Unholy: Two Jews on the News

By Keshet

What's Unholy: Two Jews on the News about?

Yonit Levi of Israel's Channel 12 News and Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian are two of the most prominent journalists in the world today. They are also Jews. Each week, join what MSNBC's Rachel Maddow calls "two great, smart smart smart hosts" as they dissect and debate current events shaping Israel, Jewish life - and the wider world.
Their blend of nuanced discussion and sparkling conversation, featuring a dazzling range of guests, is why New Yorker editor David Remnick calls himself a “proud, avid listener," why Ira Glass says he "completely enjoys this show" and why Malcolm Gladwell calls it an "incredibly fun podcast".
For a weekly fix of globally informed talk – including nominations for the greatest act of chutzpah and outstanding mensch of the previous seven days – there’s only one destination. Make every Friday morning Unholy.

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LAST EPISODE

Stateless in Jerusalem - wi...

06.02.2023

Unfavorable polls, Biden administration woes and continued public protest are only a hint of the issues piled on the desk of the coalition. But with the deadline for forming the Judicial Selection Committee approaching, Netanyahu and his partners will really ...

Unholy: Two Jews on the News episodes:

06.02.2023 Stateless in Jerusalem - with special guest Suleiman Maswadeh Unfavorable polls, Biden administration woes and continued public protest are only a hint of the issues piled on the desk of the coalition. But with the deadline for forming the Judicial Selection Committee approaching, Netanyahu and his partners will really ...
05.26.2023 Conversations We Love: Etgar Keret Happy yearly celebration of dairy - for those celebrating! While we mark the harvest holiday of Shavuot on the Jewish calendar, we're reminding you listeners of one of our favorite and most intriguing interviews as of late - with Israeli ...
05.19.2023 Red Flag - with special guest Michael Eisenberg A week into the ceasefire in Gaza, nationalist activists march on the streets of Jerusalem in the controversial Flag Day annual parade, sparking conflict with Arab residents of the city. Yonit and Jonathan discuss that and all the latest political ...
05.12.2023 Under Fire - with special guest Barak Ravid “Shield and Arrow” - that’s the name of the operation initiated this week by the IDF in the Gaza Strip, beginning with airstrikes on Islamic Jihad generals, and developing into extensive missile attacks on Israel. Yonit and Jonathan give an ...
05.05.2023 Mother's Boy - with special guest Howard Jacobson Gold coaches, historic royal attire and controversial crown jewels - preparations for the coronation of King Charles have Londoners exhilarated, including our British co-host, a notable monarchy fan (just kidding, of course). As the ceremony approaches, a discussion on the ...
04.28.2023 75 and counting - with special guest Ben Smith With barbecues, the annual Air Force flybys and other festivities - Israel celebrated its 75th birthday, but not without a noticeable rift in the nation, as well. Yonit and Jonathan talk recent updates as the status of the judicial overhaul ...
04.21.2023 Moment of Silence In truly Israeli fashion, much has happened in the two weeks of Passover - and we've returned to try and make sense of it all! Following the holidays, Israel is deep into its season of commemoration - after this week’s ...
04.14.2023 Conversations We Love: Malcolm Gladwell Only a week until we resume our regular programming - and trust us, there's a LOT to talk about. But in the meantime - to conclude Passover break - we're airing yet another of our favorite talks from this season. ...
04.07.2023 Conversations We Love: Rachel Maddow Hag Semach, listeners! Following weeks of reporting on political turmoil in Israel, we're going into Passover break with reruns of our favorite conversations as of late: starting with a fascinating chat with MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow. Tune in (again) as ...
03.31.2023 Unholy 100 With Special Guest Yuval Noah Harari For Unholy's 100th episode, a very special guest indeed: Yonit and Jonathan talk with one of the world's foremost thinkers and writers, Yuval Noah Harari. Usually preoccupied with the climate emergency and the rise of AI, right now Harari is ...
03.28.2023 Special Update: Chaos in Israel After 24 hours of stunning drama in Israel, a special update from Yonit and Jonathan. Join them as they unpack the chaotic timeline - Sunday night's spontaneous eruption of mass protests around the country following the sacking of the defence ...
03.24.2023 Showdown (With Special Guest Ilana Dayan) As protests continue and contrasting opinions over the judicial reform surface from within the coalition, it seemed this week the prime minister himself was almost on the brink of backing down. Yonit and Jonathan talk with lead journalist and "Uvda" ...
03.17.2023 Tiger King - with special guest Dave Rich As protests continue against the Netanyahu government’s overhaul of the judicial system, the prospect of compromise is receding. Yonit and Jonathan discuss the fallout of the ruling coalition’s rejection of President Herzog’s proposed alternative — amid warning signs that Israel's ...
