Articles & Essays

My journalistic writing has evolved over the years, extending into various fields. I have written essays on poetry, texts for artists’ catalogues, and, more recently, comprehensive articles on the political situation for magazines in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Israel, and beyond. In Israel, I published a collection of articles titled An Eruption from the East: Revisiting the Emergence of the Mizrahi Artistic Explosion and Its Imprint on the Israeli Cultural Narrative, 2006–2019, which received various grants to support its publication. In 2026, my first collection of essays in German, Fünfzehn Narben, was published by AphorismA Verlag.

An interview with Noam Shuster-Eliassi on comedy, coexistence, identity and conflict, published in Die Weltbühne.

In this essay, originally published in der Freitag, Mati Shemoelof reflects on Mizrahi identity, Arab-Jewish history and the politics of representation in contemporary Israel.

Yemima Hadad reviews Mati Shemoelof’s novel Der Preis, examining its satire of literary prizes, Mizrachi identity, the Israeli diaspora, social mobility and the relationship between Israel and Germany.

Ein Essay von Mati Shemoelof über Israels Krieg in Gaza, die Offensive „Gideon’s Chariots“, koloniale Kontinuitäten und die Debatte innerhalb der israelischen Gesellschaft.

Photo - Zwangsverdrängung im Gazastreifen nach massiven israelischen Bombardierungen. Bild: Jaber Jehad Badwan, WikiCommons, CC BY-SA 4.0

An essay by Mati Shemoelof on Israel’s war in Gaza, “Gideon’s Chariots”, colonialism, decolonization and political dissent within Israeli society.

Photo credit - Ruins of Beit Lahia, in the Gaza Strip, destroyed by Israeli bombardments, February 23, 2025.Jaber Jehad Badwan under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia

Living in Berlin, Mati Shemoelof reflects on his relationship with Israel, his memories of the Lebanon War and the grief, shame and alienation he feels while opposing the violence.

After an attack on two Israelis speaking Hebrew in Berlin, Mati Shemoelof reflects on language, Jewish identity, safety and what it means to live as an Israeli in the diaspora.

Mati Shemoelof visits a Jewish school in Berlin and reflects on rising antisemitism, security measures and the difficult choices facing Jewish parents and children.

Mati Shemoelof asks how Israeli Jewish writers are perceived in Germany and reflects on identity, assimilation, Hebrew and Yiddish literature, and his place in Berlin’s literary scene.

Israeli expats in Berlin are increasingly questioning their relationship with Israel as the war in Gaza deepens divisions with family and friends at home.

A lecture by Mati Shemoelof on Aviad Moreno’s Entwined Homeland, Empowered Diasporas, examining Moroccan Jewish migration, Haketia, Spanish identity, colonialism and the formation of diaspora across continents.

Israeli expats in Berlin are increasingly questioning their relationship with Israel as the war in Gaza deepens divisions with family and friends at home.

After a Berlin synagogue was attacked with firebombs in October 2023, Mati Shemoelof reflects on fear, Jewish life, Israeli identity, Palestinian-Jewish tensions and the sense of brokenness among Berlin's Israeli community.

Ein Essay von Mati Shemoelof über jüdisch-palästinensische Ko-Existenz, Berlin, die Diaspora und die Möglichkeit einer politischen Alternative nach dem 7. Oktober 2023.

Mati Shemoelof schreibt über hebräische Literatur in Berlin, Diaspora, Mehrsprachigkeit, jüdische Geschichte und kulturelle Assimilation.

Hebrew versions:

• Fresh Hebrew on the foreign knife, Moznaim Qautrly, 2021

• To whom does Hebrew-German-Arabic culture belong? A volcano will erupt in the east, Iton 77 Publishers, 2022

Mati Shemoelof interviews Michał Laszczkowski about Polish poet Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, his Jewish roots and the Jewish heritage of Warsaw.

Mati Shemoelof examines Samir Naqqash’s multilingual Iraqi-Jewish literature, his Arabic-Hebrew translation, and his place in the Israeli literary canon.

