PeaceCast

This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from October 29, 2026, as part of our Israeli Election Webinar Series.   Israelis went to the polls on October 27. Two days after the vote, NJN President and CEO Hadar Susskind and journalist Dina Kraft provide an early read on the results.   They cover what the numbers say, which coalitions are possible, and what the outcome could mean for Isr...

Maxxe Albert-Deitch sits down with Dr. Edward Kessler to discuss the Movement for Progressive Judaism's first publication. T itled Progressive Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel, the book celebrates the multivocality of clergy and lay leaders in the face of an increasingly binary world. Its 40 essays reflect the breadth and depth of Progressive Jewish thought in a post-October-7th reality. D...

Join us with Dr. Anwar Mhajne for a conversation about Arab voter turnout, the challenges facing Arab voters, and efforts to mobilize participation ahead of the election. Dr. Mhajne is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Stonehill College and a native of Umm al-Fahm. She is a visiting scholar at Harvard's Center for Middle East Studies and a Term member in the...

Join us for the first episode of the PeaceCast mini-series on progressive Jewish education, exploring the different ways in which progressive communities are approaching Jewish education. In this installment, NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch sits down with Leah Robbins,  founder of Achvat Olam: Diaspora Community Day School , a Jewish day-school "rooted in love, diasporism, and the Torah of justice," tha...

This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from September 9, 2026, the second part in our Israeli Election Webinar Series. Join us for the second installment of our Israeli Elections Webinar Series, featuring author and journalist Dina Kraft, for a conversation about what's happening in the headlines around the election. Dina Kraft is a journalist, podcaster and the co-author of the New...

This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from August 26, 2026, the first part in our Israeli Election Webinar Series. Most of the coverage between now and October 27 and then will center on the politicians, public opinion surveys, and the speculative math behind any future coalition. But this Israeli election may very well be decided by a small number of Israeli voters who are undecid...

In this episode of PeaceCast, NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch sits down with Ami Fields-Meyer, a strong and trusted voice on issues of democracy, authoritarianism, civil and human rights, and political power. Fields-Meyer has been an advisor to political candidates, leaders of top civil rights groups, and major philanthropic foundations, and high-profile public officials, from the mayor of Los Angeles a...

Givat Haviva's Center for a Shared Society aims to build an inclusive, socially cohesive society in Israel by engaging divided communities in collective action towards the advancement of a sustainable, thriving Israeli democracy, and a shared vision of the future. In this episode of PeaceCast, NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch sits down with Givat Haviva's Director of Strategy Mohammad Darawshe to discuss...

In this episode of PeaceCast, NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch sits down with Ariel Beery, a mission-driven entrepreneur and civil society activist who has spent three decades building institutions at the intersection of Israel, the Jewish world, and global development. He is the editor and publisher of Prophecy: A Journal for Tomorrow, and a frequent contributor to the Times of Israel. Earlier this year...

This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from July 1, 2026. The US-Israel Memorandum of Understanding – $3.8 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing – expires in 2028. Formal talks on a replacement framework have already begun, and Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to shape what comes next. This is a political change, not a policy victory. The new framework embeds US support for...

This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from May 28th, 2026, moderated by Noam Shelef. Join New Jewish Narrative for a timely conversation with Hagit Ofran, Israel's foremost expert on settlement activity and Director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch. The Israeli government is advancing construction in E1, a settlement plan long recognized – by Israelis, Palestinians, and the internat...

In this episode of PeaceCast, NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined Yoni Shimshoni, retired IDF Brigadier General. Some of our listeners may be familiar with Yoni's work as part of Commanders for Israel's Security, a volunteer movement of over 550 retired IDF colonels and generals as well as Mossad, Shin Bet (Internal Security), Police, NSC and Diplomatic corps equivalents. He recently wrote the opi...

This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from April 28th, 2026, moderated by Hadar Susskind. This conversation features Eid Suleiman Hadaleen, Becca Strober, and Mattan Berner-Kadish. Drawing on lived experience and on-the-ground work, this discussion both centers the realities too often abstracted or ignored and shines a light on the partnerships that exist on the ground. Our panelis...

