The Forum for Regional Thinking offers information and analysis about the Middle East with the aim of transforming the way the Israeli public perceives the Middle East and Israel’s place within it, and in order to encourage complex and diverse discourse about the region.

The Forum was established in 2014 after three years of activity as an independent Hebrew blog called Can Think, and is currently hosted at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.

In Israel, public and professional discourse about the Middle East is centered on Israel, and particularly on the interests and concerns of its Jewish citizens. The producers and consumers of this discourse tend to assume that the hostility between Jews and Arabs as a given existential condition.

For this reason, it is characterized by a simplistic ethnocentric approach, focused on security risks on one hand and on the interests of states, institutions, and organizations on the other. This discourse typically avoids criticism, let alone radical criticism, of Israeli policies regarding the Palestinians and other Middle-Eastern countries.

The Forum’s fellows, most of them researchers and lecturers at institutions of higher education in Israel, offer in-depth information and analysis aimed at diversifying and challenging the hegemonic Israeli discourse about the Middle East and the Israel-Palestine question.

Forum members seek to understand what is happening in the region also through the eyes of the Other, and reject the view of the hostility between Jews and Arabs as necessary, existential, or eternal. The Forum’s professional and ideological approach is civic and multilayered, addressing the concerns of citizens and residents, their opportunities and future prospects, rather than focusing exclusively on the narrow interests of states, organizations, elites, and power groups.

 Internal criticism, though challenging and provocative, is the true basis for improvement and change

Forum publications examine regional events discussed in public and professional circles in Israel from critical perspectives, and provide essential information and cutting-edge analyses about other events that escape their attention.

Our texts are informed by an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to analyzing the contemporary Middle East. We seek to establish a new approach to Middle-Eastern studies in Israel that understands it as an integral part of the region with significant similarities to neighboring countries.

This approach proposes learning from regimes, processes, and conflict zones in the Middle East and beyond, rather than narrowing the view to the so-called “villa in the jungle”.

Our researchers are committed to a critical scholarly approach and to context-dependent analysis. At the same time, we believe that criticizing others is not only too prevalent in Israeli discourse about the Middle East, but also “comes cheap”.

Internal criticism, though challenging and provocative, is the true basis for improvement and change. Therefore, our criticism is directed at Israel’s longstanding policy toward the Palestinians and regional states, as well as at the public and professional discourse about the Middle East in this country and the institutions and individuals that reproduce it.

Finally, we have basic empathy for all the people of the Middle East. We believe that beyond the human and moral aspect, this also has academic value, as human empathy enables observers to better understand the Other and how they experience and interpret reality.

Our website offers readers not only original texts by Forum fellows but also translations and reviews of texts in the languages of the Middle East, primarily Arabic.

We believe it is of the utmost importance to understand how Israel’s neighbors perceive it, even if some may find their views difficult to accept

The media, political, and social discourse in the Middle East is extremely rich. It addresses diverse issues and can fascinate every curious individual, especially those living in the Middle East.

Debates between intellectual currents, social struggles, and cultural, national, and identity questions preoccupy the region’s residents. These are articulated in mainstream media, journals, research institute websites, and of course on social networks. This treasure trove usually hidden from the Israeli-Jewish public.

The purpose of translations and reviews from Arabic is to make knowledge accessible and establish a scholarly foundation for Hebrew speakers. The texts are rendered into Hebrew with integrity and textual and analytical sensitivity. We do this out of profound appreciation for the original works and their authors.

Most of these texts are not merely “translations”. We summarize their main points for the reader, explain and analyze them. We do not necessarily verify the facts and data mentioned in them, but present them as they are. At most, we raise questions and sometimes address them, without violating the integrity of the original.

Certain texts, especially those concerning Israel, may provoke resentment among Israeli-Jewish readers. However, we believe it is of the utmost importance to understand how Israel’s neighbors perceive it, even if some may find their views difficult to accept.

We invite academics and intellectuals with knowledge, experience, or specific expertise to submit articles for publication

The original articles by the Forum’s research fellows, combined with translations and reviews of Arabic sources, alongside our podcast and video series, offer Israeli readers a wealth of information and analysis, organized in an accessible and open repository for the benefit of students, researchers, experts, journalists, and the general public.

We invite academics and intellectuals with knowledge, experience, or specific expertise to submit articles for publication. Articles must be original, with a maximum length of 1,000 words, and must not have been published on other platforms.

The texts published on this website do not necessarily represent the views of the Forum, its partners, or the entities supporting its activities.