Podcast appearances and mentions of Jonathan Freedland

Join as Friend of the pod: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Unholypod With sixty days to go until the Israeli elections, the political jockeying enters into overdrive. Yonit and Jonathan break down the high-stakes coalition arithmetic facing both Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot, from the crowded field of small right-wing parties—including the entrance of retired general Ofer Winter—to the battle on the center ground. Meanwhile, alarming footage of settler violence in the West Bank and provocative stunts by far-right lawmakers raise hard questions and trigger fierce international blowback from London to Washington. Plus: an election ad pulled on grounds of chutzpah so extreme, even its own party couldn't defend it, and a Mensch of the Week whose Jewish connection nobody saw coming. 0:00 End-of-Summer Chaos 1:50 Sixty Days to Israel's Election: Eisenkot vs Netanyahu 11:56 Lieberman Scenarios and Ben Gvir's TikTok Rise 16:06 Mansour Abbas and the Two-State Question 20:58 E1 Construction and the Wave of Settler Violence 31:10 The Case for Releasing Marwan Barghouti 35:12 Chutzpah of the Week: Aryeh Deri's Shas Ad 36:36 Mensch of the Week: Dolly Parton

With less than three months to go until the midterms, voters are thinking about grocery prices, the Iran war – and datacentres. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the historian Jill Lepore about how this latest AI backlash could influence those all-important elections in November. Are we seeing the beginning of the end of the ‘artificial state'?

Send us your questions at: https://www.speakpipe.com/Unholy Visit our website to learn more about Unholy and become a friend of the pod: www.unholy-podcast.com   Sixty-eight days from the election, the hardest problems on Benjamin Netanyahu's desk are arriving from Washington. Jared Kushner is meeting Hamas directly, and the Gaza withdrawal deadlines he is carrying — thirty, sixty and ninety days — all land inside the Israeli campaign. Yonit and Jonathan read the timing as an unfriendly act rather than an accident, and ask what Donald Trump wants in return for the endorsement he keeps withholding. Also this week: the anti-Netanyahu bloc still cannot say who leads it, the IDF publishes its decisions in five Gaza cases, and the prime minister calls Britain an Islamic Republic on a podcast. Plus a Chutzpah award for an American broadcaster who has found proof of Israeli hostility to Christians in a mathematical symbol, and a Mensch of the Week who proves that sometimes even the most heartbreaking stories can have a happy ending.   00:00 Intro 04:04 68 days out: blocs, mergers and the electoral threshold 10:03 Eisenkot, Bennett and who leads the anti-Netanyahu bloc 14:32 Kushner meets Hamas and Washington's Gaza deadlines 19:59 The IDF's decisions in five Gaza cases 22:24 Huckabee on settler violence, Iran, and Trump on Oman 27:47 Coming up: Simon Sebag Montefiore on the Middle East 28:33 Netanyahu calls Britain an Islamic Republic 33:33 Central Synagogue and the cost to the diaspora 35:35 Chutzpah of the Week 38:56 Mensch of the Week

Acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore returns to Unholy to discuss his sweeping new book, The Cauldron: A History of the Middle East between 1900 and 2026. He tells Yonit and Jonathan that understanding the region today requires starting at the dawn of the 20th century — thanks to the long shadow still cast by the Ottoman Empire and its collapse. They talk of the often underestimated significance of Saudi Arabia, the convulsions that followed the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the extent to which Israel is - unexpectedly - a Middle Eastern state like any other.   ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:52 Why the book starts in 1900 02:49 Ibn Saud and the House of Saud 07:31 1979 and the Iranian revolution 09:55 The empire states, none of them Arab 13:13 Israel as a post-Ottoman state 18:22 Ben Gurion, Ataturk, Reza Shah 21:46 Middleness, pipelines and Haifa 26:35 The 1840 Damascus blood libel 30:02 Purity tests and historians' nerve 33:58 The King and Britain's minorities    

When Air Force One took off from Turkey after July's Nato summit, almost everyone believed Donald Trump was on board … but he wasn't. Jonathan Freedland talks with Tara Setmayer of the Seneca Project about why the White House felt the need to come up with such an elaborate lie to protect the president

Benjamin Netanyahu has said no to Donald Trump's 15-point Gaza plan, and the refusal is flat rather than fudged. In the West Bank, extremist settlers have besieged two Palestinian families in the village of Qusra, apparently hoping to take their homes. The IDF went in but came away with mission very much unaccomplished. With Yonit away, Jonathan is joined by Hadley Freeman, columnist for London's Sunday Times and author of the acclaimed memoir, House of Glass, for what is an Unholy first: two voices from the Jewish diaspora and no Israeli in the room. They talk through the week's news and reflect on what three years since October 7 has done to Jewish life outside Israel, why Israel-Palestine has become the litmus test of the American left and whether anybody speaks for the diaspora.   Plus: a Chutzpah nominee that reached a Belfast stage via Sweden, and a Mensch that arrives from Australia by way of Yiddish.   The Bashevis Singers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G531cgjplcM

Three of the oldest myths about Jews — relating to money, blood and the way they look — were forged in medieval Christian Europe, mostly in places where there were almost no Jews to observe. Miri Rubin, professor of medieval and early modern history at Queen Mary University of London, tells Jonathan how each one of those myths was built — and explains how that medieval way of seeing Jews often remains the lens through which Israel, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, is seen. They also discuss the reckoning with Christendom's past that followed the Holocaust - and how it has seemingly come to a halt in our own time.  

Donald Trump's second term is unlike his first. The politicians who challenged him are gone. The lawyers who once pushed back now choose their battles. What remains is an imperial president with almost no internal checks, using executive power to reshape everything from the economy, immigration and even the presidency itself. Few journalists have covered Trump as closely as the New York Times journalist Jonathan Swan. Jonathan Freedland speaks to him about how the president has consolidated such power – and what it could mean for the US and the world

With Yonit away, Jonathan is joined by Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent of the Economist, as they discuss the muted reaction to the announcement made by Donald Trump of what he hoped would be hailed as a breakthrough in Gaza. It turns out that most people in the region are waiting to see if Washington's hopes turn into anything more concrete.   Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu is setting about ensuring his political opponents are deemed too toxic to serve as partners in any coalition that would hope to replace him following the elections on October 27.   Plus: a new wine from very old grapes and an Irish plane that may have trouble in stormy weather.

Leftwing Democrats are having their moment in the sun, with Zohran Mamdani in New York, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and endless calls for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for president in 2028. Has Democratic socialism shifted from the political fringe to the mainstream? And can this group lure back the all-important swing voters? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Bhaskar Sunkara, president of the Nation magazine, founding editor of Jacobin and author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequalities

Ninety days before Israel votes, the campaign is revealing much about both the candidates and the country. The defense minister boasts about applying different detention rules to Jewish and Arab citizens — at a primary event, into a microphone. Two sets of pollsters are predicting completely opposite outcomes, and someone smashed Channel 12's doors and left death threats for the second time in a month.   Yonit and Jonathan take stock at the three-month mark — what the divergent polling could be setting up, what three and a half years of judicial overhaul attempts actually achieved, why Bennett and Lapid might not survive to election day as a unit, and what the oddly quiet Netanyahu-Trump summit tells us about the Iran impasse. Plus: a Chutzpah award for a New York mayor with a peculiar blind spot, and a Mensch moment involving Israel's Chief Justice and an unexpected nod to Hollywood.

Fresh off his tour of Israel and Europe, this week on Unholy Conversations, Yonit and Jonathan speak to Rahm Emanuel—former Chief of Staff, Congressman, Chicago Mayor, Ambassador to Japan and perhaps future presidential nominee. They dive into his recent charged conversation with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, his take on Israel's current choices, whether he considers himself a Zionist, and if he's any closer to making a decision on a presidential run.

Donald Trump has announced a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia while pressing ahead with efforts to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. What's driving Trump's new agreement with Riyadh? And how is it likely to be received at home and across the Gulf? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Robert Jimison, who covers Congress for the New York Times with a focus on defence and foreign policy, about what the agreement contains, why it matters and the political challenges it could face.

This week, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with three first-time voters — Aviv, Yael and Dror — to talk about the topics that will shape these election - the judicial overhaul, whether Arab parties belong in a coalition, and the draft bill. October 7th moved each of them, but not the same way — one drifted toward the center, another sharply to the right. What they do agree on might be the most interesting part. Plus: what happens to a generation that has only ever known one prime minister. CHAPTERS: [00:00] Intro [00:21] Meet Aviv, Yael and Dror [03:29] Why Aviv says she might not stay [08:09] Yael on voting for the North [12:12] Dror's family, yeshiva, and the draft [17:05] How October 7th moved them in opposite directions [25:24] The fight over Arab parties in a coalition [30:41] The only prime minister they've ever known [34:57] Is there a generational vote? [37:35] Would they stay if they lose?

The debate about how old is too old to serve in public office has resurfaced this week after the shock death of the Republican Lindsey Graham and the surprise return of Mitch McConnell, the 84-year-old senator who published a photo of himself in hospital after a long absence from the spotlight. With rumours continuing to swirl around Donald Trump's health, why is it that US politicians seem to cling on to power for so long? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Alexis Coe, a presidential historian and columnist for the New York Times Book Review, about whether the US is becoming a gerontocracy