Joseph Sassoon Semah’s artistic work offers a Babylonian Jewish deconstruction of Joseph Beuys and the European postwar art canon. In this opening text for On Friendship / (Collateral Damage) IV, I examine what happens when two Iraqi Jews living in European capitals – Amsterdam and Berlin – approach Beuys’ postwar art from outside the dominant European narrative.

Mati Shemoelof interviews Israeli activist Marianne Matyash about voting rights for Israelis living abroad and the campaign to change Israeli election law.

The discussion about the creative activities of Joseph Beuys adhere to Eurocentric culture in general and to post-war German culture in particular. And yet, what will happen when two Iraqi Jews, i.e. Babylonian Jews – who live in two European capitals, Berlin and Amsterdam, respectively – decided to deconstruct Beuys’ post war art production.
Could we give these two guests who became our host free speech, and should we listen to their desire to reclaim the Jewish Babylonian tradition from Joseph Beuys’ art?
Most of the research on Joseph Beuys artistic activity has been generated by theories concerning Eurocentric culture, values and experiences, however this time we have the opportunity to hear other voices, a different reading that criticizes Beuys’ work.

Mati Shemoelof – Opening Words 28.10.2021. Goethe Institut – Amsterdam

Mati Shemoelof reflects on Hannah Arendt, assimilation, Jewish identity, political responsibility and the relevance of her ideas in contemporary Berlin.

Photo By Barbara Niggl Radloff - sammlungonline.muenchner-stadtmuseum.de, CC BY-SA 4.0

Mati Shemoelof examines the tension between Natan Zach’s celebrated poetry and his racist remarks about Mizrahim. Reflecting on Zach’s legacy, Mizrahi poetry and the Ashkenazi-Mizrahi divide in Israel, Shemoelof questions how literary culture remembers influential writers while confronting the racism embedded in their words and the wider cultural structures of Israeli society.

Mati Shemoelof writes about German Jewish concerns over Trump, the AfD, antisemitism and the political connections between the US, Germany and Israel in 2020.

One year after the Halle synagogue attack, Mati Shemoelof speaks with Rabbi Jeremy Borovitz about trauma, Jewish resilience, community and creating new Jewish life in Berlin.

Photo - By Reise Reise - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91198175

Mati Shemoelof reflects on the use of Jewish symbols during coronavirus demonstrations in Germany and what they reveal about Holocaust memory, antisemitism and German political culture.

In recent years, I have been diving deeper and deeper into the treasures of German culture. I read and write, thinking about questions of identity and belonging against the backdrop of Israeli and Jewish immigration to Germany, which, in literary terms, dates back to philosopher Moses Mendelssohn’s arrival in Berlin in 1743. Is German identity the exclusive property of German passport holders? Or is it plentiful enough to be shared with aficionados and non-citizen residents? In other words, is “Germanness” more than a question of nationality? Having spent the last six years in Berlin, as an immigrant encountering the local and other immigrant cultures, I have come to realise that the answer to this question is more multilayered than I thought.

On Hebrew literature, multilingualism, diaspora and cultural identity in Berlin

Mati Shemoelof reflects on writing Hebrew in Berlin, the revival of a Hebrew literary presence in the city, multilingualism, diaspora and the struggle against cultural assimilation.

During the first coronavirus lockdown, Mati Shemoelof examines Germany’s response to the pandemic, public discipline, healthcare, surveillance and Angela Merkel’s leadership.

An opinion article by Mati Shemoelof, written after the 2020 Hanau terrorist attack, on racism, Muslim communities, far-right violence and Germany’s political respons.

Photo credit - Christopher Glanzl, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The idea of editing a book of articles came when I realized that a specific period in my life had ended. This period was shaped by the Mizrahi voice that I expressed together with a new generation of artists and writers, through endless performance activities in the periphery. Most articles were written during a single decade, 2006-2019. Israeli society has changed from one end to the other, and so have I. Dialectically, social hope has dissipated, and Mizrahi creativity has reached its zeniths.

