It was a challenging year to be a Diaspora Jew. 

The war in Gaza and growing hostility to Israel had an undeniable impact on Jewish life across the world in 2025. Events in Israel became a focus in local and national politics around the world – and served as a catalyst in a global surge in antisemitism. The year was punctuated by horrific and deadly attacks against Jews from Washington D.C. to Manchester to Australia’s Bondi Beach.

On this special episode of the Haaretz Podcast, we revisit episodes from the past year featuring the voices of Diaspora Jews, along with Haaretz journalists covering the Jewish world.

The conversations include Brooklyn Rabbi Rachel Timoner on the impact of Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy for New York City mayor, Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur on the complexity of advocating for the hostages and a cease-fire agreement. Also on the podcast: American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutsch following the terror attack at his organization’s event, and Lynda Ben Menashe, a Jewish leader in Sydney Australia after the Bondi Beach massacre, and many more. Among the featured Haaretz journalists: English edition editor-in-chief Esther Solomon, Washington D.C. correspondent Ben Samuels and Jewish world correspondent Judy Maltz.

Read more: 

How Antisemitism Haunts Jewish Communities Around the World

Fire, Fear and Freedom: Israel in 2025, Through the Eyes of Haaretz Photographers

From Mamdani to Bondi, Trump to War Crimes: Top Haaretz Opinions of 2025

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For Israel, 2025 was a year in which war turned the unimaginable into reality: from the terrifying exchange of missiles with Iran to the horrors of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to the joy and relief when U.S. President Donald Trump secured a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas to bring the painful hostage ordeal to an end.

This special year-end episode highlights the reporting and analysis on the Haaretz Podcast that accompanied the year's dramatic events: from the Gaza war, hostage crisis, the 12-day war with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial and the emergence of the shocking Qatargate scandal. 

The episode features conversations with Israeli and Palestinians who experienced it all, along with the many Haaretz journalists who offered their insights throughout the year, including editor-in-chief Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Dahlia Scheindlin, Nir Hasson, Bar Peleg and Nagham Zbeedat.  

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France’s ambassador to Israel Frédéric Journès said on the Haaretz Podcast that any postwar Gaza plan must acknowledge that completely disarming and ridding the Strip of Hamas militia members is not an achievable goal. 

“You're not going to eliminate all of those people, so you basically need to find them a job in local police, find them a little job in society and de-radicalize them to the greatest extent possible,” he contended. This is possible, he said, because over the course of the war, Israel “got rid of the leadership."

Journès, who has been France’s envoy to Israel since July 2023, sat down for a wide-ranging interview with host Allison Kaplan Sommer and Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Liza Rozovsky, discussing Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and antisemitism in France. The ambassador also explains why he believes the four countries strengthened by the past two years of war are Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. 

Pressed on the podcast as to whether he supports renewing strikes on Iran aimed at its ballistic missile program, which Israel reportedly desires, Journès replied, “I'm not saying that. I will see what will happen.”

Read more:

Opinion by Frédéric Journès | Declaring a Palestinian State Is a Blow to Terror

Opinion by Frédéric Journès | Israel, Help Us Protect Our Seas and Oceans

U.S. Leaning Toward Setting Up Palestinian-run Regime for Gaza Before International Forces

Saudi, French and U.S. Officials Discuss Hezbollah Disarmament With Lebanese Army Chief

France Demands Heightened Security Measures at French Consulate in Jerusalem After Israeli MKs Harass Staffer

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Before October 7th, Trump’s second term and the election of Zohran Mamdani rocked New York’s Jewish community, Manhattan’s famed 92nd Street Y – like most mainstream Jewish institutions – played it relatively safe when it came to programs about Israel.

Susan Engel, executive producer of the 92nd St. Y Talks, tells the Haaretz Podcast that the famed Manhattan cultural center has undergone “a soul-searching since October 7 around our own Jewish identity and around who we are as a Jewish institution. And I think we've had to double down on our values and what it means to present different views, sometimes critical of Israel – because it's important to hear what someone else who thinks differently” has to say.

