Married couple Emily Schrader and Yoseph Haddad spoke in partnership with Jewish Club to students about antisemitism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Haddad also spoke on the Arab experience in Israel on Nov. 18

Digital marketing firm Social Lite Creative, which Shrader co-founded, assists American and Israeli nonprofits, startups and businesses in developing their brands on social media, according to their website.

Hadad’s company, Israeli non-profit Together Vouch for Each Other (TV4E), was founded in Israel in 2018 to bring together Arab and Jewish people, according to TV4E. The couple currently hosts “Headlines with the Haddads,” a show on Instagram and Youtube that focuses on explaining antisemitism and Israeli society to Western audience.

Jewish Club Leader Ofek Levy ’23 said he hopes the presentations help people gain a deeper understanding of Israeli-Palestiine conflict.

“Speaker events are there to challenge previous thinking, to open your mind to new possibilities,” Levy said. “They are not meant to be things that are single handedly fixing anything, they are openers to conversations about how we can make positive change. I hope people took a more nuanced understanding of both Israel and antisemitism and that they took away a sliver of how much complexity there is to issues dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and antisemitism on a grander scale.”

History Teacher and Jewish Club Advisor Dror Yaron said the speakers helped show the intricacies of Israeli identity.

“We look for opportunities of innovative speakers that can offer insights, usually unconventional ones, that provide the ability to inspire students to learn more by showing the complexity of the Israel-Palestine issue,” Yaron said. “There is no doubt that there are conflictual and confrontational engagements [in Israel], but it’s a dynamic society with many different constituencies that intermingle. The issue of Israel is becoming increasingly intertwined with Jewish identity, even though an Israeli identity is not exclusively a Jewish one, it’s more complex.”

Along with recent speakers in smaller-scale events, the school recently hosted Jewish author and activist Ben Freeman to speak during an all-school assembly. Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Janine Jones said having speakers present to the school helps educate the community on important topics.

“Having speakers present are one important way for messages of significance to be shared with the Harvard-Westlake community,” Jones said. “Oftentimes, someone who is not part of the daily life of Harvard-Westlake is able to capture the interest and attention of students in a way that faculty and staff cannot.”

Jones said she thinks awareness about antisemitism is essential, especially given recent antisemitic incidents.

“I firmly believe that education around antisemitism is critical especially given the antisemitic carving discovered on campus and the alarming rise in antisemitism both in LA and around the world,” Jones said, “I also think it is imperative that we all become more educated on world matters and the more we do, the more compassionate our world will become.”