NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined here by Aliza Schoffman Land and Sirin Smoom from Lissan. Lissan, Arabic for language or tongue, advances a vision of a bilingual Hebrew-Arabic Jerusalem by promoting linguistic justice and equal access to basic rights and services for all Jerusalem residents through Hebrew language instruction to East Jerusalemites. Learn more about Lissan's mission: https://www.lissan.org/?lang=en Lissan's current programs: https://www.lissan.org/our-work?lang=en More about ...
Aug 14, 2025•46 min
In this episode of PeaceCast (recorded on August 1, 2025), Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by NJN's Director of Government Relations, Madeleine Cereghino, for a conversation about the mass flood of legislative actions revolving around Israel and Palestine that have hit Washington in the last handful of weeks. This episode addresses the basics of how to take action and contact your Representatives and Senators (especially since at the time that this episode is airing, they should all be in their ho...
Aug 06, 2025•34 min
Recording of a webinar hosted by NJN and J-LINK on July 29, 2025. The situation in Syria continues to evolve rapidly, with significant implications for regional stability and international relations. With regional alliances shifting and global attention elsewhere, what is the current state of play in Syria? What role can Syria play in future diplomacy? And how might its relations with Israel and the West evolve? New Jewish Narrative and J-LINK cohosted a webinar featuring: Dr. Samir Altaqi -- A ...
Jul 30, 2025•1 hr 7 min
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from July 24th, 2025. Project Rozana, a longtime partner of NJN’s that works to promote cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis in healthcare, is working to open a new health care clinic in Gaza – an initiative that NJN is proudly supporting. The conversation featured two Project Rozana leaders: Mohammad Asideh, Rozana’s Director of Advocacy and the Executive Director of the Rozana’s Palestine office, and Ken Bob, the Chair of Project R...
Jul 25, 2025•55 min
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from July 8th, 2025. On July 7th, President Trump is met with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington, DC. In the days leading up to and following the meeting, the rumors (and the Truth Social posts) have been coming fast and furious. Nobody really knows yet what this meeting means. Some of the questions being asked include: Is a ceasefire about to be announced? Will it be genuinely linked to a process to finally end the Gaza war? When will th...
Jul 10, 2025•54 min
This is a recording of a NJN webinar from June 18th, 2025. Navigating issues related to Israel/Palestine in the queer community – and in some of the broader progressive spaces – can be challenging. There is a history of using Israel’s relatively LGBTQ friendly environment to try to distract from the Occupation, a practice which has earned the label “Pinkwashing.” At the same time, there are the sometimes unfair asks that are made of Jews and/or Israelis. To help us make sense of how to navigate ...
Jun 20, 2025•59 min
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from June 19th, 2025. The Israeli government's decision to begin a bombing campaign in Iran on Thursday marked the beginning of a new chapter in the conflict. All of us are trying to make sense of the military action, the diplomatic fallout, and what the consequences will be for Israel, the region, and for the United States. New Jewish Narrative hosted an emergency webinar with Ambassador Dan Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and one ...
Jun 20, 2025•58 min
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from June 5th, 2025. We are living through a moment in the United States when we see both that antisemitism is rising and that the Trump administration is weaponizing antisemitism to silence its critics and to attack academia. For years, NJN has been a leader in making sure that efforts to counter antisemitism are not exploited to violate civil liberties. For this conversation, NJN's President and CEO Hadar Susskind was joined by two leaders ...
Jun 06, 2025•1 hr 1 min
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from June 4th, 2025. "The perimeter" is the term used to describe the ever-expanding buffer zone on the Gaza side of the entire Israel-Gaza border from which Palestinians have been forcibly removed since the beginning of the war. As Breaking the Silence's recent report demonstrates, the area has over time been completely decimated and razed to the ground, at the expense of Palestinian residential homes and neighbourhoods, industrial areas, gr...
Jun 06, 2025•58 min
Brian K Barber's new book, No Way But Forward: Life Stories of Three Families in the Gaza Strip, is a heart-wrenching piece of nonfiction. Barber, a psychologist and researcher, has cultivated real relationships with three families in Gaza since 1995, allowing him to tell their stories with rare depth and authenticity. Read the book: https://www.amazon.com/No-Way-but-Forward-Families-ebook/dp/B0DMCV9BRB Learn more: https://bkbarber.com/...