Her audiences – in-person and the millions who watch her events online – she believes, greatly “appreciate” the fact that she can bring together people who “really disagree strongly” yet can “have a conversation and be civil.” 

At the same time, she said, the Y – founded as a center for Jewish life and culture in 1874 – experienced a boycott and staff walkouts after October 7 – maintains “red lines.” They will not platform those who have expressed “homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic” views or “if we feel that someone believes that Israel should be destroyed.”

On the podcast, Engel also discusses the big-name cultural, political and Hollywood figures who have taken to the 92nd St. Y stage, including a recent appearance by Rob Reiner, who died tragically earlier this month, the art of creating an intimate space for interviews when millions are watching, and her experience as a judge at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival. 

Read more:

How October 7 Is Impacting Jewish Cultural Life in America

ADL Accuses Mamdani Transition Members of Engaging in 'Antisemitic, anti-Zionist' Activities

Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival coverage: From NYC to Jerusalem, This Radical Artist Asks 'After the Revolution, Who's Going to Pick Up the Garbage?'

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Over the past two years, many filmmakers have hesitated or refrained from bringing their films to Israeli film festivals as part of cultural boycott of Israel over the Gaza war.

But for Joshua Zeman, the decision to bring his powerful new documentary “Checkpoint Zoo” to the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival was “merely part and parcel of the whole experience of making a film about something that's been politicized that shouldn’t be politicized.”

Zeman’s film tells the dramatic story of the 2022 rescue of nearly 5,000 animals from the Feldman Ecopark zoo in Ukraine located on the Russian border outside the city of Kharkiv – on the front lines of the war – lovingly built and maintained by an animal-loving Orthodox Jewish oligarch, Oleksandr Feldman.

“There has been a lot of backlash against Ukraine here in the States, even though the film is just about people rescuing animals, so the film was already complicated for me in terms of getting distribution,” Zeman said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

“Checkpoint Zoo” chronicles the efforts of Feldman, a handful of zoo workers who did not flee Kharkiv during the war and four idealistic volunteers as they risked their lives under fire from drones and bombs to remove lions, tigers, monkeys, ostriches and other animals out of from harm’s way in a modern-day Noah’s Ark. 

“War by definition is brutality created to strip away your humanity. But in rescuing these animals, these volunteers not only refound their humanity, but found this unbelievable well of courage.”

Zeman sees Feldman – who allowed his luxurious mansion to be taken over by the rescued animals  – as “a Schindler-esque character.” 

After Feldman’s businesses in Kharkiv were destroyed by the war, he was forced to “basically sell everything to care for these animals,” Zeman recounted. “Whenever we talked about the animals, he immediately cried. He's a big crier – he is a fascinating character who espouses a lot of values from the Torah.”

Read more:

Meet Oleksander Feldman, the Lonely Ukrainian Jew Fighting His Country’s New Fondness for Nazis

'It Is a Fascist Project': The Ukrainian Filmmaker Who Withdrew From a Prestigious Amsterdam Film Festival Because of the Israel Boycott

Read all of Haaretz's film coverage

Russian Strikes Destroy Centers of Jewish Life in Kharkiv as Community Members Flee

The Tragic End of the Ukrainian Community in Gaza

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Australian Jews are “shocked but not surprised” by the “horrific” mass shooting on Bondi Beach, which turned a Hanukkah celebration into a tragic massacre, Australian Jewish leader Lynda Ben-Menashe said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

In the two years since the October 7 attack in Israel, the Australian Jewish community “begged” their government officials to enforce laws against incitement and hate speech, which has led to an unprecedented spike in antisemitic violence. But, she said, the government’s response has been “lip service” but “no real consequences.”

“Our prime minister has said that he was distressed and shocked,” said Ben-Menashe, the head of Australia’s National Council of Jewish Women. “The Jewish community has been distressed for the past two years at the lack of action from the government, and also at the growing lack of safety that we have felt. And so we weren't shocked that this happened.”

Also on the podcast, Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harel reports on the numerous warnings passed by Israeli intelligence agencies to the Australian government, warning of the growing terrorist threats in their country. 

