Dr. Yoni Mendel is the project manager of the Middle East field at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Franz Rosenzweig Center for the Study of Jewish-German Culture and Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he examines the influence of Jewish-German scholars on Arabic studies in Jewish schools in Israel. Yoni’s areas of research and writing at the Forum for Regional Thinking are the Arab world and Arab culture through Israeli eyes, including challenges of visual impairment and blindness.