Daniel Lubetzky

OneVoice’s high profile delegation to the Middle East, led by Daniel and Jason Alexander, is off to a great start and the international media has been noticing, as you can see here, here, and here, to name a few.  (Unfortunately, the poor sound quality of this clip only  emphasizes the funny question at the end, and not the substantive conversations that took place.)

At the Knesset, Shimon Peres had deep conversations with the group as to how to achieve peace in the region (and even joked around a little).  According to a Reuters article, during the meeting Peres defended Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad- after criticism from ultranationalist  leader Avigdor Lieberman- exemplifying the open minded attitude that Israeli and Palestinian leaders should embody to reach a solution.

Aside from spending time with the top level government, the group will be meeting with OneVoice’s Israeli and Palestinian youth leaders who will be sure to offer unique perspectives of the challenges on the ground.

By Adeena Schlussel

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OneVoice brought Israeli leaders, running the political gamete, to meet with 500 participants in order to discus the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The event took place at Tel Aviv’s Cinematheque, and OneVoice conducted 30 roundtable discussions ranging from women’s role in peace building to Israel’s relationship with Turkey. 

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Adeena Schlussel

WHAM! BAM! ISLAM!, a documentary that follows Naif Al-Mutawa as he created THE 99, airs on PBS tonight.  The documentary discusses the challenges that The 99 team is still facing in getting its comic off the ground and can be watched on PBS, or can be reserved on iTunes.

While it is not rosy or pleasant to read, this article from Ethan Bronner provides an excellent analysis of the socio-political forces internally shaping both Turkish and Israeli politics and impacting geo-political realities as a result. It also sadly underlines that some politicians put their own careers ahead of the wellbeing of their nations. It is easier to score political goals by appealing to ultra-nationalism. True leaders who place their countries ahead of their political careers, and whose leadership qualities are strong enough to enable them to do this while still succeeding in galvanizing their constituents behind them, are rarer.

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As Director of the Mossad, Efraim Halevy said at the Israel Policy Forum’s symposium, President Obama’s quick decision to order the release of the six Israelis trapped inside the Israeli embassy in Cairo was not only heroic, but indicative of Israel and America’s deep friendship.  Read more about this laudable decision below, or watch this video:

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Adeena Schlussel

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The  White House liaison office shared this transcript by Prime Minister Netanyahu relative to the recent evacuation of the Israeli embassy in Egypt, and the overall assessment of the current situation in the region.  Worth reading.

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JR, a world-famous artist and TED prize winner, is bringing his work to Israel and Palestine- or more accurately, is bringing Israelis and Palestinians into his work.  The concept behind JR’s work is to portray people around the world and what they stand for, via oversized, black and white portraits of themselves that are subsequently pasted all over town. 

As part of his “Inside Out Project,” JR is bringing 4 photo booths to Israel and Palestine for a little over a week, where citizens will have the opportunity to print portraits, and paste them wherever they wish in an act of self expression.  JR is bringing his work to this region to facilitate understanding between Israelis and Palestinians, to show that “despite their differences, Palestinians and Israelis are similar enough to understand each other.” As the name of this campaign suggests, JR believes that the “Time is Now, Yallah!”

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Adeena Schlussel

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Two years ago, an unlikely winner was selected to receive the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine, often referred to as the “Arab Nobel Prize.” As the Haaretz article conveys, Stanford Professor, Ronald Levy, is an American Jew married to an Israeli woman, and did not expect to have much chance in the competition.  Upon winning the prize, Levy and his family (with their Israeli passports) were flown to Saudi Arabia to have dinner with Saudi King Abdullah where they were met with royal treatment.  This story is a beautiful depiction of humans appreciating each other despite their divergent backgrounds and shows how much progress can be made when differences is are overlooked.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Adeena Schlussel

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Below are President Obama’s remarks about the palpable moment of opportunity that we are currently facing in the Middle East.  Shortly after delivering this speech, the President met with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the opportunities for Israel and America’s partnership, and a summary of that dialogue follows. 

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This New York Times article about the effects of Hamas and Fatah’s recent union is worth reading:

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