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 and public intellectual Micah Goodman.

Just ahead of this week's What Matters Now recording, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump sat in the White House for a celebratory meal.

The table was set for a grand announcement -- a sealed hostage release-ceasefire deal -- but the guest of honor and his terrorist counterparts have yet to come to terms.

Goodman looks back at the two huge "double gambles" made during these 21 months of war. The first was by former Hamas leader Yahye Sinwar, who launched the invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, after viewing the intense divisiveness in Israeli society. His double-or-nothing bet was that Iran and its proxies would immediately join in the onslaught -- they didn't.

Goodman compares Sinwar's double gamble to that of Netanyahu, who launched a surprise preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear program on June 13 and wagered that the United States would join.

Now that Netanyahu's bet has paid off, Goodman describes how the region is ripe for a realignment -- if tough compromises can be made to end the Gaza war.

And so this week, we ask Micah Goodman, 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 the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

IMAGE: Shiite Muslim mourners hold portraits of Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a religious procession held to mark Ashura, on the 10th day of the Islamic holy month of Muharram in Karachi on July 6, 2025. (Asif HASSAN / AFP)

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