Harel also commented on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s reaction to the Bondi Beach attack – namely blaming Australia’s leaders for their failure to prevent it. 

Harel said it was “hard to resist noticing [the] paradox regarding the fact that Israeli ministers were so quick to blame the Australian government for its failures and note their responsibility for what has happened, while they're insisting that Netanyahu holds no blame whatsoever for what happened two years ago” on October 7.

Read more:

Analysis by Amos Harel | After the Deadly Attack at Bondi Beach, Israel Warns: Sydney Won't Be the Last Target

The First Deadly Attack Against Jews in Australia Follows Two Years of Unprecedented Antisemitism

Albanese Rejects Netanyahu Linking Palestinian State to Deadly Bondi Beach Attack

The Victims of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah Celebration Shooting

From March 2025: 'It Will Only Get Worse': Why These Australian Jews Are Leaving Down Under

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When it comes to liberal American Jews and President Donald Trump, the “cognitive dissonance is real,” said award-winning journalist Dahlia Lithwick on the Haaretz Podcast. 

While Lithwick “doesn’t dispute for a minute" the fact that the U.S. president and his envoys “did yeoman’s work” negotiating a cease-fire deal, it is not enough for her to soften her perception of the level of danger that Trump represents. 

With democracy and rule of law being challenged, “You have to ask yourself, am I transactional enough to say that I will subordinate all of that to parochial interests?” she said in her conversation with Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer and podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer. 

“If you say you can pick and choose which authoritarian you want to align yourself with, cross your fingers and hope you know this time, being a court Jew is going to work out – history suggests otherwise.”

In their in-depth discussion, Lithwick and Leifer also consider the trends in U.S. politics on the right and left, which are upending the long-held assumptions of American Jewish life and the urgent need to confront the new “transactional” reality and abandon “magical thinking.”

“American Jewish organizations sold the idea to American Jews that they were more powerful than they were. And I think Israel sold to American Jews – and also Israelis – that Israel is more powerful than it is,” Leifer said. 

For U.S. Jews to effectively fight for their interests, including the battle against antisemitism, he said, they must leave behind “the old rhetoric and strategies – because no one cares anymore.”

Read more from Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer:

In Blood-soaked Israel-Palestine, the Dangerous Status Quo of Before October 7 Has Returned

It's Clear What Defendant Netanyahu Gets Out of a Pardon. But What's in It for Trump?

The Ultra-hawkish Right and anti-Zionist Left Have Drowned the American Jewish Majority

Why Netanyahu Is Sharing Leftist Conspiracy Theories About a Mossad Sex Cabal

Israel's Right Wing Bet the Country's Future on American Christian Nationalists. That Has Backfired

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After Russian-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov was freed from captivity in Iraq in September following two and a half years of imprisonment and torture, she returned to a very different Israel, she said in a wide-ranging interview on the Haaretz Podcast. 

Israelis “have changed in very fundamental ways,” she said. “After October 7, the circle of people towards whom Israelis feel compassion shrunk very significantly.”

As she returns to public life as a researcher and commentator on Middle East affairs, while undergoing physical rehabilitation from injuries she suffered as the prisoner of Kata’ib Hezbollah, she has already been attacked by the Israeli right for social media posts in support of human rights and critical of Israel’s policies in Gaza. 

Despite being held in captivity, she said, her political views “have not substantially changed: I still see Arabs as human beings, which is an unpopular opinion, it seems.” 

In her conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Tsurkov discusses the politics of Iraq – the country where she was kidnapped and held – following their recent elections, calling it a “failed oil state” driven by the behavior of Iranian-backed militias with “no clear path for reform and change.” 

She also analyzes the impact of the new regime in Syria, praising the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump towards the year-old government. 

She also credits the president with her release. “Trump is the reason I'm free. This is not an interpretation, this is a fact. I know exactly how I came to be released: It was because of threats that were made on his behalf.”

