Bring Them Home : A Special Women’s Day Message from Gila Cotler, CEO

Today, we mark International Women’s Day by inviting you to join us in reflecting on the courageous and world-changing work of women human rights defenders around the globe. The obstacles these leaders face are tremendous, but they don’t give up. And neither will we. We celebrate their accomplishments and their courage inspires us every day.

We also dedicate our thoughts and efforts to the women victims of Hamas’ October 7 attack.

Nineteen Israeli women and girls are still being held hostage by Hamas. We cannot and will not relent in our efforts to secure freedom, safety, and justice for them and their fellow hostages. Neither can we allow the sexualized violence that took place on October 7 to be ignored.

Women supporting women

On this International Women’s Day, RefugePoint celebrates the incredible achievements of refugee women everywhere, including Akach, a businesswoman and mother of four.

“Let me sing a song in my mother tongue,” Akach tells us when we visit. “My heart cannot keep silent without giving thanks or praising the Lord because He has done great things for my life,” she sings in her language, Anuak.

Progress and Pushbacks on Promoting the SDGs in the U.S. through Policy and Partnerships

Next Monday, March 11th at 10am EST, Convisero mentor and Trebuchet team member Rachel Svetanoff is speaking as part of the UNECE Regional Forum for Sustainable Development program. The side event is called "Progress and Pushbacks on Promoting the SDGs in the U.S. through Policy and Partnerships." 

Speakers include Caroline Kleinfox, Director of U.S. SDG Planning at the UN Foundation, John Havens, Founding Executive Director of IEEE's Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems and professional actor, Scarlett Lanzas, Founder and CEO of Accountable Impact, and myself!

The link to register is here.

Joseph Rotblat, the Scientist Who Walked Away from Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb

Written by Amb. Tom Loftus, member of the Board of Directors of Outrider, this article speaks to Prof. Rotblat’s life and work dedicated to raising ethical concerns in the physical sciences. His efforts on the commitment to prove the dangers of using nuclear weapons have grown in the scientific community, later becoming known as the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, a ‘95 Nobel Peace Prize winning effort, which has professional and student chapters alike across the world. I serve on the International Student/Young Pugwash Advisory Board where an increasingly number of Convisero members have come from. Read the article here.

Mara James

Mara was a student in the IGL’s EPIIC program from 2010 – 2011 which focused on South Asia: Conflict, Culture, Complexity and Change. The experience was one of the most formative of her time at Tufts. During the program, she led a team research trip to the National Security Archives in Washington DC to analyse US declassified documents from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to draw historical comparisons and lessons as President Obama announced his troop surge.

After graduation, Mara spent time interning for a member of parliament in the United Kingdom, working for the Amy Biehl Foundation Foundation in the Nyanga township of Cape Town, and teaching English to Buddhist monks in Laos.

Upon her return to the US, she worked in research and communications for a multi-strategy hedge fund in New York, where she focused on geopolitical risk for the commodities and portfolio protection teams.

She left to study for her MBA in global business from NYU, spending the summer between her first and second year at MassChallenge, the global non-profit accelerator, in Mexico City.

Following NYU, Mara spent three years managing the communications, impact and investor reporting for Small Enterprise Assistance Funds, an impact investing fund manager supporting SMEs in frontier and emerging markets.

She currently lives in London, where she works for Brunswick Group as a strategic advisor to clients ranging from social housing companies to large renewable energy companies. During the interview process for her current role, she stumbled upon a fellow EPIIC alum at the organization and reached out to her. The fellow alum replied within minutes, offering to jump on a call and commenting that their connection was “kismet” – a true testament to the power of Sherman and the IGL to bring people together.

Bruce Haymes

Bruce Haymes is founder and Managing Director of Stage18, Inc., a strategic consultancy and advisor to private equity and their portfolio companies, as well as to higher education administrators. He is also chairman of the board of directors of Toluna Corporation (Europe), a global digital insights company serving the tech, retail and food industry. He is also an executive-in-residence at Progress Partners, a venture capital fund and investment advisory firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Bruce has had an eclectic career representative of his liberal arts education at Tufts University. 

