In his recent column, historian Gil Troy wrote, “Caricaturing the Israeli government as worse than it is, and Israeli democracy as more fragile than it is, is a gift to the bash-Israel-firsters in the media, the professoriate, Congress and the State Department, and the rabbinate, many of whom feel vindicated by the impression that Israel is in crisis—even as each new wave of protests demonstrates the strength of Israel’s democratic culture.”  Given the inflammatory headlines we read daily about the demise of Israel’s democracy, we invite you to join us for an insightful conversation with Professor Troy who will be discussing the current state of Israel’s political and cultural challenges emanating from proposed government policies, all in the context of its national security challenges and the stability of its democratic principles.

About the Speaker: A Distinguished Scholar in North American History at McGill University currently living in Jerusalem, Gil Troy is an award-winning American presidential historian and a leading Zionist activist. He is, most recently, the editor of the new three-volume set, “Theodor Herzl: Zionist Writings,” the inaugural publication of The Library of the Jewish People (www.theljp.org). Two years ago he co-authored with Natan Sharansky Never Alone: Prison, Politics and My People, was published by Public Affairs of Hachette. Recently designated one of Algemeiner’s J-100, one of the top 100 people “positively influencing Jewish life,” Gil Troy is the author of  The Zionist Ideas, an update and expansion of Arthur Hertzberg’s classic anthology The Zionist Idea, published by the Jewish Publication Society and a 2019 National Jewish Book Award Finalist. He currently writes a weekly column for the Jerusalem Post.