Haaretz Podcast

On this week's episode, Haaretz's national security analyst Amos Harel joins the podcast to discuss the dramatic events in Israel and Gaza. Why did Israel strike the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad organization, and why is Hamas, the most powerful group in Gaza, staying out of this round of fighting? Amos explains the behind-the-scenes dynamic between Israel and the different Palestinian organizations, and warns Israel's leadership of the law of unintended consequences as the death toll rises in Gaza.

Later on the show, hosts Allison Kaplan Sommer and Amir Tibon talk about the political implications of the fighting, which is taking place amidst an Israeli election campaign. How do Israelis view prime minister Yair Lapid's handling of this crisis, and where did he find a symbolic victory over opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu? In addition, Allison asks Amir what his neighbors in a kibbutz right next to the Gaza border think about this round of fighting.

For more updates on the Gaza fighting and the negotiations for a ceasefire, visit Haaretz.com and follow @hareetzcom on Twitter.

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Before Shtisel and Unorthodox became Netflix hits, writer and director Rama Burshtein-Shai was pulling back the curtain on life and love in the ultra-Orthodox community. Following Burshtein’s internationally acclaimed films “Fill the Void” and “The Wedding Plan,” comes her first venture into television, “Fire Dance.”

On Haaretz Weekly, she talks to host Allison Kaplan Sommer about her efforts to give women in that community a voice and why she believes audiences find drama set in a world with such strict rules between men and women so compelling.

“We look for boundaries to preserve our energy, to preserve our feelings. When the boundaries are not there and we're able to take everything we actually want, then we get bored,” Burshtein-Shai said.

Earlier on the show, co-host Amir Tibon joins the podcast for a discussion of revelations in Jared Kushner’s new memoir, which includes behind-the-scenes tension between former U.S. president Donald Trump and then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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January 15, 2022, began as a quiet Saturday morning for Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, then the rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. When a stranger knocked on the synagogue’s glass door and inquired about a night shelter, Cytron-Walker performed an act of kindness: he invited the man inside and made him a cup of tea.

For the next 11 hours, the man, who happened to have a gun, held Cytron-Walker and several congregants hostage, demanding the release of an Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist from prison and stating that Jews control the world.

Six months after the attack, Cytron-Walker joins host Amir Tibon to tell the incredible story of how he eventually threw a chair at the attacker and led his congregants in a run for their lives. He also discusses national lessons on guns, mental health and security, and reflects on how spending a year in Israel prepared him for that moment. The full interview with Rabbi Cytron-Walker starts at time code 08:20.

Earlier on the show, Haaretz reporter Sam Sokol talks about the escalating crisis between Israel and Russia following Moscow’s threat to shut down the Jewish Agency’s activities on its soil. Is Putin trying to punish Israel for its position on Ukraine? Is there any danger for Jews in Russia? And what can Israel do about this situation? Listen to the full conversation to learn more on the subject.

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Last week, Haaretz reporter Ben Samuels was the only Israeli journalist to fly with the White House press delegation from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – a first-of-its-kind historic flight between two countries that officially still don’t recognize one another.

Almost 30 years ago, David Makovsky, then Haaretz’s diplomatic correspondent, also visited Jeddah, accompanying U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher as part of the Oslo Accords-era flurry of Middle Eastern negotiations.

Two rare visits by Haaretz reporters to the most powerful country in the Arab world, and three decades of historical change in between them. On this week’s episode, Samuels and Makovsky join host Allison Kaplan Sommer to talk about their unique experiences writing for an Israeli newspaper from the kingdom.

Makovsky, today a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, shares why he is optimistic about Biden’s Middle East trip, even though the president did not “break ground” on the Palestinian or Iran issues. Samuels, our Washington correspondent, explains why the trip “marked the conscious uncoupling of Israel and the Palestinians in the eyes of U.S. policymakers.”

Listen to the full conversation to also hear what they see next for Biden’s Middle East policy.

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As President Joe Biden takes off from Washington for his long-awaited visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia, The Economist's Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom joins the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on U.S. policy in the region.

Hosts Allison Kaplan Sommer and Amir Tibon ask him what Biden will try to extract from the Saudis; how the Gulf states view the Abraham Accords, almost two years after they were signed; and whether Vladimir Putin is the one who should actually get the credit for this visit. Carlstrom also shares his observations from a visit to Gaza earlier this week and his conversations with senior Hamas officials.