The US-Iran war is back on. The ceasefire has collapsed, the naval blockade is reimposed, and Israel is asking if a moment is coming when the missiles turn its way. With Yonit away, Jonathan is joined by New Yorker writer Ruth Margalit to make sense of a dizzying week: a jaw-dropping report that the Mossad cultivated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — yes, that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — as an asset in a failed plot to topple the Iranian regime, and an election campaign in which Gadi Eisenkot is opening up a real lead over Benjamin Netanyahu. Can Mr. Security survive a race where even Likud voters might be drifting away? Plus: a World Cup dilemma for Jewish football fans, a Chutzpah award for a literary institution that forgot its own motto, and a Mensch that takes us to a Jerusalem cafe that refuses to close on Shabbat.   ⏱ CHAPTERS: [00:00] Intro [01:02] England out — a World Cup dilemma for Jewish fans [05:00] The US-Iran war is back on [08:44] Why Netanyahu wants the shadow of war [10:52] Congress votes on cutting aid to Israel [15:24] The Mossad's Ahmadinejad plot [21:30] Election set for October 27 — Eisenkot's rise [29:39] Mansour Abbas gambles on running alone [32:52] The Shin Bet investigates Channel 12 [40:16] Chutzpah & Mensch awards

This week, Axe and Heilemann are joined by a Hack from across the pond and all-around political savant, Jonathan Freedland. Jonathan is a Guardian columnist, host of Politics Weekly America, and co-host of Unholy, the podcast covering Israel and the Middle East. The Hacks dive into the biggest stories of the week, including the sudden passing of Senator Lindsey Graham and the political legacy he leaves behind, Trump's war against Iran, the Democratic Party's evolving stance on Israel, chunky forearms, bin-faced politicians, and so much more. Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As football fans across the globe gear up for the World Cup final on Sunday, Jonathan talks to the author of a new book that uncovers a hidden story: the Jewish players who were once football's biggest stars. David Bolchover reveals how it was Jewish footballers that dominated some of Europe's best teams, reinventing much of the way the game is played - until they were brutally murdered in the Holocaust. Their phenomenal achievement has been all but forgotten, to the extent that many imagine “Jewish footballer” to be an oxymoron if not the punchline to a joke. Instead, it sheds light on an era of forgotten Jewish sporting glory - and the world that was extinguished in the Shoah   00:00 Introduction to Jewish Football History 03:08 The Role of Jews in Football Before the Holocaust 05:39 Zygmunt Sztoyanman: A Football Legend's Story 08:15 Josef Braun: The Hebrew Ronaldo 11:07 Political Affiliations of Jewish Football Clubs 13:57 The Evolution of Football Tactics and Jewish Influence 18:05 The Impact of the Holocaust on Jewish Footballers 19:11 Erasure of Jewish Football History 21:07 Legacy of Jewish Football in Modern Israel  

After the US launched strikes on Iran this week, Donald Trump said the fragile ceasefire he had co-signed just last month was over. He also reignited his threats to take Greenland, before leaving the Nato summit in Ankara, saying there was a lot of ‘love' and ‘unity' in the room. So how does anyone make progress with a leader choosing to relive a diplomatic Groundhog Day? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Susan Glasser of the New Yorker

Donald Trump declares the Iran ceasefire dead, while a new poll has alarming news for Benjamin Netanyahu: New York's trenchantly anti-Israel mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is more popular with American Jews than he is.   This week, Yonit and Jonathan break down the collapse of the fragile Iran deal and why "amateur hour" US negotiators may have doomed it from the start. They unpack the Knesset's last-minute push to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from military service — as soldiers testify in tears about the price of a three-year war — as well as the less noisy bills eroding Israel's judicial independence. Plus: Rahm Emanuel's blunt warning about Israel's "content problem," and the wedding of two returned hostages that gave the week its one unambiguously happy ending.

A new report accuses the world's most trusted human rights organizations of a problem that goes far beyond anti-Israel bias: antisemitism, and a culture that pushes out Jewish staff for naming it. This week, Yonit and Jonathan talk to Danielle Haas, a former senior editor at Human Rights Watch who spent 14 years inside the organization before co-founding EiGHT, a watchdog created to scrutinize the watchdogs. Drawing on interviews with over 70 staffers across nine major NGOs, the report documents internal messages calling for "liberating the world from Zionism," leadership reposting inflammatory rhetoric, and a pattern of employees being sidelined the moment they raised concerns.   00:00 Introduction to the Conversation 01:30 Danielle Haas's Background and Experience 03:43 Insights from the New Report on NGOs 07:58 Striking Findings and Internal Messaging 11:31 Challenges Faced by Jewish Employees 17:19 Lack of Accountability in Human Rights Organizations 21:08 Cultural Shifts and Generational Changes 24:46 Association with Militant Organizations 27:20 The Future of Human Rights Organizations 33:00 Reflections on Personal Experience and Change

This weekend marks 250 years since the signing of the declaration of independence, but Donald Trump is making the celebration all about himself. As the anniversary approaches, Jonathan Freedland talks to the Atlantic's Yoni Appelbaum about why so many Americans are feeling less patriotic these days

A thousand days after October 7th — and Benjamin Netanyahu wants to talk about unity. This week, as Israel edges closer toward elections, Yonit and Jonathan discuss a prime minister campaigning on togetherness after- say his critics- a long career spent dividing Israelis against each other, and trace the strange alliance between Israel's nationalist right and the ultra-Orthodox parties who for the most part reject Zionism on principle.   Zohran Mamdani keeps doubling down on Israel and AIPAC, six months into his mayoralty — and sees no reason to slow down. And as America turns 250, Jonathan asks an uncomfortable question about what happens to a constitution when the people meant to enforce it simply don't.   Plus: our Chutzpah award goes to a finance minister taking credit for something he objected to while our Mensch of the week pulls off an unexpected feat of German diplomacy - and language.

