Haaretz Podcast

The foreign press corps in Israel has been battling – unsuccessfully – since the Gaza war began in October 2023 to be permitted access to the Strip in order to report on the conflict and the humanitarian situation there from the ground. 

Appearing on the Haaretz Podcast, CNN’s Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond breaks down the status of the legal and public fight by international journalists to enter Gaza, noting that “never before in Israel's history has the Israeli government blocked access to Gaza for this amount of time. We reached that milestone months and months ago, and we have been calling on the Israeli government to allow us into Gaza to be able to do our jobs.”

The issue has taken on a new urgency, he added, as starvation in Gaza worsens, and he, his fellow journalists and news organizations feel the immediate need to assist and relieve the Palestinian journalists who have been doing “heroic work under extraordinarily difficult circumstances” reporting until now. 

“The primary motivation for our call is not that they aren’t presenting a fair and accurate picture of what's happening. It's because they shouldn't have to shoulder that burden on their own. We have watched as every single person in Gaza has been impacted by the starvation of this man-made crisis that is happening inside the Gaza Strip, and that includes our fellow journalists inside of Gaza,” Diamond said. 

In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Diamond also discussed a recent harrowing experience under threat from settlers in the West Bank, as well as his experience transitioning to his post in Jerusalem after covering Donald Trump as CNN's White House correspondent.

Read more: 

Why Israel Is So Determined to Keep the World's Media Out of Gaza

Israel's High Court Blocks All Foreign Journalists From Gaza, Delays Ruling on Appeal for Access

'Unable to Feed Themselves': Four Major Media Outlets Say Gaza Staff Face Starvation

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The latest crisis of mass starvation and death in Gaza seems to have finally cut through the layers of denial and media self-censorship in Israel – and in both Arab and mixed cities, demonstrations against the horrifying humanitarian situation are drawing tens of thousands of protesters. 

This week, the Haaretz Podcast includes two firsthand accounts of survival from Gaza: 32-year-old Hana and 24-year-old Abdel Halim.

Speaking on the podcast, Haaretz journalist Nagham Zbeedat told host Allison Kaplan Sommer that the situation in Gaza has “gone from bad to unbearable” and it has become “fight to simply remain a human being in Gaza, through all of the starvation, bombing and endless loss.”

She also reports on the new wave of protests led by Palestinian citizens of Israel, who have overcome fear of government retribution and taken to the streets en masse to protest the war and government policies that have led to the current dire situation.

“I dare say it's the first time in history that we witness a livestreamed starvation war committed against unarmed people,” said Zbeedat. 

Also on the podcast: Linda Dayan, a reporter who covers the anti-war protest movement for Haaretz, discusses how demonstrations against the humanitarian disaster in Gaza are becoming more mainstream. 

After nearly two years of focusing sharply on the hostages and calling for a cease-fire deal, Dayan said, Jewish Israelis are “putting themselves on the line and countering what was kind of a very well accepted talking point until fairly recently: that the Gazans aren't starving, that there's a lot of aid, and Hamas is just stealing it.”

From what she’s seen and heard, Dayan expects the protests focused on hunger and death in Gaza to grow. 

“I have a feeling there's going to be more and more of these until something changes,” she said, adding that she believes that the Netanyahu government’s decision to allow “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting “is partially because some people are listening to the street.”

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Read more:

'We and Our People in Gaza Are One': Over 10,000 Protest Gaza War and Hunger Crisis in Major Arab Israeli City

'We're Feeling Their Pain': Arab Israeli Leaders Declare Three-day Hunger Strike Over Gaza Starvation

Experts Warn: Gaza Children Facing Acute Malnutrition, Long-term Medical Support Needed

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decisively lost his Knesset majority following the exit of the two major ultra-Orthodox parties that were pillars of his coalition, which now holds only 49 seats in the 120-member parliament. 

But celebration is premature for those hoping for swift elections that could lead to the end of his rule, warns Haaretz columnist and political strategist Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin on the Haaretz Podcast. 

The ultra-Orthodox may have left the government in a “very demonstrative way, but if they don't actually join a vote that would bring down the government and launch early elections, it doesn't really matter,” Scheindlin said. 

As the Knesset enters its summer recess with a minority in power, only reconvening in October, “their exit from the coalition is essentially a matter of holding a political sword over the head of Netanyahu, over the government's head, saying ‘we are poised to bring down this government now and launch early elections’“ – but elections are far from a certainty. 

What is becoming increasingly certain for most Israelis, Scheindlin told podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, is the fact that the government has “made it extremely clear that its political interests override the good of the state” by doing everything in its power to advance the law the ultra-Orthodox are pressuring them to pass, exempting Haredi men from military service at a time when the country needs manpower more desperately than ever. 

