Israeli Voices: Who We Are cover art

Israeli Voices: Who We Are

Israeli Voices: Who We Are

By: CITIZENARTS
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Summary

Israel is often known through headlines steeped in strife. But the core realities of everyday life can be very different. In Israeli Voices: Who We Are, an eight-episode podcast, CITIZENARTS presents observations and heartfelt conversations with a wide spectrum of Israelis. These are not formal interviews but unvarnished moments – in homes, classrooms, on city streets, in businesses and in communities shaped by cultures rooted in history, myth, calamity – triumph.

As the series unfolds, common perspectives emerge — from people with widely varied backgrounds: Jewish and Palestinian citizens, native-born and immigrants from European and Muslim countries, the secular and the deeply religious.

What comes into focus is the humanity of a diverse, complicated, in some ways deeply divided society that is little or largely misunderstood by the world outside. Their voices blend into a truthful rendering of who Israelis are.

In the final episode, some of them come together in a forum to share opinions about their country — and to debate and ponder what comes next for Israel and its place in the Middle East and the world.

© 2026 CITIZENARTS
Episodes
  • Israeli Voices: Who We Are - Trailer
    May 15 2026

    Jill Gabbe, co-founder and executive producer of CITIZENARTS, introduces Israeli Voices: Who We Are, an eight-episode podcast of on-the-ground conversations across a spectrum of Israeli life. Perspectives emerge shaped by personal identity, history, and experience — revealing the humanity of a people striving to live freely with dignity and mutual respect in peace.

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    2 mins
  • Israeli Voices: Who We Are - Episode Three
    May 15 2026

    Considering the roots of the provocative slogan “From the River to the Sea” – and sensitivities about how Jews and Palestinians in Israel identify themselves and each other.

    A small town famed for the first Aliyah – the first arrival of Jews in Palestine from Eastern Europe. And in a tree-shaded corner of the local cemetery a chilling interlude where early Jewish settlers rest beside Israeli soldiers killed in battles past and present.

    Mount Carmel – where the Prophet Elijah brought fire on pagan worshipers, and Technion – Israel’s MIT – drives Israel’s technology chutzpah, and there are panoramic views of the Mediterranean port city of Haifa, noted for relatively harmonious coexistence of Jews and Palestinians.

    At the Technion, a tech student dreams of his role in Israel’s self-proclaimed “start-up nation.”

    In Haifa, Rasool – lawyer, grassroots activist – considers what it means to be Palestinian in a Jewish state in conflict with Muslims. How Palestinians and Jews can move past historic enmities, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination to build meaningful connections.

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    53 mins
  • Israeli Voices: Who We Are - Episode Two
    May 15 2026

    Families picnicking, playing, munching cookies and quiche at an outdoor café in the Judean hills. Carefree, joyful expressions in Hebrew and English. A seeming impossible scenario – especially for foreigners who think of Israel as mostly tempests. Looking closer, one notices the dads wearing holstered pistols frolicking with kids. Reminders of ever-present danger.

    A few miles away, a serene community built around a vineyard. A lunch celebrating the end of Shabbat hosted by Nissim, an entrepreneur who discourses about Israel as a meritocracy of opportunity regardless of race or background. Where capitalism flourishes in a socialist system. But also where taxes and other mounting costs of daily life are magnified by war and costs of social welfare for the Haredim – Israel’s fast-growing ultra-orthodox Jewish community. And where parents worry and are challenged about guiding children through social media distractions and looming, life-altering commitments to military service.

    Further along, Tel Aviv’s economic prowess, Mediterranean beachy, café vibe, incoming missile terrors, Hostage Square remembrance of the damaged and lost. And Noa, a groundbreaking, politically correct journalist, sharing family stories of racial inequity and of feminist influences on Israeli journalism, police brutality, gender harmony.

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    49 mins
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