Israel and Palestine Unpacked

Introduction Today on the podcast, we continue our exploration ofidentity, conflict, and understanding — this time turning to the Israeli experience , and the complex interplay between faith, belonging, and the search for peace . I’m joined by Yossi Klein HaLevi , a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem , and one of Israel’s most respected writers and thinkers on religion, soc...

Interviewee Intro In this episode we speak with Omri, a 35-year-old Israeli whorecently returned to live in Israel after several years in Europe. It’s worth noting that this conversation was recorded while he was still living in the Netherlands. He frequently takes part in protests against his own government, yet he also believes that Israel’s military actions – in Gaza, Lebanon, and beyond – are...

Coming Up Today & Biography In today’s episode, we are joined by Dr John McMullen, an educational and child psychologist based in Northern Ireland. Dr McMullen has worked extensively with war-affected children in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and currently supports refugee pupils in Northern Irish schools. He also lectures on trauma, conflict, and the refugee experience.   Episod...

What happens when a person raised in one narrative suddenly sees the humanity of the other side? In this powerful episode, I speak with Rav Hanan Schlesinger, an Orthodox rabbi and co-founder of Roots/Shorashim/Judur , a grassroots movement fostering understanding and nonviolence between Israelis and Palestinians. Born in New York and now living in the the land, Hanan describes his early life imme...

In today’s episode, we explore the role of football in Israeland Palestine. Our guest discusses what drew them to this subject and shares surprising insights from their research. We dive into the origins of football during the British Mandate period, examining how it paralleled the developmentof political structures. We discuss the influence of early Jewish Zionist and Palestinian expressions of n...

On today’s episode of Israel & Palestine Unpacked , we speak with Khalil Sayegh, a Palestinian Christian political analyst and peace advocate, born into a refugee family in the Gaza Strip. Raised amid the Second Intifada and the 2008 Gaza War, Khalil’s early years were marked by deep fear and resentment. But his Christian faith led him on a transformative path toward empathy, dialogue, and mut...

In this episode of Israel & Palestine Unpacked , host Pádraig speaks with Shachar Erez, an Israeli Marriage and Family Therapist who also trains therapists and leads workshops on love, communication, and conflict. Shachar explores the intersection between personal healing and societal polarization, drawing on his experiences during a year and a half of war and trauma in Israel. He discusses th...

On today’s episode of Israel & Palestine Unpacked, we speak with Dr. Eleni Fotou, a forensic psychologist, about radicalisation and de-radicalisation. Dr. Eleni Fotou received her BSc in Psychology from the University of Utah in 2002 and has spent the past ten years studying the criminal profiles of domestic homicide offenders in Greece. She has lived, worked, and studied in the US, the UK, an...

‘Israel & Palestine Unpacked’ is a podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Coming Up Today On today’s episode of Israel & Palestine Unpacked , we speak with Professor Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi, a Jerusalemite scholar and peace activist whose work has challenged entrenched narratives on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide. He hol...

‘Israel & Palestine Unpacked’ is a podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Coming up in today’s episode we meet Jonny Clark. Jonny is the Programme Manager for Public Theology within the Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace centre. Corrymeela was founded in 1965 by Ray Davey and a group of university students. Based in a town called...

‘Israel & Palestine Unpacked’ is an exciting podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.   Hani Description In our first interview, we have the pleasure of speaking with Hani, a fascinating individual who describes himself as half Palestinian and half European. With a love for languages, Hani is something of a polyglot, fluent in English, Arabic...

‘Israel & Palestine Unpacked’ is an exciting podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.   Daliah Description In our first interview, we speak to Daliah, a 41-year-old mother from Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. She describes herself as having "two wonderful sons who are" her ‘’greatest joy’’. After enduring four harrowing months of violence, kil...

‘ Israel & Palestine Unpacked ’ is an exciting podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Galit Interview Details In our first interview, we speak with Galit, an Israeli-American with dual citizenship. She was born to a mother who was a Holocaust refugee and a father, a native Israeli, born during the later years of the British Mandate for Pale...

‘ Israel & Palestine Unpacked ’ is an exciting podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Daniel Interview Details In our first interview we are speaking to Daniel, who was born in Israel in 1981, to parents who were founders in the Messianic movement and who currently serves as the Office Manager at Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry. After c...

In today’s episode we are speaking with with Dr Uri Rosenberg who is currently working in academia. He's a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and lecturer at Heidelberg University, with a PhD in Middle East History from Tel Aviv University. His academic research spans the modern Turkic world, focusing on topics such as Turkish political Islam, nation-building in post-Soviet Azerbaijan, and Jewish-Muslim...

In today’s episode we are speaking with Dr Erika Jiménez, a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the School of Law and a Mitchell Institute Fellow, Queen’s University Belfast. Dr Jiménez has just published a book called Rethinking human rights: critical insights from Palestinian youth, which looks at how Palestinian teenagers from the West Bank make sense of human rights when their lived experiences...

‘ Israel & Palestine Unpacked ’ is an exciting podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Ya'el Interview Details In our first interview, we speak with Ya’el, who comes from a village near Haifa, a bustling port city in the Galilee region of Israel, located approximately 45 minutes from the Lebanese border. Her village is known for its strong f...

‘ Israel & Palestine Unpacked ’ is an exciting new podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Our interview today is with Nicole , who lives in Jerusalem where she is reporting on the complicated yet beautiful aspects of this city as well as the challenges facing the people of the Holy Land. She and her husband Tony are raising three children i...

‘ Israel & Palestine Unpacked ’ is an exciting new podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Musa Interview Details Our first interview is with Musa, who was born to Palestinian parents in Saudi Arabia, and who came to live in Nablus in the West Bank as a young child. He is married with 3 children and works as a finance professional and writer...

‘Israel & Palestine Unpacked’ is an exciting new podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Our first interview is with Ansam, who comes from a small Palestinian town called Beit Lahia in Northern Gaza. She is an English student who loves photography and before the war worked as a swimming instructor. As a consequence of the fighting she is cur...

‘Israel & Palestine Unpacked’ is an exciting new podcast that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. In our first interview we are speaking to Saleem (Palestinian), founder of, and tour guide with, The Virtual Pilgrim, who lives in Beit Sahour, a Christian village within the Bethlehem Municipal area. In our second interview we hear from Ori (Israeli), a...

In this introductory episode I wanted to explain my aims and motivations for beginning this podcast project. If you happen to stumble across my podcast at a later date, please take 4 minutes out of your life and listen to this introduction. If you would like to know more about the podcast, or would like to be interviewed, please feel free to contact me through the following: Email: israelpalestine...