A wave of antisemitic terror swept across Western Europe this spring — and one man appears to have been behind it all. This week, Yonit and Jonathan hear the full, remarkable story as they sit down with Jason Burke, The Guardian's international security correspondent and terrorism expert. He describes how a single Iraqi-Iranian dual national is accused of leveraging both social media and teenage criminals to orchestrate what looked like a series of scattered attacks but was, in fact, a coordinated proxy campaign. And they discuss the broader questions: has the long arm of Iranian terror been constrained at all by US-Israeli military action? Did October 7th represent a strategic break from Iran's usual playbook — or was it a tactical aberration? And as the 50th anniversary of the raid on Entebbe approaches, was that operation a turning point in the long history of global terrorism - and what can be done now to beat back the menace of terror?   00:00 Introduction to Jason Burke and His Work 02:23 Profile of Mohammed Bakr Saad, Al-Sadi 05:13 Al-Sadi's Operations and Recruitment Methods 07:50 The Arrest of Al-Sadi and His Plans in the US 12:42 Impact of Al-Sadi's Arrest on Terror Operations 15:26 October 7th: An Evolution or Aberration in Terrorism? 19:06 The Role of Qatar in Terror Financing 22:55 Countering Terrorism: Challenges and Strategies 26:05 The Significance of the Entebbe Raid 30:03 Convergence of Leftist and Islamist Terrorism 33:01 The Evolution of Terrorism and Its Future  

The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington DC will have to be drained again. Donald Trump has blamed vandalism for the failure to keep the water “American flag blue”. But what if this small body of water is proof that the president can't outrun the truth? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Arwa Mahdawi about why this project, which has cost the taxpayer millions, is proving to be such an embarrassing failure for a man obsessed with image

Mass firings are said to be underway at the ODNI, the US intelligence agency created to prevent another 9/11. Donald Trump's temporary pick to head it, Bill Pulte, has no intelligence or security experience. Slimming down the DNI office has been a bipartisan issue, but top Democrats are concerned this week's job slashing could pose a national security risk. White House reporter Kevin Liptak joins the show with details.  Also on today's show: Daniel Pacheco, Deputy Editor in Chief, La Silla Vacía; Jonathan Freedland, Columnist, The Guardian & Gillian Tett, Columnist, The Financial Times; Yoni Appelbaum, Deputy Executive Editor, The Atlantic    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Israel just learned that the US and Iran have agreed to a deconfliction cell with Lebanon — and Israel wasn't in the room. As the dust settles on a war whose outcome is, at best, ambiguous, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who wants his old job back. Bennett doesn't hold back: on why he believes this government dragged out a war Israel was never built to fight, on the "infinite power of propaganda" keeping Netanyahu afloat three years after October 7th, and on whether he can trust Trump — or JD Vance — to look out for Israel's interests when Israel isn't at the table. He also lays out, in detail, what he'd do differently on the Haredi draft, the judiciary, the Palestinians, and Ben Gvir and Smotrich — and admits the polls aren't moving the way he hoped.   00:00 Introduction: Naftali Bennett joins Unholy 00:09 The Iran deal and the deconfliction cell with Lebanon 03:18 Would he have avoided this war altogether? 06:29 Did Netanyahu prolong the war for political reasons? 08:05 Trust in Trump and JD Vance on Iran 13:11 Reports the Trump administration is opening channels to him 15:19 What would actually change if Bennett became PM? 17:39 The Kogat story: improving Palestinian quality of life without a state 21:51 Pushback: is a two-state "spectrum" really viable? 24:06 Why he opposes full Palestinian sovereignty 24:39 Mansour Abbas and Arab parties in a Bennett coalition 26:52 Lapid, the polls, and stepping aside for Eisenkot 29:34 Judicial reform: would he continue where this government left off? 31:26 Why Ben Gvir and Smotrich are out 33:51 Fears of a "January 6th" scenario in Israel 36:16 Was joining forces with Lapid a mistake? 39:21 Did Bennett change, or did Israel change? 42:05 The story that brought him back: a scientist in tears 44:43 How is Netanyahu still in this race?

Philippa reviews four very different books — from Tintin to Elizabeth Strout — before sitting down with TV wine expert and debut crime novelist Olly Smith to talk about his joyful new book Death by Noir, and the sub-genre he's invented: wine crime.

