Yuli Novak, the former director of Breaking the Silence, the IDF veterans’ organization, reflects in her new memoir, Who Do You Think You Are , on her 2012-2017 tenure at the helm of the most reviled human rights group in Israel. This episode is part of a series co-sponsored by UCLA's Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, and co-hosted by its director, Prof. Dov Waxman ....
In this first-in-all-of-human-history, cross-over edition of TLV1’s Tel Aviv Review and TLV1’s The Promised Podcast, we discuss the open letter of more than 160 renowned historians of Jews, Judaism and/or Israel (“Israel on the Edge of an Abyss”), which opens, “We, historians of the Jewish people and of the State of Israel, accuse the sixth government of Benjamin Netanyahu of endangering the very existence of the State of Israel and the Israeli nation.” Joining us is the author of the letter, th...
David de Jong, a Tel Aviv-based journalist for the Dutch Financial Daily, discusses his book Nazi Billionaires: The Dark Histories of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties . The book, a collective biography of Nazi Germany’s top industrialists and their heirs, sheds light on the dark corners of Germany’s postwar Denazification.
Prof. Nir Keidar, legal historian and President of Sapir College, discusses his book David Ben Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy . How did Israel's founding father conceptualize the Republican idea and adapt it to the unique reality of the State of Israel, and in what ways is the Netanyahu Government's judicial overhaul a contradiction of the original vision?
Oren Kessler, journalist and author, discusses his new book “ Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict ,” the first general-interest book in English dedicated to one of the key moments in the history of Jewish-Arab relations in Palestine and Israel. This episode is part of a series co-sponsored by UCLA’s Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, and co-hosted by its director, Prof. Dov Waxman ....
Shuli Dichter, a veteran activist for a Jewish-Arab shared society in Israel, discusses his political memoir Sharing the Promised Land: In Pursuit of Equality between Jewish and Arab Citizens in Israel . The timing of its publication in English, when Israel seems to be moving in the opposite direction, is not a coincidence.
Dr Tamir Hod, a historian at Tel Hai college, discusses his book Did We Remember to Forget?, a study into the Demjanjuk affair of the 1980s and 1990s – the trial and eventual acquittal of Ukrainian-American John Demjanjuk, who was extradited to Israel on suspicion of being a notorious concentration camp guard. This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education....
Tamar Hermann, professor of political science at the Open University and Senior Research Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, discusses the 20th edition of the annual Democracy Index, the most comprehensive annual survey of Israeli public opinion on matters of public importance. This episode is made possible by the Israel Democracy Institute , an independent center of research and action dedicated to strengthening the foundations of Israeli democracy....
Steven Fine, professor of Jewish History and Director of the Center for Israel Studies at Yeshiva University in New York, discusses The Samaritans: A Biblical People , a documentary film, edited book and museum exhibition dedicated to the Samaritans, a tiny ethnoreligious group native to Israel and Palestine. This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education....
Dr. Gilad Malach, the director of the “Ultra-Orthodox in Israel” program at the Israel Democracy Institute, discusses the latest “Haredi Report”, published annually by the IDI. The ultra-Orthodox parties are back in government with a vengeance, after almost two years in Opposition. How did their stay in the political wilderness affect their constituency, and what trends can already be observed? This episode is made possible by the Israel Democracy Institute , an independent center of research an...
Dr Omer Einav, a historian at Hadassah Academic College, discusses his book Defending the Goal: Football and the relations between Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine, 1917-1948 . This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.
Yoram Hazony, President of the Herzl Institute and Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, discusses his book Conservatism: A Rediscovery , advocating for ending the “marriage of convenience between conservatism and liberalism.” The episode is sponsored by the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA and co-hosted by Prof David N. Myers.
Rachel Azaria, CEO of Darkenu, the largest civil society organization in Israel, a veteran public campaigner and former politician (Member of Knesset, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem), discusses her book Guided Revolution: A step-by-step manual towards social change in Israel . Why do some campaigns succeed and others fail? Can activism in Israel be salvaged from its association with the depleted left-wing? This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , which promotes...
Prof. Hillel Cohen, historian of the Middle East at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discusses his new book Enemies, a love story: Mizrahi Jews, Palestinian Arabs and Ashkenazi Jews from the Rise of Zionism to the Present , an attempt to define Mizrahi politics in historical and contemporary contexts. This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education....
