Unholy: Two Jews on the News

As the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding is signed in Versailles — covering a ceasefire, sanctions relief, and billions in unfrozen assets, but saying nothing about uranium enrichment, centrifuges, ballistic missiles, or Iran's proxies — Israel is left reading a deal it wasn't part of and only received hours before Trump's signature. Yonit is joined this week by CNN senior global affairs analyst and Unholy co-author Bianna Golodryga, live from a New York celebrating the Knicks' first championship in 53 years, for a conversation about what this MOU actually says, what it doesn't, and what it means for a country that spent 40 days in shelters waiting for something better than this.

Plus: a Cornell sophomore makes headlines for the wrong reasons, and a design school in Israel sends wounded soldiers down a runway.

02:09 Responses to the MOU in Israel and the U.S.

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This week’s Unholy conversations is a rare interview with Nir Bar Dea, CEO of Bridgewater—the world's largest hedge fund. Bar Dea moves beyond market trends, framing our current moment as a volatile collision between a changing world order, and an unprecedented technological revolution fueled by AI. He offers a sobering perspective on why the comfort of the last several decades has perhaps left us less resilient than the generations before us, urging listeners to view history not as destiny, but as a lesson in the necessity of strength during turbulent times.

The conversation turns personal, too: Bar Dea talks about the toll of his own service in the Israeli Air Force, what it's like being Israeli in New York since October 7th, and why he  believes Israel's younger generation might be its greatest asset.

00:00 Intro

01:10 The Iran-US deal and why timing doesn't matter

06:25 Trump as outcome, not cause

09:30 Tough love: why we feel overwhelmed

10:59 Israel's resilient next generation

24:49 The AI infrastructure race — and Israel's gap

27:11 Being Israeli in New York since October 7th

32:54 The hidden cost of IDF service

35:02 Bridgewater's radical transparency culture

41:51 Rebuilding from Nir Oz — a story of hope

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Yonit is joined by Yaakov Katz, author, columnist and former editor of the Jerusalem Post, and together they try to make sense of a week that had it all: a 17-hour mini-war with Iran, Trump growing visibly impatient -- and Netanyahu caught between his base and the White House. Israeli politics see the Israeli PM focusing on the rising political threat of Gadi Eisenkot, who for the first time has pulled ahead of Netanyahu in head-to-head polling for Prime minister -- and how the Likud is trying to turn his English skills into a liability. Then it's across the Atlantic — to an oyster farmer in Maine with a Nazi tattoo, a Michigan primary, and a New Jersey candidate with troubling ties, all pointing to a shift in American politics that Israelis aren't paying nearly enough attention to. Plus: our Chutzpah and Mensch awards — one goes to a Jewish politician building a very disturbing database, and the other heads to the World Cup.

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Israeli children are still running to shelters. The hostages are home, but the wars keep coming. And somewhere underneath it all — the October 7th trauma, the Iran strikes, the hostages, the endless sirens — something is being passed down to the next generation, whether we mean to or not.

This week, Yonit sits down with Dr. Galit Atlas, psychoanalyst and author of Emotional Inheritance, to ask the questions most of us are afraid to answer: what does prolonged, unprocessed national trauma do to a people? How do Jewish rituals of memory — Passover, Holocaust Remembrance Day — help or harm? And is there actually hope on the other side of all this?

Dr. Atlas's new book, Come Closer: Childhood Wounds, Adult Love and the Secrets of Emotional Intimacy, is out in September.

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Iran broke a two-month ceasefire on Sunday night, launching missiles at Israel after Netanyahu struck Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. By Monday, Trump declared an immediate stop — but the questions it raised won't close that easily.

In this emergency update, Yonit  and Jonathan  are joined by Amos Harel — Haaretz's military affairs analyst and author of 629: Anatomy of a Failure — to break down the calculus on every side. Did Netanyahu engineer the escalation ahead of October elections? Is Trump more irritated by Israel than by Iran? And after everything — is Iran actually stronger now than before the war started?

⏱ CHAPTERS:

[00:00] Intro — The 24 hours that shook the region

[00:15] Yonit breaks down what happened: sirens, missiles, school closures

[03:45] Amos Harel joins: Is the escalation cycle behind us?

[05:17] Did Netanyahu plan the Beirut strike — knowing Iran would respond?

[08:06] The thought experiment: Would this happen with different leaders?

[11:27] Netanyahu's bind: angering his base or angering Trump

[13:20] Iran's nuclear endgame — a historian's warning

[17:30] Trump's frustration: Is Israel now the obstacle?

[21:57] The chief of staff trolled Netanyahu live

[25:12] Can Netanyahu actually delay the October elections?

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The fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government is overshadowed by an already notorious phone call where Donald Trump reportedly dropped multiple F-bombs on Benjamin Netanyahu for threatening Israeli strikes on Beirut. Yonit and Jonathan dissect the increasing strain in the US-Israel relationship - and a new equation set by Iran that will alarm all Israelis.

Meanwhile, two warning signs this week for the state of Israeli democracy, as Netanyahu appoints his personal lawyer as State Comptroller, with members of the Knesset pressured to reveal their secret ballot - and a mob vandalizes the home of a Supreme Court justice in a bid to intimidate the judiciary over demands to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from mandatory military service.

Also - an inquiry into antisemitism in UK’s cherished NHS, while Canada’s PM admits the country failed its Jews, prompting a new advisory council with a questionable membership. And finally (and thankfully), it’s a crowded field for our mensch of the week award.