In what has become one of the most chaotic primaries in recent history, elections in California are delivering some upsets. Elsewhere, establishment Democrats performed well and a Trump pick failed to make the cut. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian's Sam Levin about the big takeaways from the single busiest primary day of the year so far

This week, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with acclaimed military and intelligence analyst Amos Harel to discuss his new book 6:29  -Anatomy of a Failure — a devastating, meticulously reported account of October 7th and the collapse that preceded it. Drawing on internal investigations, intelligence materials, battlefield testimony and conversations with senior officials, Harel reconstructs how Israel failed at every level: intelligence, operations  - and strategy. They discuss the “Walls of Jericho” Hamas attack plan that Israeli intelligence possessed years in advance; the SIM card warnings and the signs missed in the final hours before the massacre; the operational chaos that left communities abandoned for hours; and why Harel believes October 7th could likely have been prevented. The conversation also examines Benjamin Netanyahu's role in the years leading up to the attack: the Qatar cash pipeline to Hamas, the belief that the Palestinian conflict could be indefinitely “managed,” the judicial overhaul crisis, and the refusal — still now — to establish a state commission of inquiry. Plus: why Hezbollah's hesitation on October 7th may have prevented an even greater catastrophe, whether Israel has actually learned the lessons of that day, and why Harel believes the battle over the public memory of October 7th may define Israel's coming elections. ⏱ CHAPTERS: [00:00] 6:29 — anatomy of a failure [06:55] The Intelligence Failures Leading to October 7th [21:05] “Where Was the Army?” — The Operational Collapse [32:10] Netanyahu, Qatar, and the Strategic Failure Before the War [41:40] Hezbollah, Iran, and the Attack That Could Have Been Bigger [45:25] Can Israel Prevent Another October 7th?

On Saturday, Donald Trump said talks with Tehran were going well and an agreement to end the war was ‘largely negotiated'. On Sunday, the US launched strikes on Southern Iran. By Thursday, Donald Trump had circulated a draft peace agreement for the war with Iran among allies. This week, as the US-Iran deal remains in a precarious state, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group about why Trump keeps changing his mind on what to do to end the war

A US-Iran deal appears to be taking shape — and Israel isn't in the room. As diplomatic back-channels buzz and American strikes on Iran continue under a ceasefire that apparently requires bombing to maintain, Netanyahu finds himself watching from the outside: no seat at the table, no answers on the nuclear file, no movement on proxies. Meanwhile, two hostage parents — whose sons were held in Gaza at the same time — are entering Israeli politics from opposite ends of the spectrum, a story that says more about where the country is heading than any poll. Plus: the Caroline Glick appointment, the Israel Solidarity Parade in New York, antisemitism in London's British Museum, and a Chutzpah award for a congressman whose concession speech managed to be both funny and deeply troubling. This week's Mensch of the Week will leave you wanting to move to Tel Aviv. Note: The name of the Republican congressman challenged by Dan Bilzerian in Florida is, in fact, Randy Fine. Watch us on Youtube: https://youtu.be/HB5rkBNCeEY

Franklin Foer is the man who declared that the golden age of American Jewry is over - or at least ending. Two years on — in the aftermath of October 7th and the Gaza war, collapsing bipartisan support for Israel, a wave of antisemitism from both left and right, and a military misadventure in Iran — he thinks he underestimated the problem. This week, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with Foer, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the landmark piece that became required reading in Jewish communities across America. They discuss whether the anti-AIPAC pledge that has become a feature of Democratic primaries is classical antisemitism in new clothing; how a forgotten Jewish genius from Odessa might explain what American Jews are supposed to do now; and why Foer refuses — loudly — to bow to fatalism. Also: Bob Dylan's existential crisis, Abraham Joshua Heschel's ode to the Sabbath, and how soccer helps explain at least one aspect of modern Jewish life. Guest: Franklin Foer, staff writer, The Atlantic ⏱ CHAPTERS: [00:00] Intro — Franklin Foer joins Unholy, The golden age Jewish Americans, what it was, why it's ending [04:46] The Impact of October 7th on American Jews [11:25] The Connection Between Israel and American Jewish Identity [22:32] Fatalism vs. persuasion — the Cold War argument  [28:35] How do you persuade non-Jews that antisemitism is bad for them? [32:56] Top 3 Jewish Americans: Pichelis, Dylan, Heschel

This week, Donald Trump dropped a personal $10bn lawsuit he had against the Internal Revenue Service in exchange for a so-called anti-weaponisation fund. The $1.8bn fund will be used to compensate those who think they have been unfairly investigated by the government in the past. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the legal analyst Kristy Greenberg about why critics are calling this fund ‘corruption on steroids'