May 15, 2025•27 min•Ep. 333
This is a recording of an NJN webinar on April 24th, 2025 Drs. Shibley Telhami and Marc Lynch, co-chairs of the Middle East Scholar Barometer, say that they have seen a “chilling effect" on the working atmosphere for Middle East scholars. Many US-based academics and scholars already felt an increasing need to self-censor when addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue professionally. The Trump administration has put unprecedented pressure on higher education. Now, scholars face an environment in w...
Apr 25, 2025•58 min
Recording of a NJN webinar on April 16, 2025 Yair Golan is the leader of The Democrats, a political party formed last year when the Labor and Meretz parties merged. Before entering politics, he had a distinguished military career, retiring as a Major General and serving as Deputy Chief of Staff of the IDF. His actions on the morning of October 7th – in which he rushed on his own accord to the area around Gaza and rescued people from Hamas attacks – have earned him a special status in Israel. Thi...
Apr 16, 2025•43 min
Recording of an NJN webinar on April 3, 2025. The conversation, anchored by NJN President & CEO Hadar Susskind, features Hagit Ofran and Lior Amihai from Peace Now. Our guests are on the ground, leading the push against settlements and the fight for for peace. Lior Amihai is the current Executive Director of Peace Now as well as a previous Executive Director of Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group. He also previously served as co-director of Settlement Watch. Hagit Ofran is the co-directo...
Apr 10, 2025•57 min•Ep. 338
In this episode of PeaceCast, Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by NJN Board members and Habonim Dror leaders Shaina Wasserman and Judah Altman. The conversation delves into the details of how Habonim Dror and New Jewish Narrative are connected, as well as how dialogue, discussion, and youth involvement help shape our broader community. This episode also includes some details about the World Zionist Congress elections and the shifting nature of progressive Zionism across generational lines. More inf...
Mar 26, 2025•37 min
In this episode of PeaceCast, Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by NJN's Director of Government Relations, Madeleine Cereghino, for a discussion of President Trump's "flood the zone" tactics, and staying sane in the age of information overload. This episode also covers recent events at USAID and other federal agencies as well as at Columbia University.
Mar 20, 2025•25 min
NJN Deputy Communications Director Maxxe Albert-Deitch and Director of Development Karen Paul spoke with Dr. Elana Sztokman about her new book, In My Jewish State. In this book, Dr. Sztokman uses her professional skills of rhetorical analysis cultivated from years of anthropological research, and unpacks the language and ideas that drive the pro-Israel advocacy movement and are used to justify cruel actions and attitudes. In the process, she makes some drastic personal changes, shifts her own Je...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 335
Between March 10 and May 4, 2025, American Jews will vote for their delegates to the 39th World Zionist Congress, the “parliament of the Jewish people,” which will convene in Jerusalem in October 2025. Every vote determines how money is spent, how resources are allocated, and contributes to policies in Israeli society and in Jewish communities around the globe. New Jewish Narrative proudly co-leads the Hatikvah Slate, working towards progressive change within the Jewish community here in the U.S...
Jan 31, 2025•57 min•Ep. 334
Recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar with NJN President and CEO Hadar Susskind, Director of Government Relations Madeleine Cereghino, and Hassan El-Tayyab of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FNCL). We dug into what the new Congress and administration will mean for New Jewish Narrative, our community, and our work. We spoke about initial signals from incoming government officials, what projects we’re already gearing up for, and generally put together a picture of what to expe...
Jan 23, 2025•1 hr
Recording of our November 20, 2024 webinar with Yonatan Mizrachi from Shalom Achshav's Settlement Watch team. This webinar was co-produced with our colleagues at Shalom Achshav, Canadian Friends of Peace Now, and La Paix Maintenant. The conversation was anchored by Hadar Susskind. Yonatan Mizrachi, a leading expert from the Settlement Watch team, presents new insights from Shalom Achshav's latest annual report, "War and Annexation: How the Israeli Government Changed the West Bank During the Firs...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 332
Recording of our November 14, 2024 webinar. This conversation was hosted by Hadar Susskind. Along with special guest Allison McManus, we discussed what a second Trump administration may hold for Israel-Palestine peacebuilding work. We covered Trump's recent appointee nominations, the effects of potential policies on our agenda, as well as how the US-Israel relationship could shift with Trump back in the White House. Allison McManus is a managing director for the National Security and Internation...
