State of Tel Aviv, Israel Podcast

A few days ago, PM Benjamin Netanyahu invited Moti Leitner to his office for a chat. It did not go well - for Netanyahu.

In July, Moti Leitner established a new political party - The Haredi Public - to represent the many ultra-orthodox Israelis who he said were not represented by legacy parties. Leitner believes that ultra-orthodox men should serve in the IDF, work to support their families and become full participants in Israeli society. Two of the top four candidates in his party are women, a groundbreaking development in the haredi world. I spoke earlier this week with Ziva Glantz, number four on the list of the Haredi Public party. Polls show them not reaching the threshold to enter the Knesset. But polls have been wrong before. And what we do know is that Leitner and his colleagues have caused significant concern for PM Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the two legacy haredi political parties. Ziva Glantz explains the radical platform and policy of the party in this truly eye-opening conversation. I was surprised by how open the party is to full and meaningful integration into all aspects of Israeli society. Should they make it into the Knesset their influence will be huge.

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Podcast Notes

Below - link to the Haredi Public party policy platform:

hatzibur-haharedi.org/en/platform

Ziva Glanz is a resident of Mevaseret Zion, and mother of five. She is also the CEO of the Sha’ar Group and founder of LaShuv, a network for the absorption of immigrants from Western countries. She is originally from Passaic, New Jersey, and made aliyah in 2005.

She began her management career at the age of twenty as an associate director for the Hebron Fund, managing relations with international donors and foundations. She then directed Jerusalem 5800, a private master plan for the greater Jerusalem metropolitan region covering tourism, transportation, and the regional economy. Since 2019 she has been CEO of the Sha’ar Group, which leads public-private partnerships in regional infrastructure projects requiring statutory planning approval. In 2020 she founded Rainmaker and Associates, which advises NGOs and international development initiatives on housing, retirement communities, and urban master plans.

In 2014 she organized donations and meals for soldiers and supplied essential equipment during Operation Protective Edge. On October 7, 2023, within hours of the attack, she issued purchase orders around the world for tactical equipment, rallied major donors to the war effort, and supplied equipment to soldiers on behalf of international organizations. She was subsequently appointed co-director of the Discretionary Fund of Israel, and directed the coordination of major donations from the civilian war room of the Ministry of Defense.

As founder of LaShuv, she built an umbrella network to unite organizations working in immigrant absorption and coordinate and streamline the long-term absorption of immigrants from Western countries. Through this network she assists groups seeking to make aliyah together and represents their housing, education, and community needs in government ministries.

She has been involved with The Next Step, the Israeli association for amputees, since its first day. She also co-founded an international support group for bereaved Jewish mothers and worked with state authorities to change how bereaved parents are treated and how registration and burial of infants are handled. She holds a master’s degree in public administration with a focus on government administration, and a bachelor’s in biology.

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We are down to the wire and the pace of electioneering in Israel is suddenly off the charts. In the midst of all the speculation about who will pass the electoral threshold and who will join a government with this one or that one……I sat down yesterday with B’Yachad candidate and campaign worker, Mati Gill. Naftali Bennett leads the party, with Yair Lapid in the second chair. When the veteran politicians announced their union last spring, they enjoyed a brief surge inthe polls followed by dip and a long lull. They have picked up momentum recently and Bennett, in particular, seems to be everywhere.

Mati Gil is a Bennett insider. We had a long conversation on Monday on the two issues that I see as being the most important in this election: the IDF draft and a State Commission of Inquiry into October 7. Like may B’Yachad candidates and supporters, Gill has significant private sector experience in addition to having worked in the public sector. Bennett and Lapid are ready to overhaul pretty much all the key institutions and state functions with a running start. A political team that has deep experience in government and business is rare and desperately needed in Israel. And one of their priorities? Develop a sophisticated state approach to public diplomacy to begin to tackle the badly damaged image and reputation of Israel internationally. It’s a fascinating discussion and an opportunity to understand what the Bennett-Lapid team plans, should they form the government.