03.10.2023 Air Force None - with special guest MODI *This episode was recorded before the terror attack in Tel Aviv* The protests against the judicial reform in Israel escalate as demonstators rally nationally in a day of resistance, while the attempts to negotiate a compromise seem to falter. Plus, ...
03.03.2023 What Kind of Week Has It Been - with special guest Amos Yadlin A morning of stun grenades and police horses at a protest, followed by an evening of a siege on a hair salon in central Tel Aviv? Just another regular day in Israel, apparently - which has also been facing an ...
02.24.2023 Double Feature - with special guests Ruth Margalit & Yonatan Green Two guests, two perspectives - Yonit and Jonathan talk to two Israelis with sharply conflicting views of the current state of their country. Legal activist Yonatan Green is a staunch advocate of the judicial overhaul - while New Yorker writer ...
02.17.2023 Q&A with Y&J You asked - and we answered. Yonit and Jonathan give their take on listeners’ questions on Benjamin Netanyahu’s “judicial reform” plan and its political repercussions, chat about the Super Bowl ad that portends a new future for American Jews - ...
02.10.2023 Friends In Need - with special guest Matti Friedman The battle for Israeli democracy, to quote the opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu's "judicial reform" plan, moved to a new front this week - with an effort to enlist the Jewish diaspora into the protest movement. Yonit and Jonathan speak to ...
02.03.2023 Protesting, Fast and Slow- with special guest Daniel Kahneman A letter signed by top Israeli economists, warning against the financial implications of the judicial reform, featured the name of one of the country's only Nobel Prize winners - world-renowned professor Daniel Kahneman, pioneer of behavioral economics. This week, he ...
01.27.2023 Everything, Everywhere, All At Once - with special guest Etgar Keret In the week of Holocaust remembrance, Yonit and Jonathan talk to one of the country’s finest, funniest writers, Etgar Keret - to reflect on his late mother, a survivor of the Shoah who never wanted that label, and give his ...
01.20.2023 Beyond Reasonable Doubt - with special guest Michael Karayanni Israel's constitutional crisis deepens. As the country's Supreme Court tells Binyamin Netanyahu to fire one of his most senior ministers, we hear from one of Israel's leading jurists, Professor Michael Karayanni of the Hebrew University - about how he - ...
01.13.2023 From Washington To Jerusalem - with special guest Thomas Friedman The judicial reform announced last week in Israel sparked a protest this week - as it continues to draw international attention. Yonit and Jonathan are joined by three-time Pulitzer winner, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, to discuss US ...
01.06.2023 Law and Disorder It's been one week since Netanyahu began his sixth stint in office - but boy, has it been a heck of a week, one our hosts are here to unpack. Ben Gvir's ascent to the Temple Mount already had international ...
12.30.2022 Special Update: New Israeli Government Benjamin Netanyahu returned to his old office this morning, taking his place as Israel's prime minister - again - with the formation of his sixth government. Following several weeks of negotiations, Netanyahu's coalition - comprised of right-wing allies - was ...
12.23.2022 A Conversation with Rachel Maddow If you’re a regular podcast listener, chances are you’ve heard of Rachel Maddow’s Ultra, the chart-topping podcast that takes the audience back to the 1940s, when the Nazi regime managed to infiltrate the top branches of the U.S. government. This ...
12.16.2022 Orthodox 2.0 - with special guest Eli Paley What do British people bring up in a conversation when they need to change the subject? The weather, of course. The rare occurrence of heavy snowfall this week provided not only a means of alternate topic for our co-host’s nation ...
12.09.2022 The German Connection - with special guest Antonia Yamin President Herzog is expected to grant Prime Minister-delegate Netanyahu a two week extension to tie things up with his coalition partners - but the agreements reached until now between said parties have already been a source of much dispute. From ...
12.02.2022 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Tel Aviv had to forfeit a crown yesterday - one it wasn’t quite proud of - after this year’s ranking of the most expensive cities in the world moved it from the top spot to third place. But anyone living ...
11.25.2022 New Government, Old Problems Following yet another stall in the negotiations between designated PM Netanyahu and his presumptive partners, it seems the parties are slowly heading towards agreements on key issues. But while the important ministerial offices seem to be assigned, it may take ...
11.18.2022 Special Guest Malcolm Gladwell In a time when Twitter is the main source of information for many people, Malcolm Gladwell remains on a near-celebrity status by doing the exact opposite: publishing lengthy, thought-provoking examinations of human behaviors and, most recently, historic events. His name ...
11.11.2022 Trump’s Losses, Netanyahu’s Gains Benjamin Netanyahu may have coasted into a clear victory in the fifth Israeli election round last week, but for Israel’s closest ally, the United States, the midterms have been startlingly close, with control of both chambers of Congress remaining up ...
