Dr Eitan Regev, economist and Research Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, analyzes the downsides of Israel’s excessive reliance on academic higher education which has hurt its economic prospects and social integration, and offers policy recommendations to rectify that situation.

The Tel Aviv Review of Books is a new online English-language publication that seeks, by way of book reviews, essays, literary criticism, original fiction and poetry, to give the international reader a glimpse into the Israeli world of letters. Gilad Halpern is joined by his co-editors to discuss the whys and wherefores of a new magazine.

One of the most controversial questions about the Holocaust is whether it should be seen as a universal human problem, or a unique horror perpetrated by Germans. At the heart of this question lies the work of Christopher Browning, author of numerous books on the history of the Holocaust.

The rage against communism led some countries to diminish the historic fight against fascism under leaders they now loathe. Could this help justify neo-fascist revivals in the post-communist world?

Israel’s judiciary is under assault, according to some, or experiencing a necessary corrective to rampant judicial activism, according to others. Dr. Amir Fuchs walks through the Knesset’s attempt to change the judiciary and the balance of powers in Israel, what’s behind it, and what it means for the country.

Dr. Peter Lintl, a researcher at the German think tank Stiftung Wissenschaft Und Politik, discusses how Germany views issues such as the Nation-State Law and the status of Israeli democracy, in the context of the sensitive Israel-German relations, and Israel-EU relations more broadly.

Why does a Palestinian professor believe it is so important for his students to learn about the Holocaust? Mohammed Dajani talks about what he has learned from taking Palestinian students to Auschwitz, and why he believes his movement Wasatia – moderation – is the right path for Islam.

“Liberal” and “nationalist” sound like mutually exclusive forces that cannot coexist. Yet Yuli Tamir, scholar, peace activist and a former government minister, makes the liberal case for nationalism, and argues for a nationalism that is liberal, in her book “Why Nationalism.”

Moshe Sakal’s novel “The Diamond Setter” brings old Middle Eastern themes into contemporary Israel, and weaves them into a story comprising of a rediscovered Jewish-Arab heritage, reinvented Israeliness, cross-border relations and homosexuality.