Unholy: Two Jews on the News

Three years after October 7th, and eighteen days before Israel votes, this third anniversary felt different from the first two — and yet it may not move a single vote. With no state commission of inquiry, a flydubai near-disaster that echoed the state's failures and polls that point in wildly different directions, Yonit and Jonathan ask if the question of Netanyahu's responsibility has already been priced in by the Israeli electorate. They discuss whether a restrained, divided opposition is fighting according to the rules against a campaign that is not, and whether Avigdor Lieberman could end up in the prime minister’s chair - as the leader of a realigned right. Outside Israel, Zohran Mamdani and the Green Party of England and Wales approached October 7th in something other than solemn mood. Plus: a crowded field for Mensch of the Week and a Chutzpah award that takes aim at punctuation.

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Three years ago this week, Amir Tibon spent ten hours in a safe room in Kibbutz Nahal Oz with his wife and daughters while Hamas gunmen moved from house to house. They stayed there until he was rescued - by his father, a retired general, who had driven down from Tel Aviv with a pistol to get them out. Amir has now moved with his family back to the kibbutz.

Jonathan talks to Tibon — Haaretz journalist and author of The Gates of Gaza — about that return, why the third anniversary feels heavier than the first two, and why he lies awake over the election on 27 October as well as over the gunfire still audible from Gaza. Is the coming vote a verdict on the failure of 7 October, or on who can stop the next one?

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/KXcVvPmzQpo

00:00 Unholy Conversations - 3 years since October 7th
01:13 Introduction to Amir Tibon's Story
05:01 The Impact of October 7th on Amir's Family
08:52 Returning to Nahal Oz: A Journey of Resilience
13:42 Reflections on the Third Anniversary of October 7th
18:46 The Political Landscape and Future Concerns
 

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A note to listeners: This episode includes a Nova survivor’s account of October 7, including descriptions of traumatic events that some listeners may find distressing.

Three years after the Nova festival massacre, Yuval Raphael is going back to Re'im — to sing at the memorial, on the ground where she survived eight hours in a roadside shelter. This week she sits down with Yonit for a conversation about what those three years have actually been like. Why a girl once too frightened to sing outside her own bedroom chose to represent Israel at Eurovision in Basel, and what the booing did to her on stage. What she asked a social worker from her hospital bed, and why she now tells her story over and over — to ambassadors, to the UN, to Gen Z. And the two rules she offers a country still learning how to grieve, one of them gentler than you might expect.

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/zCvdAhuWfms

00:00 Unholy Conversations - 3 years since October 7th. 

01:46 Introduction to Yuval Rafael

04:45 Returning to the Nova Festival Site

07:30 The Healing Journey After Trauma

10:31 Advice for Coping with Trauma

13:18 Retelling the Survivor Story

27:31 The Impact of the Nova Festival Massacre

35:34 Representing Israel at Eurovision

40:36 Reflections on a Generation's Trauma 
 

(קרדיט צילום: יאיר סיגרון)

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As a wave of euphoria and relief sweeps Israel, following the attempted - and foiled - hijacking of Flight FZ1073, Yonit and Jonathan delve deep into the story and its implications. They discuss the courage and ingenuity of the passengers who took on a co-pilot apparently bent on causing the mass death of a plane full of Israelis, what the episode says about the character of the country - and what its impact might be on this month’s all-important elections.  

Plus: they assess a failed effort to unite the opposition as they seek to eject Benjamin Netanyahu from office, ongoing violence in the West Bank and a world that increasingly refuses to shake Israel by the hand.

Get a free year of SAPIR: http://sapirjournal.org/unholy

Get the bonus episodes:

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Unholy-media/join

on Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

🌐 https://www.unholy-podcast.com

📸 Instagram: @unholypodcast

🗳 Unholy Elections 2026, every election episode: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLtdPcFD_Urw

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Watch this interview in Hebrew and English subtitles: https://youtu.be/zh-KenD4s5w

Ra'am has done something no Arab party in Israel has tried before—put a Jewish, Zionist former police major general on its slate. With the election weeks away, Likud wants the party disqualified, much of the opposition insists it won't sit with it, and some in his own community call its leader a traitor. Yonit and Jonathan sit down with Mansour Abbas, the man who first took an Arab party into an Israeli governing coalition. What did bringing Yoav Segalovitz on board cost him at home? Does he say the same thing in Hebrew as he does in Arabic? What does "Islamist" actually mean to him? And if Netanyahu calls after October 27th—will he answer?