After graduating Tufts in 1986 with a B.A. in economics, he directly enrolled in law school, graduating from George Washington University Law School in 1989 with honors. 

He started his career at the boutique Wall Street law firm of Emmet, Marvin and Martin, representing money-center banks on financial transactions. From there, he worked as an associate in several other New York City law firms including Shea & Gould and Morrison & Forester. He realized that private practice law was not energizing him so at his last rotation at Chadbourne & Parke, he requested to be placed on high technology client deals with a view towards moving in-house. He received his request and began representing PanAmSat Corporation. PanAmSat was the first privately owned satellite company in the world. Prior to PanAmSat, all satellites and related services were controlled by the ITU, Intelsat or a combination of NGOs. PanAmSat’s backstory was rich with entrepreneurial and groundbreaking actions. It was started by an Italian immigrant that was a tailgunner during World War II. His broadcasting company had been a customer of the NGOs that ran the satellite industry in the 1980s and he felt that they provided a non competitive and expensive service. After exiting his broadcasting business he teamed up with the wealthy Azcarraga family from Mexico, the owners of Televisa. With this backing, he had his own satellite constructed and launched. The ITU and the United States objected to its licensing, and a series of lawsuits and congressional hearings followed. PanAmSat’s founder even hired the author of the old Beetle Bailey cartoons to draw him his own mascot, Spot the Dog, a scrappy dog that is used to being kicked around but gets the job done. After taking out full page ads in the New York Times and a multitude of congressional hearings, PanAmSat was granted its license to occupy a geostationary orbit in space. It was the first private company to ever achieve this objective. Without PanAmSat there would be no SpaceX or Starlink or DirecTV. 

Bruce joined PanAmSat in 1997 as its corporate lawyer and quickly became its head of strategy and corporate development. He crafted numerous global partnerships and acquisitions including a sale of a damaged in-orbit satellite to Arabsat, the consortium of Arab nations jointly operating over the Middle East. He originated and managed an extensive partnership with Pegaso Communications, a Mexican wireless carrier started by other members of the Azcarraga family. He also negotiated a partnership with JSAT, the largest satellite company in Japan. He ended his career at PanAmSat by helping to lead a management buyout with private equity funds KKR, Carlye and Providence that was quickly followed by an IPO and a buyout by Intelsat, its recently privatized arch-enemy. PanAmSat had grown from that single satellite to more than 30 satellites covering 97% of the world’s population. It was the largest satellite company in the world. 

After PanAmSat, Bruce had a brief stint at Time Warner and then jumped to Nielsen in 2008, the TV ratings and retail measurement company now owned by KKR. His objective was to try to deliver similar growth to the giant of consumer behavior measurement. He was recruited to Nielsen to build and launch a new audience measurement system for an emerging segment of the internet economy - streaming video. This was during the early days of YouTube, before it was even purchased by Google. Unfortunately both streaming and the measurement system were not ready for scale, so he left this role within a year and moved into a newly created leadership role as senior vice president in corporate development and M&A. In this role, Bruce sourced, structured, negotiated and closed dozens of partnerships and acquisitions. These included the acquisitions of AGB (a 13-country audience measurement platform based in Europe), MEMRB (Middle East consumer behavior data) and Arbitron (the largest radio measurement platform in the United States). He completed dozens of deals and partnerships throughout the world including Mexico, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Singapore, China and across Europe. 

Midway through his tenure at Nielsen, observing the growing importance of data and data analytics, Bruce became interested in technology focused startups. He had recently been on a solidarity tour of Israel and remembered Israel’s reputation as “The Startup Nation.”  With his colleagues he secured funding for a new Israeli technology incubator and venture capital fund from Nielsen, Ronald Lauder (Estee Lauder), Richard Parsons (Time Warner and Citi) and several Israeli investors. With his Israeli partner, Esther Barak Landes (daughter of the well-known Chief Justice Aharon Barak of Israel’s supreme court), they secured the first foreign license to operate a technological incubator from Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist. This license contained millions of dollars of financial benefits. The fund and innovation platform, Nielsen Innovate, invested in over 30 Israeli startups, created more than 200 new jobs and to date has achieved six exits (sales) of portfolio companies. Many other multinationals followed Nielsen Innovate’s playbook when launching innovation platforms in Israel, including Verizon, Pepsico and WPP.