This week Jonathan is in celebratory mode—and no, it's not only because it's the festival of Shavuot, but because his beloved Arsenal finally won the Premier League, sparking a spontaneous tribal gathering of ‘marauding revellers' in North London. Meanwhile, Yonit and Jonathan unpack the volatile situation with Iran, and ask where President Trump's vague threats of a renewed strike are heading. Then, it's wall-to-wall condemnation for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose grotesque 56-second video taunting Gaza flotilla detainees was a nightmare for Israel's defenders especially. And Jonathan describes his visit to the Nova exhibition in London, which offers a powerful, heart-rending glimpse of the human faces of the October 7th massacre and the shocking refusal of much of the world to look directly at what happened on that day. Plus: a musical mensch for the ages. Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRENGUF2AAI   ⏱ CHAPTERS: [00:00] Shavuot: Celebrating the Unsung Holiday  [09:20] Iran's Threats and Trump's Unpredictability [17:00] Israeli Politics: Elections and Coalition Dynamics [23:12] Ben-Gvir's Controversial Video: A PR Nightmare for Israel  [29:15] The Political Landscape in Israel [39:02] The Impact of the Nova Exhibition [45:30] Chutzpah and Mench  

Two and a half years after October 7th, the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children has published its comprehensive report — 300 pages of meticulously corroborated evidence documenting what was done to women, men, children, and hostages on that day and in captivity since. This week, Yonit and Jonathan speak with Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, the founder and chair of the Commission, 2024 Israel Prize laureate, and expert in international law and human rights — the woman who spent more than two years immersed in 10,000 photographs and videos and 430 testimonies so the world could not look away. They discuss what the evidence reveals about the scale and calculated nature of the atrocities, why so many feminist organisations around the world fell silent, the new legal concept of “kinocide” that the Commission had to coin because no existing term could capture what had happened to families — and what it means that the person who stared deepest into this abyss still believes in peace. Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpNOrhqCJ6E 00:00 Introduction 00:43 The scale and scope of the evidence 02:55 The 13 documented patterns of abuse 06:18 What Hamas intended — terrorizing a nation for generations 09:15 How the evidence points to deliberate strategy, not random violence 10:50 Coining “kinocide” — when existing legal language wasn't enough 14:21 Destroying family bonds: the most intimate atrocities 16:26 Gathering evidence when so much was destroyed and victims were silenced 19:39 Institutional denial — UN Women, Judith Butler, and feminist silence 22:30 Why colleagues looked away: antisemitism and dehumanization 24:38 The report as legal and historical document 27:46 The New York Times report and the question of diversion 31:07 The personal toll — two and a half years immersed in the evidence 34:15 Can this wound ever heal? 35:21 After everything: still a believer in peace

Democrats think they can flip the Senate blue in November, and they're hoping a group of interesting characters will help them do it. This week, Jonathan Freedland is joined by Jonathan Martin of Politico to discuss the chances of such an upset and what it would mean for the president to lose the upper chamber

Yonit and Jonathan discuss a week brimming with unresolved questions. Did Benjamin Netanyahu really travel to the UAE during the war with Iran? Why would he leak it now, and what led the UAE to issue such a quick denial? After a trip to China, where is Donald Trump heading on Iran? And inside Israel, as the political drama intensified with United Torah Judaism threatening to break ranks with the coalition over the draft bill's failure, could elections be held in September? And what role could be played by a possible plea bargain for Netanyahu? Finally, there's a crowded field for our mensch award this week – who will come out in front: a 100 year old international treasure or a newborn baby? Watch us on YouTube:  ⏱ CHAPTERS: [00:00] Intro — Netanyahu, Trump, and the week in news [00:43] Yonit's book in Hebrew — "Don't Feed the Lion" lands in Israel [05:13] Jonathan's Jewish tour of Porto — and the cross that means Jewish house [09:29] Netanyahu's secret UAE visit — what really happened [13:10] The UAE denial — implausible deniability explained [15:10] Iran ceasefire suspended animation — everyone preparing for the next round [16:01] Trump in China — could Beijing unlock the Iran deal? [17:20] Lebanon vs. Iran at the UN — the embryo of a new Middle East [20:13] Israeli elections — United Torah Judaism breaks with Netanyahu [22:36] Will Netanyahu even run? The plea deal question [24:10] Western Wall bill — criminalizing non-orthodox practice [27:15] Gaza: Hamas not disarming, humanitarian aid down 37% [33:38] Nick Kristof's NYT piece — the controversy explained [40:40] Chutzpah: Miki Zohar blames October 7th on Bennett-Lapid [43:02] Mensch: Tom Holland on antisemitism [44:20] Mensch: David Attenborough turns 100 [46:48] Mensch: Abe Foxman, the last Jewish pope [47:30] Baby Aviv — Unholy's first baby

