Haaretz Weekly

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is getting high marks from the Israeli public regarding his performance leading the country in its war against Iran – but for now, these sentiments are not giving his coalition a significant boost in political polling, according to Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. Scheindlin, a Haaretz columnist and political analyst, noted the war’s “overwhelming support” among Israeli Jews – reaching over 92 percent. Despite the “near consensus” supporting the war and high personal approval of Netanyahu as a war leader, she points out, “poll ratings for the Likud and for the coalition government have been flat and stuck at 40 percent, and Netanyahu does not have a majority,” which does not bode well for the election scheduled for October. While support for the war cuts across partisan lines in Israel, despite attitudes towards Netanyahu, Scheindlin says that surveys in the United States paint a different picture. "If you look at the results of the question: ‘Do you approve or disapprove of Trump's handling of Iran?’ Scheindlin said, “it basically mirrors his approval ratings in general.” She added that poll numbers point to the fact that the talk of a split among Trump’s base – especially “America First” Republicans – may be overly “hyped.” Instead, she observed that U.S. opinion surveys reflected “overwhelming support from Republican voters… close to 80 percent." Read more: Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin: Why Israelis Aren't Giving Netanyahu an Iran Bump in the Polls Most Israelis Back Iran War but Support Low Among Arab Citizens, Poll Shows Just One in Four Americans Supports U.S. Strikes on Iran, Poll Finds Analysis by Joshua Leifer: The post-October 7 Wars in Iran and Lebanon Are Turning Into Netanyahu's Vietnam Netanyahu's Likud Party Makes No Gains Amid Iran War, Poll Finds A Billion Shekels a Day: The Number That May Decide When Israel's War With Iran EndsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

U.S. President Donald Trump “needs to find an off ramp” from the war with Iran as soon as possible, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said on the Haaretz Podcast. While Shapiro said the military results of the war – the decimation of Iranian military assets and elimination of top leaders – are “incredibly impressive,” the United States must recognize that “the weaker party has cards to play, and their cards grow more influential as this conflict drags on,” pointing to the choking of world oil supply in the Strait of Hormuz, draining of U.S. and Israeli anti-missile resources, and attacks by proxies and terrorist groups. Shapiro, who was ambassador from 2011–2017, said he wants regime change in Iran, but “not through a military campaign. That's not really something we're capable of at any acceptable cost.” Additionally, he warns, a fall of the Iranian regime will spark “a great deal of chaos, a great deal of spillover of instability to neighboring countries, perhaps a civil war, waves of terror outside of Iran” and more. “All of that has the potential to suck the United States in much further to the whole region. I could imagine that this is not a high concern for Israelis. Israelis could live with that set of concerns in ways that the United States and the American people will maybe feel differently about and certainly have not been prepared for.” Read more: What a Difference 12 Days Make: Why This Israel-Iran War Is Different From the Last One Trump 'Shocked' That Iran Attacked Gulf Neighbors in Retaliatory Strikes House Democrats Urge Congressional Testimony by Trump Administration Officials on Iran War Analysis by Amos Harel | IDF's Grandiose Plans for South Lebanon Ground Offensive Won't Topple Hezbollah Netanyahu Isn't Dead. But Even His 'Proof of Life' Video Is Being Derided as AISee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Under the shadow of the Gaza war, even before the current conflict with Iran, Israeli filmmaker Hilla Medalia found it “very surprising” that her short film “Children No More: Were and Are Gone” was nominated for an Academy Award – but she was thrilled. Despite the atmosphere in Hollywood even before the U.S.-Israel military attack in Iran, with petitions to boycott Israeli filmmakers circulated, two Israelis are nominated to take home golden statues at the March 16 ceremony: Medalia's film, in the category of Best Documentary Short, along with Meyer Levinson-Blount’s “Butcher’s Stain,” which is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film. The nominations are “an incredible achievement of course for both Meyer and I, but also for the entire Israeli film community,” she said, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. Medalia’s film follows a group of Israeli activists who in March 2025, after the second cease-fire between Israel and Hamas collapsed, learned that 139 Palestinian children had been killed in a single day by IDF attacks in Gaza. The small group decided to print out photographs of the children, and stand holding the images silently as an accompaniment to the raucous demonstrations taking place in Tel Aviv calling for a cease-fire that would bring back the Israeli hostages. Over time their action, Medalia explained, “slowly grew into this bigger vigil that had more than 1,000 people. On each poster there is a picture of a child, their name, their age, where they're from, the day that they were killed. That's it. No political slogans. And they stood in silence.” She was inspired and impressed by the group’s commitment to remaining silent – even as passersby insulted and cursed them. Unlike the other films Medalia is competing against, “Children No More” did not make the rounds of the prestigious film festivals to increase its Oscar chances – its path from conception to filming to release was unusually rapid. “We felt that we could not wait to share with the local Israeli audience and the world.” Read more: Oscar-nominated Israeli Filmmaker on Gaza: 'Focusing on Dead Children Does Not Diminish Our Pain' Why Israel Fears the Faces of Dead Palestinian Children on Its Streets It Looks Like a Memorial Day Ceremony: The Israelis Protesting With Photos of Dead Gazan ChildrenStudent Oscar-winning Film 'Mirrors the Experiences of Palestinians in Israel'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reports of U.S. anger with Israel for targeting Iran’s oil fields in the intensifying conflict have been “massively exaggerated,” said Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harel on the Haaretz Podcast. While the American president “probably felt that Israel took this a step too far,” Harel said, “the truth of the matter is that the Israelis and the U.S. military are deeply coordinated.” Regarding the entrance of Hezbollah into the expanding war, Harel said that the Lebanese group is “still quite capable of creating damage” to Israel, which is why the IDF has deployed large-scale force against them with airstrikes across Lebanon. Still, he said, “most of the effort and most of the focus remains on Iran.” Despite the disruption to life in Israel, he pointed out that in the first 12 days of this war, there has been far less actual damage and loss of life in Israel during the two weeks of war last June. Also on the podcast, Haaretz Jewish World Editor Judy Maltz visits an underground parking lot tent city populated by Tel Aviv residents without adequate overnight protection from missiles - many of whom were second-time refugees. “Most of the people I met had been there in June” she said. “When Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran, they just packed their bags and came back. They knew the drill already.” Read more: Israel Focuses on Hitting Iran's Regime After Exceeding Military Target Expectations Trump Signals Iran War Nearing End Amid Oil Fears as Hezbollah Surprises Israel 'Priciest Real Estate in Town': Tel Avivians Ride Out the War Deep UndergroundSleepless in Tel Aviv: Iranian Missile Barrages Trigger All-night Sirens in Central IsraelSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recalling the first day of the war with Iran is still traumatic for journalist and activist Anat Saragusti, whose apartment building in central Tel Aviv began to shake as she ran to seek shelter from Iranian missiles targeting the city following the U.S.-Israel attack that morning. "I didn't believe my eyes," she says of what awaited her when she returned. "The whole living room was covered with broken glass - the carpets, the sofa, the chairs - all over. It was really so scary." Matching the shattering of the glass in her home, said Saragusti, who monitors press freedom at the Union of Journalists in Israel, is the ongoing shattering of her trust in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government as the war continues, and her dissatisfaction with what she views as an overly-compliant media. Most Israelis, Saragusti said on the Haaretz Podcast, are "glued to television screens" where retired IDF generals spout military facts and statistics. "There is no room for alternative voices, questions or doubts" regarding the war and "what the end game will be." "They promised us in the last war in Iran in June that we destroyed the majority of the infrastructure for the ballistic missiles and the nuclear plan of Iran. Then in nine months, [Iran rebuilt] everything from scratch? I don't understand that. I feel that they are lying to us." Read more: Op-ed by Anat Sargusti: Israeli Broadcasters Don Uniforms as the Media Becomes an Arm of the Military Follow the latest updates from Haaretz on the U.S.-Israel war on Iran One Killed, Two Wounded in Central Israel Following Iranian Missile Barrage, Emergency Services Say 'You Can't Live by the Sword': Israeli TV's Tel Aviv Street Interview Backfires Iran's Cluster Missiles: What You Need to Know About the Controversial Weapon Targeting IsraelSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the Iranian regime “by and large, needed to be punished” and “did not deserve any mercy,” according to former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, it is possible that “a little bit more flexibility” in the negotiations for a nuclear agreement leading up to the U.S.-Israel assault might have meant they “would have resulted in a different way.” Olmert made his remarks in a dialogue with Haaretz Global Editor Noa Landau, featured in a plenary at the J Street Convention in Washington D.C. – and coinciding with the initial days of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran. Olmert expressed satisfaction that U.S. President Donald Trump pushed back on remarks from prominent Republicans that Israel pushed the US into the war and “did not pretend to say that he was fighting for us. He said in the most explicit manner: ‘They are American enemies. This is an American war. I'm fighting for America, and I had to do it for America.’ No one saved Israel, or no one got mixed up in a war in order to save Israel.” In his dialogue with Landau, Olmert also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative he is pursuing with former Palestinian Authority foreign minister Dr. Nasser al-Kidwa to “move forward into entirely new realities on the basis of cooperation and mutual respect and compromise and compassion.” He harshly condemned the ongoing and record-setting settler violence in the West Bank as “obnoxious” and “heartbreaking.” Speaking out against such actions, he added, "is essential if you want, as a Jew, not to be linked to these actions. You have to speak up.” Read more: 'I Might Have Forced Israel's Hand': Trump Denies Israel Dragged U.S. Into Iran War After Rubio Comments Draw Ire As Israeli Defense Officials Push for a Long Offensive, Trump Still Has Doubts 'Both Sides Are Tired of War': Former PM Ehud Olmert Makes Two-state Proposal With Former Palestinian Minister Police Report Average of Four Daily Incidents of West Bank Settler Violence in Early 2026 The latest reporting on West Bank settler violenceSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“It is a time of fear and worry, but also a time of hope” in Iran after the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the early days of the U.S.