On February 21st, 2024 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Auditorium, two UNC political scientists Jeff Spinner-Halev and Navin Bapat discuss the politics conflict between Israel and Palestine as part of the Abbey Speaker Series. Spinner-Halev regularly teaches a course titled "Ethics of Peace, War, and Defense". His most recent book (co-authored with Elizabeth Theiss-Morse) is Respect and Loathing in American Democracy. Professor Bapat's research interests include examining conflicts involving violent non-state actors, such as insurgencies and terrorist campaigns. This event is co-sponsored by the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies; the UNC Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies; and the Peace, War, and Defense department.

This event requires tickets. Tickets are free and over 300 tickets will be available to the public at the Carolina Union Box Office starting at 4 pm the day of the event. Only one ticket will be issued to each guest. Unfortunately, tickets are limited so you should arrive early to secure a seat. Tickets will be issued digitally via email or phone number and must be presented for entry. We will reserve a limited number of advance tickets for people traveling from out of town. Please email publicdiscourse@unc.edu for a reservation. We are no longer reserving tickets via email. Please go to the Union box office after 4pm on 2/21 to secure your tickets.

Jeff Spinner-Halev teaches political theory in the department of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is the Kenan Eminent Professor of Political Ethics. He has a B.A. and PhD from the University of Michigan, both in political science. He regularly teaches the course at Carolina on the Ethics of Peace, War and Defense. His research focuses on the tensions that arise within contemporary liberal and democratic theory, and between theory and practice. His most recent book (co-authored with Elizabeth Theiss-Morse) is Respect and Loathing in American Democracy: Polarization, Moralization, and the Undermining of Equality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming).

Navin Bapat is the Dowd Professor of Peace and War in political science and the chair of the curriculum of peace, war, and defense at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received a B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan in 1998 and pursued graduate studies at Rice University, where he received an M.A. and a PhD in political science. Professor Bapat’s research interests include examining conflicts involving violent non-state actors, such as insurgencies and terrorist campaigns, using formal and empirical methods. He is also involved an ongoing project examining the use and the effectiveness of economic sanctions. His book, Monsters to Destroy: Understanding the War on Terror, was published with Oxford University Press.