Invisible Boundaries

Newsletter (Digital)
Invisible Boundaries is a newsletter composed by Gabi Mitchell, a PhD candidate in Government & International Affairs at Virginia Tech University. The goal of Invisible Boundaries is to share reflections on Middle East current events from the vantage point of Jerusalem and always share three links to content (articles, videos, podcasts) that offer perspectives into the region’s complexities that go beyond the hype and headlines. Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and archive. Support me! Between identifying meaningful content, and writing and editing, the Invisible Boundaries newsletter takes time, effort, and resources. I’ve set up a link where you can support my work and buy me a cup of coffee, the lifeblood of doctoral students worldwide! Each coffee is $5. You can buy 1 cup, or 20, whatever works! I promise I will consume all of the coffee, deeply appreciate your donation, and return the favor the next time you are in the Holy Land. Source

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Issue 101: Mr. Hasbara

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
I’m biased. English is a great language - the lingua franca of our century, and anyone who speaks it or acquires it has an advantage both academically and professionally. If you’re going to learn a foreign language, start with English. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is proof of what knowing English can do. He speaks it like someone born on the podium. He has no trace of accent, and has an instinctive feel for the American style of speech.
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Issue 100: Finally

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
Life is too short not to celebrate important milestones. After many years, I am delighted to share that I have completed my PhD in Planning, Governance, and Globalization at Virginia Tech. This was a long journey. I recall the first time I met my advisor, Professor Joel Peters, who understood that I was considering various doctoral programs and shared details with me about Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs. It was a meeting that changed my life.
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Issue 99: The Map Is Not the Corridor

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
Since Israel and the United States launched military strikes against Iran on February 28, 2026, the Strait of Hormuz has remained effectively closed. Roughly 20% of the world’s seaborne crude oil and a quarter of its LNG exports normally pass through the strait; flows have fallen sharply, with only limited volumes moving in the past two months.
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Issue 97: What Was This All For?

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
Thursday morning, April 9, 2026, Jerusalem On Thursday, the schools in Jerusalem reopened. My daughters put on their backpacks and walked out the door, and for a moment it looked like every other morning. Routine restored. Except that word - routine - no longer means what it once did. I’ve noted in the past that my five-year-old has spent half her life at war.
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Issue 96: A War Without an Off-Ramp

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
This past week, my 12-year-old daughter asked me to look at something on her phone. It was a 30-second Instagram video—one of those clipped explainers meant to compress history into something you can scroll past. Invisible Boundaries is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The video showed a world map. Countries lit up one by one as an American bomber moved from South America to the Middle East.
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Issue 95: Israel, Iran and the Laws of Motion

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
Since the war began on Saturday, February 28, everything has blurred together. Schools are closed. Routine has vanished. You try to balance obligations to work and family while, every few minutes or hours, dropping everything to run to the shelter. The distant booms overhead are a constant reminder that we are not stuck at home because of another pandemic. This is another war, part of a larger war that began on October 7, 2023.
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Issue 94: Connections Lost and Found

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
The Ohio State University is one of the most important institutions in my life, and this week I was reminded why - twenty years after graduating - my affinity for my alma mater continues to reward me in unexpected ways. This story begins with my father. Invisible Boundaries is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Issue 93: What I am reading about the Iran protests

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
Welcome to 2026. I am taking a break from a period of intensive dissertation writing to share a few thoughts on the developing story in Iran, and more importantly to give voice to Iranians who understand their country far better than I do. When I first started Invisible Boundaries, my goal was to establish a space where I could share the perspectives of others, usually featuring voices from the region on the region.
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Issue 92: When Yesterday Meets Tomorrow

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
It happens once a day. When I’m sitting over a draft of my dissertation. When I’m waiting for the bus, lost in thought. When I lie beside our youngest daughter, hoping my presence will help her fall asleep. I remember October 7, 2023. I remember jumping out of the guest room at our friends’ home in Be’er Sheva at 6:30 in the morning to the sound of sirens, rushing our kids into the domed bomb shelter in the yard.
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Issue 91: The Binding of Isaac

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By Gabi Mitchell
| Invisible Boundaries
As is typical of Jewish holidays, the Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah, serves multiple purposes. It is Yom Harat Olam - the Day the World Was Born - the anniversary and celebration of creation. It is Yom HaDin - the Day of Judgment - when our actions are weighed by God, and, depending on our merits, we are inscribed either in the Book of Life or the Book of Death. It is Yom HaZikaron - the Day of Remembrance - when God reviews our past deeds and we engage in introspection and repentance.
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