00:00 Intro
00:15 Yoav Segalovitz joins Ra'am
03:39 An Arab seat for a Jewish politician?
06:31 Will the opposition really refuse to sit with Ra'am?
11:15 Why Arab turnout lags
13:45 The threats on his life
16:16 Netanyahu or Eisenkot: does it matter to Arab voters?
20:34 Breaking away from the Islamic Movement
26:01 What does "Islamist" mean?
32:53 Hebrew vs Arabic: does he mean what he says?
40:02 Is the two-state solution too tired?
47:22 Who's the next prime minister, and would he sit with Netanyahu?

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Decision day approaches for the judges who will determine who is - and who is not - allowed to stand in the Israeli elections on 27 October. The supreme court is likely to overturn a move by the government to ban the main Arab parties, but more unpredictable is the fate of one individual politician from the Arab nationalist party, Balad - a man who seemingly wrote in praise of the 7 October attacks. Yonit and Jonathan debate the legal and political aspects of the case - and the wider effort by Benjamin Netanyahu to cast his lead opponent, Gadi Eisenkot, as dependent on Arab support. Plus: have elections in Germany made the country newly unsafe for Jews? And who is the soccer legend who could soon be known as Roo the Jew?

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

With Israel deep in an election campaign and the country still grappling with the strains of a multi-front war, the fiercely contested exemption of ultra-Orthodox men from the IDF draft remains the issue threatening to tear Israeli society apart.
In this week's  candid, combative, and illuminating conversation, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with MK Yitzhak Pindrus of the United Torah Judaism party  to interrogate the theological, cultural, and political worldview driving the Haredi establishment.
Pindrus doesn't mince words. He denounces extremist anti-draft banners comparing the IDF to Nazi camps as "disgusting," explicitly labels violent settler attacks on Palestinians as a Chillul Hashem (desecration of God’s name), and dismisses economic projections about Haredi dependency as “lies." But on the core question facing Israel, his stance is uncompromising: as far as the community is concerned, their model has worked—and they have no intention of breaking it.

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

With Yonit feeling a little under the weather, Jonathan is joined by friend of the podcast, Haaretz military affairs analyst Amos Harel (also, author of 6:29). They discuss a new poll showing Benjamin Netanyahu gaining ground in his contest against former general Gady Eisenkot - with nearly six weeks to go till Israelis vote, is this a blip or did Eisenkot peak too early? Plus: the Israeli right declares war on a film almost no one has seen, what exactly is happening on the ground in the West Bank - and rapper Macklemore wins a chutzpah award for a past episode many seem all too keen to forget.

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As Israel heads into what may be the most consequential election of its history, the country is still arguing less about where it's going than about how it got here. This week, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with a titan of Israeli broadcasting — Ilana Dayan, anchor of the investigative program Uvda for three decades — who returns to Unholy to make sense of it all. She traces how Netnayahu survived a moment that should have ended his political career, makes the case for what actually sets challenger Gadi Eisenkot apart, and confronts head-on whether Israelis see the last three years as a win or a wound still open. Plus: her read on the West Bank sanctions rattling even Netanyahu's own coalition — and why, despite everything, she still finds a reason for optimism.

Chapters:
0:00 – Ilana Dan returns to Unholy
0:27 – Is this really Israel's most crucial election ever?
4:33 – How did Netanyahu survive October 7th?
9:33 – Why do Israelis still buy his message?
14:51 – Enter the challenger: who is Gadi Eisenkot?
18:01 – The interview that revealed Eisenkot's character
22:25 – Can a candidate who pauses beat Netanyahu's charisma?
27:41 – Israel's deepest rift — and how it got here
32:22 – The "wins" since October 7th, and the West Bank sanctions
39:13 – Was Israel's war in Gaza fought right?
52:47 – Her hopes going into the new year

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

September 8th was the deadline for Israeli parties to file their lists — and Netanyahu reached it less organised than he'd have liked, with a rival on the right running alone, a reserved slot for his own Channel 14 broadcaster, and barely a handful of women anywhere near the top.

Then Britain, joined by France, Canada and nine others, sanctioned settlement goods, and used the words "ethnic cleansing" about settler violence in the West Bank. The UK's chief rabbi called it a dark day for British Jews.

Yonit and Jonathan work through what sanctions actually hit when the target is a bank that gave someone a mortgage — and whether, six weeks before an election, this lands as pressure or as a gift.

Recorded in field conditions, from a Tel Aviv living room and a Washington hotel — so no Mensch and Chutzpah this week. Back next week.

Shana Tova!

🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com

💛 Become a friend of the pod:

Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon

📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/

X: https://x.com/unholypod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social

🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W

🎙️ THE HOSTS

Yonit Levi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/

X: https://x.com/LeviYonit

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/

Jonathan Freedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.