Fathom

Spring / 2016

Fathom 12 | Editorial

By Fathom Editors
 Fathom 12 addresses five themes. First, the rise of the new antisemitism. Alex Chalmers hit the headlines when... Read more > Spring 2016

First Industrial Nation Meets Start-Up Nation

By Alex Brummer
 Beyond the headlines, Britain and Israel – the First Industrial Nation’ and the ‘Start-Up Nation’ – are drawing... Read more > Spring 2016

Can Israel remain secure in a world of Arab disintegration, American retreat, and Iranian ambition?

By Calev Ben-Dor
 In a comprehensive and clear-sighted survey Fathom deputy editor Calev Ben-Dor assesses the implications of regional disintegration for... Read more > Spring 2016

Representing the Trial: Judith Butler Reads Hannah Arendt Reading Adolf Eichmann

By Russell Berman
 Judith Butler is one of the world’s most influential academics and public intellectuals and a leading supporter of... Read more > Spring 2016

Perry Anderson’s House of Zion: A Symposium | Mitchell Cohen

By Mitchell Cohen
 Perry Anderson and the House of Anti-Imperialism Editorial introduction to the Symposium: Perry Anderson’s long essay, ‘The House... Read more > Spring 2016

Antisemitic anti-Zionism and the scandal of Oxford University Labour Club

By Alex Chalmers
 Alex Chalmers was co-Chair of Oxford University Labour Club until he resigned in February, alleging that a ‘large... Read more > Spring 2016

'What we are lacking is courageous leadership': an interview with Koby Huberman

By Koby Huberman
 BICOM Chief Executive James Sorene spoke with Koby Huberman, who was a high tech entrepreneur before it was... Read more > Spring 2016

Two-state solution 2.0: New Israeli thinking on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

By Toby Greene
 A number of proposals for how Israel can act to change the status quo in the Israeli-Palestinian arena... Read more > Spring 2016

Prisoners, Peace and the Palestinian National Movement: an interview with Ashraf al-Ajrami

By Ashraf al-Ajrami
 Ashraf al-Ajrami was the Minister of Prisoners Affairs for the Palestinian Authority (PA) between 2007 and 2009. A... Read more > Spring 2016

'Doing God', or the importance of religious peacemaking: an interview with Rabbi Michael Melchior

By Michael Melchior
 When it comes to conflict resolution, the dominant view has been that God should be taken out of... Read more > Spring 2016

Learning the Lessons of the Oslo Peace Process

By Yair Hirschfeld
 Yair Hirschfeld was a key architect of the Oslo Accords and is now the Director General of the Economic... Read more > Spring 2016

Nawi-Gate: the self-immolation of the Israeli far-left

By Eylon Aslan-Levy
 Israeli TV broadcast extraordinary claims by a far-left Israeli activist: that he had delivered to the Palestinian Authority... Read more > Spring 2016

Perry Anderson’s House of Zion: A Symposium | Michael Walzer

By Michael Walzer
 Perry Anderson’s War Editorial introduction to the Symposium: Perry Anderson’s long essay, ‘The House of Zion’, was published... Read more > Spring 2016

Perry Anderson’s House of Zion: A Symposium | Einat Wilf

By Einat Wilf
 Anderson’s One-State Solution ignores the certain fate of the Jews Editorial introduction to the Symposium: Perry Anderson’s long... Read more > Spring 2016

Perry Anderson’s House of Zion: A Symposium | John Strawson

By John Strawson
 One-State is a Trap for Two Peoples in Palestine and Israel Editorial introduction to the Symposium: Perry Anderson’s... Read more > Spring 2016

Perry Anderson’s House of Zion: A Symposium | Shany Mor

By Shany Mor
 Perry Anderson’s Theological Anti-Zionism Editorial introduction to the Symposium: Perry Anderson’s long essay, ‘The House of Zion’, was... Read more > Spring 2016

Perry Anderson’s House of Zion: A Symposium | Cary Nelson

By Cary Nelson
 Perry Anderson’s Reactionary Fantasy Editorial introduction to the Symposium: Perry Anderson’s long essay, ‘The House of Zion’, was... Read more > Spring 2016