-Israel assault on the regime in Tehran, said Iranian-American scholar and journalist Arash Azizi. “The first thing [my family in Iran] told me was that they called me to say they were alive after Tehran was hit, and there are hundreds of civilian casualties,” said Azizi, speaking on a wartime edition of the Haaretz Podcast. Of Khamenei, he said “most Iranians are happy to see him gone.” Azizi was sharply critical of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s calls for Iranian civilians to rise up and overthrow their regime. “It's absolutely bonkers,” he said. “If you had a population that had organized networks ready to take over, you could imagine perhaps something like that happening. But we don’t. So both Trump and Netanyahu keep saying this, and it makes me wonder, do they really believe it?” He also had harsh words for Iranian exiles like himself, who he said were unprepared for this moment. “We have not done the work, we have not built organizations, we did not get our act together in a way that would be ready to make a successful transition to democracy.” Also on the podcast: Gregg Carlstrom, The Economist’s Dubai-based Middle East correspondent, reports on the growing anger in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sparked by the intensity of the Iranian assault that could fuel support among everyday people to pick sides in this conflict. “The question is, what does that mean? Is it allowing America to use bases and Gulf countries to carry out attacks against Iran, or is it going a step further and militarily getting involved with their own warplanes and troops? I think it's more likely that they're willing to do the former than the latter.” Read more: Trump: U.S. Ahead of Schedule in Iran but Can Extend Fighting Beyond Projected 4-5 Weeks Three Israeli Teenage Siblings Among Nine Killed in Iranian Missile Strike on Bomb Shelter Analysis by Amos Harel | As Israeli Defense Officials Push for a Long Offensive, Trump Still Has Doubts Analysis by Zvi Bar'el | Khamenei's Chosen Successor Could Offer Trump a 'Dream Deal' to End the Iran War 'Fire-Starter' or 'Historical Justice'? How Middle Eastern Media Frames the Iran WarSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special edition of the Haaretz Podcast, recorded during the first hours of the dramatic joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, and as Tehran began its retaliatory strikes on Israel and on U.S. targets across the Middle East, Haaretz senior analyst Amos Harel joins host Allison Kaplan Sommer for a real-time update and discussion. "The stakes are much higher than last time," Harel said, referring to the 12 day Israel-Iran war in June 2025. For Israelis, "there is a certain amount of danger," although it is impossible to say at this point how hard the country will be hit by Iran and its proxies. For Iranians, "this is going to get messy and bloody," not only because of the military strikes, but also because of growing clashes between government forces and those hoping to throw over the regime. Read more on the escalating situation: How the First Day of the Israel and U.S. War with Iran Unfolded War for Regime Change in Iran: U.S. and Israel Have Ambitious Aims, but Will Trump Stay the Course? / Amos Harel 'Unnecessary, Idiotic, and Illegal' | After Strikes on Iran: U.S. Lawmakers Split on Party Lines As Congress Left in the Dark Larnaca or Sharm el-Sheikh: Can Israelis Stuck Abroad Amid Iran War Get Back Home?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, the financial support and professional opportunities afforded by her fellowship at the Wexner Foundation, which plugged her into a network of the “the most powerful Jewish professionals in the country,” were substantial. But as a feminist rabbi whose most recent book is titled “On Repentance and Repair,” she felt she could not ignore the disturbing reality of the close personal and financial ties between Leslie Wexner, the benefactor of the foundation, and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, she tells the Haaretz Podcast. In a personal act of accountability and repentance, in 2019, Ruttenberg – “shocked, disturbed and unsettled” by the early revelations regarding Epstein and Wexner – donated the funds she took from the foundation to an organization confronting sexual violence and challenged others to take similar steps. There was little reaction to her call at the time. Now, with new details revealed in the Department of Justice release of the Epstein files, she says “my only regret is not speaking out earlier and more forcefully, no matter the cost.” She warned that “when we try to pretend that none of this is happening, we feed every conspiracy theory. And when we say that who matters are raped children, and when we center the people who are harmed, and when we live the values of our Torah and of every other teaching that we claim is holy, then we dispel those theories, because we become the people who we are supposed to be … the people who are living our values.” Read more: Island Visit, NYC Flat and 'Belarusian Girls': Ex-Israel PM Ehud Barak Addresses Jeffrey Epstein Ties The Ferrari, the Meetings and 'The Redhead': Latest Jeffrey Epstein Files Reveal Ties With Popular Israeli-American Researcher Dan Ariely Memorializing Jeffrey Epstein? Pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 Confuses Convicted Sex Offender With Beloved Israeli Singer Life After Harvard: What's in Store for Wexner Foundation's Israeli Leaders Program? From 2020: Wexner Foundation Named After Billionaire Philanthropist Distancing Itself From FounderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When an ultra-Orthodox mob attacked two women soldiers in the city of Bnei Brak earlier this week, Israelis were shocked and horrified. But for Uri Keidar, CEO of Free Israel, this violent expression of ultra-Orthodox opposition to being drafted into the military did not come as a surprise. “It’s not the first violent occurrence we have seen, and unfortunately, it probably also won't be the last incident. But it's definitely a sad moment for us as a country,” Keidar said, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. As the Netanyahu government continues to seek a way to pass legislation exempting tens of thousands of able-bodied ultra-Orthodox men from mandatory military service in order to preserve their political coalition, Keidar sees the country at a “historic” crossroads in which Israelis will stand up and refuse to let it happen. “It's a very basic idea, I think, that the law applies to everyone,” he said on the podcast. In a post-October 7 reality alongside the IDF in a manpower crisis, he said, “the Israeli public just will not accept the fact” that “there are tens of thousands of young haredi men who are totally healthy, who can join the IDF at any given moment, and are refusing to do so.” That refusal, he said, represents the country’s “biggest civil disobedience movement since its history” and Israelis “from the right, left and center” are uniting to oppose it. Read more: Explained: The Military Conscription Bill Driving Riots in Haredi Cities Overturned Cars, Motorcycles on Fire: Police Arrest 26 in Haredi Riot Sparked When Two IDF Soldiers Visit Bnei Brak Bnei Brak Riots Break From Ideology and Become an Outlet for Aimless Rage Israel Police Tells IDF They Will Not Assist in Arrest of ultra-Orthodox Draft DodgersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Even by the most extreme “Romeo and Juliet” standards, Sari Bashi’s romance and marriage to her partner, Osama, has overcome impossible odds. When the two met in 2006, she related on the Haaretz Podcast, “It was very confusing for both of us, both because of the overwhelming social taboos, and the fact that it was also literally illegal for us to meet up together.” The two met after he had been “trapped” for six years in the city of Ramallah, where he was pursuing a career in academia. Registered as a resident of Gaza, where he was born, travelling elsewhere in the West Bank – or abroad – meant that the authorities would send him back to Gaza. Bashi had recently founded the human rights organization Gisha, and was assisting him gain permission from the Israeli authorities to study for his doctorate abroad. Bashi’s new book “Upside-Down Love” – written diary-style from both Bashi’s and Osama’s perspective – chronicles the story of the logistics of their courtship, like a date in which they took a hike in a West Bank countryside and “as we encountered more and more settlers with guns, it became apparent that I had an identity and a language that was common with the people who terrified him.” But despite the ongoing identity and security challenges, their love persevered. Bashi, who is also the newly appointed executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, talks about their life as a family in the West Bank – and the evolving complicated identities of their two Palestinian Jewish children, as she watches them “engage more in a process of trying to assert who they are. I think it'll change probably a million times before they become adults.” Read more: A Jewish Mom and a Palestinian Dad Raise a Family Full of Endless Contradictions Browse the Umm Forat column (2019-2022) in Haaretz Israeli Human Rights Groups Tell UN That Israel Increased Use of Torture During Gaza WarSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following the hastily arranged three-hour meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, it still remains unclear whether a military attack on Iran is in the cards, but the two leaders appear “more aligned than not” on their positions, Haaretz’s Washington D.C. correspondent Ben Samuels said on the Haaretz Podcast. “Whether or not that turns into a world war remains to be seen,” he added, in view of the “Armada in the Middle East and more military assets on their way” that the United States has positioned around Iran to keep the option of a military move on the table. Netanyahu rushed to Washington to lobby Trump to hold firm in his negotiations with Iran to include demands beyond a halt to their nuclear program. The Israeli position is that in order to forestall an attack, Iran must be forced to limit their ballistic missile capabilities and support for regional proxy organizations – in addition to a commitment from Tehran to improve its treatment of protesters, who have been killed in the tens of thousands by the regime in since late December. “What you're seeing from Israel is a very articulated view that any sort of negotiation at any deal has to be all inclusive,” Samuels said. The Trump administration’s position, by contrast, he said, is far from clear. “Part of this is intentional misdirection on Trump's part, but part of it is also very unintentional. Trump is doing diplomacy by the seat of his pants and by whatever whims are taking over him at that very moment.” Read more: Analysis by Ben Samuels | Trump and Netanyahu Prioritize a United Front Over Rocking the Boat on Iran Trump Says He 'Insisted' That Negotiations With Iran Continue in Meeting With Netanyahu Netanyahu Joins Trump's Board of Peace Set to Discuss Gaza Reconstruction, Hamas Disarmament Sidelined Why This Iranian Revolution Scholar Won't Encourage Iranians to Topple the RegimeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Netanyahu government may not have officially annexed the West Bank, but the ongoing settler violence expelling Palestinian communities from their land – plus the changes in regulation imposing Israeli authority and areas meant for Palestinian self-rule – is driving momentum in that direction, Haaretz West Bank correspondent Matan Golan said on the Haaretz Podcast. Golan described the ongoing ordeal in the Bedouin community of Mukhmas on the podcast, a case study which illustrates the settlers' use of daily harassment and ongoing attacks on both residents and their property to force Palestinians to relocate into an increasingly small portion of the territory. The settler outpost of Kol Mevaser terrorizing Mukhmas "has been depopulated and destroyed at least nine times," by Israeli authorities since its establishment in late October, when the young settlers living there engaged in their first spree of beatings, assaults and arson. "Each time, the settlers just escape to the hills below – and despite the fact that it's a closed military zone," she said, they return – and later brag of their destructive acts against Palestinians on social media. The IDF has consistently failed to provide enough protection for Palestinian residents to remain in their homes, she said. The Israeli and international activists try to provide a protective presence, which helps prolong the Palestinians' struggles to remain, but it has proven unsuccessful: Nearly 50 communities have been forcibly displaced since summer 2023, according to B'Tselem. On the podcast, Golan also discusses the recent announcement by Netanyahu government officials declaring that it is taking authority in areas meant to be controlled by the Palestinian Authority, in violation of the Oslo Accords. The fact that such measures are being taken to weaken the Palestinian Authority and prevent a two-state solution, she said, "are no secret." Read more: Out-of-control Hooded Settlers: Jewish Outpost Was Evacuated 9 Times – and Rebuilt Immediately How Israeli Settlers Destroyed Mukhmas In Four Minutes Israeli Settler Violence Against Palestinians in West Bank Rose 25 Percent in 2025, IDF Finds 'How Can a Father Tell Their Child That Settlers Burned Down Their House?' Israel to Expand Law Enforcement in Palestinian-controlled West