00:00 Introduction and Overview of Current Events

02:47 The Impact of Smartphones on Society

05:38 Ceasefire Agreements and Regional Tensions

09:22 US-Israel Relations and Political Dynamics

13:13 Political Appointments and Democratic Erosion in Israel

18:50 Judicial Intimidation and the Rule of Law

23:02 Global Anti-Semitism and Responses

29:35 Celebrating Women in Film: Helen Mirren and Emma Thompson

35:17 A Culinary Milestone: Mutra's Michelin Star

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This week, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with acclaimed military and intelligence analyst Amos Harel to discuss his new book 6:29  -Anatomy of a Failure — a devastating, meticulously reported account of October 7th and the collapse that preceded it. Drawing on internal investigations, intelligence materials, battlefield testimony and conversations with senior officials, Harel reconstructs how Israel failed at every level: intelligence, operations  - and strategy.

They discuss the “Walls of Jericho” Hamas attack plan that Israeli intelligence possessed years in advance; the SIM card warnings and the signs missed in the final hours before the massacre; the operational chaos that left communities abandoned for hours; and why Harel believes October 7th could likely have been prevented.

The conversation also examines Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in the years leading up to the attack: the Qatar cash pipeline to Hamas, the belief that the Palestinian conflict could be indefinitely “managed,” the judicial overhaul crisis, and the refusal — still now — to establish a state commission of inquiry.

Plus: why Hezbollah’s hesitation on October 7th may have prevented an even greater catastrophe, whether Israel has actually learned the lessons of that day, and why Harel believes the battle over the public memory of October 7th may define Israel’s coming elections.

NOTE: Amos Harel's Book, 6:29 - Anatomy of a Failure, will be published in English Later this year.

⏱ CHAPTERS:

[00:00] 6:29 — anatomy of a failure

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A US-Iran deal appears to be taking shape — and Israel isn't in the room. As diplomatic back-channels buzz and American strikes on Iran continue under a ceasefire that apparently requires bombing to maintain, Netanyahu finds himself watching from the outside: no seat at the table, no answers on the nuclear file, no movement on proxies. Meanwhile, two hostage parents — whose sons were held in Gaza at the same time — are entering Israeli politics from opposite ends of the spectrum, a story that says more about where the country is heading than any poll. Plus: the Caroline Glick appointment, the Israel Solidarity Parade in New York, antisemitism in London's British Museum, and a Chutzpah award for a congressman whose concession speech managed to be both funny and deeply troubling.

This week's Mensch of the Week will leave you wanting to move to Tel Aviv.

Note: The name of the Republican congressman challenged by Dan Bilzerian in Florida is, in fact, Randy Fine.

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Franklin Foer is the man who declared that the golden age of American Jewry is over - or at least ending. Two years on — in the aftermath of October 7th and the Gaza war, collapsing bipartisan support for Israel, a wave of antisemitism from both left and right, and a military misadventure in Iran — he thinks he underestimated the problem.

This week, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with Foer, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the landmark piece that became required reading in Jewish communities across America. They discuss whether the anti-AIPAC pledge that has become a feature of Democratic primaries is classical antisemitism in new clothing; how a forgotten Jewish genius from Odessa might explain what American Jews are supposed to do now; and why Foer refuses — loudly — to bow to fatalism.

Also: Bob Dylan's existential crisis, Abraham Joshua Heschel's ode to the Sabbath, and how soccer helps explain at least one aspect of modern Jewish life.

Guest: Franklin Foer, staff writer, The Atlantic

⏱ CHAPTERS:

[00:00] Intro — Franklin Foer joins Unholy, The golden age Jewish Americans, what it was, why it's ending

[04:46] The Impact of October 7th on American Jews

[11:25] The Connection Between Israel and American Jewish Identity

[22:32] Fatalism vs. persuasion — the Cold War argument 

[28:35] How do you persuade non-Jews that antisemitism is bad for them?

[32:56] Top 3 Jewish Americans: Pichelis, Dylan, Heschel

🎙️ Unholy — honest conversations with people who have something real to say

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This week Jonathan is in celebratory mode—and no, it's not only because it’s the festival of Shavuot, but because his beloved Arsenal finally won the Premier League, sparking a spontaneous tribal gathering of ‘marauding revellers’ in North London.

Meanwhile, Yonit and Jonathan unpack the volatile situation with Iran, and ask where President Trump’s vague threats of a renewed strike are heading.

Then, it's wall-to-wall condemnation for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose grotesque 56-second video taunting Gaza flotilla detainees was a nightmare for Israel’s defenders especially.

And Jonathan describes his visit to the Nova exhibition in London, which offers a powerful, heart-rending glimpse of the human faces of the October 7th massacre and the shocking refusal of much of the world to look directly at what happened on that day. Plus: a musical mensch for the ages.

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRENGUF2AAI

⏱ CHAPTERS:

[00:00] Shavuot: Celebrating the Unsung Holiday 

[09:20] Iran's Threats and Trump's Unpredictability

[17:00] Israeli Politics: Elections and Coalition Dynamics

[23:12] Ben-Gvir's Controversial Video: A PR Nightmare for Israel 

[29:15] The Political Landscape in Israel

[39:02] The Impact of the Nova Exhibition

[45:30] Chutzpah and Mench

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