Two Nice Jewish Boys

Breakdown of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in 20 seconds: The year is 1947 and the UN announces its Partition Plan for Palestine, also known as resolution 181. Promptly, the Arabs residing in the region open fire on Jews. Eventually a war breaks out and the exodus of 700,000 Palestinians ensues. This has turned into one of the most controversial debates in modern history. What caused the Palestinian exodus in the years 1947-1949? There’s the mainstream Zionist narrative, more or less that Arab leaders urged the Arab population to leave. There’s the mainstream Arab narrative, basically Zionist ethnic cleansing. And then, there’s Professor Benny Morris. Now buckle in because this is slightly more nuanced than the stuff you might be used to hearing. Professor Benny Morris is the professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben Gurion University. He is the author of several works including The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949. And, he’s a pretty cool dude. So we are thrilled to join him in his home this evening to talk some history!

September 3, 2011. Close to half a million people hit the streets in Israel, 300 thousand of them in Tel Aviv, wielding their megaphones and posters, shouting at the top of their lungs,  “The nation demands social justice!” This was the climax of the 2011 social justice protests which took place in Israel. What started as a small protest against the rise in housing prices quickly transformed into a national phenomenon that took the country by a storm and encompassed a wide range of issues from healthcare and taxation to schooling and public transportation. At the head of the movement, Daphni Leef. Daphni graduated Tel Aviv University (like one of these Two Nice Jewish Boys) and became a film editor following her studies. But that’s not where this story begins. It begins the day she received a letter ordering her to evict her apartment of 3 years. We are very excited to be joined by Daphni Leef to talk about her life, about the protests and about social justice.

This morning the sun rose. Birds were chirping and the middle east was still turbulent. Yes, even when Israel is not making headlines on CNN, things still tend to get pretty messy down here. We may not always feel it in our rose-colored-bubble of TLV, but the wheels of evil forces keep spinning, enemies are conspiring against us and we’re always prepared for the next war, which might be the last. It is in times like this that it’s good to have someone around who can actually understands the middle east, someone who’s devoted his life to explain Israel’s complexities. Someone who can provide us a little bit of context. Someone like Neil Lazarus. Neil Lazarus is one of the most popular Israeli public speakers out there. He’s traveling the world, talking about Israel, BDS and middle eastern politics. His Youtube videos are all over the internet and his seminars are packed. We’re so glad to have him here on the show with us today, to talk about Israel’s current situation in the middle east. (Photo by IDF)

”Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning”. This perfectly crafted sentence opens probably one of the most important novels of the 20th century, written by probably one of the most important novelists in modern literature. It was written by a 30-something year old Jew from Prague. In his short life he went on to write several books that would make his name almost synonymous with modern literature. That name is Franz Kafka. But what most people don’t know about the legendary author is that Kafka and his works almost disappeared into oblivion. Almost, but thankfully, there was Max Brod. In his new book, The Last Trial, writer Benjamin Balint tells for the first time the full story of Kafka’s legacy and how it survived against all odds. 2NJB is honored to be joined by Benjamin to hear about his new book and the story of Kafka.

Let’s do a little thought experiment. Imagine you’re going to your local supermarket. When you leave your house, or your apartment building, do you take a right or a left? Think about the next steps. When do you turn? How do you know when to turn? When do you cross the street? Or if you’re in a car, how many traffic lights do you pass? Now let me ask you something a little more specific. How many meters exactly is it to your closest supermarket? What cardinal direction is it in exactly? Unless you’re a robot, those last questions probably stumped you. It turns out that while we’re perhaps the top of the food chain, relative to other animals, we don’t have the most sophisticated sense of direction. Who does? Bats. Such a vilified creature. Together with sharks and spiders, bats have been among the most disparaged animals in the entire kingdom for as far back as stories and villains go. But really, when you think about it, they’re not all that bad. And they might have the answers to a few questions about navigation. Prof. Yossi Yovel is the head of the Bat Lab for Neuro Ecology at Tel Aviv University and he joins us today to talk about bats and how they get to the supermarket. (Photo by dolovis)

