Dominick Skinner

Six historical photographs: Jewish institutions on one side, the institutions that built the Israeli state on the other — Left: the Jewish Chronicle, 1900 (Dieter Hofer, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, CC BY-SA 4.0); Alliance school pupils, Hamadan, 1927 (Frédéric Gadmer, Musée départemental Albert-Kahn, CC BY 4.0); Bevis Marks (Edwardx, CC BY-SA 3.0). Right: Haganah members, Tel Aviv, 1948 (Zoltan Kluger, GPO, CC BY-SA 3.0); the Hebrew University opening, 1925 (Matson Collection, Library of Congress); the Anglo-Palestine Company, Tel Aviv, 1926 (National Photo Collection of Israel).

Older than Israel

11 Jewish Institutions Older Than Israel

Some never needed the state. Others built it before it existed.

Israel

Israeli Military Now Killing More Israelis Than Hamas

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ICE

Trump Sent His Political Police to Ilhan Omar's Door

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The International Criminal Court building in The Hague

News

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Ukraine

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Gaza

Israel Has Killed 1,460 Palestinians in Gaza Since the "Ceasefire"

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A video player showing a LIVE badge over a portrait of Nidal Hasan

Analysis

USA Set to Live-Stream Execution to the Public

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ICE

We Warned the Public About ICE Agent Brenden Cuni a Year Before the Bronx Shooting

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ICE

Trump Has Grown ICE's Police Deals Twentyfold

Oct 8, 2026

Three photos: women and children detained in Tantura in 1948, men digging a mass grave at Sabra and Shatila in 1982, and Palestinians expelled from Lydda in 1948

Palestine

25 Times Israel Massacred Palestinians Before Hamas Existed

Oct 8, 2026

Before the state: the Zionist institutions that built it, dated: a list graphic starting with Theodor Herzl, Hatikvah, David Ben-Gurion, beside a Palestinian flag and the year 1948

Older than Israel

Before the state: the Zionist institutions that built Israel

Oct 7, 2026

What readers ask us most: the Nakba, Jaffa Cakes, the cardigan, Israel, Palestine

Older than Israel

What Readers Ask Us Most. The Nakba Comes First.

Oct 6, 2026

The stone houses of Lifta on terraced slopes, with Jerusalem's high-rise buildings above the valley

Older than Israel

Lifta Was Emptied by Israel in 1948. Its Houses Still Stand at the Entrance to Jerusalem.

Oct 6, 2026

A bowl of hummus with olive oil, paprika and parsley on a marble table in Baalbek, Lebanon

Older than Israel

Hummus Was in Arabic Cookbooks 700 Years Before Israel Existed

Oct 6, 2026

A SodaStream machine with a gas canister and a bottle

Older than Israel

SodaStream Was Invented in London in 1903. Israel Bought It in 1998.

Oct 6, 2026

Rows of orange trees in the Arab-owned groves at Bir Salem, near Jaffa, with cypress trees on the horizon

Older than Israel

Palestinians Grew the Jaffa Orange. Israel Took the Groves and the Name.

Oct 6, 2026

Text reading "The Arabs rejected partition." with two bars: 56 per cent in the UN plan for a Jewish state, 78 per cent held by Israel in 1949.

Older than Israel

Partition Offered a Jewish State 56 Per Cent. By 1949 Israel Held 78.

Oct 6, 2026

Text reading "A land without a people." and the answer: 1.3 million Palestinians lived there in 1947.

Older than Israel

"A Land Without a People" Had 1.3 Million Palestinians in It

Oct 6, 2026

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