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Read more from Dahlia Schiendlin in Haaretz:

Bolting Parties, Baffling Polls: Are Elections in Israel Imminent? What Are Netanyahu's Chances of Winning?

Netanyahu's Trial Is a Seductive Spectacle. But Dead Gazan Children Matter Far More

Netanyahu Should End the Gaza War Now – for His Own Sake, if Not for Israel's

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If it weren’t for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial and the multiple investigations into payments made by Qatar to his closest aides, the Gaza war could have been over, Bar Peleg, who has been covering Netanyahu’s legal woes, said on the Haaretz Podcast.

In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Peleg laid out the details of the multiple investigations, including BibiLeaks and Qatargate, against the Israeli premier in light of the calls by President Donald Trump that his trial be “cancelled.” Trump has also suggested that Netanyahu should be given a pardon, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s appearance at his trial in a show of support. 

A recent exposé by Peleg and Gidi Weitz revealed that the Trump administration is actively intervening in the Qatargate investigation by preventing a key U.S. witness, Qatar lobbyist Jay Footlik, from being questioned by Israel Police. Without Footlik’s testimony, which has now been postponed three times, “the case may well be stuck.”

The active crusade by the Trump administration to “save Bibi Netanyahu,” as the president put it on social media, “is the most interference that we have seen from the United States in Israel in internal matters.” 

Peleg said that all evidence points to the fact that Netanyahu’s legal woes have impacted his policy decisions over the past five years, with particularly fateful consequences over the course of the Gaza war. 

Israelis “need to know that what their prime minister is doing is what is important for the state – and when we see how Netanyahu is acting regarding the war, we don’t believe fully that he is doing what is good for Israel,” Peleg said. 

If Netanyahu was not on trial and facing other potential criminal charges, Peleg said, “maybe this war would have ended.”

Subscribe to Haaretz.com for up-to-the-minute news and analysis from Israel and the Middle East in English. 

Read more:

Haaretz Exposé | U.S. Officials: Order to Prevent Israeli Investigation of Key Qatargate Figure Jay Footlik 'Came From Above'

How Jay Footlik Went From Democratic Insider to Player in Netanyahu's Dirty Wartime Scandal

Following the Money: Where Does Qatargate Scandal Involving Netanyahu's Closest Aides and Gulf State Stand?

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The Israeli military strike on southern Syria this week is “concerning” in view of the “unexpected opportunity” for a potential peace agreement with the new government there, Israel’s former deputy security adviser Chuck Freilich said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

On Tuesday, the IDF struck Syrian army forces that had entered the city of Sweida to prevent harm to Druze communities and ensure the demilitarization of the area. The action was strongly denounced by the Syrian government. 

While Freilich said he understands that it was “part of the post-October 7 policy of not allowing potential threats to evolve on any of Israel's borders,” he believed the limited nature of the Syrian military intervention and the “channels of communication” that now exist could have been “used to reach some understanding.” Instead, he said, the Netanyahu government “seems to be taking a really absolutist approach.”

Freilich told podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer in their conversation that in his view, the government headed by President Ahmed al-Sharaa is “saying the right things” regarding Israel and, more importantly, backing up their words with actions. 

“They’re talking to us, and they seem to be willing to reach some sort of agreement,” he said, noting that they refrained from condemning Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities and “has thrown the Iranians and Hezbollah out of Syria. They are strongly anti-Iranian, probably as much as we are. So there’s a meeting of interests here that we should be really working to take advantage of.”

“The fact that this is going on is absolutely mind-boggling, if one considers the history between Israel and Syria.”

Freilich said that he would be “thrilled” to see U.S. President Donald Trump’s vision of Syria joining the Abraham Accords manifest in the near future, but he cautioned that it may be “a bridge too far” at the moment, and a more limited non-belligerence treaty is more realistic in the short-term. 

Freilich also discussed the aftermath of the 12-day Israel-Iran war on the podcast, explaining that the most conservative estimates establish that the attack on Iranian nuclear sites set the country’s nuclearization program back by several years.

The only way to ensure long-term protection from a nuclear Iran, he emphasized, is diplomacy.

“A nuclear deal is the only way that we can ensure that they don't cross the threshold for the long-term. Military action has now gained up to four years, but if they want to reconstitute they can because they have the know-how. The only way to achieve an indefinite freeze on the program is a deal.”

Subscribe to Haaretz.com for up-to-the-minute news and analysis from Israel and the Middle East in English. 