Maoz Inon lost his parents on October 7th. They were in their safe room, 200 meters from the Gaza border wall, when Hamas came. Aziz Abu Sarah lost his brother — the person who raised him — after he was tortured in an Israeli prison during the First Intifada. Two days after October 7th, Aziz wrote Maoz a letter. Maoz wrote back. That exchange became a friendship, a journey across the Holy Land, and now a New York Times bestselling book: "The Future Is Peace." This is not a polemic. It is not a policy paper. It is an invitation — to sit with grief that belongs to both sides, to doubt the narratives handed to you, and to imagine that the conflict will end. Because, as Maoz says, it will. The only question is when and how many more lives are lost before it does. Yonit and Jonathan talk with them about Hamas, religious extremism, on what peace would actually look like, on whether Israelis have any reason to trust again.    Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/0nJ3q4kvVPs ⏱ CHAPTERS: [00:00] Intro — who are Aziz and Maoz? [00:47] Maoz: the last phone call with his parents on October 7th [02:57] Aziz: losing a brother who was his parent [04:34] The kind of people Maoz's parents were [08:12] Aziz reaches out — what the letter said [09:47] Why Aziz wanted to learn Hebrew [14:23] Are they the minority? How do you make peace mainstream? [16:36] What would peace actually look like? [20:18] Yonit pushes: what about Hamas, what about religion? [24:44] The travelogue — hospitals, holy sites, and shared grief [26:38] Do Israelis and Palestinians have to give up their narratives? [33:27] What do Aziz and Maoz still disagree on? [38:48] Closing — the book, the journey, the invitation

Jonathan Freedland speaks to the law professor and author Leah Litman about the conservative-leaning court's decisions this legislative session, cases to come and why some are arguing it is now a political institution, not a legal one

The Iran war may be over — or it may not. In the space of a few hours this week, Washington ordered warships into the Strait of Hormuz, paused the operation, threatened to resume bombing at higher intensity, and then declared peace was near.  Yonit and Jonathan cut through the chaos — and ask the question the ceasefire deal still hasn't answered: what happened to Iran's nuclear stockpile?  Also this week: Bezalel Smotrich calls October 7th "a tactical failure" and says including Arab parties in government would be a thousand times worse. Gadi Eisenkot and former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen join forces. Netanyahu's plea deal murmurs get louder. The UK goes to the polls with antisemitism front and center. And the Chutzpah and Mensch awards both go to the same unlikely figure: Nick Cave, who told a hostile fan to go F himself — and blamed his wife's absence. Watch us on Youtube: https://youtu.be/R-2p4tL6e7E [00:00] Intro — Jewish American Heritage Month [06:54] Iran ceasefire chaos — what is Washington actually doing?  [10:14] The nuclear question the deal still hasn't answered  [15:21] Israeli politics: Bennett-Lapid merger recap  [17:43] Eisenkot + Yoram Cohen join forces  [21:10] Smotrich calls October 7th a "tactical failure"  [26:46] Netanyahu: plea deal or Saudi peace card?  [31:05] UK local elections — Jews as political football [37:05] Chutzpah & Mensch: Nick Cave vs. Lee from Bournemouth [41:10] Ted Turner — a different kind of media owner

Forty days of war with Iran. Four weeks of an uneasy ceasefire. And one verdict that nobody in Washington wants to say out loud: the Islamic Republic came out of this stronger. Dr. Suzanne Maloney, Vice President of the Brookings Institution's foreign policy program and one of America's most trusted voices on Iran, joins Yonit and Jonathan as US warships attempt to escort vessels through a Strait of Hormuz that Iran still effectively controls. They get into whether the ceasefire can hold, why the nuclear threat was never really addressed, who is actually making decisions inside Tehran now that the supreme leader is gone, and what a realistic deal — if one exists — might look like. Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/D_P_lca1OzQ Unholy Conversations drops every Tuesday. Listen to the regular episode on Friday to get the full Two Jews on the News Experience  

As stabbing against Jews in Golders Green rises up, again, the question of security of Jewish communities around the world,  Israel starts the countdown: 6 months to the elections. Yonit and Jonathan discuss the Golders Green knife attack and the wave of antisemitism hitting Britain since October 7th; the Bennett–Lapid merger and what it means for Israel's October elections; whether the Iran–Israel war is on pause or simply reloading; Jake Sullivan's bombshell statement on arms sales to Israel; and — in the awards — Israeli police cutting a Palestinian flag from a Jewish man's kippah, and King Charles delivering a Magna Carta reminder to Congress that Democrats jumped to their feet for.  Watch us on youtube: https://youtu.be/tCqzaU-DlPM This week on Unholy Conversations - Howard Jacobson: https://youtu.be/aB-eNbxb41w

