Now more than ever, it is essential for progressives to come together and hear directly from those on the ground working to ensure a peaceful and just Israel for the future.
We are pleased to announce the seventh annual Israel-Palestine Virtual Symposium: Israel in Moral Crisis. We invite you to join us as we reckon together with both our deepest-held values as Jews and progressives, alongside the reality of ongoing war in Israel and the broader Middle East, the destruction of Gaza, and increasing state and settler violence in the West Bank.
During one Sunday in each of the months of April, May, and June, Symposium participants will hear from and engage in dialogue with Israelis and Palestinians whose work bolsters a progressive vision of the future for Palestinians and Israelis alike, even in the midst of a dark reality. We invite you to join us to move beyond the headlines and “hot takes” into intimate off-the-record conversations with leading thinkers, activists, and leaders in the Land.
Symposium members will have the opportunity, on camera, to question presenters and, following their departure from the call, to spend a final 30 minutes dedicated to a group debriefing.
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Session Descriptions
Space is limited to 50 participants per session. We recommend signing up early to secure your spot! Each day there will be two, 2-hour sessions from 11am – 1pm ET & 1:30pm – 3:30pm ET
Day 1 (April 19th, 2026)
Session A: “In War, Who Is Sheltered?”
Whose safety is valued? Who is sheltered in times of war?
Israel and the United States’ war on Iran this spring has again sent Israelis and Palestinians into safe rooms and shelters. But shelter access is not equal – and many in Israel’s periphery communities, Bedouin villages, and Palestinians throughout the West Bank lack safe places to hide when strikes occur. What’s more, many Palestinians in the West Bank have received orders from the IDF not to travel between villages, towns, and cities in recent weeks, restricting movement and preventing further access to family and safety. This session will explore shelter access issues as a lens for understanding marginalization throughout Israel and Israeli-controlled areas in the West Bank.
Session B: “Faith as a Catalyst for Co-Resistance”
In anticipation of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut later this week, join spiritual leaders from different faith communities around Israel for a discussion about faith, secular ritual, and pushing back against the marriage of far-right ultranationalist politics and religious identity in Israeli and Palestinian communities. Together, we’ll explore the potential of religions to be a tool not only of political and social domination, but also of liberation and co-resistance.
Day 2 (May 17th, 2026)
Session A: “Reckoning with Annihilation: Lived Experiences in Gaza”
How do we reckon with what two and a half years of destruction in Gaza means for our identities and relationships to state power? It is time to deeply sit in the reality of the experiences of Palestinians in Gaza during the war of annihilation that succeeded the Hamas attacks of October 7th, 2023. In this session, we will hear from individuals who have been working with Gazans firsthand to tell their stories, and begin to bear witness directly to their lived experiences.
Session B: “The Intimacy of Violence: The West Bank in Focus”
It is often posited that “if Israelis and Palestinians only got to know one another,” that a future of peace and human rights would be closer at hand in the Land. The ongoing pogrom-style violence in the West Bank belies this idea, where Palestinian families often know the names and faces of the settler vigilantes who are setting fires, cutting off water access, and shooting people in their towns and villages. This session invites us to reckon with the reality of proximity that characterizes settler violence in the West Bank, and explore the psychological implications of this ongoing brutality. We will call upon Israeli experts in the psychology of violence to address this and other aspects of ongoing Israeli brutality on the West Bank.
Day 3 (June 7th, 2026)
Session A: “Forces for Political Change – Looking Ahead to Elections”
As we anticipate Israeli elections in the coming months, we take a deeper dive into Israeli Knesset politics. Join us for a robust discussion with experts on polling, newly emerging political voices, and where power is likely to be built to create meaningful political change in Israel.
Session B: “The Moral Challenges of State Power”
What happens when our moral commitments as a Jewish community appear to sit at odds with the uses (and abuses) of state power in Israel today? Join us for an in-depth exploration with leading Jewish thinkers of new paradigms for tackling this decades-old question, especially in light of recent wars, the current Israeli government, and the destruction of Gaza.