Allison Kaplan Sommer sits down for a conversation with decorated journalist Dahlia Lithwick about Trumpism, American Jewry's relationship to Israel, and Axe body spray.

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

The Unsettling Cost of Unsettling

We discuss the Government's decision to spend 130 million shekels to resettle 42 settler families from an illegal outpost.

If he wasn't good, he wouldn't be rich, right?

We mull over the recent entry of businessmen into Israeli politics (especially on the left) and their claim that only they can drain the swamp in Jerusalem.

Social Change? There's an App for that Now

We ask whether or not a new app designed by an NGO to improve public transportation is a good way to bring about political change.

All songs by Yossi Elephant:

Susan Yam Ha'ahava Rechov 60 Helem Kerakh

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

And as a Parting Gift: UN Security Council Resolution 2334

We discuss UN Security Council Resolution 2334, calling Israeli settlements illegal, and America's failure to scuttle it, and the righteous apoplexy of Israel's official response.

The Donalds (Futterman and Trump) Agree: Jerusalem is the Eternal Capital of the Jewish People

We recount Don's shocking assertion that he agrees with US President-Elect Donald Trump: the American Embassy should be moved to Jerusalem – are we in some sort of political bizzaro world?

We Dreamt We were Farmers

We mull over the government's decision to prop up agriculture with tax payer shekels, and why we should grow stuff at home that is cheaper to import.

All songs by Regel Sabres!: Amud Shidra Chalul Cochav Ba-Shemesh shel Natanya

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

675 Kilometers North

We mull over the human tragedy of Aleppo, and what Israelis are saying (or not saying) and doing (or not doing) about it.

You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your ambassador!

We ask how we should regard David Friedman, President-Elect Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to Israel, who supports the occupation, opposes a two-state solution, and has called leftists "worse than Kapos," the poor saps forced to give a hand to the Nazis

Hem-Line Politics

We discuss the brouhaha, hullaballo and rumpus over Knesset guards denying entrance to Parliamentary aides whose dresses were judged too short; is this decorum or just a reduction ad absurdum of the patriarchy?

All songs by Shtar, Beit Shemesh's favorite religious hip-hop sons, including Ori Murray (MC), Brad Rubinstein (guitar), Dan "Zaki" Isaac (vocals), Avi Sommers (bass) and Tzvi Solomons (percussion): Lights Gone Again Restoring My Soul (Modeh) Infinity

Allison, Noah & Times of Israel Ops & Blogs Editor Miriam Herschlag discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Lousy Leftists Lack Loyalty

We mull over a new poll finding that almost one in two Israeli Jews think that leftists are not loyal to Israel.

Tenured Traitors, or Professors of Perfidy

We discuss the Minister of Education's appointment of an ethicist to write rules governing when and how professors talk politics in their college classrooms; is this censorship or civility?

Double-Crossing Double X, or The Unbearable Lightness of Cyber-Sexism and On-Line Assholery

We ask what explains the spleen and bile, vilely aimed at women, especially politicians, on the Hebrew Internet.

All songs by Eliad: Ma She-Yesh Matok Kshemarli Linshom, with Shimon Buskila

Allison, Noah & Tel Aviv Review Host Gilad Halpern discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Cities of Sanctity, Cities of Sin

We discuss President Reuven Rivlin's suggestion that each city, town or neighbourhood decide for themselves how much attention to pay to religion; Is it time to let Tel Aviv be Tel Aviv and Bnai Brak be Bnai Brak?

Righteous Jews

We mull over the scuffle between the Knesset and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum over whether to start lionizing "Righteous Jews" who saved folks during the Holocaust alongside "Righteous Gentiles."

Aging Alone

We ask why so many Israeli old folks are lonely, and what we ought to do about it.

All songs by Mika Sade, off her new record, Birds and Guitars: Little Things Birthday Birds and Guitars Wonderful Gifts

Allison, Don and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Israel is Burning

We discuss the befuddled responses of politicians and our own to the 630 fires that blazed throughout Israel last week, some of which may have been set by arsonists wishing Israel harm.

Our Identity Crisis

We ponder the most talked about post-mortem of the American election, which attributes the fall of the Democrats to "identity liberalism"; in Israel, the right seems to be employing identity politics and it ain't working out so badly for them.

You, You, You Oughta Know: Awkward Adventures in Post-Modern Culture

We fret about Shefita, a popular Arab chanteuse and diva, who is a character created by a Jewish singer named Rotem Shefy; Is this homage? Cultural appropriation? 21st century blackface? Interdenominational drag? And is it okay or icky?

All songs by Shefita & Rotem Shefy: Pink, performed by Shefita Lithium, performed by Shefita You Oughta Know, performed by Shefita Adif She-Lo, by Rotem Shefy

Allison, Don and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Repealing Godwin's Law: How Do We Know When That "Again" We Never Want to See Has Arrived?

We ask whether we owe it to our ancestors who were swallowed by the Holocaust to decry Trump, Bannon, et. al., as shoving us down the slippery slope into the territory of Never-Again, or whether we owe it to them to not besmirch their tragedy by comparing it to the world's present political woes.

Rabbinic Baskets of Deplorables & Baskets of Rabbinic Deplorables

We reflect on how to respond to the most recent Rabbi on the government payroll to unleash inane bigotries in an interview, once we admit that the guy's done some admirable things alongside this icky one.

Post-Mortem & Pre-Natal

We discuss our mixed feelings over the court's decision to allow the parents of a dead naval officer to use his sperm and a surrogate to create a kid whom they will raise as their own child, though he would be their biological grandchild.

All songs by Tamir Grinberg: Something Telephone Blues I Was Made to Love Her Take a Look Around

Allison, Noah and Times of Israel Ops & Blogs Editor Miriam Herschlag discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

The Odeum and the Odium: Israel's National Theater Live in the Settlements!

We discuss the controversy over Israel's national theater company, Habima, performing in the most settlement-y of all the settlements, Kiryat Arba.

Citizens Disunited: Reflections on the Rejection of Election Collections

We reflect on a new law regulating how much Israeli NGOs can spend on election campaigns, like the failed, big "dump Netanyahu" campaign of the last election.

Gimme that ol' time consumption!

We ask whether the rest of us have something to learn from the ways that stuff is advertised to the ultra-orthodox in Israel, which lack the employment of sex, longing and insecurity to make the sale.

All songs by Ha-Peel ha-Kachol (The Blue Elephant): 24/7 Ha-Kol Yehiyeh Ugiot Tiyul

Allison, Noah and Tel Aviv Review host Gilad Halpern discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Lessons of the Trumpocalypse

In what may be a historic first of an entire podcast episode recorded in fetal position, we wonder what we Israeli leftists can learn from the painful, frightening and massive defeat of the American left this week at the polls.

Rabin Rousing

We discuss politicization of the annual Rabin Memorial Demonstration, a new phenomenon, and ask what these politics mean.

Beat the Press

We try to understand PM Netanyahu's invective-filled tirade on a respected Israeli investigative journalist. He impugned her motives, her talents, her integrity and her suitability for her job.

All songs by the Panic Ensemble: