and revised supply assumptions. It was classified in Gaza Governorate in August 2025, then was no longer identified in assessed areas in December 2025 following a ceasefire and increased food deliveries. Israel disputed the IPC’s methodology and findings, while subsequent assessments continued to identify extensive food insecurity and vulnerability.
- event
Gaza–Israel Conflict
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a series of armed confrontations between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, including major rounds of fighting in 2008–2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021 and the war triggered by the October 7, 2023 attack. Hamas won 74 of 132 parliamentary seats in January 2006 and forcibly took control of Gaza in June 2007, establishing the political and military setting for the subsequent confrontations. The conflict has involved rocket attacks, cross-border tunnels, Israeli military operations, hostage-taking, restrictions on movement and imports, and extensive civilian displacement and destruction. An October 2025 ceasefire secured the release of the remaining living Israeli hostages, but fighting, humanitarian hardship and disputes over disarmament and Gaza’s future government continued into 2026.
- event
Vela Incident
The Vela incident was the detection by a U.S. satellite of a double flash over the South Atlantic on September 22, 1979, prompting investigations into a possible nuclear test. A U.S. scientific panel concluded that the signal “was probably not from a nuclear explosion,” but explicitly declined to rule out a nuclear origin. Also called the “September 22 Event” or the “South Atlantic flash,” the incident generated continuing debate about the signal’s cause and allegations of South African or joint Israeli–South African responsibility. Neither a nuclear explosion nor responsibility for one was conclusively established in the cited official investigations.
- concept
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (AI) is an international nongovernmental organization that researches human-rights abuses and campaigns for the protection of rights recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in London on May 28, 1961, through the efforts of British lawyer Peter Benenson, it received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977. Its founding campaign grew from Benenson’s response to the imprisonment of two Portuguese students who had raised a toast to liberty. Initially centered on prisoners of conscience, Amnesty expanded into campaigning against torture and addressing civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Its relationship with Israel has included an early national branch and disputes over investigations and campaigning. The most prominent recent disputes concerned its 2022 apartheid accusation and 2024 genocide accusation.
- concept
Christian Zionism
Christian Zionism is a religious and political movement within Christianity supporting the return of the Jewish diaspora to a Jewish homeland in Palestine and support for Israel. Its international organization was illustrated by the June 1971 Jerusalem Conference on Biblical Prophecy, which brought together at least 1,200 participants from 32 countries. The movement encompasses beliefs about God's enduring covenant with the Jewish people, expectations of Jesus's Second Coming, and a sense of Christian responsibility toward Jews after the Holocaust. Its activities include political advocacy, assistance with Jewish immigration, charitable giving, religious tourism, and voluntary service in Israel.