Call Me Back - with Dan Senor

There are two major decisions Israel is contending with right now: I) proceed with the military operation in Rafah; or II) pause the fighting, perhaps for an extended period of time, in service of a hostage deal. Of course a hostage deal would also most likely include the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. These decisions are coming to a head right now for Israel and for Hamas. All while Secretary of State Blinken is in the Middle East. All while Riyadh is working on some kind of defense pact with the U.S. and the possibility of normalization with Israel. And all against the backdrop of Hamas and Hezbollah issuing statements of solidarity with American college kids. Fortunately, we’ve got Haviv Rettig Gur back, as we resume our regular check-ins.

Share on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/4ku8n3r3 After over 200 days, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin saw proof of life of their son Hersh Goldberg-Polin for the first time, who was severely wounded in the October 7th massacre and taken hostage by Hamas. Just last Wednesday, a video surfaced — which was produced by Hamas — of Hersh speaking to camera. In short, in the video, Hersh describes the he was taken hostage, he criticizes the Israeli Government, and he expresses love for his parents, Jon and Rachel and his two sisters. He addresses his severe wound from October 7th, in which his left hand — his dominant hand — was blown off. When I was in Israel,I visited with Rachel and Jon and we recorded a conversation for this podcast about the video, as well as what else they had learned from it, especially about Hersh’s severe wound — he continues to be medically fragile. Jon and Rachel discussed why they decided to approve media release and coverage of the video. Rachel and Jon also reacted to the shocking protests on US campuses — they are both from the US, as is Hersh, and they reflected on what they regarded as some encouraging news about a statement on the hostages, which was signed by 18 countries. They also addressed the possibility of Israeli elections in the midst of this ongoing hostage crisis and war. Follow “Bring Hersh Home” on Instagram: bring.hersh.home Hersh Goldberg Polin video: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/hostage-hersh-goldberg-polins-family-approves-publication-of-hamas-propaganda-video/ Column by William McGurn of the WSJ: “Hamas’s American Hostages” — https://tinyurl.com/ymraw2yv

Michael Powell has been covering New York City life and politics for decades, as a long-time reporter for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and now the Atlantic. He recently was on Columbia’s campus to try to better understand the encampment movement that has taken over the campus. He joins us to report what he saw and learned. Article discussed in this episode: The Unreality of Columbia’s ‘Liberated Zone’ — https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/columbia-university-protests-palestine/678159/

Share on Twitter: tinyurl.com/5n6bswst Since 10/07, no faculty member at Columbia University (or any university for that matter) has been more outspoken about the shocking and staggering rise in antisemitism than Shai Davidai. He brings his first-hand accounts to our conversation today. Shai is Assistant Professor in the Management Division of Columbia Business School. He received his PhD from Cornell University in 2015. Prior to joining Columbia Business School, Shai spent a year as a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University and 3 years as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research. Since Columbia students established the most recent pro-Hamas encampment on the Columbia campus days ago, Israeli-born and raised Shai Davidai has been barred from campus. Having just now arrived in Israel, Shai joins us in Tel Aviv today to describe what exactly has been happening since 10/07, the early signs of antisemitism he identified at Columbia well before 10/07, and the common misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the rhetoric and incitement being used by a number of Columbia student organizations and faculty. You can follow Shai on X here: @ShaiDavidai

Share on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/3wv3d77z As we try to make sense of the past two weeks, consider this: 1. IDF withdraws from most of the Gaza Strip while it now also appears increasingly likely that the IDF will conduct an operation in Rafah. 2. An historic Iranian attack of 300 ballistic missiles, UAVs and cruise missiles, and an historic coalition force that includes Israel, the US, UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Jordan that shot down almost all of the projectiles. 3. A week later, Israel attacks Iran. 4. A widely backed U.N. security council resolution recognizing a Palestinian state, which the US vetoed. So a lot is happening, but is Israel closer to achieving the war's objectives? To help us understand what’s going on, our guest today is NADAV EYAL, who returns to the podcast. He is a columnist for Yediot. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

Share the episode on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/yc2yfbmz Just about every day we’re asked: how did Israel lose the story?We wanted to put this question to an expert in marketing and storytelling, but could come at Israel’s story with some distance. Someone who wasn’t inherently hostile to Israel but also wasn’t a cheerleader. Scott Galloway is a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches Brand Strategy and Digital Marketing. He’s the host of the Prof G Podcast and the Pivot podcast, which he co-hosts with Kara Swisher. He is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books ,including “The Four”, “The Algebra of Happiness”, and “Adrift: America in 100 Charts”. He has a new book coming out, which you can pre-order, called “The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security.” Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer, The New York Times Company and the Berkeley School of Business. In this episode, Scott talks for the first time in an extended conversation about his observations from Israel. We also discuss the future of higher education, and we talk about his new book and comparisons between the experiences of young Israelis and young Americans during their formative years. Pre-order Scott Galloway’s new book: “The Algebra of Wealth” — https://tinyurl.com/2s38vxpb Follow Scott at: ProfGMedia.com

Share the episode on Twitter: tinyurl.com/yc3rjw6y To help us understand what happened overnight in Israel, ourguest today is NADAV EYAL, who returns to the podcast. He is a columnist for Yediot. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

There has been growing tension within Israeli society over where to prioritize a hostage deal – at what cost (in terms of how many and which Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons should be part of the deal and the length of any temporary ceasefire). At the same time, the sense of urgency behind Israel's hostage cause in capitals around the world is…drifting. Not disappearing, but drifting. A turning point seemed to be when the UN Security Council passed a resolution – 14-0 (made possible by a US decision not to veto) – that, for the first time, did not call for a ceasefire that was conditioned on the return of the hostages. It’s a sense we get from families of hostages, who are in regular contact with media, NGOs and governments around the world. It’s against that backdrop, that we sat down in person with Maya Roman, who was in New York and Washington, DC. Maya Roman is an Israeli journalist from Tel Aviv. On October 7th, Maya’s cousin, Yarden Roman-Gat, was visiting her husband’s parents in Kibbutz Beeri along with other family members. Yarden and her sister in law, Carmel, were taken hostage. Yarden’s mother-in-law (and Carmel’s mother), Kinneret, was murdered. Yarden was released as part of the hostage deal last November. Carmel is still being held. Since 10/07, Maya has not stopped organizing or advocating for the release of her family. When we hear of the hostage families movement, Maya is the kind of person who has been in the middle of it. In our conversation, Maya talks about what they have learned from Yarden since her return from captivity, and where the hostage movement may go from here, at this crucial and very raw phase. "Bring Carmel Back" on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bringcarmelback?igsh=MTBkaGlsd3JtbXI4eQ==

30,000. You hear that number and you already know exactly what we are referring to. It’s 30,000 casualties. That’s the number of Palestinians that have been killed in Gaza as a result of the IDF response to the October 7th invasion of Israel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Of course, we don’t know how the Gaza Health Ministry arrived at that number. How does it collect this data, analyze it, and how does it account for civilian casualties versus Hamas terrorists? It’s a big round number that everyone - from news reporters, to aid organizations to governments - mindlessly repeat. Well, a data scientist at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania has taken the time to try to understand how these numbers are computed. He published his study in a piece in Tablet Magazine — it’s called “How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers”. You can find it here: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-gaza-health-ministry-fakes-casualty-numbers Abraham Wyner is Professor of Statistics and Data Science at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Faculty Co-Director of the Wharton Sports Analytics and Business Initiative. Professor Wyner received his Bachelor's degrees in Mathematics from Yale University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with distinction in his major. He was the recipient of the Stanley Prize for excellence in Mathematics. His PhD in Statistics is from Stanford University.

There have been two major developments in the past few days. First, the IDF has announced it is withdrawing much of its ground force presence from Gaza, at the same time that Iran is threatening a direct military hit against Israel or Israeli assets globally. The Iranian threat is in response to the IDF operation that destroyed Iran’s Consulate in Damascus one week ago. To help us understand whether we are at a truly new stage (or late stage) of the war, our guest today is NADAV EYAL, who returns to the podcast. He is a columnist for Yediot. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

Over the past several weeks, especially the Biden administration’s statements Thursday, Israel has been subjected to a fresh round of harsh criticisms. We’ll be turning to the elevating U.S.-Israel tensions in our Monday episode with Nadav Eyal. But today we have a conversation about the criticisms we have been hearing in intra-Jewish community debates here in the U.S. and other Diaspora communities. While there is a growing number of American Jewish leaders calling on Israel to change course and pursue a permanent ceasefire -- or at least wage a more “humane” war -- these voices are still a small minority (albeit a very loud minority). These voices get outsized attention, but they should not be ignored. They are people that many of us know. Some have large platforms. Many non-Jews hear them on those platforms and cite these Jewish figures as sources. What does all this tell us about trends in American Jewish life long before October 7? What is the impact now on Israel? These are some of the questions we try to unpack with: -Yossi Klein Halevi, who is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Yossi has written a number of books, including his latest, "Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor," which was a New York Times bestseller. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Times of Israel. He is co-host of "For Heaven's Sake" podcast. -Rabbi David A. Ingber is the new Senior Director for Jewish Life and Senior Director of the Bronfman Center at 92NY. He serves as the founding rabbi of Romemu, the largest Renewal synagogue in the United States. Items discussed in this episode: -Rabbi David Ingber's Shabbat sermon on Israel (03/22/24): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px5i9mIxd5E&t=3942s -Rabbi Angela Buchdahl's letter to her congregants on her position on the war in response to the "Times of Israel" article: https://centralsynagogue.cmail20.com/t/j-e-sulquk-dhkutlbli-r/ -Yossi Klein Halevi's books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001IXOA04

On Wednesday, Benny Gantz announced he was calling for new elections to take place in September. What is the significance of this announcement? Is it a sharp turn for Israel’s Government? What are the implications for the war and the War Cabinet? What does it mean for the protest movement? Anshel Pfeffer — who has covered Israeli politics, Israeli national security, and global affairs for over two decades — joins our conversation very late at night in Jerusalem. He is a senior correspondent and columnist for Haaretz and Israel correspondent for The Economist. Anshel is the author of the book: “ Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Since October 7, the United States has vetoed three resolutions put before the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire. But suddenly, this past Monday, in a jarring change of course, the U.S. abstained, which -- for all practical purposes -- means the Biden administration chose to allow the 15-member Security Council to pass a similar resolution by a 14-0 vote.

