Naomi Chazan

Naomi Chazan is a senior Israeli academic, an activist for peace and women’s rights, and a former member of the Knesset.

Naomi is the author of a number of books and president of the New Israel Fund. She recently completed three terms as a member of Knesset on behalf of the Meretz party. During her parliamentary career, she was considered one of Israel’s top legislators, specialising in human rights, gender equality and consumer affairs.

Among many activities associated with human rights and peace, Naomi helped found the International Women’s Commission for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace, the Israel Women’s Network, the Jerusalem Link and Engendering the Peace Process. She is currently Dean of the School of Government and Society at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo.

Rafael Epstein is a journalist who has worked in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Timor, Indonesia, Europe and the Middle East.

He has covered national elections in the UK and Australia, East Timor’s vote for independence in 1999, the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, the 2005 London bombings, and the arrest of several high profile war crimes suspects in the Balkans.

Rafael won a Walkley Award for his reporting on the links between police and Melbourne’s underworld wars. He won a second Walkley for his coverage of the Mohammed Hanif case, the Indian born doctor charged over his connections to the failed bombings in London in 2007.

He has also worked at the Investigative Unit at the Age, focusing on politics as well as Australia’s special forces and their role in Afghanistan. Rafael currently hosts the Drive program on 774 ABC Melbourne. His first book Prisoner X is published by Melbourne University Press in March 2014.