On Tuesday, September 17, Mossad-planted explosives were detonated in hundreds of beepers carried by Hezbollah operatives, killing at least a dozen and injuring thousands more.

While new details come to light, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi debate the efficacy of this surprise attack, the public reaction to it, and whether Israel is ready for another major military operation now that further engagement in the north seems inevitable.

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Israeli Knesset members Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have been advancing “total victory,” and they don’t just mean defeating Hamas or returning the hostages.

This week, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi discuss the small but powerful far-right messianic movement in Israel that these MKs represent, and how the current war has emboldened their agenda in the West Bank, on the Temple Mount, and across the region.

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On Saturday, August 31, the bodies of six hostages were discovered by the IDF in a tunnel under Rafah. Murdered by Hamas shortly before they were found, they include Hersh Goldberg-Polin z"l, beloved cousin of our Hartman colleague Eliot Goldstein and a friend to many in the Hartman community, as well as Carmel Gat z"l, Ori Danino z"l, Eden Yerushalmi z"l, Alex Lobanov z"l, and Almog Sarusi z"l.  

Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi express their grief and rage over this tragedy and assess the choice Israel must make between disabling its enemies and bringing the remaining hostages home when trust in the government has eroded.

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This episode originally aired on June 19th, 2024. 

Religious Zionists are one of the most multifaceted—and misunderstood­—subsets of Israeli society today. 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi detail the strengths and weaknesses of this diverse community; champions of Jewish Peoplehood at their best, but a host for fundamentalist ideology at their worst.  

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Over the course of the 10-month war with Hamas, anti-Zionist sentiment has been brought to the forefront around the world and also closer to home, within the ranks of North American Jewry.

In this session recorded at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Torah Seminar in Jerusalem on July 11, Yossi Klein Halevi outlines the connections and distinctions between anti-Zionism and classical antisemitism, and how this war is testing the morality of modern

Jewish power.

For more information about our Rabbinic Torah Seminar, visit shalomhartman.org/rts.

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Amidst a war with Hamas, hostages in Gaza, and internal unrest, Donniel Hartman spoke with Yair Lapid, former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader in the Knesset, on July 3rd at our annual Community Leadership Program in Jerusalem. They discussed the numerous threats facing Israeli society and how Israeli leadership might guide the country through this turbulent moment.

Listen to this special episode while Donniel and Yossi take a break from recording this week.

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Learn more about our Community Leadership Program here.

Hours after Israel killed Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in a strike on Beirut on Tuesday, July 31, Hamas’ senior political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran.

Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi examine the impact of these events on the progress towards a hostage deal and how Israelis understand the purpose of retaliation.

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The day after a rocket attack from Lebanon killed 12 Druze children and teens in the Golan Heights, far-right activists broke into the Sde Teiman IDF army base. Israel’s overworked military is now also being threatened by its own citizens.

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi unpack the protesters attempts to undermine the IDF’s investigation of prisoners' abuse and discuss the Israeli army's ability to retaliate in the north.

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U. S. politics

are in turmoil. In the span of just 8 days, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt, Joe Biden dropped his bid for a second term, and Kamala Harris now appears destined to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi discuss the likely U.S. presidential candidates through an Israeli lens, and question Netanyahu’s commitment to address Congress in Washington, D.C. despite the recent election campaign upheaval.

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To an outside observer, there are many places where an eerie sense of normalcy has settled over Israeli society, but the reality is anything but normal. On this episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein-Halevi discuss the very real needs of Israelis who have been immersed in war and loss for so many months, and why we must resist falling entirely back into the status quo.

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