The story of Ilan and Naama Dvir and their journey to bring alpacas to Israel over 30 years ago.

Shmuel Rosner serves as a Tel Aviv based think tank fellow, columnist and editor. Rosner is a senior fellow at The Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI), a contributing opinion writer for The International New York Times, the Senior Political Editor for the Jewish Journal, a columnist for Israel’s Maariv, and the chief non-fiction editor for Israel’s largest Publishing House, Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir.

Rosner has published books both in Israel and in the U.S., including Shtetl Bagel Baseball, on the Wonderful Dreadful State of American Jews (Israel), The Jewish Vote: Obama vs. Romney, A Jewish Voter’s Guide (U.S.) and The Jews: 7 Frequent Questions.

His most recent book, #IsraeliJudaism: Potrait of a Cultural Revolution (2019), co-authored with Camil Fuchs, a statistician at Tel Aviv University, explores a new kind of Judaism emerging in the 21st century in Israel. It introduces Israeli culture to the non-Israeli reader in a fresh way, while shedding light on why Israel and the Diaspora face a great divide.

Additional Reading

• on African Asylum Seekers in Israel.
• about the humans rights violations and political situation in Eritrea.
• about the Eritrean refugee crisis.

If you'd like to learn about opportunities to get involved and help asylum seekers like Tesaflem, please visit the ARDC's website.]]>

In 2010, eighteen-year-old Tesaflem Haile fled persecution in his native Eritrea, embarking on a treacherous two month journey on foot through Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Sinai, before, ultimately, landing in Israel.

We sat down with Tesaflem to learn about what his life has been like in Israel and what challenges asylum seekers in Israel, a community of some 34,000, face today. His is a story of hardship, perseverance, and of all things, software development.

We're back!

For the next few episodes, we'll be exploring the African asylum seeking community in Tel Aviv. Since the late 1990s up until Israel sealed its southern border in 2012, thousands of Africans from Eritrea and Sudan have fled persecution in their own countries to Israel. Currently, some 38,000 reside in the state with neither refugee status or any path to citizenship. As non-legal residents, these asylum seekers face countless challenges to gain employment, receive an education, and resist deportation.

Over the summer, we spoke with Leah Hecht and Guli Dolev-Hashiloni of the African Refugee Development Center. The ARDC is a grassroots, community-based nonprofit organization that was founded in 2004 by African asylum-seekers and Israeli citizens in order to protect, assist, and empower African refugees and asylum-seekers in Israel. The ARDC began its work as a humanitarian aid organization, and over time has adapted to fit community needs. Currently, it works to address gaps in services created by harsh governmental policies in 4 key sectors: education, livelihoods, advocacy, and rights empowerment. To date, ARDC has served over 15,000 asylum-seekers from a number of countries and operates various educational programs seeking to deepen the social and economic inclusion of asylum-seekers throughout Israel.

We're back!

For the next few episodes, we'll be exploring the African asylum seeking community in Tel Aviv. Since the late 1990s up until Israel sealed its southern border in 2012, thousands of Africans from Eritrea and Sudan have fled persecution in their own countries to Israel. Currently, some 38,000 reside in the state with neither refugee status or any path to citizenship. As non-legal residents, these asylum seekers face countless challenges to gain employment, receive an education, and resist deportation.

Over the summer, we spoke with Leah Hecht and Guli Dolev-Hashiloni of the African Refugee Development Center. The ARDC is a grassroots, community-based nonprofit organization that was founded in 2004 by African asylum-seekers and Israeli citizens in order to protect, assist, and empower African refugees and asylum-seekers in Israel. The ARDC began its work as a humanitarian aid organization, and over time has adapted to fit community needs. Currently, it works to address gaps in services created by harsh governmental policies in 4 key sectors: education, livelihoods, advocacy, and rights empowerment. To date, ARDC has served over 15,000 asylum-seekers from a number of countries and operates various educational programs seeking to deepen the social and economic inclusion of asylum-seekers throughout Israel.

Ilana Dayan is an Israeli investigative journalist, anchorwoman, and attorney. She is best known as host of the investigative television program Uvda ("Fact") on the Israeli Channel 2, recently dubbed the Israeli 60 minutes.

Ilana was born in Argentina and immigrated to Israel with her family at the age of 6. She was drafted to the Israeli Defense Forces during the First Lebanon War and served as producer, editor and correspondent for the Israel Army Radio and was the first woman correspondent in the station's history. Afterwards she studied law at Tel Aviv University and went on to complete her Ph.D. at Yale University. Now, she currently teaches courses on freedom of speech at Tel Aviv University.

Ilana's vast experience and vivid anecdotes make this an episode you won't want to miss!

At long last, welcome to Is(that)raeli?

For our first episode, we spoke with Miri Eisin about the history of immigration to Israel since its founding, the limitations of language to describe complex and often controversial realities, and, even a bit about her fascinating life!

Miri's career began in the IDF as part of the Israeli intelligence community. For over twenty years she served as the head of the combat intelligence and the assistant to the director of Military Intelligence. After retiring from the military, Miri was appointed as the Israeli Prime Minister’s International Advisor and played an important role in the Annapolis Conference. Currently, Miri is one of Israel's main presenters that sheds light on regional geopolitics, security related issues in the global media, and the different narratives within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We had a blast talking to her. Miri is incredibly thought provoking, thorough, and fun. Enjoy!

At long last, welcome to Is(that)raeli?

For our first episode, we spoke with Miri Eisin about the history of immigration to Israel since its founding, the limitations of language to describe complex and often controversial realities, and, even a bit about her fascinating life!

Miri's career began in the IDF as part of the Israeli intelligence community. For over twenty years she served as the head of the combat intelligence and the assistant to the director of Military Intelligence. After retiring from the military, Miri was appointed as the Israeli Prime Minister’s International Advisor and played an important role in the Annapolis Conference. Currently, Miri is one of Israel's main presenters that sheds light on regional geopolitics, security related issues in the global media, and the different narratives within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We had a blast talking to her. Miri is incredibly thought provoking, thorough, and fun. Enjoy!

Welcome to Is(that)raeli? Stories and Conversations about what it means to be Israeli...really! Episodes coming soon!