Bank Areas, Defying Oslo Accords Israel Claims It Can't Protect Palestinians From Settler Attacks Due to IDF Personnel Shortage Investigation: Netanyahu's Government Not Only Permits Jewish Terror in the West Bank, but Also Finances ItSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, President Isaac Herzog declared that the record-high homicide rate in Israel’s Arab sector constitutes a “national emergency.” But according to Knesset member Aida Touma-Sliman, the organized crime groups behind the violence in Israel thrive because “this is a policy conducted by the government.” “Crime groups are their subcontractor for the destruction of our society, making us terrorized individuals looking only to live their lives quietly. When you are struggling for the basic right to live, you forget all about struggling for other political, economic and social rights,” Touma-Sliman said. She noted that only 10 percent of the murders of Arabs are solved – down from 40 percent under past governments – and in stark contrast with the Jewish sector, in which a vast majority of cases are closed. “A very bad message is being sent by the police to the murderers and criminals: that you can do whatever you want and nobody will touch you as long as it remains among the Arabs,” she said. Touma-Sliman said she was convinced that if National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir believed that the stashes of deadly weapons in the hands of Arab crime organizations were to be used against Jews, “he would know exactly how to smash them down. But he is not willing to do it, as long as they are only committing crimes among the Arabs. He is enjoying the scene.” Touma-Sliman also discussed the reunion of the Joint List, the reasons behind her decision not to run in the coming election, and her deep disappointment with Israel’s opposition parties and “so-called left.” Opposition leaders “are not supposed to personally replace Netanyahu,” she said. “If you want to be an alternative, be courageous enough to create a different vision for how the citizens of Israel should be living and how Israel should be as a state.” Read more: Netanyahu Moves to Pass Off Arab Crime Task Force From PM's Office to Ben-Gvir MK Aida Touma-Sliman: 'The Knesset Symbolizes Everything I've Fought Against. I Don't Want to Be There. I Want to Fight It' Analysis: Israeli Arab Leaders at a Crossroads: Will Escalating Protests Fuel Right-wing Incitement? Explained: What Part Israel's Arab Parties Can Play in Toppling Netanyahu in the 2026 Vote Poll: Coalition Remains Stable at 51 Seats as Reunited Joint Arab List Surges to 12See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With U.S. warships in place positioned around Iran, Israelis are bracing for the regime-toppling attack that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened against Tehran and the government that cracked down so brutally on protesters last month. In response, Iranian leaders warned they would “hit the heart of Tel Aviv” in retaliation to any American offensive. However, noted Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, it seems that Trump “has lost a little bit of his appetite for destruction” in recent days, angling to push a weakened Iran to the negotiating table. Not only is Trump encouraging a diplomatic solution, Harel said, but “when we talk about negotiations, then there's a difference between what was on the table about a month ago, which was an American demand for more or less destroying the regime, or for the regime to step down and for the democracy to be installed in Iran. Now we're talking about something completely different” – a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities instead. “What the president is trying to do is to force the Iranians to agree to major concessions regarding their nuclear project. But it doesn't solve the number one issue for most Iranians: getting rid of the regime.” Harel said. Will the Iranian leadership take the deal? Judging from their statements, Harel said, “they are in panic.” On the podcast, Harel also assesses the situation in Gaza as the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal enters its second phase, which took a step forward this week with the opening of the Rafah crossing. The real test of the deal, however, depends on whether the international coalition Trump has built is enough to pressure Hamas to lay down its arms. If Hamas’s military capabilities “aren’t dismantled,” Harel said, “it will be hard to proceed.” Read more: Report: U.S.-Iran Talks Could Begin Soon; Witkoff to Meet With Netanyahu Iran's Supreme Leader Warns of Regional Conflict if U.S. Attacks After IDF Chief Visits Washington Trump 'Hopeful' for Iran Deal, but Warns of 'Very Big, Powerful Ships Heading That Way' Iran-U.S. Negotiations Are 'Fruitful', Iranian Foreign Minister Tells CNN Analysis by Amos Harel | Trump Is Determined to Launch Phase Two of His Gaza Plan. The Israeli Government's Last Hope Is That He FailsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the right-wing populist political leaders who gathered in Jerusalem for the Netanyahu government’s second International Conference on Combating Antisemitism this week, the formula for fighting Jew hatred is simple, according to Haaretz correspondent Linda Dayan, who attended and reported on the two-day event. Organized by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry led by far-right Likud MK Amichai Chikli, Dayan tells the Haaretz Podcast that the message of the majority of prominent speakers at the conference is that Jews “have one enemy” – radical Islam – “and that enemy is propped up by the woke left” with a shared agenda of destroying the West. Later on the podcast, Dayan – who has covered the protest movement in Israel for the return of the hostages led by their families since October 7 – reflected on the end of the struggle following the return of the final hostage’s remains earlier this week and the end of the vigil in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square. The movement, she said, transcended politics; it was a deeper fight to preserve the national ethos of never leaving anyone behind. Dayan explained: “From the very beginning, you would hear in the speeches in the square that this isn't just a battle to return our daughters and sons and parents and grandparents. This is a battle for the values of the country – a battle for the version of the country we want our children to grow up in and we want the next generation to inherit.” Read more: Global Far Right Flocks to Jerusalem to Bash Muslims and Migration at Israel's Antisemitism Confab Netanyahu Claims There Is a Progressive/Muslim Plot to 'Destroy the West' at Israeli Government's Antisemitism Conference Why Charlie Kirk, Fan of Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories, Is Loved by Israel's Government Tel Aviv Clock Counting Hostages' Captivity Stopped Following Retrieval of Ran Gvili's Body Ran Gvili, Last Hostage to Be Returned From Gaza, Laid to Rest in IsraelSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The brutal crackdown on protesters killing tens of thousands has been a "sledgehammer" to Iranians everywhere, said Dr. Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli-Iranian expert on the government led by Ayatollah Ali Khameini. "The people of Iran have just gone through their own Babi Yar massacre," Javedanfar said on the Haaretz Podcast, referring to the largest single mass-killing during the Holocaust. "The Nazis killed 30,000 people in the space of two days. The Iranian regime – if we accept the 30,000 number – has done the same in less than a month. … The level of cruelty is unlike anything Iranians have seen before. The people of Iran are being massacred in unprecedented and historic numbers." The killings in the decade-long Syrian civil war was a laboratory for Iranian techniques of repression, he said, noting that Iranian leaders were often "disappointed when Bashar al-Assad was not violent enough against the people of Syria when they rose up." In Syria, he said, the Iranians "honed their skills" of deadly repression and are now using them "against their own people on the streets of Iran." On the question of whether a U.S. attack on Iran could be averted by a change of heart by the regime, bringing them to the negotiating table, Javedanfar said he sees no chance of concessions unless Khamenei believes that "the Americans could kill him and his family." If the U.S. attacks and Iran retaliates against Israel, he noted, the Israeli military will quickly join in the attack. "If the Iranian regime makes a mistake of attacking us, we have very genuine targets in Iran to attack, especially Iran's missile program," Javedanfar said, adding "I also hope Israel targets regime officials who are taking part in the oppression and suppression of the people of Iran in such a violent manner, I think that would hold Israel in very good stead in future history books of Iran." Read more: Some 30,000 Iranian Protesters May Have Been Killed in Two Days, Officials Reportedly Say U.S. Central Command Head to Coordinate With Israeli Defense Chiefs Ahead of Possible Iran Strike Trump Says 'Armada' Heading Toward Iran: 'Maybe We Won't Have to Use It'; Officials Confirm Warships en Route to Mideast UN Probe Condemns Iran Protest Deaths as Regime Provides Conflicting Casualty Reports Iran Will Treat Any Attack as 'All-out War Against Us,' Says Senior Iran Official Why the pro-Israel Right Is Suddenly Committed to Human Rights – for Iranians, Not PalestiniansSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Palestinians in Gaza view a future of rule by U.S. President Donald Trump’s newly inaugurated Board of Peace as representing “another form of occupation” said Haaretz correspondent Nagham Zbeedat, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. Zbeedat, who covers Palestinian affairs and the Arab world, said that Trump’s vision of an American-led international stabilization force – intended to replace Hamas after it disarms – is likely to be problematic. American “complicity and cooperation with the Israeli army” during the war means that for Palestinians, “the U.S. is the same as Israel. So any government or group that comes from the U.S. will not be welcomed with open arms.” In the short-term, Zbeedat said, the desperate humanitarian situation means that Gazans will “accept the circumstances that they are put in, as long as there are no more airstrikes, as long as food is on the shelves, and as long as there is water, shelter, clothes coming in, and medical care.” But overall, Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere are “not excited” about the Trump plan because of the lack of “any Palestinian presence or voice” at the decision-making level. Also on the podcast: Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Liza Rozovsky discusses the challenges ahead for the new Board of Peace – most prominently, the disinterest of major Western European countries in signing on. “When you are being squeezed and threatened by the U.S. over Greenland, it is pretty bad timing to be joining a Board of Peace chaired by Trump,” Rozovsky noted. For these countries, “giving up your veto power in the United Nations Security Council and just bowing to Trump is not a very attractive offer.” Read more: Trump's Board of Peace Finds Few Enthusiasts Among Palestinians in Gaza Israel's Netanyahu to Join Trump's Board of Peace Alongside Saudis, Qatar and Turkey Trump's Board of Peace Has European States Worried, but Most Refrain From Direct Criticism Trump's Gaza Board of Peace Aims to Rival UN, Charter Shows 'It Never Ended': As the World Moves On, For Gazans It's War as UsualSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

