Haaretz Weekly

Early on, it was clear the Beinin-Atzili family was not a typical hostage family, filmmaker Brandon Kramer, director of the new award-winning documentary “Holding Liat” said on the Haaretz Podcast. After learning that his relatives, Liat and Aviv Atzili, had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and held hostage by Hamas, and that Liat’s father and son were traveling to Washington, D.C. several weeks later with other Israeli-American hostage families to lobby on behalf of their loved ones, Kramer knew he had to document the visit. As he began to film what would become “Holding Liat” – which won Best Documentary upon its debut at the Berlinale Film Festival and is about to make its U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival – Kramer noticed that their family’s experience “didn't fit neatly into any box.” Yehuda Beinin, Liat’s father, was openly calling for peace and reconciliation, and opposing the forceful military response the Israeli government was planning - from the start. At the same time, Kramer explains, “His grandson Netta – who had barely survived the attacks and was traumatized and very angry – and his other daughter, Tal, didn’t want to speak about politics at all. So within this one family, we saw a microcosm of the debates and fractures, and we felt we had a responsibility to try to make sense of this moment through this one family's lens.” Also speaking on the podcast, one of the film’s producers, Libby Lenkinski, noted that the authenticity of “Holding Liat” held it apart from the slew of October 7 documentaries designed with a political agenda that comprise “hour-and-a-half long visual op-eds” focused on making either a pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian case. At the same time, Yehuda, the film’s focus, “is a really great example of something that we see often on the left – a person warning about what might be coming and initially being thought of as alarmist or paranoid, and it turning out to be true.” When Yehuda was filmed in the first months of the war, warning that Netanyahu would pursue a brutal and endless war to serve a far-right political agenda, “I don’t think any of us could have imagined the kind of devastation that we would be seeing in Gaza, the endless killing and destruction. I think so many Israelis wanted to believe that this was necessary to bring back the hostages, and now it's just so clear that that was never the point. …Yehuda called out Bibi's bluff early on, and it turned out to be truer than we ever would have wanted to believe.” Subscribe to Haaretz.com for up-to-the-minute news and analysis from Israel in English. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The shootings of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky as they stepped out of an American Jewish Committee event in Washington D.C. was “the realization of our worst fears,” the organization’s CEO, Ted Deutch, said on the Haaretz Podcast. In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Deutch said he hoped the tragedy would mark a “turning point” and send a message to world leaders that “this is what happens when you don't speak out, when there isn't moral clarity, when you allow language like ‘globalize the intifada’ and ‘from the river to the sea’. People espousing these things while wearing Palestinian Islamic Jihad headbands and marching the streets in support of Hamas - this is where it can lead.” In the U.S., Deutch said, he called on politicians and other leaders to “stand up and say Jews should not feel afraid to gather together in a synagogue, community center or anywhere just because of who they are. It's crazy that we've accepted checkpoints and armed guards and metal detectors and tactical SWAT teams standing outside of synagogues on Shabbat as normal. And that's what we need to hear from our leaders. Have we heard enough of that? No.” Asked about Israeli ministers who pointed fingers of blame for the killing at European leaders supporting sanctions against Israel for atrocities in Gaza, Deutch said “We need the world to stand with us, and I'm not pushing anyone away right now. I want them to try to learn from this, to be our allies and take a firmer stand than they might have previously.” “The person that I blame for what happened is the shooter,” he added, “but the environment in which it happened? That's something for which I blame the entire world.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since October 7 and throughout the endless months of the tragedy of the Gaza War, "fiction writing has felt impossible," Israeli author Dror Mishani said on the Haaretz Podcast. "There are too many tragedies around us." Mishani is Israel's premier writer of crime novels and a successful screenwriter. His work has been translated into more than 20 languages and adapted for television in the U.S. and Europe. "Before October 7, I was writing a crime novel. I'm trying to work on it again," Mishani said. "But the story and the characters are completely changed by the war, because I am. I'm still looking for the right ways to write fiction about what we're going through. As I've said, I'm still not quite sure it is possible." For many years, Mishani made a clear separation between politics and his art. But since the war, he told podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, confronting the topic "is the only form of engagement possible now – for writers, for scholars, for journalists. We have to stop this war. We have to figure out how to avoid the next catastrophe, and we have to find ways to live here together." Throughout the first year of the war, Mishani published columns in Haaretz critical of the war. He also kept a diary of his experiences of wartime Israel, publishing the entries as a column in the European press. The result is his latest book "Unheroic War Diary," published in German, French, Spanish and Hebrew. The reception of his war diary overseas, he says, has been positive, and thus far, he does not feel shunned by his readers in Europe. Along with criticism of Israel's war policies, he has felt "sympathy and identification" from fans abroad with the trauma Israel experienced on October 7. "Maybe this is because I wrote this diary," he said. "I don't know what would have happened if I had gone there bringing my French or German or Spanish readers another detective novel – if they would have wanted to read it. Maybe they would be right." "We are living in this divide," he says of the current stage of the war for Israelis. "On one hand, life is apparently normal: We watch TV, go to restaurants, we live our lives while we know that something is deeply, terribly wrong with what our country is doing in our name just a few kilometers from us. I don't know what the consequences of that will be. I know that a lot of people have decided to leave the country because that divide was too much, and they just chose normality." For now, he said, "I have chosen to give up normality." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fancies himself as Israel's Winston Churchill, when in fact, the Gaza war has demonstrated he is exactly the opposite of Great Britain's storied leader, asserted Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent for The Economist, former Haaretz analyst and a Netanyahu biographer, on the Haaretz Podcast. "We shouldn't be making this World War II – the Nazis against everybody else, and comparing that to Israel's war with Hamas. But that's being almost forced upon us by Netanyahu and his supporters," said Pfeffer in conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer. Pfeffer, who recently published a column in Haaretz about Netanyahu's repeated slogan of achieving "total victory" over Hamas and his misguided identification with Churchill in the second world war, said "Churchill was a brilliant wartime leader. He managed to bring the British together at that crucial point in history, uniting a country at a time of a terrible war. Yet, he didn't have the ability to win elections. Netanyahu is the opposite. As we've seen so clearly, he is totally useless at uniting Israel at a time of war, but he's very, very good at winning elections and clinging onto power." Pfeffer also pointed out that the "scorched earth" victory model that Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners are pursuing in Gaza hews closer to former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Russian President Vladimir Putin than Churchill and the other Western allies. Netanyahu should be reminded, Pfeffer said, that the U.K. and the U.S. were "magnanimous and benevolent" victors who poured millions into rebuilding a de-Nazified Germany. "That is a very, very different vision of victory."