Omer Bartov and Amjad M. Tadros open this term’s seminar programme at the MEC

The Middle East Centre (MEC) launched this term’s seminar programme with two book talks that brought fresh perspectives on the region — one from a leading historian and one from an award-winning journalist.

Israel: What Went Wrong? with Professor Omer Bartov

On Monday 19 January 2026, the MEC partnered with the Blavatnik School of Government to host Omer Bartov, Dean’s Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, for a discussion of his new book, Israel: What Went Wrong? (to be released in April 2026). Through conversation with Eugene Rogan (Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History) and Janina Dill (Dame Louise Richardson Chair in Global Security), the seminar examined Bartov’s account of Zionism’s political transformation and the implications he raises for international law and global accountability in the wake of the war in Gaza.

The Fixer with Amjad M. Tadros

The programme continued the next evening, Tuesday 20 January 2026, back at St Antony’s College in the MEC, with award-winning investigative journalist Amjad M. Tadros presenting his memoir The Fixer: A Journalist’s Accidental Journey through the Middle East. Spanning more than three decades of reporting and producing for CBS News, Tadros’ talk traced the human realities behind headline-making moments. The talk also reflected on the ethical and personal pressures of sharing stories from a region frequently viewed through the lens of crisis.

Together, the two events offered a compelling opening to the MEC’s term: one grounded in historical analysis and the politics of state power, the other in the on-the-ground craft of journalism—both asking how narratives are made, contested, and remembered.