California State Senator Scott Wiener, the frontrunner for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat, insisted on the Haaretz Podcast that his change of heart regarding whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide did not represent a political flip-flop. In early January, Wiener faced an angry audience at a candidate’s forum, in which he debated his two rivals in the California Democratic primary to replace retiring Representative Pelosi. In a lightning round question, Wiener was asked to answer “yes” or “no” to the question of whether Israel was "committing genocide in Gaza." His rivals answered “yes” while Wiener refused to respond, prompting boos and jeers. Shortly afterwards, he released a video in which he clarified that he did believe Israel’s actions in Gaza should be defined as genocide. On the podcast, Wiener said that in the past, “I've used very, very stark language that, frankly, has not been particularly different from genocide. I chose not to use the word genocide for a variety of reasons, because, it has been weaponized against Israel and against Jews over time.” Wiener also responded to the harsh backlash from the Jewish community following the release of the video. Wiener, the co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, said he “respects and honors” why the Jewish community feels “hurt and betrayed” by his word choice. “I also believe that we have a responsibility to call this what I believe it is,” he said. He pointed to the Quinnipiac poll published in August in which half of Americans defined Israel’s actions as a genocide and noted that it will likely be officially declared as such by the International Court of Justice. “The institutional Jewish community in this country has not grappled with that reality.” Read more: Jewish California Congressional Hopeful Says Israel Committed Genocide in Gaza, After Earlier Refusal to Do So Half of Registered U.S. Voters Say Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza, Poll Finds California Governor Gavin Newsom Says Israel's War in Gaza Was Not Genocide, but 'Destruction Broke My Heart' Analysis | Is It Important to Call Israel's Carnage in Gaza 'Genocide'? Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza, Genocide Scholars' Association SaysSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Birthright Israel is celebrating 25 years of offering a free 10-day trip to Israel to every young Diaspora Jew with the hope of fighting assimilation. The celebrations include a $900 million fundraising campaign. But, as Haaretz Jewish World editor Judy Maltz told the Haaretz Podcast, their traditional mission and "fun in the sun" marketing campaign have become deeply problematic, given the battering of the image of the Jewish state in the eyes of many young people around the world. Instead of unaffiliated Jews, Maltz said, the programs are increasingly filled with participants who are "presumably already very much in touch with their Jewish identity," begging the question as to whether this is where hundreds of millions in Jewish philanthropic dollars and funding by the state of Israel should be going. On the podcast, Maltz discusses the reasons behind the shift, based on more than 30 interviews with Birthright participants, and those who chose not to go. Many of those interviewees, she reports "feel very distant from Israel. They feel very uncomfortable with its actions, especially over the past two years with what's happened in Gaza." Maltz also discusses a new and different trend she has reported on: trips to Israel by young leftist Jews who choose to spend their time off providing "protective presence" in West Bank Palestinian villages menaced by violent settlers. "Being on the ground is really the only way to bear witness," she was told by the young Americans camping out in the villages. Read more: Has Birthright Become a Toxic Brand? Not Masada or the Dead Sea: Young Diaspora Jews Provide Protective Presence in the West Bank Birthright Is Resuming Its Free Trips to Israel for the First Time Since October 7 Haaretz Editorial: Birthright Israel: The Problem Is Reality, Not MoneySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dropped a bombshell in a recent interview when he declared he had told U.S. President Donald Trump that Israel no longer needed a long-term commitment from the U.S. for military aid, and that he planned to “taper off” the $3.8 billion Israel now receives to “zero” within ten years. On the Haaretz Podcast, Washington correspondent Ben Samuels and senior defense analyst Amos Harel discuss the implications of Netanyahu’s announcement and the circumstances behind it. Both say it is clear that Trump had signaled that aid would be significantly reduced, and that Netanyahu’s announcement was intended to avoid the appearance that the cuts were being forced on Israel. “Netanyahu did not have much choice. I think this is something that Trump expected him to do,” Harel said. “It was bound to happen, and it was better for Netanyahu to appear as if he's the one who initiated it.” Samuels noted that both Republicans and Democrats – for different reasons – were questioning the level of aid Israel receives, despite the fact that the majority of the billions in assistance are spent on weapons purchased from U.S. manufacturers. Looking ahead, Samuels discussed potential “cognitive dissonance” for pro-Israel lobbying organizations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as they grapple with a future in which substantial military aid will no longer be part of the equation of when it comes to U.S. support for the Jewish state. “Supporters of AIPAC have treated military aid as this sacrosanct thing - saying that if you dare question it, then you are not only in support of endangering Israeli lives, but it makes you borderline antisemitic,” Samuels said. “How are they now going to just turn around and flip the script and say: ‘You know what? You're right. We don't need U.S. military assistance to Israel.’” Read more: Top GOP Senator Urges Halt to U.S. Military Aid After Netanyahu Says Israel Aims to End Reliance Within Decade On Ending U.S. Military Aid to Israel, Netanyahu Is Trying to Spin His Failure as Success Today Marks the End of an Era for pro-Israel Democrats – and for AIPAC It Didn't End Well for Sparta, and It Won't for Israel Either See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once again, Iranians have taken to the streets. Starting in late December, the plummeting value of the national currency, along with the soaring cost of living, were the catalyst for a fresh wave of protest – and one that soon turned political. Although the government has been quick to crack down on the demonstrations, the regime has been dealt some heavy blows in the past year, and analysts are pondering whether this could be the movement that ends the ayatollahs’ reign for good. Haaretz reporter Linda Dayan was joined by Arash Azizi, lecturer at Yale University and author of "What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom" and "The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the U.S., and Iran's Global Ambitions” to talk about these protests, and what they mean for Iran, for Israel, for the region and for the world. “In some of the previous protests, there was always a mix of hope and anger,” explains Azizi. “This time, there’s a lot more anger, because people know that they want an end to this regime, but they can’t find an easy path… there’s a lot more despondency and desperation.” Azizi explains that one of the key obstacles in realizing this aspiration is Iran’s fractured would-be opposition, including the ousted Shah’s son Reza Pahlavi, who’s found support from some Israeli lawmakers. The protesters “don’t have a disciplined political leadership that you need to bring about that kind of change,” Azizi says. Iran’s developments will likely “have the color of a coup, perhaps even more than a revolution” – and be led by figures currently inside the regime. U.S. President Donald Trump has also warned the Iranian regime against violently repressing the protests. The ouster of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela – a key Iranian ally – by U.S. forces “was a reminder to the Iranians that Trump is not bluffing, and that he could take action against them,” notes Azizi. “The idea that Trump would assassinate Khamenei, let’s say, with the help of Israel would have been unthinkable a few years ago… now, it’s really a possibility.” Read more: At Least 35 Killed, 1,200 Detained in Iran Protests as Threat of U.S. Intervention Looms Analysis by Zvi Bar'el | Why Trump's Venezuela Playbook Won't Work in Iran Israeli Officials Warn Iran May Strike Across the Middle East to Quell Protests Analysis by Ben Samuels | What Trump's Attack on Venezuela Means for Iran and MAGA Isolationists The Israeli Influence Operation Aiming to Install Reza Pahlavi as Shah of IranSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was a challenging year to be a Diaspora Jew. The war in Gaza and growing hostility to Israel had an undeniable impact on Jewish life across the world in 2025. Events in Israel became a focus in local and national politics around the world – and served as a catalyst in a global surge in antisemitism. The year was punctuated by horrific and deadly attacks against Jews from Washington D.C. to Manchester to Australia’s Bondi Beach. On this special episode of the Haaretz Podcast, we revisit episodes from the past year featuring the voices of Diaspora Jews, along with Haaretz journalists covering the Jewish world. The conversations include Brooklyn Rabbi Rachel Timoner on the impact of Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy for New York City mayor, Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur on the complexity of advocating for the hostages and a cease-fire agreement. Also on the podcast: American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutsch following the terror attack at his organization’s event, and Lynda Ben Menashe, a Jewish leader in Sydney Australia after the Bondi Beach massacre, and many more. Among the featured Haaretz journalists: English edition editor-in-chief Esther Solomon, Washington D.C. correspondent Ben Samuels and Jewish world correspondent Judy Maltz. Read more: How Antisemitism Haunts Jewish Communities Around the World Fire, Fear and Freedom: Israel in 2025, Through the Eyes of Haaretz Photographers From Mamdani to Bondi, Trump to War Crimes: Top Haaretz Opinions of 2025See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Israel, 2025 was a year in which war turned the unimaginable into reality: from the terrifying exchange of missiles with Iran to the horrors of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to the joy and relief when U.S. President Donald Trump secured a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas to bring the painful hostage ordeal to an end. This special year-end episode highlights the reporting and analysis on the Haaretz Podcast that accompanied the year's dramatic events: from the Gaza war, hostage crisis, the 12-day war with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial and the emergence of the shocking Qatargate scandal. The episode features conversations with Israeli and Palestinians who experienced it all, along with the many Haaretz journalists who offered their insights throughout the year, including editor-in-chief Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Dahlia Scheindlin, Nir Hasson, Bar Peleg and Nagham Zbeedat. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

France’s ambassador to Israel Frédéric Journès said on the Haaretz Podcast that any postwar Gaza plan must acknowledge that completely disarming and ridding the Strip of Hamas militia members is not an achievable goal. “You're not going to eliminate all of those people, so you basically need to find them a job in local police, find them a little job in society and de-radicalize them to the greatest extent possible,” he contended. This is possible, he said, because over the course of the war, Israel “got rid of the leadership." Journès, who has been France’s envoy to Israel since July 2023, sat down for a wide-ranging interview with host Allison Kaplan Sommer and Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Liza Rozovsky, discussing Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and antisemitism in France. The ambassador also explains why he believes the four countries strengthened by the past two years of war are Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. Pressed on the podcast as to whether he supports renewing strikes on Iran aimed at its ballistic missile program, which Israel reportedly desires, Journès replied, “I'm not saying that. I will see what will happen.” Read more: Opinion by Frédéric Journès | Declaring a Palestinian State Is a Blow to Terror Opinion by Frédéric Journès | Israel, Help Us Protect Our Seas and Oceans U.S. Leaning Toward Setting Up Palestinian-run Regime for Gaza Before International Forces Saudi, French and U.S. Officials Discuss Hezbollah Disarmament With Lebanese Army Chief France Demands Heightened Security Measures at French Consulate in Jerusalem After Israeli MKs Harass StafferSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before October 7th, Trump’s second term and the election of Zohran Mamdani rocked New York’s Jewish community, Manhattan’s famed 92nd Street Y – like most mainstream Jewish institutions – played it relatively safe when it came to programs about Israel. Susan Engel, executive producer of the 92nd St. Y Talks, tells the Haaretz Podcast that the famed Manhattan cultural center has undergone “a soul-searching since October 7 around our own Jewish identity and around who we are as a Jewish institution. And I think we've had to double down on our values and what it means to present different views, sometimes critical of Israel – because it's important to hear what someone else who thinks differently” has to say. Her audiences – in-person and the millions who watch her events online – she believes, greatly “appreciate” the fact that she can bring together people who “really disagree strongly” yet can “have a conversation and be civil.” At the same time, she said, the Y – founded as a center for Jewish life and culture in 1874 – experienced a boycott and staff walkouts after October 7 – maintains “red lines.” They will not platform those who have expressed “homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic” views or “if we feel that someone believes that Israel should be destroyed.” On the podcast, Engel also discusses the big-name cultural, political and Hollywood figures who have taken to the 92nd St. Y stage, including a recent appearance by Rob Reiner, who died tragically earlier this month, the art of creating an intimate space for interviews when millions are watching, and her experience as a judge at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival. Read more: How October 7 Is Impacting Jewish Cultural Life in America ADL Accuses Mamdani Transition Members of Engaging in 'Antisemitic, anti-Zionist' Activities Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival coverage: From NYC to Jerusalem, This Radical Artist Asks 'After the Revolution, Who's Going to Pick Up the Garbage?'