The new edition of The Economist Magazine features a photo of an Israeli flag, blowing in the wind…all alone. The cover title of this issue’s editorial is just that — “Israel Alone”. The editorial reads: “Today Israel has destroyed perhaps half of Hamas’s forces. But in important ways its mission has failed. “As estrangement from the West deepens, so deterrence may weaken. Firms could be blacklisted. Bosses could move high-tech businesses abroad or, if they are reservists, be arrested there.” But is Israel actually alone? This is what we unpack today during our regular check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur. And in the first part of the conversation, we wound up discussing why the criticism of Israel today looks almost identical to criticism of Israel in previous wars, regardless of which politicians are leading Israel.

In the days ahead, Minister Dermer will be flying to Washington with a small delegation to meet with the Biden administration about the IDF’s options for Rafah, which we discuss. We also discuss where the overall military operation in Gaza stands now, the hostage negotiations, whether the Israeli Government should be expected to have a day-after plan rolled out now, what role the Arab world can or should play in that day-after planning, and the Government of Canada’s decision to ban future arms sales to Israel.

On October 6th of last year there was a long-standing ceasefire in place between Israel and Hamas. On October 7th, Hamas launched a massive war against Israel. Israel responded to this war that Hamas launched. Wars are violent. In all wars, civilians tragically get killed in the crossfire. What is unique about this war is how Hamas has used violence against civilians – Israeli civilians and Palestinian civilians -- as core to its war-fighting strategy. What is unique to this war is how Hamas has built a 300-plus mile tunnel system underground to protect Hamas leadership and fighters while it set up its own civilian population to suffer. What is also unique about this war is the lengths the IDF has gone to telegraph so many of its operations so Palestinian civilians can re-locate in advance of those operations. This is the reality of this war. And, yet, the Biden administration has supported Israel in this war from Day 1. Israel articulated its objectives in this war. The Biden administration made clear it supported Israel in pursuit of those objectives. But suddenly, the Biden administration and some of its allies on Capitol Hill are excoriating Israel's government. In fact, they are calling for the toppling of Israel’s leaders in the middle of this war. Well, as Minister Benny Gantz said on Friday, “ Israel is a strong democracy, and only its citizens will determine its leadership and future. Any external intervention is unacceptable.” How does this shifting US-Israel relationship impact actual events on the ground? The actual things that matter in this war -- the hostage negotiations, the debate about a day-after plan for Gaza, and the coming operation in Rafah, to name a few. To help us understand what’s going on here,guest today is NADAV EYAL, who returns to the podcast. He is a columnist for Yediot. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

Since October 7, we have heard from more and more friends in Israel who came of age -- politically -- in the 1990s. Some of these friends were key political figures on the Israeli Left and were committed to working on a two-state solution as the final resolution to achieve regional peace. Dr. Einat Wilf joins us to discuss the sobering of many of these figures and what it means for Israel's future. Einat also discusses an essay she penned for Sapir journal about the tendency of activists in other countries to project their political debates on Israel -- something happening today -- however disconnected from Israel those debates may be. Her essay is called "How Not to Think About the Conflict" and it can be found here: https://sapirjournal.org/social-justice/2021/04/how-not-to-think-about-the-conflict/ Einat was born and raised in Israel. She was an Intelligence Officer in the IDF. She has worked for McKinsey. She was Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and an advisor to Yossi Beilin, who was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Wilf was a member of the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) in the early 2010s, where she served as Chair of the Education Committee and Member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. She has a BA from Harvard, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. She was a Visiting Professor at Georgetown University and is a lecturer at Reichman University in Israel. Einat is the author of seven books that explore key issues in Israeli society. “We Should All Be Zionists“, published in 2022, brings together her essays from the past four years on Israel, Zionism and the path to peace; and she co-authored “The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace”, which was published in 2020. "THE WAR OF RETURN" -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-war-of-return-adi-schwartz/1131959248?ean=9781250364845

As Ramadan begins, many analysts are speculating on what this means for Israel’s coming military operation in Rafah. There is a threat from Hamas to deter a Rafah operation. There is a threat from the Biden administration seemingly designed to encourage Israeli’s War Cabinet to re-think the operation. Are these real threats? How does Israel evaluate these threats? This is what we unpack in our weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur. Then we discuss whether President Biden is beginning a turn against Israel. Is it real or is it performative? Is there a difference? What are the implications?

Micah Goodman is on the speed-dial of a number of Israeli political leaders – from right to left, but especially on the center-left and the center-right. He is a polymath, a podcaster and one of Israel’s most influential public intellectuals, having written books ranging from biblical lessons for the modern age to Israel’s geopolitics. One book in particular, had an outsized impact in terms of its framing of the conundrum that Israel has been in with the Palestinians since 1967. That book is called Catch-67: The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War, Not only have all of his books been bestsellers in Israel, he essentially created a new genre; books that bring core texts of Jewish thought to a general, secular audience. But Micah has a new book, which he wrote in a four-month sprint following October 7. His new book is called ‘The Eighth Day’, in which Micah tries to understand the implications of the nation’s trauma and what it means for the other ‘day after’ (not the ‘day after’ in Gaza, but the ‘day after’ inside Israel). What does this moment mean for Israelis? How will 10/07 re-shape Israeli society…and its politics?This is the first interview Micah has done about his new book, which will be published (in Hebrew) at the end of March. Micah Goodman’s books: Catch-67 — https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/catch-67-micah-goodman/1128089735?ean=9780300248418 The Wondering Jew — https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wondering-jew-micah-goodman/1136574622?ean=9780300252248

Will there be a negotiated pause in fighting in advance of Ramadan, or will the IDF move against the remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah? At the same time, what to make of the new external and internal pressures on Israel? Externally, there is mounting pressure on Israel regarding delivery of humanitarian aid, and increasing internal pressure — specifically on Prime Minister Netanyahu — relating to how he’ll hold his Government together in the midst of a new debate about exemptions of Haredim from military service. To help us unpack what’s going in with these intensifying external and internal political pressure points, we are joined by Haviv Rettig Gur, for our regular check in.

PART 1 of 2 For more than 30 years of ‘on again-off again’ peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, many Israelis, and certainly most interested observers in the West, looked to the 1967 Six-Day War as the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If only we could reverse the results of that defensive war in which Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza, the problem would be solved, so the narrative goes. And this served as the basis for all peace talks and agreements that have taken place since. But, to anyone willing to listen, the story that Palestinian leaders were telling had nothing to do with 1967, and everything to do with 1948. And the story they tell goes something like this: ‘In the 1940s Jews escaped the Nazis, fled Europe, colonized Palestine, and unprovoked - ethnically cleansed the Arabs. A textbook case of settler colonialism.’ They have managed to propagate this false narrative throughout much of Western society, where millions are mindlessly chanting those six words - ‘from the river to the sea.’ So while we never thought we’d need to re-litigate this topic, we invited to the podcast (for a special two-part discussion) one of the quintessential historians of 1948 - Benny Morris. Professor Morris has dedicated his entire career to studying and writing about the war of 1948, the circumstances that led to it and its aftermath - i.e The Palestinian Refugee Problem. Morris's first book was “The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949”. His other books include: “1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War”, and “Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001”. He completed his undergraduate studies in history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and received a doctorate in modern European history from the University of Cambridge. Links to all of Benny Morris’s books can be found here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Benny%20morris His recent published essays can be found here: https://quillette.com/author/benny-morris/?gad_source=1

PART 2 of 2 For more than 30 years of ‘on again-off again’ peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, many Israelis, and certainly most interested observers in the West, looked to the 1967 Six-Day War as the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If only we could reverse the results of that defensive war in which Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza, the problem would be solved, so the narrative goes. And this served as the basis for all peace talks and agreements that have taken place since. But, to anyone willing to listen, the story that Palestinian leaders were telling had nothing to do with 1967, and everything to do with 1948. And the story they tell goes something like this: ‘In the 1940s Jews escaped the Nazis, fled Europe, colonized Palestine, and unprovoked - ethnically cleansed the Arabs. A textbook case of settler colonialism.’ They have managed to propagate this false narrative throughout much of Western society, where millions are mindlessly chanting those six words - ‘from the river to the sea.’ So while we never thought we’d need to re-litigate this topic, we invited to the podcast (for a special two-part discussion) one of the quintessential historians of 1948 - Benny Morris. Professor Morris has dedicated his entire career to studying and writing about the war of 1948, the circumstances that led to it and its aftermath - i.e The Palestinian Refugee Problem. Morris's first book was “The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949”. His other books include: “1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War”, and “Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001”. He completed his undergraduate studies in history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and received a doctorate in modern European history from the University of Cambridge. Links to all of Benny Morris’s books can be found here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Benny%20morris His recent published essays can be found here: https://quillette.com/author/benny-morris/?gad_source=1

