Tel Aviv Review

What separates an activist who changes the world… from one who simply makes noise?
Israeli-American lawyer, philanthropist, and disability rights advocate Jay Ruderman argues that lasting change isn't about shouting the loudest. It's about knowing when to provoke, when to persuade, and how to build unlikely alliances.
Drawing on decades of experience—from transforming disability representation in Hollywood to navigating today's deeply polarized political landscape—Ruderman shares why winning hearts and minds is often far more powerful than winning an argument.
His book Find Your Fight: Make Your Voice Heard for the Causes that Matter Most. Ruderman builds on his long years as an activist for disability inclusion to offer essential tips for the budding (and the experienced) activist.

Can films reveal what a nation really believes about itself?
For decades, Dutch cinema told one story about its Jews. Then, slowly, that story began to change.
This week, Dr. Eyal Boers, head of Film and Television at Ariel University, takes us on a fascinating journey through more than a century of Dutch cinema, showing how films have reflected—and shaped—the Netherlands' evolving relationship with its Jewish community, the Holocaust, national identity, and Israel.
Why did Jewish characters move from being outsiders to symbols of national guilt? Why does Anne Frank loom so large over Dutch filmmaking? And what does today's portrayal of Israelis reveal about contemporary Europe?
It's a conversation about cinema—but even more, it's about memory, identity, and the stories societies tell themselves.
Check out Dr. Boers book, The Jew in Dutch Cinema: Images, Stereotypes and National Identity.

Upon the publication of Autocorrect, his latest collection of short stories, Etgar Keret joins us to discuss his favorite literary form, the impact of AI on storytelling and the power of literature post-Oct 7.
The episode is sponsored by the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA and co-hosted by Prof David N. Myers.

The major turning points in Iran's nuclear program were not the JCPOA or the latest wars, but the Shah's defiance of Henry Kissinger and the Iran-Iraq War, says Dr. Sina Azodi, Assistant Professor of Middle East Politics at George Washington University and author of Iran and the Bomb: The United States, Iran and the Nuclear Question.

How does a Western-educated king survive — and thrive — in the political chaos of the Middle East for more than 25 years?
Aaron Magid, a journalist formerly based in Jordan, discusses his book The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan, exploring the fascinating story of Jordan's King Abdullah II: a monarch shaped by American culture, dependent on American support, yet ruling one of the region's most fragile and strategically vital countries.
From Georgetown and Star Trek to Gaza, the Arab Spring, ISIS, Trump, Obama, and the future of the Hashemite Kingdom — this conversation dives deep into the balancing act that has kept Jordan stable while the region around it burns.
Why does Washington invest billions in Jordan?
How "American" is King Abdullah really?
Can authoritarian stability survive economic despair?
And how has Jordan managed to weather every regional storm?
A timely conversation about power, survival, diplomacy, and the quiet importance of Jordan in Middle Eastern politics.