This episode features the audio from a NJN webinar, originally recorded on April 7, 2026, moderated by Hadar Susskind. Join New Jewish Narrative for a conversation with Mik Moore and Libby Lenkinski, moderated by Hadar Susskind, to explore how art and culture can shift public narratives, open space for nuance, and help create the conditions for meaningful political change. Together, they'll explor...

This episode features the audio from a NJN webinar, originally recorded on February 19, 2026, moderated by Hadar Susskind. The Knesset is currently considering a bill that would create a death penalty for Palestinians who kill Israelis, but not for Israelis who kill Palestinians. It circumvents basic rights like due process and equal protection, and exemplifies the racist mindset that animates the...

In this episode of PeaceCast, NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by Ittay Flescher, who some of our listeners may recognize as the Education Director of Seeds of Peace Jerusalem, others might recognize as the Jerusalem Correspondent for The Jewish Independent from Australia, and a deeply insightful analyst of Israeli politics. He has been published in Haaretz, The Age, ABC Religion and Ethics, Je...

This episode features the audio from a NJN webinar, originally recorded on February 4th, 2026, hosted by Hadar Susskind. Maoz Inon's parents were killed by Hamas on October 7. Aziz Abu Sarah's brother died shortly after being beaten in an Israeli prison. But these two individuals did not turn their pain into a desire for retribution. Instead, they draw on their personal tragedies to fuel peace act...

This episode features the audio from a NJN webinar, originally recorded on January 15th, 2026,  hosted by Noam Shelef. In this conversation, Peace Now's Hagit Ofran helps us understand: What to make of the recent headlines about E-1 and how this fits with other changes in the West Bank over the past year. How settler violence and government policy reinforce one another to drive Palestinians out of...

In this episode of PeaceCast, NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by Barak Sella, editor of Class of 95: A Literary Anthology on the Assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.  Class of 95 presents, for the first time in English, Israel's poetic response to this national trauma. Originally published in Hebrew as  Machzor 95, this anthology gathers diverse and powerful Israeli voices, including...

In this episode of PeaceCast , NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by author, internationally renowned human rights lawyer, and longtime activist Sari Bashi to discuss the new English translation of her book  Upside-Down Love, originally published in Hebrew in 2021.  Told in alternating chapters by both Sari and Osama (a pseudonym), Upside-Down Love is a moving portrait of two ordinary people fall...

In this episode of PeaceCast , NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by author and journalist Micah L. Sifry to discuss his new book,  When Doves Try: Israel's Peace Now Movement 1978-1983 . This book tells the story of how a handful of young Israeli reserve officers helped ignite the country's largest grassroots peace movement, which our listeners know as Peace Now, or Shalom Achshav.  Micah Sifry...

In this episode of PeaceCast, NJN Director of Programs Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by comedian and podcast host Orli Matlow (host of War Is Stupid: An Antiwar Podcast About War) Read more about War Is Stupid: An Antiwar Podcast About War:  https://warisstupid.substack.com/ Listen to War Is Stupid:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNvZw9ofCuL9a0SUDFOJcT_kRAEfYhZ-N  

This episode of PeaceCast, cohosted by NJN's President and CEO Hadar Susskind and NJN and T'ruah board member Rabbi Esther Lederman, is a recording of a webinar hosted on November 18th, 2025.  In the month since the Trump-brokered ceasefire went into effect, the fighting has mostly stopped and the living hostages have been returned to Israel (as have most of the deceased hostages). Yet, we've seen...

This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from October 1, 2025, hosted by Hadar Susskind.   At an unusual press conference at the White House on Monday September 29 — with Prime Minister Netanyahu at his side — President Trump unveiled a plan to end the Gaza War. The document, which was emailed to reporters during the event, included 20 substantive points—some of which are supposed to...

In this episode of PeaceCast, NJN Director of Prgrams Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by Tamar Cohen, the Resource Development Director at Comet-ME. Comet-ME is an Israeli-Palestinian NGO providing off-grid renewable energy, clean water, and wireless internet infrastructure to vulnerable Palestinian communities in the occupied Palestinian territories. Among other projects, Comet-ME is currently work...