Read more:

Right-wing Pundit Amit Segal: Tsurkov 'Should Do Some Soul-searching About the Price Her Stupid Adventures Cost Israel'

'Strung Up and Tortured': Elizabeth Tsurkov Recounts Over Two Years of Captivity in Iraq

'Things Weren't Easy': After Iraq Captivity, Elizabeth Tsurkov Tells Netanyahu She Was Tortured

What Is Kata'ib Hezbollah?

Opinion | Through My Friend Elizabeth Tsurkov, I Learned That Syrians and Israelis Desire the Same Thing

Elizabeth Tsurkov's past writing for Haaretz

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In his first interview since his release, former hostage Alon Ohel called the International Committee of the Red Cross a “disgraceful organization.” His anger reflects a general bitterness among Israelis who believe ICRC failed to ensure the Israeli hostages’ received humanitarian treatment in captivity and their silence in the face of Hamas’ refusal to grant them access. 

On the Haaretz Podcast, the head of ICRC’s Israel sub-delegation, Yuval Arie Nevo, admitted in an interview that the hostility on the part of the Israeli public was “totally understandable” given the group’s persistent but ultimately “unsuccessful” efforts to gain access to the hostages to assess their condition and offer medical and humanitarian assistance. 

While acknowledging the failures, “we are very proud of our work,” said Nevo, referring to the implementation of the transfer of the hostages from Hamas to Israel under the cease-fire agreement in October, coordinated with the release and exchange of Palestinian prisoners – and ICRC’s role in returning the remains of slain hostages as well. 

The “reputation crisis” the ICRC is suffering in Israel, he said, is due in large part to the constraints of the organization’s commitment to “impartiality” and the use of “bilateral confidential dialogue,” or refraining from taking sides in public statements. Without such a policy, he argued, ICRC would not be able to effectively conduct humanitarian operations and return prisoners and hostages anywhere in the world.

Still, “I know it is a source of great frustration in the Israeli public,” he said. “Neutrality is not a sexy choice to make.”

Read more:

Sexual Assault, Starvation, Stitches Without Anesthesia: Alon Ohel Details Hamas Captivity

Opinion | For the Hostages in Gaza, the Red Cross Is Neutral. But We Are Not Bystanders

Far-right MKs Cite Classified Report on Red Cross Visits to Israeli Prisons, Refuse to Share It With Arab Lawmaker

Israeli Defense Ministry Renews Its Ban on Red Cross Visits to Palestinian Security Prisoners Before High Court

Israel Allows Hamas to Join Red Cross in IDF-held Gaza Areas to Recover Hostage Bodies

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There was a clear “threat” delivered in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s formal letter to the President Isaac Herzog requesting a pardon in his corruption case, senior Haaretz columnist Dahlia Scheindlin said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

Netanyahu’s government continues to conduct a “campaign of vicious political incitement against the Israeli judiciary,” Scheindlin noted. “And what he's basically saying in the request is: ‘You see how bad I can make things. This is what will happen and continue to happen if you don't end this.’ It’s a very severe statement.’’

On Sunday, Netanyahu formally submitted a pardon request to the Israeli president. He has been on trial for three separate criminal cases – charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust – since 2020 and is currently being cross-examined by prosecutors in court. 

On the podcast, Scheindlin discusses the impact a pardon would have on a future election and the U.S.-led efforts to pursue the goals laid out in the Gaza cease-fire agreement, as well as what she believes Israel’s opposition needs to do to seize this moment ahead of next October’s election in order to formulate a “winning strategy” to defeat Netanyahu. 

Read more from Dahlia Scheindlin:

The Visionary Palestinian Peace Plan for Israel and Gaza That You've Never Heard Of

Nobody Wants This? Netanyahu Is Gaslighting Israelis Over October 7 Investigation

What Israel's Opposition Should Learn From Mamdani

Read more on Netanyahu's pardon request:

What You Need to Know About Netanyahu's Bid for a Presidential Pardon in His Corruption Trial

43 Percent of Israelis Oppose Pardoning Netanyahu in Corruption Trials, Polls Show

It's Clear What Defendant Netanyahu Gets Out of a Pardon. But What's in It for Trump?

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