FIU experts available to discuss antisemitism, Jewish life, Israel and Middle Eastern affairs

October 7, 2026 at 12:00pm

FIU experts on foreign affairs and public policy are available to discuss antisemitism, hate speech, contemporary Jewish life, Middle East studies, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Israeli foreign policy. From a global perspective, experts can offer insight into understanding and countering antisemitism and extremist ideologies. Experts are available for interviews in English, Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic.

For help contacting any of our experts, please contact the Office of Media Relations:

Madeline Baró
Senior Director of Media Relations
305-310-9665
mbaro@fiu.edu

Brian Zimmerman
Senior Media Relations Specialist
305-348-8448
bzimmerm@fiu.edu

Holocaust & Genocide Studies

Oren Baruch Stier

Assistant Vice Provost, Combating Antisemitism
Director, Global Jewish Studies Program
Director, Holocaust & Genocide Studies Program
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

Oren Baruch Stier specializes in Holocaust Studies and Jewish Cultural Studies, with an emphasis on contemporary Jewish life and thought. His research centers on Holocaust memory and representation. He is the author of Committed to Memory: Cultural Mediations of the Holocaust (University of Massachusetts Press, 2003) and Holocaust Icons: Symbolizing the Shoah in History and Memory (Rutgers University Press, 2015), and co-editor of Religion, Violence, Memory, and Place (Indiana University Press, 2006). His work has appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Prooftexts, Jewish Social Studies, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He was a fellow at the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. His additional interests include Hasidism and South African Judaism. He teaches courses on the Holocaust, Holocaust cinema, Elie Wiesel, and Jewish mysticism, directs the Jewish Studies Certificate and the FIU Holocaust Studies Initiative, and holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Stier is available for interviews in English and Hebrew.

Office: 305-348-6729
Email: stiero@fiu.edu

For help, contact:
Daniel Zayas
305-348-5360
dzayas@fiu.edu

Gabriela Hoberman

Director, Academic Programs
Kimberly Green Latin American & Caribbean Center
Politics & International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

Gabriela Hoberman is the director of Academic Programs at the Kimberly Green Latin American & Caribbean Center (LACC). Professor Hoberman is a political scientist and researcher specializing in disasters and genocide studies. Her areas of expertise are comparative politics, disaster risk policy, genocide studies, and Latin American politics. Over her tenure at FIU, she has regularly taught a course on comparative genocide analyzing the cases of Rwanda, Cambodia, the Holocaust, Armenia, and the Herero, in the Department of Politics & International Relations. The course delves into the pre-conditions, patterns, and trajectory leading to a genocide. This course is an academic offering within the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Certificate program at the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. Her articles have appeared in academic journals such as Disaster Prevention and Management, Natural Hazards Review, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Natural Hazards, International Studies Perspectives and Environmental Hazards. Hoberman is available for interviews in English and Spanish.

Office: 305-348-2894
Email: ghoberma@fiu.edu

For help, contact:
Daniel Zayas
305-348-5360
dzayas@fiu.edu

Israeli Foreign Policy

Shlomi Dinar

Professor
Politics & International Relations
Dean
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

Shlomi Dinar is dean of the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs at Florida International University. He frequently speaks on Israeli foreign policy, politics, and antisemitism. A scholar of international environmental politics, national security, and negotiation, he is the author, co-author, or editor of six books with presses including MIT Press, University of California Press, and Routledge. His articles have appeared in International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Peace Research, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Foreign Affairs. He has contributed to collaborative World Bank consultancy projects with team members from the United States, Spain, and Israel, and has given invited talks at NATO and Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He was an Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Pemberton Fellow at Durham University. Dinar holds a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Dinar is available for interviews in English and Hebrew.

Office: 305-348-6958
Email: dinars@fiu.edu

For help, contact:
Daniel Zayas
305-348-5360
dzayas@fiu.edu

Middle East Studies

Iqbal Akhtar

Associate Professor
Religious Studies and Politics & International Affairs
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

Iqbal Akhtar is dual-appointment aassociate pprofessor of Religious Studies and Politics & International Relations at Florida International University. He convenes the Antisemitism in Muslim Societies (AMS) Working Group, a scholar-only research network and virtual lecture series that studies antisemitism in Muslim-majority societies and Muslim diaspora communities. The network includes nearly 90 scholars and aims to replace polemic with rigorous, comparative scholarship. The group is funded by ISGAP and Fulbright, and a virtual conference with proceedings to be published by Springer is planned. His own research focuses on the Khōjā, an Indic Muslim merchant caste in East Africa, and on the 18th-century religious cosmology of the Sindhi Khōjā. His areas of expertise include Western Indian Ocean studies, transnational histories, postcolonial thought, and Islamic studies. He teaches courses on Islam and international relations, Islamic political thought, and Sufism. Akhtar holds a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh and master's degrees from Tulane University and the University of Denver. Akhtar is available for interviews in English and Arabic.

Office: 305-348-7098
Email: iakhtar@fiu.edu

For help, contact:
Daniel Zayas
305-348-5360
dzayas@fiu.edu

Contact us

For help contacting any of our experts, please contact the Office of Media Relations:

Media Relations
Madeline Baró
Senior Director of Media Relations
305-310-9665
mbaro@fiu.edu

Brian Zimmerman
Senior Media Relations Specialist
305-348-8448
bzimmerm@fiu.edu

Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Daniel Zayas
Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing
305-348-5360
dzayas@fiu.edu