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was clear during U.S. President Donald Trump's tour of the Gulf states that his foreign policy is in a very "different place" than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's, Washington-based veteran diplomatic journalist Laura Rozen said on the Haaretz Podcast, pointing to the growing divergence in interests between the White House and Israel's ruling coalition, both on Gaza and Iran. In his second term in office, Trump "wants to make peace deals and trade deals," Rozen said, as Netanyahu, "for his own political reasons, wants to continue the Gaza war indefinitely." From his behavior, it seems that Netanyahu "may be missing the signals that Trump is going in such a different direction," she said, pointing to Trump's agreement to cease U.S. attacks on the Houthis, his meeting with Syria's leader during his stay in Riyadh, his statements favoring a diplomatic nuclear deal with Iran over military confrontation, and his willingness to negotiate directly with Hamas for the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. Netanyahu's decision to sit on the sidelines, she said, and failure to make a gesture that could have moved Trump to include a stop in Jerusalem on his Middle East visit, was something that not only the Trump administration but "a lot of pro-Israel Americans" found disappointing. Many of the changes in Trump's Middle East policies – particularly regarding Iran – since his first term, Rozen noted, can be attributed to a power shift in the Republican Party. The increasingly strong "America First, MAGA wing of the GOP is not interested in wars of choice in the Middle East," she said, and thus far, in the second Trump term "the neoconservative element, the hawkish element, is definitely getting battered." As a result, "strangely, you see MAGA people who are almost with the more traditional progressive Democrats when it comes to looking for a diplomatic solution on Iran, which is not something we saw in Trump's first term. It feels a little bit disorienting, even here in Washington."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Announcing the release of Edan Alexander – the last living Israeli hostage in Gaza with U.S. citizenship – U.S. President Donald Trump did something he never did before, Haaretz columnist Amir Tibon said on the Haaretz podcast. “Trump has spoken before releasing hostages, but this is the first time that he explicitly called to end the 'brutal war' to bring back 'ALL of the hostages,'" Tibon said. It is a hopeful sign, he explained, because without new determination by the U.S. president to apply “massive pressure” on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “this nightmare will not end.” In Tibon’s view, “Netanyahu is determined to continue the war, and he's determined to abandon the remaining hostages who are not lucky enough to be American citizens like Edan Alexander.” The fact that only Alexander was freed, while the non-American hostages remain in captivity, is a difficult pill to swallow for both the hostage families and the wider Israeli public, he added. While Alexander’s rescue is being celebrated, at the same time “it’s shocking that he is being saved because of his American citizenship, while the other hostages – including soldiers, including civilians – are left behind by the Israeli government.” Noting reports that Qatar would be gifting President Trump with a luxury airliner during the U.S. leader’s visit to the Gulf, Tibon made a tongue-in-cheek appeal to the Qataris. “Please give a second plane to Sara Netanyahu in return for ending the war and saving all the hostages. What is one airplane for the lives of so many people, after all. If you hear me, Qatari Government – Sara Netanyahu also needs a 747 – and we need the war to be over.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Benjamin Netanyahu's government may have announced plans to intensify its Gaza offensive and call up thousands of reservists – but "many Israelis, and especially the IDF top brass, are actually hoping that President [Donald] Trump will again intervene and reach some kind of deal," Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel said on the Haaretz Podcast. Pressure from the American president will be the only way Netanyahu can resist the "huge political pressure to proceed" with the escalation and a long-term military presence in Gaza placed on him by far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, Harel said. "Unless Trump decides to intervene, we might be facing a massive military operation, and in my view, that would be a disaster." Speaking with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Harel assessed the war's multiple fronts in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran, emphasizing that in nearly every case, the will – and whims – of the U.S. president plays a decisive role. "It's quite clear that Trump is less interested than before and talks less about the Palestinian conflict and the Gaza Riviera idea – it may be because he fears failure there. He seems to prefer to invest his time and efforts in the Saudis, Emiratis, and Qataris who are offering him trillions of dollars in deals in weapons or technology. This is what Trump is focused on."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Orly Erez-Likhovski was worried when she heard about the threats against attendees of a screening of the annual alternative Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Ceremony in the city of Ra'anana set to be held at a Reform synagogue on the eve of Israel's Memorial Day. Erez-Likhovski, Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), told Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer how the "emotional and moving" ceremony was disrupted by hundreds of opponents chanting outside, throwing stones at the building, and intruders attempting to break in and disrupt it. At the end, when police escorted her to her car, a stone smashed her windshield and injured her. "It was very, very, very scary," she said. "I've been to many protests in the last 20 years because of my work at IRAC. But I've never seen such an amount of violence and hatred in my life. It was really a very, very frightening experience." Despite the violence, Erez-Likhovski said she was "proud" of the congregation for refusing to back down and cancel the event because of the hate and incitement. "Giving in to extremism is dangerous in itself, but also because it's a slippery slope. I think we have to stand up for our values." She said she was disappointed by the police's failure to handle the situation and the "insufficient" reaction of the country's leaders, who failed to condemn the violence. "I would expect everyone to condemn this, because it seems like a very basic thing to say you should not come and hit people and try to kill them because they think differently. Unfortunately, this is not obvious in the current state of affairs in Israel."