Read more: 

Opinion | Israel Should Help Shape a New Syria. But It Must Do So Carefully, Quietly and Quickly

Analysis | Fresh Syria Violence Undercuts the Optimism Over Ties Between Israel and the New Regime

Syrians Abroad Dismiss Talk of Normalization With Israel: 'We Fear the Consequences, Especially for Palestinians'

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A crisis-level shortage of clergy in North American Reform and Conservative synagogues has led to a fascinating new phenomenon – an exodus of Israeli-born rabbis moving to the United States and Canada to serve as spiritual leaders. 

On the Haaretz Podcast, Judy Maltz, Haaretz’s Jewish world editor who has reported on the trend, explains how these Israelis are filling an ever-growing need as fewer and fewer young North American Jews are training to be rabbis in non-Orthodox movements. Meanwhile, the number of Israelis receiving rabbinic ordination has grown. 

“I think what's luring them abroad primarily is the salaries and the conditions,” Maltz told podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, adding there was another extremely appealing factor: respect. 

“A woman rabbi who had recently taken a job in New York said to me ‘I no longer have to prove I'm a rabbi here.’ That is a very appealing factor: being admired and accepted for what you are and your profession, and that you don't have to constantly fight for recognition and legitimacy.” By contrast, in Israel, they are still battling for that legitimacy and even face mockery. 

The Israeli imports are helping to solve the “very huge shortage of rabbis” to serve U.S. congregations in the non-Orthodox Jewish community “because nobody really wants to go to rabbinical school anymore and the whole business of organized synagogue life has become less appealing,” Maltz explained.

With liberal Jews affiliated with Jewish organizations (like synagogues) are having fewer and fewer children, she said, it has also been more difficult for Reform and Conservative congregations to  sustain their traditionally strong youth movements “which have been the pipeline tor rabbinical school.”

The new imports, Maltz noted, are not only breathing new spiritual life into their new congregations “but since October 7, these Israeli rabbis find themselves serving as a kind of bridge between their congregations and Israel – and as an important resource on information about what's happening in Israel where the news changes so quickly. They are finding themselves in this new and rather unexpected role of explaining what's happening.”

Subscribe to Haaretz.com for up-to-the-minute news and analysis from Israel and the Middle East in English. 

Read more: 

Israel's Hottest New Export: Reform and Conservative Rabbis

Far-right Mob Storms Reform Synagogue in Ra'anana Screening Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony

Beyond Netflix's Hot Rabbi: Progressive Judaism Is Having a Moment on Screen

'Proof of a Thirst': Percentage of Reform Jews in Israel Doubles in Recent Years

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Israel, it seems, is once again on the brink of a cease-fire deal with Hamas – one that would see hostilities halted for at least two months, and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages.

But as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump talk particulars in Washington, the families of the 50 remaining hostages are far from relieved. The deal on the table would only bring home 10 of the living hostages, and the remains of 18 of the deceased – leaving the fate of the 22 others in question.

Aviva Siegel was kidnapped on October 7 from Kibbutz Kfar Azza along with her husband, Keith. She was released after 51 days, and campaigned tirelessly for Keith's release. After he came home in February, the reunited couple have fought for the return of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

Siegel joins Haaretz reporter Linda Dayan to talk about this deal, captivity, adjusting to freedom and the urgency of bringing every hostage home.

"Nobody's really talking about what's going to happen after the 10 [living hostages] come home, and half the hostages that aren't alive," Siegel says. "I've asked important people if they can answer that, because it's a question that I think about all the time, and I'm very, very worried."

On what may be the eve of a historic decision, she says that she would tell decision-makers – at home and abroad – her own story, and ask them how they can abandon the hostages who remain there, like 27-year-old twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman.

"I was there for the 51 days. I felt that I was left behind," she recounted. "And there were so many moments that I lost hope and I just wanted to die. What I saw in Gaza and what I felt was so much for a human being to go through. I just wanted to die. So I want the leaders to understand that they have to take responsibility – I'm just an ordinary person, and I just want my life back."

Subscribe to Haaretz.com for up-to-the-minute news and analysis from Israel and the Middle East in English. 

Read more: 

'I Still Can't Believe It When I See My Father Eating, Sleeping, and Wearing Warm Clothes'

'A Little More and You're Home': Kfar Azza's Fight for Its Last Hostages in Gaza

What Exactly Is In the Cease-fire/Hostage Deal On the Table?

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Religious extremism and intolerance of liberal Judaism has spread from the ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalist parties into the mainstream of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, MK Gilad Kariv said on the Haaretz Podcast.

“This is not the Likud that we knew 10 or 20 years ago,” he said. “Any attempt to differentiate the Likud from the Israeli extreme religious right is a false attempt.”

