On Israel with Ben Caspit, an Al-Monitor podcast

Ben Caspit hosts this week on his podcast Orit Perlov, a leading social media analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies who specializes in social networks in the Arab world. Perlov said that Gazans were shocked over the outbreak of violence and barrages of rockets fired against Israel. "The writing was not on the wall. Nobody in Gaza was talking about this [on social networks]. Nobody in Gaza knew that something like that was going to erupt," she noted. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Caspit speaks this week with strategist Eran Etzion, who previously served as head of planning policy at Israel’s foreign ministry and as deputy head of the National Security Council in the prime minister's office. Etzion argues that the main reason for the escalation we now see both in east Jerusalem and the West Bank is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies — policies that he says are totally guided by Netanyahu’s own, narrow political considerations. "We are indeed in a dangerous situation, and the core driver of these events is Israeli politics. What hopefully we will see soon is a relatively quick transformation of Israeli politics and the assembling a new government, to be followed by, gradually over time, with changes of the political terrain, the security terrain and the country’s strategy,” he says. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Caspit speaks this week to professor Chuck Freilich, a senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. This expert on Israel’s national security strategy and Israel’s decision-making processes details five failures which brought about the tragedy of Mount Meron, where 45 people were trampled to death last week. For Freilich, the first reason relates to Israel’s top political leadership — including the prime minister, the minister of the interior, the minister of religious affairs and the minister of domestic security. "They all pressed all out to hold this festival without any restrictions on numbers. They’re all of course now doing their best to avoid taking any responsibility. They had pressed for [holding the celebrations on Mount Meron] despite the fact that the dangers were well known, and despite the dangers related to COVID," he said. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For his podcast this week, Ben Caspit hosts Tal Schneider, political correspondent for The Times of Israel. Schneider, an expert on Israel-US relations, says violence similar to that seen at the US Capitol on Jan. 6 is unlikely to happen in Israel. "Storming the Knesset is not really an option," she says. Yet if an anti-Netanyahu government is formed, the Likud party is expected to send swarms of demonstrators to the streets. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Caspit speaks this week with senior researcher and policy-planning expert Udi Evental. The former IDF colonel warns that Israel’s current policies on Iran and confronting the Biden administration over a return to the nuclear deal were crafted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alone, without any consultation or a decision-making process. Evental argues that the lack of a decision-making process has become a pattern in Israeli governing. Israeli silence over the expected US-Emirati F-35 deal and deteriorating bilateral relations with Jordan are two examples of this dangerous pattern. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Caspit speaks this week with Labor party chair Merav Michaeli, who succeeded in reviving a party on the brinks of demise. Despite gloom public opinion polls, under her leadership the Labor party garnered seven seats in the March 23 Knesset elections. Referring to the strong correlation between the party and the foundation of the country, Michaeli says that "in order for Israel to now re-build its Zionist vision, Labor must re-fulfil its leadership role." Michaeli laments Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cynical use, as she puts it, of Israeli Arabs, noting that late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was in fact the first to leader to put investment in the Arab society and equality on the national agenda.  

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Caspit speaks this week with Shimrit Meir, a senior Middle East analyst and journalist. The veteran commentator hails the exceptional campaign delivered by leader of the Arab Ra’am party Mansour Abbas. She says that Abbas’ preferred option is not a coalition with the center-left, but a coalition with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rightwing camp. Meir offers a variety of explanations as to why this is the case, such as his preference for a coalition with Jewish religious/conservative parties or Abbas’ desire to differentiate himself from the Arab Joint List and its leader Ayman Odeh. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Caspit speaks this week with Haaretz political analyst Chaim Levinson. The veteran columnist says that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wins in the upcoming elections, Israel could witness new legislation that would completely change the structure of its democracy. Explaining the electoral success of Israel’s premier, Levinson says Netanyahu "has the ability, the passion, the energy [and] the willingness to humiliate himself, in order to become prime minister."

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Caspit talks this week with Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute. Plesner warns that the undermining of Israel’s democracy may seem unconceivable, but is indeed possible. For Plesner, some eastern European countries — where democracy is being eroded — are models that Israel should not learn from. "Under certain circumstances we could find ourselves in a similar situation. It’s a situation where populist leaders frame their rule as the rule of a strong man representing the people against the elite, undermining free media, professional bureaucracy, civil society and independent judiciary,” he says. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As tensions between Israel and Iran continue to rise, Ben Caspit speaks with former Mossad Chief Efraim Halevy, who says Israel should revisit the issue of the Iran nuclear deal. "It would be a mistake to adopt the policy adopted by Israel when President [Donald] Trump came in, convincing him to leave the [deal]…Once you leave an agreement you no longer have a leverage on the other side," he said. Halevy believes that ultimately the best way to serve Israel’s interests should be opening a dialogue with Iran. From meetings he had with senior Iranians in the past decade, he concludes there is a desire in Tehran to have a dialogue, but for that to happen, the two sides must respect each other.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.