Tel Aviv Review

America has long been viewed as the quintessential broker of Israeli-Palestinian peace. In his book Brokers of Deceit: How the US Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East, Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi argues that it's no accident peace has not yet materialized. He shows how the US undermines, rather than advancing an agreement, by playing the role of "Israel's lawyer," or perhaps its siamese twin. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Bernard Avishai, an essayist and lecturer at Dartmouth College and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discusses his book Promiscuous: 'Portnoy's Complaint and Our Doomed Pursuit of Happiness, outlining how Philip Roth's celebrated novel changed his life, as well as that of so many Americans of his generation. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Deborah Golden and Dr. Lauren Erdreich, anthropologists at the University of Haifa and the Levinsky College of Education, discuss their new book (co-authored with Dr. Sveta Roberman) Mothering, Education and Culture: Russian, Palestinian, and Jewish Middle-Class Mothers in Israeli Society. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel. 

Rabbi Jeffrey Saks, a series editor at the SY Agnon Library at Toby Press, discusses the soon-to-be completed 15-volume collection of stories by the famed Israeli author - some appearing in English for the first time. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Yael Ziegler, an assistant professor of Bible at Herzog College and the Matan Institute, discusses her book Ruth: From Alienation to Monarchy, which explores one of the Bible's most complex female characters. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Dana Mills, a political and cultural theorist, discusses her groundbreaking book Dance and Politics: Moving Beyond Boundaries, which seeks to analyze dance as primarily a political expression. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Talia Sagiv, a sociologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discusses her book On the Fault Line: Israelis of Mixed Ethnicity that focuses on Israelis of both Ashkenazi and Sephardi descent. On paper, they are the realization of the Zionist dream of the gathering of the diaspora, but in reality, their situation is no less troublesome. This episode originally aired on May 2, 2014.  This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Eitan Bar-Yosef of the Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics at Ben Gurion University of the Negev and author of A Villa in the Jungle: Africa in Israeli culture, talks about Israelis' fascination with Africa in the early decades of statehood. This episode was originally aired on April 4, 2014.  This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel

Noemi Schlosser, playwright and director, discusses her forthcoming documentary film The Youth of 1948, which seeks to document and tell the personal stories of the last remaining survivors of Israel's War of Independence. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Elad Segev of Tel Aviv University's Department of Communication discusses his recent studies, which have sought to establish whether Israel is really unfairly singled out in the Western media. The results, not surprisingly, are more ambiguous than you might think. This episode was originally aired on March 16, 2014.  This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Professor Aeyal Gross of Tel Aviv University's law school discusses his new book The Writing on the Wall: Rethinking the International Law of Occupation, and explains how classic categories in international law need to be adapted to a changing political, diplomatic and technological reality.  This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Adam LeBor, a journalist and author, discusses his new spy thriller novels featuring UN secret agent and former Israeli spy Yael Azoulay, the so-called "Israeli female James Bond." This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Olga Kirschbaum, a historian (PhD NYU) discusses the intellectual networks of Hannah Arendt, one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, during her professional coming of age in the Weimar Republic and in later years. She explores the individual and atmospheric influences on her thinking on politics, human nature, social democracy and Zionism. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Professor Meron Medzini, a Japanologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discusses his new book Under the Shadow of the Rising Sun: Japan and the Jews during the Holocaust Era. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel. 

Yonathan Mizrachi, director of Emek Shaveh, a Jerusalem-based organization that undertakes to “prevent the politicization of archaeology in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and to protect ancient sites belonging to members of all communities, faiths and peoples,” talks politics and archaeology ahead of an event at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute on March 28 entitled "Heritage, Politics and Everything In-between: UNESCO in Israel and Jerusalem." This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Heather McRobie, a post-doctoral fellow at Tel Aviv University's law school, specializes in Egypt's constitutional law, which went into overdrive in the wake of President Hosni Mubarak's ouster in 2011 and the chaos that ensued.  This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel. 

Sarah Kreimer, a veteran Israeli-American activist, has just published her memoir Vision and Division in Israel: My Journey Along the Seam, which offers valuable insight into the feats and defeats of Jewish-Arab dialogue in Israel over the years. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Nir Stav, the director of the Israel Meteorological Service, lays out the challenges imposed on the Middle East , and discusses how different countries should be - and already are - coping with them despite the political turmoil the region is embroiled in. The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute's event Cross-border Climate on March 16th will include a lecture by Nir Stav. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Professor Itamar Rabinovich, the president of the Israel Institute, former president of Tel Aviv University and Yitzhak Rabin's ambassador to the United States and chief negotiator with Syria, discusses his newly published biography of the prime minister under whom he served, whose life and tragic death left an indelible mark on Israel's history. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Brian Klug, a senior research fellow in Philosophy at St. Benet’s Hall, University of Oxford, discusses his new book Words of Fire: Ahad Ha'am and the Jewish Future, a collection of essays by the maverick early 20th-century Zionist theorist, and analyzes his relevance to today's Israel. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.