This series is designed to equip you with the insights and knowledge needed to navigate the complexities of the current conflict. As we remember those affected by the October 7 attack, let's also commit to understanding the broader context and supporting Israel with informed voices.

What You’ll Learn in this investigative series:

• History and claims to the most contested piece of land on earth
• Origins and evolution of the term Palestine and Palestinians
• The critical context to the conflict in the Middle East
• Western mindset vs. radicalism—and the confusion it causes
• Retaliation or self-defense: Israel’s strategy against Hamas
• Human shields, tunnels and martyrdom: Is Hamas really that cruel?
• October 7: The aftermath through a first responder’s eyes

A Series of Israel in Focus by Bridges for Peace.

October 7 saw the most brutal attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, initially sparking global sympathy for Israel. But almost overnight, anti-Israel sentiment surged, flooding streets and campuses worldwide.

Are these protests truly about concern for an oppressed people, or is this the resurgence of age-old hatred? Have we learned nothing from history?

Join us as we delve into the aftermath of October 7 and question if history is repeating itself.

A Series of Israel in Focus by Bridges for Peace.

Shahak was there. On October 7. The father of three was one of the first on the front lines in southern Israel to stop the surge of Hamas terrorists as they slaughtered their way through agricultural communities.

And then, when the day of defense was done, Shahak was part of the team to wade through the aftermath of Hamas’s bloody handiwork, searching for survivors and collecting the dead.

A Series of Israel in Focus by Bridges for Peace.

Walking through the failed history of the peace process, we pause at the violent split between Palestinian leadership, witness Israel’s desperate push for peace with the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, explore Hamas’s aim as communicated in their charter and by their leaders and mourn its choice between prospering its people and pursuing death.

A Series of Israel in Focus by Bridges for Peace.

Hours after the attack on October 7, Israel formally declared war for the first time in decades. And right on cue, the world went to war right alongside the fighting forces, pitting Israel supporters against Palestinian sympathizers in the trenches of social media.

Israel is in the unique position that it is always engaged in parallel wars: there’s the physical battle on the ground; and then there’s the battle for public opinion.

But regardless of how Israel fares in the physical battle, the battle for public opinion never appears to be going in Israel’s favor.

Join us as we dive into the complexities behind Israel's ongoing battle for public sentiment.

A Series of Israel in Focus by Bridges for Peace.

You’ve heard the accusations. Hamas cruelly uses its own people as human shields, leaving their civilians to face the consequences of a massacre while hiding away in their tunnels underground.

Hamas commandeers civilian structures like hospitals, mosques and playgrounds as their own, turning these supposed safe areas into deathtraps for their people. Hamas fire rockets from family homes and use children’s bedrooms as weapons caches, thus turning their little ones into bait.

Yes, you’ve heard these claims. But surely nobody can be that cruel, that callous, that evil?

A Series of Israel in Focus by Bridges for Peace.

Join Dr. Jonathan Spyer as he traces the Jewish presence in the Promised Land, from King David to the peace process.

Discover the rise and fall of the Philistines, the arrival and departure of Arab colonizers and Ottoman rulers, and witness pivotal events like the Balfour Declaration, UN Partition Plan and British Mandate.

This journey also addresses a crucial question: what about the Palestinians living in "Palestine" before the rebirth of Israel?

A Series of Israel in Focus by Bridges for Peace.

On October 7th, Magen David Adom (Israel’s national emergency medical service) dispatch officers received tens of thousands of calls from terrified Israelis.

Veteran EMT and dispatch officer Ronit Glaser spent 13 hours taking calls from petrified civilians begging for help, equally terrified family members looking for loved ones and MDA colleagues facing the Hamas terrorists in the field while saving lives.

A Series of Israel in Focus by Bridges for Peace.