Benjamin Pogrund was deputy editor of the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg, which was closed down because of its stand against apartheid. He was also chief foreign sub-editor of The Independent. He has lived in Jerusalem since 1997 and was founder director of Yakar’s Center for Social Concern. He is the author of Drawing Fire: Investigating the Accusations of Apartheid in Israel.
Our Voice of the Fortnight is from the Times of Israel's 'Wartime Diaries' podcast. In the immediate aftermath of October 7th, Shai Davidai – an Assistant Professor at Columbia University – became an unlikely public defender of Israel. And truthfully, even he was surprised by this turn of events: As a committed left-wing Israeli, he had spent years criticizing the government, and often took to the streets to demonstrate against its policies. But the atmosphere he witnessed on college campuses (and specifically on his own campus at Columbia), compelled him to speak up and speak out.