Kariv, a rabbi and former leader of Israel’s Reform movement, is a member of the Democrats Party. He spoke to podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer shortly after he was ejected from a Knesset committee when he dared to mention that his daughter prays with tefillin –  the leather scrolls and straps that Jews wrap around themselves in prayer.

Galit Distel Atbaryan, the Likud member presiding over the session told Kariv, “If you conduct a bar mitzvah for a dog, I will come and celebrate.” She then ordered that the “Reform man” be removed because “The Jews here want to continue.”

Kariv also discussed growing concerns that Israel’s next election may not be fully democratic, pointing to calls in Netanyahu’s camp to disqualify Arab parties and weaken judicial oversight. 

“We have real reasons to suspect that they may not cancel the elections or physically prevent people from voting, but they have many other tools. The only solution to this danger is to make sure that our political camp is extremely proactive in preventing the use of these tactics.”

Kariv rejected the idea that it was Netanyahu’s political skills that had helped him stave off threats by the ultra-Orthodox parties – namely, that they would dissolve his coalition if Netanyahu did not pass legislation exempting them from military service. 

“If you don't have principles and you're willing to do whatever it takes in order to survive, it doesn't demand political wisdom.”

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An explosive expose by Haaretz featured testimonies from IDF soldiers and officers that they were ordered to use live fire to disperse thousands of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza who had crowded the handful of stations set up to distribute humanitarian aid.

The story grabbed international attention, and sparked fury among top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who both called the article a “blood libel.”

On the Haaretz Podcast, one of the three journalists who wrote the story, Nir Hasson, takes listeners behind the scenes of his reporting, explaining the reasons soldiers decided to speak to him and his fellow journalists.

The soldiers’ motivations, he said, were two-fold. First the “moral issue” of being put in the position to use deadly force to stop “hungry people trying to get some food for their family” bothered them.  

“The second thing they spoke about was the fact that this was not the IDF that they used to know. These were not values of the army that these reservists used to serve in,” Hasson added. “They told me, this is not the way a professional army deals with a civil population. They were very angry at their commanders for telling them to use this kind of tool to control a crowd,” and even refused to employ non-lethal methods like tear gas. 

Also appearing on the podcast: Haaretz columnist Amir Tibon, who pointed out that the formation of these distribution centers appeared to be aimed at creating such intolerable conditions that Gazans seek to leave, while "doing nothing" to serve Israel's proclaimed war goals – returning the hostages and ridding Gaza of Hamas.

The current operation, Tibon said, “is not serving real security interests of Israel, is not helping us get back the hostages, and it is part of a dangerous fantasy that is leading us into a ‘forever war’ in Gaza.”

Read more:

'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid

Israeli Army Says 'Lessons Learned' From Army Fire Incidents on Gaza Aid-Seekers After Haaretz Exposé

A Fatal Failure: Israel's Gaza Aid Policy Leaves Dozens Killed Daily as They Seek Food

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Destructive attacks on Palestinian communities by West Bank settlers “emboldened” by support from powerful far right-wing figures in the Netanyahu government have received little attention as the country has focused on the war in Gaza and the recent clash with Iran.

Last week, dozens of settlers descended upon Kafr Malik, a Palestinian town north of Ramallah, attacking residents and their property, as well as IDF soldiers who arrived at the scene. The outpost – illegal even under Israeli law – was dismantled by the Israeli army later that night, triggering multiple riots at a nearby army base and police station. The settlers’ attacks on Israeli soldiers sparked widespread public outrage and even condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz. 

Haaretz West Bank correspondent Hagar Shezaf joined host Allison Kaplan Sommer this week for a behind-the-scenes look at the ongoing tension and the “Jewish terrorists” so dedicated to driving Palestinians off of their land that they are willing to attack IDF soldiers when they stand in their way. 

Noting that Israelis generally “support the soldiers over the settlers,” she shared insights about the evolving political climate toward violent extremists in the West Bank.

“I think in settler society – and to an extent, broader Israeli society, it has become much, much, much more normalized post October 7 –  the sense that these people are guarding the land.”

Attacks on IDF soldiers, she said, are “obviously always controversial in Israeli society – but attacking Palestinians? Not so controversial anymore.”

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Read more:

Dozens of Israeli Settlers Attempt to Break Into West Bank IDF Base, Army Source Says

Six Settlers Arrested for Assaulting IDF Troops in West Bank; Netanyahu: Bring Them to Justice

Five Days After Building an Outpost on the Edge of a West Bank Palestinian Village, Israeli Settlers Drove Locals Out

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