Last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu released to his cabinet what could be interpreted as a first sketch, an early blueprint, or a statement of principles for post-war Gaza planning. At the same time, and much more newsworthy, it appears that there is some progress on the negotiations to return more Israeli hostages. To help us understand what’s going with both tracks, our guest today is NADAV EYAL, who returns to the podcast. He is a columnist for Yediot. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news. One of Israel’s leading journalists, Eyal was a winner of the Sokolov Prize, Israel’s most prestigious journalism award. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news. He received a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Every day we see news accounts “reported” by reputable journalists. There is typically one frame in the post-10/07 War: ‘Gazan Palestinians are the victims of Israel.’ How does this happen? How do journalists actually operate in Gaza and around the world? And is this a window into what had Hamas figured out long before 10/07 — that the forces of barbarism could manipulate the intentional press reaction to their massacre of 10/07? That is why we wanted to sit down with Matti Friedman, who is one of the most thoughtful writers when it comes to all matters related to Israel, the broader Middle East, and also trends in the world of journalism. He writes regularly for The Free Press is a regular contributor to The Atlantic. His newest book is called “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.” Before that he published "Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel," and before that "Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War.” Matti’s army service included tours in Lebanon. His work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, DC. He is a former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section. But it was his time covering Hama’s takeover of Gaza that led him to study with great detail how Hamas manipulates the media, NGOs and the international community, and how they are working from the same playbook right now, perhaps quite masterfully. Matti Friedman's published works that we discuss in this episode: “The Wisdom of Hamas” — The Free Press — https://www.thefp.com/p/matti-friedman-the-wisdom-of-hamas “What if the Real War in Israel Hasn’t Even Started?” — The Free Press — https://www.thefp.com/p/matti-friedman-israel-hezbollah-war "There Is No 'Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'" -- The New York Times -- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/opinion/israeli-palestinian-conflict-matti-friedman.htm "An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth" -- Tablet Magazine -- https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide "What The Media Gets Wrong About Israel" -- The Atlantic -- https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how-the-media-makes-the-israel-story/383262/ That is why we wanted to sit down with Matti Friedman, who is one of the most thoughtful writers when it comes to all matters related to Israel, the broader Middle East, and also trends in the world of journalism. He is a monthly writer for Tablet Magazine and a regular contributor to The Atlantic. His newest book is called “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.” Before that he published "Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel," and before that "Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War.” Matti’s army service included tours in Lebanon. His work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, DC. He is a former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section. But it was his time covering Hama’s takeover of Gaza that led him to study with great detail how Hamas manipulates the media, NGOs and the international community, and how they are working from the same playbook right now, perhaps quite masterfully. Matti Friedman's published works that we discuss in this episode: "There Is No 'Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'" -- The New York Times -- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/opinion/israeli-palestinian-conflict-matti-friedman.htm "An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth" -- Tablet Magazine -- https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide "What The Media Gets Wrong About Israel" -- The Atlantic -- https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how-the-media-makes-the-israel-story/383262/

On Sunday, Israel’s cabinet unanimously issued a statement rejecting efforts by the international community to force immediate recognition of a Palestinian State, especially so soon after 10/07. This was following an extensive article in the Washington Post last week that revealed plans — according to background sources — for Washington, the EU, and Arab capitals to accelerate the path to recognition of a Palestinian state. Quoting from the Washington Post article: “The elephant in the planning room is Israel, and whether its government will acquiesce to much of what is being discussed: the withdrawal of many, if not all, settler communities on the West Bank; a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem; the reconstruction of Gaza; and security and governance arrangements for a combined West Bank and Gaza.” You can read the full Washington Post article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/14/gaza-peace-israel-palestinian-state/ According to the Israeli cabinet statement in response: “Israel utterly rejects international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. A settlement, if it is to be reached, will come about solely through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions. Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the October 7th massacre would be a massive and unprecedented reward to terrorism and would foil any future peace settlement.” What was even more noteworthy was Benny Gantz said “the pathway to regional stability and peace is not through one-sided actions like recognition of a Palestinian state.” The real question, embedded in these Israelis responses and others, is whether a peaceful Palestinian State is even possible? That’s what we discuss today with Haviv Rettig Gur of the Times of Israel, during our weekly check-in.

While there has been a lot of resentment inside Israel towards its political and security leadership, Israeli society has stepped up in ways sometimes impossible for me to describe. So, when I was in Israel, I asked Wendy Singer to join me for a conversation about what most Israelis are seeing and experiencing at the grassroots level, day-to-day, that we may not see. Wendy Singer is an advisor to several Israeli high-tech start-ups, including Re-Milk — https://www.remilk.com/ Wendy was the executive director of Start-Up Nation Central since its founding in 2013 — https://startupnationcentral.org/ Previously, she was the director of AIPAC’s Israel office for 16 years and served in AIPAC’s Washington office before immigrating to Israel in 1994. Earlier in her career, Wendy was a foreign policy advisor in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.

Are we witnessing a dramatic change in the Biden administration’s approach to Israel’s defensive war against Hamas? Are these changes just rhetorical to mollify either US domestic political constituencies or Middle East regional actors (or both)? Or do they represent meaningful policy changes? Should Israeli leaders be concerned that the US-Israel relationship is entering a new phase? To help us understand what’s going on, our guest today is NADAV EYAL, who returns to the podcast. He is a columnist for Yediiot. Eyal is one of Israel’s leading journalists, and a winner of the Sokolov Prize, Israel’s most prestigious journalism award. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news. He received a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. We also have an update from Nadav on the heroic hostage rescue in Rafah.

Today we look back at the history of Palestinian violence against the Jews in Israel (and in the pre-state Yishuv) -- from the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1917 through the myriad efforts to establish a Palestinian Arab State alongside a Jewish State in the 1930s and the 40s. In our discussion today, we follow this pattern all the way through the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, and now today. Each time a war or wave of terror is launched, and Israel perseveres, the Palestinian leadership tries to dictate the terms of what comes next, as though they were the victors in this defensive war, rather than the aggressors and the defeated. Why? And are we seeing that same mindset play out right now? Did Hamas actually think it would defeat Israel with this attack, and Israel would fold to its demands, or possibly even just disappear? To help us understand this important history, Dr. Einat Wilf joins us. Einat was born and raised in Israel. She was an Intelligence Officer in the IDF. She has worked for McKinsey. She was Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and an advisor to Yossi Beilin, who was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Wilf was a member of the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) in the early 2010s, where she served as Chair of the Education Committee and Member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. She has a BA from Harvard, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. She was a Visiting Professor at Georgetown University and is a lecturer at Reichman University in Israel. Einat is the author of seven books that explore key issues in Israeli society. “We Should All Be Zionists“, published in 2022, brings together her essays from the past four years on Israel, Zionism and the path to peace; and she co-authored “The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace”, which was published in 2020. "THE WAR OF RETURN" -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-war-of-return-adi-schwartz/1131959248?ean=9781250364845

Haviv Rettig Gur of the TIMES OF ISRAEL returns for his weekly check-in from Israel. There has been a recent flurry of statements coming out of London, Washington, Brussels and the UN about the need to move on the recognition (or establishment) of a Palestinian state. Some have even argued for bypassing discussions about conceptualization, timelines, and milestones, and instead proceed straight to implementation. The EU’s Foreign Minister, Josep Borrell, has said, “I don’t think we should talk about the Middle East peace process anymore. We should start talking specifically about the two-state-solution implementation process.” What are these voices actually advocating for? What previous obstacles to a Palestinian state have been removed by the October 7 massacre? What would it actually take to build a Palestinian state that is grounded in the post-10/07 brutal reality of Israelis? Essay discussed in this episode: "The Two-State Delusion" in TABLET, by Elliott Abrams. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/two-state-delusion

The UN has one central agency responsible for handling all refugees globally, but Palestinian refugees have their own UN agency, UNRWA. Why? The number of Palestinian refugees has increased from 360,000 in 1948 to to 5.9 million today. And those Palestinian refugees or descendants of refugees that have citizenship in other countries maintain their refugee status, according to the UN. What’s going on here? The U.S. Government and a number of other governments just suspended funding for UNRWA based on learning that a number of its Gaza-based employees had been helping Hamas, including in the 10/07 massacre. On our weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur, we discuss the history of UNRWA and the role it plays in the Gaza operating system. Items discussed in this episode: UNRWA — https://www.unrwa.org/ UN Watch report -- “UNRWA Hate Starts Here: How UNRWA Teachers Indoctrinate Palestinian Children and Promote Terrorism and Antisemitism” — https://unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Hate-Starts-Here-2023-Report-UNRWA.pdf

Al Jazeera is constantly blasting a steady stream of stories and images to the Arab world about 'tens of thousands of Palestinians dead,' according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. Condemnations against Israel are issued all over the place, with charges of Israeli genocide leveled on U.S. college campuses to the International Court of Justice. And, yet, those Sunni Arab countries that have already integrated with Israel have not reversed course, and those countries not yet integrated (i.e. Saudi Arabia), seem to be pushing ahead. The Sunni Gulf seems to have ambitions that necessitate continued and deeper cooperation with Israel. The question, though, is what do we make of the Saudi requirement for some kind of Palestinian state, however defined? What would it take for Israel to meet that requirement (or check the box) for the Saudis? And how far will the Sunni Gulf go in working with Israel to pacify Gaza? Our guest today is NADAV EYAL, who returns to the podcast. He is a columnist for Yediiot. Eyal is one of Israel’s leading journalists, and a winner of the Sokolov Prize, Israel’s most prestigious journalism award. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news. He received a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Essay discussed in this episode: “Israel is still winning the political war. From the West to Saudi Arabia, its days of isolation are over," by Dr. Edward Luttwak in UnHerd. https://unherd.com/2024/01/israel-is-still-winning-the-political-war/

In today’s weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur from the Times of Israel, we discuss intensifying debates within Israel over the leadership of the government, how to reconcile seemingly irreconcilable war aims as Israel transitions to a new phase in the war, is there an actual disagreement on concrete policy objectives between different members of the War Council, and what to make of the growing protest movement. If you are in London on Monday, January 22, Haviv and Dan will be in conversation at 7:30 pm at JW3. Details here: https://www.jw3.org.uk/genius-israel#

Will we look back at the past few decades in America as the Jewish ‘golden age’? And is this ‘golden age’ now over? Did October 7th mark the end? Or should the signs have been obvious years ago? John Podhoretz recently wrote a long essay for Commentary Magazine describing how we got here. He writes: “Several seemingly unconnected arguments and controversies in the United States that had been carefully cultivated over the past couple of decades sprang into full flower on October 8 and thereafter. The weapons were ideas that had flowed for a quarter century from university graduate programs to activist groups to K–12 education and then began to reach millions through online mailing lists, listservs, and social-media entertainment services.” I wanted to have a conversation with John about how we got here, whether we are truly alone, and are they – actually – coming after us? John Podhoretz is a return guest to this podcast. He is a writer and public intellectual. He is editor-in-chief of Commentary Magazine and host of Commentary’s critically acclaimed daily podcast, he’s a columnist for the New York Post, and author of several books (including one of my favorites, “Hell of a Ride”, about his time in the first Bush Administration). Here is the essay we discuss in the episode: “There’s Coming After Us” — https://www.commentary.org/articles/john-podhoretz/antisemites-coming-after-jews/

Having recently passed the 100 day-mark of Hamas’s massacre against Israel, two events in recent weeks occurred that should have occurred some time ago. The New York Times published a major investigative piece on the details and the scale of Hamas’s use of sexual assault in its warfare against Israeli women. And, in recent days, Pramila Patte -- the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict -- has finally agreed to come to Israel to lead an investigation of what Hamas did on October 7. In this episode, we are joined by Shari Mendes (who was quoted in the New York Times investigation and also spoke at the U.N. on Hamas and sexual violence). Shari is an immigrant to Israel who has raised four children in Israel. She is an architect, the founder of an innovative non-profit in Israel to help cancer patients, and an IDF army reservist who serves in the unit responsible for preparing the bodies of female IDF soldiers through all the steps in advance of burial. Shari has seen firsthand what the world seems to want to ignore. In our conversation, she shares some of her observations, as well as her broader take on Israeli society as we pass the 100-day mark.

