A seminar with Dov Waxman, Professor of Political Science, International Affairs, and Israel Studies; Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies ; Co-Director, Middle East Center, Northeastern University on his most recent book, Trouble in the Tribe, from Princeton University Press.
Moderated by Marshall Ganz, Lecturer in Public Policy, HKS and MEI Faculty Affiliate.
The discussion will be followed by a book signing at 6:10pm at the Harvard COOP, 1400 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA.
About the book:
"Trouble in the Tribe explores the increasingly contentious place of Israel in the American Jewish community. In a fundamental shift, growing numbers of American Jews have become less willing to unquestioningly support Israel and more willing to publicly criticize its government. More than ever before, American Jews are arguing about Israeli policies, and many, especially younger ones, are becoming uncomfortable with Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Dov Waxman argues that Israel is fast becoming a source of disunity for American Jewry, and that a new era of American Jewish conflict over Israel is replacing the old era of solidarity.
Drawing on a wealth of in-depth interviews with American Jewish leaders and activists, Waxman shows why Israel has become such a divisive issue among American Jews. He delves into the American Jewish debate about Israel, examining the impact that the conflict over Israel is having on Jewish communities, national Jewish organizations, and on the pro-Israel lobby. Waxman sets this conflict in the context of broader cultural, political, institutional, and demographic changes happening in the American Jewish community. He offers a nuanced and balanced account of how this conflict over Israel has developed and what it means for the future of American Jewish politics.
Israel used to bring American Jews together. Now it is driving them apart. Trouble in the Tribe explains why."
-Princeton University Press
About Dov Waxman:
Dov Waxman is Professor of Political Science, International Affairs, and Israel Studies at Northeastern University, and the Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies. He is also the co-director of the Middle East Center at Northeastern University. An expert on Israel, his research focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli foreign policy, U.S.-Israel relations, and Diaspora Jewry’s relationship with Israel. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and his B.A. degree from Oxford University. He has previously taught at the City University of New York, Bowdoin College, and the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey; and he has been a visiting fellow at Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Oxford University. He is the author of three books: The Pursuit of Peace and the Crisis of Israeli Identity: Defending / Defining the Nation (Palgrave, 2006), Israel’s Palestinians: The Conflict Within (with Ilan Peleg, Cambridge University Press, 2011), and Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel (Princeton University Press, 2016). He is a frequent commentator in print, on radio, and on television, with regular guest appearances on Al Jazeera America. An award-winning teacher, he has lectured widely in the United States and abroad.
