Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 13 hours ago
As the Gaza war stretches into its third year, journalism professor and MSNBC analyst Peter Beinart claims that, as a Jew, he must reckon with the intense moral and theological tensions that not only he holds, but what he sees as challenges for Judaism as a whole. Because of these tensions, Beinart believes the Jewish community must build a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew? From his book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, MSNBC analyst Peter Beinart imagines a world where Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. In Beinart’s view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. Beinart claims that, as a Jew, he must reckon with the intense moral and theological tensions that not only he holds, but what he sees as challenges for Judaism as a whole. Because of these tensions, Beinart believes the Jewish community must tell a new story and build a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew? From his book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, Beinart offers a path toward resolution.
A frequent contributor to The New York Times and an MSNBC analyst, Peter Beinart is a professor of journalism and political science at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He is also the editor at large of Jewish Currents and writes The Beinart Notebook, a weekly newsletter. He lives with his family in New York City.
Professor Smadar Ben-Natan is a professor of human rights at the School of Global Studies and Languages, University of Oregon. A legal scholar of human rights, criminal justice, and armed conflict, she is an expert on Israel/Palestine. She is working on two books: Citizen-Enemies: Military Courts and the Construction of Citizenship in Israel/Palestine; and The Carceral State in Conflict: Between Reconciliation and Radicalization. Professor Ben-Natan received her PhD in law from Tel Aviv University and a master’s in international human rights law from the University of Oxford. She also served as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and Harvard, and as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington.
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As the Gaza war stretches into its third year, journalism professor and MSNBC analyst Peter Beinart claims that, as a Jew, he must reckon with the intense moral and theological tensions that not only he holds, but what he sees as challenges for Judaism as a whole. Because of these tensions, Beinart believes the Jewish community must build a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew? From his book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, MSNBC analyst Peter Beinart imagines a world where Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. In Beinart’s view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. Beinart claims that, as a Jew, he must reckon with the intense moral and theological tensions that not only he holds, but what he sees as challenges for Judaism as a whole. Because of these tensions, Beinart believes the Jewish community must tell a new story and build a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew? From his book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, Beinart offers a path toward resolution.
A frequent contributor to The New York Times and an MSNBC analyst, Peter Beinart is a professor of journalism and political science at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He is also the editor at large of Jewish Currents and writes The Beinart Notebook, a weekly newsletter. He lives with his family in New York City.
Professor Smadar Ben-Natan is a professor of human rights at the School of Global Studies and Languages, University of Oregon. A legal scholar of human rights, criminal justice, and armed conflict, she is an expert on Israel/Palestine. She is working on two books: Citizen-Enemies: Military Courts and the Construction of Citizenship in Israel/Palestine; and The Carceral State in Conflict: Between Reconciliation and Radicalization. Professor Ben-Natan received her PhD in law from Tel Aviv University and a master’s in international human rights law from the University of Oxford. She also served as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and Harvard, and as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington.
Presented by Town Hall Seattle.
Events are offered for informational, entertainment, and educational purposes only. Read Town Hall’s Program Content Policy at townhallseattle.org/policies
