Your second Peoples of Israel Blog Post

Your Peoples of Israel Blog Post is your answer to a question about one or more Israeli population groups or social issues; that is, you are presenting a hypothesis and supplying evidence for it from assigned reading.

Make sure that you start the post by clearly stating your answer.  You are making a point and providing evidence for it.   When you present a piece of data as your evidence, you must describe its reliability and the viewpoint of the author who is presenting it. You must provide a link to it.  Because you cannot put in a link to the Rosenthal chapter or to another pdf, you must reference it as you do in the reading quizzes; for example, (Rosenthal 43).  You do not have to describe Rosenthal's reliability.
Showing that you have researched the topic is good.  Photos with captions can strengthen your arguments and brighten up the post.

Your post should be at least 600 words - probably more, considering that you have three sources. I specify these below.  Your post is due 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8.

Choose one of the questions below.

1. Why do some Israelis feel that even though they are citizens, the Israeli government does not respect their community, or the dominant Ashkenazic Jewish Israeli society does not regard them as “authentic Israelis”?  Answer this question with a focus on the Druze or the Ethiopians.

Present your informed answer on this subject by incorporating data from three sources (and you must refer to all three):
(1) The Israelis, by Donna Rosenthal (this counts as one source, even if you refer to multiple chapters)
(2) the Times of Israel article Ethiopians Unable to Wed in Petah Tikva
(3) the Times of Israel article Netanyahu Vows to Empower Druze.


2. We have been reading a lot about Israel as a family-focused society, and yet Israeli law permits prostitution.  In your post, take a patriotic Israeli stance against these permissive laws and/or new legisltation, making your case based on at least two arguments.  (For example, you could argue that legal prostitution is socially destructive and has public health risks; or that it is socially destructive and harmful to Israel’s economy; or something similar). Make sure you explain the current legal situation.

Present your informed answer on this subject by incorporating data from three sources (and you must refer to all three):

(1) The Israelis, by Donna Rosenthal (this counts as one source, even if you refer to multiple chapters)
(2) the Jerusalem Post article Sex Trafficking on the Darknet Being Used to Finance Terrorism
(3) the Times of Israel article on a new Knesset law that penalizes prostitution clients  

Your first Peoples of Israel Blog Post

Peoples of Israel Blog posts are different from Current Events Blog Posts.  Your Peoples of Israel Blog Post is your answer to a question about one or more Israeli population groups or social issues; that is, you are presenting a hypothesis and supplying evidence for it from assigned reading. 

Make sure that you start the post by clearly stating your answer.  When you present a piece of data as your evidence, you must describe its reliability and the viewpoint of the author who is presenting it. You must provide a link to it.  Because you cannot put in a link to the Rosenthal chapter, you must reference it as you do in the reading quizzes; for example, (Rosenthal 43); this rule also applies if you are referencing an assigned pdf. You MUST have links to the assigned online article and to any other online sources from which you draw information.  Showing that you have researched the topic is good.  Photos with captions can strengthen your arguments and brighten up the post.

Your post must be at least 600 words long, and it must include at least three sources of information. I specify these below.  Your post is due 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 26.

Choose one of the questions below.

1. Why are some communities within Israeli society intolerant of homosexuality and sexual permissiveness?  

Present your informed answer on this subject by incorporating data from three sources (and you must refer to all three):
(1) The Israelis, by Donna Rosenthal (this counts as one source, even if you refer to multiple chapters)
(2) the Central Bureau of Israel Statistics “The population of Israel 1990-2009 Demographic Characteristics” booklet (on Week 11 Canvas)
(3) the Haaretz article Who’s Behind anti-LGBT, anti-Reform Signs in Israeli Cities?


2. Do all Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs hate each other, and does each group hope that the other would utterly depart from the State of Israel?   

Present your informed answer on this subject by incorporating data from three sources (and you must refer to all three):
(1) The Israelis, by Donna Rosenthal (this counts as one source, even if you refer to multiple chapters)
(2) Pew Research Forum "Israel's Religiously Divided Society" website (on Week 12 Canvas)
(3) the +972 article by Dahlia Scheindlin, Poll: Jews, Arabs much less divided than Israeli politics lets on

Your third Current Events Blog Post

Here are four articles for the third Current Events blog post assignment – you choose one you wish to summarize and analyze.

Before you start working on this, carefully read the evaluation of your first and second post so you do not make the same mistakes.

I suggest you re-read the assignment instructions in the Blog Hub tab entitled “Current Events Blog Post and Grading.” 

