On the Issues with Alon Ben-Meir

Alon Ben-Meir
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Podcast by Alon Ben-Meir

  1. 4d ago

    On the Issues Episode 166: Aaron David Miller

    Today’s guest is Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Between 1978 and 2003, he served at the State Department as an historian, analyst, negotiator, and advisor to Republican and Democratic secretaries of state, where he helped formulate U.S. policy on the Middle East and the Arab-Israel peace process, most recently as the senior advisor for Arab-Israeli negotiations. In this episode, Alon and Aaron discuss the current state of Israeli-Palestinian affairs and what the prospects are for peace, including regionally, what we may see from the upcoming elections in Israel, the current status of the Iran war and its implications for the region, the Gulf states’ concerns about their security in the war’s aftermath, Israel’s gains and losses from the war, and the state of US foreign policy under Trump toward the region. Full bio Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on U.S. foreign policy. He has written five books, including his most recent, The End of Greatness: Why America Can’t Have (and Doesn’t Want) Another Great President (Palgrave, 2014) and The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace (Bantam, 2008), and hosts Carnegie Connects, Carnegie’s premier live podcast. He received his PhD in Middle East and U.S. diplomatic history from the University of Michigan in 1977. Between 1978 and 2003, Miller served at the State Department as an historian, analyst, negotiator, and advisor to Republican and Democratic secretaries of state, where he helped formulate U.S. policy on the Middle East and the Arab-Israel peace process, most recently as the senior advisor for Arab-Israeli negotiations. He also served as the deputy special Middle East coordinator for Arab-Israeli negotiations, senior member of the State Department’s policy planning staff, in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and in the office of the historian. He has received the department’s Distinguished, Superior, and Meritorious Honor Awards. Miller is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and formerly served as resident scholar at the Georgetown Center for Strategic and International Studies. He has been a featured presenter at the World Economic Forum and leading U.S. universities. Between 2003 and 2006 he served as president of Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence. From 2006 to 2019, Miller was a public policy scholar; vice president for new initiatives, and director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Miller’s articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Foreign Policy, and Foreign Affairs. He is a frequent commentator on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, and Sirius XM radio.

    On the Issues Episode 166: Aaron David Miller

  2. Sep 9

    On the Issues Episode 165: Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    Today’s podcast guest is Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Previously, he worked as senior Gulf analyst at the Gulf Center for Strategic Studies and as codirector of the Kuwait Program on Development, Governance and Globalization in the Gulf States at the London School of Economics. In this episode, Alon and Kristian discuss the still-ongoing war on Iran, the impact the war has had on the Gulf States, Trump’s ability or failure to negotiate an end to the conflict, and whether or not we may see further escalation of the conflict. Full bio Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is the Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Working across the disciplines of political science, international relations and international political economy, his research examines the changing position of Persian Gulf states in the global order, as well as the emergence of longer-term, nonmilitary challenges to regional security. Previously, he worked as senior Gulf analyst at the Gulf Center for Strategic Studies and as codirector of the Kuwait Program on Development, Governance and Globalization in the Gulf States at the London School of Economics. Coates Ulrichsen has published extensively on the Gulf. His most recent books include The Gulf States in International Political Economy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and The United Arab Emirates: Power, Politics, and Policymaking (Routledge, 2016). His articles have appeared in numerous academic journals, including Global Policy and the Journal of Arabian Studies, and he consults regularly on Gulf issues for Oxford Analytica and the Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center. He also writes regularly for the Economist Intelligence Unit, Open Democracy, and Foreign Policy, and authors a monthly column for Gulf Business News and Analysis. He holds a doctorate in history from the University of Cambridge.

