Former IDF spokesman and Knesset member Nachman Shai speaks of elections, Israel in public opinion, Donald Trump, a two-state solution and his plans as an Emory visiting scholar.
Nachman Shai gained international attention in 1991 when he was the face and voice of the Israel Defense Forces, which was forced to hold its fire amid repeated Scud missile attacks from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. He went on to write a book, “Milchamedia” (combining “media” with the Hebrew word for war), about about Israel’s battle for public opinion, and he served three terms in the Knesset as a member of Kadima, the Labor Party and the Zionist Union.
Having stayed out of the two Israeli elections in 2019, Shai arrived in Atlanta in mid-September to serve as a visiting professor with Emory University’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel through the spring semester, when he will teach classes on public diplomacy and on Israel’s nation-building.
On Sept. 25, Dave Schechter of the Atlanta Jewish Times interviewed Shai in the ISMI offices. This lightly edited audio file covers most of a conversation that also includes ISMI and Center for Israel Education scholars Rich Walter and Eli Sperling and CIE contributor Michael Jacobs over 80 minutes. You can read Schechter’s article on the interview at the AJT website.