This past weekend, Israelis marked 100 days since the Hamas massacre -- and 100 days that 136 hostages, of all ages, still remain captive in unimaginable conditions. We resume our weekly conversation with Haviv Rettig Gur of THE TIMES OF ISRAEL to discuss where the war goes from here. Does it end? Can it end? How? And what has Israel learned about how to proceed? This conversation is divided into two parts. PART I focuses on what we are learning about Israel’s vulnerability now and going forward. PART II focuses on what we are learning about the divide inside the Arab world in its reaction to these past 100 days, but also the reality that Israel may be in a 'forever war.'

This past weekend, Israelis marked 100 days since the Hamas massacre -- and 100 days that 136 hostages, of all ages, still remain captive in unimaginable conditions. We resume our weekly conversation with Haviv Rettig Gur of THE TIMES OF ISRAEL to discuss where the war goes from here. Does it end? Can it end? How? And what has Israel learned about how to proceed? This conversation is divided into two parts. PART I focuses on what we are learning about Israel’s vulnerability now and going forward. PART II focuses on what we are learning about the divide inside the Arab world in its reaction to these past 100 days, but also the reality that Israel may be in a 'forever war.'

In recent days, two big stories have gotten a lot bigger. The U.S. and U.K. have launched air and missile strikes against Houthi targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Thursday and today, marking a significant response after the U.S. Government warned that this Iran-backed (and Iran armed, trained, and financed) militant/terrorist group would be held responsible for its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. But how did the Houthis -- rather than Hezbollah -- find themselves as the primary Iran-backed proxy responding to the Hamas-Israel war? And what does U.S. and U.K. action against them tell us about this war? Is it widening? At the same time, Israel finds itself at the International Court of Justice, having to defend itself againt the charge of committing genocide against the Palestinians, because of Israel's response to Hamas's attempted genocide. Our guest is NADAV EYAL, who joins us from Europe, having just been at the Hague, where he was covering the court proceedings. He is a columnist at Yediiot. Eyal is one of Israel’s leading journalists, and a winner of the Sokolov Prize, Israel’s most prestigious journalism award. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news. He received a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

What do Israelis know about the political tensions within Hamas’s leadership? About their decision-makers, their motives, their processes, and Hamas’s internal disagreements and rivalries? Matt Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Ehud Yaari of Israel’s Channel 12 news set out to try to answer these questions. Are tensions heating up between Hamas’s internal and and external leaders? Dr. Matthew Levitt. Matt is the director of the Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He served as deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. During his tenure at Treasury, he played a central role in efforts to protect the U.S. financial system from abuse and to deny terrorists, weapons proliferators, and other rogue actors the ability to finance threats to U.S. national security. He later served as a counterterrorism advisor to the special envoy for Middle East regional security. Previously, Matt was a counterterrorism intelligence analyst at the FBI, where he provided tactical and strategic analytical support for counterterrorism operations, focusing on fundraising and logistical support networks for Middle Eastern terrorist groups. He is the author of several books and monographs, including Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Yale University Press, 2006), and Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God (Georgetown University Press, 2013). He is the host of the podcast series, Breaking Hezbollah's Golden Rule. Washington Institute for Near East Policy paper discussed in this episode: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/growing-internal-tensions-between-hamas-leaders

Gaza runs like no sovereign entity. On the one hand, Hamas rules Gaza like any government does — it has a health system, an education system, a security, force, and a finance system. Hamas works with international agencies based in Gaza (like the U.N.). But Hamas does not see itself as responsible for the people it governs. How does this all work at a practical level? What is Gaza's unique operating system? That is the focus of today’s conversation, along with the latest analysis of the death of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri. Our guest is NADAV EYAL who is a columnist Yediiot. Eyal is one of Israel’s leading journalists, and a winner of the Sokolov Prize, Israel’s most prestigious journalism award. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news. He received a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In recent days, we have been shocked to read the details in the New York Times investigative piece titled: “Hamas weaponized sexual violence on October 7.”For those of us following events on and after October 7 who have bothered to read the reporting coming out of Israel, or talk to Israelis involved (victims, victims’ families, first responders, Israeli journalists), we were not shocked. We will return to this topic in a future episode. But today I wanted to focus on something else: should we actually be shocked? I’ve been struck since October 7 that the barbarism has been covered as though it’s a rapid and steep descent of Hamas (and other segments of Palestinian society that were complicit) into a radically dark place. As though things have suddenly and dramatically turned in an unimaginable direction. Was October 7 an unimaginable turn, or just another turn of the dial of radicalization? This is what I wanted to better understand during my weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur of the Times Israel. Pieces discussed in this episode: NYT - “‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7” — https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/world/middleeast/oct-7-attacks-hamas-israel-sexual-violence.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare WSJ - Netanyahu: “Our Three Prerequisites for Peace” — https://www.wsj.com/articles/benjamin-netanyahu-our-three-prerequisites-for-peace-gaza-israel-bff895bd PLO Charter: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-original-palestine-national-charter-1964 Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-troops-find-kid-sized-explosive-belts-in-gaza-building-used-to-shelter-civilians/amp/

Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times, returns for a conversation analyzing how the October 7 War is expanding beyond just the Hamas-Israel. Bret came to The New York Times after a long career with The Wall Street Journal, where he was most recently deputy editorial page editor and, for 11 years, a foreign affairs columnist. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post. And prior to working in Israel, he was based in Brussels for The Wall Street Journal. Today, Bret is also the editor-in-chief of Sapir Journal. You can find the Sapir Journal here: https://sapirjournal.org/

The Hamas-Israel War, nearing its three month mark, is now the longest war in Israel’s history since Israel’s War of Independence (1948/49). The first phase of this war, which took place over the three weeks following October 7, was largely conducted from the air. The second phase, the ground invasion, began almost two months ago (on October 27), in which the IDF took over most of Northern Gaza and a few pockets in southern Gaza. During the past week it has been reported that the IDF is preparing for a third phase in the war, expected to last many months, if not longer. What will this new phase look like? What are the many considerations shaping this new phase? How are Israeli society and Israeli politics reacting to this emerging shift? These are some of the issues we discuss in our weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur of the Times of Israel.

Understanding where and how antisemitism has come to exist at an institution like Harvard is the focus of today’s conversation. We will hear the perspective of Rabbi David Wolpe — visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School — who tried to advise Harvard’s leadership on how to address it; after October 7, he joined Harvard’s Antisemitism Advisory Group. Rabbi Wolpe is also the inaugural rabbinic fellow at the Anti-Defamation League, and he was the long-time rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. He is the author of eight books, including the national bestseller “Making Loss Matter: Creating Meaning in Difficult Times”. His book “David: The Divided Heart” was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards.

We are increasingly hearing from policymakers in the U.S. and around the world about re-starting the path to a two-state solution after the war. That is our focus today in our weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur. Is there a path to a two-state solution in the near or medium term? If so, what has changed where the two-state solution has failed in the past. We also discuss a more optimistic take on the differences between the Israeli Government and the Biden administration.

On previous episodes of this podcast we’ve discussed the origins and history of antisemitism. But what does this antisemitic moment tell us about society more generally? If you look back throughout history, the persecution of Jews has often coincided with an even bigger crack-up in society. Is this antisemitic moment the first sign of something bigger going on – is it a vessel for broader and deepers trends? This is what we will discuss with Yuvan Levin. Yuval currently wears three hats: At the American Enterprise Institute think tank, he’s the Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies. He’s the editor-in-chief of National Affairs, a quarterly journal of essays about domestic policy, political economy, and political thought. He’s also authored numerous books. “The Fractured Republic” is especially relevant to today’s conversation. Yuval served as a member of the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush. He earned his masters and PhD from the University of Chicago. To subscribe to National Affairs: https://www.nationalaffairs.com/

In today’s weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur of The Times of Israel, we discuss Israel's current thinking about what a post-Hamas Gaza might look like - from a governance perspective and a security perspective. It's a topic we'll return to from time to time as the planning is fluid, but we are beginning to learn about early thinking from Israeli officials.

Today we get an update on the IDF operation in South Gaza, what Israel is learning about the Gaza tunnel system, what Israelis are learning through further de-briefing of the returned Israeli hostages, and what to make of reports of Palestinian civilians' growing frustrations with Hamas. We also wanted to discuss the tragic loss of Gal Eisenkodt and what it says about Israeli society. Amos Harel has been the military correspondent and defense analyst for Israel's Haaretz newspaper for 25 years. He is among the most well-sourced and thoughtful journalists and analysts covering Israeli security affairs inside Israel. Prior to his current position, Amos spent four years as night editor for the Haaretz Hebrew print edition, and from 1999-2005 he was the anchor on a weekly Army Radio program about defense issues. Along with frequent "Call Me Back" guest and Fauda co-creator Avi Issacharoff, Amos co-wrote a book about the Second Intifada, called "The Seventh War: How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians", which was published in 2004 and translated into several languages, including Arabic. Amos and Avi also co-wrote "34 Days: Israel, Hezbollah and the War in Lebanon", about the war of 2006, which was published in 2008. How to find Amos's book:"34 Days: Israel, Hezbollah, and the War in Lebanon" -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/34-days-amos-harel/1101905140?ean=9780230611542

In today’s weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur of The Times of Israel, we discuss the volatility in Israel, as Israelis pivoted from fighting the war to collectively embracing returning hostages during the pause in fighting. And, now, the IDF and Israeli society at large have pivoted back to fighting the war.

