Call Me Back - with Dan Senor

Dan Senor and Ark Media CEO Ilan Benatar announce Ark+, our expanded membership; The Fold, our new private community; and the network's newest show, Chosen People Problems.

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What really happened inside the negotiations to free the October 7th hostages?

For 15 months, the Biden administration, Israel, Qatar, Egypt, and Hamas negotiated over one impossible question: how do you bring the hostages home while also fighting a war? Brett McGurk, who was at the center of those talks, joins Dan Senor to take listeners inside the negotiating rooms—from the first backchannel with Qatar to the deals that repeatedly came within reach and fell apart. He explains what he believes Washington got wrong, why public pressure sometimes made negotiations harder, and how an unlikely Biden-Trump transition partnership helped finally get a deal over the line.

Purchase Brett's book Brink - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/843630/brink-by-brett-mcgurk/

RSVP to our October 5th Virtual Announcement Event: https://arkmedia.org/rsvp/

Get your tickets to a live taping of Call Me Back at the Streicker Center in NYC on October 22.

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Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.

Become a Subscriber -  Inside Call me Back

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In this episode:

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Credits: Ilan Benatar, Devan Schwartz, Brittany Cohen, Mindy Schaper, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

How do you turn October 7th into fiction when it still feels like the present?

For more than a decade, Fauda has turned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a global television phenomenon. But Season 5 takes on something different: two episodes that put its fictional characters inside the events of October 7th, while the trauma is still very much alive. Dan sits down with Fauda creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff to discuss the responsibility of dramatizing a real catastrophe, what they chose to show—and leave unseen—and what happens when fiction begins to shape how the world remembers history.

Read John Aziz’s Atlantic piece on Fauda here.

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RSVP to our October 5th Virtual Announcement Event: https://arkmedia.org/rsvp/

Get your tickets to a live taping of Call Me Back at the Streicker Center in NYC on October 22.

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This episode is sponsored by The Israel Democracy Institute: For resources on Israel's upcoming election and to learn more about IDI, visit https://en.idi.org.il/ 

Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.

Become a subscriber -  Inside Call me Back

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In this episode: 

- How Fauda reconstructed the events of October 7th

- How the co-creators determined the level of violence they could portray

- Why the creators saw Season 5 as more than just another season of TV

- Why Fauda is drawing a huge audience across the Arab world

- Can a television show become part of the historical record that’s still being written?

- In an era of misinformation and anti-semitism, why it’s important to tell this story during a still-living trauma

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More Ark Media:

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Devan Schwartz, Brittany Cohen, Mindy Schaper, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

Could the financial warfare playbook built to isolate Iran be turned against Israel?

Twenty-four hours after Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the UN, the organization expanded its settlement-business blacklist to more than 200 companies. It’s not a sanctions regime, but could it be the beginning of something much bigger? Dan sits down with Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who helped build the architecture used to isolate Iran, to discuss whether the same playbook could be used against Israel, how quickly targeted measures can escalate, and what Israel can do to stop it. 

Read Mark Dubowitz’s FDD report here.

RSVP to our October 5th Virtual Announcement Event: https://arkmedia.org/rsvp/

Get your tickets to a live taping of Call me Back at the Streicker Center in NYC on October 22.

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This episode is sponsored by American Friends of Magen David Adom. You can support their important work at afmda.org/callmeback. 

Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.

Become a Subscriber -  Inside Call me Back
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In this episode: 

- How anti-Israel sentiment could turn into financial pressure

- Are sanctions against Israel already beginning?

- How one designation can scare banks and investors 

- Would replacing Netanyahu reverse the momentum?

- Can Israel’s economic strength protect it from sanctions?

- How deeper U.S.-Israel ties, and cultural integration, could prevent financial isolation

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More Ark Media:

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Devan Schwartz, Brittany Cohen, Mindy Schaper, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

This is a sneak peek from the members-only edition of Inside Call Me Back. Dan and Amit Segal discuss the attack against  Ambassador Leiter’s son, generational shift in American attitudes toward Israel, why Amit sees different forces driving younger Democrats and Republicans, and what Israel may need to change in its relationship with the United States.

