What It's Like to Support Israel at Harvard and Beyond┃ATB #14

WEEK 14: Returning from a trip to Israel, we sit down with Shanee Markovitz Kay — an Israeli American and fellow Harvard Law student — for a deeply personal conversation about Israel, identity, and what it has meant to be Jewish at Harvard Law in the aftermath of October 7.We begin by getting to know Shanee — her background, her path to Harvard Law, and her (as well as our) involvement with the Harvard Law Alliance for Israel — before stepping back to talk about the wide spectrum of Jewish religious and cultural practice, both in Israel and in the United States.At the center of the episode is October 7th. Shanee shares her personal experience, how it affected her family, her community, and her sense of safety, and what it was like to process those events while being a student at Harvard. We talk candidly about the response to October 7th on campus: the protests, silence, hostility, support, and the emotional and social cost of navigating elite academic spaces during a moment of global attention and polarization.We then turn to Israel’s response — the moral, political, and strategic questions it raised — and Shanee reflects on what she believes the way forward looks like, both for Israel and for those trying to engage honestly across deep disagreement.After Shanee leaves, we stay on to offer immediate reactions to the conversation, reflect on our own recent trip to Israel, and zoom out to discuss the history of the modern Israeli state, U.S.–Israel relations, and the broader geopolitical stakes often missing from campus discourse.We close, as always, with Girl Problems: Israel edition.This episode is personal, serious, and at times difficult — but it’s an honest attempt to listen, understand, and speak clearly about Israel, identity, and truth in a moment when those things feel especially contested.00:00 Introduction01:43 Getting to Know Shanee09:20 Harvard Law Alliance for Israel12:37 The Spectrum of Jewish Practice15:42 How Shanee Ended Up at Harvard Law20:36 October 7th35:08 The Response to October 7th at Harvard51:49 Israel’s Response to October 7th55:24 The Way Forward (Shanee)1:00:13 Post-Interview Immediate Reactions1:12:53 Our Trip to Israel1:41:00 The History of Israel1:46:19 America–Israeli Relations2:00:04 The Way Forward (Will and Mason)2:13:02 Girl Problems: Israel Edition