Tel Aviv Review

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. Tel Aviv Review's Patreon Campaign

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.

What does economic history have to do with a country's national identity? In Israel's case, a great deal. The myth of a socialist ideal morphing into a neo-liberal global powerhouse is captivating but contains far more complex processes, and many run contrary to the national self-image. Follow the gestation and birth of Israel's economy under the shadow of war, peace and privatization in a discussion with Dr Arie Krampf about his book “The Israeli Path to Neo-Liberalism: The State, Continuity and Change.” 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.

Prof. Deborah Posel, a sociologist at the Institute for Humanities in Africa at the University of Cape Town, analyzes how racial tensions have played out in South Africa since the end of Apartheid in 1994. 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.

Yair Ettinger, a journalist and researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute's "Ultra-Orthodox in Israel" program as well as a fellow at the Hartman Institute in New York, is the co-author, together with Nissim Leon, of the recently published book A Flock With No Shepherd: Shas Leadership The Day After Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. It analyzes the causes of the movement's identity, leadership and popularity woes, some resulting from and others coinciding with the death of its towering founder and spiritual father in 2013. 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.

Milton Shain, emeritus professor of history at the University of Cape Town, specializing in the history of Jews and anti-Semitism in South Africa, tells the very different story of a Jewish settlement in the New World. 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.

What does radical Islam have in common with right wing extremism? Much, it turns out. From the perception of existential, apocalyptic threat to the sense of historic mission as saviors of their people, the two sides have more in common than either want to admit. Julia Ebner's book “The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far Right Extremism” shows why each side exists in a world of obsession with the other; and proposes how to mitigate the pull of extremism that preys on the young. 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.

In our minds, Saudi Arabia, to this day, has been an ultraconservative, almost medieval society, with a clear hierarchy and a coercive leadership. But it turns out that is not exactly the case. Nachum Shiloh discusses his research that focuses on the history of Saudi elites in the first half of the 20th century. This episode originally aired June 6, 2015.

When Malka Marom, a Canadian-Israeli musician and broadcaster, walked into a destitute Toronto night club in 1966, she was swept off her feet. The music, played by Joni Mitchell, mousy-looking and still unknown, was unlike anything she had heard before. Soon thereafter, they became lifelong friends; Marom's book Joni Mitchell in Her Own Words is a compilation of conversations they had over a 40-year period. She is now working on another book, featuring conversations with another great Canadian singer-songwriter: Leonard Cohen. 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.

Prof. Roberta Ronsethal Kwall, a legal scholar and the founding director of the DePaul University College of Law, has just authored a new book entitled The Myth of the Cultural Jew – Culture and Law in Jewish Tradition. She explains to host Gilad Halpern why even the most secular Jews have imbibed the halakha, whether they like it or not. This episode originally aired June 5, 2015.

If another war breaks out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, it could "turn Lebanon into a car park," and take down wholesale targets in Tel Aviv, says longtime journalist and author, the Lebanon expert Nicholas Blanford. He argues that one of the only hopes for avoiding war is that each side is fully aware that a new round could mean mutually assured destruction, or at least severe devastation. Yet it might only take some damned foolish thing in the desert to spark that war. 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. Caroline Light of the Program in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Harvard University talks with host Gilad Halpern about her recent book, That Pride of Race and Character: The Roots of Jewish Benevolence in the Jim Crow South. It analyses the circumstances that led to the establishment of a sizable Jewish charity network in the American South in the post-Reconstruction period. This episode originally aired April 18, 2015.

Yohanan Plesner, the president of the Israel Democracy Institute, joins us to discuss the past accomplishments and future challenges of democracy in Israel. Ahead of the 70th Independence Day celebrations, the IDI will launch the Democracy Pavilion along the Independence Trail in Tel Aviv, with a view to celebrating its many achievements and educating local and international visitors about its importance. This episode of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by the Israel Democracy Institute, which works to bolster the values and institutions of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

Prof. Carole Fink, a scholar specializing in international European history at Ohio State University in the US, tells host Gilad Halpern about how Europe's Jews fit into the numerous minority protection schemes that emerged on the continent in the interwar period, and about the road to their catastrophic breakdown. This episode originally aired March 27, 2015.

Daniel Boyarin, Professor of Talmudic Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses his forthcoming book “Judaism: The Genealogy of a Modern Notions”, in which he argues that Judaism, as a full-blown concept, is a modern creation. 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.