A Mandatory Listen

Welcome to "A Mandatory Listen," a new weekly podcast in which The Times of Israel deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan asks the big questions facing Israel and the Jewish people.

For this fourth episode in the new series, we speak with Prof. Nechumi Yaffe, an ultra-Orthodox woman running for Knesset for the Charedi Public Party (HaTzibur HaCharedi).

A faculty member at Tel Aviv University since 2019, Yaffe is currently a tenured senior lecturer at the School of Public Policy and co-director of the Haredi Research Group at UCLA.

Among other fields of interest, Yaffe delves into the issues of poverty and identity in Haredi society.

We hear how the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on southern Israel made Yaffe rethink the ideas of civil obligations and rights. While she believes that youths who are not fit for yeshiva can -- and should -- be conscripted into the IDF, she is deeply concerned with allowing the ultra-Orthodox community to remain strictly observant.

How can a delicate balance between religious observance and national burden be forged? Only through education, says Yaffe.

Over time, she relates, her friends and neighbors in the ultra-Orthodox world stopped accusing her of airing their dirty laundry in the secular public and began understanding the dire situation their community is in.

But will this increased awareness lead to a gain in the polls? Perhaps through the Haredi world's overlooked weapon -- women.

A Mandatory Listen podcast episodes are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to "A Mandatory Listen," a new weekly podcast in which The Times of Israel deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan asks the big questions facing Israel and the Jewish people.

For this third episode in the new series, we speak with The New York Times columnist Bret Stephens -- also the editor of the SAPIR Journal -- who was in the country for a lightning reporting trip ahead of the Israeli election on October 27.

Stephens, who both supports and criticizes Israel, is increasingly the minority voice at the Gray Lady, where the Jewish state has decidedly lost the battle for public opinion.

But he thinks Israel shouldn't really care what others think about it.

"Let me put it this way: Would you rather have won the battle for public opinion and lost the war -- or vice versa? If that's the choice, I would say that Israel was better off losing the battle for public opinion," Stephens says.

Find out why he believes Israel couldn't have won both wars.

We discuss why the United States, until now, has been judged on its wartime operations through a different lens.

But has the Iran war changed all that?

A Mandatory Listen podcast episodes are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to "A Mandatory Listen," a new weekly podcast in which The Times of Israel deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan asks the big questions facing Israel and the Jewish people.

For this second episode in the new series, who better to ask the big questions than a philosopher? We turn to author and public intellectual Micah Goodman for an in-depth conversation on the one burning issue that unites America's radical right and left.

Spoiler: They hate Israel.

But the reasons why the far left and the far right despise the Jewish state come from very different narratives, explains Goodman. Likewise, their "final solutions" for Israel would result in divergent conclusions.

In the second half of the program, we turn the tables and ask: Are Israelis aware that the fate of the Jewish state is an election issue in the US? Why is this fissure in the essential US-Israel relationship trumpeted as a main existential issue on Israeli politicians' campaign trails?

Israelis, says Goodman, need to wake up.

But will they?

A Mandatory Listen podcast episodes are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to "A Mandatory Listen," a new weekly podcast in which The Times of Israel deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan asks the big questions facing Israel and the Jewish people.

For this inaugural episode, who better to ask "Is the IDF justified in picking off Hamas terrorists?" than The Times of Israel's senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

Last week, as headlines roiled world media condemning the IDF following the screening of "NAZA," which alleges Israel is using AI to commit genocide in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s determination to eliminate Hamas terrorists in the Strip.

In the past several months, the IDF has conducted a series of strikes targeting Hamas operatives in Gaza. Since the October 2025 ceasefire in Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry claims 1,400 Gazans -- without differentiating between Hamas operatives and civilians -- have been killed by the IDF.

Rejecting the notion that “Hamas is protected” within the area it controls in Gaza, Netanyahu asserted that “we are settling accounts with these murderers who murdered our people, our daughters, our women and our children on October 7,” adding: “There are not many left because we are dealing with them.”

But is this manhunt moral?

Rettig Gur sets the stage for his answer with a deep dive into history and the ideological underpinnings of the Hamas terrorist organization still ruling the Gaza Strip.

We then turn to what Borschel-Dan calls a "spillover" effect, in which this manhunt may allow a kernel of far-right extremist settlers to perpetrate violence against their Palestinian neighbors in the West Bank.

How can Israel rid itself of what Rettig Gur labels "Jewish terrorism"?

A Mandatory Listen podcast episodes are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the head of Realign for Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse.

Before Alkhatib gives us an overview of the conditions on the ground right now in the Gaza Strip, he speaks to social media allegations that he is a "Zionist" or "pro-Israel stooge" because of his staunch anti-Hamas stance and willingness to engage with Israelis and Jews.

He speaks to how the "pro-Palestine industrial complex" marches in lockstep to condemn and blame Israel, giving two examples: the recent Haaretz report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned about the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on southern Israel and the unreserved acceptance of the narrative portrayed in the new film "NAZA."

Alkhatib goes through the recent claims made against Netanyahu and explains how, in his assessment, there are other agendas at work by a variety of actors. Something doesn't add up, he says.

