Haaretz Podcast

On the eve of the New York premiere of their film, "NAZA," co-directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor sat with Haaretz U.S. senior writer Etan Nechin to talk about the journalistic investigations behind the film, the unprecedented criticism of them in Israel – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to strip them of their citizenship – and why it’s important to them to come back home and engage with Israelis.

In this episode of the Haaretz podcast, you can listen to Abraham discuss what he thought of Netanyahu likening the documentary to “dozens of missiles” being fired at Israel; the Trump administration's material support of the Gaza war and U.S. debate about arms sales to Israel; the film’s title and thematic association with Nazi Germany; why so many specific details were taken out of the film; and his plan to return to Israel and continue his work.

“I don't want to be an exile,” he said, declaring that “there are no grounds” to revoke his or Szor’s citizenship. 

“We're journalists. We're filmmakers. … The storm will pass, and we will come back and move on to the next thing.”

The full interview with Abraham and Szor will be available on haaretz.com on Sunday. 

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After rapper Macklemore cried "Free Palestine!" as he took the stage as the opening act for music superstar Ed Sheeran, opened a Pandora's box of controversy over free speech and the place of politics at a music concert "that is not dying down any time soon," said Philissa Cramer on the Haaretz Podcast.

Cramer, recently appointed senior Jewish Life correspondent for Haaretz, recounted on the podcast how, when Gillette Stadium and New England Patriots billionaire owner Robert Kraft refused to have Macklemore at his venue later in the Sheeran tour, and the rapper was removed as an opening act for Sheeran, the incident "turned from a story about was Macklemore doing something that his audience found objectionable - to a story about cancel culture."

In addition to telling the story of the war of words and promises of donations, Cramer discussed with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer whether the episode carried lessons for the embattled organized U.S. Jewish community as the list of prominent celebrities speaking out publicly Palestinian rights continues to grow.

Read more:

Pro-Israel Group Petitions Ed Sheeran to Drop Macklemore for Saying 'Free Palestine'

Ed Sheeran Apologizes for Macklemore Controversy, Says Gaza Devastation Is 'Unjustifiable'

Robert Kraft vs. Macklemore Reveals New Reality in 'Free Palestine' Debate

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The violence of extremist settlers on the West Bank as they systematically terrorize, attack and even displace Palestinian communities is a “perversion of Judaism” and a desecration of God’s name,” said Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast in the week between the Jewish New Year and its Day of Atonement. 

Joining Weiman-Kelman on the podcast is Loui Ridi, a Palestinian American who flew from Ohio back to his home in the West Bank village of Qusra, after settlers laid siege to his neighborhood and the IDF declared a closed military zone. Ridi has been unable to leave his house for a month due to the order, and says the closure has been selectively enforced against Palestinians, while the army refuses to remove the settlers.  

Ridi is flying the American flag on his house, he said, “as a message to the U.S. government, to the U.S. officials, that I need protection and I need help.”

Weiman-Kelman, a former president of Rabbis for Human Rights and retired spiritual leader of Kol HaNeshama, a Reform synagogue in Jerusalem, reflected on the situation in the West Bank and the overall state of the country following Rosh Hashanah and ahead of Yom Kippur – a day on which, he said, “I want to atone for still feeling the effects of October 7, for the nationalist part of me overcoming the universal vision that is also part of me.” 

Israel today is not only threatened by external enemies, but “threatened from within by the moral center of this country beginning to shatter and disintegrate before our eyes,” he said. 

“We live in a country where people feel encouraged and empowered to express their darkest sides through acts of physical violence,” he said, including repeated vandalism to the Reform synagogue in Jerusalem he founded in 1985.

Read more:

One Month and One IDF 'Outpost Evacuation' Later, Qusra Remains Besieged by Settlers

Palestinian-American Returns to West Bank Home Besieged by Israeli Settlers

B'Tselem Says Israel Is Implementing a 'Project of Elimination' Against Palestinians in the West Bank

IDF Dismisses Commander Over Praying With Settlers at West Bank Outpost

American Rabbis Confront a Fraught Question This High Holy Day Season: How to Talk About Israel

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The intensifying Israeli election campaign encompasses a long list of issues, but at its heart, the results of the vote on October 27 will be “about the transition out of the Netanyahu era,” contended Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent for The Economist, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. 