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Wednesday, Israelis will mark Yom HaZikaron, the Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers. As of last count, there were more than 25,000 of them. Although Israel has a highly developed culture of grieving and mourning, as a country that has suffered war and bloodshed since its first days, an unusual commemoration project has literally taken over the public sphere this year. It began on a small scale, with friends and relative of soldiers killed in action since October 7 hanging up stickers featuring their photos and other interesting tidbits about them. It quickly spread to the point that in some places in Israel – like the Tel Aviv Hashalom train station – the entire space is wallpapered in them. On the Haaretz Podcast, Dr. Noam Tirosh, head of the Department of Communication Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, who has spent the past few months studying these stickers, spoke to Judy Maltz about what he has learned. According to Tirosh, "the stickers are clearly an attempt by people to tell a wider story. The fallen soldiers were not only soldiers. They were lovers. They were football fans. They were friends of lots of people. They were human beings."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ittay Flescher, like most peace activists who devote their lives to cultivating Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, has gotten used to being called dangerously deluded and naive. “I hear it at least five or six days a week. Recently, there have been thousands of online comments saying that I am naive,” he told host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the Haaretz Podcast, in a conversation about his newly published book “The Holy and the Broken: a cry for Israeli-Palestinian peace from a land that must be shared.” After teaching about Israel and the Middle East in his native Australia, Flescher immigrated to Israel from Australia six years ago. Since then, he has brought together Israeli and Palestinian teens aged 12 to 16 through Kids4Peace, a program where they talk about religion, identity, history, learn each other’s languages, play games and attend summer camp. The goal of the exercise is for participants to “become less afraid of one another and build friendships and build trust.” Since October 7, that work has become significantly much more challenging. In his book, he writes of these challenges – including a personal crisis of faith sparked by seeing Palestinian teens he worked with expressing support for the actions of Hamas on October 7 on social media. “I think anyone that works in peacebuilding and says nothing changed in the last year is not telling the truth,” he said. But at the same time, he stressed, “There are also hundreds of other stories of people who, as a result of these kinds of experiences and dialogue, are speaking out against October 7 if they're Palestinians. And Israelis who are speaking out against the destruction and bombing of Gaza.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israel and Ireland are in the midst of a diplomatic crisis – with the Israeli embassy in Dublin closed in protest of Ireland’s decision to join South Africa’s genocide lawsuit at the International Court of Justice and its recognition of a Palestinian state. But that didn’t stop the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv from inviting peace activist Bronagh Hinds to meet with Jewish and Palestinian civil society organizations and women’s groups to share the lessons learned in Northern Ireland and encourage them to take bold steps towards peace even as their leaders hesitate. Hines is best known for helping create a women's coalition that played a key role in the Good Friday agreement negotiations. On the Haaretz Podcast, Bronagh discussed her visit and the tense Israeli-Irish standoff. “In Ireland, people are sad about the shuttering and the breaking of the relationship,” she said, but “they also understand the Irish government's position.” She noted that until the 1990’s, the ethnic and territorial conflicts in the world considered most intractable were Northern Ireland, South Africa and Israel and Palestine. “I'm not surprised that South Africa and Ireland did what they did, because in both of those conflicts, the issues of equality and the human rights and the humanitarian issues were extremely important … I truly believe that the Irish government is doing what it has done from an understanding about how one gets to a peace process.“ The process of reconciliation between peoples with a violent and traumatic history of conflict is deeply challenging, Hinds admitted, emphasizing that successful conflict resolution must be “as inclusive as possible.” In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday talks “included people who called their counterparts terrorists,” she said. “It’s all painful, but the prize is peace in the end.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With 59 hostages still in Gaza, both dead and alive, Jon Polin, the father of slain Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, doesn’t believe it’s appropriate for any Jew to have a festive Passover celebrating freedom this year. "The point," he says, "is let's lean into the pain this year, and not even try to sugarcoat it for our kids" Polin and his wife Rachel became prominent international advocates for their son Hersh’s release until the tragic news of his murder by Hamas terrorists in an underground tunnel last August. The couple continue to advocate tirelessly for the release of the remaining hostages. On the Haaretz Podcast, Polin spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer about how his family is facing their difficult first Passover Seder since Hersh’s death and how he believes others should treat the holiday. “We've talked about symbolic things that people should do: Maybe put a lemon on your table. A lemon because it's yellow, the color of the hostage struggle, and because it's bitter - to reflect the bitterness that the hostages and their families and all the Jewish people are going through,” he said, also suggesting “instead of just dipping our greens in the salt water, let's drink some salt water, because we know from testimonies of recently released hostages that is what they are drinking." In recent weeks, Polin made headlines in Israel by calling for members of the coalition to refrain from wearing yellow ribbon pins symbolizing solidarity with hostage families and on the podcast, explained his rationale. “If you're in a position of authority and you are not willing to do the things necessary to bring home hostages, that's your political choice. But then, don't wear the pin.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Haaretz journalist Nir Hasson has been covering the war in Gaza for months. He has seen so many horrifying acts of war go unpunished and uninvestigated, that he was hardly surprised by the killing of 15 aid workers at the end of March that shocked the world. The IDF first said the paramedics who were killed were suspicious, and claimed the vehicles they were in did not have their emergency lights on. Then a video of the incident was exposed to the world in the New York Times, showing clearly marked ambulances. “There is no accountability when it comes to commanders and soldiers killing innocents or even medical personnel,” Hasson said on the Haaretz Podcast. In his coverage of the army’s operations in Gaza and their effect on the Palestinian population, he regularly sends the IDF spokesperson questions about all kinds of incidents in Gaza. “I ask them: ‘You killed a family; You bombarded a school - what happened there?’ And I have received thousands of replies saying that it will be looked into in an internal investigation unit. But there are no results of any investigations. I don't know of any trial of any soldier who paid any price for killing innocents in Gaza.” Alongside these disturbing military procedures regarding civilian killings, Hasson said, a “really terrifying humanitarian disaster” is brewing. “I sometimes find it hard to get to sleep because I'm thinking about the families and the kids in Gaza and the despair,” he told podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, in a conversation about his coverage of Gaza as well as the West Bank, where, he says, a new level of cooperation and coordination between the Israeli military and violent settlers is a “severe and frightening” development. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Haaretz columnist Amir Tibon, the renewed fighting in Israel with hostages still in captivity, as scandal unfolds around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, represents a “nightmare scenario.” Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, Tibon reviewed the turbulent events of the past week with host Allison Kaplan Sommer – from the arrest of two of Netanyahu’s top aides in the deepening Qatargate affair and the questioning of the prime minister himself, to the botched attempt to replace embattled Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. Tibon pointed to the fact after the two-month reprieve of a cease-fire and hostage release in the first stage of the deal that Netanyahu subsequently abandoned, “we now find ourselves with 59 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the tunnels of Gaza; Israeli troops on the ground; rockets are being fired at northern, southern and central Israel. And instead of dealing with the security needs of the country, we have a prime minister who is running from court to the police investigation. If I had written this three years ago in Haaretz as a scenario of what will happen under Netanyahu, everybody would have dismissed it as hateful anti-Bibi material – a nightmare scenario that will never come true. But this is what is happening right now." Tibon added that Netanyahu’s lightning-quick reversal of his decision to appoint former naval commander Eli Sharvit as Shin Bet director was driven by “dissatisfaction” with his choice by the far-right wing of his own Likud party. The Prime Minister attributing the flip-flop to pressure from the Trump administration, he said, was “an absolute lie.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alongside the threats of the Gaza war and the troubling Qatargate scandal, Israelis should be paying attention to a renewed direct threat to their democracy, according to law professor Meital Pinto. Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, Pinto explains the implications of the newly passed law politicizing the Judicial Appointments Committee, compromising judicial independence and removing the most powerful check on the ruling coalition. But her greatest worry regarding the new push to revive the Netanyahu government’s 2023 judicial coup is its intention to amend the Basic Law on the Knesset, banning any political party determined by the Central Elections Committee – which is controlled by the ruling coalition – to be supporting terrorism. “It will be very easy for politicians to say ‘this expression of an Arab Knesset member is supporting terrorism, and their political party will be out of the democratic game.” If this happens, she warns, there will be no way for the current opposition to win an election, “and that’s very dangerous. I am very afraid that there will not be a free election in 2026.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Like the Watergate affair that brought down President Richard Nixon, the details of the latest scandal to rock the Prime Minister’s Office and the whole of the Netanyahu government have emerged gradually over the past six months. Mounting evidence shows that close aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have, unbeknownst to the Israeli public, been working directly or indirectly for Qatar, the country that funded Hamas as it was planning the murderous rampage of October 7. Bar Peleg, the Haaretz journalist who broke the story that began Qatargate, reviews the fast-moving developments and details of the unfolding story with Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, and explains why it matters. Netanyahu’s desire to disrupt law enforcement’s investigation into Qatargate has been frequently cited as a reason for his recent intensive efforts to fire both Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Shin Bet Head Ronen Bar. Moreover, because of the Israeli government’s policy of “buying quiet” from Hamas with Qatari cash in the years leading up to October 7, and the decision to put Doha at the center of hostage negotiations, Peleg stresses that “we need to know if close Netanyahu advisors have had Qatari interests on their mind. They whisper in his ear, he listens to these people - and that affects our lives in Israel.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was supposed to be a “coming out party” for the newly cozy relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and Europe’s burgeoning far-right politicians. But the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem, planned for Thursday, turned into a “fiasco” and an “embarrassment” due to its controversial guest list, Haaretz English Editor-in-Chief Esther Solomon said on the Haaretz Podcast. The invitations to numerous illiberal populist European politicians with xenophobic, anti-immigrant ideologies led a long and growing list of mainstream Jewish leaders and other participants from Europe and North America to pull out. They were “shocked that Israel a state founded as a sanctuary for the Jewish people after the Holocaust, would be inviting representatives of far-right parties, many of whom have neo-Nazi roots and neo-Nazi activists to a conference that is supposed to be about protecting the Jews of the world,” Solomon noted in her conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer. Also on the podcast, Haaretz correspondent Rachel Fink reports on the resurgence and intensification of the protest movement against the current government that has brought hundreds of thousands to the streets and the expectation that in the coming weeks, they may escalate to mass strikes and shutdowns. The ultimate effectiveness of the protests is still to be determined, Fink said, but their importance in projecting the voice of the majority of Israelis to the wider world has been crucial. “It's a very powerful reminder that we are not our government,” she said.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israel’s decision to return to full-scale war in Gaza was a devastating and tragic turn of events for the families of hostages still being held there, Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen, an Israeli-American IDF soldier, said on the Haaretz Podcast. “It feels as if the hostages and their families are being viewed now as collateral damage,” said Chen, who has not taken a day off from the families’ struggle in over 530 days. “The current government has not done everything in its power to prioritize the release of all the hostages.” That hostage families feel they must direct their appeals to President Donald Trump is a “testament against the current Israeli government. The newly released hostages didn’t get on a minibus and go to Jerusalem to meet the prime minister. They got on a plane and went to the White House.” Last year, the Chen family was told by the IDF that Itay was killed on October 7, and his body is held in Gaza, but Ruby Chen stresses that Hamas has not provided any evidence regarding his son’s condition, and the family won’t sit Shiva and mourn Itay until he is back in Israel. For the families of the 59 remaining hostages - dead and alive - the current situation is “a game of Russian roulette,” he said. “We don't know who is coming out and when. And we don't know who's going to hug and kiss their loved one, and who will need to prepare a funeral and a Shiva.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Haaretz Jewish World editor Judy Maltz joins this episode of the Haaretz Podcast to discuss the crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists in America. According to Maltz, the Trump administration’s targeting of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil for deportation as punishment for leading disruptive anti-Israel protests is “pulling the American Jewish community apart.” Khalil is “no Mother Teresa or Righteous Among the Nations” and is “probably pro-Hamas,” said Maltz, but there is “no evidence” Khalil has committed crimes that justify deportation. “It’s a very complicated place to be a liberal Jew today in America,” she noted. “Whose side are you on? Do you come out against attempts to combat antisemitism on campus? What are you supposed to do?” Also on the podcast, Haaretz columnist and Israeli intelligence expert Yossi Melman explains why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to wait until this week to fire the head of the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service, and why it is so worrying. