The Beinart Notebook

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Our guests are Gaza-born Palestinian writer Ahmed Moor, a regular contributor to The Guardian and a fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, and Mairav Zonszein, Israel analyst for the International Crisis Group, and a regular contributor to the New York Times. Topics discussed include…

How what people are calling a “ceasefire” might realistically play out

What Hamas’s current thinking might be

the visions for Gaza in the Israeli government, the military, and the Israeli public

How things might change for Palestinians if Hamas is removed from power

Netanyahu’s domestic political prospects

how global pressure might be affecting Israel

the difficulty for Palestinians of imagining making peace with a people who have done them so much harm

Every week, I link to the GoFundMe page for Hossam and Mariam Alzweidi, who live in Gaza with their four children and have been injured by Israeli bombs and displaced ten times since October 7, and are trying to leave. I know putting up a Go Fund Me for one family is totally inadequate given the scale of the horror in Gaza, and the millions of people there who need our help—and most of all, need an end to this monstrous slaughter. Still, it’s something.

Please considering helping.

Friday Zoom Call

This Friday’s Zoom call, for paid subscribers, will be at our regular time, 1 PM Eastern. Our guests will be the Gaza-born Palestinian writer Ahmed Moor, a regular contributor to The Guardian and a fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace and Mairav Zonszein, Israel analyst for the International Crisis Group and a regular contributor to the New York Times. We’ll talk about what a ceasefire in Gaza might look like, what politics and society in Gaza will be like if and when the bombs stop falling, what the political repercussions will be in Israel, and about the broader legacy of this assault on an entire society.

Cited in Today’s Video

Three pro-Israel podcasts now admit that Israel can’t defeat Hamas in Gaza.

The (mostly Palestinian) analysts who predicted that—and were ignored—after October 7.

Israel has killed roughly four percent of Gaza’s population since October 7.

Things to Read

(Maybe this should be obvious, but I link to articles and videos I find provocative and significant, not necessarily ones I entirely agree with.)

In Jewish Currents (subscribe!), I wrote about what Democrats can learn from the way Zohran Mamdani talks about Israel and antisemitism.

In The New York Times, I argued that Mamdani’s victory illustrates how rapidly Democratic public opinion is changing on Israel.

I talked about Mamdani’s victory with Yousef Munayyer and Heba Gowayed for the Arab Center and on WCPT 820 in Chicago.

I talked to Rudy Rochman about whether the world treats Israel unfairly.

A reporter who covered the Palestinian intifadas reflects on what the term means.

The (mostly Palestinian) analysts who predicted Israel’s defeat—and were ignored—after October 7.

See you on Friday,

Peter

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

So, I spend a fair amount of time kind of listening to people I disagree with. I try to do it on our Friday Zoom calls for this newsletter. But I just do it a lot on my own time, too. I generally find, to be honest, that actually I learn more listening to people who I disagree with than those who I generally agree with. And so, on Israel and Palestine, I spend a fair amount of time kind of listening to pro-Israel podcasts and reading pro-Israel writers. First of all, I just find that there are sources of information they have that I wouldn’t have, or people who have views more like mine wouldn’t have. I don’t find those podcasts to be very useful at all in terms of understanding what’s happening to Palestinians, or really how Palestinians might react to things. But they are quite useful in kind of giving you a sense of the perspective of Israeli political insecurity establishment, the kind of Israeli political mainstream, and often the American Jewish kind of political mainstream as well.

And so, it really, really struck me, kind of listening last week to several podcasts that there was this really, really frank acknowledgement that this destruction of Gaza has failed. The destruction of Gaza has failed on its own terms. Even if you didn’t give a s**t about the humanity and the lives of people in Gaza, which, of course, you should care about profoundly. That on its own terms, it has failed, right? What were the two goals of the war? Not as defined by me, but as defined by Benjamin Netanyahu, right? The first was the release of the return of the hostages. We know, it’s been clear for such a long time now, that the only way Israel has gotten significant number of hostages back has been by ending the war, through ceasefire deals, that military action has actually led to the death of more hostages than it has gotten them released, right?

