#350: Linguistic Justice: How Language Shapes Accessibility in East Jerusalem with Lissan
PeaceCast
NJN's Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined here by Aliza Schoffman Land and Sirin Smoom from Lissan. Lissan, Arabic for language or tongue, advances a vision of a bilingual Hebrew-Arabic Jerusalem by promoting linguistic justice and equal access to basic rights and services for all Jerusalem residents through Hebrew language instruction to East Jerusalemites. Learn more about Lissan's mission: Lissan's current programs: More about New Jewish Narrative:
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#349: How To Talk To Your Congressperson About Israel and Palestine (with NJN Director of Government Relations, Madeleine Cereghino)
PeaceCast
In this episode of PeaceCast (recorded on August 1, 2025), Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by NJN's Director of Government Relations, Madeleine Cereghino, for a conversation about the mass flood of legislative actions revolving around Israel and Palestine that have hit Washington in the last handful of weeks. This episode addresses the basics of how to take action and contact your Representatives and Senators (especially since at the time that this episode is airing, they should all be in their home districts for August recess!), and touches on the ongoing conversation surrounding...
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#348: What's Going On With Syria? (co-produced with J-LINK).
PeaceCast
Recording of a webinar hosted by NJN and J-LINK on July 29, 2025. The situation in Syria continues to evolve rapidly, with significant implications for regional stability and international relations. With regional alliances shifting and global attention elsewhere, what is the current state of play in Syria? What role can Syria play in future diplomacy? And how might its relations with Israel and the West evolve? New Jewish Narrative and J-LINK cohosted a webinar featuring: Dr. Samir Altaqi -- A former Syrian member of parliament, former advisor to the prime minister, and a leader in...
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#347: Opening a New Health Clinic in Gaza
PeaceCast
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from July 24th, 2025. Project Rozana, a longtime partner of NJN’s that works to promote cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis in healthcare, is working to open a new health care clinic in Gaza – an initiative that NJN is proudly supporting. The conversation featured two Project Rozana leaders: Mohammad Asideh, Rozana’s Director of Advocacy and the Executive Director of the Rozana’s Palestine office, and Ken Bob, the Chair of Project Rozana USA (and an NJN board member). The conversation was moderated by NJN...
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#346: What Happened at the Trump-Netanyahu Meeting?
PeaceCast
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from July 8th, 2025. On July 7th, President Trump is met with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington, DC. In the days leading up to and following the meeting, the rumors (and the Truth Social posts) have been coming fast and furious. Nobody really knows yet what this meeting means. Some of the questions being asked include: Is a ceasefire about to be announced? Will it be genuinely linked to a process to finally end the Gaza war? When will the hostages be set free? And when can Gazans get unfettered access to humanitarian supplies? To...
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#345: Israel/Palestine and the LGBTQ Community
PeaceCast
This is a recording of a NJN webinar from June 18th, 2025. Navigating issues related to Israel/Palestine in the queer community – and in some of the broader progressive spaces – can be challenging. There is a history of using Israel’s relatively LGBTQ friendly environment to try to distract from the Occupation, a practice which has earned the label “Pinkwashing.” At the same time, there are the sometimes unfair asks that are made of Jews and/or Israelis. To help us make sense of how to navigate these intersecting identities and issues, NJN hosted a webinar with two leading...
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#344: Emergency Briefing: Understanding the Israel-Iran War
PeaceCast
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from June 19th, 2025. The Israeli government's decision to begin a bombing campaign in Iran on Thursday marked the beginning of a new chapter in the conflict. All of us are trying to make sense of the military action, the diplomatic fallout, and what the consequences will be for Israel, the region, and for the United States. New Jewish Narrative hosted an emergency webinar with Ambassador Dan Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and one of the experts best able to brief us on what’s really happening—and what comes next....
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#343: The Weaponization of Antisemitism - with Rabbi Jill Jacobs and Kevin Rachlin
PeaceCast
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from June 5th, 2025. We are living through a moment in the United States when we see both that antisemitism is rising and that the Trump administration is weaponizing antisemitism to silence its critics and to attack academia. For years, NJN has been a leader in making sure that efforts to counter antisemitism are not exploited to violate civil liberties. For this conversation, NJN's President and CEO Hadar Susskind was joined by two leaders who we frequently partner with for a discussion on antisemitism and its weaponization. Rabbi...
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#342: The Perimeter- Breaking the Silence's Gaza Report
PeaceCast
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from June 4th, 2025. "The perimeter" is the term used to describe the ever-expanding buffer zone on the Gaza side of the entire Israel-Gaza border from which Palestinians have been forcibly removed since the beginning of the war. As Breaking the Silence's recent report demonstrates, the area has over time been completely decimated and razed to the ground, at the expense of Palestinian residential homes and neighbourhoods, industrial areas, greenhouses, agricultural land and much more. To discuss this report and recent stories from...
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#341: No Way But Forward - Book Talk with Brian Barber
PeaceCast
Brian K Barber's new book, No Way But Forward: Life Stories of Three Families in the Gaza Strip, is a heart-wrenching piece of nonfiction. Barber, a psychologist and researcher, has cultivated real relationships with three families in Gaza since 1995, allowing him to tell their stories with rare depth and authenticity. Read the book: Learn more:
info_outlineNJN Deputy Communications Director Maxxe Albert-Deitch and Director of Development Karen Paul spoke with Dr. Elana Sztokman about her new book, In My Jewish State. In this book, Dr. Sztokman uses her professional skills of rhetorical analysis cultivated from years of anthropological research, and unpacks the language and ideas that drive the pro-Israel advocacy movement and are used to justify cruel actions and attitudes. In the process, she makes some drastic personal changes, shifts her own Jewish identity, and advocates for a different vision of what it means to live in a Jewish state.
Dr. Elana Sztokman is an anthropologist, educator, feminist, peace activist, speaker, consultant, podcaster, and two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Council Award. She has spent 25 years writing about issues of gender, language, power, politics, education, and society, especially around Israel and Jewish culture. Her previous book, When Rabbis Abuse, won the Best Jewish Non-Fiction of the Year from Hey Alma.