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ruth Patir had been, in her own words, an “artist without art” over the past year. Until this week. Patir’s inventive feminist video installation "(M)otherland" was set to debut in the Israel Pavilion at the Venice Biennale last April - under the shadow of protests against the Gaza War and efforts to oust her from the festival. Ultimately, she made a controversial decision to keep the exhibit intact but shuttered behind closed doors, with a note on the door saying: “The artist and curators of the Israeli pavilion will open the exhibition when a cease-fire and hostage release agreement is reached.” That never happened throughout the seven months of the Biennale, and, as a result, her work was never seen. As (M)otherland finally meets the public at the Tel Aviv Museum this week, Patir joined Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer to talk about the firestorm in Venice, the challenges for Israeli artists creating during war, and innovative use of motion capture technology and Judean fertility figurines to tell a deeply personal story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if former U.S. President Joe Biden’s envoys had negotiated directly with Hamas behind Israel’s back? Haaretz military analyst Amos Harel says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would surely have cried betrayal and called it de facto recognition of a terrorist group. But it was President Donald Trump’s White House that made such a move, and therefore no criticism or condemnation was uttered from Jerusalem after it was revealed that the direct talks were taking place. The fact that the U.S. president took that step, Harel noted, points to the fact that “Trump is quite frustrated” with the “never-ending” talks to move the hostage release and cease-fire deal into its second stage, which is why “the Trump administration took matters into its own hands and decided to push forward through a back channel with Hamas.” As both Israel and Hamas prepare for a possible return to war, Harel told podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, it appears that Trump’s “instinct is to reach for a deal and not another war.” On the podcast, Harel also discussed the resignation last week of IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, probably the most popular high-ranking officer among Israelis, but not so much among Netanyahu’s government ministers; the findings of the official IDF probe into the failures of October 7, and the growing fury of hostage families.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peter Beinart’s new book, “Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning” confronts his “horror” - even as a long-time harsh critic of Israeli policies - at the devastation that has taken place over the past 15 months. “In 2023, I wrote about my concerns about the possibility of ethnic cleansing on a large scale, as opposed to the small scale ethnic cleansing that has been going on for years,” Beinart said, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. “But I really could not imagine what we've seen in Gaza - which is basically the destruction of an entire society, most of the buildings destroyed, most of the hospitals, schools, universities, agriculture, the necessities of life.” But even worse, he explained, was the “widespread embrace of mass expulsion, not just by people on the Israeli and American right, but by people who were considered moderate, centrist, reasonable, and thoughtful. That's the catastrophe, the horror - and I would even say the evil - that I could not imagine.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of the Haaretz Podcast, host Allison Kaplan Sommer speaks to two journalists who covered last week’s German election, which concluded with a historically strong showing by Germany’s far-right AfD party. German journalist Vera Weidenbach said the popularity of the AfD, which is “a direct successor of the Nazis, and, especially in the East, deeply rooted in neo-Nazi culture,” is a troubling and dangerous development, even though it did not get as many votes as its leaders had hoped. Haaretz’s David Issacharoff discussed the view from Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was applauding the win for the mainstream conservative Christian Democratic Union Party led by Friedrich Merz, “the most pro-Israel politician in Germany.” Although, he noted, “some progressive Jews are trying to warn of this blind support to Israel, or the possible blank check that Merz could give Netanyahu to allow him to continue the war in Gaza.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The death and devastation on October 7 was "the end result of antisemitism unchecked," Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said on the Haaretz Podcast. “Dehumanizing Israelis or Zionists or Jews - leads to inhuman acts.” Greenblatt said that the traumatic events also reinforced for him the “reality that anti-Zionism is‌ a form of antisemitism.” “The crisis is real,” he said. “The danger is here and now. And yet the challenge for all of us is not to lose our humanity in this moment,” adding that “the inhumanity of Hamas doesn't diminish the humanity of Palestinians.” In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer about countering antisemitism during the Gaza War and pitched partisan tension in Washington D.C., Greenblatt also addressed the controversy surrounding his forgiving reaction on social media to Elon Musk’s apparent “Sieg Heil” gesture on President Donald Trump’s inauguration day. Greenblatt expressed regret that he had not “framed” his tweet differently, given “the impact that it had.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daniel Shapiro, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and a key architect of the cease-fire-for-hostages deal underway between Israel and Hamas, said on the Haaretz Podcast that the "ultimate condition" of any post-war settlement for Gaza must be the removal of Hamas from power. Shapiro, speaking to host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the week Israel received the bodies of the murdered Bibas family, said the "terrible and heartbreaking" event revived memories of the days following October 7, when "there were many, many people in the U.S. administration who, in addition to doing the focused, hard work of trying to figure out what the right policies were and prepare for the military and the diplomatic decisions, also had to stop in the middle of the day sometimes and just weep a bit because the brutality was so profound." Discussing President Donald Trump's plan to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian residents, Shapiro advised those welcoming the plan not to get their hopes up. "I can understand the appeal of it to some Israelis who might say, 'well, yeah, it might make our problem of 2 million Palestinians disappear and make the United States own this problem so we don't have to worry about it,' he said, "but that doesn't make it any more serious. It's not going to happen." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At a time when most Israelis, across the political spectrum, have expressed appreciation and gratitude towards the Trump White House for pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to implement the Gaza cease-fire and hostage release agreement, Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), says the "vast majority" of U.S. Jews strongly oppose President Donald Trump's policies. Spitalnik, who spoke to Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer while on a visit to Israel for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem this weekend, said "American Jews are still overwhelmingly a liberal community who believe in democracy, inclusivity and pluralism," and as such they are alarmed by Trump's policies and radical transformation of the government.