In Conversation with Wajahat Ali

Join us online on Thursday, May 12 at 7pm ET for a special conversation between Rabbi Suzie Jacobson and writer, speaker, and award-winning playwright Wajahat Ali.

We will discuss Ali's 2018 article and short film "A Muslim Among Israel Settlers", documenting his experiences traveling to Israel with The Shalom Hartman Institute's Muslim Leadership Initiative, and meeting and talking with Jewish Settlers in the West Bank, as well as his new book Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American, one of Amazon’s Best Books of the Year.

Together, we will dig into the rise of white nationalism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism, the polarizing debates about Israel and Palestine, and what hopes we can hold for the future, all with boldness, honesty, and humor.

This event is free and open to all. RSVP to get the Zoom link.  Contact Brigid Goggin at bgoggin@tisrael.org with questions.

Wajahat Ali  is the author of the new memoir Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American, which was was called “biting and funny and full of heart” by NPR. Representative Ilhan Omar called Wajahat’s work “hilarious” and “deeply moving”, and legendary writer Dave Eggers said it was the book he’d “been hoping Wajahat Ali would write for ten years—hilarious, stylistically fearless, deeply humane.” Wajahat is also the author of The Domestic Crusaders—the first major play about Muslim-Americans in a post-9/11 world. He was the lead researcher and author for the Center for American Progress’s seminal report “Fear Inc., Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,” and served as a national correspondent for Al Jazeera America, where he told stories about communities and individuals often marginalized or under-reported in mainstream media. As Creative Director of Affinis Wajahat Labs, he worked to create social entrepreneurship initiatives to support and uplift marginalized communities. He also worked with the US State Department to design and implement the “Generation Change” leadership program to empower young social entrepreneurs. Wajahat initiated chapters in eight countries, including Pakistan and Singapore. His writing appears regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and The Guardian. He’s a Senior Fellow at The Western States Center and Auburn Seminary and co-host of Al Jazeera’s The Stream.