Later on the show, Emily Tamkin, U.S. editor for The New Statesman, joins from Washington to discuss the political reality facing Biden at home, and how his trip to the Middle East is viewed inside the Democratic Party. She also comments on Donald Trump's current standing in the Republican Party following the January 6 hearings in Congress, and outlines the factors that will determine the outcome of the midterm elections in November.

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U.S. President Joe Biden is set to arrive in Israel next week, and his top diplomat in the country says that the long-expected visit won’t be affected by Israel’s recently-announced election. “The show will go on,” Ambassador Thomas Nides told the Haaretz Weekly podcast in a special July 4th interview.

“Joe Biden is coming here for the Israeli people. He's not coming for one political party or another,” Nides told hosts Allison Kaplan Sommer and Amir Tibon, describing the U.S. president as a “Zionist” who “knows more about the Middle East and Israel than probably any politician in the history of the United States.”

In a wide-ranging interview held on the eve of the Knesset’s vote to dissolve itself and Yair Lapid’s instatement as caretaker prime minister, Nides lays out the goals of Biden’s Mideast tour, with stops in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia. He also answers our questions on related policy issues from Ukraine and China to Iran.

Also on this week’s episode, a special announcement: Haaretz’s Election Overdose podcast is back! As we begin the journey toward Israel’s fifth election in three years, Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin will be in our studio each week to talk about the biggest political stories of the hour, and how they could impact the results in November. Listen to them discussing the Knesset’s dissolution and Lapid’s appointment, starting at time code 27:50.

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When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, ending the federal right to abortion, it was “devastating,” says Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, in an interview with Haaretz Weekly.

“We had been mapping out every possible path this decision could go down. And the one the court chose was absolutely the worst,” Katz tells host Allison Kaplan Sommer. Katz has been spearheading the fight for abortion rights in the Jewish community under the banner of religious freedom.

“Judaism not only permits abortion: our tradition commands it when it comes to protecting the life of the mother,” she says.

Also on this week’s episode: political consultant Dahlia Scheindlin analyzes the dissolution of the Knesset and what lies ahead as Israel faces its fifth election in three and a half years, and weighs the odds of a comeback for former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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For the fifth time since 2019, Israel will hold an election as the country's political crisis grows ever worse, with no end in sight. Why did Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decide to shock the political scene by blowing up his own government? What kind of leader will his interim successor, Yair Lapid, be? And is it too soon to discuss a comeback by Benjamin Netanyahu?

Our team in the studio – Amir Tibon, Anshel Pfeffer and Allison Kaplan Sommer – answer all your most pressing questions on the political drama.

Later on this episode, an in-depth interview with former Israeli national security adviser Uzi Arad, on his years working next to Netanyahu, the books he used to buy for the former prime minister in London's best bookstores, and what Joe Biden whispered in his ear outside the Oval Office. Arad, today a sharp critic of his former boss Netanyahu, also has some harsh words for the government that replaced him.

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Trump adviser Steve Bannon has refused to testify to the congressional January 6 committee about his role in the Capitol insurrection. But he agreed to speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jennifer Senior – though when confronted he didn’t tell her the truth.

“He was definitely working the phones all day. And he was lying to me about it,” Senior tells Haaretz Weekly podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, discussing her recent profile of Bannon in The Atlantic.

Senior also talks about how the U.S. alt-right movement has fanned the flames of antisemitism, and how Bannon dealt with being profiled by a Jewish woman.

“He knew early on that I was Jewish and was therefore extremely awkward, almost clumsy, and trying to bring up how much he loved the Jews,” she says. “It was almost like that movie scene where Austin Powers sees a person with a mole and keeps accidentally saying the word ‘mole’ out loud. Like he was staring at me and thinking, ‘Jew, Jew.’“

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Haaretz Weekend host Allison Kaplan Sommer and Haaretz English Deputy Editor Amir Tibon review the turbulent Israeli political scene after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s embattled governing coalition failed to pass a contentious West Bank bill this week – and ask if this could be the death knell for the anti-Netanyahu "change government."

Later on the show, Prof. Joshua Shanes joins the podcast to discuss changes in ultra-Orthodoxy – a community that will soon represent a fifth of all U.S. Jews, their affinity for Donald Trump and his camp, and the activism that emerged during the pandemic. 

Shanes, who directs the Arnold Center for Israel Studies at the College of Charleston, also talks about the antisemitism panel he attended during a recent visit to Jerusalem. He was “shocked and scared” to hear former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer – a confidant of Benjamin Netanyahu – use “violent language” that sounded “straight out of Kahane.”

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