Rabbi Menahem Shemtov is the chairman of the Rabbis Committee for Inter-Religious Dialogue on behalf of the United Nations (UN), and is the coordinator of the ultra-Orthodox program at the Citizens Accord Forum (CAF) – an Israeli organisation that promotes mutual responsibility, participation and equal opportunity among all citizens of 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.