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Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City has stirred a deeper conversation about the Democratic Party’s identity. Once defined by pragmatism and broad coalitions, the party is now grappling with a rising current of ideological purity and moral outrage — one that increasingly casts Israel, and sometimes Jews, as symbols of injustice.

Aviva Klompas speaks with political commentator and lifelong Democrat Brianna Wu about what’s driving this transformation, how the Democratic Socialists of America gained power, and whether the party’s center can hold — or if this is the new political reality on the left.

Guest Bio:

Brianna Wu rose to national prominence during Gamergate, a flashpoint in the video game industry that pioneered many of the toxic tactics now common in online political discourse. She ran for Congress in 2018 as a progressive Democrat, but experienced a sharp break with her party following the October 7th Hamas attacks. Today, she is a prominent advocate for U.S./ Israel national security cooperation and a leading voice in the evolving debate over liberalism, extremism, and the future of the trans movement.

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The day after New York City elected its first openly anti-Israel mayor, many Jews in America’s largest Jewish community are asking the same question: what now?

In this episode, Michael Rapaport joins Aviva to talk about what Mamdani’s win reveals about the political and cultural shifts happening in New York — and what it means for Jews everywhere.

They trace Rapaport’s unexpected journey from actor and comedian to one of the most outspoken Jewish voices in America, and why he refuses to stay silent in the face of hate. Together, they unpack the silence of celebrities after October 7, the self-defeating choices of Jewish voters, and the growing divide between pride and fear in public Jewish life.

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Eli Sharabi spent 491 days in Hamas captivity — hidden in homes, held in tunnels, and forced to survive the unthinkable. When he finally emerged, Israel rejoiced, but his freedom came with unbearable news: his wife and daughters were among the victims of October 7.

In this powerful conversation, Eli reflects on life before the massacre, the will to survive, and what it means to rebuild after loss. He also speaks about the moral clarity that came from witnessing Hamas up close and why confronting that ideology is central to any hope of peace.

Eli’s memoir, Hostage, has become a global phenomenon — the fastest-selling book in Israel’s history and a #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. In this raw and unflinching firsthand account, Sharabi offers an unprecedented look inside Hamas captivity, chronicling the starvation, isolation, brutal beatings, and psychological torment he endured — and the extraordinary will to survive that carried him through.

Guest Bio

Eli Sharabi is a former hostage who survived 491 days in Hamas captivity following his abduction from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023. Sharabi became a global advocate for the remaining hostages, meeting with world leaders like US President Donald Trump, speaking at the United Nations, and sharing his story with audiences around the world. His memoir,  Hostage, the first published account by a released Israeli hostage, became an instant number one bestseller in Hebrew (the fastest selling book in Israeli history) and an instant New York Times (US) and Sunday Times (UK) bestseller.

Born in Tel Aviv to Yemenite and Moroccan parents, Sharabi moved to Be’eri as a teenager and later married Lianne, a British woman with whom he shared two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, aged sixteen and thirteen. A longtime resident of Be’eri, Sharabi served as the Kibbutz’s business manager, as well as the Chief Financial Officer of the Kibbutz, Be’eri Printing, and other private companies in Israel. Sharabi continues to work tirelessly as leading advocate for raising awareness of the October 7th atrocities. 

Gazan-born analyst Ahmed Fouad AlKhatib joins Dr. Rachel Fish for a conversation about Gaza after the war’s “freeze.” He explains why the current deal hasn’t solved core problems, how Hamas is using the pause to re-entrench and terrorize rivals, and why outside power in the form of an international stabilization force with real teeth is the only path to disarmament, reconstruction, and a future for Palestinians that isn’t held hostage by Hamas. Rachel and Ahmed also dig into Qatar and Turkey’s roles, UNRWA’s entanglements, and what Western activists miss when “ending Israeli violence” becomes the only objective.

Guest Bio

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is the founder of Realign For Palestine, an Atlantic Council project challenging entrenched narratives in the Israel–Palestine discourse and promoting a new, pragmatic framework for Palestinian advocacy. The project cultivates Palestinian voices committed to nonviolence, a two-nation solution, and a break from extremism.

A senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs, Alkhatib writes extensively on Gaza’s political and humanitarian challenges and is a prominent critic of Hamas. His work has been featured across U.S., Israeli, and international media, and he is widely followed on social media.

Born and raised in Gaza City, Alkhatib moved to the U.S. in 2005 as a student. His worldview is shaped by the hopes of the Oslo peace process and the trauma of its collapse, alongside the rise of Islamism in Gaza. Since October 7, he has lost 33 family members to Israeli airstrikes but continues to advocate for breaking the cycle of dehumanization, violence, and revenge.

Read More

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, "The ‘Peace Protesters’ Who Won’t Give Peace a Chance" (The Free Press)

Sam Mednick and Sally Abou Aljoud, Women in Gaza say they were promised food, money or work in exchange for sexual interactions (The Independent)

Send questions and comments to [email protected] or message Aviva on X at @AvivaKlompas.

After two years of war, Israel now faces a new kind of battle — the challenge of winning the peace. President Trump’s Gaza plan calls for the demilitarization and deradicalization of Gaza: dismantling Hamas’s weapons and tunnels, building a new Palestinian police force, and bringing in an international coalition to oversee security and reconstruction.

