Podcasts

On the morning of October 7th, Israeli citizens faced a tragic and monstrous attack, the dimensions of which had not been seen nor imagined in its 75 years of existence. The massacre of Israeli civilians in the Gaza-border communities by Hamas and civilian accomplices—defined as the deadliest atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust—and the subsequent Israel–Hamas war resulted in an unprecedented increase in Jew hatred worldwide. Specifically, on campuses of elite universities across the United States and Europe, antisemitic and anti-Israel demonstrations have been widespread, creating an environment of fear among Jewish students. In this program, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Dr. Charles Asher Small, founding director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). Together they discuss the relationship between academia and antisemitism. Who is behind the mass antisemitic demonstrations on campuses? Who supports and funds them? What is the connection to Qatari money? And finally, what can be done to combat this rising hatred toward Jews?

It has been 79 years since the darkest chapter in Jewish history, the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jewish men, women, and children perished in the largest and most monstrous genocide in human history. This year presents an even greater challenge in addressing Holocaust remembrance and the singularity of this tragedy, following the massacre of over 1,200 Israeli men, women, children, and elderly and the kidnapping of over 240 people on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists and their accomplices. On the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Israel’s Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism Michal Cotler-Wunsh. Together they discuss how to address the issue of Holocaust memory in the shadow of the October 7 massacre. Where do these two tragic and traumatic historical events in Jewish history meet, and where do they differ? Why is it so important to see and acknowledge the differences between the events and to be aware of dangerous comparisons? And how do Jews around the world feel at a time of such an alarming rise in antisemitism after the events of October 7?

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 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.

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?