But the second goal, of course, was the destruction of Hamas. Total victory over Hamas, right? And what’s astonishing to me is how you find these very, very pro-war establishment Israeli Jewish voices, now saying, very frankly, ain’t gonna happen. It’s not going to happen. That has failed. And I want to quote a few of them. So, the first is Nadav Eyal, who’s a columnist for Yedioth Ahronoth. This is him on Dan Senor’s “Call Me Back” podcast. Nadav Eyal is a kind of, you know, very centrist establishment journalist, very close to the Israeli security establishment. This is what he says about the prospect of disarming Hamas at any point.

He says, ‘disarming is really not going to happen for two reasons. First of all, Hamas isn’t going to agree to that in the way we think about disarmament. And secondly, even if they will, no one will be able to verify it.’ So, he’s saying, in any future deal with Hamas, Hamas will not be disarmed, right? The disarmament of Hamas is not going to happen. Yes, Israel has destroyed a lot of Hamas’s weaponry, but Nadav Eyal is smart enough to recognize that Hamas will be able to, you know, build new weaponry. In fact, it’s using a lot of weaponry, as he acknowledges now, from the massive amounts of armaments that Israel has dropped on Hamas. So, he’s saying that Hamas will not be disarmed. He also quotes Ronen Bar, the outgoing head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, who said recently, ‘as long as there will be Palestinians in Gaza, there will be Hamas in Gaza.’ I’ll read it again. ‘As long as there will be Palestinians in Gaza, there will be Hamas in Gaza.’ This is Ronen Bar, the outgoing head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service. So, Hamas will be there, Hamas will not be disarmed.

This is a quote now from another podcast from an Israeli journalist named Haviv Rettig Gur. Again, also, I would say, very centrist, very hawkish, you know, ideologically in a very, very radically different place than me, but a smart guy, right? And he says, ‘what’s the grand strategy to take a thousand little battles over 21 months and turn them into a great and significant win?’ And then he goes on, ‘nobody has articulated one in public or anywhere.’ Twenty-one months in to this destruction of Gaza, Haviv Rettig Gur, who’s been a strong supporter of the war, says, nobody has articulated any plan for how to take these individual battles where Israel’s killing Hamas members, it’s killing lots of civilians, it’s destroyed hospitals and buildings. Nobody has articulated, after 21 months, a vision for how to turn that into victory, right?

And then the third, I’m gonna quote from Donniel Hartman, who’s the head of the Hartman Institute, which is a Jerusalem-based think tank, kind of liberal Zionist, quite influential among establishment American Jews, a lot of American rabbis have strong connections. This is Donniel Hartman, again who’s been a supporter of the war. He says, ‘the ability of completely wiping out Hamas is really off the table. It’s just off the table. There’s no deal in which Hamas agrees to waive the white flag.’ And then later he says, ‘the total victory is as far away as it was on October 8th.’

So, here’s what I think is likely to happen, right? There is going to be some kind of ceasefire deal likely. And, clearly, in it—as these guys are suggesting—Hamas will not be defeated. Hamas will not be defeated. Now, Hamas may not be the titular government in Gaza. They may claim that there’s some new government, if some mishmash of Arab regimes and maybe the Palestinian Authority, maybe some other Palestinians that they managed to drum up to claim that they’re in control. Maybe they’ll even be a couple of, you know, a few Hamas people who go into exile. But, essentially, underneath the surface, on the ground in Gaza, Hamas will be there. It will be an extremely powerful force. It will have its weapons, and it will c…

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Our guest is Brad Lander, the Jewish City Comptroller of New York, and mayoral candidate, who cross-endorsed Zohran Mamdani and helped propel him to victory. In my opinion, Lander’s behavior modeled what a decent Jewish politics in America might look like. Topics discussed include…

Andrew Cuomo

How Lander’s relationship with Zohran Mamdani evolved

Lander’s differences with Mamdani, on Israel and on local issues

Criticism from parts of the Jewish community

Criticism of Mamdani’s agenda for New York City

The lack of support for Mamdani from prominent Democrats

“Globalize the Intifada”

Anti-Zionism versus liberal Zionism, one-state versus two-states

Every week I link to the GoFundMe page for Hossam and Mariam Alzweidi, who live in Gaza with their four children and have been injured by Israeli bombs and displaced ten times since October 7, and are trying to leave. I know putting up a Go Fund Me for one family is totally inadequate given the scale of the horror in Gaza, and the millions of people there who need our help— and most of all, need an end to this monstrous slaughter. Still, it’s something.