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The enthusiastic reception among the Israeli public for Donald Trump's Gaza takeover plan - that includes emptying the Strip of almost 2 million Palestinians - has offered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a political boost that he is likely to take full advantage of. Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn said on the Haaretz Podcast that "very sadly, the transfer idea is extremely popular within Israeli Jewish society," though the fear of international condemnation was always there. Now, the fact that the American president himself put the idea of moving Palestinians out of Gaza on the table gives Netanyahu - and other Israelis - the ability to embrace the concept of ethnic cleansing openly.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Israeli hostage Omri Miran, was one of the activists for the release of the hostages who traveled to Washington D.C. last week during the visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In conversation with Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, he says he was disappointed by Netanyahu's refusal to meet with the families in the U.S. capital. Netanyahu extended his stay in Washington, enjoying his time alongside Donald Trump as the U.S. president announced a plan to take over Gaza. But back home, the country was shocked by the emaciated physical state of returning hostages Or Levy, Ohad Ben-Ami and Eli Sharabi, and their stories of severe abuse at the hands of their Hamas captors. Miran, who is married to Lavi's sister Lishay and is father to his toddler nieces Ronni and Alma, is slated to be released only in stage two of the current framework and at the moment, Lavi says, "we are not certain that it is going to take place, or will take place soon enough, because the hostages don't have time - they need to be rescued and released as soon as possible."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's supporters on the Israeli right may be celebrating after President Donald Trump unveiled his "Mar-a-Gaza" vision following the two leaders White House meeting. But Haaretz columnist Alon Pinkas, analyzing the meeting behind the optics, believes Netanyahu has little to celebrate. Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast following the meeting, Pinkas told host Allison Kaplan Sommer that the firestorm over Trump's desire to "own" and "take control" of Gaza and relocate its 2 million residents, overshadowed the fact that Netanyahu clearly failed in his attempt to convince the U.S. president to back out of the cease-fire and hostage release deal with Hamas.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The lives of Palestinians in West Bank refugee camps and surrounding villages have become a "nightmare" as a result of the intensified military campaigns by the IDF against militant groups operating there, says Haaretz West Bank correspondent Hagar Shezaf on the Haaretz Podcast. Two days after the Gaza cease-fire went into effect, Israel began operation "Iron Wall" - an aggressive campaign targeting Palestinian militant groups. It is focused on the Jenin refugee camp, and includes air strikes and raids, the demolishing of infrastructure like water, roads, and electricity, and repeatedly forcing civilians out of their homes. “You can't argue there are militants in these places, but at the same time, there are regular people who just live there, and their life has become a nightmare over the past two years,” particularly since October 7, says Shezaf, discussing how the war - and the cease-fire - has affected the West Bank, which she has covered for the past five years. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After months in Hamas captivity, the release of some Israeli hostages has brought moments of relief - but also difficult questions. While the public sees smiling faces and embraces, the reality behind the scenes is far more complex. In this episode, Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer speaks with Professor Hagai Levine, head of the health team for the Hostages Family Forum and chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physician. What happens to a person’s body and mind after being held hostage for over a year? Why is the Israeli government failing to provide proper long-term care for the freed hostages? And what needs to be done - urgently - to rescue those who are still trapped in Gaza?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the moment, Israelis may think they have U.S. President Donald Trump's unconditional support when it comes to the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon - but that is not the case, according to Haaretz Washington correspondent Ben Samuels. Reviewing Trump’s first weeks in office and their impact on the Middle East, amid reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be visiting the White House in coming days, Samuels noted on the Haaretz Podcast that Trump took dramatic steps with executive orders erasing what he could of President Joe Biden’s legacy. This includes rescinding sanctions on violent extremist settlers in the West Bank, and lifting the only hold that Biden put on heavy payload weapons to Israel. Also on this week's podcast, Haaretz correspondent Linda Dayan described the powerful scene at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv over the weekend, where the release of four young women, IDF spotters who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, brought tears and relief to a country on edge. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, phase one of the long-awaited cease-fire between Israel and Hamas went into effect. As part of the deal, three Israeli hostages - Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher – were freed from Hamas captivity after 471 days. Israelis were glued to their televisions, and thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square, to watch as the women finally came home. But there are 94 more hostages in Hamas' hands, to be released in phases as part of the deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already said that he seeks to continue the war, and Hamas started the cease-fire by delaying their first task – relaying a list of hostages to be released to Israel. For the podcast, Haaretz reporter Linda Dayan spoke to senior writer and columnist Amir Tibon about what the first day of the cease-fire looked like from the Gaza border, and what violating the deal would mean for the hostages and the communities in the region, including his own Nahal Oz.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the first time in over a year, a deal to free the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and end the devastating war there seems imminent. The first stage of the deal will reportedly see 33 people held captive by Hamas return to Israel and a temporary cease-fire. But much of it is still up in the air – even after it becomes final. Many factors can sabotage the deal in its planning stages or during its implementation. Haaretz correspondent Linda Dayan spoke to Haaretz's senior security analyst Amos Harel about the hurdles that remain, the future of Gaza, the fate of the hostages and the dashed hopes of Israel's radical right wing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israelis have long prided themselves on their ability to face war and conflict with strength and resilience. But the tragedy of October 7, and the ongoing war in Gaza and attacks by Iranian proxies have challenged this ethos, says Karen Zivan, a psychologist who works in schools alongside her private practice, and the mother of five sons who have served in reserve duty during the current war. On the podcast, Zivan talks to host Allison Kaplan Sommer about the different ways the war has taken its toll on the Israeli psyche, and how mental health professionals are coping with the enormous well of need. Haaretz correspondent Nagham Zbeedat also joins the podcast to discuss her coverage of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and specifically her recent article on the inability of parents of newborn babies to meet basic needs. "When the war broke out, it was declared that Israel was going to war against Hamas and those who praise Hamas," Zbeedat said, explaining her decision to focus on the issue. "But babies had no control. Children and women are most affected by the war and they have absolutely no control... War isn't just about bombs and airstrikes, but also the psychological struggle that parents go through knowing that they can't provide a secure and safe environment for their children."