Tom Segev

In Tom Segev's final column, he continues to shine a light on missing chapters of Israeli history.

Incredible as it may seem, Stalin's Soviet Union was once at the center of Israeli identity.

Sun Yat-sen's sympathetic attitude towards the Jews deserves mention precisely because he owed them nothing.

It is customary to hold Ben-Gurion responsible for the failure to separate church from state. But don't blame the old man.

A few years ago, Prof. Dan Amir embarked on a genealogical quest which turned out to be more perplexing than most mathematical puzzles he is used to dealing with.

Newly-released documents shed light on the infamous 'Doctors' Plot' in the Soviet Union, and the dilemma faced by the Israeli government.

The Turks' efforts to conquer Europe - and the world - are succinctly described in a book which has just come out in Hebrew.

The journal Odyssey recently discussed the worst processes taking place in the world today – cultural restructuring, mass suicide and ominous migration. But voting in my old high school was a trauma like no other.

The local political system does not encourage one-man factions in the Knesset as they jeopardize governability - but they are also some of the most original and courageous politicians.

Conversations with relatives of politicians who led the country reveal that nothing fed their ego more than the sense that they had been wronged.

Historical memory fits right in with the media's tendency today to rank nearly everything.

British historian Antony Beevor presented the controversial thesis from his new best-seller at Yad Vashem this week.

Public auctions and eBay sell historic documents to the highest bidder, including 772 items connected with Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion.

For some reason news that is half a century old enjoys an aura of credibility, as though it is enough that its origin is a yellowing screen preserved in some archive.

National responsibility was not expected of a 'sahbak' – it sufficed for him to give you a cigarette.

From Havana to Tehran, Tom Segev takes a look at a world of 'what-ifs.'

Today, Ben-Gurion could declare with satisfaction that he was right: A thousand conquests haven't conquered Gaza.

This story revolves around three individuals, each of whom could be the initial subject for a drama.

A look at the German Kaiser's visit to the Holy Land in 1898 through the eyes of the enigmatic writer Lydia Mamreoff-Mountford.

Leading Holocaust historian Professor Yehuda Bauer finds himself at odds with the historiographic establishment.

As the old quarrels between the Israeli right and left fade into the past, it increasingly seems that their differences were not truly significant.

The 21-year-old Kennedy left Palestine more pro-British than when he arrived.

The shock, the disappointment, the insult and anger Israel expressed so alarmed the Americans that they went out of their way to conciliate the Jewish state.

This year, as per a decision by the Education Ministry, both leaders are focal points of school curricula, in what seems like an effort to put them on similar footing in terms of importance.

In Australia, immigration museum teaches visitors that millions of human beings from 200 countries have found a good life in Australia.

Most dangerous of all is the cliche that there is no one to talk to. That has never been true.

Not a single party running for leadership of the country believes it has a chance to run its capital. The state of Israel has abandoned Jerusalem.

Seven years ago today, it looked as though the world would never again be what it was before the attack on the World Trade Center.

Whoever writes Olmert's biography one day would do well to examine the thesis that he wanted to be Jerusalem mayor because he identified the role with Kollek's penchant for the good life.

The three songs employ the collective 'we,' but most Israelis today are not living a national dream in that plural subjective pronoun. Most do not speak like Shemer, Gouri or Hasfari, do not think like them and do not sing like them.

The government's decision harms not only the Falashmura who wish to settle in Israel but also all Ethiopians here who wish to bring their relatives, too.

In Ruzowitzky's film, the audience would not understand. He shows everything. The Jews are conmen. They survive because they are conmen. The six million who did not survive, crooked or honest, are not mentioned at all.

The terrorist who murdered eight students of the Mercaz Harav yeshiva last week could not have picked a more symbolic target.

As long as we convince ourselves that we have no part in the responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian tragedy, we have no real reason to try to correct the injustice.

There was a time when Israelis and Palestinians refused to speak to one another. All that is behind us. Most Israelis and most Palestinians agree in principle to dividing the country between them.

Haim Ramon has been going around for some time with a proposal for power sharing in Jerusalem, and the sky has not fallen.

There is no escaping the historical thesis that those convicted of murdering the young Danny Katz 24 years ago were convicted because they were Arabs, and that if they had been Jews, they might have enjoyed the benefit of the doubt.

The impression created by the media was that Katsav is a serial sex offender. This week too, and especially this week, that version should not be accepted as a proven fact. So how do we know what the story is? Often we don't know.

From one war to another it is much more difficult to achieve peace today. Forty years after the Six-Day War, nearly everyone recognizes this, and many are even willing to admit that nothing good came out of the occupation.

One day, MK Gilad Erdan (Likud) came up with an idea for how to punish Arab Knesset members who travel to Beirut and Damascus: declaring that they have "broken faith" with the state and stripping them of their citizenship.

Gaydamak, Geller and Sela have captured the attention of a tired, desperate, confused society. Struggling to recover from the trauma of a needless and failed war in Lebanon, Israelis have lost faith in their elected leaders and the mechanisms of government.

The prime minister's unwillingness to make peace with Syria and his discussions with Avigdor Lieberman over changing the government indicate a return of the 'real' Olmert.

During the past 39 years since the Six-Day War, the United States did not force Israel to pull out of the West Bank, but more than once acted to block Israeli military actions. Over time, we have grown accustomed to the Americans saving us, not only from the Arabs, but from ourselves too. Not in this war.

In the 60 years since the attack at the King David Hotel, Israel has hurt some two million civilians, including 750,000 who lost their homes in 1948 and another quarter million Palestinians who were forced to leave the West Bank in the Six-Day War.

Nearly 40 years after the Six-Day War, most Israelis want to end the occupation. Kadima are likely to carry this out, but Meretz will make sure.

Nearly 40 years after the Six-Day War, most Israelis want to end the occupation. Kadima are likely to carry this out, but Meretz will make sure.

The state prosecution need be reminded something they have forgotten: Israeli human rights organizations promote the interests of the state and enhance its image in the world.

What is happening to you, America? Because what happens to you seems to happen to us as well.

The settlers' mission was to "sear the souls of the soldiers" as they said themselves. This was mental violence.