On June 24, Hossam sent the following message:

Today, I had the heart-wrenching experience of carrying my injured son, Mu’ayyad, through the rubble-strewn streets to the Ministry of Health headquarters. With the bombings intensifying around us, even reaching the building felt like a small miracle.

At the Ministry, the head of the Overseas Treatment Department examined Mu’ayyad. His words shattered us: Mu’ayyad’s injuries are extensive and life-threatening. He urgently needs surgery and specialized care that are simply not available here in Gaza.

While others in our family were also injured in the blast in 2024 and need medical attention, Mu’ayyad’s condition is far more severe. When the bomb hit, he was standing closest to the window—facing it—while the others had their backs turned. He absorbed the full force of the explosion, and his body bears the deepest wounds.

Yet in the midst of despair, there is a glimmer of hope. The department has arranged for Mu’ayyad—and another child in serious condition—to meet with a specialist doctor. This appointment is critical. The doctor’s assessment will help determine whether we can complete Form No. 1, required to seek urgent treatment abroad.

My wife, Miriam, our children, and I are holding on to this hope with all that we have. We are waiting to hear the appointment date, God willing. Each day, I reach out to everyone involved, praying for positive developments that could lead to a brighter future for Mu'ayyad. It aches to see him enduring these terrible injuries, and I pray that God grants him the strength and patience he needs during this incredibly tough time. Your support means a great deal to us; it fuels our determination to keep moving forward. Your presence inspires us as we strive to overcome this tragedy and seek the medical help that we urgently need.

Please considering helping.

Friday Zoom Call

This Friday’s Zoom call, for paid subscribers, will be at our regular time, 1 PM Eastern. Our guest will be Brad Lander, the Jewish City Comptroller of New York, and mayoral candidate, who cross-endorsed Zohran Mamdani and helped propel him to victory. In my opinion, Lander’s behavior modeled what a decent Jewish politics in America might look like. We’ll talk about Mamdani, the responses of Jewish New Yorkers to his victory, and why Lander did what he did.

Ask Me Anything

Our next Ask Me Anything session, for premium subscribers, will be this Monday, June 30, from 3-4 PM Eastern time.

Cited in Today’s Video

Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic members of Congress Eric Swallwell and Laura Gillen attack Zohran Mamdani.

Things to Read

(Maybe this should be obvious, but I link to articles and videos I find provocative and significant, not necessarily ones I entirely agree with.)

In Jewish Currents (subscribe!), Mari Cohen details how, across the US, support for Palestinian freedom became considered a hate crime.

For the Jewish Currents podcast, I talked with Arielle Angel, Mari Cohen, and Alex Kane about how Zohran Mamdani defeated the pro-Israel machine.

For the Foundation for Middle East Peace’s Occupied Thoughts podcast, I interviewed Iranian-American journalist Negar Mortazavi.

Muhammad Shehada on the ISIS-related gangs Israel is backing in Gaza.

See you on Monday and Friday,

Peter

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

So, what’s been really depressing to me about the response to Zohran Mamdani’s victory kind of in mainstream media discussion, particularly on TV, is not the response of Republicans. I mean, many Republicans have been kind of blatantly Islamophobic. But in the era of Donald Trump, why would anyone be surprised, you know, by that? It’s really the response by Democrats, and the kind of the conversations between Democrats in mainstream, not right-wing political anchors, on TV that I find really most dispiriting. Because the only thing that they’re interested in when it comes to the subject of Israel is Mamdani’s, you know, statements about globalize the intifada.

Now, again, if you do an interview and you only talk to people about Mamdani’s, you know, record about New York, I think that’s legitimate. I mean, the guy ran on making New York affordable. But if you’re going to ask Democrats about things having to do with his views on Israel, right, how on earth is it justified to have the only thing that you ask about, his claim about globalizing the intifada? For the record, I don’t think his answer in that Bulwark interview on globalize the intifada was a good answer. The thing about intifada is that it’s an ambiguous term. It can mean non-violent uprising. It can mean violent uprising against soldiers. It can mean a violent uprising against civilians, which is a war crime, a violation of international law. Mamdani doesn’t know how other people are using the term. He should have just said that the term can be inverted in, you know, that’s not my term, here’s what I believe, and talk about his belief in nonviolence and his belief in inequality.

