Fred Shahrabani

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Oct 18, 2023, 9:28 AM

Harvard and systemic forms of racism against Jews

The attacks by Hamas along Israel's border with Gaza on October 7 horrify. Children and babies bound, burned, and beheaded; women raped, teenagers axed, families with their hands tied behind their backs executed around their dining room table, the...

Oct 13, 2023, 10:45 AM

A Poker Perspective on a Gaza Ground Invasion

It is Wednesday evening, October 11. We are 10 Iraqi Jews who've been playing poker together for nearly 15 years, and tonight we need distraction and companionship. The carnage and barbarity of Hamas has broken something in all of...

Sep 30, 2023, 3:51 PM

The Battle for Judaism’s Soul on Tel Aviv Streets

I grew up in a traditional household in Tehran, Iran, where my parents frequented the Orthodox Iraqi Jewish synagogue, Ettefagh, in the Laleh Park district of Tehran. Men occupied the main floor for prayers, while women sat in the...

Aug 12, 2023, 5:17 AM

An Army Finds a Novel Way to Save a Nation

Resistance and mass resignation by Israeli air force pilots, naval officers, cyber warriors and members of other military units in response to the government's judicial reforms have sparked heated debates across Israel. Given the valid concerns over risks to...

Jul 21, 2023, 7:02 AM

Shared Values and Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu and the ministers of his coalition should listen to the former Benjamin Netanyahu Many ministers in Israel’s present government have a contentious relationship with democracy as a sacred national value. They realize the paramount importance of Israel's ties...

May 28, 2023, 8:41 PM

What humans worry about when we worry about AI

If the real threat of artificial intelligence is that it's too much like us, we need to embark on an urgent moral journey

Mar 20, 2023, 7:05 AM

Will Orthodox Judaism Divorce Democracy?

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s motives, are transparent. After years of praising the independence and professionalism of Israel’s Supreme Court, he has now turned against it as it hears evidence of his alleged crimes. Netanyahu’s Justice Minister, Yariv Levin,...

Mar 6, 2023, 11:55 PM

Do not assist in splitting democracy from Judaism

Throughout history, Jews have played a significant role in the struggle for and ascent of democracy worldwide. With the establishment of the State of Israel, that bond between Judaism and democracy was finally realized within a Jewish state. At...

Oct 21, 2022, 4:40 PM

Subversive Power of Baraye, Iran’s Protest Song

Barayé is the protest song of the Iranian people, composed by songwriter Shervin Hagipour, who derived its lyrics from the tweets of his fellow countrywomen and men, expressing their collective anguish, aspirations, fears, and love. It may come to...

Jun 4, 2021, 3:20 AM

Does Hamas Control Israel’s Swing Vote

On May 10, Hamas issued an ultimatum giving Israel until 6:00 pm on that same day to withdraw all security forces from al-Aqsa Mosque and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, failing which Israel would be targeted by...

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About Me

Fred was raised and educated in Tehran. He hails from a family of Iraqi Jews who fled Iraq, and subsequently, in the wake of the the 1979 Islamic Revolution, fled Iran. His parents spent formative years in Israel. As Arab Jews and Zionists who experienced the generosity of Moslem culture, and in particular the high spirit, hospitality, and graciousness afforded them in Iran, his perspective is formed by many of the historic events that engulfed the region.

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