Events

MODERATED BY ALANA NEWHOUSE AND IN CONVERSATION WITH JEWISH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS YOLA ASHKENAZIE, BELLA INGBER AND SHABBOS KESTENBAUM

On October 8, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy flew to Israel to report on Hamas’ massacre, bear witness to the unprecedented pogroms the terrorists had committed and stand in solidarity with the Jewish people.
Then, within weeks, he watched in despair as the massacre became a “detail” in the global consciousness and antisemitism cloaked as anti-Zionism erupted across the world.
After listening to mobs demand “ceasefire now” without the release of the hostages and protestors and governments insist that October 7 be seen within a wider “context,” Lévy knew he had to weigh in on how the victim had been transmogrified into the victimizer.
Using his favorite weapon, his pen, he wrote his 48th book, Solitude d’Israël (Israel Alone).
The French intellectual returns to The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center to talk about the global responses to October 7; how they reflect a new strain of the oldest hatred in the world; the role played – and profits reaped – by Iran, Russia, radical Islamist groups, and even Turkey and China; and what’s at stake both for Israel and for the world.
Lévy will be in conversation with Alana Newhouse, editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine.
Lévy and Newhouse will then be joined by a group of Jewish university students, including Yola Ashkenazie, Bella Ingber and Shabbos Kestenbaum, who braved the chaotic anti-Israeli protests after October 7 to discuss what this new generation faces, how they have coped and what must be done to combat this new antisemitism.
One of the world’s foremost intellectuals, Bernard-Henri Lévy is a philosopher, writer, director of eight films and staunch defender of democracy and humanism against totalitarianism and fascism.
For half a century, Lévy has reported on the wars from the frontline of Israel and on the world’s “forgotten wars.” He participated in various peace plans in Israel and beyond.