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Mati Gill is a B’Yachad candidate for Knesset and a biotech executive and entrepreneur. He is the founding CEO of AION Labs, a venture studio with a first-of-its-kind company creation model for new start-ups utilizing AI for drug discovery and development. Prior to founding AION Labs, Mati was a senior executive at Teva Pharmaceuticals and served as Chief of Staff for Israel’s Minister of Public Security. He is an IDF veteran (Maj. res.)`and currently serves on the boards of the Israel Advanced Technology Industries Association (IATI) and the Israel America Chamber of Commerce (AmCham).

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Ya’akov Katz is back to discuss hardcore politics. We are two weeks before an election that so many believe is the most important im Israel’s history. But you’d hardly know it. Campaigns seem to lack energy. It feels like everyone should be talking about this constantly, but they aren’t. Ya’akov and I look at why things seem so slow. And he explains why is certain that the campaign tempo will pick up in the coming days. We get into the refusal of most ultra-orthodox Israelis to serve in the IDF and their determination to remain separate and autonomous from Israeli society. This isolationism is perhaps the biggest issue in the election…one that PM Netanyahu will do everything possible to avoid talking about.

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Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.

He is the author of three books: “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards—How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.”

Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel’s Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.

In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.

Find Yaakov Katz on X.

“Crisply written... draws on excellent sources within Israel’s military and intelligence services.” —The Wall Street JournalA powerful indictment of the political and military decisions that led to October 7While Israel Slept tells the gripping inside story of how Hamas, Israel’s weakest enemy, succeeded in launching a surprise attack on one of the world’s most powerful militaries. Through a detailed examination of the events leading up to October 7, 2023, the book exposes the intelligence and strategic failures that enabled this devastating invasion. It takes readers back in time, showing how years of complacency, mistaken intelligence analysis, and a misguided policy of containment enabled Hamas to prepare for an assault that Israel did not believe was possible and that would change the Middle East.The book unveils the dramatic events of the night before the attack, highlighting the cracks in Israel’s military and political leadership. It provides unprecedented details on how key warnings were missed, and how Israel ignored the growing threat from Hamas, believing that the group was weak and deterred. By exposing these failures, While Israel Slept offers a stark, sobering account of how overconfidence and complacency paved the way for disaster, while underscoring the critical lessons Israel must embrace to safeguard its future.

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After a lovely Friday night dinner recently, I asked my friend - an October 7 survivor from one of the border communities: “What were you thinking about during those hours in the ’safe room’?” His response took me aback. “I was thinking of the Hebron Massacre in 1929.”

As the Arabs in Hebron slaughtered their Jewish neighbors on August 23-24, 1929, they shouted: “Allahu Akhbar. Kill the Jews.”

Huddled with his daughter on October 7, 2023, my friend heard the same blood curdling screams on his kibbutz, almost one hundred years later. “Allahu Akhbar. Kill the Jews.”

Two years ago, an extraordinarily powerful, incisive, and important book shed light on the Original Lie that has fueled feral anti-Zionism and antisemitism that have intensified over the last century. And this Lie is now the dominant narrative in the west, featuring the Jews as colonialist occupiers oppressing the indigenous population; alleging that the “Jews” have a sinister plan to “occupy” the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

The origin of The Lie is exposed and discussed in Yardena Schwartz’s book: Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine that Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict. In this episode, we feature an extensive interview with Yardena Schwartz, who brings to life the horror of the Hebron Massacre of Jews in 1929, through the letters and story of a young American man who was among those slaughtered. Her historical research is masterful. And the parallels to October 7 are eerie; in terms of the religious propaganda and incitement, betrayal of the Hebron Jews by their Arab “friends” and neighbors, and the willful blindness on the part of the Jews to the existential danger lurking, everywhere. We weave the past with the present - and take you to present day Hebron to see where it happened. We hear from a local Jewish woman who has lived there for more than 40 years.

