BRIDGING EAST & WEST

FOR A NEW GOLDEN AGE

The Emma Lazarus Institute is Forging New Paths in Deradicalization and Diplomacy.

Anchored in Liberal values and inspired by the Sephardi legacy of interfaith dialogue and religious moderation, the Emma Lazarus Institute for Liberty and Tolerance (ELI) integrates policy and culture to address the growing divide between the Democratic West and the Moderate East. ELI advances strategic frameworks for cultural deradicalization and regional integration as essential pathways to long-term peace, stability and shared prosperity.

By aligning policy innovation with cultural strategy, we work to eliminate the ideological rifts that sustain extremism and endanger the foundations of human civilization, in the Middle East and beyond.

Our Programs

2. Interfaith and Cross-Cultural Dialogue

Drawing from a long Sephardi legacy of coexistence and spiritual cosmopolitanism, this pillar reimagines interfaith dialogue as a path to collective healing and moral leadership. We are building a new model that moves beyond symbolic gestures, creating sacred spaces where spiritual leaders, philosophers, and activists engage in honest, courageous conversations—especially around Israel, antisemitism, and collective memory. Through immersive trainings, we equip faith and community leaders to approach these topics from a place of spiritual depth, historical accuracy, and emotional intelligence. This is not interfaith for optics, but interfaith as infrastructure, fueling trust, resilience and civilizational renewal.

4. Social Media Trainings and Digital Narrative Reform

Recognizing that today’s ideological battlegrounds are digital, this pillar invests in the next generation of content creators, influencers, and cultural workers who shape public consciousness on peace-building and regional integration. We train social media voices across the Middle East and diaspora to reframe narratives, challenge disinformation, and reclaim online spaces for nuance, hope, and truth. A core focus of our work is countering Qatari-funded extremist propaganda—often disguised as journalism or religious discourse—that fuels polarization, antisemitism, and radicalization across platforms. Through a blend of storytelling mastery, historical depth, and ethical strategy, we equip cultural influencers with the tools to dismantle extremist messaging and offer compelling alternatives rooted in dignity, pluralism, and shared humanity.

1. Cultural Deradicalization & Denazification

At the core of ELI’s mission is the conviction that extremism remains the primary barrier to peace and prosperity in the Middle East. That’s why we’re deeply committed to expanding the Abrahamic Summit for Deradicalization, launched in collaboration with the Abraham Accords Institute in Germany. This summit brings together leading experts in deradicalization and denazification alongside storytellers, cultural influencers, media figures, and social advocates for a transformative five-day intensive. It serves as a vital bridge between policy and culture, dissolving the boundaries between top-down strategy and grassroots leadership to catalyze powerful counter-extremism and regional integration initiatives. Through a fusion of academic rigor, policy insight, and rituals of remembrance, we reimagine belonging and revive the region’s rich pluralistic identities long suppressed by extremist narratives.

3. Policy Briefings and Regional Strategy

This pillar functions as ELI’s strategic engine, transforming cultural intelligence into concrete policy interventions. We produce white papers, convene high-level summits, and advise institutions across sectors on embedding deradicalization, regional integration, and cultural diplomacy into their local, national, and international agendas. Our approach bridges the gap between narrative and governance, recognizing that effective policy is not just about managing systems—it’s about shaping the story a society tells about its future. We believe that storytelling and strategy are inseparable, and that the most enduring change begins where imagination meets implementation.