    On the Issues Episode 165: Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

  3. Sep 2

    On the Issues Episode 164: Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili

    Today’s guest is Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, Founding Director of the Center for Governance and Markets and a Professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public and International Affairs. She is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a Distinguished Fellow of Peace and International Cooperation at the Institute for Humane Studies. In this episode, Alon and Jennifer discuss the situation in Afghanistan under the Taliban, particularly the difference between the Taliban 1.0 that ruled in the 1990s prior to the US invasion, and the current Taliban 2.0, the Taliban’s relations with Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, women’s rights in Afghanistan currently, and the prospective for insurgency against the Taliban. Full bio Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili is Founding Director of the Center for Governance and Markets and a Professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public & International Affairs. Her research focuses on issues of self-governance, security, political economy, and public sector reform in Eurasia, Central Eurasia, and South Asia. She is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a Distinguished Fellow of Peace and International Cooperation at the Institute for Humane Studies. Murtazashvili is the author of several books including Land, the State, and War: Property Institutions and Political Order in Afghanistan (Cambridge University Press, 2021) with Ilia Murtazashvili, and Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan (Cambridge University Press, 2016), which received the Best Book Award in Social Sciences by the Central Eurasian Studies Society and received honorable mention from the International Development Section of the International Studies Association. Murtazashvili has advised the United States Agency for International Development, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, World Bank, the US Department of Defense, the United Nations Development Program, and UNICEF. She is the President of the Central Eurasian Studies Society and a board member of CEDOS a Kyiv-based organization focused on urban policy and education in Ukraine. She is a member of PONARS Eurasia, a research organization focused on security issues in Eurasia. She previously served as a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center.

    On the Issues Episode 164: Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili

  4. Sep 1

    On the Issues Episode 163: Mordechai Kedar

    Today’s guest is Mordechai Kedar, an Orientalist and lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University, and a Research Fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. In this episode, Alon and Mordechai discuss the Palestinian Emirates Plan, which Dr. Kedar has presented as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, delving into the intricacies of the plan and discussing what merits this plan may have. Full bio Dr. Mordechai Kedar is an Israeli scholar of Arab culture and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, and the vice president of NEWSRAEL. He is an Orientalist and lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University, a Research Fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, and Vice President of “NEWSRAEL – Pro-Israeli Dynamic Feed”. He specialized, among other things, in researching the Hafez al-Assad administration in Syria. He completed all his academic studies at Bar-Ilan University. In 1981–1983 he studied for a bachelor’s degree in the Department of Arabic and the Department of Political Science, and in 1991–1997 he completed a doctorate in the Department of Arabic. The topic of his doctoral dissertation was “The Public Political Language of the Assad Regime in Syria: Messages and Ways of Expressing Them.” In 2000, he was appointed a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University. In 1970 he enlisted in the IDF, served in the Armed Forces and completed his service, after 25 years, with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