It is a longer podcast than usual, so take your time to soak it up. There is a lot in here. I have worked on this for more than one year. This episode has a lot of visual content that is quite fascinating but it can be enjoyed in audio form if you prefer.

It is a journey that will shake you to your core. In a good way. Because what Yardena Schwartz learned and writes is brilliant, fresh and has never been treated so carefully.

00:00 Introduction: A “safe room” on October 7th, and the memory of 192902:18 Introducing Yardena Schwartz and “Ghosts of a Holy War”03:12 Why the Hebron massacre is also the story of October 7th04:23 Walking the streets of Hebron with Shelli Karzen06:48 A word to our listeners and supporters08:23 Interview: Yardena Schwartz 09:31 A box of letters in a Memphis attic13:09 Who was David Shainberg?16:15 From Wharton to a Hebron yeshiva19:37 Jewish life in Hebron, 1928: coexistence22:32 Second-class citizens: the limits of tolerance24:32 The match is lit: the Grand Mufti’s campaign26:17 Documentary excerpt: Haj Amin al-Husseini28:42 The Al-Aqsa lie and the Western Wall, Yom Kippur 192832:30 From 1929 to the “Al-Aqsa Flood”: Hamas’s Ghazi Hamad34:59 Tisha B’Av 1929. The riots begin41:43 A myth that has lasted a century: The Jews are taking over Al Aqsa42:37 August 24, 1929: the massacre in Hebron45:22 Where it happened: Shelli Karzen outside of Hadassah Hospital, Hebron47:53 Aftermath: A city without Jews51:06 1947, the Mufti, and the Nazis52:08 How 1929 ignited the Arab-Israeli conflict1:01:52 Closing thoughts with Yardena Schwartz1:03:16 Introducing Shelli Karzen1:06:55 Shelli Karzen on life in Hebron

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Podcast Notes:

* Yardena Schwartz’s website with information about the book and more: www.yardenaschwartz.com

* Link to full documentary about the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the creative mind behind The Original Lie

Yardena Schwartz is an award-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated producer who was based in Israel for a decade until 2023. Her reporting from four continents has appeared in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Review of Books, The Economist, TIME, National Geographic, and Foreign Policy. Yardena previously worked at NBC News and MSNBC. She graduated with honors from Columbia Journalism School in 2011, received an Emmy nomination for her work at MSNBC in 2013, and the RNA award for excellence in magazine reporting in 2016. Yardena now lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her husband and children. Ghosts of a Holy War is her first book.

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From the earliest moments of the October 7 attack, there were questions about “journalists” who happened to be present when Israeli soldiers were being lynched; when civilians were being kidnapped, and more. Well, it turns out that at least 170 “journalists” were in fact Hamas and PIJ operatives. The IDF has published the Press Files – a online dossier documenting 170 terrorists masquerading as members of the press, with evidence culled from open source material as well as interrogations and other information to which they have access. The project was published on Friday, October 2. And the international media barely noticed. They ignored it, in large part. Except for Piers Morgan – an independent media personality (who cut his teeth in the UK tabloid industry) and has close to ten-million social media followers. Morgan was targeted in an IDF social media post about the project. He lashed back, saying that he finds it difficult to believe anything that the IDF says. And so on.

Well, Morgan and others may not like it but facts do not lie. And the IDF has amassed an impressive compendium of facts. In this podcast we speak with former IDF Spokesperson and FDD Senior Fellow, Jonathan Conricus, as well as IDF Deputy Spokesperson, Ben Cohen. We get into the deeply entrenched media bias against Israel and discuss certain issues and events in detail – like the October 17, 2023 incident in which a PIJ rocket backfired. Hamas and PIJ told the world that Israel had dropped an ordinance on a hospital killing 500. No one questioned that libel – which fueled wild antisemitic riots the world over. In this podcast, we show footage of the PIJ political spokesperson explaining the anatomy of the lie that night and every day since, and before. He confirms that hospitals and ambulances and schools and all civilian infrastructure used by PIJ and Hamas as a matter of course. It’s all in here. And it should be sending shock waves through western newsrooms.