Pfeffer said that many have done their best “to be the next Netanyahu,” attempting to project his confidence, authority and leadership, while consciously or unconsciously replicating the current prime minister’s style. The front-runner, former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, he noted, has a “big advantage is that he’s the first ‘wannabe Bibi’ who is not a ‘wannabe Bibi’” in looks and behavior. 

Pfeffer returned to Haaretz for the podcast, where he worked as a correspondent and columnist for over 25 years and continues to contribute, for a reunion with columnist Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, with whom he co-hosted the “Election Overdose” podcast during the run-up to the 2022 elections. 

In the first Haaretz Election Podcast since the party lists were finalized on September 8, Scheindlin and Pfeffer assessed the chances of each party and bloc, as well as grappling with the larger issues: most importantly, the legacy of October 7. 

Netanyahu’s newest challenge from the far-right former general Ofer Winter “is saying this election is about October 7, and that’s something that Netanyahu really doesn’t want the election to be about. For him, October 7 is kryptonite,” Pfeffer said. 

But, Scheindlin said, it is inescapable. 

“The sense that there has been no accountability for what happened on October 7 is not a marginal issue,” she emphasized. Israelis whose lives were upended by the events on that day and their aftermath “feel betrayed not only by the government, but by the state itself.” 

Read more:

Israeli Elections Poll Projects Tie Between Blocs as Eisenkot Bloc Slips

Poll: Most Israeli Voters Say October 7 Will Be Main Consideration at Ballot Box

Netanyahu's Likud Seeks to Disqualify Arab Party From 2026 Knesset Election Run

Analysis | Netanyahu's Terrible Tuesday Left Him Almost Unscathed in Election Polls – for Now

Analysis | The Quiet Radicalism of Mansour Abbas and Yoav Segalovitz

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The stunning triumph of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a German state election represents a true “challenge to democracy” and has shaken the country’s Jewish community, said author and activistDr. Ofer Waldman, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast

“It's the first time that a right‑extremist party has had such a landslide victory in Germany,” said Waldman, who heads the Heinrich Boll Foundation office in Tel Aviv. 

Haaretz writer and editorDavid Issacharoff, who joined Waldman on the podcast for a discussion of the election results, said that state of Saxony-Anhalt, which gave 44 percent of its vote to the controversial AfD party, is populated by voters who “feel abandoned, forgotten, and very isolated,” blaming the state and mainstream parties for their situation and channeling their resentment in an extremist political direction.

This is worsened, both Waldman and Issacharoff said, by the fact that East Germany was not part of the post-Holocaust democracy education push in the West. "Keeping Jewish memory there is a real struggle of individuals in that state, and they're up against real forces of neo‑Nazis,” Issacharoff noted, 

Both commentators pointed to the contrast between the expressed deep worry and concern of the German Jewish community regarding AfD antisemitism, and the resounding “utter silence” coming from the Israeli government – together with comments from Israel’s ambassador in Berlin during the election campaign that highlighted antisemitism on the left, while downplaying the AfD’s positions. 

"When Israel and its representative in Germany focus all the fire towards the left, then they're totally absolving the right from its responsibility for antisemitism. And when the representatives of the Jewish state say that, it matters in Germany," Issacharoff said. 

Waldman added the source of the dissonance was “what is perceived as a mutual enemy” by Israel’s far-right government. 

“The AfD is perceived as the enemy of the Muslim community in Germany and, as such, a possible ally to the current Israeli administration,” Waldman said.

Read more:

German Jews 'Appalled' by Historic AfD Win as Israel Avoids Direct Condemnation

The AfD's Victory Shatters Germany's Illusions of Immunity to the Far Right

Several European States Clarify Settlement Trade Restrictions Depend on EU Action

The Far-right German Party AfD Says It Has Nothing Against Jews. This Book Proves Otherwise

Inside the German pro-Israel Lobby's Campaign to Defund UNRWA

Who Stole All the Holocaust Memorial Stones on Oct. 7, Shaking This Quiet East German Town?

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A last-minute scramble before the party lists for Israel’s elections are finalized on September 8 has led to the disappearance of small parties, politicians switching parties and the dismissal of veteran ultra-Orthodox Knesset members by leaders who want to “refresh” their party lists.         

