Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

Dozens of Jewish extremists set fire to a security installation and rioted outside a West Bank base overnight Sunday-Monday, days after an officer in the Israel Defense Forces was assaulted by settlers, who threw rocks and attempted to harm other IDF soldiers.

If there’s one institution that a majority of Israelis still get behind, it’s the IDF. So this attack, to many, was a wake-up call to the bubbling issue of settler extremists.

In this week's What Matters Now, Rettig Gur describes the origins of the settler movement and how there were several visions that at times competed with each other -- and overlapped.

He explains how the extremists who are repeatedly attacking neighboring Palestinian villages -- and now IDF soldiers -- are disenfranchised and largely shunned by the diverse settler communities.

And we learn how politicians, some of whom serve as role models for these "hilltop youth" -- are finally also waking up to the problem. But while the leaders are changing their tunes, the youth are no longer listening.

And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

IMAGE: Illustrative: Young Jewish protesters throw rocks as Israeli police forces arrive at the illegal outpost of Amona, on February 1, 2017, on the morning of the settlement's evacuation. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with Daniel Syrkin, director of the acclaimed TV series "Tehran."

Recorded on Monday amid the ongoing conflict with Iran, Syrkin discusses the impact of the current geopolitical events on the storytelling of "Tehran" and the challenges of producing a series that reflects the most recent realities of life in Iran.

The "Tehran" director shares insights from his background in military intelligence and how it shaped his understanding of the Iranian regime and the making of the series, created with Israel's Kan 11 and Apple TV.

He also discusses the cultural authenticity of the series, the emotional responses from Iranian actors to their Israeli costars and crew, even during the last 10 days of the conflict.

Syrkin notes that sometimes the only way for him to cope as an Israeli is by working on the show, and notes that whatever happens next, it will be reflected in the next season, Season 4.

And so this week, we ask Daniel Syrkin, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

IMAGE: 'Tehran' director Daniel Syrkin with actor Niv Sultan from 'Tehran' (Credit: Tully Chen)

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

Since 3 am on Friday morning, Israel has been at war with Iran. We begin the program with a pause to look at how each of us sees this Israeli moment.

Rettig Gur weighs in on how this war with Iran was inevitable ever since Hamas's murderous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and began the ongoing war in Gaza.

The IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir told Israel's political leaders in the past day that the campaign in Iran is essential to ensure "the existence of the Jewish people," according to Israel's Channel 12. "The operation in Iran is an operation to defend the existence of the Jewish people. History will not forgive us if we do not act now."

We discuss the tipping point of launching the operation and the international media's cynicism that it was begun in part as a ploy for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stay in power. A constant critic of Netanyahu, today, Rettig Gur applauds his courage in taking on Iran.

Finally, we hear Rettig Gur's thoughts on Netanyahu's hopes that the Iranian people will use this opportunity to shake off their shackles of oppression and overturn the regime.

And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

IMAGE: Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, February 7, 2025. (OFFICE OF THE IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER via AP)

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Rabbi Noa Sattath, the head of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

For Pride Month, we discuss the history of the openly gay community in Israel and the connection between the LGBTQ+ struggle for equal rights and the broader struggle for democracy in Israel.

Sattath, an ordained Reform rabbi who until recently served as Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), was also previously the Executive Director of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance.

We hear Sattath's thoughts on the intersectionalism expressed by many members of the global gay community in their support for Hamas and condemnation of Israel during the war.

For Sattath, the current visibility of the LGBTQ+ community once seemed like a farfetched dream. In seeing what has been accomplished in a relatively short time, she is inspired in her work at ACRI, including the struggle to maintain human rights for Palestinians detained on and after the murderous Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023.

And so this week, we ask Rabbi Noa Sattath, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch.

IMAGE: NYC Pride float calling for a 'Free Palestine' rides through the annual Pride March into the West Village on June 30, 2024, in New York City. (Alex Kent/Getty Images/AFP)

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with ToI editor David Horovitz.

How do you cover a war when no objective, proven journalists are allowed to report independently in the war zone?

And when one side of the conflict -- a terrorist regime -- floods international media with its narrative while the other side -- an attacked sovereign nation -- provides no narrative, guess which side's story makes front pages?

This week on What Matters Now, Horovitz lays out the challenges of penetrating the fog of this war within the constraints of an Israeli information vacuum.

"The hardest challenge for journalists, and it's certainly never been harder for us in the last 19-20 months, is to get the facts first... Getting to the facts has never been harder," said Horovitz. 

And so this week, we ask ToI editor David Horovitz, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

IMAGE: Palestinians run following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Hebrew University Prof. Elie Podeh.

