In Israel, people vote for a party rather than a candidate. But over the years, there’s been a shift towards the personalization of politics. Why have our elections become a competition among single personalities rather than a confrontation among different parties and ideas?

How did the influence and power of ultra-Orthodox parties shaped Israel’s political life? Gilad Malach, director of the ultra-Orthodox in Israel program at the Israel Democracy Institute offers his take.

In this special panel discussion recorded in Wash., DC, Gilad Halpern and Ori Nir speak to Amir Tibon and Said Arikat about covering consecutive US administrations, journalism in the age of social media, and the role of diaspora groups in setting the dynamic of the Israeli-Palestinian-American love-hate triangle over the years.

Iran apparently hacked the cellphone of Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main challenger in the upcoming elections. Eli Bahar, former legal adviser to Shin Bet, and Ron Shamir, the former head of the tech division at Shin Bet, discuss the danger posed by potential cyber attacks on Israeli democracy.

Prof. Oren Harman, Chair of the Graduate Program in Science, Technology & Society at Bar-Ilan University, discusses his book “Evolutions: Fifteen Myths that Explain Our World” and “Talking about Science in the 21st Century,” a lecture series he directs at the VLJI.

Will Israel’s democratic institutions prove resilient? How is the party system changing and is Israel headed for a tyranny of the majority? Yohanan Plesner, President of the Israel Democracy Institute, examines the ramifications of the unprecedented indictment of an incumbent Prime Minister in Israel.

How has education in Israel been influenced by the encroachment of capitalism, on the one hand, and the growing awareness of multiculturalism in society, on the other? What is educational justice, and how should policymakers address it?

When do people to commit mass violence against an ethnic, religious or racial group in their midst? Does the demand for minority rights inevitably spark existential fears and violent reactions from the majority group?

Nurit Novis-Deutsch, a psychologist of religion, values, morality and identity, believes that people who perceive themselves as having a complex identity might be more tolerant of the “other.” Her research advances much-needed anecdotes to angry tribalism in today’s world.

Before human rights was a universally accepted concept, and before there was Israel, there were prominent Jews who supported both. James Loeffler tells the story of human rights pioneers and how their commitment grew out of the Jewish diaspora experience.