Writer Elad Nehorai spoke about anti-extremism, community and Israeli-Palestinian relations Monday during a Chavurah USC event in Taper Hall.

Nehorai was joined by a panel including television and news correspondent Farrah Fazal. The speakers discussed their experience with Newground, a Muslim and Jewish dialogue fellowship that was hosted a month after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

“Jews, Palestinians, we’re all in deep trauma right now,” Nehorai said. “I happen to be in a place where I could talk about it … To do that was really, really difficult.”

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Throughout the event, Nehorai stressed how trauma impacts conversations. Nehorai recalled continuously crying after having a discussion with a Palestinian woman during the Newground fellowship.

“The truth was that Oct. 7 and everything that resulted is a combination of traumas,” Nehorai said. “So facing hard questions, questioning myself, arguing with someone who is on the other side of that trauma really healed me.”

During the conversation, Fazal described her experience traveling to Palestine in July 2024. Fazal said the trip helped her better understand the identity of the Palestinian people.

“I really needed to be there. I needed to understand.” Fazal said. “It was really interesting to see the life that Palestinians have to endure just to survive and to live and to be human.”

Nehorai said a lack of community leads to extremism. 

“Those dangerous people are able to take advantage of the fact that people feel alone and people are disconnected,” Nehorai said. “A lack of community creates a vacuum, and then people, exploitative people come in, and take advantage. That’s what we’re experiencing right now.”

Nehorai said college students are particularly vulnerable to this extremism.

“You’re likely going through tumultuous experiences at this age,” Nehorai said. “That’s why you’ll see so many extremist religious groups jumping into these places.”

Shiloh Gonsky, a board member of Chavurah USC and senior majoring in music industry, said her biggest takeaway from the event was the importance of approaching difficult conversations with empathy. 

Gonsky said she doesn’t see any spaces for productive conversation at the University, noting the dialogue around the free speech zones on campus.

“I don’t think that USC does enough to put out fires,” Gonsky said. “I think that really censoring free speech is not helpful, and it just kind of creates more issues.”

Nehorai encouraged students to facilitate productive conversations in smaller groups on campus. Nehorai said it is difficult to discuss Oct. 7 when the University often controls the conversation. 

“We really have to be kind of humble and understand that if we work one by one, if we work small, we can actually succeed a lot in big ways, but we have to really trust that process,” Nehorai said.