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Israel was rocked by the story of a young man who served in Gaza that went on a trip to Brazil – and found himself wanted for questioning for war crimes. He managed to flee the country before he was arrested, but questions remained: What does this mean for soldiers and reservists who fought in the war and want to travel abroad? Is this the new normal? Haaretz correspondent Linda Dayan spoke to Amir Tibon, a senior writer and columnist for the Haaretz English edition, about efforts by pro-Palestinian groups to track Israelis who saw combat in Gaza and push for their prosecution, unwittingly aided by the soldiers themselves, who posted pictures and videos from the front, against the IDF’s orders.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A year has come and gone, and Israel has worn down Hamas and Gaza and decimated the leadership and manpower of Hezbollah, achieving many of its stated objectives since the war began. But one of the most – if not the most – pressing issue has yet to be solved. One hundred people kidnapped by Hamas and other militants in Gaza remain in captivity, over 450 days later. Each week, their families and supporters protest for their release, pleading for a deal that will see their loved ones come home and the fighting cease. But why hasn't this happened yet, and why do the negotiations keep falling apart? Haaretz reporter Linda Dayan spoke to Daniel Shek, a former Israeli ambassador and the head of diplomacy for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, about the negotiations, why the Israeli government won't end the war, the international community's failures and what the future might hold.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The turbulent events of 2024 in Israel had a significant impact around the world. The ongoing war in Gaza and other fronts had a particularly deep and emotional effect on the lives of Diaspora Jews, who coped with angry protests against Israel on campuses and in city centers, and with soaring rates of antisemitic violence. The new and disturbing environment ignited “a feeling of vulnerability and exile that came back to us,” said Paris Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur, one of the important voices from the Diaspora who joined the Haaretz Podcast over the course of the year. Excerpts from the conversation between podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer and Horvilleur, along with insights from interviews with other leading thinkers from the Jewish world like writers Franklin Foer, Ayelet Waldman, and Masha Gessen and award-winning playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner are featured on this special year-end edition of the podcast.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special year-end episode, we take an in-depth look at the seismic events that shaped Israel in 2024 through the conversations on the Haaretz Podcast. It was a year in which the shadow of October 7, 2023 and its aftermath - the death and destruction in Gaza, the hostages still held by Hamas, unprecedented fighting between Israel and Hezbollah - loomed large with the nation grappling with its most devastating multi-front war in decades. Featuring excerpts from interviews with newsmakers and the analysis and insights of expert Haaretz journalists, we explore Israel’s journey through 2024 and its series of dramatic events and ask what has been learned - or not learned - from this ongoing crisis? The episode includes conversations with Ambassador Dennis Ross, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jonathan Dekel-Chen - the father of an American-Israeli hostage in Gaza, and Haaretz journalists Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Sheren Falah Saab, Amir Tibon, Ben Samuels and Dahlia Scheindlin.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of the Haaretz Podcast, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Noa Landau talks to host Allison Kaplan Sommer about how Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to stay in power since the colossal failure of October 7, 2023. Landau explains how Netanyahu’s aggressive shaping of the narrative of October 7 and the war in Gaza and Lebanon has helped him retain his grip, with the help of the “poison machine” smearing his enemies, an issue that has been in the spotlight this week following a television exposé on the ways his wife and son directed these campaigns. The conversation explores the judicial overhaul’s return and what it means for democracy in Israel; Israel’s rightward shift; how Netanyahu’s alliance with the incoming Trump administration factors into his plans; Israel’s growing international isolation; and recent Haaretz interviews with Netanyahu supporters who describe their devotion to him as unconditional (the article will be published in English this weekend). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Haaretz senior columnist and former diplomat Alon Pinkas says that for years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tacitly supported the continuation of the brutal dictatorship of Bashar Assad in Syria, and it is absurd for him to claim credit for helping to topple Assad’s rule by weakening the mainstays of Iranian power in the region. “He might as well claim credit for the invasion of Normandy or the fall of the Berlin Wall or the surrender of Japan,” said Pinkas on the Haaretz Podcast. “He had nothing to do with those things. That he decimated Hamas and decapitated or degraded Hezbollah? Absolutely, but the Israeli military did that. That’s the same military he maligned and that he foul-mouthed in the days and weeks following the October 7, 2023 calamity.” According to Pinkas, Netanyahu is suffering from “delusions of grandeur” in his attempts to convince Israelis and the wider world that he is somehow remaking the Middle East by “cherry-picking successes, ignoring failures and presenting a false narrative.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israel, the United States, and European leaders are all missing a unique opportunity in their policy stance and behavior toward the new post-Assad regime in Syria, veteran Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom said on the Haaretz Podcast. Carlstrom, a journalist for The Economist currently based in Dubai, said that the leader of the Islamist faction that led the toppling of Bashar Assad’s regime has made it clear that he has no hostile intentions towards Israel. And yet, Israel has attacked hundreds of targets in the country, targeting weapons depots and air defense systems. Israel's decision to deploy troops on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights and seize control of a buffer zone between the two countries is, according to Carlstrom, worrying and alienating the Syrian population. "For Syrians, that looks like exploitation, not security," he explained. Also on the podcast, German journalist Vera Weidenbach discussed how the collapse of Assad’s regime has reignited debates about Syrian refugees in Europe. With asylum applications frozen in Germany, and with other countries considering similar steps, she said refugees face mounting uncertainty as “deeply polarizing” rhetoric intensifies. "You see the far-right dominating the discourse in Germany, celebrating Assad’s fall as a reason for refugees to ‘finally go home,’ creating a toxic atmosphere." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Haaretz Podcast, host Allison Kaplan Sommer and Haaretz columnist Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin delve into the trial of Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing corruption charges while continuing to lead the country at wartime. From the demonstrations outside the courtroom where Netanyahu took the stand this week, to the calculated strategies inside, they unpack the layers of drama, history, and legal maneuvering on display. This trial isn’t just about one man - it’s about the integrity of Israel’s judiciary and the resilience of its democracy. With tensions running high and public opinion deeply divided, what’s at stake for Israel’s future?