Jewish Virtual Library - JVL

Israel and Greece have signed a landmark €3 billion agreement for Israel to build Greece’s “Achilles Shield,” a comprehensive, multi-layered air-defense network based on Israeli technology.

The largest defense deal in the history of their bilateral relations represents the latest milestone in a remarkable transformation. After nearly 45 years of limited interaction, Israel and Greece have developed a flourishing strategic partnership encompassing defense, energy, trade, technology and emergency cooperation.

Learn more about the history and evolution of Greece-Israel relations: https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/greece-israel-relations

Is President Trump’s Gaza plan doomed to fail?

In his latest op-ed, our Executive Director, Mitchell Bard, argues that the plan’s greatest weakness may not be whether Hamas will disarm, but what it leaves unaddressed: Palestinian education.

As governments prepare to spend billions rebuilding Gaza’s schools, they must ask: What will be taught inside the classrooms they are paying to construct?

https://www.jns.org/opinion/column/mitchell-bard/why-the-gaza-plan-is-doomed-to-fail

After 78 years beneath the Mediterranean, the Altalena has been found.

The ship’s intact wreck was located at a depth of 503 meters, about 20 kilometers off Israel’s coast, using advanced sonar and maritime mapping technology.

Its discovery brings renewed attention to one of the most dramatic and divisive episodes in Israel’s founding - and to Menachem Begin’s insistence that the confrontation must not lead to civil war.

Read the full story: https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-altalena-affair

Retired IDF Brig. Gen. Ofer Winter has entered Israeli politics with the launch of Amcha Yisrael (“Your People, Israel”), a new right-wing party campaigning under the slogan “Less politics, more leadership.”

Its founding slate includes Arab-Israeli activist and IDF veteran יוסף חדאד - Yoseph Haddad, former journalist Netali Shem-Tov, bereaved mother Lali Deri, and other military veterans, public figures, and residents of communities affected by war and terrorism.

Explore the party’s leadership, positions on national security and Palestinian statehood, and prospects ahead of the election for the 26th Knesset:

https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/amcha-yisrael-your-people-israel-political-party

The legacy of Sefarad spans centuries and continents - from persecution, forced conversion and exile to resilience, achievement and creativity.

In our continued collaboration with the Jewish Heritage Alliance, join us on Sunday, September 6, at 1 PM ET for From Hidden Stories to a Living Legacy. Through history, scholarship and personal experience, this special webinar will explore how millions of Sefarad descendants are rediscovering their Jewish heritage through family traditions, ancestral stories, genealogical records and DNA testing.

Learn more and register:
https://jewishheritagealliance.com/jewish-heritage-alliance-in-motion-sefarad-past-present-future/

Can Israel become a global leader in artificial intelligence?

Israel’s new national strategy calls for major investments in computing infrastructure, research, cybersecurity, education and workforce training. Its “Lived AI” vision seeks to turn technological innovation into tangible improvements in healthcare, agriculture, transportation, public services and everyday life.

Explore the plan: https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/israels-national-ai-strategic-plan

Can the United States defeat Iran without destroying its army or dislodging the regime that started the war?

Mitchell Bard argues that economic pressure and precision strikes may weaken Iran, but they cannot deliver a lasting victory while the regime and its instruments of power remain intact.

“A war that ends without defeating the enemy or dislodging the men who chose it isn’t bloodless. It is deferred - and the bill comes due on someone else’s watch.”

Read more: https://www.jns.org/opinion/column/mitchell-bard/can-the-us-win-a-bloodless-war

AIPAC participates in elections like many other American interest groups. Its spending may amplify candidates’ messages, but it cannot buy votes, control Congress or guarantee victory.

Criticism is legitimate. Claims that AIPAC secretly controls politicians, however, apply a troubling double standard.

https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/myths-facts-online-exclusives #514

Former Likud Party - תנועת הליכוד ministers גלעד ארדן | Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein - יולי אדלשטיין have launched HaAchdut (Unity), a new right-wing party ahead of Israel’s 2026 election. The party is emphasizing universal IDF or national service, opposition to a Palestinian state and the formation of a broad Zionist government.

Learn more about the party, its leaders and its emerging platform: https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/haachdut-unity-political-party

Meet Yael Man - the Canadian-born Mossad operative who lived undercover in Beirut while gathering intelligence on three senior PLO and Fatah figures.

Posing as an American writer, Man documented their routines, guards, vehicles, and surrounding streets. Her intelligence helped make Israel’s 1973 Operation Spring of Youth possible. She later received the IDF Chief of Staff’s Commendation for another classified mission.

Read her remarkable story: https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/yael-man