The battle against BDS is a sort of David vs Goliath style fight. On one side you have the BDS supporters, heavily funded by foreign governments and NGOs, reinforced by celebrities, activists and an army of social media justice warriors. And on the other side you've got a handful of eloquent volunteers who stand as a human shield, trying to protect what’s left of Israel’s dignity in the world. The battle is not an easy one at all. Ask Hen Mazzig. Hen is an Israeli Jew from Mizrahi descent (we’ll get to why that’s important later). After a meaningful service in the IDF, Hen decided he can't stand on the sidelines any longer and watch as his country’s PR crumbles. While he's a proud member of the LGBT community here in Israel and even critical of the right-wing government and its policies, Hen has been touring the world for years, giving lectures at extremely hostile campuses, and generally getting the word out there - BDS is bad, for everyone, especially the Palestinians. Hen joins us today to discuss his life and the path that led him to fight BDS.

Two Nice Jewish Boys discuss the aftermath of the Pittsburgh attack, Israeli and Diaspora Jewish relations, and much more in this cross over episode with Shmuel Rosner of Rosner's Domain. Tune in and subscribe to get updates about our weekly episodes! (Photo: www.wtae.com)

Like it or not, the 21st century is the century of Islam. This 1,400 year old religion has around 1.5 billions believers, and its philosophy and morals are profoundly shaping the world in which we live. Like any religion, Islam has its beauty as well as its dark sides. To some parts of western society, Islam is associated with warmongering, cruelty and terror. To others, it’s just another religion to be respected alongside Judaism and Christianity. Many know the story of the two most dominant streams in Islam, of Sunni and Shia, forever torn in a nasty conflict fueled by ancient grudges and bad blood. But amidst the wars within Islam and the wars it’s fighting with western society - certain streams in the religion remain quiet in the dark, waiting to be discovered. One such group is the Sufis. Sufis are a mystical sect of Islam, established around 200 years after Muhammad. They believe in peace and love, and they live in poverty, dedicating their lives to helping others. Dr. Sarah Sviri is a Professor Emerita at the Arabic Language and Literature department at The Hebrew University. She is an extremely prominent scholar of Sufism, and her book, The Taste of Hidden Things, depicts her lifelong studies. She joins us to talk about a lesser known side of Islam.

Hi-tech and innovation have brought many good things to the world. Social media connected us to one another and in doing so gave power to the citizens of the world. Search engines gave us access to knowledge and the day may come when autonomous cars will rid us of accidents on the road and save millions of lives. But start-ups may also have dark sides. Facebook helped, unwittingly, spread fake news and foreign governments used it to intervene in the democratic process in America. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used for drug and weapon trafficking, far from the eyes of law enforcement. And then there’s privacy. It’s that thing we used to have, and maybe never will again. So innovation goes both ways. That we know. But what happens when companies innovate to provide tools for governments to intercept their citizens’ activities, extract information about them and maybe ultimately - prosecute them and violate their basic human rights? In recent years more and more Israeli companies are blamed for doing exactly that. In a huge investigative report on Haaretz - one of Israel’s leading newspapers, reporters Hagar Shizaf and Yonathan Yakobzon, delved into the dark pasts of a few of these companies. What they found was alarming. Hagar Sheizaf of Haaretz, joins us today to talk about the investigation and the piece she co-wrote.

Elisha Abas was a talented kid. The great-Grandson of the legendary Russian pianist Alexander Skriavin, Elisha’s talent was noticeable as early as age 4, when he started learning Piano at the Jerusalem conservatory. By the time he was 11, he had already performed with Leonard Bernstein in Carnegie Hall, as Isaac Stern sat in the audience watching. But alongside his passion for music, young Elisha was also drawn - like so many other Israeli kids - to the game of soccer. And soon enough the boy realized that his aspirations of being an international piano star come at a great price. He decided to let go of the piano, and become a professional soccer player. His soccer career flourished, and it seems life was going in the right direction. But then, when Elisha was 30, something unexpected happened, leading him back to the embrace of the piano. 2NJB is honored to be joined by Elisha Abas, to talk about his extraordinary life and career.