Hagit Ofran is co-director of Settlement Watch, a project of the Israeli peace movement, Peace Now. The project serves as a resource on West Bank and East Jerusalem settlement issues for Israeli politicians, diplomats, international media and the Israeli public. Formerly, she has worked as personal assistant to Yossi Beilin whilst he served as Minister of Justice, and for the Geneva Institute.
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.