The Jewish People's Podcast

Three years after October 7, Yaakov talks to Yonah Jeremy Bob, co-author of In the War Room, for a behind-the-scenes look at how Israel’s war has been managed at the highest levels. They discuss the tensions between the prime minister, cabinet ministers and Israel’s security chiefs, the decisions that shaped the war, and what lessons - if any - have been learned since the day that changed the country.

Fleur Hassan-Nahoum joins the podcast to explain why she decided to run with Amcha Yisrael, what the new party hopes to bring to Israeli politics, and what it means for her to make the jump from Jerusalem politics to a national Knesset campaign as an Anglo olah.

Ex Military Intelligence officer Or Horvitz joins the podcast to explain the escalating Houthi threat, Israel’s early intelligence blind spots, Iran’s role in the conflict, and what it means that Gulf leaders are discussing the region’s future with Trump while Israel is not in the room.

As Israel heads toward elections, the word “peace” has virtually disappeared from its political vocabulary — and the Israeli left is weaker than it has been in decades. Shira Ben Sasson, Executive Director of NIF Israel, joins Yaakov to discuss violence in the West Bank, the impact of October 7 on Israeli politics, why peace has become such a toxic concept for many Israelis, and whether the Israeli left can find a way back into the national conversation.

Twenty-five years after the UN’s Durban conference became a turning point in the campaign to delegitimize Israel, Irwin Cotler and Gil Troy look back at what happened there, how the language of racism, apartheid and colonialism was weaponized against the Jewish state, and why Durban still matters in the battles over Israel today.

Yaakov speaks with Souad Mekhennet, award-winning investigative journalist and author, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Vanderbilt University, about how jihadist extremism has evolved since 9/11, what the West learned – and failed to learn – from the War on Terror, and whether the world is safer today.

With Israel’s election approaching, JPPI fellow and Channel 13 pollster Shmuel Rosner joins the podcast to break down what the numbers are really showing. Which campaigns are working? How many voters are still undecided? Where are the parties gaining — and losing — support? And despite weak polling, does Benjamin Netanyahu still have a path to victory?

David Makovsky joins the Jewish People’s Podcast to discuss Netanyahu’s reversal on the Trump plan to disarm Hamas, what drove the decision, what it means for Gaza and whether it risks a new rupture with Washington.

Likud MK Dan Illouz has broken ranks with his party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the coalition’s concessions to the ultra-Orthodox. He explains why he defied the party, why he won’t run with Likud again, and why he believes Netanyahu should have resigned after October 7.

Was Tuesday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu truly “positive and productive”? Yaakov is joined by Shmuel Rosner and Gil Troy to break down the meeting, examine whether it gives Netanyahu a political boost ahead of Israel’s October election, and discuss the bigger strategic question: Is Israel being sidelined by the Trump administration as a new Middle East takes shape?