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Award winning journalist Gary Baumgarten hosts the Newstalk show on Paltalk.com. He asks critical questions, and invites people from all around the world to talk directly to his newsmaker guests using Paltalk's voice over IP technology.

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Naomi Ragen graduated from the Hebrew Institute of Long Island, and went on to study in the ultra Orthodox Sara Schnerir's Hebrew Teacher Seminary in Boro Park. She earned a BA Cum Laude in English with a Concentration in Writing from Brooklyn College. In 1971, she moved to Israel with her husband Alex, settling in Jerusalem. She earned a Master's in English Literature under a full honor's grant from Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1977. Before beginning her career as an author, she worked as a free lance writer, appearing in the Jerusalem Post, Hadassah Magazine, and many other periodicals. Her first novel, Jephte's Daughter, was an international bestseller, and has been listed among the 100 most important Jewish books of all time. This was followed by Sotah, her first book to be translated into Hebrew, which spent 92 weeks on the bestseller list. This was followed by four international bestsellers: The Sacrifice of Tamar, The Ghost of Hannah Mendes, Chains Around the Grass and The Covenant. In 2002, Mrs. Ragen was honored by Israeli President Moshe Katzav for outstanding achievement in the field of literature. Her first play, Women's Minyan, is in its third year of nonstop performances at Israel's National Theatre, Habimah.

One of the most influential and widely read columnists on the internet, with thousands of subscribers world-wide, Mrs. Ragen has achieved special prominence for her work in gender equality, serving as Israel's delegate to the Council of Europe's International Conference on Women's Rights in September 2000. Subjected along with her family to the horror of the Netanya Passover Massacre, she has used the experience to write passionately about the dangers of terror organizations and their supporters, as well as the experience of innocent civilians who find themselves on the front lines. She lectures extensively all over the world.

• Naomi Ragen's Official Website

Oftentimes when we discuss the Israeli-Arab confict, the haters come out with their propaganda. But when the guest speaks from a position of knowledge and truth, her veracity is recognized even by those who would otherwise come forth with a flurry of insults.

Such was the case when famed Israeli author and columnist Naomi Ragen joined us. Her more important credentials are that of the mother of an Israeli soldier who doesn't want her son put in harm's way. And the survivor, along with her family, of a terrorist attack at a hotel where a Passover meal was being served. That attack, by a Hamas-dispatched Palestenian suicide bomber in 2002 killed 29 people, mostly senior citizens, and injured 140 more. People who were just attending, in peace, a Passover seder at the Park Hotel in Netanya.

Ragen reflects the dreams of most Israelis. That they can be left alone to live in peace with their Arab neighbors. But she wonders how much of a chance there is, because Palestinian children are still taught to hate Israelis at school. Such indoctrination is reprehensible. Worse, when it comes to the children, is the celebration that takes place when a child successfully completes a suicide terrorist mission. Clearly, this perverse view of life and death has to be altered. The real question is, do the political, religious and educational leaders of the Palestinians possess the will to change it?