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the past two years, many filmmakers have hesitated or refrained from bringing their films to Israeli film festivals as part of cultural boycott of Israel over the Gaza war. But for Joshua Zeman, the decision to bring his powerful new documentary “Checkpoint Zoo” to the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival was “merely part and parcel of the whole experience of making a film about something that's been politicized that shouldn’t be politicized.” Zeman’s film tells the dramatic story of the 2022 rescue of nearly 5,000 animals from the Feldman Ecopark zoo in Ukraine located on the Russian border outside the city of Kharkiv – on the front lines of the war – lovingly built and maintained by an animal-loving Orthodox Jewish oligarch, Oleksandr Feldman. “There has been a lot of backlash against Ukraine here in the States, even though the film is just about people rescuing animals, so the film was already complicated for me in terms of getting distribution,” Zeman said on the Haaretz Podcast. “Checkpoint Zoo” chronicles the efforts of Feldman, a handful of zoo workers who did not flee Kharkiv during the war and four idealistic volunteers as they risked their lives under fire from drones and bombs to remove lions, tigers, monkeys, ostriches and other animals out of from harm’s way in a modern-day Noah’s Ark. “War by definition is brutality created to strip away your humanity. But in rescuing these animals, these volunteers not only refound their humanity, but found this unbelievable well of courage.” Zeman sees Feldman – who allowed his luxurious mansion to be taken over by the rescued animals – as “a Schindler-esque character.” After Feldman’s businesses in Kharkiv were destroyed by the war, he was forced to “basically sell everything to care for these animals,” Zeman recounted. “Whenever we talked about the animals, he immediately cried. He's a big crier – he is a fascinating character who espouses a lot of values from the Torah.” Read more: Meet Oleksander Feldman, the Lonely Ukrainian Jew Fighting His Country’s New Fondness for Nazis 'It Is a Fascist Project': The Ukrainian Filmmaker Who Withdrew From a Prestigious Amsterdam Film Festival Because of the Israel Boycott Read all of Haaretz's film coverage Russian Strikes Destroy Centers of Jewish Life in Kharkiv as Community Members Flee The Tragic End of the Ukrainian Community in GazaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian Jews are “shocked but not surprised” by the “horrific” mass shooting on Bondi Beach, which turned a Hanukkah celebration into a tragic massacre, Australian Jewish leader Lynda Ben-Menashe said on the Haaretz Podcast. In the two years since the October 7 attack in Israel, the Australian Jewish community “begged” their government officials to enforce laws against incitement and hate speech, which has led to an unprecedented spike in antisemitic violence. But, she said, the government’s response has been “lip service” but “no real consequences.” “Our prime minister has said that he was distressed and shocked,” said Ben-Menashe, the head of Australia’s National Council of Jewish Women. “The Jewish community has been distressed for the past two years at the lack of action from the government, and also at the growing lack of safety that we have felt. And so we weren't shocked that this happened.” Also on the podcast, Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harel reports on the numerous warnings passed by Israeli intelligence agencies to the Australian government, warning of the growing terrorist threats in their country. Harel also commented on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s reaction to the Bondi Beach attack – namely blaming Australia’s leaders for their failure to prevent it. Harel said it was “hard to resist noticing [the] paradox regarding the fact that Israeli ministers were so quick to blame the Australian government for its failures and note their responsibility for what has happened, while they're insisting that Netanyahu holds no blame whatsoever for what happened two years ago” on October 7. Read more: Analysis by Amos Harel | After the Deadly Attack at Bondi Beach, Israel Warns: Sydney Won't Be the Last Target The First Deadly Attack Against Jews in Australia Follows Two Years of Unprecedented Antisemitism Albanese Rejects Netanyahu Linking Palestinian State to Deadly Bondi Beach Attack The Victims of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah Celebration Shooting From March 2025: 'It Will Only Get Worse': Why These Australian Jews Are Leaving Down UnderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When it comes to liberal American Jews and President Donald Trump, the “cognitive dissonance is real,” said award-winning journalist Dahlia Lithwick on the Haaretz Podcast. While Lithwick “doesn’t dispute for a minute" the fact that the U.S. president and his envoys “did yeoman’s work” negotiating a cease-fire deal, it is not enough for her to soften her perception of the level of danger that Trump represents. With democracy and rule of law being challenged, “You have to ask yourself, am I transactional enough to say that I will subordinate all of that to parochial interests?” she said in her conversation with Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer and podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer. “If you say you can pick and choose which authoritarian you want to align yourself with, cross your fingers and hope you know this time, being a court Jew is going to work out – history suggests otherwise.” In their in-depth discussion, Lithwick and Leifer also consider the trends in U.S. politics on the right and left which are upending the long-held assumptions of American Jewish life and the urgent need to confront the new “transactional” reality and abandon “magical thinking.” “American Jewish organizations sold the idea to American Jews that they were more powerful than they were. And I think Israel sold to American Jews – and also Israelis – that Israel is more powerful than it is,” Leifer said. For U.S. Jews to effectively fight for their interests, including the battle against antisemitism, he said, they must leave behind “the old rhetoric and strategies – because no one cares anymore.” Read more from Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer: In Blood-soaked Israel-Palestine, the Dangerous Status Quo of Before October 7 Has Returned It's Clear What Defendant Netanyahu Gets Out of a Pardon. But What's in It for Trump? The Ultra-hawkish Right and anti-Zionist Left Have Drowned the American Jewish Majority Why Netanyahu Is Sharing Leftist Conspiracy Theories About a Mossad Sex Cabal Israel's Right Wing Bet the Country's Future on American Christian Nationalists. That Has BackfiredSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After Russian-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov was freed from captivity in Iraq in September following two and a half years of imprisonment and torture, she returned to a very different Israel, she said in a wide-ranging interview on the Haaretz Podcast. Israelis “have changed in very fundamental ways,” she said. “After October 7, the circle of people towards whom Israelis feel compassion shrunk very significantly.” As she returns to public life as a researcher and commentator on Middle East affairs, while undergoing physical rehabilitation from injuries she suffered as the prisoner of Kata’ib Hezbollah, she has already been attacked by the Israeli right for social media posts in support of human rights and critical of Israel’s policies in Gaza. Despite being held in captivity, she said, her political views “have not substantially changed: I still see Arabs as human beings, which is an unpopular opinion, it seems.” In her conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Tsurkov discusses the politics of Iraq – the country where she was kidnapped and held – following their recent elections, calling it a “failed oil state” driven by the behavior of Iranian-backed militias with “no clear path for reform and change.” She also analyzes the impact of the new regime in Syria, praising the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump towards the year-old government. She also credits the president with her release. “Trump is the reason I'm free. This is not an interpretation, this is a fact. I know exactly how I came to be released: It was because of threats that were made on his behalf.” Read more: Right-wing Pundit Amit Segal: Tsurkov 'Should Do Some Soul-searching About the Price Her Stupid Adventures Cost Israel' 'Strung Up and Tortured': Elizabeth Tsurkov Recounts Over Two Years of Captivity in Iraq 'Things Weren't Easy': After Iraq Captivity, Elizabeth Tsurkov Tells Netanyahu She Was Tortured What Is Kata'ib Hezbollah? Opinion | Through My Friend Elizabeth Tsurkov, I Learned That Syrians and Israelis Desire the Same Thing Elizabeth Tsurkov's past writing for HaaretzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In his first interview since his release, former hostage Alon Ohel called the International Committee of the Red Cross a “disgraceful organization.” His anger reflects a general bitterness among Israelis who believe ICRC failed to ensure the Israeli hostages’ received humanitarian treatment in captivity and their silence in the face of Hamas’ refusal to grant them access. On the Haaretz Podcast, the head of ICRC’s Israel sub-delegation, Yuval Arie Nevo, admitted in an interview that the hostility on the part of the Israeli public was “totally understandable” given the group’s persistent but ultimately “unsuccessful” efforts to gain access to the hostages to assess their condition and offer medical and humanitarian assistance. While acknowledging the failures, “we are very proud of our work,” said Nevo, referring to the implementation of the transfer of the hostages from Hamas to Israel under the cease-fire agreement in October, coordinated with the release and exchange of Palestinian prisoners – and ICRC’s role in returning the remains of slain hostages as well. The “reputation crisis” the ICRC is suffering in Israel, he said, is due in large part to the constraints of the organization’s commitment to “impartiality” and the use of “bilateral confidential dialogue,” or refraining from taking sides in public statements. Without such a policy, he argued, ICRC would not be able to effectively conduct humanitarian operations and return prisoners and hostages anywhere in the world. Still, “I know it is a source of great frustration in the Israeli public,” he said. “Neutrality is not a sexy choice to make.” Read more: Sexual Assault, Starvation, Stitches Without Anesthesia: Alon Ohel Details Hamas Captivity Opinion | For the Hostages in Gaza, the Red Cross Is Neutral. But We Are Not Bystanders Far-right MKs Cite Classified Report on Red Cross Visits to Israeli Prisons, Refuse to Share It With Arab Lawmaker Israeli Defense Ministry Renews Its Ban on Red Cross Visits to Palestinian Security Prisoners Before High Court Israel Allows Hamas to Join Red Cross in IDF-held Gaza Areas to Recover Hostage BodiesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There was a clear “threat” delivered in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s formal letter to the President Isaac Herzog requesting a pardon in his corruption case, senior Haaretz columnist Dahlia Scheindlin said on the Haaretz Podcast. Netanyahu’s government continues to conduct a “campaign of vicious political incitement against the Israeli judiciary,” Scheindlin noted. “And what he's basically saying in the request is: ‘You see how bad I can make things. This is what will happen and continue to happen if you don't end this.’ It’s a very severe statement.’’ On Sunday, Netanyahu formally submitted a pardon request to the Israeli president. He has been on trial for three separate criminal cases – charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust – since 2020 and is currently being cross-examined by prosecutors in court. On the podcast, Scheindlin discusses the impact a pardon would have on a future election and the U.S.-led efforts to pursue the goals laid out in the Gaza cease-fire agreement, as well as what she believes Israel’s opposition needs to do to seize this moment ahead of next October’s election in order to formulate a “winning strategy” to defeat Netanyahu. Read more from Dahlia Scheindlin: The Visionary Palestinian Peace Plan for Israel and Gaza That You've Never Heard Of Nobody Wants This? Netanyahu Is Gaslighting Israelis Over October 7 Investigation What Israel's Opposition Should Learn From Mamdani Read more on Netanyahu's pardon request: What You Need to Know About Netanyahu's Bid for a Presidential Pardon in His Corruption Trial 43 Percent of Israelis Oppose Pardoning Netanyahu in Corruption Trials, Polls Show It's Clear What Defendant Netanyahu Gets Out of a Pardon. But What's in It for Trump?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and MAGA congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene may not be exclusively about Israel, “but Israel is one of the pillars of the narrative” that fueled Greene’s decision to resign earlier this week, Haaretz’s Washington correspondent Ben Samuels told the Haaretz Podcast. Until recently, the right was viewed as an unshakeable mainstay of American support for Israel. Schisms within the Republican Party have ruptured over Israel’s compatibility with MAGA-style isolationism, critiques of Israel’s wartime conduct and commentator Tucker Carlson’s embrace of Nick Fuentes. Greene’s departure, which also comes amid a swirl of conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein and the Mossad, is a red flag regarding the “deep realignment” taking place in the GOP and among evangelical Christians, Samuels said – and Israeli leaders are worried. Omer Benjakob, Haaretz’s cyber and disinformation correspondent, joined the podcast to discuss his recent investigation into a major multi-platform online campaign by the Israeli government that seeks to rehabilitate its image among the American Christian right. Benjakob said the multimillion-dollar campaign seems to be “less about pro- or anti- Israel arguments and more about trying to quell a growing wave of antisemitism.” He noted that the “rapid decline of this ‘unshakable bond’ points to a dependency on a population that progressive voices have warned Israel for years against getting in bed with.” Read more: Losing the Republican Base, Israel Pours Millions to Target Evangelicals and Churchgoers Between Mamdani and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Netanyahu's Allies in Washington Have Cause to Be Alarmed Why Netanyahu Is Sharing Leftist Conspiracy Theories About a Mossad Sex Cabal Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Resigns From Office, After Trump's Support Withdrawal Last Week Israel's Right Wing Bet the Country's Future on American Christian Nationalists. That Has BackfiredSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now that all of Israel’s living hostages are home and the vast majority of the bodies of deceased hostages have been returned, the “line of thinking” among many Israeli military and political leaders is “we have nothing to lose” and “we can continue our fight against Hamas,” says Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel. Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, he believes, are clearly “looking for an excuse” to return to full-fledged war. Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, Harel discussed the challenges of ensuring security on Israel’s southern and northern borders and rebuilding and rehabilitating Gaza, given the “vague” nature of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for an international stabilization force and a ruling Board of Peace. In the meantime, Hamas remains fully armed and in control of nearly half of Gaza. The Americans “have some vague ideas about how to solve things, but nothing ever moves ahead,” Harel observed. “Will there be an international force? Will any country in the world risk the lives of its soldiers and put them in harm's way trying to restrain Hamas? These are big challenges for the Americans.” On the podcast, Harel also discussed the fragile cease-fire with Hezbollah on its northern border and the firestorm in Israel's military and political arenas over accountability for the October 7 attacks. Read more: Analysis by Amos Harel | Latest Lebanon Escalation Is an Israeli Initiative That Serves Netanyahu's Interests – and Has Trump's Blessing Israel Kills Hezbollah Military Chief in Beirut Airstrike, IDF Confirms Lebanese Sources Worry That Israeli Escalation Will Weaken Gov't, Thwart Hezbollah Disarmament Analysis by Amos Harel | As It Prepares for Multifront Wars of Attrition, the IDF Faces a Manpower Crunch and Spiraling Costs U.S. to Pull Troops Out of Command Center in Israel, Try to Relocate Gazans to Israeli-held AreasSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Haaretz held its first-ever conference in Berlin, “Fault Lines and Futures: Israel, Gaza and Germany in Wartime and After," to explore the dynamic between Israelis, Palestinians and Germans at this charged moment; this special edition of the Haaretz Podcast features highlights of those conversations. Among the conference speakers was Hadash MK Ayman Odeh, who called on German politicians to follow other European leaders in recognizing a Palestinian state and acknowledge that “there are two peoples in our shared homeland, both with the right to self-determination.” John Philipp Albrecht, president of the Heinrich Boell Foundation – a co-sponsor of the Haaretz conference – took the stage to denounce the attempts of the Netanyahu government's “attacks and intimidation” against European NGOs that promote democracy and Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, noting that “alienating friends and partners of Israel is a strange strategy to strengthen Israel's security.” Also speaking was Prof. Meron Mendel, director of the Anne Frank Center in Frankfurt, who warned against the way in which German and other European far-right anti-immigration parties misleadingly present themselves as defenders of Israel and opponents of antisemitism, as they enjoy the embrace of Israel’s current right-wing coalition. These extremist politicians do not “love Jews,” said Mendel. “They hate Jews, but they hate Muslims more.” So they say, “we are for Israel” to “justify discriminating against Muslims for a ‘good cause’ – the cause of fighting antisemitism.” This episode also features Berliner festival director Matthias Pees and Dr. Ofer Waldman, who heads the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s Tel Aviv office. Watch a recording of the full conference here. Read more: Haaretz Conference in Berlin: What Lies Ahead for Israel and Germany After the Gaza War Germany's Antisemitism Czar Braces for Backlash Over Move to Rein in pro-Palestinian Protests Angela Merkel's Visit to My Gaza-border Kibbutz: A Lesson in Leadership That Israel Lacks Two Israeli DJs in Berlin Renounced Their Israeliness. It Didn't Stop the Boycott Calls The Far-right German Party AfD Says It Has Nothing Against Jews. This Book Proves OtherwiseSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Iran remains a major threat to Israel and the United States – with clear ambitions to expand its influence and terror activity into the Western hemisphere, said Danny Citrinowicz, a former IDF military intelligence officer and Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. Those ambitions were recently highlighted when a U.S. official revealed an advanced plan by Iran to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Mexico, using a base of operations in Venezuela. The official said the plot was foiled earlier this year. “Venezuela is the hub” of Iran’s activity in the region, Citrinowicz said, adding that Tehran is developing relationships with other South American countries with a sizable Shi’ite Muslim population and “controlled by the left” in the hope of uniting against a common enemy: the United States and its allies. “Iran can find a mutual language with every country that opposes the West,” he said. In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Citriowicz also discussed Iran’s renewal of its nuclear capabilities, as reported by the New York Times, and the potential Israeli response to the prospect that they appear to be increasing their missile capabilities to the point where they can rain thousands more explosives on Israel than they did in June’s 12-day war. “We’re in a very risky and unstable situation, and I don't think we’ve seen the last of the clashes between Israel and Iran.” Read more: What the Next Israel-Iran Missile War Will Look Like The Israeli Influence Operation Aiming to Install Reza Pahlavi as Shah of Iran Israeli FM: Iran Tried to Attack Multiple Israeli Embassies and Diplomats, Not Only Envoy in Mexico Paradox of Success: Israelis Fail to See That the Next Iran War Will Be Worse Opinion by Danny Citrinowicz | How a Historic Israel-Iran Non-aggression Pact Could Change the Middle EastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Olive harvest season has become a flashpoint in the West Bank in recent years as extremist Israeli settlers regularly threaten and physically harm Palestinian harvesters, but this year, “the situation on the ground is out of control,” Anton Goodman of Rabbis for Human Rights said on the Haaretz Podcast. “We have never seen anything like this,” Goodman emphasized, noting that in the past, “We've seen settler attacks, and we've seen unnecessary army aggression and restrictions, but we've never seen such a peak moment of violence affecting so many communities.” Goodman described the situation as a “perfect storm” with “extremists at the heart of the Israeli government, who have sent clear policy recommendations to the police” to refrain from arresting violent settlers so that “the rule of law is totally diminished.” He also outlined the ways in which mainstream Religious Zionist institutions and their leaders are complicit – such as when the prominent rabbi Yaakov Medan encouraged his yeshiva students to spend the High Holidays at outposts that are illegal even under Israeli law. Also on the podcast, Leila Stillman-Utterback recounts her experience as an 18-year-old Jewish American volunteer who was recently arrested at an olive harvest and then deported and banned from Israel for 10 years. While Israel has deported non-Jewish solidarity volunteers for years, Stillman-Utterback’s case is believed to be the first time Israel has deported a Diaspora Jew from the West Bank. Speaking from the United States, Stillman-Utterback said a court challenge to banning her entry to Israel is underway. Maintaining her connection to Israel, she said, is “incredibly important to me, even though I am extremely frustrated with the actions of the Israeli government, both in terms of the impunity for settler violence and their actions in Gaza.” Read more: Erased: Israeli Settlers' Brutal War on Palestinian Communities in the West Bank IDF Reports Surge in West Bank Settler Attacks Against Palestinians, Says Police and Shin Bet Looking Away Amid Political Pressure 'We May Have Reached the Point Where Settlers Try to Kill Jews' Analysis | There Will Be No Middle East Peace if Trump Turns a Blind Eye to Wild Settler Violence in the West Bank Op-ed by Anton Goodman: How Israel's Violent West Bank Settlers Place Minors in the Line of FireSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After October 7, actor, singer and writer Jonah Platt pivoted away from his entertainment career and poured all of his energy into what until then had been his “side hustle” – advocating for more “joyful” portrayals of Jews in Hollywood, and broadening his focus to include pro-Israel advocacy and fighting antisemitism. Platt joins the Haaretz Podcast where he discusses his own top-ranked Jewish podcast aimed at what he calls the “middle majority” of American Jews – engaging in pro-Israel advocacy while not hiding his misgivings and ambivalence about both U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This, he tells podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, has drawn both admiration and attacks from across the political spectrum in the Jewish community and beyond. Platt notes that the criticism he gets from the Jewish left “mimics the hate that I get from non-Jews on the left, which is that I'm a nepo baby genocidal baby killer” while the attacks from the MAGA Jewish right “feels more like