Jeffrey Herf, Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Maryland, discusses his new book Israel's Moment: International Support and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945-1949 , analyzing how Israeli independence benefited from the changing international landscape in the "twilight" period between the Second World War and the Cold War. This episode is part of a series co-sponsored by UCLA’s Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, and co-hosted by its direc...
Filmmaker Alon Schwarz discusses his new documentary Tantura , which reopens an episode from Israel's War of Independence and a controversy that erupted in the 1990s, seeking to shed new light on the question whether Israeli troops committed a massacre of Palestinian civilians in a village near Haifa.
Avner Wishnitzer, professor of Ottoman history at Tel Aviv University, discusses his book As Night Falls: Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Cities After Dark , a groundbreaking social history of Istanbul and Jerusalem on the cusp of modernity.
Hagar Lahav, professor of communication at Sapir Academic College, discusses her book Women, Secularism and Belief: A Sociology of Belief in the Jewish-Israeli Secular Landscape . This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.
Gideon Rahat, professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discusses the insights that emanate from The Elections in Israel 2019-2021 , a book he co-edited with Prof. Michal Shamir. Is there any reason to believe that Israel’s fifth general election in two and a half years will be any different? This episode is part of a series co-sponsored by UCLA’s Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, and co-hosted by its director, Prof. Dov Waxman....
Mikhael Manekin, a prominent Israeli activist (former director of Breaking the Silence and Molad) discusses his new book, A Dawn of Redemption , an attempt to address the ostensible contradiction between his progressive politics and his Modern Orthodox devotion. This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.
Dr. Nora Derbal , an Islamic Studies scholar and a Martin Buber Society Postdoctoral Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discusses her book Charity in Saudi Arabia: Civil Society Under Authoritarianism .
Shlomit Ravitsky-Tur Paz, head of the program on Religion, Nation and State and the director of the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society at the Israel Democracy Institute, discusses some recent findings - some unprecedented - from the new biannual statistical report on religion and state, published this week. This episode is made possible by the Israel Democracy Institute , an independent center of research and action dedicated to strengthening the foundations of Israeli democracy....
Haggai Ram, professor of Middle East History at Ben Gurion University, discusses his book Intoxicating Zion: A Social History of Hashish in Mandatory Palestine and Israel .
Adam Raz, historian at Tel Aviv University and Akevot – the Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research, has written several history books. His most recent work is a stage play – his first – The Personal Tragedy of Mr Sami Saada . It focuses on how the life of an Arab family man from Haifa unraveled in April 1948, and his attempts to cope with the new reality. This episode is co-hosted by Prof. David N. Myers and sponsored by the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA....
Prof. On Barak of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University discusses his book, Powering Empire: How Coal Made the Middle East and Sparked Global Carbonization . He takes on a historical journey to think of energy in the historical context of the making of the Middle East as a region, during the long 19th century. Instead of thinking that we are in a transition from coal to oil to cleaner energies, he argues, we need to understand the persistence of coal in the ...
Dr Andreas Hackl, anthropologist at the University of Edinburgh, discusses his new book, The Invisible Palestinians: The Hidden Struggle for Inclusion in Jewish Tel Aviv .
Dr Louis Fishman, historian of modern Turkey and Israel/Palestine, discusses his book Jews and Palestinians in the Late Ottoman Era, 1908-1914 , breaking down conventional wisdoms about politics and identity in Palestine on the eve of the First World War.
Matt Sienkiewicz, Professor of Communication and International Studies at Boston College, discusses his new co-authored book That’s Not Funny: How the Right Makes Comedy Work for Them , analyzing the reach and influence of openly right-wing comedians on old and new media in the United States.
Avi Dabush, veteran social activist, Meretz politician and author of the new semi-autobiographical book The Periphery Rebellion: The Guide to a Much-Needed Revolution in Israeli Society , analyzes the origins of social inequalities in Israel and explains why the liberal left – despite everything – is the answer (albeit not always the Israeli left in its current form). This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , which promotes peace, freedom, and justice throu...
Dr. Naomi Shmuel, author and anthropologist, from the department of Folklore at the Hebrew University, discusses her book Generations of Hope: Traditions and Intergenerational Transferal with the Transition from Ethiopia to Israel , analyzing the hybrid identity of Israelis of Ethiopian descent across the generations. This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education....
