Rachel Kantz Feder

Rachel Kantz Feder is a researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and a lecturer at Tel Aviv University. She is completing her doctorate on Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and the Foundations of Modernization and Revivalism in Shi‘ism.

A call to arms: what lies beneath Sistani’s potent fatwa?

Ayatollah Sistani’s fatwa, urging collective responsibility for Iraq’s religious sites, has been variously construed as a Shi’i mobilization campaign or a nationalist call to arms. But beneath the fatwa’s surface lie deeper roots: the very ruptures and fissures that plague Iraq’s Shi’is.

By Rachel Kantz Feder

/ 10 Jul 2014

Iraq's political crisis and the shadow of sectarian politics

As the US completed its official withdrawal from Iraq, a series of events stoked a political crisis that will push Iraq toward a precipice.

By Rachel Kantz Feder

/ 28 Dec 2011

Obstacles to Iranian influence in Iraq: Shi'i leaders' pattern of oscillation and Turkey's increasing footprint

As the US prepares to withdraw a number of factors may frustrate Iranian ambitions in Iraq. Iraq's Shi'i leaders conduct and Ankara's expanding role is slated to serve as a counterweight to Iranian influence.

By Rachel Kantz Feder

/ 1 Jul 2011