Israel Update

The election results are a complicated, messy tie. Netanyahu’s Likud is by far the biggest party. Eisenkot’s Yashar party is not even close. Yet Netanyahu’s bloc does not have a majority. But neither does the opposing bloc. And both now have to re-chart their courses vis-à-vis the rising bloc of Arab parties. Could this mean that the rifts among the Jews will have to be transcended? Will that prospect be helped along by Trump and a possible escalation in the Gulf after the midterms? Mike and Gadi discuss.

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The election is right around the corner, and things are heating up. Gadi gives you the latest on election predictions.

It is also olive harvest season, and you're about to hear a lot of lies about settler violence. We'll show you video evidence of the truth behind the olive harvest lies.

Also on this episode a conversation with Kara Jesella, author of Antisemitic Feminism: An Intellectual History. You'll be surprised how deep the roots of this phenomenon are.

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The recent National Conservatism conference in Jerusalem (in which Gadi participated) generated controversy over the question of how conservative Jews should respond to the rise of antisemitism on the right. Mike had a great deal to say.

The war in the Gulf is once again shape-shifting. Mike has the latest.

And then there are the coming elections, with a new smear campaign against Netanyahu, this time by his former military secretary, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil.

And as if that were not enough: the man who submitted the indictments against Netanyahu, former AG Avichai Mandelblit, is now being grilled by the defense, and it doesn't look like he has good answers.

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The left-wing bloc in Israel is deliberately ignoring the elephant in the room: the war. They’re not saying anything about how they plan to pursue it. The reason is obvious. Their actual plans are very far from what the majority of voters – even their voters – want. Gadi and Mike meet in a disclosed location in Tel Aviv – actually, it’s 11 Pinsker St. if you want to know – to discuss all the latest with one exception: the war in the Gulf.

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Gadi returned from an intensive tour of the ranches in Judea and Samaria – where Jewish pioneers spearhead the struggle to prevent a Palestinian take-over of the territories. Aided by the Palestinian authority, Arabs buy land and build homes on deserted hilltops for which EU money supplies infrastructures and paves roads. If Israel does not wake up it will face a Gaza-like situation in the West Bank.

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The creators of the film NAZA, which accuses the IDF of AI-driven genocide, received a standing ovation whose length could rival the standing ovations of the Stalin-era Politburo.

Mike and Gadi discuss the film and the way it was received in Israel and abroad. It seems that peddling blood libels against Jews has taken on an entirely different meaning in the post–October 7 world.

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The Haaretz “bombshell” story about a warning from MBZ to Netanyahu is not just nonsense — it’s hilarious nonsense. Still The New Yorker swallowed it whole. But precisely because it’s bogus, it actually tells you a lot about the state of Israeli politics - as the country gears up for elections. It’s been a while since Mike and Gadi had this much fun in a single show.

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Gadi sits down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a long conversation in Hebrew. To watch with English subtitles, please visit tabletmag.com/israelupdate, or you can access the video on Spotify, YouTube, or Rumble.

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Former IDF general Ofer Winter has launched Amcha Yisrael (“People of Israel”), a new right-wing populist party. Gadi explains why Netanyahu’s camp sees Winter as a threat. In Israel’s fragmented electoral system, small parties can end up wasting votes by drawing support away from other right-wing parties that then fail to cross the threshold for entering the Knesset. Winter insists that he belongs to the right-wing camp. But he rejected a reserved slot on the Likud list and chose to run on his own. His move could cost the right its majority and, ultimately, Netanyahu his hold on power.

Mike and Gadi also discuss the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz, where a “no war, no peace” deadlock drags on. And they revisit last week’s conversation with Dan Schueftan, who, apparently with his ears burning, called in just as they were criticizing him.

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In the Middle East, argues Dan Schueftan, there are no solutions—only threats to contain, opportunities to exploit, and problems to manage. He joins Mike to explain why Gaza will require “violent maintenance,” why Turkey poses an immediate strategic challenge, and why economic pressure remains the best weapon against Iran.

Plus: Israel’s resilient society, its failing political class, and the hard strategic lessons Americans still refuse to learn.

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