In this 2020 opinion essay, Mati Shemoelof examines Yair Netanyahu’s public exchanges with Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) and places them within a broader discussion of Israeli and European nationalist politics. Writing around the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, Shemoelof considers the political use of the “Other,” antisemitism, Islamophobia, nationalism and the treatment of migrants and minorities.

The essay also discusses developments in Germany including the Chemnitz riots, the murder of politician Walter Lübcke, the Halle synagogue attack, the Hanau attack and the rise of the far right. Shemoelof questions what the relationship between Israeli and European nationalist movements means for Jews living in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

Originally published in Haaretz on 11 May 2020.

An Israeli writer in Berlin reflects on hate crime, antisemitism, homophobia, Arab-Jewish identity and the experience of living among minorities in Neukölln.

In this personal essay, Mati Shemoelof reflects on his relationship with Russian Jewish immigrants, drawing on his experiences as a Mizrahi Israeli and later as an immigrant living in Germany. He recalls serving alongside Russian immigrants in the Israeli army and the shared experience of being seen as outsiders within Israeli society.

Shemoelof then considers the political experiences of Russian-speaking Jewish communities in Israel and Germany, including their support for right-wing parties such as Yisrael Beiteinu in Israel and the AfD in Germany. He explores the relationship between migration, language, social exclusion, belonging and political identity, while comparing Russian Jewish experiences with those of Mizrahi Jews and other immigrant communities.

The essay also discusses Avigdor Lieberman, the treatment of Russian immigrants in Israel, and the different reasons Russian-German voters may have supported the AfD. Despite these political differences, Shemoelof reflects on the continuing connection he feels with Russian Jewish migrants and on the shared experience of becoming “the other” through migration.

Originally published on the Jewish Independent 6 February 2020.

During the first coronavirus lockdown in Berlin, Mati Shemoelof draws on memories of war and life in Israel while trying to reassure his German wife and young daughter.

Mati Shemoelof über Yair Netanjahu, die AfD und die Verbindung zwischen israelischer und europäischer extremer Rechter. Erschienen 2020 bei Aphorisma.

Photo - U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Mati Shemoelof examines the political use of Arab-Jewish history in Israel’s discourse on Palestinian refugees, lost property and historical justice.

In this 2019 essay, Mati Shemoelof reflects on the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the growing presence of the far right in German political life. Writing after participating in a Jewish festival in Dresden, he considers the political situation in Saxony and Thuringia, the debate over cooperation between the CDU and AfD, and the possible consequences for Jewish communities, immigrants, Muslims and asylum-seekers.

Drawing on his experience of Israeli politics, Shemoelof compares the normalisation of right-wing politics in Israel with developments in Germany. He discusses the murder of CDU politician Walter Lübcke, the Halle synagogue attack, threats against German politicians and the wider question of how Germany remembers the Holocaust.

Originally published on 27 November 2019. Last updated 4 March 2024.

On Yom Kippur in October 2019, Mati Shemoelof was praying at the Fraenkelufer Synagogue in Berlin when he learned about the attack on the synagogue in Halle. In this personal essay, he reflects on fear, Jewish security, antisemitism and the experience of being visibly Jewish in Germany.

Shemoelof also considers the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Berlin, the danger of generalising about entire communities, and a German friend who wrote to him to apologise after the attack. Moving between the synagogue, the streets of Berlin and his family life, the essay explores what it meant to live as a Jewish writer in Germany in the aftermath of the Halle attack.

Photo - Dagmar Schmidt, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

An essay by Mati Shemoelof on Israeli citizenship, diaspora, political participation and the experience of Israeli expatriates living in Berlin.

Mati Shemoelof explores Kochavi Shemesh and the Israeli Black Panthers, Mizrahi struggle, social justice, equality and peace in Israel.

Photo- Co-founder of the Israeli Black Panthers, Kochavi Shemesh, born in 1944, Baghdad, Iraq. Photographed in Jerusalem in 2011, 90/120 cm by David Adika. (Photo: courtesy of David Adika)

In this personal essay, Mati Shemoelof reflects on what it means to be Israeli while living in Berlin. He explores migration, diaspora, belonging and the tension between his Israeli identity and his new life in Germany.