getting it from my own team.” On the podcast, Platt also shares his views on conflicts within Jewish families over the Gaza war – including his own – and why he believes so many young New York Jews voted for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Read more: Paramount Studios Reportedly Keeps Internal Blacklist of Antisemitic Industry Figures Pledge to Boycott Israeli Film Institutions Grows to Over 4,000 Signatories Since Monday Israeli Artists React to Filmmakers' Boycott: 'We Aren't Doing Enough' Uncanceled Nation: The Artists Who Perform in Israel, Despite Everything Debra Messing, Liev Schreiber Among 1,200 Hollywood Figures Opposing Israeli Film BoycottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The scandal rocking Israel’s military justice system has “serious ramifications” that could undermine the country both internally and in its ability to address accusations of war crimes overseas, Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer said on the Haaretz Podcast. Shamir-Borer, who served for over 20 years in the IDF Military Advocate General's Corps, and currently heads the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for National Security and Democracy, said he was “personally and professionally shocked” by the admission of now-former Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi. She was arrested and is now in detention after she admitted to leaking video documentation from July 2024 of IDF soldiers physically and sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention camp. Tomer-Yerushalmi is likely facing charges of participating in a cover-up of the leak, which involved misleading both the State Prosecutor’s office and the Supreme Court. On the podcast, Shamir-Borer, with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, lays out the dramatic events behind what’s being called the Sde Teiman Affair – and how the affair that “shocked him on so many levels” unfolded in his former military unit. The affair, he fears, will both boost the power of those in the Netanyahu government working “trying to undermine the independence and professionalism of the justice system,” as well as “undermine the credibility of the IDF justice system overseas with serious repercussions for Israel and for those in its military service.” Read more: Haaretz Explains | Two Leaks, Two Tales: Why the Prisoner Abuse Video Leak and the Bild Hamas Document Are Different How the IDF Legal Chief Drama Overshadows the Abuse of Palestinian Prisoners IDF Probe Into Sde Teiman Video Leak May Disrupt Abuse Investigation, Legal Sources Say Ex-IDF Top Lawyer Sticks to Story in Initial Police Interrogation on Leaked Abuse Video Israel Released Palestinian Detainee Allegedly Seen in Leaked Abuse Video Back to Gaza We Served on Israel's Sde Teiman Base. Here's What We Did to Gazans Detained ThereSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The prospect of a New York City mayor who “won’t march in the Israel Day Parade, will not travel to Israel, who will divest from Israel” with a history of pro-Palestinian advocacy has brought many Jews to a place of “caution and worry” as they choose the city’s next leader, New York political reporter Jacob Kornbluh said on the Haaretz Podcast. At the same time, he stressed, despite the “fear campaign” that Jewish leaders and rabbis pursued against the 34-year-old Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a large number of Jewish New Yorkers were casting their ballots for the man poised to make history as the city’s first Muslim mayor. Leading up to Election Day, Kornbluh noted “a changing mood among Jewish voters who say they disagree with Mamdani” and were “worried” about his positions on Israel – but “since they hate [Independent candidate] Andrew Cuomo, since they are Democrats, and since they want to participate in this election, they will hold their nose and vote for Mamdani.” University administrator Dov Scheindlin, who is voting for Mamdani, also spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the podcast and explained the reasons for his choice despite disagreeing with the candidate on issues related to Israel. “On a personal level, I feel Mamdani’s demonstrated a tremendous commitment to the Jews of New York City,” Scheindlin said, attributing the candidate’s stated position as a reflection of his “sympathy with the Palestinians and a sense that the cause of Palestinian self-determination has been inhibited by the unfettered support for Israel the United States has offered.” Join Haaretz and meet our journalists at the Other Israel Film Festival, running from November 6-13 in New York City. Use the code haaretz25 at checkout for 20 percent off admission. View the event schedule and buy tickets here. Read more: Rabbi Angela Buchdahl Slams Zohran Mamdani's Past Remarks as Antisemitic, 'Demonizing' Israelis NYC Candidates Court Final Endorsements as Hasidic Leaders Criticize 'Scare Campaign' Against Mamdani Cuomo Faces Backlash in New York Mayoral Race After 'Racist' Attack on Rival Mamdani Opinion | I Oppose Mamdani's Stance on Israel. This Is Why I Am Voting for HimSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Throughout the Gaza war, the tremendous difference between international coverage and Israeli media coverage was obvious to anyone exposed to both. In a new report, media scholar Dr. Ayala Panievsky’s research quantifies precisely how pronounced that difference was. On the Haaretz Podcast, she said the silencing of dissent in Israel’s mainstream media was unprecedented. “The professional journalists, people who Israelis spend their entire lives trusting to tell them the truth, rallied around the military in many ways – any criticism of what our soldiers were doing was just out of bounds. It wasn't part of the conversation.” In past coverage of war and conflict, she stressed, “there was no such silencing of any criticism and alternative voices,” attributing the difference to the tremendous amount of pressure by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on media outlets in recent years. "The Netanyahu camp declared war on the media a decade ago. And when the war in Gaza broke, the mainstream media was already very much undermined, intimidated and exhausted.” In her conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Panievsky, author of “The New Censorship: How the War on the Media is Taking Us Down,” also discussed how the phenomenon of self-censorship is plaguing journalism worldwide. In many countries, she said, authoritarian leaders “claim to speak on behalf of democracy” while “doing everything to undermine journalism and its role in society. … This is something very, very confusing, and difficult to tackle. Join Haaretz and meet our journalists at the Other Israel Film Festival, running from November 6-13 in New York City. Use the code haaretz25 at checkout for 20 percent off admission. View the event schedule and buy tickets here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The turmoil around the Gaza war has transformed French Jews into “different people” than they were two years ago, pioneering rabbi Delphine Horvilleur said on the Haaretz Podcast. “I don't know any of any Jewish family in France who hasn’t had a conversation around the Shabbat table,” Horvilleur said, contemplating possible emigration and wondering what will remain of Jews in France a decade from now. In her discussion with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Horvilleur talks about inspiring the hit HBO show "Reformed" and the books she's penned herself: "Living with Our Dead" and "How Isn't It Going? Conversations After October 7." The rabbi also addressed the hate mail and death threats she received after writing a column in a French Jewish magazine last spring that was critical of far-right members of the Israeli government who justified denying humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza as legitimate acts of war. She noted the “really harsh” threats she received were smaller in number than the amount of support. “Even today, I walk in the streets of Paris, and Jews stop me and say, ‘thank you for speaking out, because we believe exactly what you said, but we cannot say it anymore.’ Somehow the crisis and the war and the pain and the trauma created an inability to talk. "And for me, the real threat today lies in not being able to say what we think, to talk and re-engage in the Jewish conversation” in which, Horvilleur said, it is possible to be “both supportive of and critical of” Israel. Join Haaretz and meet our journalists at the Other Israel Film Festival, running from November 6-13 in New York City. Use the code haaretz25 at checkout for 20 percent off admission. View the event schedule and buy tickets here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The flow of high-level Trump administration officials to Israel in the wake of the Gaza cease-fire agreement has sent a clear signal to Israel’s prime minister and his government, columnist Joshua Leifer said on the Haaretz Podcast. In a single week, envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived for an extended stay, followed by the first state visit of Vice President JD Vance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio followed on Thursday evening. For Leifer, “the bottom-line message to the world that the Trump administration is sending with these visits is ‘We don't trust Netanyahu to follow through on what he's agreed to,’ and they have a good reason to think that. At every opportunity, Netanyahu has made it clear that he is unhappy with the Gaza deal.” Trump’s close supervision of Israel during the war – and afterwards, Leifer added, has been so unrelenting and it feels as if “in some sense, Israel has been put under a U.S. mandate.” In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Leifer also discussed the way in which Trump “has completely scrambled American Jewish politics.” On one hand, he said, “American Jewish liberals loathe him and experience him and his followers as racist, sexist, homophobic and antisemitic” while “on the other hand, it's true that he managed to do what Joe Biden couldn’t: end the war and bring the hostages home.” Read more: Hamas Disarmament and Turkey's Role: Vance's Israel Visit Aims to Address Key Postwar Gaza Questions Vance Spotlights Hamas Violence on Israel Visit, but Netanyahu Is on a Short Leash From Bear-hug to Bibi-sitting: Marco Rubio Flies Into a Tense Moment in U.S.-Israel Relations Analysis | With One Eye on Reconstruction, U.S. Won't Let Fragile Gaza Cease-fire Go Up in SmokeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the international success of “Fauda” to Academy Award nominations and prestigious festival awards, the Israeli film and television industry was at a high point before the October 7 attacks. Throughout the two-year Gaza war, the industry has struggled as international funding and festival invitations dried up, and Hollywood A-listers circulated petitions to boycott any association with the Israeli industry. Domestically, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been hostile, especially when infuriated by films they view as too sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Assaf Amir, chairman of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, joins host Allison Kaplan Sommer to talk about the threat by Culture Minister Miki Zohar’s extreme reaction to the fact that the film winning this year’s Academy for Israel’s Best Picture was “The Sea” – about a Palestinian boy’s journey from the West Bank to Tel Aviv – which is now poised for submission in the Best Foreign Language film category at the Oscars. As a result, Zohar said he will defund the Academy prize and set up an alternative government award ceremony to choose a different Best Picture. Amir said on the podcast that he was unimpressed by the threat. “We'll see who submits their films to his prize and who he chooses to decide which of the films should win,” Amir said. As for the Hollywood boycotts, Amir said he would point to Israel’s Best Picture this year and ask the professionals signing the petitions where they stand on it. “Will they watch this Arabic-language film that was made by an Israeli and a Palestinian about a Palestinian boy from the West Bank trying to go to Tel Aviv – or would they boycott it? I think that's the question they should ask themselves, and I'm wondering what the answer is – because I would definitely urge them to watch this film.” Read more: Israel's Best Film Award Goes to 'The Sea,' Chosen to Represent Country at the Oscars Government Says It Will Cut Israel Film Academy Funding After Film 'Depicting Israel Negatively' Wins 'If We Stop Deteriorating': Head of Israel's Film Academy Still Sees a Bright Future, Despite Political Pressures 1,300 International Actors and Filmmakers Pledge to Avoid Israeli Film Institutions 'Implicated in Gaza Genocide' Debra Messing, Liev