There are two storylines we have been following closely that are not necessarily shaped by the minute-to-minute developments in Israel, but their outcomes could have an outsized impact on U.S. policy on Israel, Gaza, and the broader Middle East. The first is the Republican contest for president. The next debate is this coming week – December 6. In the last GOP presidential debate, the issue that attracted the most airtime was the October 7 war and America’s response. The second story is the growing problem President Biden is experiencing in his political base registering high disapproval of his support for Israel. In the next episode, we'll resume with our weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur from Israel, but today we check in with Mike Murphy on U.S. presidential politics. Mike has worked on 26 gubernatorial and US Senate races across the country, including 12 wins in Blue States. He was a top strategist for John McCain, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, and Arnold Scwarzenegger. He’s a political analyst for NBC and MSNBC. He’s co-host of the "Hacks on Tap" podcast and he has a newsletter on substack. Mike is also co-director of the University of Southern California’s Center for the Political Future. To subscribe to Hacks on Tap: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacks-on-tap/id1467297559 To subscribe to Murphy's substack newsletter: https://substack.com/@mikemurphy1

Douglas Murray, a British writer and commentator, has been on the ground in Israel for about a month, covering the war as a reporter and analyst. He writes for the New York Post, the Sun, and Spectator. He is an international bestselling author of numerous books, including "The War on the West", which can be found here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-war-on-the-west-douglas-murray/1140022863 He is the host of the Uncancelled History podcast -- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncancelled-history/id1654052602

Today is our weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur of The Times of Israel. We discuss early lessons that Haviv is identifying for Israeli leaders and security officials – and for Israeli society – based on: the implementation of the agreement by Hamas to release hostages, the overall negotiations, the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, and the pause in fighting. What are the implications for this next phase of the war? Or will that next phase be delayed? Israel Democracy Institute surveys discussed in this episode: https://en.idi.org.il/articles/51147 https://en.idi.org.il/articles/51616

Amos Harel has been the military correspondent and defense analyst for Israel's Haaretz newspaper for 25 years. He is among the most well-sourced and thoughtful journalists and analysts covering Israeli security affairs inside Israel. Prior to his current position, Amos spent four years as night editor for the Haaretz Hebrew print edition, and from 1999-2005 he was the anchor on a weekly Army Radio program about defense issues. Along with frequent "Call Me Back" guest and Fauda co-creator Avi Issacharoff, Amos co-wrote a book about the Second Intifada, called "The Seventh War: How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians", which was published in 2004 and translated into several languages, including Arabic. Amos and Avi also co-wrote "34 Days: Israel, Hezbollah and the War in Lebanon", about the war of 2006, which was published in 2008. How to find Amos's book:"34 Days: Israel, Hezbollah, and the War in Lebanon" -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/34-days-amos-harel/1101905140?ean=9780230611542

Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Jerusalem to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. More than 240 people, including a number of U.S. citizens, were taken hostage during the Oct. 7 massacre. More than half of the hostages have foreign nationalities (either as dual citizens or solely as foreign nationals). Four hostages, including two U.S. citizens, have since been released, one has been rescued and two others were found dead. In this episode we discuss how Israeli decision-makers are working through options to return the hostages. How is the IDF trying to prosecute this war knowing there are hostages? Do the twin objectives of eradicating Hamas and returning the hostages reinforce one another or conflict with one another? Where is the Israeli public on these horrific decisions and trade-offs? The families of the hostages have become a critically important voice in these deliberations -- what has been the effect?

In this episode -- which we recorded just after the historic rally in Washington, DC and as we approached the sixth Shabbat since October 7th -- I have a wide-ranging conversation with Yoni Levi in Tel Aviv and Jonathan Freedland in London. Yonit and Jonathan are co-hosts of the popular podcast, UnHoly, which you can find here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 This episode is a sharecast, in which we are dropping the conversation in each of our respective podcast feeds ("Call Me Back" & "UnHoly"). The episode begins with Yonit and Jonathan interviewing me, and then I interview them at the end. It's a spirited discussion. Yonit Levi has been anchoring television news broadcasts in Israel for over 20 years. She is the lead anchor of Israel’s top primetime news programme on Channel 2, Israel’s highest rated TV channel. Throughout her career, Yonit has interviewed numerous world leaders, including Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Jonathan Freedland is a columnist for the Guardian newspaper and the host of the Guardian's Politics Weekly America podcast. He also presents BBC Radio 4's The Long View and is the author of the award-winning "The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World," along with several thrillers under the pseudonym Sam Bourne.

It’s 5:45 am on Thursday, November 16 in New York City. It’s 12:45 pm in Israel. Early this morning, I spoke with Anshel Pfeffer, who is just back from his second trip into Gaza embedded with the IDF. Anshel has covered Israeli politics, Israel National & national security, and global affairs for over two decades. He is a senior correspondent and columnist for Haaretz and Israel correspondent for The Economist. Anshel is the author of the book: “ Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu.” He lives in Jerusalem.

Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Jerusalem to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. Today, we talk to Haviv about the hostage crisis in the context of Israel's war fighting. And we also discuss Haviv's contrarian view of how Israel is reacting to the growing international pressure it is encountering – what it means for Israel and what it means for Jews around the world. Finally, last week we released our new book: "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World", which you can order now at: www.amazon.com/Genius-Israel-Small-Nation-Teach/dp/1982115769/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LKV3ZLWLBOL1&keywords=dan+senor&qid=1694402205&sprefix=dan+senor%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-1 OR www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-genius-of-israel-dan-senor/1143499668

This is a crossover episode with Liel Leibovitz in which we jointly release a conversation on the Call Me Back podcast feed and the Tablet Magazine's Unorthodox podcast feed. Liel Leibovitz, who was born and raised in Israel, is editor-at-large for Tablet Magazine and a host of its weekly culture podcast Unorthodox. He also hosts the daily Talmud podcast Take One. He is the editor of "Zionism: The Tablet Guide" and he's uthor of the new book, "How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book." Tablet Magazine -- Tabletmag.org Unorthodox Podcast -- https://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/unorthodox "How Talmud Can Change Your Life" -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-the-talmud-can-change-your-life-liel-leibovitz/1142948866?ean=9781324020820

Today we release the new book by Saul Singer and me: "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World", which you can order now at: www.amazon.com/Genius-Israel-Small-Nation-Teach/dp/1982115769/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LKV3ZLWLBOL1&keywords=dan+senor&qid=1694402205&sprefix=dan+senor%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-1 OR www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-genius-of-israel-dan-senor/1143499668 Today's guest is Ruby Namdar, who was born and raised in Jerusalem to a family of Iranian-Jewish heritage. His first book, "Haviv" (2000), won the Israeli Ministry of Culture's Award for Best First Publication. His novel "The Ruined House", has won the Sapir Prize, Israel’s most prestigious literary award. He currently lives in New York City with his wife, he has two daughters, and teaches Jewish literature, focusing on Biblical and Talmudic narrative. Items discussed in this episode: Our piece in The Free Press, “Israel’s Blueprint for a Revival of the West”: https://www.thefp.com/p/israel-blueprint-for-a-revival-of-the-west Ruby Namdar's piece in The Atlantic, "For Israel, Another New Layer of Trauma": https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/10/israel-hamas-yom-kippur-war/675587/ Ruby Namdar's book, The Ruined House: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ruined-house-ruby-namdar/1125687349?ean=9780062467485 Bret Stephens's column in The New York Times, "For America's Jews, Every Day Must Be Oct 8: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/opinion/us-jewish-israel-sept-11.html

This week we release the new book by Saul Singer and me: "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World", which you can order now at: www.amazon.com/Genius-Israel-Small-Nation-Teach/dp/1982115769/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LKV3ZLWLBOL1&keywords=dan+senor&qid=1694402205&sprefix=dan+senor%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-1 OR www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-genius-of-israel-dan-senor/1143499668 Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Israel to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. We focus on three pressure points facing Israel, and we also touch on some good news about Jewish-Arab relations inside Israel.

We just had a conversation with Dr. Matthew Levitt, an expert on Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah, getting his immediate reaction and analysis on Nasrallah’s first public address since the October 7 War. Matt is the director of the Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He served as deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. During his tenure at Treasury, he played a central role in efforts to protect the U.S. financial system from abuse and to deny terrorists, weapons proliferators, and other rogue actors the ability to finance threats to U.S. national security. He later served as a counterterrorism advisor to the special envoy for Middle East regional security. Previously, Matt was a counterterrorism intelligence analyst at the FBI, where he provided tactical and strategic analytical support for counterterrorism operations, focusing on fundraising and logistical support networks for Middle Eastern terrorist groups. He is the author of several books and monographs, including Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Yale University Press, 2006), Negotiating Under Fire: Preserving Peace Talks in the Face of Terror Attacks (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), and Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God (Georgetown University Press, 2013). He is the host of the podcast series, Breaking Hezbollah's Golden Rule.