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Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.

For the full episode, subscribe here to -  Inside Call me Back
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You can access the full episode here, where Dan and Amit answer listener questions about:

- What actually divides Israel’s left and right today?

- What would Netanyahu do if he lost?

- Can the IDF convince Haredim that military service won’t change who they are?

- Is the Haredi political establishment starting to crack?

- Why are some Israelis willing to spy for Iran?

- Could the road to Saudi normalization run through Yemen?

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Credits: Ilan Benatar, Devan Schwartz, Ryan Lohr, Brittany Cohen, Mindy Schaper, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

Is Israel’s growing isolation abroad becoming a political problem at home? 

As Benjamin Netanyahu heads to New York for a brief UN visit just weeks before Israel’s election, Israel’s standing in the United States is deteriorating, even as Netanyahu’s political position at home has improved. Dan is joined by Nadav Eyal and Amit Segal to ask whether Israeli voters see the country’s growing international isolation with the same urgency as diaspora Jews, and how that divide is shaping an increasingly complicated election.

Read Rep. Brad Sherman’s warning about declining American support for Israel here.

Read Mark Dubowitz’s FDD analysis on how the financial warfare model used against Iran could one day be turned against Israel here.

RSVP to our October 5th Virtual Announcement Event: https://arkmedia.org/rsvp/

Get your tickets to a live taping of Call me Back at the Streicker Center in NYC on October 22.

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This episode is sponsored by American Friends of Magen David Adom. You can support their important work at afmda.org. 

Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.

Become a Subscriber -  Inside Call me Back
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In this episode: 

05:48 Netanyahu’s UN speech is really aimed at Israeli voters
10:00 Why American support for Israel is eroding
17:00 Is Israel’s problem bigger than Netanyahu?
20:00 Do Israelis see a threat to Israel’s global standing?
24:00 Could a different government change Israel’s trajectory?
27:00 Why Israel’s electoral map may be shifting toward Netanyahu
34:00 Can Eisenkot win by simply being “not Netanyahu”?
38:00 What happens if neither side in Israel can form a government?

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More Ark Media:

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Beth Pearlman, Devan Schwartz, Brittany Cohen, Mindy Schaper, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

Can Israel confront what went wrong in Gaza when the accusations leave no room for conversation?

In this special replay of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi take on Naza, the explosive Israeli film accusing Israel of systematically disregarding civilian casualties in Gaza. After receiving a nearly 25-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, the film has ignited a firestorm over what happened in Gaza and how Israel’s conduct of the war should be judged. Donniel and Yossi wrestle with how to confront legitimate questions about Israel’s actions while rejecting a narrative they believe relies on unverifiable testimony, erases Hamas’ culpability, and leaves little room for moral reckoning.

Subscribe to For Heaven's Sake. 

Get your tickets to a live taping of Call me Back at the Streicker Center in NYC on October 22.

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Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.

Become a Subscriber -  Inside Call me Back
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In this episode: 

- Why Naza became the news

- The impact of the film’s 25-minute standing ovation

- A missed opportunity for Israeli reckoning

- Anonymous testimony and unverifiable claims

- When criticism shuts down introspection

- Erasing Hamas from the story of Gaza

- Israel’s response to Naza and its filmmaker

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More Ark Media:

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Beth Pearlman, Devan Schwartz, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Jerusalem fell after political and religious divisions among Jews spiraled into civil war. As Israel heads toward another election after years of political upheaval, October 7 and war, Dan speaks with filmmaker Gidi Dar and Rabbi David Stav, a leading voice in Israel’s religious Zionist community, about the history depicted in Dar’s film, Legend of Destruction, and its echoes in Israel today. Where does the comparison hold, where does it break down, and can Israelis learn from the past before their divisions become even harder to bridge?

This episode features extended scenes from Legend of Destruction. Watch the conversation and clips on our YouTube channel.