Book Review│The Definition of Anti-Semitism

By Robert Fine
 The word ‘antisemitism’ currently has a strange aura around it. There is a curious reluctance on the part... Read more > Spring 2016

Book Review | Diasporic Activism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

By Keith Kahn-Harris
 One of the most striking features of intra-Jewish conflicts over Israel in the UK and elsewhere in the... Read more > Spring 2016

Book Review | The Rise of the Israeli Right: From Odessa to Hebron

By Jonathan Rynhold
 This book will serve as the definitive history of the Israeli Right in English. Building on his previous... Read more > Spring 2016

Autumn / 2015

Fathom 11

By Fathom Editors
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Fathom Forum | David Newman | Thinking creatively about borders and settlers

By Professor David Newman
 David Newman is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and a Professor of Geopolitics in the Department... Read more > Autumn 2015

Fathom Review 2015

By Fathom Editors
 Preface by Anthony Julius Fathom exists to fathom Israel's complexities. It engages with a troubling characteristic of much... Read more > Autumn 2015

Deterring Iran: Time for a new mindset

By Michael Herzog
 As the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 goes into effect with the announcement of Implementation Day... Read more > Autumn 2015

‘This shows it is possible to transform Israel into a just society’: Ron Gerlitz on the Arab Economic Development Plan

By Ron Gerlitz
 The Israeli government has approved an ambitious $3.85 billion plan for the social and employment development of Israel’s Arab citizens.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Models of Israeli disengagement: an interview with Shany Mor

By Shany Mor
 Shany Mor is a former Director for Foreign Policy on the Israeli National Security Council. In this video he... Read more > Autumn 2015

‘There is a clash of civilisations’: An interview with Benny Morris

By Gabriel Noah Brahm
 In this in-depth interview, Israeli historian Benny Morris speaks with Professor Gabriel Noah Brahm about his work, his... Read more > Autumn 2015

Symposium on Rabin's legacy – Einat Wilf

By Einat Wilf
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Six steps to defeat ISIS

By Giora Eiland
 Giora Eiland spoke to Fathom about six steps the coalition must take to defeat ISIS: cooperating with Russia,... Read more > Autumn 2015

The Syrian Cauldron – A View from Israel

By Michael Herzog
 As Parliament is set to debate joining the coalition against ISIS in Syria, BICOM Senior Visiting Fellow Brig.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Rabin eBook | Foreword by President Reuven Rivlin

By Reuven Rivlin
   This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded... Read more > Autumn 2015

Rabin eBook | A statesman not a politician: remembering Yitzhak Rabin

By Uri Dromi
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

What does the ‘Corbyn Revolution’ mean for the UK Left and Israel?

By Luke Akehurst
 Veteran activist and former UK Labour Party National Executive Committee member Luke Akehurst offers an in-depth look at... Read more > Autumn 2015

Fathom eBook | The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin

By Fathom Editors
 Fathom has published a new eBook to mark the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, which... Read more > Autumn 2015

Symposium on Rabin's legacy – Tzipi Livni

By Tzipi Livni
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Fathom Forum | Jonathan Rynhold | What does the US presidential election mean for US-Israel relations?

By Jonathan Rynhold
 Dr. Jonathan Rynhold is author of The Arab-Israeli Conflict in American Political Culture (2015), senior researcher at the... Read more > Autumn 2015

Islamic State and Islamist politics in the UK: why ‘not in my name’ is not enough

By Dave Rich
 Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust argues that while IS has the support of only small minorities... Read more > Autumn 2015

Ultra-nationalism, settlements and Jewish extremism: an interview with Sara Hirschhorn

By Sara Hirschhorn
 Settlements and settlers in the West Bank are seen as by many in Europe and the West as... Read more > Autumn 2015

Is it Iran’s Middle East now?

By Jonathan Spyer
 Leading regional expert Jonathan Spyer thinks not. While the single best organised and most aggressive alliance active currently... Read more > Autumn 2015

The Corbyn left: the politics of position and the politics of reason

By David Hirsh
 Abstract This paper is about a preference within contemporary left-wing culture for defining opponents as not belonging rather... Read more > Autumn 2015

The Left and the Jews: Time for a Rethink

By Alan Johnson
 A shorter version of this talk was delivered as a contribution to a panel discussion on ‘The Left... Read more > Autumn 2015

Book Review│Australia & Israel: A Diasporic, Cultural and Political Relationship

By Philip Mendes
 Australia and Israel are superficially the oddest of couples. They are geographically distant, and massively different in size.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Book Review | Winning the War of Words: Essays on Zionism and Israel

By Matti Friedman
 Einat Wilf's book Winning the War of Words: Essays on Zionism and Israel is available on Amazon or... Read more > Autumn 2015

David Cesarani: In Memoriam

By Jeffrey Herf
 As readers of this journal know by now, David Cesarani, Professor of History at Royal Holloway, London University... Read more > Autumn 2015

Rabin eBook | Why Rabin matters today

By Luciana Berger
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Symposium on Rabin's legacy – Omer Bar-Lev

By Omer Bar-Lev
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Symposium on Rabin's legacy – Michael Herzog

By Michael Herzog
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Symposium on Rabin's legacy – Sara Hirschhorn

By Sara Hirschhorn
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Symposium on Rabin's legacy – Ronen Hoffman

By Ronen Hoffman
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Rabin eBook | Rabin in Churchill’s War Rooms: remembering a Prime Minister

By Sir Martin Gilbert
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Rabin eBook | Rabin’s Strategy: understanding security and the limits of power

By Shlomo Avineri
 This piece is from Fathom’s eBook The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.... Read more > Autumn 2015

Summer / 2015

Fathom 10

By Fathom Editors
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What Palestinian terrorists write on Facebook

By Elhanan Miller
 As the British government’s recently launched counter-extremism strategy acknowledges the role of social media in spreading hate, Elhanan... Read more > Summer 2015

Fathom eBook | Two States for Two Peoples – 20 Years after Oslo II: How to renew the peace process...

By Fathom Editors
 To mark the 20th anniversary of the Oslo II agreement, Fathom has published an eBook – Two States for... Read more > Summer 2015

Making Sense of ISIS: an interview with Michael Weiss

By Michael Weiss
 Michael Weiss is the co-author with Hassan Hassan of the New York Times bestseller ISIS: Inside the Army... Read more > Summer 2015

Building Peace from the Grassroots

By Joel Braunold
 On 30 June 2015, Joel Braunold, US Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) spoke to... Read more > Summer 2015

Book Review |Boycotting Israel is Wrong: The progressive path to peace between Palestinians and Israelis

By Luke Akehurst
 Boycotting Israel is Wrong is a timely short book on the BDS phenomenon by Australian academics Philip Mendes... Read more > Summer 2015

Debating Michael Walzer’s 'Islamism and the Left'

By Michael Walzer
 Michael Walzer is professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and one of... Read more > Summer 2015

Book Review | Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide

By David Lowe
 David E. Lowe is the Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs at the National Endowment for... Read more > Summer 2015

The New Special Relationship: The British Conservative Party and Israel

By Alan Mendoza
 In recent years, a once ambivalent relationship between the world’s oldest political party and one of its younger... Read more > Summer 2015

‘The time to compromise is when you are strong’: an interview with Omer Bar-Lev MK

By Omer Bar-Lev
 Omer Bar-Lev is an MK for the Zionist Union. He was a commander in one of the IDF’s... Read more > Summer 2015

Book Review |The Paradox of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions

By James Bloodworth
 What has happened to the secular and democratic left? It would be an exaggeration to say that everywhere... Read more > Summer 2015

In These Times: A Statement on Contemporary European Anti-Semitism

By Shalom Lappin, Brian Bix, Eve Garrard, Steve De Wijze, Matthew Kramer, and Hillel Steiner
 Antisemitism is a form of racism. Indeed, it is one of the oldest and most virulent instances of... Read more > Summer 2015

Book Review |Catch The Jew!

