Podcasts

On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Prof. Alvin H. Rosenfeld, professor of English and Jewish Studies at Indiana University. Prof. Rosenfeld holds the Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies and is director of the University’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. He is also the author of “How Are American Jews Faring in an Era of Rising Antisemitism?” which was published in the framework of the INSS collection of articles Contemporary Antisemitism in the United States. The podcast looks at the phenomenon of antisemitism in contemporary American society and asks: Why has antisemitism increased so rapidly in recent years? What are the similarities as well as the differences between the far right and the far left movements in the US today? Why did American institutional leaders fail to condemn antisemitic attacks in the US this past year? How has antisemitism affected the Jewish communities? And how does Prof. Rosenfeld see the future of the relations between American Jews and American society in the upcoming years?

In this podcast, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Prof. Eli Lederhendler, Stephen S. Wise Professor of American Jewish History and Institutions at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the outgoing chair of the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry. Prof. Lederhendler is also the author of the article “American Antisemitism in its Historical and Social Background,” published by INSS in its collection of articles on contemporary antisemitism in the United States. In this article, Prof. Lederhendler examines antisemitism in the United States in the context of American social history and analyzes how the phenomenon has developed in the United States over the past hundred years. The podcast looks at what is different in the American governmental and legal systems that prevents their decline into anarchy or fascism. Is American antisemitism different when compared to other forms of bigotry, and in what way? How does antisemitism in the United States differ from the phenomenon in other countries? What are the socio-historic origins of the discourse surrounding antisemitism in America? Has antisemitism in America evolved over time? What were related pivotal events in the 20th century? And how did the American Jewish community react to attacks against them?

In this INSS podcast, dedicated to Holocaust Remembrance Day, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Prof. Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and former Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights, to discuss the issue of antisemitism and the role of education. Prof. Marcus is also the author of the article “Addressing Antisemitism Within and Through the Educational Systems in the United States,” a special publication in the framework of the INSS collection of articles on contemporary antisemitism in the United States. More than seven decades have passed since the last shell was fired in World War II, as the liberating allied soldiers stood still to the horrific sights of the systematic murder of six million European Jews by the Germans and their accomplices under the Nazi regime. But antisemitism has never really disappeared since then. Especially in the last decade, it seems that this phenomenon has increased and has become alarming. How should educators of our time approach this issue? Why do we see an increase in antisemitism in the education system in the US today? What is the relation between anti-Israel and anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and how is it reflected in contemporary American society ? And how should the Biden administration address this issue?

In light of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and as we embark on the publication stage of our new research program: Contemporary Antisemitism in the United States, INSS Research Fellow, Dr. Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky asks Co-founder of The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, Dr. Heidi Beirich, about right-wing extremism in the United States. The conversation references recent developments in the United States – particularly earlier in January when Congress certified Joe Biden as President-Elect, and right-wing extremists invaded the American Capitol. How do protestors’ claims that “democrats stole the elections” circle back to Jews and antisemitism? What has changed in right-wing antisemitism? What is being done in the United States to combat the rise of extreme right-wing stances – and what role does civil society have?

Recent reports and assessments have indicated an uptick in antisemitism against the background of Covid-19; an economic decline; waves of immigration; and polarization in societies across the world. In this podcast, and as part of the INSS research project focusing on contemporary antisemitism in the United States, INSS research fellow Dr. Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky speaks with Elan Carr, US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. To what extent does antisemitism pose a threat to Jewish communities? What has been SE Carr’s biggest surprise almost two years in the position? Does Israel have a role in combating antisemitism beyond its borders?

What is it like to be an investigative journalist, specializing in law enforcement and policing, in today’s America? In this podcast, INSS research associate Adi Kantor interviews Simone Weichselbaum, an American journalist who for 17 years has covered issues relating to the US criminal justice system and local policing. Together they discuss the current challenges in covering these topics in the Unites States, in the midst of worldwide mass demonstrations and riots, particularly after the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 at the hands of a white policeman in the streets of Minneapolis. The questions examined include: What can be said about racial profiling by the US police today? How widespread is this phenomenon? How much are minorities truly protected? What exactly is “excessive use of force,” and how is it implemented by the police? What are the origins of this very troubling behavior, and what reforms are taken today by the US police in order to prevent it?

INSS Research Fellow Dr. Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky and Mr. Jay Ruderman, President of the Ruderman Family Foundation, speak about the coronavirus and the Jewish community in the United States. Has the Jewish community been uniquely affected? What is Israel’s role toward the Jewish community in light of the crisis, and what opportunities lie ahead?

On the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, INSS research associate Adi Kantor interviews Mr. Martin Schellenberg, head of the Education Department of the Memorial and Museum of Sachsenhausen in Germany, and Dr. Petra Bárd, Associate Professor at the Department of Criminology in Eötvös Loránd University Budapest, on today’s challenges to the formation of Holocaust memory in their countries. Each guest will provide an inside look at current national narratives affecting political and Holocaust education today, with the rise of populism, antisemitism and the far right in his/her country. What is “political education” and “Holocaust education” today? What does it mean to “work with the past without witnesses”? Why are historical revisionism, secondary antisemitism, and denial and distortion of the past on the rise? An inside look from Germany and Hungary will be the main issue discussed in this special podcast.

The fifth World Holocaust Forum which was held in Jerusalem at the end of January was a unique event in many respects. It was attended by almost 50 world leaders, it visibly united the international community to stand against antisemitism and it also stirred controversy regarding the participation – or lack thereof – of certain states. Join INSS Research Fellow, Dr. Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky and INSS Visiting Research Fellow and senior Ynet journalist, Mr. Attila Somfalvi for a conversation about the aftermaths of the Forum: what political interests were there, and was the important cause tainted by them? What can we learn from the event and what does Israel need to do in light of the receding memory of the holocaust?

On November 9, 2019 Germany marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and 81 years since Kristallnacht. Decades later, it seems that right wing extremism and anti-semitism are returning to mainstream political and social discourse. Latest election results in several former East German states, as well as the attack on a synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur 2019, show a clear rise in racist, xenophobic and anti-semitic views in the German society, and growing support for the far right party Alternative for Germany. This is a dangerous political development, in which German Jews (as well as other minorities) are under attack, yet again excluded from their own society. INSS research associate Adi Kantor and Dr. Henning Lahmann, senior researcher at the Digital Society Institute at the ESMT Berlin, discuss what has changed in German society in recent years, why does the AfD receive so much sympathy from voters, what is the effect of social media on the spread of anti-semitism and right wing extremism, and how can German law tackle these phenomena?