Turning to "NAZA" and its unprecedented 25-minute standing ovation, Alkhatib again turns the spotlight on the double standard the world employs when discussing Hamas versus Israel.

"Ironically, Israelis are believed when they criticize their government and their military and their people and their army, but Palestinians against Hamas in Gaza... they're not believed. They're called traitors, or they're silenced or they're viewed as inconvenient, by the same people that gave that long standing ovation," he says.

"It's enraging to me that Hamas is afforded the benefit of the doubt," he says, adding that residents of Gaza are likewise enraged that they remain held captive by a terrorist regime that is given a "pass" by the international community and pro-Palestine activists.

Finally, Alkhatib announces that his new short book, "Hamas and its Two Million Hostages" -- part memoir, part an attempt to explain how Hamas's stranglehold on the people in the Gaza Strip is only tightening -- will soon be translated into Hebrew. (Arabic is also in the plans.)

And so this week, we ask Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, what matters now?

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with the head of the Israel Democracy Institute, Yohanan Plesner.

As millions of Israeli voters will cast a fateful ballot on October 27, what are the top three issues driving them to the polls -- and why?

Plesner, a former member of Knesset for the now-defunct Kadima party, begins the program by explaining the purpose and goals of the IDI, which he calls a "think-and-do-tank."

We learn about the overabundance of parties that officially registered this week, the use of joint party "lists" to reduce wasted votes and how a politician's word may be somewhat flexible, leading to broken promises.

Even after a vote is cast, the challenges in setting up a stable coalition are immense. It is not at all clear that we're not about to head to another series of inconclusive elections, warns Plesner.

And so this week, we ask Yohanan Plesner what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt.

As antisemitism surges worldwide by some 900% over the past decade, Greenblatt explores how the 113-year-old organization's mission to protect Jews has -- and has not -- evolved to meet the new challenge.

In light of the drastic uptick in hate, Borschel-Dan jokes that the ADL commands more money than a very small sovereign state (she erroneously names Nauru) and asks if the organization has failed in its mission.

Greenblatt assures her that a $100 million annual budget is a drop in the bucket against well-oiled hate machines funded by petrol states and says the ADL, like all other Jewish organizations, is working to regain its footing in a post-October 7 world.

We learn how the foundational anti-hate body has had to make some tough choices and how it is increasingly leaning on AI to reinforce its human staff.

And so this week, we ask Jonathan Greenblatt what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with author Yossi Klein Halevi.

The Hartman Institute senior fellow, writer and thinker joins us in our Jerusalem studio for a probing conversation about Jewish extremism.

Klein Halevi is the author of the 1995 "Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist," based on his time spent as a disciple of far-right racist firebrand Meir Kahane. He is uniquely poised to delve into the psyche of the violent fringe terrorizing West Bank Palestinian and shaking members of the settler movement.

We discuss the throughline between the era that spawned Kahane and his followers and today's national traumas that are spurring extremists to believe Kahane was right all along.

Through Kahane's vanities and human frailties, Klein Halevi realized that the cult of personality was dangerous and unhealthy. We ask, what happens if adherents believe their racist violence is actually in the service of God?

Klein Halevi, optimistic that these youth can be awoken, sets out conditions that could, slowly, allow for their transformation.

And so this week, we ask Yossi Klein Halevi, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with CEO of Community Security Service Richard Priem.

While guarding his Dutch synagogue as a 17-year-old, Priem knew there were two places where Jews wouldn't experience antisemitism: Israel and the United States. Whereas in Europe, where Jews regularly must go through security checks and metal detectors before entering community events, he was sure the Jewish State and the Goldene Medina were different.

That "age of security" for US Jewry changed around the time of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life shooting, he said.

This is where his NGO steps in: Founded in 2007, the not-for-profit aims to empower Jewish volunteers and strengthen their communal security toolboxes to prevent attacks and de-escalate situations as they arise.

As Priem, a former paratrooper in the IDF puts it, who better to preemptively ascertain something is amiss than the community regulars themselves?

In this episode, we hear real-life examples of how CSS volunteers saved lives. Later, Priem lays out a hypothetical plan to secure Borschel-Dan's upcoming speaking gig in Chicago.

We learn about the need for "digital hygiene" and how a force of thousands of volunteers -- and growing -- are allowing Jews to be loud and proud again.

And so this week, we ask Richard Priem, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with leading economist Prof. Dan Ben-David.

Ben-David heads the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research and is a senior faculty member in the Department of Public Policy at Tel-Aviv University.

Before Israel heads to the ballot box on October 27, Ben-David is on a crusade to raise awareness of just how crucial these elections are to stave off an almost inevitable "spiral of collapse."

In economics, a "spiral of collapse occurs when a country starts to collapse economically; the first to leave are the most educated, the most skilled, the people with options, which means that there's a greater burden on those who remain," explains Ben-David. Right now, due to decades of sectoral politics, Israel is headed towards such a cliff, he feels.

But through careful planning and a complete overhaul of Israel's education system, the country can still bounce back. Ben-David explains how the Jewish state needs to create one unified core curriculum for all of its citizens -- and teach it well.

And so this week, we ask Dan Ben-David, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.