Next week we will release the new book by Saul Singer and me: "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World", which you can order now at: www.amazon.com/Genius-Israel-Small-Nation-Teach/dp/1982115769/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LKV3ZLWLBOL1&keywords=dan+senor&qid=1694402205&sprefix=dan+senor%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-1 OR www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-genius-of-israel-dan-senor/1143499668 The speech that I reference in today's episode -- in which I discuss the resilience of Israelis in this moment -- can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WygtNbwf-tk By the time you listen to this episode, we may be witnessing escalation on Israel’s Northern border. Certainly there’s a highly anticipated address by Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah. This will be his first major address since the October 7 War began. If there is major escalation, we will be dropping an emergency episode with Dr. Matthew Levitt, an expert on Hezbollah who was on this podcast last week. Today’s guest is Dr. Fred Kagan, an expert in understanding war theaters – as he tries to help us understand the various battlefields in which Israel is currently fighting or might be fighting in the future. Fred is a former professor of military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He spent meaningful time in the Middle East informally advising US military commanders. You can find more of Fred’s work at: The Critical Threats Project – https://www.criticalthreats.org/ Institute for the Study of War – https://understandingwar.org/

Next week we will release the new book by Saul Singer and me: "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World", which you can order now at: www.amazon.com/Genius-Israel-Small-Nation-Teach/dp/1982115769/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LKV3ZLWLBOL1&keywords=dan+senor&qid=1694402205&sprefix=dan+senor%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-1 OR www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-genius-of-israel-dan-senor/1143499668 The speech that I reference in today's episode -- in which I discuss the resilience of Israelis in this moment -- can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WygtNbwf-tk As for today's episode, according to the ADL, from Oct 7-23, anti-semetic incidents in the U.S. were up 388% over the same period last year. Why is it that after an attempted genocide of Jews in the Jewish State, the response by many is too target other Jews in the U.S. and around the world? To target them with violent rhetoric, vandalism, intimidation, and actual physical violence? Is this new? What are its origins? What is the difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism? And what’s with the tearing down of posters of hostage children? Our guest today is Yossi Klein Halevi who - in addition to being an important voice in our new book - is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Together with Imam Abdullah Antepli of Duke University, he co-directs the Harmant Institute's Muslim Leadership Initiative. Yossi has written a number of books, including "Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation," and his latest, "Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor," which was a New York Times bestseller. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Times of Israel.

Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Israel to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. We wanted to check in with Haviv, who is the political analyst at The Times of Israel, where was also a long time reporter. He’s also working on a book. Haviv was also a combat medic in the IDF where he served in the reserves. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/call-me-back-with-dan-senor/id1539292794?i=1000632264331

Avi Issacharoff returns for an urgent update on overnight developments and their implications. Avi has been an analyst and journalist for The Times of Israel, Walla, and Haaretz. In these roles, he reported extensively on the inner workings and leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza and the West Bank — Avi has extensive networks in the Israeli security services and the Palestinian Territories. He is also the co-creator and writer of the Netflix original series “Fauda”, and other television series for Netflix and Showtime. A fluent Arabic speaker, Avi was also the Middle East Affairs correspondent for Israeli Public Radio, covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq, and the Arab world between the years 2003-2006. In 2004, together with Haaretz’s Amos Harel, he authored the book "The Seventh War - How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians." In 2008, they co-wrote "34 Days - The Story of the Second Lebanon War”. Born in Jerusalem, he graduated cum laude from Ben Gurion University with a B.A. in Middle Eastern studies. He then earned his M.A. from Tel Aviv University on the same subject, also cum laude.

Much like our earlier episode on the history of Hamas, today we look at the history of Hezbollah, an even greater threat to Israel than Hamas. Our guest is Dr. Matthew Levitt. Matt is the director of the Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He served as deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. During his tenure at Treasury, he played a central role in efforts to protect the U.S. financial system from abuse and to deny terrorists, weapons proliferators, and other rogue actors the ability to finance threats to U.S. national security. He later served as a counterterrorism advisor to the special envoy for Middle East regional security. Previously, Matt was a counterterrorism intelligence analyst at the FBI, where he provided tactical and strategic analytical support for counterterrorism operations, focusing on fundraising and logistical support networks for Middle Eastern terrorist groups. He is the author of several books and monographs, including Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Yale University Press, 2006), Negotiating Under Fire: Preserving Peace Talks in the Face of Terror Attacks (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), and Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God (Georgetown University Press, 2013). He is the host of the podcast series, Breaking Hezbollah's Golden Rule. The quotes we discussed in the introduction can be found here: - The entire statement by Rachel Goldberg-Polin at the U.N. -- https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkn7vvif6 -The audio recording released by the IDF -- https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-publishes-audio-of-hamas-terrorist-calling-family-to-brag-of-killing-jews/

Among the questions we've been getting since October 7 are those about antisemitism. Does this time feel different? Why? Or, another question, when is it appropriate to be critical of Israeli Government policy, and when does it cross the line into antisemitism? What is the difference between antisemisitm and anti-zionism? Or is there a distinction at all? Is the latter simply a modern-day version of the former? These are some of the issues we discuss in this episode with our guests: Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Michal Cotler Wunsh, who is the Israeli Government’s Special Envoy for Combating Global Antisemitism (she is also a former Member of Israel's Knesset). Before we move to these two interviews, we speak with Ethan Missner about the life of Israeli soldier Omer Balva, who fell last week.

Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Israel to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. We wanted to check in with Haviv on increasing questions we are hearing from within Israel and the U.S. about -- as it relates to the call-up of reserves and the deployment along Israel's southern border - why 'hurry up and wait'? In this conversation we explore the 'known knowns' of equities that Israeli decision-makers must be balancing. Haviv, who is the political analyst at The Times of Israel. He was a long time reporter for the Times of Israel. He’s also working on a book. Haviv was also a combat medic in the IDF where he served in the reserves.

This episode will be the first of a few conversations in which we touch on the range of directions this October 7th war could go (especially when considering comparisons to Israel's previous wars, including those with Hamas and also the 1973 Yom Kippur War). Michael Oren is the author of numerous books, including: “Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East” and “Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present”. Micahel also served in the paratroopers in the IDF after moving to Israel. Later on, he served as Israel ambassador to the United States, and as a Member of Knesset and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. He is a graduate of Princeton and Columbia, and was a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown.

In President Biden’s address from the Oval Office, we continue to hear calls for Israel to respect the laws of war. In recent days, we have also heard others call for “proportionality” in Israel’s response. What does that actually mean? According to what definition of proportionality? And according to whose rules? Is Israel subjected to different rules of war than other countries? Is Hamas a different kind of enemy? These are some of the issues we get into with Matt Waxman, who is Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where he chairs the National Security Law Program. He is also Adjunct Senior Fellow for Law & Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and he is affiliated with the Lieber Institute for Law & Warfare at West Point. Among his many areas of expertise, Matt is a scholar of the laws of war, including their history and their application to new technologies of warfare. During the Bush administration, Matt served in senior positions at the U.S. State Department, Defense Department, and National Security Council. Earlier in his career, he was a defense analyst at RAND, where among other things he worked on the law and strategy of urban warfare.

Haviv Rettig Gur returns to our podcast to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. He will be a weekly guest on our podcast through the duration of the war. Today he is focused on Israeli public sentiment as the country mobilizes, and also looks at how the October 7 is perhaps changing perceptions in and of the Israeli Arab community. Haviv is the political analyst at The Times of Israel. He was a long time reporter for the Times of Israel. He’s also working on a book. Haviv was also a combat medic in the IDF where he served in the reserves. We discuss Haviv's latest piece: "Hamas does not yet understand the depth of Israeli resolve": www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-does-not-yet-understand-the-depth-of-israeli-resolve/

Today, we consider to what to expect when the IDF enters Gaza. Avi Issacharoff has been an analyst and journalist for The Times of Israel, Walla, and Haaretz. In these roles, he reported extensively on the inner workings and leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza and the West Bank — Avi has extensive networks in the Israeli security services and the Palestinian Territories. He is also the co-creator and writer of the Netflix original series “Fauda”, and other television series for Netflix and Showtime. A fluent Arabic speaker, Avi was also the Middle East Affairs correspondent for Israeli Public Radio, covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq, and the Arab world between the years 2003-2006. In 2004, together with Haaretz’s Amos Harel, he authored the book "The Seventh War - How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians." In 2008, they co-wrote "34 Days - The Story of the Second Lebanon War”. Born in Jerusalem, he graduated cum laude from Ben Gurion University with a B.A. in Middle Eastern studies. He then earned his M.A. from Tel Aviv University on the same subject, also cum laude.

In this episode with Elliott Abrams, we provide additional detail on the history of Israel-Gaza/Hamas — this time from a White House insider on U.S.-Middle East policy during a critical period in Hamas’s takeover of Gaza — what were leaders in Washington and Jerusalem thinking at the time? Elliott takes us into the Situation Room: What did they get right and what did they get wrong? This part of the discussion is a good complement to our conversation last week with Jonathan Schanzer on this history of Hamas. Elliott also considers all that has changed for Israel, the region (especially the Sunni Gulf and Iran), and the Diaspora-Israel relationship as a result of this war. Elliott is senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as deputy national security advisor in the administration of President George W. Bush, where he supervised U.S. policy in the Middle East for the White House, and as Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela in the administration of Donald Trump. Elliott was educated at Harvard College, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School. After serving on the staffs of Senators Henry M. Jackson and Daniel P. Moynihan, he was an assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration and received the secretary of state's Distinguished Service Award from Secretary George Shultz. Elliott is the author of five books, including “Tested by Zion: The Bush Administration and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”, which is most relevant to today’s discussion.

For analysis of the Israeli Government's formation of a (Netanyahu/Gantz) unity government and war cabinet, preparations for the invasion of Gaza, and anticipating the Hezbollah threat from the northern border, we are joined by Yaakov Katz. Yaakov is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post and senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute. Previously, Yaakov served as editor-in-chief at the Jerusalem Post, before which he was the paper's military reporter and defense analyst. He is the author of "Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power" and co-author of two books: "Weapon Wizards - How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower" and "Israel vs. Iran - The Shadow War". He is currently working on a new book. Yaakov's most recent piece: "How Israel Got Ambushed" -- https://www.thefp.com/p/how-israel-got-ambushed

We have been getting a lot of questions about the history of Hamas, its ideological roots and objectives, its allies and rivalries, how it wound up in charge of Gaza, the origins of this war, and whether there could actually be a post-Hamas Gaza. For this tutorial, our guest is Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, who is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Jon previously worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers. Jon's latest book is "Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War". His other books include: "State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State", and "Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine", which is still the only book on the market that analyzes the ongoing Palestinian civil war. Jonathan has studied Middle East history in four countries. He earned his PhD from King’s College London, where he wrote his dissertation on the U.S. Congress and its efforts to combat terrorism in the 20th century. He speaks Arabic and Hebrew.

Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times, returns for a conversation immediately on Day III of this war. Bret came to The New York Times after a long career with The Wall Street Journal, where he was most recently deputy editorial page editor and, for 11 years, a foreign affairs columnist. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post. And prior to working in Israel, he was based in Brussels for The Wall Street Journal. Today, Bret is also the editor-in-chief of Sapir Journal. You can find the Sapir Journal here: https://sapirjournal.org/ You can find Bret's most recent column here: "Hamas' Control of Gaza Must End Now" -- https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/07/opinion/gaza-israel-hamas.html

Haviv Rettig Gur returns to our podcast to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. His insights on how Israel might prosecute this war -- and the possible end of Israel's security paradigm with Gaza and its approach to Israeli hostages -- are especially important. Haviv is the political analyst at The Times of Israel. He was a long time reporter for the Times of Israel. He’s also working on a book. Haviv was also a combat medic in the IDF where he served in the reserves. We discuss his most recent piece from the Times of Israel: "A wounded, weakened Israel is a fiercer one" -- https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-wounded-weakened-israel-is-a-fiercer-one/

One day we’re talking about the 2024 presidential election being a re-match of the 2020 election. The next day we’re watching the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives being defenestrated through a historic vote OUT of the Speakership. What is going on here? Is it a new level of crazy, or not that new at all? Karl Rove puts this period of political dysfunction in historical context. Rove served as Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush and White House Deputy Chief of Staff from 2004–2007. He was architect of both of President Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns, and the 2002 midterm election strategy for the Republicans. He is the author "The Triumph of William McKinley '' and also "Courage and Consequence". He writes a weekly column for The Wall Street Journal. Karl Rove's books: "The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters" -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-triumph-of-william-mckinley-karl-rove/1122221784 "Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight" Article discussed in this episode: "America Is Often a Nation Divided" -- https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-is-often-a-nation-divided-politics-election-gop-voters-debate-unrest-9100042a --https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/courage-and-consequence-karl-rove/1103176826

Many Democratic activists, strategists, donors, officeholders, and party leaders are privately discussing the weaknesses of President Biden's candidacy, heading into what now appears to be a very competitive 2024 election. But is anyone telling President Biden? Is anyone credible and viable willing to challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination? We are constantly told that American democracy hangs in the balance. Wouldn't this be the time? These are some of the topics we discuss with A.B. Stoddard, long-time Washington, DC journalist (currently with the Bulwark, formerly with The Hill and Real Clear Politics). Read A.B.'s piece that we discuss in this episode: "To Beat Trump, Democrats Need a Whitmer-Warnock Ticket" https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/to-beat-trump-democrats-need-whitmer-warnock

What to make of the most recent presidential debates? What to make of what we're learning from these debates? What to make of the media's coverage of and role in these debates? And where do things go from here? Eliana Johnson is the editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon. She is a former White House correspondent at POLITICO. She previously served as Washington editor of National Review, where she led the organization’s election coverage of the 2016 presidential election. She has worked as a producer at Fox News and as a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations. Eliana is also the co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast "Ink Stained Wretches". Items discussed in this episode: - "Ink Stained Wretches": podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ink-stained-wretches/id1573974244 -Tevi Troy's piece on debates in The Wall Street Journal: www.wsj.com/politics/moderators-have-ruined-presidential-debates-lets-get-rid-of-them-3ec877ca -The Washington Free Beacon: freebeacon.com

Why is U.S. assistance for Ukraine being held up in Congress? What is at stake for the U.S.? Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Previously, he was Senior Foreign Policy Advisor and Legislative Director to U.S. Senator Tom Cotton. Aaron served on active duty as a U.S. Marine for seven years, deploying to Afghanistan as an infantry officer. Following his time in the operating forces, he was assigned to the faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy. He received an M.Phil. (Dist.) in medieval Arabic thought from the University of Oxford. Aaron is the host of the "School of War" podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/school-of-war/id1589160645 The piece by Aaron and Secretary Mike Pompeo is discussed in this episode: "Why it's important to continue our support for Ukraine" - www.foxnews.com/opinion/why-important-continue-our-support-ukraine

Are you pessimistic about Israel’s future? My new book – which I wrote with my "Start-Up Nation" co-author Saul Singer – should give you reason for optimism. I care deeply about Israel. I’m endlessly fascinated by Israel. I travel to Israel regularly. Some may say this is a fraught period for anyone who cares about Israel. But in our new book, "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World,” we write about the health and resilience of Israeli society, a topic that could not be more relevant to this period. You can order the book here: https://tinyurl.com/5f8s6sb7 We have a special pre-order campaign for my podcast listeners. If you order the book between now and this Friday at sundown, simply forward any order confirmation to book@dansenor.com, and I’ll send you a special chapter sampler that deals with issues debated in Israel – and about Israel – these days. One of the most illuminating characters in our book is Micah Goodman, who has been on our podcast before. Micah is on the speed-dial of a number of Israeli political leaders. He is a polymath, having written books ranging from biblical lessons for the modern age to Israel’s geopolitics. His books include: "Catch-67: The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War" and, more recently, "The Wondering Jew: Israel and the Search for Jewish Identity." Not only have all of his books been bestsellers in Israel, but he essentially created a new genre; books that bring core texts of Jewish thought to a general, secular audience. Micah also hosts the most downloaded podcast in Israel. In this episode, Micah and I focus on what effects a Saudi-Israel normalization deal could be on Israel's domestic political crisis. Might MBS help restore some normalcy to Israeli politics? And we have a special pre-order campaign for my podcast listeners. If you order the book between now and this Friday at sundown, simply forward any order confirmation to book@dansenor.com, and I’ll send you a special chapter sampler that deals with issues being debated in Israel – and about Israel – these days. One of the most illuminating characters in our book is Micah Goodman, who has been on our podcast before. Micah is on the speed-dial of a number of Israeli political leaders. He is a polymath, having written books ranging from biblical lessons for the modern age to Israel’s geopolitics. His books include: "Catch-67: The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War" and, more recently, "The Wondering Jew: Israel and the Search for Jewish Identity." Not only have all of his books been bestsellers in Israel, he essentially created a new genre; books that bring core texts of Jewish thought to a general, secular audience. Micah also hosts the most downloaded podcast in Israel. In this episode, Micah and I focus on what effects a Saudi-Israel normalization deal could have on Israel's domestic political crisis. Might MBS help restore some normalcy to Israeli politics?

Are you pessimistic about Israel’s future? Optimistic? Or somewhere in between? My new book – which I co-authored with Saul Singer – will you give you reasons for optimism. And there is a special pre-order campaign for my loyal podcast listeners. If you order the book between now and this Friday, simply email confirmation of your purchase to book@dansenor.com and we’ll email you right back a special chapter sampler (in the form of a PDF document) that deals with some of the issues being debated in Israel – and about Israel – now. It may seem that everyone around you is arguing about what is happening in Israel, and this chapter sampler will give you the relevant historical context for these discussions. If you spent time at synagogue over Rosh Hashana this past weekend, chances are you heard a sermon about Israel. Many rabbis – in services across the U.S. and the broader Diaspora – focused on the challenges facing Israel today (specifically, internal challenges). What so many are talking about is the unprecedented polarization over reforms to Israel’s judiciary. But it goes beyond that. This unprecedented division is really about competing – perhaps irreconcilable - visions, for what it means to have a Jewish sovereign democracy. Today — and in the chapter sampler we will send you — we focus on whether these events are actually unprecedented. Is Israel facing unprecedented division? We do not think it is. Israel has been deeply divided before. And just as these divisions in previous eras appeared to push Israel to the brink, Israelis somehow pulled back, and their country hung together. The next book by Saul Singer and me is focused on Israel’s societal resilience. It’s called: “The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World.” There are a lot of areas and metrics we discovered in writing this book that spoke to the health and vibrancy of Israeli society. But there is one chapter, in particular, that speaks to this period in which there seems to be a sense of despair about what is happening in Israel. In this chapter, Saul and I look at Israel’s history and show that there have been comparable periods of despair. This is the chapter we will send you today to read in advance of the book’s publication. Today’s guest, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, has strong views on Israel’s history and its relevance to the current moment. He is the senior rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. He is also director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Soloveichik has a must-listen daily podcast called Bible 365, and he writes a monthly column in Commentary magazine, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Mosaic, the Jewish Review of Books, and many other outlets. He is also the author of a superb book of his own, called “Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship.”

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Dr. Mohamed El-Erian returns to the podcast to discuss the implications of the recent announcement of the expansion of BRICS, China's economy and possible spillover effects in the West, past forecasting of recession/stagflation, and the Fed's inflation target. We also discuss Mohamed's new book: "Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World" We begin the podcast with a conversation about the upcoming NFL season. To go straight to the discussion about the BRICS, the macro economy and global markets, begin listening at 17:00. Mohamed El-Erian is President of Queens' College at Cambridge University. He serves as part-time Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz and Chair of Gramercy Fund Management. He’s a Professor at The Wharton School, he is a Financial Times contributing editor, Bloomberg Opinion columnist, and the author of two New York Times best sellers. He serves on the board of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and of Barclays and Under Armour. From 2007-2014, Mohammed was CEO/co-CIO of PIMCO and was chair of President Obama's Global Development Council. He also served two years as president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, the entity that manages Harvard’s endowment. He has been chair of the Microsoft Investment Advisory Board since 2007. Book discussed in this episode: Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1143921882?ean=9781398525610

Back in July, we dedicated an episode to the question of whether the U.S. was on the cusp of reaching a new deal with Iran. Or was an unofficial deal already hatched that nobody was talking about? According to Rich Goldberg, the answers to these questions are now becoming more clear. Rich has also been focused on another development that didn’t get sufficient press attention this summer: the release of US hostages by Iran. Rich wrote an important piece for The Dispatch analyzing that deal, and in our conversation today we examine it in the context of the broader arrangement Rich believes we have with Iran right now. We also discuss what exactly is going on behind all the chatter about a U.S.-brokered normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Rich Goldberg is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. From 2019-2020, he served as a Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction for the White House National Security Council. He previously served as a national security staffer in the US Senate and US House. Rich is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve with military experience on the Joint Staff and in Afghanistan. Item discussed in this episode: "The Disastrous Implications of the $6 Billion Iran Hostage Deal": thedispatch.com/article/the-disastrous-implications-of-the-6-billion-iran-hostage-deal/

