Haaretz Podcast

The evidence is mounting that Israel is entrenching itself militarily in Gaza for the long term. At the same time, Israel’s settler movements and far-right government are making no secret of their concrete plans to revive the Jewish settlements in the Strip.

On the Haaretz Podcast. Avi Scharf, national security and open source intelligence editor at Haaretz reviews the findings of his investigation into the establishment of military installations and uprooting of Gaza civilians based on satellite imagery.

Haaretz staff writer Rachel Fink, also speaking on the podcast, talks about determined settler activists, led by veteran Daniella Weiss, who have partnered with their allies in the Netanyahu government to maximize the pressure on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enable them to realize their dream: resurrecting the settlements that were forcibly evacuated when Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005. 

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In both Israel and the United States, women's rights and their autonomy are under attack from the surging power of far-right religious political forces in the current Netanyahu government and future Trump White House. 

In Israel, the “creeping theocracy” is out in the open and the debate is in the public square, while in the U.S. there is less of an understanding that “disassembling American constitutional democracy is part of a theological effort,” said Dahlia Lithwick, a journalist at Slate and host of the award-winning Amicus podcast. 

Lithwick and Tel Aviv University law professor and civil rights activist Dr. Yofi Tirosh joined Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer to unpack, compare and contrast the erosion of women’s rights and its impact on democracy in the two countries. They discussed how gender equality is the linchpin of civil society, why authoritarian regimes target women first, how political fatigue is undermining activism, and compared America’s conflict over abortion to Israel’s fights surrounding gender segregation. 

From the ramifications of Israel’s judicial overhaul to America’s Dobbs decision that stripped women of reproductive rights, the two women connected the dots on how both countries are grappling with creeping theocracy and the normalization of extremism.

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Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s multi-front assault on the media - spearheaded by an economic boycott of Haaretz - is a blatant attempt to intimidate Israeli journalists into self-censorship and weaken press outlets that continue to dare to report critically on the behavior and policies of the nation’s leaders, media critic and journalist Oren Persico said on the Haaretz Podcast.

The sanctions imposed on Haaretz, and the new bill introduced this week aimed at defunding Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, are designed to “bully the free press” and act as a “sword that is supposed to hang over their heads and and try to intimidate them,” said Persico, a staff writer for The Seventh Eye, an independent Israeli  magazine that covers the media.

Anat Saragusti, press freedom director at the Union of Journalists in Israel, explained how these aggressive moves by the government are accompanied by an orchestrated smear campaign against journalists and whole outlets. The smear campaign, led by Netanyahu and his loyalists, she said, has already led to physical violence against reporters in the field and threats against journalists.

“Even if some of these laws will not pass in the Knesset, and even if the sanctions will not be imposed on Haaretz, it has already had a very, very powerful effect,” she said. 

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In this episode, Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer explores the fallout from the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants issued for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant. Joined by Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Amir Tibon and international law expert Aeyal Gross, the discussion covers how these developments impact Israel’s global standing, the legal and moral debates around the Gaza war, and the the explosive BibiLeaks scandal.

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Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer welcomes Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, to discuss the challenges of leading progressive American Jews during Israel's Gaza war and ahead of a second Trump presidency. Rabbi Jacobs opens up about generational divides, love for Israel despite government policies, and the urgency of Jewish unity in the face of rising antisemitism. From engaging young members of the community to addressing political polarization, this candid conversation explores how Jewish values endure in complex times.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to include Russia in the process of negotiating a ceasefire with Hezbollah struck Middle East expert and former MK Ksenia Svetlova as "strange" given the strong Iran-Russia alliance and the countries' shared interests.

As the Ukraine conflict has worn on, she explained on the Haaretz Podcast, the Russians have become dependent on Iran's support and weapons supplies - and maintain a "close association" with Iran's proxy, Hezbollah, to help prop up the Assad regime in Syria, a key strategic partner for Russia. In this context, looking to Russia to keep a check on Hezbollah's activities on the Israeli border and monitor its rearming by Iran seems highly unrealistic.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Svetlova, currently the executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economics & Security (ROPES) discussed the shifting alliances in the Middle East and Europe in the aftermath of the U.S. election and how it will affect the conflict between Israel and Iran and its proxies.

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On this episode of the Haaretz Podcast, Dutch journalist David de Jong and host Allison Kaplan Sommer discuss the violence against Israeli soccer fans on the streets of Amsterdam last weekend, and the media coverage of the events in Israel and the Netherlands, characterized by conflicting narratives and a flurry of viral videos that were often misleading. 

De Jong, a financial journalist who has covered the Gaza War over the past year, said the streets of Amsterdam were the last place he expected to watch the Middle East conflict play out. He also explained why the violence that erupted following the Maccabi Tel Aviv - Ajax match is a "boon" for the anti-immigration far-right parties in the Netherlands and across Europe. 

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What do Donald Trump’s team choices signal about future policies on Iran, Gaza and Israel? How is the isolationist wing in Trump’s circle already influencing his decisions? And why is the U.S. Jewish community caught in a battle of narratives over the number of Jews who voted for Trump for president?

In this episode of the Haaretz Podcast, host Allison Kaplan Sommer and Haaretz Washington correspondent Ben Samuels delve into Trump’s upcoming return to the White House and its potential impact on the Middle East and American Jews.

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**The sound of a siren warning of rocket fire is heard in this episode of the Haaretz Podcast**

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "gamble" on extending the war in Gaza in anticipation of Donald Trump winning the U.S. election seems to have paid off, according to Haaretz senior military analyst Amos Harel.

In conversation with Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Harel said that Netanyahu "kept promising total victory, what he actually had was sort of a Forever War. It was not forever, but he was waiting for November, and for January 20 and for his friend Trump to be back in the White House."

What is the Israeli premier hoping to get out of his bet? Harel believes that in renewing the Bibi-Trump bromance, Netanyahu believes he can win U.S. support for measures that will stop his criminal trial - Trump after all, will certainly sympathize - and move ahead with the judicial coup that will damage Israeli democracy.

Also on the podcast, Harel discusses and explains what stood behind Netanyahu's  decision to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on the day of the U.S. election, and his not-so-veiled threat that the IDF Chief of Staff and head of Shin Bet security service may be next if they don't fall in line.

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Normally, foreign policy doesn't play a major role in presidential politics, but the 2024 race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump has been an exception. Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon have become hotly debated issues.

Susan Glasser, a staff writer at The New Yorker and co-author of “The Divider,” which chronicled the first Trump term, spoke to Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the eve of one of the closest elections is U.S. history.

Glasser discussed the potential impact of the election on the Middle East and global politics, how a second Trump term would differ radically from a Harris presidency as far as U.S.-Israel relations are concerned, the influence of big Trump donors like Miriam Adelson and Elon Musk on the race, and her experience covering Trump's massive Madison Square Garden rally, the climactic pre-election event for Trump and the MAGA movement.

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