Running Nielsen Innovate remotely required Bruce to travel significantly to Israel. He set up an office in Caesarea and traveled to Israel at least eight times per year. He held an apartment in the Kerem Hateimanim (the Yemenite Quarter) of Tel Aviv and tried to be as much a native as possible. 

In 2018 he was recruited to join the president’s office and senior leadership team (SLT) of Northeastern University as its first chief partnership officer. He had always been interested in teaching and education, and believed that Northeastern’s innovative co-op program would be a great place to be creative in higher education. Upon joining, he was greatly dismayed with the degree of rigidity and bureaucracy present at Northeastern. He spent three years at the university making several tech investments and partnerships but was otherwise dissatisfied. He left the university in 2021 with a plan to provide strategic advisory services to university presidents. 

He started Coleytown Advisors in 2021 as a higher education consulting firm. He gained several marquee clients. He also was recruited to be the chairman of the board of directors of Europe-based Toluna Holdings, one of the largest digital market research firms in the world. Bruce had negotiated a deal with Nielsen and the company’s CEO eight years earlier and they maintained a collegial relationship years after his exit from Nielsen. 

In 2023 his Coleytown business had gotten too large for one person so he joined with two former Nielsen colleagues to form Stage18 which offers the same services as Coleytown but expanding to work with private equity funds active in the data, media and advertising industry. 

Today, Bruce is managing director and founder of Stage18, Inc. and Chairman of Toluna Holdings, Ltd. 

He also served on the advisory board of Sweetwood Capital (Fund I - Europe/Israel) and served as an advisor to The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). He is a mentor at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) in New York and has been a guest lecturer of corporate finance and M&A at Cornell Tech’s MBA program in New York. He was named a Frost and Sullivan “Thought Leader,” and to the  Cablefax Publications “Digital Hot List.”

He has always enjoyed traveling, learning and reading - much of this stems from his four years at Tufts. He has traveled to most parts of the world; some of the more ambitious adventures have been Papua New Guinea (backpacking in 1989), Tanzania (1992), Cambodia (2003), Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Central America, French Guiana (to witness a satellite launch on Arianespace from its Korou launchpad), etc. 

He lives in Westport, Connecticut with his wife Jill. He has three boys, all in their 20s and all University of Michigan students or graduates. One of his sons is with hedge fund giant Cerberus (but awaiting decisions from MBA programs), the other is a consultant with Oliver Wyman and his youngest son is a junior at The Ford School of Public Policy at Michigan. 

His hobbies include hiking, music, scuba diving, e-bikes and fiddling with technology. In the past he was a skier, marathon runner and tennis player.

Entering Bruce is a fun moment for me as I am meeting a Tufts undergraduate from 1885-86 who I had not been conscious of until our conversation. He remembered our first symposium at Tufts on International Terrorism. He bought a ticket and attended. It was the first time that the concept of a weekend symposium was ever entertained at Tufts. I once did a check of the archives at Tufts Daily to make this claim. I was the special advisor to ACOIL (Advisory Committee on Intellectual Life), created by the Experimental College when I created this symposium, and was subsequently named Special Advisor for Undergraduate Intellectual Life. After the symposium made all major networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, and the New York Times, Bruce was recommended by Amir Grinstein, for whom he was an advisor for Amir's 50:50 Initiative. I will be working with Bruce on an initiative with Joshua Weiss and Brian Abrahams of the Harvard Project on negotiation on the concept of a Marshall Plan for Gaza. 

Jim Walsh

Dr. Jim Walsh is a Senior Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Security Studies Program (SSP). His research and writings focus on international security, and in particular, topics involving nuclear weapons. Dr. Walsh has testified before the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives on topics relating to nuclear terrorism, Iran, and North Korea. He is one of the relatively small number of Americans who have travelled to both Iran and North Korea for talks with officials about nuclear issues. 