It was a historic day for King Charles as he became the first British monarch to address a joint session of Congress in 35 years, before enjoying a lavish dinner at the White House. There were jokes, subtle digs, and the supposedly apolitical monarch even appealed to Donald Trump on Nato and Ukraine – but how did the US president react? Helen Pidd speaks to the Guardian columnist and host of Politics Weekly America, Jonathan Freedland – watch on YouTube Listen to the latest episode of Politics Weekly America: ‘The Trump purge: is the FBI's Kash Patel next?'. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Howard Jacobson has screamed "liar" at the BBC, lost friends over a newspaper article, and started asking his wife whether it's still safe to live in London. Now he's written a novel about all of it. *Howl* is the story of Ferdinand Draxler — Jewish headmaster, reluctant marcher, man on the edge — who watches the world he believed in applaud the October 7th massacre and descends into a rage that may or may not be madness. Jacobson says he borrowed quite a lot from the last two years of his life. In this Unholy Conversations episode, Jacobson talks with Yonit and Jonathan about the ungovernable anger behind the novel, why he chose comedy as the only honest vehicle for it, the friends who wrote accusing him of celebrating Palestinian deaths, the Manchester synagogue where he was bar mitzvahed and which was attacked on Yom Kippur, and the question he can't shake: what would we have done in Berlin in 1932?   Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/aB-eNbxb41w

Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1RBYWVXGom0 Follow Unholy and learn more about the pod: https://unholy-podcast.lovable.app/ Join our Patreon community to get access to bonus episodes, discounts on merch and more: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon Listen to Aner Shapira z"l and Yehudit Ravitz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1XbaGln45Q Pre-order "Zariz" by Adeena Sussman: https://www.adeenasussman.com/zariz Israel's 78th Independence Day arrives in the shadow of a three-year war — and a nation more divided than ever. As US-Iran talks stall and the Lebanon ceasefire holds by a thread, Yonit and Jonathan take stock of where Israel stands: from the parallel ceremonies splitting the country, to Rahm Emanuel's seismic break from past support for Israeli military aid, to Ezra Klein's "one state reality" argument — and why Yonit thinks it misses half the picture. Then: a joyful detour. Adeena Sussman, author of the forthcoming Zariz: 100 Easy, Breezy, Tel Aviv-y Recipes, joins to talk about cooking through a war, the fusion of Jewish and Israeli identity on the plate, and why every pot of Sabbath stew is a political act.

Jonathan Freedland on what Keir Starmer said – and didn't say – to the House of Commons about the Mandelson vetting failure. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Watch us on Youtube: https://youtu.be/HFowIpBxqKs  Rachel Goldberg-Polin has stood before the UN, met with presidents, and worn a number on her chest every single day until there were no more hostages in Hamas captivity. Now, months after Hersh was murderd, she sat down and wrote a book. When We See You Again is not a hostage story and not a political reckoning. It is, as Rachel describes it, a painful love story — a grief memoir written "with one finger from underneath a truck," with no distance, no perspective, and no pretense that any of that is coming soon. In this conversation with Yonit and Jonathan, Rachel talks about the moment a released hostage told her Hersh had heard her voice in captivity, why she refused to name the officials who promised and delivered nothing, the 87 pages she cut and called "the suitcase," and how Hersh's memory will become a "revolution for go.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Watch us on Youtube: https://youtu.be/1GIuMFYYX1E Get more Unholy content: https://unholy-podcast.lovable.app/   As Israel marks one week out of 40 days of missiles from Iran, Yonit and Jonathan take apart the week's impossible contradictions: Netanyahu delivering a triumphalist Yom HaShoah speech while 400 kilograms of enriched uranium remain intact in Iran; a fragile Lebanon ceasefire that almost no one trusts; 40 Democratic senators voting against arms transfers; and Italy's far-right prime minister — until now Israel's last ally in Europe — quietly moving toward the exit. They also clock a historic election in Hungary, what Orban's fall means for the Israeli opposition, and whether Gadi Eisenkot is the figure who finally changes the picture.   CHAPTERS: [00:00] Intro  [02:30] Two kinds of sirens — explaining Yom HaShoah to kids during active war  [05:00] Yom HaShoah: the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and why Israel chose this date  [06:00] The war breakfast menu — 40 days and no off switch  [08:44] Iran ceasefire: fragile, murky, and far from over  [14:42] Netanyahu's Holocaust Day speech — and what it got wrong  [20:47] Israeli elections: Eisenkot, Bennett, and the Orban lesson from Hungary  [27:00] Democrats break with Israel: Slotkin, 40 Senate votes, and who lost America  [33:45] Italy's Meloni shifts — even the far-right is moving  [40:41] Chutzpah Award: JD Vance tells the Pope to be careful about theology  [43:30] Mensch Award: Parents Circle joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Melania Trump made a surprise appearance at the White House on Thursday to announce that she ‘never had a relationship' with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Her address has seemingly put Epstein back on the political agenda when focus had been firmly on the US and Israel's war in Iran. The intervention came at a difficult time for her husband, Donald Trump, as the fragile ceasefire agreed between the US and Iran seemed to be at risk of falling apart, and as US lawmakers are raising the alarm over the president's mental stability. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian US editor, Betsy Reed – watch on YouTube Jonathan Freedland on Politics Weekly America with the Guardian's Washington bureau chief David Smith on whether Trump could be forced out of office – listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus