On Israel with Ben Caspit, an Al-Monitor podcast

Ben Caspit speaks this week with Israel’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Orit Farkash-Hacohen. Israel and the United States started this week a strategic dialogue focused on technological cooperation. The minister explains that "climate change, the covid pandemic, the desertification phenomenon and so many other international and regional issues, are all in essence technological challenges. Even security has become a technological challenge." Farksha-Hacohen says that the Israeli-American technological strategic cooperation plan launched this week builds on that understanding, that national security challenges faced by our two nations and by the world must involve a significant technological pillar if we are to cope with them efficiently. 

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Ben Caspit speaks this week with Knesset member for the Likud party Nir Barkat. The legislator just came back from a tour in the United States, where he campaigned against the Iranian nuclear program. Barkat argues that the Iranians do not hide their desire to annihilate Israel, and thus the international community should not try to conclude any deal with them. "You don’t make a deal with someone who wants to take you out of business. They want to destroy Israel, so what kind of a deal can you make with them? Instead of negotiating a deal, we must focus of creating a force that would threaten and deter Iran," says Barkat. He also argues that Tehran cannot be trusted with any kind of agreement, arguing, "they will surely breach the agreement from day one."

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Ben Caspit speaks this week with Attila Somfalvi, chief anchor at the Israeli Ynet news site and tv channel. Israel is preparing now for its fifth round of elections in less than four years. Somfalvi, a senior political analyst, says Israeli politics and society have deeply changed in the last few years. In the past, the political battle centered on the Palestinian issue, with the Peace Now camp on one side and those advocating against any territorial concessions on the other. This political duel is now gone, replaced by a struggle over the very nature of the state of Israel. The two camps — liberals and right-wingers — are now battling over how Israel’s democracy will look like in the coming years. "Opposition leader [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his Likud party no longer hide their ambition to change Israel, starting with its judicial system and judges," explains Somfalvi. 

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Ben Caspit speaks this week with Amir Tibon, who serves as deputy editor for Haaretz’ English edition. Tibon, an expert on Israel-US relations, believes that a nuclear deal with Iran is bound to be eventually reached, as it is in the interest of all the world powers involved in the negotiations. Tibon recalls that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried in 2015 to stop the agreement but failed. "Prime Minister [Yair] Lapid, alternate Prime Minister [Naftali] Bennett and Defense Minister [Benny] Gantz have adopted a more realistic policy, of trying to influence the agreement. They are not trying to kill it, but rather shape it so it would be more comfortable for Israel on certain aspects," he explains. 

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Ben Caspit speaks this week with veteran geologist Yossi Langostsky, considered the founding father of natural gas discoveries off the Israeli coast. Langotsky recounts that the first discovery took place in 1999, when he himself asked for an exploration-drilling permit for gas and oil, deep into Israel’s economic waters. Ten years later, actual drilling started, in an area Langotsky labeled the Tamar field, after his eldest granddaughter. The renowned geologist explains that the Tamar field could supply Israel with all the natural gas it needs for a period of 25 years. He also believes there is potential for discovering oil in the same region. Still, such exploration, he says, would require much deeper drillings and much more costly procedures.  

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Ben Caspit speaks this week with Maj. Keren Hajioff, the international spokesperson of Prime Minister Yair Lapid. Haijaoff has been managing relations with foreign media during the recent IDF operation in Gaza. Alongside the exchange of fire on the ground, Israel and Islamic Jihad also fought each other in the media arena. Hajioff explains that winning media battles requires more than the truth. "The difficult part is to make people listen, to make sure that the story goes viral. You have to find a way to get attention for your narrative, in order to amplify the message you want to share," she notes. 

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Ben Caspit speaks this week to Arkady Mil-man, the head of the Russia program at the Israel National Institute for Security Studies and previously Israel's ambassador to Russia and Azerbaijan. Over the past three weeks, tensions have increased between Moscow and Jerusalem. The reason for the diplomatic crisis is the decision by Russian authorities to stop the activities of the Jewish Agency, tasked with assisting Jews who want to emigrate to Israel. "The crisis over the Jewish Agency today is mostly the result of internal processes in Russia. For the last decade, the atmosphere in Russia became more and more hostile to foreigners, including locals who received support from outside Russia. Adding to this a rise in antisemitism and the war in Ukraine as strong catalyst to hostility towards the West, and we get the crisis we are now witnessing," argues Mil-Man.  

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Ben Caspit hosts this week Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman, the managing director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Hayman previously held a number of senior positions within the IDF, including chief of Military Intelligence. Referring to President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Israel, Hayman notes that the American leader clearly demonstrated his warm feelings and deep commitment to Israel, based on common values. "In our neighborhood, in the Middle East, it is very important to have powerful friends that are emotionally connected to you," he noted. Still, Hayman argues that the real achievement lies in the combination of the bilateral agreement between Israel and the US for technological and scientific cooperation, critical for Israeli research, and the Jerusalem Declaration, critical for Israel’s campaign against Iran. 

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Ben Caspit hosts this week Nadav Tamir, the executive director of J Street Israel. Commenting on US President Joe Biden's visit to the region last week, Tamir welcomed Washington's renewed interest in the Middle East. "I believe the current engagement of Biden with the Saudis is good for Israel. It is good not only from the perspective of those focused on normalization or a united front against Iran, but also on the Palestinian issue." The seasoned diplomat notes that the original idea of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump with the Abraham Accords was to bypass the Palestinians and show that Israel could normalize relations with Arab states without solving the conflict with the Palestinians. Still, Tamir believes that in the end it will actually be normalization that will help solve the Palestinian issue as well.

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Ben Caspit speaks this week with Ambassador Mark Regev. Having served under several governments, Regev says that US President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to Israel will politically serve both the American and the Israeli leaders. "Lapid obviously wants to be seen as a world statesman. Meeting French President Macron last week, and President Biden this week, could fix things visually for [Lapid], making him seen for the first time as an international statesman.” Biden’s 2010 visit to Israel as vice president didn’t go well, because of Israel’s announcement on new housing units to be built in the West Bank. Regev does not expect anything like that this time around. "I think both sides have an interest in making this work. I think we can expect a good visit," he says.  

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