His recent writing includes “The Implications of the JCPOA for Future Verification Arrangements (including the DPRK),” “The Digital Communications Revolution: Lessons for the Nuclear Policy Community,” and “Laser Enrichment and Proliferation: Assessing Future Risks.” 

Dr. Walsh is the international security contributor to the National Public Radio's Here and Now, and his comments and analysis have appeared in the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and numerous other national and international news outlets. Before coming to MIT, Walsh was Executive Director of the Managing the Atom project at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a visiting scholar at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He has taught at both Harvard University and MIT. Dr. Walsh received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A Special Interview with IFC’s New Executive Director, Dr. Sousan Abadian


Because poetry conveys in a way that prose cannot, I’ll answer the questions with poems (or one quote from a previous professor), followed by some of my own words. 

1/ What initially drew you to interfaith work?

Come, come, whoever you are.

Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving.

It doesn’t matter

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times.

Come, yet again, come, come.

― Jelaluddin Rumi

I don’t have to tell you that we live in especially polarized times: there are loud cries to stand for something and against something else, as if justice calls for taking sides. Interfaith work elevates our conversations by providing a more nuanced, integrative, “both, and” stance: for example, we are both for the flourishing of this community and for the flourishing of that community—for the flourishing of all peoples regardless of religion, nationality, color, race, gender. We endeavor to find ways to call people in and only call people out as a last resort. Interfaith work provides the reminder, that even with our differences, we are still one human family, no one more or less valuable than another. The idea of offering a big tent for the caravan of humanity to gather under and dialogue with dignity is what has always drawn me to interfaith work. 

2/ What are you most excited to start working on as the new director? 

Out
Of a great need
We are all holding hands

And climbing.
Not loving is a letting go.

Listen,
The terrain around here

Is
Far too

Dangerous
For
That.

Hafez (Daniel Ladinsky)

As a city, as a nation, as a planet, we are living in an epoch of heightened uncertainty, of great need. I’m most excited about going out and meeting faith leaders and lay people, building relationships and trust. I’m excited to imagine IFC convening conversations that allow them to share what is in their hearts and on their minds, to partner together to address real problems, and even to have fun together. I am most excited to provide opportunities for people to feel and know that we, as a collective, have one another’s backs, that we will hold hands and not let go. No one need ever feel alone with a problem, unsafe, or unwelcome. It is together that we dance this sacred dance of life, all the while knowing that we are deserving of joy. 

 

I sometimes forget

that I was created for Joy.

My mind is too busy.

My heart is too heavy

for me to remember

that I have been

Called to dance

the sacred dance of life.

I was created to smile.

To Love.

To be lifted up

and to lift up others.

O’ Sacred One

untangle my feet

from all that ensnares.

Free my soul

that we might

Dance

and that our dancing

might be contagious.

Hafez (Daniel Ladinsky)

 

3/ What are some goals you have for IFC in the coming year?

Critics say that America is a lie because its reality falls so far short of its ideals. They are wrong. America is not a lie; it is a disappointment. But it can be a disappointment only because it is also a hope.—Samuel Huntington

Many are increasingly disillusioned with religion, seeing it as a divisive force and a source of suffering. But the disenchantment actually reflects the profound hunger we have for meaning, healing, belonging, and inspiration that religions can also provide. The “interfaith enterprise” draws out some of what’s best in our religions—the recognition of our common humanity gloriously expressed in a myriad of ways, like the rainbow of colors that appear when light is shone through a single prism.

The initial goals I have for the IFC include supporting Symi and the Board in expanding our programs, enhancing our visibility and relevance so that we can become a unifying resource to the people of our nation’s capital and the metropolitan communities at this pivotal juncture—a Lighthouse calling people safely to shore when the fog of fear and darkness of misinformation threatens to overtake. I would also like to see us get on even sounder financial footing so that we can offer more, give more, celebrate more.

