What did you know about the relationship between the government of Israel and the Palestinians before
the October 7th Hamas attack?
What have you done to educate yourself about the situation since the attack?
What have you learned that has surprised you and/or changed your mind about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?
How would you describe the essence of that conflict - what each side wants and
what each side believes the other is denying them?
Have you ever been to Israel? If so what were your impressions of that country, including your impressions of how the Palestinians are treated there?
Have you ever experienced or witnessed antisemitism?
What do you think are the roots of antisemitism?
Are they different in different countries at different times?
Did you have any relatives or know anyone who did who were victimized by the Holocaust?
How do you think that it has affected your life or theirs?
Do you think that the existence of the state of Israel and how it has developed as a nation has
increased or reduced antisemitism worldwide?
Do you think it is important that Jews have a nation in which they know they will never be persecuted?
What do you think of the response of the government Israel to the Hamas attack and its continued response? What response would you favor?
What actions do you think the government of United States should be taking in this situation?
What do you know about the history of Zionism?
Do you believe that the state of Israel as it is being governed today is the natural expression of that movement?
Since we are historically a migratory species what value does the concept return to a homeland have?
Are nation states still useful political structures or are they outmoded? What could you replace them with?
Do you think that Northern Ireland can serve us any kind of model for resolving the Israeli /Palestinian conflict? Why or why not?
Terrorism is often considered the action of the hopeless. What kind of hope could Palestinians be given that would lead them to reject terrorism?
How would you evaluate whether threats to the state of Israel are real, imagined or manufactured so people can maintain political power?
What do you know about the so-called two-state solution? Do you think it could work and if not how would you structure the land, it's population and its governance?