The first step in the preparation of your blog post is to understand the article, and this may entail reading some earlier reports on the same event (links to earlier articles are often included in online newspapers), reading about the topic in other newspapers or websites, or looking up terms or background information.   When you reference this information in your post, make a link to it – but be careful to differentiate between the actual article and the background information you are providing.  That is, your summary of the article should really be a summary of what is in the newspaper.  Your added explanation (it is probably essential to provide this) can follow the summary.

This assignment is worth 70 course points.  It will take a lot of work, so plan accordingly.  Your post will need to be a carefully researched and polished piece of writing.  Every article below deals with controversial matters, and you will need to write objectively.

Your post is due no later than 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16, 2019.


1. Israel’s election day was April 9, and this Haaretz article describes a range of statements from “undecided” voters.  If you understand how the Israeli election system works (and somewhere in your post you’ll need to explain it so that the article makes sense), you will see that voting decisions in Israel are far more complex than in the U.S.

2. This Jerusalem Post article focuses on the current effort to make a ceasefire between Hamas (the ruling group in Gaza) and the Israeli government/military.  Somewhere in your post you'll need to provide background about the current governance of Gaza.

3. This Times of Israel article, “With Netanyahu’s help, far-right party member could become MK,” explains why the Israeli political party, Otzmah Yehudit, is considered so troubling for Israeli voters.  Here, too, you'll need to give background information on that party and its agenda.

4. Election fever!  Here is an article from Palestine News Network showing that a majority of Palestinians (in the territories) want more elections.  The second and third paragraphs of the article seem to have some editing errors (perhaps you can find this information elsewhere), but the rest of it is pretty informative.

Your second Current Events Blog Post

Here are four articles for the second Current Events blog post assignment – you choose one to summarize and analyze.

Before you start working on this, carefully read the evaluation of your first post.  (It was emailed to you on Friday.)     

The first step in the preparation of your blog post is to understand the article, and this may entail reading some earlier reports on the same event (links to earlier articles are often included in online newspapers), reading about the topic in other newspapers or websites, or looking up terms or background information.

Guidelines for writing this post are in the tabs of this Blog Hub (these are right under the photo on this blog).  Based on my reading of the first posts, I think the most challenging part of this assignment is the requirement that you identify which information in the article is objective fact and which is interpretation, subjective opinion, speculative, and so on – what I call “reliability of specific data."

This assignment is worth 70 course points.  It will take a lot of work, so plan accordingly.  Your post will need to be a carefully researched and polished piece of writing.  Every article below deals with controversial matters, and you will need to write objectively.

Your post is due no later than midnight, Sunday, March 31, 2019.

1. There are lots of ways to engage in political protest and grassroots activism, and there was recently such an activity that included a marathon.  It was sponsored by OneVoice, and an article about it (and lots of informative photos) appeared in Palestine News Network.

2. Just recently President Trump announced that the U.S. should accept Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights.  This article in Haaretz focuses on the reaction by leaders within Israel and surrounding Arab states.

3. This is an investigative article from Jerusalem Post about internal conflict within the Gaza Strip.

4. If you like reading speeches and tweets from political leaders, this Times of Israel article on Netanyahu's streamed-in talk at the AIPAC conference in Washington, DC is for you. 

Your first Current Events Blog Post

Here are three articles for the first blog post assignment – you choose one you wish to summarize and analyze.

The first step in the preparation of your blog post is to understand the article, and this may entail reading some earlier reports on the same event (links to earlier articles are often included in online newspapers), reading about the topic in other newspapers or websites, or looking up terms or background information.

Guidelines for writing this post are in the tabs of this Blog Hub and also in a pdf. in the Canvas page.

This assignment is worth 70 course points.  It will take a lot of work, so plan accordingly.  Your post will need to be a carefully researched and polished piece of writing.  Every article below deals with controversial matters, and you will need to write objectively.

Your post is due no later than midnight, Friday, March 15, 2019.

1. Here is an article that shows how a prayer site and national monument (Jerusalem’s Western Wall) can be turned into a campaign issue.  “Blue and White platform includes backing for Western Wall pluralistic plaza” in The Times of Israel tells you a lot about religion, politics, and tensions between American Jews and Israelis. .

2. Last year the U.S. moved its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  That was a big deal and very controversial, and now the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem is being merged with that new U.S. Embassy.  Why does that matter to Palestinians?  Find out by reading the article US Consulate merges with embassy in Jerusalem in Ma’an News, March 4, 2019.

3. We are not the only country where the leader publicly rebukes actors.  Prime Minister Netanyahu took the time to call out celebrities who spoke up for better treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel.  Their use of the phrase "a state of all its citizens" was an indication that they reject the recent Nation-State law.  Read about it in Haaretz, March 11, 2019 in Wonder Woman vs. Bibi: Gal Gadot Takes Stand in Row Over Jewish-Arab Equality.