I want to bring in youthful voices and reach out to even greater numbers of faith communities, some of which are underrepresented. I’d also like to invite members of our First Nations or Native American communities into the IFC community. Their spiritual traditions are profound, and I never forget that we are but guests on these precious lands.

 

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” ― Patanjali 

 

4/ What’s your favorite interfaith memory?

 


If you have friends who know your heart,

Distance cannot keep you apart.

― Wang Bo (王勃)

I have many favorite interfaith moments, but I’ll share one that happened fairly recently at the Parliament of World Religions that took place in Chicago this past August. I was one of 25 faith leaders who was honored to be invited to ceremonially sign the Global Ethics document during the Global Ethic General Assembly. Another of the signatories was Jianbao Wang, part of a small delegation and the only one coming from Mainland China.

We had an opportunity to speak together and found much common ground as a Zoroastrian and a Confucian, two of the world’s most ancient wisdom traditions. The next day, I was one of the keynote speakers in front of an assembly of over 6,500 people. As I was waiting to get on stage with the handful of other speakers and video techs in a large area behind the curtains, I saw Jianbao come in backstage with several people, one clearly a monk and seat themselves at a big table. Jianbao wanted to speak with me but I asked if he could wait till after my talk. I did not know they were all waiting for me.

After I finally got called on stage and returned, they stood and approached and Jianbao introduced me to the delegation including the Abbot of one of the oldest Shaolin Temples in China. The Venerable Abbot presented me with his book and a beautifully decorated plate in a red and golden case as a gift, and his assistant snapped photos. I felt moved and humbled, not just by the generosity of their gifts but by the humility and patience with which they had waited for me. I was struck by how little we truly understand about China beyond the political rhetoric and how ancient (and in some ways refined) their civilization is as compared to ours.

I am eager to learn more about Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Happy Lunar New Year of the Dragon!

 

Raise your words

not your voice.

It is rain that

grows flowers,

not thunder.

― Jelaluddin Rumi

Gail Schechter

Since launching her career as a tenant organizer in 1984, Gail Schechter has been a local and national leader in fair, affordable, and intergenerational housing; investigation of housing discrimination complaints; housing development; and community organizing. Today Gail serves as the Executive Director of the nonprofit Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly (H.O.M.E.), providing and championing intergenerational housing and support services for low-income seniors throughout the City of Chicago.

She is also a widely recognized thought leader in conceiving of and implementing creative grassroots strategies for just, beloved communities, most recently as the organizer of “The Justice Project: The March Continues” in Chicago’s northern suburbs, the Evanston-based racial equity focused Community Alliance for Better Government, and the Skokie Alliance for Electoral Reform, which won three citizen-led referendums in 2022 that break a nearly 60-year single-party monopoly on local government. In 2012, the Governor appointed her to fill the “affordable housing advocate” seat on the State Housing Appeals Board, the enforcement body of the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act which she helped to pass. Gail is also a co-founder of the Chicago-based Addie Wyatt Center for Nonviolence Training and the author of “We’re Gonna Open Up the Whole North Shore” in the anthology The Chicago Freedom Movement: Martin Luther King Jr. and Civil Rights Activism in the North (2016). She has a B.A. with honors in history from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Tufts University in Urban and Environmental Policy. 

As to how I remember my time together with Sherman and IGL, I attach a letter that I wrote on that very topic 10 years ago! Feel free to take what you want from it. (And yes, I was a "valedictorian" for my Urban & Environmental Policy class at Tufts, in 1990).

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Alina Shkolnikov

Alina Shkolnikov is a seasoned professional with a rich tapestry of experiences spanning diverse sectors and global landscapes. As the Chief Partnerships Officer at PollyLabs and a Faculty Lecturer at The New School, Alina brings a wealth of knowledge and a deep commitment to strategic innovation to her roles.


With a career marked by impactful contributions at organizations such as the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation, HP, and PresenTense, Alina has honed her expertise in catalytic growth and social impact. Her journey from Ukraine to Israel, India, and the US has equipped her with a unique perspective that fuels her interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving.