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rapid collapse of the Assad regime in Syria has left Israel concerned about the future of what has been its quietest border in an era of continual instability and war, as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that drove Assad out and has roots in Al-Qaeda and ISIS, takes charge. "I suspect they will probably send signals to Israel directly or indirectly, that they're not interested in igniting anything there," Haaretz Podcast guest Hassan Hassan, editor-in-chief of New Lines Magazine, said. Hassan, a Syrian-born journalist and author who has studied Islamist groups, believes that their posture towards Israel would be "cut from the same cloth" as Assad's, who "never really waged war against Israel since 1973." Haaretz senior military analyst Amos Harel, also on the podcast, said that Israeli officials are wary of the group and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. According to Harel, the Syrian rebel leader currently "at least pretends to to have become more of a moderate. He doesn't talk like an extreme jihadist anymore. But don't think I'm buying into this, and neither are the Israeli intelligence community and the Israeli leadership."  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The evidence is mounting that Israel is entrenching itself militarily in Gaza for the long term. At the same time, Israel's settler movements and far-right government are making no secret of their concrete plans to revive the Jewish settlements in the Strip. On the Haaretz Podcast. Avi Scharf, national security and open source intelligence editor at Haaretz reviews the findings of his investigation into the establishment of military installations and uprooting of Gaza civilians based on satellite imagery. Haaretz staff writer Rachel Fink, also speaking on the podcast, talks about determined settler activists, led by veteran Daniella Weiss, who have partnered with their allies in the Netanyahu government to maximize the pressure on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enable them to realize their dream: resurrecting the settlements that were forcibly evacuated when Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In both Israel and the United States, women's rights and their autonomy are under attack from the surging power of far-right religious political forces in the current Netanyahu government and future Trump White House.  In Israel, the “creeping theocracy” is out in the open and the debate is in the public square, while in the U.S. there is less of an understanding that “disassembling American constitutional democracy is part of a theological effort,” said Dahlia Lithwick, a journalist at Slate and host of the award-winning Amicus podcast.  Lithwick and Tel Aviv University law professor and civil rights activist Dr. Yofi Tirosh joined Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer to unpack, compare and contrast the erosion of women's rights and its impact on democracy in the two countries. They discussed how gender equality is the linchpin of civil society, why authoritarian regimes target women first, how political fatigue is undermining activism, and compared America's conflict over abortion to Israel's fights surrounding gender segregation.  From the ramifications of Israel's judicial overhaul to America's Dobbs decision that stripped women of reproductive rights, the two women connected the dots on how both countries are grappling with creeping theocracy and the normalization of extremism.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Benjamin Netanyahu's government's multi-front assault on the media - spearheaded by an economic boycott of Haaretz - is a blatant attempt to intimidate Israeli journalists into self-censorship and weaken press outlets that continue to dare to report critically on the behavior and policies of the nation's leaders, media critic and journalist Oren Persico said on the Haaretz Podcast. The sanctions imposed on Haaretz, and the new bill introduced this week aimed at defunding Kan, Israel's public broadcaster, are designed to “bully the free press” and act as a “sword that is supposed to hang over their heads and and try to intimidate them,” said Persico, a staff writer for The Seventh Eye, an independent Israeli  magazine that covers the media. Anat Saragusti, press freedom director at the Union of Journalists in Israel, explained how these aggressive moves by the government are accompanied by an orchestrated smear campaign against journalists and whole outlets. The smear campaign, led by Netanyahu and his loyalists, she said, has already led to physical violence against reporters in the field and threats against journalists. “Even if some of these laws will not pass in the Knesset, and even if the sanctions will not be imposed on Haaretz, it has already had a very, very powerful effect,” she said.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer explores the fallout from the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants issued for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant. Joined by Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Amir Tibon and international law expert Aeyal Gross, the discussion covers how these developments impact Israel's global standing, the legal and moral debates around the Gaza war, and the the explosive BibiLeaks scandal.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer welcomes Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, to discuss the challenges of leading progressive American Jews during Israel's Gaza war and ahead of a second Trump presidency. Rabbi Jacobs opens up about generational divides, love for Israel despite government policies, and the urgency of Jewish unity in the face of rising antisemitism. From engaging young members of the community to addressing political polarization, this candid conversation explores how Jewish values endure in complex times.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to include Russia in the process of negotiating a ceasefire with Hezbollah struck Middle East expert and former MK Ksenia Svetlova as "strange" given the strong Iran-Russia alliance and the countries' shared interests. As the Ukraine conflict has worn on, she explained on the Haaretz Podcast, the Russians have become dependent on Iran's support and weapons supplies - and maintain a "close association" with Iran's proxy, Hezbollah, to help prop up the Assad regime in Syria, a key strategic partner for Russia. In this context, looking to Russia to keep a check on Hezbollah's activities on the Israeli border and monitor its rearming by Iran seems highly unrealistic. In a wide-ranging conversation, Svetlova, currently the executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economics & Security (ROPES) discussed the shifting alliances in the Middle East and Europe in the aftermath of the U.S. election and how it will affect the conflict between Israel and Iran and its proxies.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of the Haaretz Podcast, Dutch journalist David de Jong and host Allison Kaplan Sommer discuss the violence against Israeli soccer fans on the streets of Amsterdam last weekend, and the media coverage of the events in Israel and the Netherlands, characterized by conflicting narratives and a flurry of viral videos that were often misleading.  De Jong, a financial journalist who has covered the Gaza War over the past year, said the streets of Amsterdam were the last place he expected to watch the Middle East conflict play out. He also explained why the violence that erupted following the Maccabi Tel Aviv - Ajax match is a "boon" for the anti-immigration far-right parties in the Netherlands and across Europe. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.