A new Israeli film debunks the myth that Nazis made soap from the bodies of Jews. The legend was apparently spread by guards as psychological torture of Jewish inmates, according to the film ‘Soaps’ by director Eyal Balas.

The Jewish women who pioneered modern Arab music: Why were Jewish female singers so prominent among the pioneers of modern Arab music? And how did it come about that in Morocco and other places, they are engraved in the collective memory and remembered with esteem − yet most Israelis never heard of them?

How the humble Jewish herring became haute American cuisine: Jews from Eastern Europe brought the recipe to America, where it became a cheap protein; but the status of herring in the culinary world changed when the little fish made aliyah to Israel. Read more.

Chaim Weizmann’s visit to Palestine 95 years ago, now on YouTube: A rare clip documenting the future first president of Israel’s visit to Palestine represents the “first steps towards the establishment of Israel,” says cinema scholar Yaakov Gross. Read more.

Bohemian cafes, sexual freedom and lots of gossip. Has anything changed in Tel Aviv since the 50s? In the days before air-conditioning, the city was ‘a place where people lived outdoors, on the streets, in the sidewalk cafes, on the beach or in the balconies,’ one veteran journalist recalls. Read more.  

The Jewish people’s ultimate treasure hunt: In his search for the ancestry of the Jewish people, researcher Eran Elhaik says he has discovered that Jews originated in the Khazar empire, not the kingdom of Judah.

American espionage planes repeatedly entered Israeli airspace in the 1950s for a series of secret spy missions, new information published by an Israel Defense Forces publication revealed this week, bringing to an end a decades-long mystery.

At the time, Israel’s defense establishment was baffled by the entrance of high-flying crafts, cruising at altitudes of about 70,000 feet, and code named “Jules Verne.”

According to documents released by the IAF’s archives, which is due to be published later this week, it was the U.S.S.R. that aided Israeli officials to finally expose the identity of the mystery planes, after a U.S. U-2 espionage plane was shot down over Soviet soil. Read more.

Germany and the state of Bavaria were warned about a possible terror attack one month before the 1972 Munich massacre, but failed to prevent the killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympics, the German weekly Der Spiegel claimed Sunday.

The weekly’s leading story, titled, “Olympic secret case: the Munich attack – and how the state covered up its failure,” claims that Germany and the state of Bavaria committed “grave errors,” whose true scale “is still kept secret.” 

Eleven Israeli athletes and coaches were murdered on September 5, 1972, in Munich, as well as a German police officer. Three of the eight terrorists, belonging to the Palestinian Black September organization, survived the failed rescue attempt of the German police. Read more.