From Frank Sinatra's early pro-Zionist rallying to Steven Spielberg's present-day peace-making, Hollywood has long enjoyed a 'special relationship' with Israel. Based on a newly-published book by Columbia University Press, this paper outlines the ways in which Hollywood's moguls, directors, and actors have supported or challenged Israel for more than seven decades, including Eddie Cantor, Kirk Douglas, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand, Vanessa Redgrave, Arthur Krim and Arnon Milchan.

The Israeli ma’abarot (transition camps) are one of the most ignored chapters in Israeli political, historical and cultural discourse. In 1952 there were 132 ma'abarot in Israel and 250 thousand people lived there. In fact, most of the Jewish immigrants who came to the young State of Israel had to pass through ma'abarot. Many of these immigrants lived in the ma'abarot for a year, while others for up to 20 years in unbearable conditions. The talk will focus on two questions: (1) Why has this phenomenon been ignored in Israeli education textbooks, in the media and in the historians' work?