Dr. Yael Dekel, a literary scholar at the Open University and Ben Gurion University of the Negev and a lead fellow at Brandeis University's Institute of Advanced Israel Studies, talks about the Literary Laboratory: how can digital methods be used to study the canon of Hebrew literature - and redefine it, along the way?

This episode is part of a series in partnership with the Institute of Advanced Israel Studies at Brandeis University.

Prof Nir Arielli, Professor of International History at the University of Leeds (UK), discusses his book The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History.

Dr. (Col. res.) Eran Shamir-Borer, Director of the Center for National Security and Democracy at the Israel Democracy Institute and formerly the head of the International Law Department of the IDF’s Military Advocate General, analyzes Israel’s legal standing in relation to the Gaza War and the occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.

Yehuda Shenhav Shaharabani, Professor Emeritus of sociology at Tel Aviv University and the editor in chief of Maktoob books, a series of Hebrew translations of Arabic literature, discusses the life and writing of Elias Khoury, the great Lebanese novelist who died in September, aged 76. Shenhav Shaharabani single-handedly translated ten of Khoury’s novels, and was a close personal friend of his.

The episode is sponsored by the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA and co-hosted by Prof David N. Myers.

Dr Brandon Friedman, a research fellow at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies specializing in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, discusses the future of Middle Eastern geopolitics in the wake of October 7th and ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration.

This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.

The climate crisis is a global issue with very concrete strategic consequences: on food security, energy and more. Galit Cohen, Director of the Program on Climate Change at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies and the former Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, discusses the implications of the climate crisis on national security and the importance of policymaking in moving forward.

This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.

Daniel Lörcher, the founding director of What Matters, an organization that tackles racism, antisemitism and discrimination on the soccer field and elsewhere, discusses his work on reducing antisemitism among soccer fans and how sports culture can – and does – help create an atmosphere that promotes tolerance and pluralism.

This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.

Ricarda Louk, the mother of Shani, a tattoo artist who became one of the most iconic victims of the Nova festival massacre, talks to us upon the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attack.

This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.

Dr Tammy Hoffman, a research fellow and the Head of the Education Policy Program at the Israel Democracy Institute and a lecturer at Hakibbutzim College of Education, explains how public education can tackle the erosion of democratic norms and the adverse effects of social media on society.

This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.

Historian Dr Nimrod Lin, Managing Editor of the Journal of Israeli History, discusses his forthcoming book People Who Count: Zionism, Demography and Democracy in Mandate Palestine.

This interview is part of the "Democracy and Its Alternatives: The Origins of Israel's Current Crisis" conference, held at Brandeis University and organized in partnership with the Center for Jewish History in New York.