Tel Aviv Review

Dr. Liora Halperin, assistant professor of History and Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, author of Babel in Zion: Jews, Nationalism and Language Diversity in Palestine 1920-1948, tells host Gilad Halpern about the ideological as well as the practical aspects of the inculcation of the Hebrew language in pre-state Israel.

This episode originally aired June 26, 2015.

Benjamin Netanyahu's endurance as Prime Minister is matched only by his mystique: what lies behind his grip on Israeli society? How did he climb to the top, and what is the price of his long stay at the summit? Anshel Pfeffer, of Haaretz and the Economist, has a new biography of Netanyahu following his strange brew of intellect and populism, poor taste and fine legal lines, fierce family loyalty and shameless political-self-promotion.

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.

Jeffrey Herf, a distinguished professor of history at the University of Maryland, talks to host Gilad Halpern about the attitude of East Germany and the West German radical left towards Israel between 1967-1989, against the backdrop of the memory of the Holocaust as well as the Cold War.

This episode originally aired on June 23, 2015.

Michael Sfard, one of Israel's leading human rights lawyers, chronicles the evolution of the legal pillars of Israel's military occupation of Palestinians, including deportation, settlements, torture policies and more. But his brand-new book The Wall and the Gate, Sfard also tells of the lives and legal struggles of people who fight the policy with its very own tools: in Israeli courts. For each emerging body of law assisting occupation, there is a relentless human rights lawyer campaigning against it, undaunted by lengthy, thankless legal battles, hostile public reactions and scarce victories.

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.

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For South African Jews, support for Israel has ceased to be the one thing they can all agree upon. Three distinguished panelists debate the meaning, old and new, of engaging with Israel as South African Jews.

Panelists:

• Michael Bagraim, an attorney and member of parliament for the Democratic Alliance, the opposition party, as well as a member and formerly the president of the South African Board of Jewish Deputies
• Dr Sally Frankental, a retired lecturer in anthropology at the University of Cape Town, and the founding director of the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research
• Doron Isaacs, a social activist and the former head of Habonim, the biggest Jewish Youth Movement in South Africa

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.

How did a country with the world's most advanced surveillance technology and minimal restrictions on using it end up with a citizenry that hardly minds? Israelis have displayed almost none of the data-squeamishness of their American and European counterparts, as long as it adds to national security. But the nature of data is changing. Professor Yuval Shany of the Israel Democracy Institute explains why it may be time to rein in the authorities, for the sake of the citizens.

This episode of the Tel Aviv Review was brought to you by the Israel Democracy Institute, an independent center of research and action dedicated to strengthening the foundations of Israeli democracy.

Isn't art always political, and when it is not, is it just bad art? And what is the role of art in shaping our political outlook, when the Israeli reality offers little escape from politics?

Joshua Simon, a writer, editor and curator, will moderate a round-table discussion dedicated to those issues and more, with leading artists, thinkers and cultural critics. He offers hosts Gilad Halpern and Dahlia Scheindlin a glimpse.

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 Adam Mendelson, a historian and the director of the Kaplan Center for Jewish Studies and Research at the University of Cape Town, discusses his recently completed and trailblazing study that seeks to map out the attitudes and perceptions of Black South Africans towards Jewish people in three major urban areas in the country.

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.

How do you fight a war by becoming the enemy and still keep your identity? Who are the good guys who are the bad guys? What's the best action series on television today, why is it a psychological drama as much as a shoot 'em up, and is it real, fake, fair? As Season 2 hits Netflix, Avi Issacharoff, the co-creator of hit TV series "Fauda," tells all.

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.

"I never thought I'd go back to live in South Africa," says Lorna Levy, a trade unionist and anti-Apartheid activist who spent decades in exile after being banned from her native South Africa. In her memoir, Radical Engagements: A Life in Exile, she reflects on her almost accidental activism, starting in her student days in 1950s Johannesburg.

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.