Alina's academic background in communications and strategy, coupled with her practical experience, enables her to craft meticulously designed strategies that drive meaningful social and environmental change while ensuring financial sustainability.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Alina is dedicated to fostering dialogue and progress as the Chair of the Israeli Board of Seeds of Peace and a Board Member at Forum Devorah. With a steadfast commitment to making a positive difference in the world, Alina Shkolnikov is a driving force for innovation and collaboration in the pursuit of a better future for all.

Bar Pereg

Bar Pereg, CEO of PollyLabs, is a visionary leader driven by a passion for leveraging technology to address pressing global challenges and drive purpose-driven growth. With a diverse background spanning various industries and roles, Bar has witnessed firsthand the untapped potential of technology to drive positive change. This realization prompted the founding of PollyLabs, a groundbreaking think tank and centre studio focused on repurposing technology for good.

Throughout her career, Bar has worked with Fortune 500 executives, startups, governments, and NGOs, advising on growth strategy, technology integration, and social impact. With extensive global experience and a track record of leading diverse teams, Bar is dedicated to pioneering innovative solutions that promote equity and improve the human experience.

Bar holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she specialized in finance and sustainability. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and Sociology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. With a deep understanding of business strategy, technology, and social dynamics, Bar is committed to driving meaningful change and shaping a more inclusive future for all.

Sameer Arshad Khatlani

Sameer Arshad Khatlani is a journalist with Hindustan Times, India’s second-biggest newspaper. He was a senior assistant editor with the Indian Express until June 2018. 

Born and raised in Kashmir, Khatlani began his career with the now-defunct Bengaluru-based Vijay Times in 2005 as its national affairs correspondent. He joined the Times of India in 2007. Over the next nine years, Khatlani was part of the newspaper's national and international news-gathering team. 

He has reported from Iraq and Pakistan, and covered elections and national disasters. Khatlani has a master's degree in history from Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. 

He is a fellow with the Hawaii-based American East-West Center and the author of The Other Side of the Divide, A Journey into the Heart of Pakistan, Penguin eBury Press, March 2020.

,

INVITATION: Preventing Jewish-Arab Violence within the Green Line

,

In May 2021, a period of fear and violence shook Israel: A conflict that started in Jerusalem expanded into Gaza, and soon boomeranged and escalated inside the Green Line. Interethnic violence erupted in Israel’s mixed cities, where the country’s Jewish and Palestinian citizens live side-by-side, leading to death and destruction. Following the devastating October 7 attacks, however, there has been no repetition of intercommunal conflict inside Israel, in spite of the efforts of those seeking to incite racism and violence.

What has Israeli civil society learned from the past to prevent such violence and how might it apply those lessons in the future so that Jews and Arabs can come together across differences?


To discuss these questions and more, join us on Wednesday, February 28, at 9am PT / 12pm ET for a webinar discussion featuring our Co-Deputy CEOs, Shahira Shalaby and Ruth Lewin-Chen, and moderated by Partners for Progressive Israel board member, Professor Sam Fleischacker. There will be time at the end for audience Q&A. Register here to take part in this crucial conversation, which is cosponsored by Partners for Progressive Israel and The Abraham Initiatives. 

 

I hope to see you there!


Sincerely,

Lydia Woolley
North American Program Director

 

RSVP HERE

 

Shahira Shalaby is Co-Deputy CEO at The Abraham Initiatives, where she oversees our work in mixed cities. She is the former Deputy Mayor of Haifa, a former city councilor, and was among the founders of the Palestinian Feminist Movement in Israel. She has established several initiatives and organizations working to improve the status of Arab women in Israel and has consulted for social change organizations on issues of leadership, strategic thinking, teamwork, developing and managing resources, and community work. She is a group facilitator, specializing in dialogue, conflict resolution, and facilitator training. She holds a Masters' degree in religious studies and a Bachelor's degree in social work. 

