My Home Fronts

In this final episode, Violet moves from the protest to the family living room, confronting her father and her longtime Israel-supporting grandmother with her beliefs and activism. Their candid, heartfelt conversations expose the generational divides in how each of them understands Israel and the Zionist idea: divisions that echo the broader fracture reshaping American Jewish life. Can honest dial...

After months of silence, Violet returns to the microphone. From Harvard’s Gaza solidarity encampment to the fallout of her suspension, we follow her return to campus protests. But after her grandfather’s death, she confronts a stark realization: her call for divestment from Israel is undoing the pro-Israel work her grandparents spent decades advancing. Further reading Harvard Magazine , “ Harvard...

As Violet Barron goes silent, Romy Neumark turns to Professors Derek Penslar and Yael Sternhell to ask why Israel provokes such strong reactions in America. Sternhell places today’s campus protests in the broader history of American social movements, while Penslar traces shifting perceptions of Zionism - from a source of pride to a contested ideology. Together, they reveal how the emotional weight...

An unexpected meeting between journalist Romy Neumark and student activist Violet Barron sparks a conversation that becomes an intimate portrait: from Violet’s shock on October 7 to the moment she founded Harvard Jews for Palestine . Further readings Palestine Solidarity Campaign, “⁠ Statement on Escalation of Violence ⁠” (9 October 2023) The Harvard Crimson, “⁠ University Hall Occupation Ends ⁠”...

Journalist Romy Neumark shares her journey from Israeli news anchor to Harvard lecturer, and introduces My Home Fronts , a four-part podcast that follows Harvard undergraduate Violet Barron , founder of Jews for Palestine on campus. Violet’s pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist activism during the Gaza war sparks a family conflict that reveals a deeper generational divide within the American Jewish commu...