When I heard Yuli Tamir, one of the icons and the leading intellectuals of Israel’s moderate left, expressing optimism at a panel discussion in Washington, I rushed to her with a recorder and cajoled her to elaborate about her optimism.

Yuli Tamir is one of the founders of Israel’s peace movement, Peace Now. She is a former minister in the Israeli government and a former Knesset member. She is a professor of philosophy and now the President of the Shenkar College near Tel Aviv.