 

Ruth Lewin-Chen is Co-Deputy CEO at The Abraham Initiatives, and previously led The Abraham Initiatives' Mixed Cities program. Her skillset comes from her experience directing conflict resolution programs and advocating for the representation of women in decision-making positions in the local council of Mevasseret. For the past decade, Ruth has been promoting a shared society in Israel, mainly through the facilitation of dialogue groups of Arab and Jewish youth and by developing knowledge on social movements with Shatil. Ruth holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Comparative Literature and a Master’s in Organizational Sociology from Hebrew University.

 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to lydia@abrahaminitiatives.org with any questions.

Resilience, Resistance, Renewal: Two years of the Full-Scale War in Ukraine

This is from tonight's talk at Cooper Union--and I would invite you to scroll to 15' (fifteen minutes into the film) to listen for 10 minutes or so to the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, a lawyer, war crimes documenter and friend of Victoria Amelina's, Oleksandra Matviichuk: she spells out very clearly what's happened and what's at stake:






,

Jewish Currents

,

Wednesday, February 28th at 1pm ET:

Gaza is the deadliest place in the world to be a journalist today. More than 75% of media workers killed worldwide in 2023 have died in Israel’s assault on the besieged enclave. In the occupied West Bank, too, Israel’s jailing of Palestinian journalists has reached an all-time high, with the Committee to Protect Journalists raising the alarmabout Israel’s harassment of reporters and the silencing of their coverage.

Join us for a discussion on how this lethal environment for journalists is impacting our ability to understand what’s happening on the ground, what it says about the future of covering conflict zones safely, and the latest efforts to hold the Israeli government accountable for these attacks. We will also discuss the challenges that journalists around the world face in covering Israel’s war on Gaza accurately and ethically.

This event is sponsored by Just Vision, Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), +972 Magazine, the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA), and theCommittee to Protect Journalists.

Read More & Register Here

SPEAKERS:

Fadi Abu Shammalah is a Palestinian journalist from Gaza who was recently evacuated with his family to the US via Egypt, and who still has colleagues trying to report what is happening on the ground as Israel closes in on Rafah. He also serves as a Just Vision outreach associate. You can read more about his experience in this New York Times op-ed.

Karen Attiah is a columnist at The Washington Postwho has written and posted extensively about the impact of Israel’s war on journalists and other civilians (“Where is the outrage over Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza?”). Karen was the winner of the 2019 George Polk Award as well as the 2019 Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. She has been a fierce advocate for accountability and justice since agents of Saudi Arabia killed her late colleague, Saudi-American journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Gypsy Guillén Kaiser is the advocacy and communications director for the Committee to Protect Journalists, which is investigating and documenting the plight of Palestinian journalists. Their most recent reports are available here.

Haggai Matar is the executive director of +972 Magazine, an independent, nonprofit online magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists. He is also co-director, together with Just Vision’s Suhad Babaa, of the Hebrew-language news site Local Call, and serves on the board of the Union of Journalists in Israel.

Julia Bacha (moderator) is Just Vision’s creative director and a filmmaker who directed movies includingBudrus (2009) and Boycott (2021).

Join Us On Wednesday, February 28th

 

CB Bhattacharya

CB Bhattacharya is the H.J. Zoffer Chair in Sustainability and Ethics at the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh. He is a world-renowned expert in business strategy innovation aimed at increasing both business and social value. His research and teaching focus specifically on how companies can use underleveraged “intangible assets” such as corporate identity, reputation, corporate social responsibility and sustainability to strengthen stakeholder relationships and drive business and societal value. 

Prof. Bhattacharya has published over 100 articles and has over 45,000 citations per Google Scholar, placing him among the top 50 cited marketing academics per Google Scholar and the top 1% of marketing academics per a Stanford University study. His latest book entitled Small Actions Big Difference: Leveraging Corporate Sustainability to Drive Business and Societal Value was published by Routledge in 2019.  He is co-author of the book Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value and co-editor of the book Global Challenges in Responsible Business, both published by Cambridge University Press. He has served on the Editorial Review Boards and served as Editor of special issues of many leading publications. Prof. Bhattacharya is the founder of the Center for Sustainable Business at Pitt as well as the ESMT Sustainable Business Roundtable, a forum with more than 25 multinational members, aimed at discussing opportunities and challenges in mainstreaming sustainability practices within organizations. In 2007, he started the Stakeholder Marketing Consortium with support from the Aspen Institute.

