“I think most American Jews are probably not aware of the simple fact that when they think of visiting the Western Wall, for example, they think of entering the Old City, they’re actually entering what is officially, according to international law, East Jerusalem. And therefore, according to international law, occupied territory.
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This is the fourth installment of a special miniseries responding to the U.S. President's decision last week to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
For this episode, Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson interviewed Dov Waxman, professor of Political Science, International Affairs, and Israel Studies at Northeastern University, and author of Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel (2016). They spoke about fissures in the American Jewish community and why Jerusalem, in particular, elicits such a polarized response.
This episode was recorded on December 7, 2017 and edited by Max Freedman. Original music by Nat Rosenzweig.
Dov Waxman is Professor of Political Science, International Affairs, and Israel Studies, and the Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies atNortheastern University. He is also the co-director of the university’s Middle East Center. His research focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli foreign policy, U.S.-Israel relations, and American Jewry’s relationship with Israel. He has been a visiting fellow at Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Oxford University. He is the author of three books: The Pursuit of Peace and the Crisis of Israeli Identity: Defending / Defining the Nation (2006), Israel’s Palestinians: The Conflict Within (2011), and Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel (2016).