Famously, the slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print” graces the front page of every New York Times edition. The slogan was coined at the end of the 19th century by the paper’s publisher, Adolph Ochs. Of course, in the digital era, the slogan is wishful thinking. No paper could realistically cover all the important news stories of the day.
Still, it would be hard to argue that outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and others adequately cover even those stories they do print. They often devote precious space to emotive or opinionated claims, while omitting highly material and relevant information that sheds important new light.
Below are three important, but underreported, stories from the week bearing on the Middle East, including Israel, that media consumers should know.
1) Harvard Has an Ignorance Problem
Harvard’s Jewish President Alan Garber acknowledged his university’s students have an ignorance problem when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Garber’s comments in a Manhattan event were reported by The Harvard Crimson and Fox News. Other major U.S. outlets did not seem to report the story – despite the amount of coverage of campus protests related to the Israel-Hamas war.
Garber was disappointed by “widespread ignorance of Harvard students who expressed strong opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict — and their disinterest in learning the facts of the issue.” Garber noted the problem of ignorance is evident “among people on all sides of this issue.” As an example of this problem, Garber said he was astounded to hear a student claiming to be an anti-Zionist since they supported “a two state solution” (to the conflict). Garber said he was shocked by the student’s statement since the two-state solution was mainstream in Israel before the war in Gaza. Garber’s claim is accurate: a Pew Research Center report from September 2023 found that despite growing skepticism, most secular Israeli Jews, 61 percent, supported the two-state solution. Among the Israeli left, support was 73 percent and it dropped to 53 percent among the political center.
Garber acknowledged another problem: faculty politics in the classroom. Despite defending campus free speech, Garber said Harvard was wrong to allow faculty to insert their political views into their teaching, as it might stifle open disagreement.
Garber’s comments come as the Trump administration continue to pressure the university: last March, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Harvard, alleging that it failed to protect its Jewish and Israeli students, arguing these groups faced discrimination based on their race and national origin. Garber called the lawsuit “meritless.”
2) On the Heels of Controversies, Israel Appoints Its First Envoy to the Christian World
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the country had just appointed its first special envoy to the Christian world. This is a newly created role whose purpose is to “to deepen Israel’s ties with Christian communities around the world.”
The position will be filled by George Deek: a veteran diplomat with 18 years of experience and Israel’s first Christian ambassador. Deek recently served as the Israeli ambassador in Azerbaijan. He is a member of Jaffa’s Arab Christian community. His father, Youseff Deek, was Chairman of Jaffa’s Christian Orthodox community.
This new position and appointment come after several incidents strained Israel’s relations with Christians around the world. Last month, Israeli police prevented Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa from worshiping on Palm Sunday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre because of wartime restrictions. Pizzaballa was accompanied by Father Francesco Ielpo, the Guardian of the Church, who was also barred from entering. Wartime restrictions on gatherings applied to houses of worship of all religions as well as schools and workplaces. During the days and weeks before the incident, shrapnel of Iranian missiles landed steps away from the Church and hit a road leading to the Western Wall. Following widespread outcry, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed that the Patriarch should be given “full and immediate access” to the Church. In another incident, in a village in southern Lebanon, an IDF soldier was photographed smashing a statue of Jesus. Following widespread outcry, the soldier who smashed the statue and the soldier who took the picture were removed from combat and sent to 30 days in prison. Israel offered the villagers a different statue to replace the smashed one—an offer they rejected.
Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s Foreign Minister, stressed that Israel sees its relations with the Christian world as very important and said he is confident Deek will “contribute greatly” to Israel’s relations with Christians.
Israel itself is home to some 184,000 Christians, with Nazareth and Haifa seeing the largest concentrations.
3) Data Shows Israel’s Population is Growing and that, Strangely Enough, Israelis Are Also Very Happy
And the Jewish Insider (JI) is trying to make sense of that, just in time for Israeli Independence Day. JI reported the latest Israeli demographics published by the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Israel’s population grew by 1.4 percent since the eve of Independence Day 2025 and now comprises some 10.2 million people. This growth rate is one of the highest in the West, with 177,000 babies born last year. About 27 percent of the country’s population is younger than 14. This makes Israel’s population the youngest in the OECD, followed by Mexico (25 percent of the population younger than 14) and Turkey (21 percent).
JI also discussed hope and satisfaction among Israelis. The outlet noted that CBS data showed 91% of Israelis said they are either satisfied or very satisfied with life, 96% are satisfied or very satisfied with their relationship with family, and 66% are satisfied or very satisfied with their economic situation.
JI suggested that Israeli birth rates might be an expression of optimism and happiness, noting that in March 2026 Israel was ranked the eighth-happiest country in the world in the World Happiness Index.
Given the state of affairs in the country over the last few years, Israeli happiness demands an explanation, which JI tried to suggest. JI noted the release of the last hostages held in Gaza and a strong economy as potential reasons for optimism, though it noted the security situation and political divisions can either bolster or decrease optimism.
After trying to assess several reasons for this unexplained Israeli happiness, JI seemed to imply that something we might call “The Israeli Spirit,” exemplified in a controversial post by comedian Eli Finish, is the reason for Israel’s puzzlingly optimistic and happy population. Finish wrote:
Did we win [in the Iran war] or not? What nonsense. I don’t know about you, but I saw an army that did things out of a Hollywood movie; I saw a nation that popped open a beer in the safe room; I see Iran in shock. Call me optimistic, but I’m not the only one. Am Yisrael Chai. … What other option do we have if not to be optimistic? (translated by JI)
While some commentators criticized Finish for what they said was delusional optimism, the comedian claimed he received a lot of love from people on the street.