The Ruth and Alvin Rockoff Annual Lecture
What if one of the most important events in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict is also one of the least known and understood? Award-winning journalist and author Yardena Schwartz explores how the 1929 Hebron Massacre—a brutal attack that decimated one of the world's most ancient Jewish communities—became a turning point in the history of Israel-Palestine.
Yardena Schwartz will discuss her best-selling book, Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict (2024), which draws on years of archival research, wide-ranging interviews of Israelis and Palestinians currently living in Hebron, and a trove of recently discovered letters from a young American man living in Hebron at the time, who was killed in the 1929 massacre. Schwartz weaves together past and present, tracing the role of religious incitement and disinformation in igniting the violence of 1929 and shaping the narratives that have fueled the conflict ever since.
Light Refreshments Following the Talk; Yardena Schwartz will also be available to sign books. A limited number of books will be available for purchase at the event. Cash, Check, or Zelle only.
Yardena Schwartz is a journalist, producer, and author, whose reporting from four continents has appeared in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the New York Review of Books, and the Economist. Her work at MSNBC earned her an Emmy nomination in 2013 and the Religion News Association recognized her for excellence in magazine reporting in 2016.