By Michael Wegier
 Tuvia Tenenbom is a product of the Ultra-Orthodox community in B'nai Brak, near Tel Aviv. He grew up... Read more > Summer 2015

Israel’s Embittered Generation

By Marc Goldberg
 After another election disappointment for the Israel left, British-Israeli blogger Marc Goldberg asks how Israeli Labour can win... Read more > Summer 2015

Terrorism in cyberspace

By Gabriel Weimann
 Professor Gabriel Weimann spoke to a Fathom Forum about his book Terrorism in Cyberspace: The Next Generation. The... Read more > Summer 2015

Interfaith on Campus: lessons of the St Andrews Coexistence Initiative

By Joel Salmon
 St Andrews is an institution consistently placed in the top three universities in the UK. Over 600 years... Read more > Summer 2015

The Collective Impact Forum and Arab Employment: an interview with Yifat Ovadia

By Yifat Ovadia
 Yifat Ovadia established the Collective Impact Forum (CIF) to increase the employment of the Arab population in Israel’s... Read more > Summer 2015

JN-BICOM Conference 2015: ‘If we stand together against religious persecution, we win’, a speech by Lord Sacks

By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
 Former Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks in a speech to the BICOM-Jewish News ‘UK/Israel Shared Strategic Challenges Conference’. Read more > Summer 2015

JN-BICOM Conference: Discussion on Iran

By BICOM
 A panel discussion on Iran at the UK/Israel Shared Strategic Challenges Conference. Participants were: Sir Richard Dalton (Chatham House),... Read more > Summer 2015

JN-BICOM 2015 Conference: Discussion on radicalisation

By BICOM
 A panel discussion on radicalisation at the UK/Israel Shared Strategic Challenges Conference. Participants were: Charles Farr (Director of the Office for... Read more > Summer 2015

JN-BICOM 2015 Conference: Yair Lapid in conversation with Bronwen Maddox

By Yair Lapid
 Leader of the Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid speaking to Prospect editor Bronwen Maddox the BICOM-Jewish News ‘UK/Israel Shared Strategic Challenges Conference’. Read more > Summer 2015

JN-BICOM 2015 Conference: Isaac Herzog in conversation with Jonathan Freedland

By Isaac Herzog
 Leader of Israel's opposition and Zionist Union party Isaac Herzog speaking to The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland the BICOM-Jewish... Read more > Summer 2015

JN-BICOM 2015 Conference: A speech by Shaul Mofaz

By Shaul Mofaz
 A speech by former IDF Chief of Staff and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz at the the BICOM-Jewish News ‘UK/Israel... Read more > Summer 2015

JN-BICOM 2015 Conference: Collapse of Arab states and the rise of ISIL

By BICOM
 A panel discussion on the collapse of Arab states and the rise of ISIL at the UK/Israel Shared Strategic... Read more > Summer 2015

JN-BICOM 2015 Conference: Does increasing antisemitism threaten the future of European Jewry?

By BICOM
 A panel discussion on antisemitism at the UK/Israel Shared Strategic Challenges Conference. Participants were: Fulvio Martusciello MEP ,Sarah Benioff (DCLG), Robert... Read more > Summer 2015

JN-BICOM 2015 Conference: Have rejectionists slammed the door on the two-state solution?

By BICOM
 A panel discussion on the two-state solution at the UK/Israel Shared Strategic Challenges Conference. Participants were: Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, Omer Bar... Read more > Summer 2015

Multi-stage Coordinated Unilateralism: A Proposal to Rescue the Two-State Paradigm

By Cary Nelson
 In this wide-ranging and hopeful essay, Cary Nelson aims to move the international conversation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict away from mutual... Read more > Summer 2015

Red lines and pitfalls: the Iran deal and beyond – an interview with Mike Herzog

By Michael Herzog
 Brig. Gen. (res.) Michael Herzog assesses the underlying concerns with the Iran nuclear negotiations, the implications for the... Read more > Summer 2015

Reflections on Contemporary Anti-Semitism in Europe

By Kenneth Waltzer
 The editors are proud to launch a new longer-form publication. Each 'Fathom Insight' will allow writers and readers... Read more > Summer 2015

Gaza One Year After - An Interview with Elhanan Miller

By Elhanan Miller
   Elhanan Miller is the Arab Affairs reporter for the Times of Israel. Alan Johnson is the editor... Read more > Summer 2015