But……nary a ripple.

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Jonathan Conricus is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. He served in the IDF for 24 years, four of them as spokesman during the intense 11 days of the Guardian of the Walls Operation between Israel and Hamas. Now a reserve officer with the rank of Lt. Col., he is a sought-after speaker internationally and is frequently seen on major television news shows. Jonathan was born in Jerusalem to a Swedish father and an Israeli mother and spent his formative years in Sweden.

Podcast Notes

* Link to the IDF “Press Files”

* Video of interrogation of PIJ Political Bureau Spokesman

* Video of interrogation of a hospital manager (who has been an active Hamas operative for 15 years) who explains how civilian infrastucture is used and controlled by Hamas and PIJ.

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As thousands of Israelis have returned to live in the communities that were attacked on October 7, many are surprised by the security situation they are encountering. Ilan Cohen is the head of the defense squad at Kibbutz Re’im, which was among the small villages attacked by Hamas and PIJ terrorists. He was one of the first Re’im residents to return to his kibbutz home and has been instrumental in encouraging others to do the same. Cohen says that 96% of Re’im residents are back. But - he also tells State of Tel Aviv and Beyond about disturbing signs along the Gaza border that are eerily reminiscent of the way things were before October 7. So - I spoke to Ilan Cohen in late August about his concerns and the reality on the ground. But I begin this podcast with some raw footage taken from the CCTV cameras at the front gate of Kibbutz Re’im on October 7 - and I explain what happened that morning. It is surreal. We then show footage from February, 2026, when I was embedded with the IDF for a quick trip to a forward base within the Gaza Strip, in Israeli-controlled territory. We were right up against the “Yellow Line”, which is the demarcation between the Israeli controlled part of the Strip and the area where Hamas is entrenched. I include a short interview with then Lt. Col. and IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani, as well as a clip with him speaking over live gunfire in the background. Just another routine day along the border. I thought that background context was important before we dive into the conversation with Ilan Cohen.

This is the reality we live with in Israel and, particularly, along the border with the Gaza Strip, not far from where I live.

Please note that we are now providing AI-generated chapters, which I think are enormously helpful. Hope you do as well. And keep your eyes peeled for our email dispatch dropping on Monday. New Year. New things coming from State of Tel Aviv and Beyond. Have a lovely weekend. Celebrate life and miracles. And what a miracle we witnessed in the skies a few days ago. Unreal.

We are heading into a very tough week. The third “anniversary”/commemoration of October 7. Thanks for being here.

Timestamps

00:00 Issues dominating Israel’s election - focus on Gaza border security01:01 State of Tel Aviv and Beyond request for support02:42 Who is Ilan Cohen? Head of security at Kibbutz Re’im03:33 October 7th CCTV: Hamas at the Re’im gate07:02 From Kissufim to Re’im: how the attack unfolded08:17 Embedded with the IDF on the Yellow Line09:32 Inside the fight against Hamas tunnels13:44 Live gunfire during the IDF briefing14:39 Is the Gaza border more dangerous than before Oct 7?15:23 Interview: Ilan Cohen on life in the Gaza Envelope16:47 “Nobody learned anything from October 7th”19:07 Hamas is testing the border again21:28 Why 96% of Re’im residents came home22:46 The October 7th Council report: ignored warnings23:30 Kibbutz defense squads vs. relying on the IDF24:48 Would the IDF show up today?26:57 Has Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir visited the border?27:55 Wrap-up

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State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

It’s great to be back with the wonderful Ya’akov Katz doing what we love… jousting about Israeli politics. Although these days we agree on most things. Especially the imperative of Israel electing a different government on October 27.

