THE MOSSAD FILES with Dan Raviv

Dan analyzes (with key soundbites) the decision by Prime Minister Netanyahu and his security cabinet -- announced Friday morning (August 8) -- to try to conquer Gaza City, as a first step toward taking over the entire Gaza Strip. Doesn't this doom the hostages? Obviously, more Palestinians and more IDF troops will die.

On Iran -- Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution (in Washington DC), discusses her article in FOREIGN AFFAIRS: "Iran's Dangerous Desperation," seeing a strong possibility that Iran will try to resume its nuclear program.  We hear President Trump say they wouldn't dare!

Also -- at a U.N. meeting focused on the hostages held in Gaza, Israel's foreign minister aired his claim of "blood libels" against the Jewish state.

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.

We analyze what France, Britain, and Canada were saying -- with specific fine print -- when they declared they would recognize a notional State of Palestine soon. In context, you can hear Prime Ministers Starmer (UK) and Carney (Canada).

Our guest, Jonathan Schanzer of FDD, outlines his idea of letting plenty of food into Gaza -- because "this news cycle for Israel has been brutal" -- but refuse to let any cement or construction materials in. Gaza would lie in ruins, and the Palestinians may well turn against Hamas.  Rather than argue about charges of famine or inadequate food supplies, Schanzer says, "Perception is reality. ... Israel needs to change the channel. ... The tone is shifting, even among Israel's friends."

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.

A big change? Or just a vague statement by Donald Trump? He declared Friday that Hamas "didn't want a deal - I think they want to die." Will he help Israel make that happen?

Our guest this week is Vivian Bercovici, who was Canada's ambassador to Israel in 2014-2016 and decided to stay. Now an Israeli-Canadian dual citizen, Bercovici disagrees with a lot of what both countries do -- and that includes Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct of the war in Gaza.

We discuss Bibi's choice: keep stepping-up the war, even though Israel's popularity worldwide plummets -- or put maximum effort toward reaching a deal to free the hostages held by Hamas?

Bercovici, a former lawyer in Toronto who now writes her columns at the "State of Tel Aviv" on Substack, describes what's so special about the Mossad -- and about Israel's Air Force -- which hit Iran hard in June.

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.

You'll hear one of the masters of Israeli espionage -- retired air force general Amos Yadlin (one of the pilots who destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981) -- former head of Aman military intelligence -- analyzing how hard Iran's nuclear program was hit -- by Israel and the U.S. in June.    Later, he says Hamas will always be hostile, but it has been severely weakened in Gaza.

Also -- our guest Joel Rubin, a former State Department official, says it wasn't easy for a Democrat to praise Donald Trump for bombing Iran's nuclear sites. But Rubin did -- and also discusses the Gaza war, hostages, why Israel bombed Syria's capital, and the "rumor" (by Tucker Carlson and others) that Jeffrey Epstein may have been a spy for the Mossad!

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.

Dan's guest is Shira Efron, a deeply experienced strategic analyst based in Tel Aviv -- now the Research Director of IPF, Israel Policy Forum.

We wonder what Benjamin Netanyahu may have accomplished, having spent most of the week in Washington, DC. He and Donald Trump indicated they want to have some kind of deal for a ceasefire in Gaza -- perhaps leading to an end of the war with Hamas that began with the brutal surprise attack inside Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Shira Efron believes a deal may well be announced soon.  And does that help clear the way to normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia -- after Iran was hit hard by Israel and the U.S.? We discuss that, and more, on The Mossad Files.

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.

Ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Donald Trump next week, our guest is Michael Oren, the American-born historian who was Israel's ambassador in Washington in 2009-2013. 

Dan asks him about Israel's effort to get a "green light" from President Obama to attack Iran's nuclear sites -- and how that dream was fulfilled, and then some, by President Trump last month.

Oren -- as well as Rob Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy -- and Bibi Netanyahu spokesman David Mencer -- are heard on the podcast, claiming that victory over Iran opens a gateway to more, positive progress in the Middle East.

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.

After a few days of distancing the United States from Israel's surprise attack on Iran -- aimed at smashing that country's nuclear program and its plan to amass a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles -- President Trump decided to be 100% pro-Israel.

Dan Raviv, in an on-air discussion with CBS News, analyzed Trump's online posts that said "We..." as though he was involved in the war on Israel's side.

Might Israel regret teaming up with an American president who's foreign policy is erratic and unpredictable?

Dan then speaks with a military analyst who focuses on Israel, Iran, and the Middle East -- Michael Eisenstadt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. They consider the possibility that Israel doesn't need America's "bunker-buster" bombs to destroy the notorious Fordow nuclear facility -- buried deep inside a mountain in central Iran. Couldn't Israeli commando troops, accompanied by Mossad spies who have penetrated Iran for many years, mount a ground assault on Fordow?

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.

June 13, 2025 -- Friday, Middle East time.  After more than a dozen years of hinting that it might attack Iran's nuclear facilities at any time, Israel finally did it.

Dan reports that Israel's air force -- with Mossad spies leading the way by attacking Iran's defenses -- did a lot of damage to Iran in the first days of a war that was dubbed "Operation Rising Lion."  The name is based on a Biblical verse, Numbers 23-24: "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain." 

Our podcast includes Dan being interviewed -- about how the Mossad penetrated Iran, and why the Mossad released video showing its spies at work -- by NewsNation.  Then there is a discussion with Iran expert, Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.

Recorded on Wednesday (June 11) and launching before Middle East events make everything outdated ... this episode analyzes the sudden upsurge in tension.

Did Israel inform the U.S. that it's going to bomb sites in Iran?  Or was the Trump Administration pulling out families of military folks and diplomats -- from Arab countries within range of Iran -- to put pressure on Iran in the current nuclear talks?

Perhaps the U.S. is preparing to strike Iran, if the talks continue to limp along without agreement -- or collapse altogether.

We consider the possibilities with the director of the Iran Project at FDD -- the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies -- Behnam Ben Taleblu.

As an expert on Iran and its complex motivations, Ben Taleblu and Dan discuss all the possibilities. They don't all lead to a destructive, all-out war.

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.

Dan's guest is Michael Koplow, chief policy officer of Israel Policy Forum -- based in Washington -- explaining IPF's criticisms of Benjamin Netanyahu, but also providing a clear-eyed view of Israel's fateful decisions: Put the hostages first? Or drive for total victory over Hamas in Gaza?

We also cover the U.S. talks with Iran over that country's nuclear program -- and the latest Israeli political crisis: whether ultra-Orthodox Jews will continue to be exempted from military service in the IDF.

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.