Although Hamas' attack on October 7th took Israel by surprise, it was the culmination of over 100 years of Zionist-Arab conflict. In his talk, Dr. Shilon aims to put October 7th in historical perspective; to analyze the Israeli response; to discuss the current situation of Zionism; and to integrate the story of the war with the political climate in Israel in recent years. 

This event is co-sponsored by KU's Jewish Studies Program and was made possible (in part) by the Melvin Landsberg Endowment for Jewish adult education.

For those who would like to attend via zoom: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81102684733

Meeting ID: 811 0268 4733

Dr. Avi Shilon

Dr. Avi Shilon is a historian who specializes in the field of “Israel Studies”. His PhD dissertation focuses on The
Revisionist Movement Leaders; Attitudes Toward Jewish religion 1925-2005. He is the author of Menachem Begin: A Life, which was published by Yale University press in 2013. His second book, Ben Gurion: His Later Years in the Political Wilderness, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2016. His most recent work, The Decline of the Left-wing in Israel: Yossi Beilin and the Politics of the Peace Process was published by I.B. Tauris in 2020.

Shilon was a visiting scholar at NYU between 2019-2022 and taught courses at the Hebrew
University and Ben Gurion University in Israel; NYU, Columbia and Rutgers Universities in thew US; and also at
Tsinghua University, Beijing. He also the editor of the non-fiction department at Am-Oved Publishing House. Shilon
wrote op-ed columns for the leading newspaper in Israel and currently writes for “Yedioth Ahronoth.”