Israel Studies

Israel Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Israel about their new books.

On America’s Blind Spot Towards the Palestinians: A Discussion with author Khaled Elgindy

March 9, 2024

On America’s Blind Spot Towards the Palestinians

Khaled Elgindy
Hosted by Paul Starobin

In their handling of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process over the decades, U.S. officials have displayed a “systemic blind spot” by alleviating pres…

Sarah A. Cramsey, "Uprooting the Diaspora: Jewish Belonging and the Ethnic Revolution in Poland and Czechoslovakia, 1936-1946" (Indiana UP, 2023)

March 9, 2024

Uprooting the Diaspora

Sarah A. Cramsey

In Uprooting the Diaspora: Jewish Belonging and the Ethnic Revolution in Poland and Czechoslovakia, 1936-1946 (Indiana UP, 2023), Sarah Cramsey explor…

Jewish War Ethics, Ancient to Contemporary: A Conversation with Rabbi Shlomo Brody

February 13, 2024

Jewish War Ethics, Ancient to Contemporary

Shlomo Brody
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

How should we think about violent accounts in the Bible? Why did Gandhi urge the Jews to turn a blind eye to anti-Semitism during World War II? What i…

On Zionism and the Left: A Discussion with Author and Cultural Critic Susie Linfield

January 22, 2024

On Zionism and the Left

Susie Linfield
Hosted by Paul Starobin

“How has it come to this? How has ‘Zionist’…become the dirtiest word to the international Left?” Susie Linfield poses that ripe question at the outse…

Yitzhak Teutsch, "The Cyprus Detention Camps: The Essential Research Guide" (Cambridge Scholars, 2019)

January 18, 2024

The Cyprus Detention Camps

Yitzhak Teutsch
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Beginning in August 1946, stateless and visaless Jews, most of them survivors of the Nazi death camps, who sought to immigrate to the Land of Israel w…

What Can We Learn From A Pottery Shard? Uncovering the Ancient Past Through Biblical Archeology with Professor Aren Maeir

January 17, 2024

What Can We Learn From A Pottery Shard?

Aren Maeir
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

Some people are good at what they do, some are enthusiastic about their work. This guest brings both to bear in his exploration of the ancient past.…

Geoffrey Levin, "Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978" (Yale UP, 2023)

January 16, 2024

Our Palestine Question

Geoffrey Levin
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

American Jews began debating Palestinian rights issues even before Israel’s founding in 1948. Geoffrey Levin recovers the voices of American Jews who,…

Uri Kaufman, "Eighteen Days in October: The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East" (St. Martin's Press, 2023)

January 15, 2024

Eighteen Days in October

Uri Kaufman
Hosted by Drora Arussy

October 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, a conflict that shaped the modern Middle East. The War was a trauma for Israel, a dange…

Matthew Levitt, "Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad" (Yale UP, 2008)

January 14, 2024

Hamas

Matthew Levitt
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

The world is reeling from the savage terror attack that brutalized, raped, murdered and kidnapped Israelis and civilians from at least 25 other countr…

A Roundup Conversation About Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism with Ajantha Subramanian, Lori Allen (JP)

January 4, 2024

Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism (Episode 3 of 3)

Ajantha Subramanian and Lori Allen

Ajantha Subramanian and Lori Allen turn from hosts to interlocutors in an episode that ties a bow on our Violent Majorities conversations about Indian…

Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism. Natasha Roth-Rowland (with Lori, Ajantha)

December 14, 2023

Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism (Episode 2 of 3)

Natasha Roth-Rowland, Lori Allen, and Ajantha Subramanian

Natasha Roth-Rowland is a writer and researcher at Diaspora Alliance, a former editor at +972 Magazine, and an expert on the Jewish far right. She j…

Raquel Ukeles et al., "101 Treasures from the National Library of Israel" (Scala Arts, 2022)

December 9, 2023

101 Treasures from the National Library of Israel

Raquel Ukeles, Hezi Amiur, and Yoel Finkelman
Hosted by Matthew Miller

101 Treasures from the National Library of Israel (Scala Arts, 2022) provides a thematic journey through the rich and diverse collections of the Natio…

Ibrahim Fraihat and Isak Svensson, "Conflict Mediation in the Arab World" (Syracuse UP, 2023)

December 5, 2023

Conflict Mediation in the Arab World

Ibrahim Fraihat and Isak Svensson
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Today I talked to Isak Svensson (editor) and Laurie Nathan (contributor) about Conflict Mediation in the Arab World (Syracuse UP, 2023), a very import…

Dan Senor and Saul Singer, "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World" (Simon and Schuster, 2023)

November 26, 2023

The Genius of Israel

Dan Senor and Saul Singer
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

How has a small nation of 9 million people, forced to fight for its existence and security since its founding and riven by ethnic, religious, and econ…

Israel, Hamas, and American Jews in a Time of War

November 22, 2023

Israel, Hamas, and American Jews in a Time of War

Jodi Rudoren

On today’s episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey speaks with Jodi Rudoren, editor-in-chief of the Forward magazine, about the si…

Providence and Power: Rabbi Meir Soloveichik on Jewish Statesmanship from King David to David Ben Gurion

November 21, 2023

Providence and Power

Meir Y. Soloveichik
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

For thousands of years, the Jewish people lacked a political state; yet, what can we say about the Jewish tradition of statesmanship? What makes it di…

Shay Rabineau, "Walking the Land: A History of Israeli Hiking Trails" (Indiana UP, 2023)

November 12, 2023

Walking the Land

Shay Rabineau

Israel has one of the most extensive and highly developed hiking trail systems of any country in the world. Millions of hikers use the trails every ye…

Steven Simon, "Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East" (Penguin, 2023)

November 11, 2023

Grand Delusion

Steven Simon
Hosted by Andrew Pace

A longtime American foreign policy insider’s penetrating and definitive reckoning with this country’s involvement in the Middle East The culmination…

Hamas, Iran and Israel: The Perils of Overreaction

November 6, 2023

Hamas, Iran and Israel

Colin Clarke

In this episode of International Horizons, Colin Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Center, discusses the possible trajectories of the Israel-…

On Wars: A Discussion with Michael Mann

October 31, 2023

On Wars

Michael Mann
Hosted by Paul Starobin
Listen:

“Irrationality rules” in war, Michael Mann writes in his magisterial 2023 book, On Wars (Yale UP, 2023), a history that begins with the Roman Republic…