JCC Michael-Ann Russell | THE HUB | Florida

Across the region, from Iran and Israel to the Gulf states, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and beyond, regional actors may be responding to the same events, but they are not necessarily seeing the same reality. The same development can be understood by one actor as a threat, by another as an opportunity, and by another as a strategic necessity. 

In CONFLICTING REALITIES | DECODING THE MIDDLE EAST IN 2026, Avi Melamed takes audiences inside a dimension of the Middle East largely missing from Western media.

In this apolitical Middle East Briefing, Avi explores how these different realities create a complex geopolitical landscape fraught with opportunities and risks – not only for Israel – but for all the players in the region.

At a time when conversations about Israel and the Middle East are increasingly polarized, and when discourse in the West influences realities on the ground, understanding why different actors can experience the same events as entirely different realities matters far beyond understanding the Middle East. It directly impacts the conversations we navigate in our personal, professional, civic, and communal lives.

Through Avi Melamed’s distinctly apolitical approach, audiences across generations, backgrounds, political perspectives, levels of knowledge, and relationships with Israel are not told what to think. They are given the context and tools to think more critically, understand competing realities, and engage complexity without abandoning conviction. By creating shared ground for understanding without requiring agreement, Avi’s approach helps bridge divides and equips people to become more informed and constructive participants in even the most difficult conversations shaping our campuses, communities, families, and institutions.