Israel State Archives

A Palestinian resident of An-Nabi Samwil, occupied West Bank, stands in front of the Tomb of Samuel, holding an old photo showing how the village looked before Israel demolished the Palestinians' houses in the vicinity in order to displace the residents and build a new luxury Jewish settlement, April 28, 2014. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

Israel destroyed Palestinian village for luxury settlement that was never built

Archives reveal Golda Meir's government expelled residents of An-Nabi Samwil in 1971 to house wealthy Israelis. The settlement was aborted, but the Palestinians remain dispossessed, meters from their original homes.

By Yuval Abraham August 30, 2022

The Israeli state archives in Jerusalem on September 03, 2012. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

More than 100 files from the 1800s are still classified in Israel’s archives

Israel recently published its catalogue of some 300,000 classified files, including thousands of documents from before the state was even founded. The very existence of the files had been kept a secret until recently. By Asaf Shalev Israel’s State Archives unceremoniously published the contents of its catalog of classified archive documents this past summer, posting…

By +972 Magazine February 15, 2019

Arab citizens of Israel seen dancing in the village of Baqa al-Gharbiyye. (Moshe Pridan)

When Israel planned ‘fantasy’ tours to Arab villages under martial law

New documents reveal how Israel’s leaders prepared to celebrate the country’s 10-year anniversary: by bringing tourists to participate in orientalist ‘fantasy’ tours to Arab villages, then under military rule. If you’re a young Jewish person, chances are you or someone you know has gone on a Birthright trip. If you have gone on Birthright, chances are…

By Edo Konrad July 23, 2018

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Israeli soldiers show an order for a closed military zone to a cameraman on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, November 15, 2012. (by: Oren Ziv/Activesillts.org)

IDF Censor redacted 2,358 news articles last year

While the number of articles submitted to the IDF Censor decreased in 2017, the percentage of articles that it fully or partially redacted went up. Israel’s Military Censor outright prohibited the publication of 271 articles in 2017, more than five a week, and partially or fully redacted a total of 2,358 news items submitted to it…

By Haggai Matar July 4, 2018

Photo of Yemenite children who were taken from their parents and disappeared.

Israel opens files on disappeared Yemenite children. But is it enough?

The declassification of hundreds of thousands of documents on one of the most chilling and tragic chapters in Israeli history is a victory for Mizrahi activists. But many files, including on alleged kidnappings of Yemenite children, are still out of reach for the public. Israel’s State Archives last week released over 200,000 previously classified documents on to the…

By Haokets January 2, 2017

Illustrative photo of archived documents. (Shutterstock.com)

Israel’s state archivist opens up about censorship, digitization

Israel’s state archivist confirms that nearly half a million pages have been sent to the IDF Censor, which has redacted historical documents that already saw the light of day, and talks about why he didn’t foresee the storm that erupted over his decision to end access to paper documents. Israel’s state archivist did not foresee…

By Haggai Matar April 13, 2016

Illustrative photo of the digitization of archives. (Lilyana Vynogradova / Shutterstock.com)

The end of history at Israel’s state archives?

As part of a welcome digitization process, the Israel State Archives will soon revoke access to original paper documents, and the documents it puts online will be subject to military censorship. But academics and civil liberties groups are fighting back. (Correction appended below) Israel’s State Archives (ISA) will no longer give researchers and the public…

By Haggai Matar April 12, 2016