I’ve been in North America for a month now and am asked everywhere… ”Will Bibi win? If not him then who can run the country?” One thing has become clear… there is a significant gap between the reality in Israel and the understanding in Canada and the US as to how critical the situation is. Israel is not just in another rough spot.

Israel is very much on the brink…if not over it… and we desperately need a government that will restore accountability and equality in a dangerously cleaved society. So Ya’akov and I decided to explain why this election is more about a viable coalition than a particular leader. In a country of 10-million people… Benjamin Netanyahu is not the only person who can lead us into the future.

Show your support for STLV at buymeacoffee.com/stateoftelaviv

Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.

He is the author of three books: “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards—How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.”

Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel’s Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.

In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.

Find Yaakov Katz on X.

“Crisply written... draws on excellent sources within Israel’s military and intelligence services.” —The Wall Street JournalA powerful indictment of the political and military decisions that led to October 7While Israel Slept tells the gripping inside story of how Hamas, Israel’s weakest enemy, succeeded in launching a surprise attack on one of the world’s most powerful militaries. Through a detailed examination of the events leading up to October 7, 2023, the book exposes the intelligence and strategic failures that enabled this devastating invasion. It takes readers back in time, showing how years of complacency, mistaken intelligence analysis, and a misguided policy of containment enabled Hamas to prepare for an assault that Israel did not believe was possible and that would change the Middle East.The book unveils the dramatic events of the night before the attack, highlighting the cracks in Israel’s military and political leadership. It provides unprecedented details on how key warnings were missed, and how Israel ignored the growing threat from Hamas, believing that the group was weak and deterred. By exposing these failures, While Israel Slept offers a stark, sobering account of how overconfidence and complacency paved the way for disaster, while underscoring the critical lessons Israel must embrace to safeguard its future.

State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In recent decades, the burgeoning ultra-orthodox demographic in Israel has become increasingly autonomous and aggressively entitled. They have leveraged their political power skilfully - as the “Kingmakers” in successive elections. And their support has been very richly rewarded - particularly by PM Benjamin Netanyahu. He has diverted significant state funds to haredi institutions and programs in return for their coalition support. Four years ago, when negotiating the present coalition government, Netanyahu promised the haredi parties that the government would pass a law granting exempting ultra-orthodox men who studied religion full-time from IDF service. Additionally, the ultra-orthodox were allocated significant increases in financial support for families with a full-time religious student. In fact, haredi families are fully supported financially by the state. And in the last three years of near-constant war - when so many Israelis have given so much - state largesse to the ultra-orthodox has exceeded that allocated to veterans and their families. Day care is just one of many examples. Haredi families receive very generous stipends for day care costs, far more than what is provided to non-haredim. But their refusal to serve in the IDF and share the security burden that is so critical to Israel’s survival, well, that is too much. In this episode, we speak with Uri Keidar, who heads Free Israel, an NGO focused on policy that addresses religion and state matters. We discuss a recent hearing at the Supreme Court of Israel in which a non-judge panel heard arguments as to why haredi men who dodge their draft call-ups should be subject to arrest and criminal charges. This issue is tearing at the heart and soul of the country, perhaps more than any other. It is not the external enemies that will destroy Israel. It is the domestic madness.

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Podcast Notes

I mention this recent STLV article in the podcast that chronicles the last-minute efforts by the ultra-orthodox political parties to ram a law through the Knesset exempting haredi men from serving in the IDF. There are some great clips from committee discussions (with English subtitles) that show you the reality of this issue. It’s kind of surreal:

Uri Keidar is the Executive Director of Israel Hofsheet, the largest advocacy organization in Israel in the field of religious freedom and Jewish pluralism. Israel Hofsheet works with members of the Knesset, ministers, and government officials to promote liberal policies regarding Religion and State, and it also fosters change through municipal politics and change-maker training. The organization also creates national campaigns that move the needle around public opinion on these ideas. It also promotes Bottom-Up change as it conducts hundreds of Jewish weddings a year without the Chief Rabbinate’s involvement, making it the most prominent organization in Israel to do so.

