At Unpacked, we’re very into literacy. The premise is that it’s hard to connect with Israel and Israelis if we don’t really know what’s going on there.
You read This Week Unpacked, so we know you’re as into literacy as we are. The question is, how closely have you been following the news from Israel? Take our 2022 This Week Unpacked quiz to find out!
In 2023, our team at This Week Unpacked will continue to break down the news each week with nuance and complexity so you can stay informed, expand your knowledge, and see a full range of perspectives on every issue. Happy new year and we’ll see you next week!
- As part of the recent coalition negotiations, the Religious Zionism, Shas, and United Torah Judaism parties requested which of the following?
- A) Removing the “grandchild clause” from the Law of Return
- B) Revoking state recognition of non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism
- C) Overturning the reforms that were made to Kashrut laws
- D) All of the above
- Kanye West’s false claims that Black people are the “real Jews” is connected with which of the following?
- A) The Khazarian Hypothesis
- B) Black Hebrew Israelite Movement
- C) Louis Farrakhan
- D) All of the above
- Which of the following Israeli parties is disqualified and then reinstated into Israeli elections each cycle?
- A) Otzma Yehudit
- B) Ra’am
- C) Balad
- D) The Joint List
- Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government collapsed because of which of the following reasons?
- A) The coalition failed to renew a law regulating Israeli settlements in the West Bank
- B) Some MKs left the coalition, dropping the ruling bloc to minority status
- C) One MK objected to rules regarding chametz in public spaces over Passover
- D) All of the above
- Which of the following parties is NOT part of Netanyahu’s incoming government coalition?
- A) Yisrael Beytenu
- B) Likud
- C) Religious Zionism
- D) Shas
- This past August, nine student groups at this university adopted a bylaw that they would never invite any speaker who supports Zionism or Israel:
- A) UC Berkeley
- B) University of Pennsylvania
- C) Florida State University
- D) UCLA
- In September, a controversy erupted in Israel over whether a high school should allow this politician to speak in its mock election:
- A) Bezalel Smotrich
- B) Itamar Ben-Gvir
- C) Monsour Abbas
- D) Mahmoud Abbas
- Which of the following statements is true about Israel’s support to Ukraine?
- A) Israel has provided protective equipment like helmets, body armor, and gas masks.
- B) Israel has provided weapons to Ukraine.
- C) Israel is imposing economic sanctions against Russia.
- D) Israel is providing the Iron Dome to Ukraine.
- In January, Israeli pop singer Omer Adam faced criticism that his song “Kakdila” contained derogatory stereotypes about:
- A) Russian-Israelis
- B) Arab Israelis
- C) The Ethiopian community
- D) Israeli Druze
- In February, Whoopi Goldberg said on The View that “the Holocaust wasn’t about race” but rather about “man’s inhumanity to man.” Her comments caused an uproar because:
- A) The Nazis viewed the Jewish people as an inferior race, so the Holocaust WAS about race.
- B) Judaism does not fit neatly into boxes and could be thought of as a religion, people, culture, and/or ethnicity.
- C) Antisemitism is racism, whether or not Jews identify as a race.
- D) All of the above.
- Which of the following is NOT true about the death of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh?
- A) Al Jazeera and the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of deliberately killing her.
- B) The IDF immediately accused Palestinians of killing her.
- C) An IDF investigation found that it was likely that an Israeli soldier accidentally killed her.
- D) IDF soldiers entered the refugee camp in the West Bank where the clash broke out amid a wider terror crackdown.
- In what is known as the “status quo agreement,” Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. How did this come to be?
- A) David Ben-Gurion started the precedent in Israel’s early years as a concession to the Arabs remaining in Israel.
- B) Then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan made the decision in 1967, hoping to reduce tensions after the Six-Day War.
- C) Ultra-Orthodox Jews petitioned the government to make the change because the area where the Temple stood should be off-limits to Jews.
- D) Yitzhak Rabin made this concession in exchange for peace with Jordan in 1994.
- Which of these rabbis gave a speech right before Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington?
- A) Abraham Joshua Heschel
- B) Joseph Soloveitchik
- C) Joachim Prinz
- D) Stephen S. Wise
- When asked why Israel isn’t doing more to support Ukraine, Israeli leaders typically cite
- A) Security reasons
- B) Financial reasons
- C) Historical reasons
- D) Moral reasons
- Who said the following quote: “I am now addressing all the Jews of the world. Don’t you see what is happening? Do not be silent right now.”
- A) Yair Lapid
- B) Volodymyr Zelensky
- C) Naftali Bennett
- D) Micah Goodman
Answer Key:
- D
- D
- C
- D
- A
- A
- B
- A
- A
- D
- B
- B
- C
- A
- B
Originally Published Jan 3, 2023 11:54AM EST