11.02.2022 Special Edition: Israeli Election Results May three and a half years of political turmoil conclude with Israel’s fifth election - and the forming of the most right-wing government in its history? With the majority of the votes counted, Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be on a ...
10.28.2022 Election Countdown Elections are supposed to be a special occasion, but Israelis already know the drill. Wake up on a Tuesday, proceed to the ballots, drop their selected note into the box, turn on the television at 10PM - and, if things ...
10.21.2022 No Prime Minister Israeli politics nearing the finish line - 11 days to go till the country’s fifth election in three and a half years. But, political turmoil, it appears, is not exclusively Israeli: as many ask if Yair Lapid’s tenure as Prime ...
10.14.2022 Hate, Truth and Denial - with special guest Deborah Lipstadt Eighteen days to Israeli elections – recent polls show the far right Legislator Itamar Ben Gvir gaining momentum, at the expense of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party. We discuss the possible ramifications of Ben Gvir's ascension inside and outside ...
10.07.2022 Too Big To Fail - Again? with special guest Andrew Ross Sorkin The holiday season is no excuse for the news cycle to stop turning, and boy - did it turn! From the maritime talks between Israel and Lebanon that are causing a skirmish, through protests on the streets of Iran, to ...
09.30.2022 The Burden and The Gift - with special guest Nicole Krauss These are days of reflectiveness, between the Jewish New Year - Rosh Hashanah, and the holiest day of the Jewish calendar- Yom Kippur. Yonit and Jonathan are joined by acclaimed author Nicole Krauss, for a discussion about Judaism that reverberates ...
09.23.2022 Unholy Live: Diplomatic Salon Rosh Hashanah is right around the corner, and like almost every new Hebrew year lately, the upcoming one already has an Israeli election set in its calendar. The fifth round in three and a half years raises a lot of ...
09.16.2022 Earth, King and Fire - with special guest David Wallace-Wells While coverage of the Queen's death continues to dominate British news outlets, Yonit and Jonathan dive into the relationship between the Royal Family and the Jewish community - which may see the taking of a long-awaited step with a new ...
09.09.2022 The Elizabethan Era For seven decades, Queen Elizabeth II was a symbol of stability not only in the commonwealth but on the world stage as well, helping to navigate her country through a series of shifts that rattled Britain in the twentieth and ...
09.02.2022 Under Construction - with special guest David Remnick August has come to an end, schools have reopened and Jonathan has landed safely from vacation - which means Unholy is back! If you chose to spend your summer break in Israel, you might have met two issues - the ...
08.26.2022 Conversations We Love: Mayim Bialik What better way to spend the last days of summer break than by soaking up the sun… and listening to a rerun of a conversation we love? While our beloved British co-host is still away, he and Yonit made sure ...
08.19.2022 Conversations We Love: Scott Galloway We truly hope that by the time you’re reading this, you’re on a beach somewhere, or sipping an alcoholic drink in a European city. We can tell you that our own host, Jonathan Freedland, is probably doing one of the ...
08.08.2022 Special Update: Flare-up in Gaza Following Operation Breaking Dawn, Yonit and Jonathan are back from break with an emergency episode to speak on the recent conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. After nearly seventy hours of clashes, a ceasefire ...
08.05.2022 Conversations We Love: David Remnick Jonathan may be away, sitting on a lounge chair positioned on a sandy beach somewhere, but it doesn’t mean Unholy listeners will be deprived of their weekly podcast fix. This summer break, we’re taking you back to some of our ...
07.29.2022 Why It Failed - with special guest Shimrit Meir Last episode of the season - and before we pack our suitcases and bring out the bathing suits, we're closing off with an extra long episode. But don't worry - although we'll officially be back in September, we've got some ...
07.22.2022 If You Can't Stand The Heat - with special guest Walter Russell Mead Israelis usually flee to Europe during hot summers to experience European weather - but this week’s heatwave made the blistering temperatures here seem normal. But whether or not the countries are well equipped with air conditioning, it seems none are ...
07.15.2022 When Yonit Met Joe Armed vehicles, numerous flags and even a presidential menu - after much preparation, President Joe Biden landed in Israel this Wednesday, kicking off his Middle East visit with a jam-packed schedule in the Holyland. But a moment before leaving for ...
07.08.2022 Hello Biden, Bye Bye Boris - with special guest Peter Baker Roll the red carpet and get the cameras ready - in less than a week, the leader of the free world will make his way to Israel, only to be greeted by a freshly-appointed Prime Minister of a caretaker government. ...
07.01.2022 Prime Time Minister - with special guest Micah Goodman The term Prime Minister Yair Lapid may take some getting used to - but don’t take too long, as it’s paired with “interim”. After dissolving the Knesset and bidding farewell to his coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, Lapid embarked on his ...

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