February 4 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm - in person at CUNY Newmark Journalism School, 219 W 40th St, Room 308, New York, NY

“Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza”: A Book Talk with Peter Beinart

Join us for a conversation with Peter Beinart about his new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza. A frequent contributor to The New York Times and an MSNBC analyst, Beinart is a professor of journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and a professor of political science at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is also the editor at large of Jewish Currents and writes The Beinart Notebook, a weekly newsletter. On February 4, he will be joined by journalist and distinguished lecturer, Alia Malek, who leads Newmark J-School’s program for international reporting. Together, they will explore the themes of the book and discuss its broader implications.

In Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, Beinart considers how a story of persecution and victimhood has come to dominate contemporary Jewish life, even as Israel is decimating the conditions of life for millions. That narrative, Beinart argues, both warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine and erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition. After more than a year of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza—and the deployment of Jewish text and history to justify mass slaughter and starvation—Beinart insists that Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?

A book signing will follow the discussion.

RSVP: “Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza”: A Book Talk with Peter Beinart - Newmark J-School

*To secure a ticket, registrants must include their first and last names. To update or change your RSVP, please contact comms@journalism.cuny.edu.