But can Gaza truly be transformed into a terror-free zone? What will it take to keep Hamas and other armed groups from rebuilding? And how does Israel secure long-term stability while navigating complex regional politics?

John Spencer — one of the world’s foremost experts on urban warfare and modern conflict — joins Aviva to explore what success might look like, the risks that remain, and whether peace can finally take root.

Guest Bio:

John Spencer is an award-winning scholar, internationally recognized expert and advisor on urban warfare, military strategy, tactics, and other related topics. Considered one of the world’s leading experts on urban warfare, he served as an advisor to the top four-star general and other senior leaders in the U.S. Army as part of strategic research groups from the Pentagon to the United States Military Academy. John currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Madison Policy Forum, Co-Director of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast.

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Matti Friedman has spent more than a decade dissecting how Israel is covered in the press and what those stories reveal about the storytellers themselves. His 2014 Atlantic essay, What the Media Gets Wrong About Israel, remains one of the sharpest examinations of why global attention is fixated on Israel and why the coverage so often skews against it. 

In this conversation, Matti reflects on whether the problems he identified then still hold true today in an age of social media storms. He explains why Israel remains outsized in the Western imagination, how Hamas has weaponized Palestinian suffering, and why the media so often amplifies their playbook.

We also explore whether Israel’s failures in the narrative war are the result of its own missteps, entrenched hostility, or something deeper, and what both the Israeli government and Jewish communities abroad can and should do differently. 

More from Matti:

The Free Press - Is Gaza Starving? Searching for the Truth in an Information War

The Atlantic - What the Media Gets Wrong About Israel

Tablet - An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth

Guest Bio:

Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and the author of four non-fiction books. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, Smithsonian, and elsewhere, and he’s currently a columnist for the Free Press. 

Matti’s most recent book, Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai, was published in 2022 in the US, Canada, Israel, and Italy. His previous book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon’s 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA’s Sophie Brody Medal. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Matti was born in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem.

We want to hear from you. Send questions and comments to [email protected] or message Aviva on X at @AvivaKlompas.

Phase Two of President Trump’s Gaza plan envisions a demilitarized, “terror-free zone.” The Strip would be cleared of weapons and tunnels, militants who renounce violence could receive amnesty or exile, and an international stabilization force — composed of U.S., Arab, and European personnel — would oversee security and help train a new Palestinian police force.

But how realistic is demilitarization? And can Gaza truly be de-radicalized? Jonathan Conricus joins host Aviva Klompas to unpack the security, regional, and political implications of Phase Two — and to ask whether this moment marks the start of peace or simply the next chapter in a long war.

Guest Bio

Jonathan Conricus is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies focused on the Middle East. He served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for 24 years as a combat commander in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. He also served as a military diplomat, foreign relations expert, and international spokesperson. He recently retired as lieutenant colonel. Jonathan was the first Israeli officer to be seconded to the United Nations (UN), during which he provided military and strategic analysis for UN peacekeeping forces. He has directed social media and public diplomacy efforts and has extensive on- and off-camera experience from his years as a spokesperson. 

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After 738 days of war, Israel’s hostages are home and the country is beginning to exhale. But relief comes with hard questions about what happens next.

In this episode, Aviva speaks with Dr. Einat Wilf about what the end of the war reveals about Israel’s strength, its divisions, and the road ahead. They explore what it will take to keep Hamas disarmed, rebuild Gaza without empowering extremists, and whether peace and normalization with the Arab world are truly within reach.

Guest Bio         

Dr. Einat Wilf is a leading thinker on Israel, Zionism, foreign policy and education. She was a member of the Israeli Parliament from 2010 to 2013, where she served as Chair of the Education Committee and Member of the influential Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Born and raised in Israel, Dr. Wilf served as an Intelligence Officer in the Israel Defense Forces, Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and a strategic consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Dr. Wilf has a BA from Harvard, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. She was the Goldman Visiting Professor at Georgetown University.

Dr. Wilf 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; the co-authored “The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace”, was published in 2020

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After two years, the last hostages are finally returning home. This moment — long prayed for and nearly impossible to imagine — is one of relief, heartbreak, and reckoning.

Dr. Michael Oren joins host Aviva Klompas to reflect on what this moment means for Israel, the Jewish people, and the wider Middle East. Together they explore how a conflict that began in terror has brought about profound military, political, and moral challenges.

Mentioned in this episode:

Win-Win? By Dr. Michael Oren

After two years of war, Israel stands at the threshold of peace. The ceasefire agreement marks the end of a long and painful chapter — bringing relief, uncertainty, and deep emotion across the country.

In this episode, Avi Mayer joins from Jerusalem to reflect on what this moment feels like inside Israel. We discuss the mood on the streets, the cautious hope surrounding the hostages’ return, and the immense grief that still lingers beneath the relief.

Avi Mayer, founder of Jerusalem Journal and former Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post, shares his perspective on a historic and deeply human moment for Israel and the Jewish world.

Guest Bio:

Avi Mayer is the founder of Jerusalem Journal and is the immediate past Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post. He previously served in senior roles at the American Jewish Committee and The Jewish Agency for Israel, including as an aide to the Agency’s then-Chairman, Natan Sharansky. He lives in Jerusalem.

More from Avi:

A Nation Holds Its Breath by Avi Mayer