But to claim that Zohran Mamdani represents a threat to Jewish New Yorkers, is just ridiculous, right? I mean, if you just listen to what the guy has said in any kind of good faith, he’s again and again and again and again said he wants to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe. He’s talked about how serious antisemitism is as a problem. He talked about increasing funding to fight hate crimes by 800%, right? So, yes, there’s anti-Semitism. But Zora Mamdani does not pose a threat to Jewish New Yorkers, and most Jewish New Yorkers actually really know that, which is part of the reason why Mamdani’s actually done pretty well, according to polls among Jewish New Yorkers.

The people whose lives are in grave threat, who are threatened by a state, right, are Palestinians in Gaza, right? It’s not on the front page of the news anymore, but Palestinians continue to be slaughtered, actually an escalating numbers, right? The slaughter goes on and on, the bombing goes on and on, it’s just more and more hellish. It becomes more and more hellish every single day. So, how on earth, if you are a Democratic politician, like these Democrats who were asked about Mamdani, like Jefferies, and Gillibrand, and Swalwell, this Congressman from California, this Congresswoman from Nassau County on Long Island, how on earth can you justify making your one comment about this question, about Israel, being the question of kind of attacking Mamdani for globalize the Intifada, right?

And if you’re a news anchor, right, because the Democratic Party claims to believe that human lives are equal, right? It’s not like the Republican Party. It claims to believe that human lives are equal, right? And if you’re a mainstream news anchor who, again, also supposedly operates within some kind of broadly liberal framework, how can you justify having the one question you ask which relates to Israel and Palestine be this question about global the intifada, when you have an active slaughter going on, which has now been ruled a genocide by both of the world’s most prominent human rights organizations in different ways, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch. Again, I’m gonna keep repeating this, because it doesn’t seem to get through, right? I mean, like, in mainstream media. And basically, by most of the international legal scholars who focus on this. The Dutch newspaper NRC basically went out and interviewed a whole bunch of them, including Israelis. They all said it’s now a genocide.

If you believe in human equality, how could you possibly justify asking about …

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Our guest is Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California who, along with Republican Thomas Massie, has introduced legislation invoking the War Powers Act to bar the US from attacking Iran absent congressional approval. Questions included…

What lessons can Democrats take from Zohran Mamdani’s upset victory, both in general, and on the subject of Israel-Palestine?

Why was the response of the Democratic leadership to Israel’s and America’s attacks on Iran so weak?

What do you think about the prospects of American liberal democracy under Trump?

How much do you and members of Congress fear for your physical safety?

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Jonathan Chait recently wrote a piece for the Atlantic criticizing Zohran Mamdani for not condemning the phrase “Globalize the Intifada.” I called Chait to discuss it. Questions I raised include:

* What is your problem with this particular use of the word uprising?

* If someone explicitly said “globalize the intifada” to them meant peaceful resistance, like supporting sanctions, would you still object to its use?

* Why should “globalize the intifada” be seen as more inherently violent than pro-Israel phrases like “Israel has the right to defend itself” or “We stand with the IDF”?

* What about all the violence in the US from the pro-Israel camp?

* You support Ukranian armed resistance against the Russsian occupation (soldiers, not civilians), so what’s the distinction when it comes to the 58-year occupation of Palestinians?

* Have you ever been to the West Bank?

JUNE “ASK ME ANYTHING”

Our June AMA, for Premium paid subscribers, will be this Monday, June 30, at 3pm ET. We’ll send out a Zoom link Monday morning. If you want to upgrade your subscription to participate, just hit the button above.

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In the wake of the US attack on Iran, I reached out to Iran expert, author and president of The Quincy Institute, Trita Parsi. Questions included…

Why did Trump do this?

Is regime change in Iran a goal of either Trump or Israel?

How do you expect Iran to respond?

How is the Iranian public reacting?

Might the current regime fail, and what is likely to replace it if it does?

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Andile Zulu is a political writer and researcher at the Alternative Information and Development Center based in Capetown, South Africa.

Questions include…

What is the current reality around violence in South Africa, and how does it intersect with race and class?

Looking back at the fall of apartheid, was there an alternative path the ANC could have taken that would’ve led to a better present?

Given that violence in South Africa is more likely to afflict black people and that white people have largely maintained their privilege, where is this discourse of white persecution coming from?

Why does the issue of Palestinian freedom resonate for South Africans? Does South Africa’s path from apartheid offer lessons for Palestinian liberation?