Before I acquired wisdom and discontinued my cable television subscription, I sometimes engaged in the masochistic practice of watching Israeli political discussion shows, like Politica or Wisemen’s Council. It’s sort of like watching the verbal equivalent of mud-wrestling – there’s a total lack of civility. Prominent journalists, politicians and academics gather around a table, usually with the moderator symbolically seated between the right and left-wingers, and they just go at it: they yell, they interrupt, they indulge in personal insults and they occasionally let loose a racist or sexist remark.

And we’re talking about a group of people with a common language and history here.

So imagine what it would be like to watch an Israeli face down three people who support the program to boycott his country, in a round-table discussion on Iran’s PressTV. Do you think it would be possible to maintain a civil discourse?

Yishay Mor, an Israeli living in London, proves that it is possible to have an “honest, respectful and open debate” even when there is no pretense of balance on the part of the host. Read Yishay’s short background description of the discussion on his blog, and watch the embedded video while you’re there. Yishay comes in at about 11 minutes. And I’m sure he’d be interested in your feedback, too.