Watch the trailer for Legend of Destruction: https://youtu.be/DIvPLLijae0?si=O97Hx_3Xybo_Myuh 

Purchase or rent Legend of Destruction:

Amazon DVD: https://link.amazon/B0i5kHIIe 

Amazon US TVOD: https://link.amazon/B0dj4d5bL 

iTunes: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/legend-of-destruction/umc.cmc.1x03f8yd00dkhofvrmxouwc6j 

GooglePlay: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Legend_of_Destruction?id=RRl6A4PyFKo.P&hl=en_US 

Amazon UK TVOD: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0GXS755N5?ref_=atv_dp_share_cu_r 

The visuals for Legend of Destruction were created by Studio Potemkin. Learn more about their work here: https://www.studiopotemkin.com/

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This episode is sponsored by the Jewish Communal Fund. Learn more about JCF’s donor advised funds at jcfny.org. 

Get your tickets to a live taping of Call me Back at the Streicker Center in NYC on October 22.

Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.

Become a Subscriber -  Inside Call me Back
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In this episode: 

- Why Gidi Dar made his film, Legend of Destruction

- The factions that divided ancient Jerusalem

- Why ordinary Jews joined the revolt against Rome

- How the revolt against Rome became a Jewish civil war

- The story of how Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai saved Torah traditions and transformed Jewish life after the Temple’s destruction

- The parallels between 70 AD and Israel today

- Can Israelis disagree without destroying their whole society?

- How diaspora Jews can support Israel in this fragile moment

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More Ark Media:

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Beth Pearlman, Devan Schwartz, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

What happens when winning the war against terrorism leads us to forget why we were fighting it? 

Twenty-five years after the terror attacks of September 11, America has avoided another mass attack, but Manhattan Institute senior fellow and Free Press columnist Douglas Murray argues that success has come with different dangers: complacency, amnesia and turning many Americans against their own country. In a live conversation at the Manhattan Institute on September 8, Dan and Douglas look at what the West has forgotten about 9/11, why fringe conspiracy theories and anti-Western ideas have taken hold, and what Israel’s response to October 7 can teach us about a society’s willingness to defend itself.

Get your tickets to a live taping of Call me Back at the Streicker Center in NYC on October 22.

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This episode is sponsored by Birthright: Invest in the Jewish future today at onetripchangeseverything.com. 

Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.

Become a Subscriber -  Inside Call me Back
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In this episode: 

- What we’ve forgotten about the aftermath of 9/11

-  Has the West lost the will to fight?

- The miseducation that has led many Americans to degenerate and doubt the U.S.

- Did America’s post-9/11 success lead to complacency?

- October 7 and the West’s crisis of confidence

- Iran, Saudi Arabia and the fight against extremism

- How 9/11 conspiracy theories and other fringe ideas are reaching a new generation

-  The antidote to hate found in Israel and the heroes of 9/11

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More Ark Media:

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Beth Pearlman, Devan Schwartz, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

Did Israel have enough warnings to prevent the devastation of the October 7th Hamas attacks?

A new Haaretz investigative report alleges that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed personally called to warn Benjamin Netanyahu days before October 7 that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation, a report Netanyahu’s office calls “an absolute lie.” Dan is joined by Amit Segal and Nadav Eyal who debate the credibility and significance of the story, whether another warning could have changed Israel’s response, and if it will impact Israeli elections.

Read the report in Haaretz.

Get your tickets to a live taping of Call me Back at the Streicker Center in NYC on October 22.

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This episode is sponsored by the Jewish Communal Fund. Learn more about JCF’s donor advised funds at jcfny.org.

Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.

Become a Subscriber -  Inside Call me Back
___

In this episode: 

- The alleged phone call from Mohammed bin Zayed warning about a Hamas operation

- Amit and Nadav debate the report’s credibility

- What Israeli intelligence forces knew before October 7

- Could another warning have prevented the Hamas attack?

- Israel’s failed understanding of the goal and military power of Hamas

- Who bears responsibility for the October 7 failures?

- Why Israel didn’t eliminate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

– Will the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and response still be key issues in Israel’s election?

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More Ark Media:

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Beth Pearlman, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo