Haaretz Podcast

Haaretz Podcast episodes:

• 04.17.2024

  'Young U.S. Jews believe Judaism is about social justice. They ask, does Israel stand for that?'

  If support for Israel becomes a truly partisan issue and political football in the United States, it will be "a disaster" that the people and the leaders of the Jewish state don't fully comprehend, says Professor Noah Feldman in a...

  
• 04.16.2024

  'If One of Those Missiles Hit Tel Aviv We Would Be in a Very Different, Devastating Situation'

  Iran's firing of hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday night marked a new escalation in a simmering war usually fought by proxies miles from Tehran. Iran's strike, which was largely intercepted by Israel and its allies, leaves...

  
• 04.09.2024

  'U.S. military aid to Israel is endangered. More people will say it should be cut'

  Six months into Israel's conflict with Hamas, the solid support U.S. President Joe Biden's White House gave to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has taken a serious hit. Following the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid workers, a clash...

  
• 04.01.2024

  'Ultra-Orthodox Israelis are at the peak of their power and they don't pay a price in war'

  The controversy in Israel over the exemption of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service "has reached a boiling point," former Haaretz journalist and author Yair Ettinger tells host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the Haaretz Podcast. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continually...

  
• 03.26.2024

  'The more oppression there is, the more younger Arabs in Israel prefer to identify as Palestinians'

  Haaretz journalist Sheren Falah Saab has been covering the unfolding disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza for months. Even now, aside from reporting on the lives of Gazans as the war rages, she manages, from time to time, to deep dive...

  
• 03.21.2024

  Thomas Friedman, Aluf Benn, Noam Tibon and Amir Tibon on the failures of Oct. 7

  This special episode of the Haaretz Podcast features two of the standout sessions from the recent Haaretz-UCLA conference: Israel After October 7  First, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman sits down with Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn to discuss the...

  
• 03.20.2024

  Tony Kushner: Israel's Gaza war 'looks a lot like ethnic cleansing to me'

  Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner, one of the first high-profile American Jewish artists to sharply and publicly criticize Israel's treatment of Palestinians, speaks to Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer about Jonathan Glazer's Oscar speech, the Gaza War, antisemitism...

  
• 03.12.2024

  Franklin Foer: 'Simplistic moralism is dividing the world into good and evil, and placing Jews on the side of evil'

  In a bold cover story in The Atlantic, journalist Franklin Foer declared "The Golden Age of American Jewry is Ending." On the Haaretz Podcast, he tells host Allison Kaplan Sommer how and why he reached the sobering conclusion that "an...

  
• 03.05.2024

  'Netanyahu wants the world to accuse Israel of genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing'

  Veteran columnist Bradley Burston opens his new book "The End of Israel: Dispatches from a Path to Catastrophe" with a stinging indictment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he believes is leading the country towards what could be its final...

  
• 02.28.2024

  Former PM Olmert: 'Netanyahu’s overconfidence and arrogance led to October 7'

  In a recent op-ed in Haaretz, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right ministers of knowingly steering Israel into an all-out war. During a wide-ranging conversation on this week's Haaretz Podcast, Olmert tells host Allison...

  
• 02.21.2024

  'Israelis are rejecting Netanyahu. That doesn't mean they are embracing left-wing views'

  You can hear the drumbeats for immediate elections in Israel in demonstrations in the streets, on highway billboards, and in the headlines. After four months of putting politics aside to focus on the war in Gaza and the northern border,...

  
• 02.14.2024

  'This is not our first war, but it's the first war we've seen Israel's credit rating drop'

  The decision by Moody's credit rating agency to downgrade Israel's rating and outlook last week was a shock to the country after decades of growth and a rosy outlook for the future as its technology-driven industries flourished. Haaretz economics editor and...

  
• 02.05.2024

  Israel's former head of military intelligence: 'If we don't offer an alternative, we'll end up with Hamas again'

  Israel's former head of military intelligence, Tamir Hayman, now the managing director of the Institute for National Security Studies, joins host Allison Kaplan Sommer on Haaretz Podcast to discuss Israel's war with Hamas and the key question: How far is...

  
• 01.29.2024

  Rallying for democracy, calling to free hostages: Where Israel's protest movements stand

  Thousands of Israelis are back on the streets, four months after the October 7 Hamas attack and the war in Gaza halted historic demonstrations against the Netanyahu government's plan to overhaul the judiciary. Joining host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the Haaretz...

  
• 01.22.2024

  The ugly price Israel will pay for the decision-making failures that led to October 7

  On this week's Haaretz Podcast, host Allison Kaplan Sommer holds a wide-ranging conversation with Chuck Freilich, Israel's former deputy national security adviser. Freilich, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, discusses the numerous troubling issues arising from Israel's...

  
• 01.16.2024

  'Can Netanyahu be ousted?' and other burning questions from Haaretz readers

  In a special edition of the Haaretz Podcast, host Allison Kaplan Sommer and the Haaretz editorial team asked subscribers worldwide what they saw as the most urgent questions as the Israel-Hamas conflict passed the 100-day mark. The questions poured in.  Is...

  
• 01.09.2024

  'How can we expect others to empathize with us when we fail to empathize with Palestinians?'

  Rabbi Sharon Brous, founder of the IKAR synagogue in Los Angeles, has been progressive Judaism's leading voice over the past decade speaking out for equality and human rights, as well as the rabbinic figure of choice for the Biden-Harris White...

  
• 01.01.2024

  Dennis Ross: On Gaza, 'Netanyahu's far-right ministers aren't living in reality'

  Ambassador Dennis Ross has played an important part in U.S. Middle East policy over the last decades, and was the point man in the peace process in both the George W. Bush administration and Bill Clinton's administration. On Saturday night,...

  
• 12.26.2023

  'Death in Gaza is a taboo subject in Israel right now'

  As the number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza climbs to 20,000 while the number of Israeli soldiers killed in fighting grows daily, it is becoming harder every day for the two sides of the bloody conflict to see the humanity...

  
• 12.18.2023

  ‘The Houthis don’t care about the Palestinians. They are attacking Israel to gain support’

  The Houthis in Yemen, the Islamist rebel group that has shot missiles and drones at Israel and is now intensifying attacks on key shipping lanes in the Red Sea, have progressed from being "a nuisance and a headache to a...

  
• 12.12.2023

  'Israelis don't see images from Gaza because our journalists are not doing their job'

  From the horrifying live videos broadcasted by Hamas militants on the morning of October 7 during their invasion of Israeli villages, to IDF soldiers entering Gaza, the bombarded buildings, and the long lines of refugees with few belongings – The...

  
• 12.05.2023

  Is the Red Cross failing Israeli hostages held by Hamas?

  In this week's episode of the Haaretz Weekly podcast, Haaretz English editor-in-chief Esther Solomon explores a topic that has angered the Israeli public since the start of the Israel-Hamas War: Why haven't representatives of the Red Cross been able to...

  
• 11.27.2023

  With all eyes on Gaza, West Bank Palestinians are facing unprecedented violence

  While the world is watching the Israel-Hamas war unfold in Gaza, Palestinians in the West Bank are suffering some of the worst violence and restrictions on their daily life in years. Since Hamas militants entered Israel on October 7 and killed...

  
• 11.20.2023

  This Holocaust survivor is used to fighting deniers on TikTok. Hamas apologists broke him

  A disinformation war is raging online and Israel is losing, says Omer Benjakob, Haaretz cyber and technology correspondent at Haaretz. It isn’t as if an effort isn’t being made by Israel to professionally curate and manage information about its war with...

  
• 11.13.2023

  The cruel sexual violence that was part of Hamas' October 7 attack

  “I knew right away that sexual violence was part of the events of October 7, but obviously, I could not have known the extent of the cruelty that Hamas engaged in,” says Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, who served for 12 years...

  
• 11.06.2023

  'It's very personal': Inside Gaza with Israeli soldiers

  One of the first journalists to be embedded with forces in the Israeli army’s ground operation in Gaza, Haaretz senior columnist Anshel Pfeffer shares his observations with Haaretz Weekly host Allison Kaplan Sommer after returning from a challenging battlefield. Pfeffer, who...

  
• 10.31.2023

  ‘Some students on U.S. campuses think all Israelis are colonizers, so it's okay to slaughter them’

  Prof. Dov Waxman has been on university campuses for several decades and experienced bursts of unrest following violence in the region and controversy over Israeli policies since the second intifada in the early 2000s. But what has happened since the brutal...

  
• 10.23.2023

  'Anderson Cooper said, I have a video of your kidnapped son'

  The “alternative universe” Rachel Goldberg has been living in since her son Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was kidnapped by Hamas, has included non-stop interviews with the media. Rachel and her husband Jonathan have appeared on the cover...

  
• 10.17.2023

  'He wrote me: My parents are dead, I need help'

  Brouria Carni Hadass lives in the tiny Kibbutz of Kerem Shalom on the Israel-Gaza border. On Saturday, October 7th, she went into the fortified safe room in her house when the first alarm sounded, quickly realizing this attack was "unlike...

  
• 10.08.2023

  'It's unthinkable. Hundreds of bereaved families, hundreds of hostages'

  Israel's reality transformed overnight this weekend and what looks like a major war is unfolding. Events are progressing rapidly, so in this week's Haaretz podcast, editor in chief of Haaretz, Aluf Benn, and Haaretz senior analyst Yossi Melman explain in...

  
• 10.03.2023

  'Israelis and Saudis have more to talk about than they realize'

  The prospect of a U.S-Saudi-Israeli deal, that would include the normalization of relations between the Jewish state and one of the most influential forces in the Arab world, intrigues citizens in all three countries. But while the opinions of Israelis...

  
• 09.27.2023

  Behind the Yom Kippur clashes in Tel Aviv

  How did Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff square become a battleground for religion and gender segregation on Yom Kippur and how did the conflict become so charged and bitter? In conversation with Allison Kaplan Sommer on the Haaretz Weekly podcast, Orly Erez-Lizhovski, executive...

  
• 09.20.2023

  "U.S. Jews don't understand that the Israel judicial coup is like nothing we've seen before"

  On this week’s podcast, Haaretz New York correspondent Judy Maltz talks to Haaretz Weekly host Allison Kaplan Sommer about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to the U.S. and the unprecedented demonstrations against him on American soil. Thousands of Israeli expats calling...

  
• 09.13.2023

  'This could end in complete anarchy': Inside Israel’s Historic Supreme Court Showdown

  Constitutional expert Prof. Yaniv Roznai, an associate professor and Vice-Dean at Reichman University's Harry Radzyner Law School - and one of the leading academic voices in the protest movement against the judicial coup - attended the historic hearing at Israel's...

  
• 09.05.2023

  Israeli protest movement hopes to win over voters in local elections

  After dominating political conversation in Israel for the past eight months, the protest movement against the judicial coup – which has brought millions of Israelis out to the streets – made a strategic decision. In the nationwide municipal elections on October...

  
• 08.15.2023

  “Worse Than the Pandemic”: Why the Judicial Coup is Bad for Israel’s Health

  As Israel wrestled with the assault of COVID-19 on its health care system, politics and public life, Professor Haggai Levine, an epidemiologist and chairman of Israel’s Association of Public Health Physicians, became a familiar face on Israeli television screens. Today, Levine...

  
• 08.08.2023

  “The occupation is a motivation behind Netanyahu's judicial overhaul”

  As settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank continues to intensify, Haaretz West Bank correspondent Hagar Shezaf joins host Allison Kaplan Sommer to share her experiences covering the deadly incidents in Hawara, Turmus Aya, Um Safr, and, over the...

  
• 08.01.2023

  'Despicable and reckless' that Netanyahu won't commit to obeying the rule of law

  Israeli democracy is facing its biggest challenge since the founding of the state, after the Knesset passed the first law in its package of legislation designed to cripple the judicial branch. Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, joins Haaretz...

  
• 07.25.2023

  'It's a dark day in Israeli history and I don't see a way back'

  As former US ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk experienced one of the most devastating moments of the country’s history - the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, during the time of Israel’s deep divisions over the Oslo Peace Accords.  And...

  
• 07.18.2023

  Military Reserve Refuseniks ‘Are Defending Israel From an Internal Threat’

  Among the numerous mass protests against the Israeli government’s controversial legislative moves to weaken Israel’s judicial system, the most influential effort has come from reservists in the country’s elite military units threatening to refuse to report for duty. One of the...

  
• 07.11.2023

  'A Very Combustible Situation': Israel’s Judicial Coup Is Back Full Force

  As the Israeli streets explode in protests against the renewed effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to “neuter the judiciary,” Haaretz English editor-in-chief Esther Solomon joins host Allison Kaplan Sommer on Haaretz for an overview and explanation of the...

  
• 06.27.2023

  'Israel’s government ministers openly support settler violence'

  Despite the weakened position of Russian President Vladimir Putin following the weekend’s aborted coup, chances that Israel’s government will change its policy in the Russia-Ukraine conflict are extremely low, says Haaretz senior correspondent Anshel Pfeffer, who has covered the war...

  
• 06.21.2023

  'It stuck with me, how safe their life felt': A conversation about 'My Friend Anne Frank'

  In a special podcast in honor of Israel’s annual Book Week celebration, Haaretz Weekly is spotlighting two female Israeli journalists turned authors: Dina Kraft, co-author of Hannah Pick-Goslar’s memoir “My Friend Anne Frank”; and Ruth Marks Eglash, a journalist who...

  
• 06.12.2023

  Were Israel’s Secrets Hidden in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Bathroom?

  The Trump indictment rocking the United States contains numerous references to foreign countries and military battle plans that many believe relate directly to Iran and Israel – and may have even originated in Israeli intelligence sources.  Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Amir Tibon...

  
• 06.06.2023

  Israel Parade Protests in NYC: 'This Is the Worst PR You Can Get'

  An unprecedented number of Israeli ministers and governing coalition lawmakers flew to New York City last week to participate in the annual Celebrate Israel Parade and the conferences and meetings surrounding it. Haaretz Washington correspondent Ben Samuels joins Allison Kaplan Sommer...

  
• 05.31.2023

  Being LGBTQ under Israel’s far-right government: ‘Going backward is not an option’

  June 1 marks the beginning of Pride Month around the world, and in Israel, it is being launched with the annual Jerusalem March of Pride and Tolerance, the most tense of the month’s events. Alona Nir Keren, a lesbian Reform...

  
• 05.24.2023

  'Secular Israelis Are Mad as Hell and They're Not Going to Take It Anymore'

  As the protest movement against the Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul moved into its 20th week, there has been a clear shift in its focus. From battles over the billions of shekels in government budget expenditures on ultra-Orthodox schools that don’t offer...

  
• 05.16.2023

  'When Trump said: F**k Bibi, it wasn't a slip of the tongue'

  When journalist Barak Ravid’s book "Trump's Peace: the Abraham Accords and the Reshaping of the Middle East" was published in Hebrew in 2021, two words in his text made international headlines. Bitter about the Israeli Prime Minister’s eagerness to congratulate President...

  
• 05.09.2023

  Israel braces for Islamic Jihad response after Assassinations: What happens next?

  After Israel assassinated three senior members of Islamic Jihad and killed at least ten civilians in airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in the wee hours of Tuesday morning in a military operation, the country tensely braced for expected retaliation.  Haaretz national...

  
• 04.19.2023

  The one-state reality in Israel-Palestine: what does it mean for U.S. policy?

  Is it time for the international community to stop talking about a ‘two-state solution’ for Israel and the Palestinians, and begin instead to grapple with a ‘one-state reality’? That’s the argument four leading political scientists recently made in a thought-provoking,...