Paul Gross lives in Jerusalem and has written on the Middle East and the Jewish world for a number of Israeli, British and American titles. Before immigrating to Israel from the UK he worked for the British government on religious discrimination legislation and for the Israeli Embassy in London as the Ambassador’s speechwriter.
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.