Before this role, Uri spent over seven years in leading positions in civil society organizations and politics, both in elected and professional positions. Uri grew up in Kibbutz Givat Brenner, where he now lives with his wife, Ayelet, and their children, Imri, Adam, and Eytan. He also serves as the elected Chair of the Kibbutz’s Municipal Committee. Uri earned his BA in political science and communications from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, where he served as the elected Chairperson of the Student Union, and also holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Tel Aviv University. He completed his military service as a tank commander in the IDF’s armored corps, where he still serves in active reserve duty.

Find Uri Keidar on Social Media:facebook.com/bfreeisraelinstagram.com/israel_hofsheet

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FDD Senior Fellow and former IDF Spokesperson, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus is back and dives deeply today on three issues: What’s really going on with Hamas? How should we interpret the tension between IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Minister of Defense, Yisrael Katz? And of course - we get into Iran. Trump seems to be very indecisive and there are strong signs that the power struggle within Iran between the “moderate” political leadership and the hardline IRGC is becoming more entrenched. Conricus and I discuss the many concerning signs around the much-ballyhooed Board of Peace “agreement” with Hamas to disarm and relinquish power that was announced a few days ago. People have been writing to me and asking - “Is this real?” Who better to turn to on that question than Jonathan Conricus..

There are no clear terms, no protocols for overseeing and verifying disarmament and no indication that Hamas is actually serious about any of these initiatives. But President Trump needs a win…..and a distraction from the mess in which he’s entangled in Iran. And he seems to think that a very porous “agreement” with Hamas will divert attention from Iran. We discuss all that and more - with an interlude in the middle section about political brinksmanship between the IDF Chief of Staff and the Minister of Defense.

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Jonathan Conricus is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. He served in the IDF for 24 years, four of them as spokesman during the intense 11 days of the Guardian of the Walls Operation between Israel and Hamas. Now a reserve officer with the rank of Lt. Col., he is a sought-after speaker internationally and is frequently seen on major television news shows. Jonathan was born in Jerusalem to a Swedish father and an Israeli mother and spent his formative years in Sweden.

State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I spoke with Sharren Haskel in mid July, within days of her resignation from the Knesset. Immediately after the coalition government voted to recognize religious study as being a national foundational value, Haskel left the Knesset chamber and went straight to the cluster of reporters in the hallway. She would not stand by as the government made decisions that immediately imperiled the safety and security of Israel. For months, the IDF Chief of Staff has been warning the government that the army is about to collapse in on itself. Prime Minister Netanyahu pushed ahead, regardless, with his promise to the ultra-orthodox parties to enact a law giving them a lifetime exemption from IDF service. This policy is pushing Israelis - exhausted from three years of war - to the brink. Perhaps over. National unity and values are shaping up to be the key issue in this election to be held on October 27. There is no more fundamental value than security and defense. And equality. Sharren Haskel has long fought for these core principles and is now staking her political future on ensuring that this next election brings the change that more than 70% of Israelis want. A universal draft and an end to the absurd financial and other entitlements allocated to the haredim. We discuss this critical moment in the history of Israel and how she intends to bring much needed change Sharren is also one of the few women in the political scene. Israel used to be so much more progressive than so many countries. Or so it seemed. As haredi power becomes more entrenched and Likud is a hollowed-out husk of talent, we see a government dominated by older men. Older tired men. It is time for a new wave of talent and leadership.

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Sharren Haskel is married and the mother of three young children.

At 18, she served in the Israel Defense Force, as a combat soldier in the Border Guards during the Second Intifada. Following her military service, Deputy Minister Haskel pursued a career in veterinary medicine.

Haskel holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Relations from The Open University in Israel, where she also was the Israeli national debating champion. She entered the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) in 2015.

In November 2024, she was sworn in as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. She resigned from her position in mid July, immediately following the Knesset vote recognizing religious study as a foundational value of

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