    On the Issues Episode 163: Mordechai Kedar

  5. Aug 26

    On the Issues Episode 162: Alon Liel and Ziad AbuZayyad

    Welcome to another episode of “On the Issues with Alon Ben-Meir.” Today we are joined by two guests, Alon Liel and Ziad AbuZayyad. Alon Liel is a veteran of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, serving in various positions, including as Director General of the Foreign Ministry, and as a member of the Israeli negotiating team at the Taba talks with Egypt. He is the author of several books, and is the founder and chairman of the Israel-Syria Peace Society. He is one of the instigators of an Israeli campaign to advance recognition of a Palestinian state by European parliaments and governments. Ziad AbuZayyad is a Palestinian lawyer, journalist, and politician. He is the co-founder and editor of the Palestine Israel Journal, a former Palestinian Authority minister, and former Minister of State in the Palestinian Authority. Ziad AbuZayyad served as an advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team in Washington, DC in 1992, and was a member of the post-Oslo negotiating team in 1994 that concluded the Cairo Agreement, which led to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. In this episode, Alon, Ziad, and Alon discuss the prospects for the release of Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian political leader who has been imprisoned since 2002. The three discuss Barghouti’s political and peace efforts both prior to his imprisonment and while in prison, the perception of him as a widely uniting figure among the Palestinians, and what conditions in Israel will be necessary to allow for his release. Alon Liel Alon Liel has served the Israeli Foreign Ministry in various positions: the head of the Israeli mission in Turkey (1981-1983), the Foreign Ministry spokesman and the member of the Israeli negotiating team at the Taba talks with Egypt (1985–1987), Ambassador to South Africa in (1992-1994), Director General of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (1994-1996), Foreign Policy Advisor to Ehud Barak (1997-1999), Director General of the Foreign Ministry (2000-2001). Liel is the author of several books, namely Turkey in the Middle East – Oil, Islam and Politics (1993), Black Justice – The South African Upheaval (1999), Turkey – The Military, Islam and Politics (1999), Turkey in the Middle East (2001), Demo Islam, Turkey’s New Regime (2003). He has taught courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University on Turkey and the Middle East politics. Liel was the board member of Gazit Inc. (biggest real estate company in Israel). He was the chairman of the Israel-Turkey Business Council between 2002-2006, and is the chairman of the Global Code Ltd. Liel was the president of the Jewish-Arab soccer club, Abu Gosh-Mevaseret. He is also the founder and the chairman of the Israel-Syria Peace Society. Ziad Abu Zayyad ZIAD ABUZAYYAD is the Co-Founder and Editor of Palestine Israel Journal. He is a former PA minister (1998 – 2002), former legislator and Chair of Law and Constitution in the Palestinian Parliament (1996 – 2006). AbuZayyad was the Head of the Palestinian Delegation to the multilateral talks on Arms Control and Regional Security (ACRS), and a negotiator in post Oslo Accords Cairo negotiations which led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority. AbuZayyad was the first representative of the Palestinian Parliament to the Council of Europe, participated in numerous conferences on the Middle East, and is frequently interviewed by local and international media on the political situation. He is a weekly columnist of al-Quds Arabic Daily. He is a lawyer graduate of Damascus University, and Member of the Palestinian Bar Association.

    On the Issues Episode 162: Alon Liel and Ziad AbuZayyad

  6. Aug 19

    On the Issues Episode 161: Hon. Lise Pearlman

    Today’s guest is Hon. Lise Pearlman (ret.), a former California trial lawyer and first Presiding Judge of the California State Bar Court. Following her retirement from the bench, Judge Pearlman has become a best-selling author and nationally recognized speaker on famous 20th century trials whose books have won multiple awards in the categories of law, U.S. History, and multicultural nonfiction. In this episode, Alon and Judge Pearlman discuss her book With Justice for Some: Politically Charged Criminal Trials of the Early 20th Century That Helped Shape Today’s America, and a few of the significant cases detailed within – the murder trial of Black Panthers founder Huey Newton, the Scottsboro Boys, and Sacco and Vanzetti – and delve into the injustices surrounding each trial and how they have impacted the American legal system. Full bio Hon. Lise Pearlman (ret.) was the first Presiding Judge of the California State Bar Court and a former California trial lawyer. Following her retirement from the bench, Judge Pearlman has become a best-selling author and nationally recognized speaker on famous 20th century trials whose books have won multiple awards in the categories of law, U.S. History, and multicultural nonfiction. Pearlman’s latest book, The Lindbergh Kidnapping Suspect No.1 — The Man Who Got Away was Amazon’s #1 Best Seller in Criminal Evidence in December 2021. Judge Pearlman is also the author of four other critically-acclaimed history books published by Regent Press: Call Me Phaedra: The Life and Times of Movement Lawyer Fay Stender, winner of the 2018 International Book Award for biographies; With Justice for Some: Politically Charged Criminal Trials of the Early 20th Century That Helped Shape Today’s America (2017) [highly recommended for “anyone interested in history, courtroom drama or criminal justice”]; The Sky’s the Limit: People v. Newton: The REAL Trial of the 20th Century? (2012); and American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton (2016) which is also a companion to the nonprofit documentary of the same name which won a Civil Rights award from the Berkeley Film Foundation and had its world premiere in April 2022 at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Pearlman serves as its Producer. (See: www.justicemovie.com) In 2015 Pearlman had a cameo appearance in Director Stanley Nelson’s PBS acclaimed documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution as the country’s leading expert on the 1968 Huey Newton Trial that transformed the American “jury of one’s peers” from the traditional 12 white men to the diverse panels Americans often take for granted today. Pearlman was in the first class of undergraduates at Yale University to include women (1971). After moving to the California Bay Area, Pearlman graduated Order of the Coif from Berkeley Law (1974), clerked for California Chief Justice Donald Wright and was a Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School before joining a San Francisco Bay Area firm as a litigator where she was named managing partner in 1984–the first established firm in California headed by a woman. In 1989, Pearlman was selected by the California Supreme Court as the first Presiding Judge of the State Bar Court. After retiring, Judge Pearlman served as mediator and arbitrator with Alternative Resolution Centers, Chair of the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, President of Women Lawyers of Alameda County and on the Board of California Women Lawyers. Judge Pearlman is married to San Francisco bankruptcy lawyer Peter Benvenutti. They have three grown daughters and four grandchildren. One of her daughters, Jamie Benvenutti, served as the chief research assistant for Pearlman’s book on the Lindbergh kidnapping.

