It's 9am in Israel and I'm standing on a hill in Sderot looking into Gaza and hearing the sounds of distant explosions and seeing dust clouds and plumes of smokes. The war hasn't ended yet.

The book explains the key events, examines the core issues, and presents the competing claims and narratives of both sides. Listeners will learn what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all about, how it has evolved over time, and why it has defied so many efforts to resolve it.

The book provides an even-handed and judicious guide to the world's most intractable dispute. Written in an engaging, jargon-free Q&A format, I offer clear and concise answers to common questions about the conflict, from the most basic to the most contentious.

I’m happy to announce that the audio version of my book, The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: What Everyone Needs to Know, will be coming out next week (on 2/11/25), published by Tantor Audio. You can pre-order it on Amazon, Audible, Spotify, Apple Books, and Google Play.

5. If Trump is serious about combating antisemitism, he should start by telling his buddy Elon Musk not to allow so much antisemitic speech on X. Antisemitic hate speech online spreads antisemitic ideas and leads to antisemitic acts.

4. Threatening to deport foreign students implies that antisemitism isn't a homegrown American problem. But there's a long history of antisemitism in the US, including deadly antisemitic violence, mostly perpetrated by white supremacists. Trump's EO ignores this domestic threat.

3. There's no evidence that foreign students or staff are specifically responsible for the increase in antisemitic incidents on campuses since 10/7. Scapegoating them will not make Jewish students safer. It will only potentially chill free speech on campuses and academic freedom.

2. College students are not more antisemitic than Americans in general. In fact, people who attend college tend to be less antisemitic than those who don't go to college. The most antisemitic Americans are those on the far right, whom Trump has emboldened (and recently pardoned).

1. The order focuses on college campuses. While antisemitism is a problem on many campuses and it has undoubtedly worsened since the war in Gaza began, the vast majority of antisemitic incidents and hate crimes in the US don't happen on college campuses.

While I welcome the Trump administration's purported commitment to fighting antisemitism, which is a growing problem in the US, today's executive order on combating antisemitism is misguided and deeply problematic for many reasons (a thread):