Prof. Bhattacharya is part of a select group of faculty members that have been named twice to Business Week’s Outstanding Faculty list. He is on the #thinklist of the University of Bath, a list of influential faculty thinkers on issues of responsible business. He has won several best paper awards, teaching awards and research prizes. He was also a finalist for the Aspen Institute’s Faculty Pioneer Award in 2007. In addition, he received the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award in 1995, the highest teaching award at Emory University.

He received his PhD in Marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in 1984 and his Bachelors (with Honors in Economics) from St. Stephens College, Delhi in 1982. Before joining ESMT in 2009, he was the Everett W. Lord Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Marketing at the School of Management at Boston University. Before joining Boston University, he was on the faculty at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University. Prior to his PhD, he worked for three years as a Product Manager in Reckitt Benckiser plc.

Prof. Bhattacharya has conducted research and consulted for many organizations such as Allianz, AT&T, Bosch, Eli Lilly, E.ON, General Mills, Green Mountain Coffee, High Museum of Art, Hitachi Corporation, Procter & Gamble Company, Prudential Bank, Timberland and Unilever. As an expert in corporate responsibility and sustainability, he is often interviewed and quoted in publications such as Business Week, BBC, Forbes, Financial Times, Fortune, Newsweek, The New York Times and The Economist and on TV stations such as Times Now, CBS and PBS. He frequently delivers keynote speeches or brings in his insights as a panelist at company, industry, and academic conferences and conventions.

Advocating for Another Way - American Friends of Combatants for Peace

I write to you from on the road. Over the last week, a delegation of four Palestinian and Israeli CfP activists, Rana Salman, Avner Wishnitzer, Souli Khatib, and Chen Alon, traveled to Washington, DC to meet with policymakers on Capitol Hill as well as with State Department and White House officials. 

This AFCFP delegation was planned in partnership with Win Without War, a diverse network of activists and organizations working for a more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Since last Tuesday, CfP and AFCFP leadership sat down with Rep. Tlaib, Rep. Raskin, Rep. Schakowsky, Rep. Jayapal, and Rep. Schatz’s, Rep. King’s, Rep. Coon’s, Rep. Warnock’s, Rep. Smith's and Rep. Ossof’s teams. 

CfP activists shared their powerful stories of transformation and joint efforts to co-resist the occupation and co-create a new reality where all are safe and free. They sat down face-to-face with House and Senate members and urged them to support an immediate ceasefire and efforts to impose sanctions and visa restrictions on violent settlers and their enablers. CfP also advocated for urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza and an immediate release of hostages and prisoners held in arbitrary detention. 

Additionally, they stressed the needs of their respective societies - most notably security, liberty, and dignity. They discussed how any political arrangement must be measured against these needs and they explained to lawmakers that the conflict can no longer be "managed."  They emphasized that a military solution will not bring security or safety for Israelis nor Palestinians. 

We know that the occupation can no longer be tolerated and there is no military solution. Diplomacy and a viable political settlement remain the only hope to avoid further catastrophic violence and ensure equality and safety for both peoples.

While in DC, our team also participated in a briefing with reporters, participated in an NGO and Civil Society Roundtable, hosted a screening of Disturbing the Peace at Busboys and Poets with producer and director Stephen Apkon, and spoke at places of worship. 

This weekend, we connected with our wonderful Philadelphia AFCFP chapter, met with the Quaker community in Philadelphia, and hosted powerful events at Congregation Rodeph Shalom and Westtown School with Israeli activist, Iris Gur, and Palestinian activist, Souli Khatib. 

It was a joy spending time with so many of our beloved supporters and I hope to see many more of you soon. Please click the button below to view and register for upcoming in-person events in New York. 

Register for In-Person Events in New York

We are deeply strengthened by our community's steadfast support. Thank you for standing with us and fueling the movement.