Nov 19, 2024•59 min•Ep. 331
Recording of our October 29th, 2024 webinar with Joshua Leifer. This conversation was hosted by Maxxe Albert-Deitch and Karen Paul. We spoke with Joshua Leifer about Tablets Shattered, his lively and personal history of the fractured American Jewish present. Formed in the middle decades of the twentieth century, the settled-upon pillars of American Jewish self-definition (Americanism, Zionism, and liberalism) have begun to collapse. The binding trauma of Holocaust memory grows ever-more attenuat...
Oct 31, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 330
In this episode of PeaceCast, Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by APN's President and CEO, Hadar Susskind, for a discussion about recent events in the Middle East, the October 7th anniversary, and the past year of conflict. The discussion covers Israel's recent military incursion into southern Lebanon as well as Iran's bombing attack in Israel.
Oct 07, 2024•43 min•Ep. 329
Recording of our September 24th, 2024 webinar with Sarit Michaeli. This conversation was hosted by Madeleine Cereghino. Gaza and the Occupied Territories in general are at the forefront of conversations around the world– horrific medical scenarios, inhumane treatment of Palestinian civilians, and utterly abhorrent forms of abuse taking place in Israeli prisons and on the ground in Occupied land. B’Tselem is among the leading organizations serving as a resource for facts, figures, and personal st...
Sep 25, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 328
Recording of our September 16, 2024 webinar with Amir Tibon. This conversation was hosted by Hadar Susskind and Maxxe Albert-Deitch. We spoke with author Amir Tibon about his new book, The Gates of Gaza , as well as his experience as a journalist in Israel over the last 11 months. This webinar was coordinated in partnership with our colleagues at Canadian Friends of Peace Now. About the book: In The Gates of Gaza , Amir Tibon tells the harrowing story of his family’s survival on October 7th at K...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 327
Recording of our August 21, 2024 webinar with Dr. Gershon Baskin. This conversation was hosted by Madeleine Cereghino. It is clear that people around the world– and the mediators sent to the table in Doha– want an agreement to stop the violence in Gaza and to bring the Israeli hostages home. But the general understanding of how to get from point A (calling for a deal) to point B (getting the Israeli government and Hamas to agree to a deal) remains murky. To shed some light on the circumstances s...
Aug 21, 2024•57 min
Recording of our August 7, 2024 webinar with Lior Amihai. This conversation was hosted by Madeleine Cereghino. Our Director of Government Relations, Madeleine Cereghino, sat down with Lior Amihai, the executive director of our sister organization, Shalom Achshav. Our colleagues there recently released a report detailing what they call the Israeli government’s “Annexation Revolution.” Since October 7th, the Israeli government has launched a massive annexation effort– displacing Palestinians, expa...
Aug 08, 2024•57 min
In this episode of PeaceCast, Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by APN's Director of Government Relations, Madeleine Cereghino, for a discussion of PM Netanyahu's DC visit. The discussion covers PM Netanyahu's address to a joint session of Congress, that speech's implications, and the general optics of the PM's DC visit.
Jul 31, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 324
Recording of our July 25, 2024 webinar with Rebecca Abou-Chedid. This conversation was hosted by Hadar Susskind. Hadar Susskind and Rebecca Abou-Chedid analyze Netanyahu’s visit to DC (and his address to Congress on July 24th). They delve into the impact on American and international politics, the American Jewish community, and the Arab American community. Rebecca Abou-Chedid serves on the board of directors of the IMEU Policy Project, Anera, the Foundation for Middle East Peace, and SEED for Ch...
Jul 26, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 323
Ten brave New Story Leadership alumni - Muslim, Jewish, and Christian - from Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, decided to move forward together in the aftermath of October 7th. First, the group negotiated and crafted a joint statement calling for an immediate ceasefire and hostage release. But they also realized that this was not nearly enough. After months of research, discussion and an intense week together in Geneva, these alumni-- the Phoenix Ten-- negotiated and drafted the Ph...
Jul 02, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 322
Recording of our June 20, 2024 webinar with Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon. This conversation was hosted by Hadar Susskind and Maxxe Albert-Deitch. Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon feel the loss and pain of October 7th and the carnage in Gaza that has followed especially keenly: both have lost family to the conflict. Since October 7th, the two have appeared on various international forums regarding their partnership in establishing peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Most recently, they traveled ...
Jun 21, 2024•57 min•Ep. 321
