The dynamics of the Middle East region changed dramatically between October 7, 2023, and June 24, 2025. What were those changes? Can Israel take advantage of new opportunities to build a lasting peace. 

About the Instructors:

Peggy Brill has been an organizational consultant to foundations and non-profit organizations in Jerusalem for the past twenty years, primarily in the fields of Jewish communal service, Jewish education and environmental advocacy. She studied government and music at Connecticut College and continued to graduate studies in international relations, social work and Jewish education at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Yeshiva University Wurzweiler School of Social Work, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Fellows.

Joel S. Migdal is Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Library Fellow at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem. At the University of Washington, he was the Robert F. Philip professor of International Studies and the founding chair of the International Studies Program. Migdal was formerly associate professor of Government at Harvard University and senior lecturer at Tel-Aviv University. Among his books are Strong Societies and Weak States; State in Society; Through the Lens of Israel; The Palestinian People: A History (with Baruch Kimmerling); and Shifting Sands: The United States in the Middle East. He was awarded the University of Washington’s Distinguished Teaching Award and Graduate Mentor Award, as well as the Washington State Governor’s Writers Award. He is past president of the Association for Israel Studies.