W&L Presents Peter Beinart in Conversation with Seth Cantey The two politics professors will discuss themes from Beinart’s new book, “Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza,” on Feb. 3.

By Emily Innes Stanley
January 20, 2026

Washington and Lee University will host Peter Beinart, professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, in conversation with Seth Cantey, the Lewis G. John Term Professor of Politics at W&L, at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 3 in Northen Auditorium in Leyburn Library.

The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by W&L’s Center of International Education, Department of History and Department of Politics.

Beinart and Cantey will discuss key themes in Beinart’s new book, “Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza” (2025), including the relationship between Jewish identity and support for the state of Israel, how Zionism does or does not reflect Judaism and the religion’s ethics, the power of narrative and possible futures for Israel and Palestine.

In an interview with NPR, Beinart said the book “came out of my struggles … with a community that I love, that is at the center of my life and where I have many of my closest friendships [but] from which I feel sometimes profoundly at odds,” and is an appeal “to recognize something which I think is basic in Judaism, which is that human beings are created in the image of God.”

Beinart is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, an MSNBC analyst and a CNN political commentator. He serves as the editor-at-large of Jewish Currents and is a fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He graduated from Yale University and received a Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at Oxford University.