Kristen Soltis Anderson is a GOP pollster, messaging strategist, and Founding Partner of Echelon Insights, an opinion research and analytics firm that serves brands, trade associations, nonprofits, and political clients. Through her work at Echelon, she regularly advises corporate and government leaders. Kristen also leads focus groups for The New York Times’ opinion section “America in Focus” series. Items discussed in this episode: “Republican Voters Aren’t Looking to Be Rescued From Trump” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/opinion/donald-trump-presidential-campaign.html [nytimes.com] “These 11 Republican Voters Can’t Say Who Will Win in 2024, but They Know Who Will Lose” https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/22/opinion/republican-debate-focus-group.html [nytimes.com] Codebook by Kristen Soltis Anderson: https://kristensoltisanderson.substack.com/p/i-was-wrong-high-school-debate-might

Special episode with Dr. Fred Kagan on the Russia-Ukraine war (and Putin's hold on power). Fred is the Director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also working closely with the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War. Fred is a former professor of military history at the US Military Academy at West Point. He completed his PhD in Soviet and Russian military history at Yale University. The Critical Threats Project – https://www.criticalthreats.org/ Institute for the Study of War – https://understandingwar.org/

There is a lot these days to discuss with a US official who is an expert on China and has major influence over US-China policy. But today we take a longer view of the Cold War (II) we are in with China by looking at a historical comparison in Cold War I. Congressman Gallagher just wrapped up teaching a history class on one such historical comp – the Korean War. Rep. Gallagher served for seven years on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, including two deployments to Iraq. He was a national security aide on Capitol HIll. He’s also a warrior scholar, having earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, a master’s degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University, a second in Strategic Intelligence from National Intelligence University, and a PhD in International Relations from Georgetown. He has served on the House Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee, and he is chairman of the newly created House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, At the end of this episode, we take a detour to discuss what Congress is doing on the topic of UFOs, an issue on which Rep. Gallagher has been active. Items discussed in this episode: "Why America Forgets -- and China Remembers -- the Korean War" https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/why-america-forgets-and-china-remembers-korean-war The Hertog Foundation https://hertogfoundation.org/

Throughout modern history, there were major wars that were triggered by fits of inattention or inadvertence. In retrospect, these moments can seem obvious – sometimes even linear. Walter Russuell Mead is observing some of these fits of inattention right now. Walter believes there is some kind of collective denial about these trends. He calls it “geopolitical climate denialism.” That’s what we discuss with him in this episode. He’s also just back from another trip to India, where he’s been spending a lot of time. His insights on the growing importance of India to America and the changing relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are also topics we discuss. Walter is at the Hudson Institute, he is the Global View Columnist at The Wall Street Journal and a professor at Bard College. He was previously the Henry Kissinger fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of “The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People”: shorturl.at/bdhpz WSJ column we discuss in this episode: “Geopolitical Climate Denialism” https://www.wsj.com/articles/geopolitical-climate-denialism-russia-ukraine-china-military-iran-225a9b2f

Each national political party should be thinking about their Plan B for the 2024 presidential election. Mike Murphy returns to the podcast to discuss each party's predicament and where they can go from here. Murphy has worked on a number of presidential campaigns and run 26 gubernatorial and US Senate races across the country. He was a top strategist for John McCain, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s a political analyst for NBC and MSNBC. He’s co-host of the critically acclaimed "Hacks on Tap" podcast. Mike is also co-director of the University of Southern California’s Center for the Political Future. Subscribe to Mike's substack newsletter: https://substack.com/@mikemurphy1

One week ago, Israel’s parliament passed the first pillar of its judicial reform package. This, despite 30 weeks of massive protests against the reforms. Calling these mass protests understates it. Hundreds of thousands of people turning out each week, culminating last week in a historic protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We have received a lot of questions and comments from listeners to this podcast about the current situation in Israel. Haviv Rettig Gur joins us for the first time, to help us make sense of events. Haviv is the political analyst at The Times of Israel. He was a long time reporter for the Times of Israel. He’s also working on a book. Haviv was also a combat medic in the IDF where he served in the reserves until he was 40 years old. Haviv Rettig Gur on Twitter: twitter.com/havivrettiggur?s=20

Dr. Christine Rosen is skeptical of all the techno-optimism around the coming era of artificial intelligence. In this episode, she responds to our recent guest, Tyler Cowen (episode # 120). Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on American history, culture, technology and feminism. Concurrently she is a columnist for Commentary magazine and one of the cohosts of The Commentary Magazine Podcast. She is also a fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and a senior editor in an advisory position at the New Atlantis. Previously, she was a distinguished visiting scholar at the Library of Congress. Christine is the author or coauthor of many books. Her next book is called The Extinction of Experience. She's also a prolific opinion writer – not only on the pages of Commentary, but also the Los Angeles Times, National Affairs, the New Atlantis, the New York Times, MIT Technology Review, Politico, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Is the US on the cusp of reaching a new deal with Iran? Or has a deal already been hatched that nobody is talking about? To help us understand what is going on, Rich Goldberg returns to the podcast. Rich is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. From 2019-2020, he served as a Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction for the White House National Security Council. He previously served as a national security staffer in the US Senate and US House. He was a founding staff director of the House U.S.-China Working Group and was among the first Americans ever to visit China’s human space launch center. A leader in efforts to expand U.S. missile defense cooperation with Israel, Rich played a key role in U.S. funding for the Iron Dome. Rich is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve with military experience on the Joint Staff and in Afghanistan.

Does Putin’s hold on power now look stronger or weaker? What can we learn about where the Russia-Ukraine war is heading? And what is actually happening with the Ukraine counter-offensive? Fred Kagan is the Director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also working closely with the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War. Fred is a former professor of military history at the US Military Academy at West Point. He completed his PhD in Soviet and Russian military history at Yale University. The Critical Threats Project – https://www.criticalthreats.org/ Institute for the Study of War – https://understandingwar.org/

Last weekend, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, launched a rebellion, coup or putsch against Moscow. It's still hard to discern what it was. As of now, It seems Prigozhin has halted the Wagner operation. The situation is fluid, and we aren’t going to leap to conclusions on this podcast. But our guest today, Richard Fontaine, told me he is skeptical that these events so far reflect real cracks in President Putin’s rule. So I asked Richard to hop on our podcast to unpack where he think events are headed. Richard is the CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), bi-partisan foreign policy think tank in Washington, DC. Prior to CNAS, he was foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain and worked at the State Department, the National Security Council, and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He serves on the Biden administration’s Defense Policy Board – which advises the Pentagon.

In this special re-published episode, we revisit a captivating conversation that resonated deeply with our audience, offering new listeners an opportunity to delve into the insights shared by Niall Ferguson. In this decade we may finally experience a true crack-up in higher education. There have been comparable periods on American college campuses in the past (in the 1960s and 1980s, for example). But our guest today, historian Niall Ferguson, believes what’s happening now is on a whole other level. Niall is doing something about it -- he’s started a new university. Niall argues that parents -- who had enriching and intellectually diverse experiences when they went to college --  don’t fully appreciate that their own children will experience something completely different when they go off to university.  Niall Ferguson has taught at Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and New York University. He’s authored 17 books. He’s currently at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University where he is the MIllbank Family Senior Fellow, and Managing Director of Greenmantle, a macroeconomic and geopolitical advisory firm. Order Niall’s most recent book, “Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe” here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/doom-niall-ferguson/1137713414 Learn more about the University of Austin here: https://www.uaustin.org/ Learn more about Greenmantle here: https://www.gmantle.com/

These days there are lots of conversations about the re-shaping of the workforce as a result of the pandemic. Bruce Feiler is just out with a new book – THE SEARCH: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post-Career World – based on years of research on this topic. He is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers. His book WALKING THE BIBLE describes his 10,000-mile journey retracing the Five Books of Moses through the desert. The book spent a year and a half on the New York Times bestseller list. His book WHERE GOD WAS BORN describes his trek visiting biblical sites throughout Israel, Iran and Iraq. His book AMERICA’S PROPHET is the story of the influence of Moses on American history A longtime columnist at the New York Times, Bruce now writes the popular newsletter THE NONLINEAR LIFE. Items discussed in this podcast: The Nonlinear Life newsletter -- https://brucefeiler.substack.com/ The Search -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-search-bruce-feiler/1142169519

Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times, returns for a conversation immediately following his address at the University of Chicago’s Class Day, where there was an organized — and ultimately unsuccessful — effort against his speech. We discuss his address, the effort against him and lessons learned. Bret also recently returned from a mission to rescue 111 Ethiopian Jews, part of a multi-decade effort to bring thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel to become Israeli citizens, the history of which he unpacks at the end of our conversation. Bret came to The New York Times after a long career with The Wall Street Journal, where he was most recently deputy editorial page editor and, for 11 years, a foreign affairs columnist. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post. And prior to working in Israel, he was based in Brussels for The Wall Street Journal. Today, Bret is also the editor-in-chief of Sapir Journal. Bret was raised in Mexico City, earned his BA at the University of Chicago and his Masters at the London School of Economics. Items discussed in this episode: Sapir Journal — https://sapirjournal.org/ “The Herd of Independent Minds: Has the Avant-Garde Its Own Mass Culture” — https://www.commentary.org/articles/harold-rosenberg-2/the-herd-of-independent-mindshas-the-avant-garde-its-own-mass-culture/ Bret Stephens — “Go Forth and Argue” — https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/opinion/free-speech-campus.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Bret Stephens — “Israel’s Unfinished Exodus Story” — https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/opinion/ethiopian-jews-israel.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare “Sideways” — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375063/ “The Lives of Others” — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/