Latest Updates:

• Trump did not want them to talk about COVID. Then he was infected.
  To close the gap from Biden in the polls, the president hoped to divert attention from the plague, and get voters to engage in top-notch appointment and election credability. Now they will talk about the virus again.
  Click here to read Dr. Udi Sommer article in YNET [Hebrew]
   
• "The average American is not interested in politics, but the president is a familiar figure - and that's significant on Election Day." On Trump's message: "If it permeates that the economic blow should not be recorded as his duty because it is a global epidemic that his government, in his view, has dealt with reasonably, it will play into his hands at the ballot box."
• Click here to read Dr. Udi Sommer article in 'Yisrael Hatom' [Hebrew]
   
• "The Middle East will wait, the nuclear deal will return to the agenda" - Biden's new policy, interpretation
  What are the perceptions of the new US cabinet, and where Israel on the agenda?  • No more "America first" - international relations are significant for Biden, and he plans to correct the storms left behind by Trump
  Click here to read Dr. Udi Sommer article in 'N12'
   
• American democracy has proven its strength, but there is also bad news
  The postal and polling infrastructure did not collapse, millions of votes were not lost and armed militias did not prevent a record number of civilians from voting. However, it is highly doubtful that Biden will be able to heal the soul of the divided nation.
  Click here to read Dr. Yael Sternhall article in Ha'aretz [Hebrew]
   
• Traditional Republican presidency, under an unprecedented president
  Trumpism is rooted in centuries-old American traditions such as racism, nationalism, separatism and brutal capitalism. However, a mand who lacked the ability to understand the significance of the role of president never served in the White House.
  Click here to read Dr. Yael Sternhall article in Ha'aretz [Hebrew]
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• The American November 3rd - Trump loses, refuses to accept the "fake" results and fortifies in the White House / TheMarker podcast
  US President Donald Trump, who overthrew some of the US governmental norms during his tenure, with gross footing and tremendous political and media talent - threatens not to accept the election results if he loses. Says that this thing called the United States of America can be broken? And how will it affect Israel - the divided and conflicted democratic state in the Middle East. Guy Rolnik and Anat Georgi in a conversation with Prof. Eyal Naveh, Dr. Yael Sternhal and Dr. Yoav Frommer, three Expert historians of the US with some insights on the largest democracy in the world.
  Click here to listen to the full episode 
• The Jewish Vote in the 2020 Presidential Elections, a special series in co-operation with the Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot and Ynet
  Click here to read the first installment in the series by the Center's research fellow, Or-Rappel Kroyzer
   
• The Tragedies, the Victories and the Stances towards Israel: Who are you Joe Biden? 
  The Center's director, dr. Yoav Fromer, was hosted on Kan channel podcat, AmeriKan, to talk about the Democratic Party nominee in the 2020 presidential elections and the former U.S. Vice President.
  Click here to listen to the full podcast episode​

• "Sen. Bernie Sanders’s emergence as the Democratic front-runner has conjured an old specter that has haunted the Democratic Party for decades — the specter of George McGovern." Click here to read the full Washington Post article by the Center's director, Dr. Yoav Fromer

• US Supreme Court hearings season:
  Dr. Udi Sommer, a member of our executive committee, visited at Globes' podcast Ha'madrich La'trumpist. Just months before Americans go to the polls, the US Supreme Court hearings season will open, with judges discussing Trump's personal tax reports, wall funding with Mexico and women's rights. Will politics in the US legal system be at the center of the election campaign? Click here to listen (starts at 8:09)
   
• The Democratic primaries in Iowa and State of the Union 2020:
  Dr. Udi Sommer contributed to Seder Olami with Arad Nir on Channel 12. Following the democratization of the Democratic Party in Iowa in the counting of votes and President Trump's controversial state of the nation speech, the US appears to be constantly divided. What is going to happen this coming election season? Is there a Democratic candidate that can beat Trump? Click here to listen (starts at 9:00)
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Prof. Sigal Alon. Press Coverage for her book Race, Class and Affirmative Action:

• The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas, a case that could decide the future of affirmative action in American higher education...
  Read full New York Times article: "When Race Is Left at the College Door"
• Could affirmative action based on race actually hinder some of the students it was designed to help, as some justices suggested?
  Read full Washington Post article: "Scalia was wrong: Students admitted through affirmative action thrive at elite colleges"
• Class-based affirmative action can produce racial diversity – but only if legacy admissions end.
  Read the full article in Aljazeera America: "The case for real reform in college admissions"
• Once race-conscious admissions stopped being about equity and reparation, the only argument for it was the enrichment of white students. That was never going to hold up.
  Read the full article in The Nation: "How Diversity Destroyed Affirmative Action"
• In an attempt to remedy the glaring underrepresentation of several population groups in their student bodies, Israel’s top four universities implemented an affirmative action program.
  ​Read the full article in The Huffington Post: "Affirmative Action Matters in Israel, Too"

Dr. Yoav Fromer. American Politics, History and Foreign Policy:

• Prof. Yossi Shain and Dr. Yoav Fromer on "Ha'aretz" podcast discussing the American presidential elections: Click on this link to listen (the segment starts on 16:54)
• On "Kan" podcast discussing the development of the presidential institute in the United States: Click on this link to listen 
• Dr. Yoav Fromer appears on Israel's channel 1 Television to speak about the new Netflix series "When They See Us," New York in the 1980s, and the persistence of racism in the contemporary United States:​​
• "The Bahrain Tea Party." Just as the American founders weren't willing to trade in their political aspirations for self-determination in exchange for economic concessions from the British, the Trump Administration should not expect the Palestinians to do the same at the Bahrain conference. 
• Read full Yedioth Ahronoth article: "מסיבת התה של בחריין"
• Is Democracy a Danger to American Foreign Policy? Recent experiences from the Middle East have proven: Popular opinion is what drives the radicalism and instability of many governments in the region.
  Read the full Washington Post article: "The Middle East doesn't lack democracy. It has too much"
• The willingness to employ organized violence to achieve political goals remains a signature quality of only one side. And it’s not the left.
  Read the full Washington Post article: "Why the American left gave up on the political violence"
• The electoral college is antiquated, but there is another electoral anomaly that we have come to take for granted that may have also outlived its usefulness: the secret ballot.
  Read the full Washington Post article: "Want to Improve Democracy? Abolish the Secret Ballot"
• Six Years of Syrian Civil War: Why Assad is the Franco of the Middle East, and why the United States has done so little to help his victims—80 years after liberal-minded Americans took up arms in the Spanish Civil War.
  Read the full article in Tablet Magazine: "Syria and the Failure of the Multicultural American Left"
• Is Benjamin Netanyahu Following in the Footsteps of Richard Nixon? 
• Read full Yedioth Ahronoth article: "ניקסון הישראלי"
• What Netanyahu and Trump don't Understand about the Conflict: Money is not Everything
• ​Read full Yedioth Ahronoth article: "כסף זה לא הכל"

Dr. Yael Sternhell. Commentary on Commemorating the Civil War:

• Facing the torturous uncertainty of wartime, journalists and their readers were willing to settle for rumors, speculation and mistakes, since they simply could not stand living in the dark.
  Read the full New York Times article: "Lies, Damned Lies and The Telegraph"
• Southern slavery rested on the existence of impenetrable boundaries between blacks and whites. Passes for white folks, as they were called, signaled that these boundaries were growing increasingly blurred.
  Read the full New York Times article: "Papers, Please!"
• How do we know what we know about the Civil War?

• The American Civil War Museum: "Uncovering a Hidden Treasure: Q&A with Bottimore lecturer Dr. Yael Sternhell"

Dr. Udi Sommer. American Elections, Politics and the Trump Presidency:

• The Arab Bank terrorism case: 

• On the Popularity of Donald Trump: 

• 2016 Presidential Elections:

• Trump's "Deal of the Century" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians: ​Click here to watch (Starts at 16:00)
• The 2020 Democratic primaries in Iowa: Click here to watch (Starts 38:45)
• Trump's impeachment process in congress: Click here to watch (Starts at 31:22)

Prof. Michael Zakim

The membership of the American Studies Association voted to endorse a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Has the boycott effectively challenged the Israeli state’s discrimination and violence against Palestinians? Or has it only further isolated voices of dissent in Israeli society?
​Read the full article in Dissent Magazine: "The Best of Intentions: Debating the ASA Boycott"

• 38:45Boston Tea Party 1773:

• Calcalist TV, a lecture on History of Capitalism:

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Trump did not want them to talk about the corona. Then he got sick