Schreiber Among 1,200 Hollywood Figures Opposing Israeli Film Boycott Opinion | As an Israeli Filmmaker, Thank You to Everyone Who Is Boycotting My WorksSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The miraculous release of Israel’s remaining 20 living hostages in Gaza may have been “the best news we’ve had for the last two years,” Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel said on the Haaretz Podcast. Yet a great deal remains to be resolved before anything resembling security is in place for Palestinians in Gaza or for Israelis. Inside Gaza, Harel noted, “Hamas is already making its intentions clear – to remain by any means necessary. They're not going anywhere. They do not intend to dismantle their weapons.” He points to their recent violent execution of suspected Israeli collaborators and aggressive attacks on clans and factions who challenge their authority. With host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Harel breaks down the various complications regarding a postwar Gaza: Hamas’ failure to return a significant number of the bodies of the deceased hostages, the possible involvement of international forces to reign in Hamas after the IDF withdraws, the flow of humanitarian aid and how the Strip will be governed He also reflected on Donald Trump’s boldly frank speech in the Knesset in which the U.S. leader openly called on Israel’s president to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his corruption trial. “Netanyahu’s crowd has been complaining and whining for the last two days that he's not getting enough respect and not enough ‘thank you’s’ for bringing the hostages back,” Harel said. “Well, there's a simple reason for that. ...It was not thanks to Netanyahu. It was because Trump finally pulled weight and forced Netanyahu’s hand. This is what happened.” Read more: Analysis by Amos Harel | End of Gaza War Could Open Door to Major Diplomatic Shifts in the Middle East Trump: I Spoke to Hamas; They Said They Will Disarm. If They Don't, We Will, 'Perhaps Violently' This Isn't Over': Families of Deceased Israeli Hostages Warn of Government Neglect, Public Fatigue Trump Urges Pardon for Netanyahu in Knesset Address: 'Give Him a Pardon, Come On' 'The Color Is Returning to His Face': Parents of Freed Hostages Share Details From Gaza CaptivitySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Gaza war may be finally coming to an end, but it has made a long-term impact on Israel and the way the world views the Jewish state – including Diaspora Jews – especially those who spent the war on turbulent university campuses. Judy Maltz, Haaretz's Jewish World Editor, surveyed the effect of the two-year conflict on a group of young Jews from around the world, seeking to understand how their evolving views on Israel, antisemitism and Jewish identity changed since October 7. She found that a “vast majority of them” were “very, very troubled and distressed” after the October 7 attacks and were initially fully supportive of the Israeli incursion into Gaza. But two years into the war, “I did not find even one who could say wholeheartedly that they supported its continuation.” For some of the students, their changing sentiments propelled them into activism supporting protests to end the war. Others were motivated to step up their involvement in fighting campus antisemitism, which many experienced for the first time in their lives. Sometimes, students in the same country had completely contradictory experiences, Maltz reported. In Australia, she found one student who said they had encountered no hostility whatsoever, even as she was out demonstrating for the hostages with an Israeli flag. Yet another “had such a horrific experience that he's moving to Israel at the end of the year. He says Australia is no longer his home.” Read more: 'I Was Defending Something I No Longer Believed In': How Two Years of the Gaza War Changed Jewish Students Around the WorldSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The lesson of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest diplomatic gambit is that in Middle East deal-making, “the devil is in the details, but the most important thing is political willpower,” said Anshel Pfeffer, The Economist’s Israel correspondent and former Haaretz columnist, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. Trump, he noted, “has supplied that political willpower in bucket loads.” Hours after Israel and Hamas agreed on a deal to end the war in Gaza and release the hostages, Pfeffer spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer about the long road to the deal, the obstacles that lie ahead and the joyful yet nervous mood among Israelis as they anticipate the long-awaited return of all the hostages. Pfeffer, a biographer of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also discussed how he expects Israel’s leader to shape the narrative of the cease-fire to serve his political goals ahead of next year’s general election. “We know how hard Donald Trump had to press him to accept this plan, but he is a very pragmatic person," Pfeffer said. "The moment something is forced upon him, he immediately makes it look as if it was his idea all along.” Read more: Analysis by Anshel Pfeffer | Netanyahu's Last Stand: How Rewriting the Gaza War Will Decide the Israeli Leader's Political Destiny Israel, Hamas Reach Gaza Cease-fire Deal; Trump: Hostages Will Be Released Monday 'A Day of Joy': Hundreds of Israelis Stream to Hostage Square to Celebrate Israel-Hamas Deal With Families 'We'll Go Back Home, Rebuild Our Lives': Gaza's Palestinians Celebrate Deal to End Israel-Hamas War Turkey, Egypt and Qatar Will Help Israel and U.S. Recover Bodies of Hostages From GazaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"It is hard to overstate the almost tribal, pathological inability of folks who are pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli to acknowledge the humanity of the other," said filmmaker and Palestinian American activist Mo Husseini on the Haaretz Podcast. "People are operating on the assumption that everyone on the other side is an inhumane, hateful asshole who wants to kill all of us." Husseini said that's the reason he chose to join Jewish American award-winning documentary filmmaker Julie Cohen to create "The Path Forward," which spotlights pairs of Israeli and Palestinian activists who joined forces after October 7. Cohen, also speaking on the podcast, said she conceived the film as offering an alternative to what she saw as the sole emphasis on violence and hostility when it came to interactions between Israelis and Palestinians. Whenever there is coverage of dialogue, she said, it is framed as "Oh my God, there's an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian, and they're talking to each other. This is nuts, this is insane, this is the craziest thing we've ever seen!" But actually, says Cohen, "it's happening all the time. You're just not seeing it." The film was made in the first year of the war. As the second anniversary of October 7 approaches, Cohen admits that when she re-watches it now, the activists' hope can be "painful to watch in the context of … what is now a genocide in Gaza." Still, Cohen and Husseini said if they had to make a film today, they would strike the same hopeful chord.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The two years that have passed since October 7, 2023 have transformed Israel and its people, its leaders, its status on the world stage and its relationship with Diaspora Jewry. On the Haaretz Podcast, Joshua Leifer, the newest Haaretz columnist, spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer the many dimensions of change the war has wrought - including the changes in his own life and thinking. In their conversation, Leifer noted that while Israelis on the far right can indulge in "a perverse and spectacular kind of denial" regarding the death and suffering in Gaza every day, the situation is more complex and contradictory for the Israeli mainstream and people on the left. "We know that what Israel is doing in Gaza is terrible," Leifer said. And yet, even at times when the war is visibly and audibly present, "we go to the beach, we go to family, we carry on. I think we're only at the beginning of being able to understand what that does to ‌a society, and what that does to people over time, as they acclimate to a reality that should be unbearable but isn't." Regarding his decision to move to Israel at a time when he opposed so much of what its government is doing, Leifer said: "If you want to change a place, I think you have to be there... I didn't want to just be stuck in the meta discourse over Zionism and progressivism. I wanted to try to intervene - if possible - in the reality."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special Haaretz Podcast episode, Haaretz columnist Amir Tibon offers his analysis of the comprehensive 20-point peace plan unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump in a White House press conference on Monday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood beside him. “What we saw was a plan with big headlines, but a lack of details,” Tibon said in his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer. “We don't know yet if there is actually the political will to carry it forward.” While Netanyahu has officially endorsed and even praised the plan, Tibon added, it will be difficult for the Israeli leader to convince the hard-right wing of his coalition to accept many of the terms – particularly a full withdrawal from the Strip by the IDF. A political crisis over the deal could lead to the collapse of the government and force a new general election. Hamas has yet to fully weigh in on the plan that requires the massive concession of disarming and ceding power in Gaza to “Palestinians technocrats.” After two years of the war in Gaza, Tibon said, Trump clearly “hopes he can get a Nobel Peace Prize for ending the war and opening an opportunity for wider peace in the Middle East.” But the U.S. president “still doesn't understand that actually ending the war will require more pressure. The idea that he will simply impose all of these terms on Hamas, I think, is unrealistic. I would love to be wrong on this, but I don't see it happening so quickly.” Read more: Trump's 'New Gaza' Plan Revealed: Hostage Deal, Hamas Disarmament and 'Gaza Deradicalized' Far-right Minister Smotrich Slams Netanyahu's Assent to Trump's Plan: 'Missed Chance to Break Free From Shackles of Oslo' Hamas to Review Trump's 'New Gaza' Cease-fire Plan 'In Good Faith,' Foreign Diplomat Tells Haaretz Amir Tibon: The 'Magic Number' That Could Convince Hamas to Accept the Trump PlanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On a special edition of the Haaretz Podcast – as Israel faces the Jewish High Holidays mired in war and political division, host Allison Kaplan Sommer speaks to Prof. Adam Ferziger about soul-searching and atonement with a focus on the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel and the Diaspora. Ferziger, who is also an ordained rabbi, believes the process of observing Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur “is all about humility.” “Rosh Hashanah comes before Yom Kippur, because in order to be able to go before God and do some sort of atonement, I have to first acknowledge my place in the world,” he said. Following October 7 and over the past two years of war, “so many of the players involved, unfortunately, feel that they know all the right answers, and there is a real lack of humility on many sides.” Faith and belief in God, he said, should not “be a cause for saying ‘I am more powerful and better, and I know the truth more than you do.’” In his new book, "Agents of Change: American Jews and the Transformation of Israeli Judaism," the Bar-Ilan University professor chronicles the rise of what he calls “moderate Orthodox Judaism” in Israel, the pioneering immigrant Diaspora Jews behind a more liberal and tolerant religious outlook – even as, politically, their presence in Israel strengthened the right and the settler movement. “Many are right-wing by most standards when it comes to politics, but that does not necessarily go along with their attitude towards Jews who differ from them, or on sexual identity, or the role of women in leadership – and many other subjects.” While it can be “very hard to pull those things apart,” Ferziger sees this dichotomy as an opportunity for “conversation between people in Israel who are moderate in a lot of areas and the broader community in America,” even when there are deep political disagreements. Read more: Israel's Religious Left Finds New Purpose Amid Gaza War What Future Is There for a Young, Leftist, Secular Family in the Israel of 2026? Opinion | What I Wish Rabbis Would Say About Israel, Gaza and the Palestinians in Their High Holy Day SermonsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.