Winter / 2015

Fathom 9

By Fathom Editors
 Read more > Article

The resurgence of neo-traditionalism

By Asher Susser
 Asher Susser explains the resurgence of tradition throughout the region and its political consequences  for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.... Read more > Winter 2015

Book Review | Making David Into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel

By Michael Allen
 700 British artists have announced that they are boycotting Israel until the ‘colonial oppression of Palestinians’ ends. In... Read more > Winter 2015

Book Review | Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel

By Colin Shindler
 Berl Katznelson, one of Labour Zionism’s ideological founders described David Ben-Gurion as ‘history’s gift to the Jewish people.’... Read more > Winter 2015

Film Review: Dancing Arabs

By Gabriel Noah Brahm
 A review of Dancing Arabs (Aravim Rokdim) by Eran Riklis (Director) and Sayed Kashua (screenwriter). The critically acclaimed... Read more > Winter 2015

The ideological roots of media bias against Israel

By Matti Friedman
 On 26 January 2015 the former AP reporter Matti Friedman delivered the keynote speech at BICOM’s annual dinner... Read more > Winter 2015

Book Review | The Hilltop

By Liam Hoare
 The Hilltop is the first Israeli novel to chronicle the inner lives of the settlers that has been... Read more > Winter 2015

Making Sense of the Israeli Elections

By Naomi Chazan
 On 20 March 2015, three days after the Israeli election, former Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Naomi Chazan... Read more > Winter 2015

The Resistible Rise of Iran: an Interview with Michael Ledeen

By Ben Cohen
 Fathom advisory editor Ben Cohen spoke with the historian and analyst Michael Ledeen about US foreign policy towards... Read more > Winter 2015

Book Review | Jews and the Left: The Rise and Fall of a Political Alliance

By David Hirsh
 Social theorists sometimes enjoy treating the ‘now’ as the key turning point of history; they like it because... Read more > Winter 2015

Israel, Europe and the converging terror threat

By Amichai Magen
 Dr. Amichai Magen maps the increasing interconnectedness of the Islamist terror threats faced by Europe and Israel, and... Read more > Winter 2015

The Future of the Israeli Right: An interview with Yoaz Hendel

By Yoaz Hendel
 Israel’s upcoming election is being billed as a choice over the future ideological direction of the country. To... Read more > Winter 2015

‘There is no policy, we are on the edge of a volcano’: an interview with Efraim Halevy

By Efraim Halevy
 Efraim Halevy was Director of Mossad from 1998 to 2002. Alan Johnson is the editor of Fathom. They... Read more > Winter 2015

An Arab Social Worker in Israel

By Lamis Shibli Ghadir
 Lamis Shibli Ghadir explains the challenges and the rewards of being an Arab social worker in the Ein... Read more > Winter 2015

Anti-Judaism, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism

By Eve Garrard
 An edited speech given by Eve Garrard, Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University... Read more > Winter 2015

Book Review | A World Without Jews: The Nazi Imagination from Persecution to Genocide

By David Cesarani
 Historian David Cesarani hails Alon Confino’s triumphant demonstration that anti-Jewish policies are within the realms of comprehension and... Read more > Winter 2015

The Struggle over the Iranian Nuclear Programme

By Yossi Kuperwasser
 It is incumbent on Israel to use all the diplomatic and political tools at its disposal to halt... Read more > Winter 2015

Israel’s Jane Austen: Irit Linur’s all too normal Israel

By Noga Emanuel
 In 2002 the Israeli novelist Irit Linur wrote an open letter to the editor of Haaretz announcing that... Read more > Winter 2015

‘Only a blind person would ignore the gravity of the threat which is emerging’: an interview with Dore Gold

By Dore Gold
 To get a contrasting view on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s national security policy, Fathom deputy editor Toby Greene spoke with Dore... Read more > Winter 2015

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Voice of the Week

Our Voice of the Fortnight is Haviv Rettig Gur on the Dan Senor Podcast, Call me back - Is Israel Winning?

Image of the Week

Released hostage Shlomi Ziv returning to his home in Moshav Elkosh, in northern Israel, 25 June 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90

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