Project Esther and the Neuroscience of Solidarity

Send us a textOn Oct. 7, 2024 the Heritage Foundation unveiled Project Esther: A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. Since the Trump administration took office, this document has served as the basis for the escalating crackdown on Palestine solidarity in the United States, under the guise of combating antisemitism. To unpack this document, we spoke with Dr. Yoav Litvin, author a recent article entitled Project Esther: A Trumpian blueprint to crush anticolonial resistance. We discussed the document's fascist, McCarthyist overtones and how the initiative can be resisted.  

Send us a textMargot Patterson talks to Dr. James Zogby about the Trump administration's effort to deport foreign students and scholars who have protested Israel's war on Gaza. The attempt to stifle dissent over U.S. support for Israel is part of a larger attack on free speech and academic freedom at universities that the Trump administration is waging. Pollster, Middle East scholar and the founder and president of the Arab-American Institute, the political and policy research arm of the Arab-American community, Dr. Zogby says what's being dismantled is an architecture of human rights that will not easily be rebuilt.

Send us a textThis is the second part of a talk given by Dr. Norman Finkelstein at the University of Connecticut on February 27. The talk was sponsored by the Northeast Connecticut Gaza Peace Group. In this part, Dr. Finkelstein discusses the consequences of the horror inflicted on Gaza and makes recommendations for the tactics and strategy of the movement moving forward.

Send us a textThis is the first part of a talk given by Dr. Norman Finkelstein at the University of Connecticut on February 27. The talk was sponsored by the Northeast Connecticut Gaza Peace Group. In this part, Dr. Finkelstein dismantles the characterization of the devastation in Gaza as a war between Israel and Hamas. To make this argument, he makes observations about the nature of Israel's actions in Gaza, notes the rulings of international legal institutions, and points out the reports of major human rights organizations. 

Send us a textShaul Magid, visiting professor of modern Judaism at Harvard Divinity School, talks to Margot Patterson about the long-standing debate among Jews over Zionism and about the impact of the 1967 Six-Day War on the Zionization of American Jews. The author of several books on Jewish mysticism, radicalism and identity, Magid says anti-Zionism is a Jewish phenomenon as old as Zionism itself, and distinct from anti-Israelism among non-Jews.P

Send us a textShaul Magid, visiting professor of modern Judaism at Harvard Divinity School, discusses his views and personal experience of Zionism, a movement that he says was from its very inception beset by internal divisions. Magid lived in Israel for a decade. He talks to Margot Patterson about the 1940s when World War II transformed Zionism from an ideology into a means of survival and describes his own evolving perspectives on Zionism. Magid is the author of several books on Jewish mysticism and Jewish radicalism. His most recent book is The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance.

Send us a textWhat is the spectrum of Zionism in modern-day Israel? How has this changed over time, especially since October 7? And what forces are driving the continuation of the current ceasefire deal? Ori Goldberg, a political analyst and academic based in Israel, joined the show to answer these questions.  

Send us a textHistorian Michael Brenner discusses the secular roots of Zionism, the stance of Liberal Zionists and the shrinking space Liberal Zionism occupies in Israel today. A professor of Jewish history and culture at the University of Munich, Brenner also holds the Seymour and Lillian Abensohn Chair in Israel Studies at the American University in Washington D.C. There he is also the directer of the Center for Israel Studies. He is the author of numerous books on Jewish history, including “In Search of Israel. The History of an Idea” and “Zionism: A Brief History.”

Send us a textThough Christian Zionism precedes Jewish Zionism by almost two centuries, this fact is often overlooked in discussions of Palestine and Israel. In this illuminating discussion with Prof. Robert Smith (Chickasaw), he defines Christian Zionism, pinpoints its historical origins, and connects this to the interplay between theology and Western empire in the past and present.  

Send us a textA retired CIA officer, senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University and author of several books on U.S. foreign policy, Paul Pillar discusses his recent article on why the ceasefire in Gaza is unlikely to last. He says the political realities in Israel militate against making the ceasefire anything but a temporary pause and explain Israel's escalating attacks in the West Bank, the continued presence of Israeli troops in Lebanon and Syria and Israel's determined pursuit of war.  t