Podcasts

At the end of January 2024, four months into the Israel–Hamas war, an Israeli official report was published accusing more than a dozen employees of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) for allegedly participating in the Hamas massacre against Israelis on October 7, with some actively involved in the kidnappings into Gaza as well. What exactly is the nature of relations between UNRWA and Hamas? How has it been characterized in the last years? How antisemitic are its educational programs? Does Israel need UNRWA in Gaza on “the day after” the war, or can it be dismantled? In this case, which other organization could be relevant to replace it? In this show, INSS Researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Arik Agassi, COO and head of Global Partnerships at the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) and an expert in the field of global policy and education, and with Prof. Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at INSS and a visiting professor at the International Center for Policing and Security, University of South Wales. Together they discuss UNRWA’s active role in Hamas’s murder of Israelis, its incitement, and its antisemitism over the years as well as opportunities for “the day after’ in Gaza and the option of dismantling the organization.

January 27, 2024, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marked 79 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. This year brought with it even greater difficulty than usual to address the issue of Holocaust memory, after the brutal massacre by Hamas terrorists of more than 1200 people, nearly all Jewish Israelis, on October 7, 2023. 75 years after the establishment of the State of Israel, Jews were slaughtered, raped, beheaded, burned alive, and taken hostage from their own homes on Israeli soil. How should the issue of Holocaust memory and commemoration be addressed in the shadow of the October 7 massacre? Where do these two tragic events in Jewish history converge, and where do they diverge? Why is it important to acknowledge the differences between the events and to be aware of dangerous comparisons? What are the effects on our education systems? In today’s podcast INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Dr. Carl Yonker, senior researcher at the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and lecturer in the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Tel Aviv University. Together they discuss the challenges of addressing the two events, along with the opportunities to rethink how to educate the younger generation.

In this INSS podcast, Dr. Ofir Winter sits with Eng. Saoud Saqer, an Emirati strategist and expert on the Abraham Accords and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to hear his thoughts about the Israel-Hamas war. Saqer contends that the Hamas October 7 massacre was a catastrophe not only for the Israelis, but for humanity in general. He condemns Hamas as a terror organization that does not represent Arabs or Islam, emphasizing that terrorism has no religion. He discusses the resilience of Israel-Emirati relations in the context of the Israel-Hamas war, and clarifies why the Abraham Accords contribute more to advancing the Palestinian cause than to Hamas’s strategy of terrorism and violent struggle. In addition, he suggests lessons for Israelis and Palestinians drawn from the UAE’s experience in dealing with radical Islam and promoting tolerance.

INSS researcher Ofir Winter spoke with Dalia Ziada, an Egyptian writer specializing in security studies and geopolitics, and the Executive Director of MEEM Center for Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean Studies. Ziada said that Israel is now fighting Hamas not on behalf of itself alone, but on behalf of the entire region. Furthermore, Israel is doing what every other country in the world would do if its citizens were attacked during a holiday and were killed in their own houses. She also explained the reasons for Egypt’s concern regarding hosting displaced citizens from Gaza, envisioned what a region without Hamas might look like, and suggested steps Israel should take to better explain its position to its Arab neighbors.

في إطار مقابلة مع د. أوفير وينتر، الباحث في معهد دراسات الأمن القومي في جامعة تل أبيب، تحدثت داليا زيادة، الكاتبة المصرية المتخصصة في الدراسات الأمنية والجيوسياسية، ومديرة مركز ميم لدراسات الشرق الأوسط وشرق المتوسط، حول الأوضاع الراهنة في غزة والتحديات التي تواجه المنطقة. قالت زيادة إن حماس مسؤولة مسؤولية كاملة عما يحدث الان في غزة وعن قيام هذه الحرب أصلا من أساسها، واعتبرت بإنها حرب تخوضها إسرائيل ضد الإرهاب بالنيابة عن الشرق الأوسط. كما أوضحت زيادة أسباب رغبة حماس في عرقلة التطبيع بين إسرائيل والسعودية، ونقاط التشابه بينها وبين داعش، وسُبل التقدم نحو حلاً سياسيًا عادلاً للجانبين الفلسطيني والإسرائيلي بعد الحرب.

In this podcast, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Jan Grabowski, Professor of History at the University of Ottawa, a leading scholar in Holocaust research in Poland. Together they discuss the role of Holocaust memory in contemporary Polish public discourse. What is the role of the historical truth in today’s Poland? of historical facts? How much can denial and distorted narratives of the past affect and even determine what younger generations know about the Holocaust in Poland today, and especially about crimes committed by large parts of Polish society against their Jewish neighbors during World War Two? What happens when narratives compete and are even contradictory?

In this program, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Meir Litvak, professor in the Department of Middle Eastern History and a senior research associate at the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University. Together they discuss the ever-growing problem of antisemitism in the Arab-Muslim space today. What are the origins of this phenomenon when looking specifically at Arab societies? Are they rooted in ideas imported from Western discourses or rather from old Islamic traditions? What are the leading narratives and how do external narratives (for example, from the West) affect local regional ones and vice versa, regarding Jews and Israel? Who are the main actors fueling antisemitic discourses? And also, what are the ways to combat this dangerous phenomenon?

On the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Uriya Shavit, Israeli author and professor of Islamic studies, head of the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University. Together they discuss the complex discourse among young Jews, Germans, and Muslims in the context of Holocaust remembrance today. What role does the Holocaust play in contemporary discourse among young Jews, Germans, and Muslims? What role does migration play in the context of Holocaust memory? What are the challenges in Holocaust education among younger generations today? In addition, the researchers analyze main points in the annual Report on Worldwide Antisemitism issued by the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University in collaboration with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and discuss the reasons for contemporary manifestations of antisemitism and the ways to combat it.