    On the Issues Episode 161: Hon. Lise Pearlman

  7. Aug 12

    On the Issues Episode 160: Sam Ben-Meir

    Today’s guest is Sam Ben-Meir, Assistant Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at City University of New York, College of Technology. He is the author of Ethical Interanimality: Toward a Relational Philosophy of Nature, which reflects on his longstanding effort to rethink our place in nature and the vulnerabilities that bind all life together. In this episode, Alon and Sam discuss the interrelationship between humanity and nature, and the ethics of that relationship. In particular, they examine how viewing ourselves as living beings among other living beings changes how we think about politics, economics, technology, and in particular, the environmental crisis. Full bio Sam Ben-Meir is a writer, scholar, and teacher whose work explores the intersections of ethics, nature, and the human condition. He is Assistant Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at City University of New York, where he teaches ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of technology. He is the author of Ethical Interanimality: Toward a Relational Philosophy of Nature and has published widely on philosophy, literature, politics, religion, and environmental thought. His current research explores recognition, freedom, democracy, and the moral foundations of political community.

    On the Issues Episode 160: Sam Ben-Meir

  8. Aug 5

    On the Issues Episode 159: Benafsha Yaqoobi

    Today’s guest is Dr. Benafsha Yaqoobi, an attorney and civic society and human rights activist. Before the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, she worked as an attorney for the elimination of violence against women and as a Commissioner at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. She currently serves as a prosecutor on the team bringing Afghanistan’s case before the People’s Tribunal for the Women of Afghanistan. In this episode, Alon and Benafsha discuss the plight of people with disabilities in Afghanistan, particularly women and girls, the work that the Rahyab Initiative does in support of people with disabilities in Afghanistan, and the impact of the Taliban’s takeover on Afghanistan as well as its impact on receiving external support. Full bio Dr. Benafsha Yaqoobi is a civic society and human rights activist, and currently serves as a prosecutor on the team bringing Afghanistan’s case before the People’s Tribunal for the Women of Afghanistan in 2025. She is the founder and director of The Rahyab Initiative in the UK and previously established the Organization of Rahyab for Rehabilitation Services for the Blind (ORRSB) in Afghanistan. Before the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Dr. Yaqoobi worked as an attorney for the elimination of violence against women and later as a Commissioner at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. She has consistently used national and international platforms to advocate for the inclusion of Afghan women in peacebuilding processes, with particular focus on women with disabilities. Dr. Yaqoobi holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Lovely Professional University in India, with her dissertation examining democratic governance and women’s political rights in Afghanistan (2001–2021). She also earned two master’s degrees in Political Science and International Relations from Kabul-based universities. She is currently pursuing doctoral research in sociology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her contributions have been recognized internationally. In 2024, she was awarded the U.S. State Department’s International Women of Courage Award, and in 2022 she received the Marca Bristo Fellowship from Human Rights Watch. In 2021, she was named among the BBC’s 100 most influential women. Dr. Yaqoobi’s work is guided by a commitment to equality, justice, and the full participation of Afghan women in shaping their country’s future.

    On the Issues Episode 159: Benafsha Yaqoobi
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Podcast by Alon Ben-Meir

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