Podeh, the Bamberger and Fuld professor in the History of the Muslim Peoples, recently published a research article, "Israel’s 2005 Disengagement from Gaza: A Multilateral Move Under Unilateral Façade."

In the article, we learn that while the Gaza Disengagement was a unilateral decision, it was carried out in partnership with the United States, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

Among other revelations in the paper, we hear about the committees formed among the partners and their work on arrangements for border control, economic transition, and security cooperation. All elements were negotiated behind the scenes, especially under the guidance of American envoys and Egyptian mediators.

Podeh weighs in on prime minister Ariel Sharon's decision not to allow the PA to take credit for any part of the diplomatic cooperation and the question of whether delegitimizing the PA's authority in Gaza may have contributed to the Hamas takeover in 2007.

We speak about -- today, as the IDF is poised to retake the Gaza Strip, what the reasons were for the Disengagement 20 years ago -- and, in Podeh's opinion, why the Strip shouldn't be resettled by Israel.

And so this week, we ask Prof. Elie Podeh, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with ToI senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

Last week, US President Donald Trump completed a four-day trip to the Middle East, his first official state visit of his second term.

He struck economic deals in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and, in lifting sanctions against Syria, made a bold move that could reboot the wartorn country.

On May 13, Trump delivered an almost hour-long speech at the Saudi-US Investment Forum at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that gives deep insight into his plan for the Middle East and beyond.

Rettig Gur examines this speech and explains its significance. We hear how it reflects Trump's diplomacy, which in many ways harkens back to an earlier style of US policy. And we hear how, while the speech only names Israel once, it is actually a leitmotif.

And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump speaks during the Saudi-US investment forum at the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center in Riyadh on May 13, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Eurovision mega-fan Tal Dahan, straight from Basel.

Dahan is a volunteer reporter with the Hebrew-language EuroMix website, which has been the number one source for Israelis about the Eurovision for decades.

This year marks Israel's 47th time participating in the Eurovision, a song contest that was established 69 years ago to unite Europe through music.

We are recording just after the first semi-final and ahead of Israel's participation in the second semi-final on Thursday night. It is expected that Israel's candidate, Yuval Raphael, will make it to the finals on Saturday night with her song, "New Day Will Rise."

Dahan talks about the betting favorites going into Saturday's final and also discusses the politics of the competition.

And so this week, we ask Tal Dahan, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Elana Kaminka, peace activist and bereaved mother.

On October 7, 2023, Elana's firstborn son, Lt. Yannai Kaminka, 20, a commander in the Home Front Command, was killed battling against Hamas at the Zikim IDF training base. His efforts and those of his fellow officers there saved the lives of almost 100 recruits, as charted in a recently released IDF probe into the failures on and leading up to October 7.

In a frank and open discussion about what it means to choose a path of peace after losing her first child to terrorists bent on destroying her nation, Kaminka speaks with The Times of Israel just after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down in refusing to hold a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 disasters. 

Kaminka made aliya from California as a lone soldier at age 18 and later married Eyal with whom she had four children. Prior to October 7, she was already active in groups committed to fostering empathetic, respectful and nuanced dialogue. After losing her son, she redoubled her efforts to promote engagement between Israeli Jews and Palestinians -- and to protest the Netanyahu government, which she holds accountable for her son's death.

She is an active member of Tag Meir and the Parents Circle Families Forum and speaks tirelessly about the need to counter extremism and develop empathy and compassion among all levels of Israeli society.

While advocating for a future of dignity and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike in the Land of Israel, she is also a mother of three additional children, including her son who was conscripted to a paramedics unit a mere six weeks following his older brother's death.

And so this week, we ask Elana Kaminka, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with the coordinator of The Times of Israel's Those We Have Lost project, Amy Spiro, for this special episode in honor of Israel's Memorial Day to Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror.

We explain about the genesis of our Those We Have Lost project, and how we aim to tell the stories of individuals slain in Hamas's brutal attack on October 7, 2023. The first entry was written on October 11, 2023, when the number of the murdered was still unclear and funerals were held around the clock.

Today, with 1,100 individual entries covering almost every single person killed by Hamas, our Those We Have Lost project paints a picture of each of their lives and the ongoing ripple effects of their deaths.

Spiro speaks to the challenges she's faced -- including the mundane issue of how to write names in Latin letters -- and where she draws her information from.

The Those We Have Lost project works to ensure that despite the massive scale of the loss, no one is forgotten. On behalf of The Times of Israel, Borschel-Dan urges listeners to visit the project's home page this Memorial Day and keep the fallen's memories alive.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.