Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Knesset turned political dissenter, meditates on the current position of Israel and that of the Jewish people worldwide, putting forth the radical notion that Jewish society must stop living in the shadow of the Holocaust. The current political scene offers limited possibilities; The Israeli right has nothing to offer but sword and messiah until the day of peace comes, and once peace is achieved, the left will have nothing to offer in terms of new spiritual content. Burg presents an alternative thesis which will challenge and inspire generations to come.
Avraham Burg is a prominent Israeli politician and opinion maker. He has been active in politics as a leader in the Labour Party and the new Meretz-Yachad party. He has written for The Guardian and The International Herald Tribune amongst other publications and his first book was a best-seller in Israel. The Holocaust is Over: We Must Rise from Its Ashes has recently been published in the UK. He lives with his wife in Nataf , a small village outside Jerusalem.
Yossi Mekelberg is the Director of the International Relations and Social Sciences Programme at Regent’s College. He is also an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House where he participates in different projects and advisory work on conflict and economics in the region. His fields of interest are US Foreign Policy and International Relations and Revolutions, International Politics in the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli peace process. He is a regular contributor to the international media on these issues.
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