Drawing on memories of Haifa and Tel Aviv, Shemoelof also considers Mizrahi identity, the Ashkenazi-Mizrahi divide and the different ways Israelis living abroad are perceived. Between attachment to Israel and the experience of life in Berlin, the essay asks whether identity can belong to more than one place.

Mati Shemoelof examines why Mizrahi and Arab-Jewish activists challenged Israel’s Nation-State Law, focusing on Arabic, cultural identity and equality.

Photo - Mizrahi Jews protest over allegations of the abduction of infants from their families by staff at state-run medical facilities during the 1950s, Jerusalem, 2017. (Photo: Shiraz Grinbaum and Yotam Ronen / Activestills.org)

In this personal essay, Mati Shemoelof reflects on living in Berlin as a Jewish writer whose family background is Mizrahi rather than European. On Yom Hashoah, encounters with Stolpersteine, Wehrmacht memorials, his German family connections and the city’s Jewish history lead him to consider Holocaust memory, diaspora, guilt, belonging and the continuing relationship between Jews and Germany.

Moving between Israel and Berlin, Shemoelof examines how living in Germany has changed his understanding of Jewish identity and exile, while recalling the Jewish writers and cultural life that once shaped the city. The essay also considers contemporary antisemitism and the possibility of remembering the Holocaust while continuing a shared Jewish-German life.

Mati Shemoelof reflects on learning German, language anxiety, migration to Berlin, and the struggle to find belonging through a new language.

In this 2019 essay, Mati Shemoelof reflects on Angela Merkel’s political leadership and the changing political climate in Germany. Writing as a Jewish and Israeli writer living in Berlin, he considers the rise of the AfD, debates over refugees and immigration, antisemitism, far-right extremism and the murder of CDU politician Walter Lübcke.

The essay connects these developments with Shemoelof’s personal experience of Jewish life in Germany and his concerns about the political future after Merkel. It explores the relationship between German politics, antisemitism and the sense of security of Jews and other minorities.

A personal reflection on Berlin winters, migration, homesickness, sunlight, language, and the experience of feeling like an outsider between Israel and Germany.

Mati Shemoelof reflects on interfaith marriage, Jewish identity, Mizrahi culture and the idea that marrying outside the Jewish community means losing Judaism.

Mati Shemoelof reflects on creating an alternative Arab-Jewish history in Berlin through literature, poetry and cultural exchange between Jewish and Arab writers from Israel and Arab countries. From Mizrahi Jewish memory to contemporary exile and diaspora, the article explores how Berlin can become a space for recovering connections that were lost in the Middle East.

Photo - 25. Oktober 2018/ LCB Alle Fotos: Copyright Loris Rizzo

Mati Shemoelof explores the life and poetry of Abraham Sutzkever, his survival of the Vilna Ghetto, and his lifelong commitment to Yiddish culture.

Israeli artist Hadas Tapouchi photographs former Nazi buildings and forced labour camp sites across Europe, exploring memory, history and the transformation of places in Berlin and beyond.

Mati Shemoelof reflects on Israelis leaving Berlin for Israel, migration, language, identity and the cultural life of Berlin’s Israeli community.

Mati Shemoelof visits Berlin’s Fraenkelufer Synagogue and explores its work with refugees, Muslim communities and Jewish-Muslim dialogue.

“Eine Literaturkonferenz zur Erosion des Demokratischen”,2018

The Israeli Literary Diaspora

The rise of right-wing ideology in Israel has also influenced the literary scene. On 2015 “The Council for the Culture and Arts of the Lottery foundation” (In charge of organising the highest prize for literature in Israel - “The Sapir Prize”) decided that this prize belonged only to Israelis who had been living in Israel for the past 5 years.  

Mati Shemoelof recounts an El Al flight to Berlin and questions the use of Hebrew-only announcements to promote Israeli narratives to passengers.