On the Issues with Alon Ben-Meir

Today’s guest is Hillel Schenker, co-editor of the Palestine-Israel Journal, a Jerusalem-based independent English-language quarterly that aims to shed light on, and analyze freely and critically, the complex issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians. He has written for The Nation, Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, Tikkun, Israel Horizons, In These Times, the Israeli-Hebrew-language press and many o...

Today’s guest is Dr. Feride Rushiti, founder and Executive Director of the Kosovo Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims. Dr. Rushiti, a medical doctor, began treating civilian victims of war during the Kosovo war in 1999. She was among the first doctors to recognize the need for treatment of psychological trauma for refugees fleeing the violence, particularly for women and minority groups. Dr....

Today’s guest is Kelsey P. Norman, a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute and director of the Women’s Rights, Human Rights, and Refugees Program. Her book with Dr. Nicholas Micinski, titled Aiding Autocrats: Migration Management, Governance, and Repression in Africa, offers the first global account of how wealthy countries use money and influence to control the movement...

Today’s guest is Ambassador Lukman Faily, Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations. Ambassador Faily has served in various roles in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs including as Ambassador of Iraq to Japan, the United States, and most recently, Germany. In this episode, Alon and Ambassador Faily discuss diplomacy at the United Nations, especially at a time of great global conflict and...

Today’s guest is Dr. Dania Arayssi, a Senior Research Fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy and a scholar of Middle East political economy and participation. She also serves as an adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and teaches at George Washington University. Her research focuses on Middle East politics, with partic...

Today’s guest is Major General G. G. Dwivedi. He retired as an Assistant Chief Integrated Defense Staff in the Indian Army in 2009 after 38 years of distinguished service. He is a professor of International Relations and has taught at a number of universities, including Aligarh University, where he was instrumental in establishing the Faculty of International Studies. He has authored/edited five b...

Today’s guest is Serap Fišo, an independent researcher, freelance project expert, social activist, and storyteller. She received her Ph. D. in Political Science and Sociology from the International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2023, where she examined forced migration, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and identity construction in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this e...

Today’s guest is Michael Wuthrich, Associate Professor of Political Science and the Associate Director for Global & International Studies at the University of Kansas. He is co-author of the book, Beyond Piety and Politics: Religion, Social Relations, and Public Preferences in the Middle East and North Africa. In this episode, Alon and Mike discuss the intersection of religion and politics, particu...

Today’s guest is Tony Klug, a Middle East analyst who has been a senior advisor on the Middle East to the Oxford Research Group and a consultant to the Palestine Strategy Group and the Israeli Strategic Forum. In this episode, Alon and Tony discuss the plausibility of a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the feasibility of such a resolution, the past negotiations between Israel, th...

Welcome to another episode of “On the Issues with Alon Ben-Meir.” Today’s guest is Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation. Considered one of the foremost experts on Sudan and the Horn of Africa, his scholarly work and practice has also probed humanitarian crisis and response, human rights, HIV/AIDS and governance in Africa, and conflict and peace-building. In this episode,...

Today’s guest is Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Between 1978 and 2003, he served at the State Department as an historian, analyst, negotiator, and advisor to Republican and Democratic secretaries of state, where he helped formulate U.S. policy on the Middle East and the Arab-Israel peace process, most recently as the senior advisor for Arab-Isr...

Today’s podcast guest is Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Previously, he worked as senior Gulf analyst at the Gulf Center for Strategic Studies and as codirector of the Kuwait Program on Development, Governance and Globalization in the Gulf States at the London School of Economics. In this episode, Alon and Kristian discu...

Today’s guest is Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, Founding Director of the Center for Governance and Markets and a Professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public and International Affairs. She is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a Distinguished Fellow of Peace and International Cooperation at the Institute for Humane Studies. In this episode, A...

Today’s guest is Mordechai Kedar, an Orientalist and lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University, and a Research Fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. In this episode, Alon and Mordechai discuss the Palestinian Emirates Plan, which Dr. Kedar has presented as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, delving into the intricacies of the plan and discussing wha...

Welcome to another episode of “On the Issues with Alon Ben-Meir.” Today we are joined by two guests, Alon Liel and Ziad AbuZayyad. Alon Liel is a veteran of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, serving in various positions, including as Director General of the Foreign Ministry, and as a member of the Israeli negotiating team at the Taba talks with Egypt. He is the author of several books, and is the foun...

Today’s guest is Hon. Lise Pearlman (ret.), a former California trial lawyer and first Presiding Judge of the California State Bar Court. Following her retirement from the bench, Judge Pearlman has become a best-selling author and nationally recognized speaker on famous 20th century trials whose books have won multiple awards in the categories of law, U.S. History, and multicultural nonfiction. In...

Today’s guest is Sam Ben-Meir, Assistant Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at City University of New York, College of Technology. He is the author of Ethical Interanimality: Toward a Relational Philosophy of Nature, which reflects on his longstanding effort to rethink our place in nature and the vulnerabilities that bind all life together. In this episode, Alon and Sam discuss the interrelationship...

Today’s guest is Dr. Benafsha Yaqoobi, an attorney and civic society and human rights activist. Before the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, she worked as an attorney for the elimination of violence against women and as a Commissioner at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. She currently serves as a prosecutor on the team bringing Afghanistan’s case before the People’s Tribunal fo...

Welcome to another episode of “On the Issues with Alon Ben-Meir.” Today’s guest is Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh, a blogger and activist who has written extensively since 2006 on environmental and human rights issues in Vietnam. She has been arrested twice for her activism, and received a 10-year prison sentence. She was released after two years, on the condition of exile from Vietnam. In this episode, Al...

Today’s guest is Ambassador Frederic C. Hof, Bard College’s Diplomat-in-Residence, who served as ambassador and special adviser for transition in Syria under President Obama, and as special coordinator for regional affairs in the US Department of State’s Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. A US Army Vietnam veteran, Ambassador Hof served two tours of duty in the US Department of Sta...

Today’s guest is Michael Bedenbaugh, a political analyst and author, whose latest book, Reviving Our Republic: 95 Theses for the Future of America, argues the need for political renewal in the United States and presents recommendations for such reforms in a historical context. Mike’s diverse background includes five years of service in the US Navy, as well as previously serving as president and ex...

Today’s guest is Jason Pack, Senior Analyst for Emerging Challenges at the NATO Defense College Foundation and Associate Fellow at RUSI. He is the Host of the Disorder Podcast, and author of Libya and the Global Enduring Disorder. In this episode, Alon and Jason discuss the end of the post-WWII global order and the prevailing disorder since 2011, the loss of American leadership, the Memorandum of...

Today’s guest is Dr. Daniel Bar-Tal, Professor Emeritus at the School of Education, Tel Aviv University. Dr. Bar-Tal is a noted psychologist, who since the early eighties has focused on political psychology and the study of the socio-psychological foundations of intractable conflicts and peacebuilding, including reconciliation. In this episode, Alon and Daniel discuss differing narratives between...

Today’s guest is Elizabeth Hoffman, Executive Director, North America at ONE, a global, nonpartisan organization advocating for the investments needed to create economic opportunities and healthier lives in Africa. In this episode, Alon and Elizabeth discuss the background to the current civil war in Sudan, Elizabeth’s on-the-ground observations from her journey to the country earlier this year, t...

Today’s guest is Ambassador Patrick Theros, Strategic Advisor and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Gulf International Forum. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the State of Qatar from 1995-1998, and from 1991-1993, served as the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of Central Command (CENTCOM). In this episode, Alon and Ambassador Theros discuss the US-Israel-Iran war and the pending peac...