Rachel Shabi talks to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Journalist and broadcaster Rachel Shabi points to a hopeful way forward in an era when claims of antisemitism continue to distort our politics at home and abroad and make it impossible to discuss issues constructively.

Shabi analyses one of the most divisive issues of our time including the contingency of whiteness, Judeo-Christian mythmaking, pro-Israel antisemitism and the Palestinian struggle against colonialism. Shabi says we should interrogate the reasons why racism takes hold and find a way to look beyond the headlines so we can deliberate more honestly.

‘An invaluable guide for anyone who seeks to understand issues over which we stumble far too often’ George Monbiot

Shabi’s journalism has appeared in The Guardian, the New York Times, Independent, The Times and the New York Review of Books. Her previous book, Not the Enemy: Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands, received a US National Jewish Book award. Here she talks to journalist and commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, whose books include In Defence of Political Correctness, Refusing the Veil and Exotic England: The Making of a Curious Nation.

Part of the festival’s programme of Jewish literature and culture.