On the Haaretz Election Podcast, correspondents Linda Dayan and Etan Nechinreviewed the week’s big changes – along the return of October 7 conspiracy theories and the intermingling of U.S. and Israeli political campaigning with host Allison Kaplan Sommer. 

Dayan noted the leap by controversial Likud MK Tally Gotliv to the extremist Otzma Yehudit party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, pointed out that the move “shows how much Likud has absorbed toxic far-right populism.” 

The drastic shrinking of Yesh Atid as its leader Yair Lapid has played second fiddle to more popular center-right figures like Benny Gantz, Naftali Bennett and Gadi Eisenkot, Nechin said, “represents the limitations of liberal Jewish Israeli society. ... There’s a segment of Israeli liberal society which deems itself very liberal and very open‑minded, but would rather cede to the right than explore new political possibilities."

Nechin also discussed his decision to interview controversial streamer Hasan Piker and why, despite pushback, he felt it was important to be the first in the Israeli media to do so.

"His platform, where young people – mostly men – might hear for the first time the term ‘anti‑Zionist’ or ‘settler colonialism’ or learn about Israel… makes him a person that is worth talking to," he said.

Read more:

A Guide to Israel's Key Election Deadline – and How It Could Decide Netanyahu's Fate

Bennett and Lapid Bid to Oust Netanyahu Again as They Unveil Joint Slate

As Election Focus Shifts to October 7, Netanyahu Pivots to Conspiracy Theories

Hasan Piker Talks Hamas, anti-Zionism and Why Americans Are Fed Up With Israel

A Convicted Terror Inciter and a Man Who Killed a Palestinian: Meet Ben-Gvir's Election Team

The One Thing Hasan Piker Could Say to Begin Healing Ties With U.S. Jews

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Vice President JD Vance’s charm offensive failed to completely win over skeptical GOP donors who gathered this week in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition National Leadership Summit, Haaretz’s Washington D.C. correspondent Arno Rosenfeld told the Haaretz Podcast. 

There were mixed reactions to Vance’s speech to the crowd of 1,000, meant to be off the record, but leaked publicly, in which the vice president attempted to reassure those attending that, despite his isolationist leanings and association with media figures who regularly peddle antisemitic tropes, that he believed in the “mutually beneficial” relationship between the U.S. and Israel, that he was not “abandoning” the Jewish state and appreciated “American Jewish contributions to the United States.” 

Vance’s words were a bit more “weird and convoluted” in a strange discussion of “blood guilt” – a term popularized by right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson, as a variation of the term “blood libel” with a slightly different meaning. 

“It was quite telling that Vance was using a framework that Carlson has come up with to talk about antisemitism,” Rosenfeld said, at a moment in which even the most conservative Jews have been disturbed by Carlson’s conspiratorial theories. 

On the podcast, Rosenfeld, who covered the three-day event, also spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer about the “anxiety” among some present over the dramatic drop in support for Israel among young conservatives, but the lack of any genuine strategy to address it, as well as the primary targets of the attack lines of the speeches: Muslims and socialists.  

Rosenfeld said he was particularly “struck by the degree of just sort of open animosity toward Muslims and Islam” at the gathering, “because of how much of a focus there was on antisemitism and on extremism and on radicalism and on hate. You would get that in one breath, and then in the next breath, there would be talk about how we need to defeat ‘Islamo-fascism’ and the ‘red-green alliance’ between socialism and Islam.” 

Read more:

JD Vance Seeks to Assuage Republican Jews Worried About His Views Toward Israel

GOP Jews Rail Against Democrats at Vegas Confab, but Worry About Their Own Party's Israel Drift

Israel's U.S. Envoy Yechiel Leiter Says Government Is Failing to Stop Jewish Terrorism in West Bank

Michigan Jews Help Form 'Democrats for Mike Rogers,' With Little Talk of Israel

JD Vance's 'Communion' Gives Readers a Chronicle of Unconvincing Conversions

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Nothing is helping Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current coalition boost its standing in the polls, and it is clear that the premier is “panicking,” said Haaretz columnist Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, speaking on the Haaretz Election Podcast. 

Scheindlin joins Haaretz correspondent Judy Maltzand host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss the entrance of a new right-wing party led by ex-general Ofer Winter into the race, joining the plethora of “pop-up” right-wing parties that are causing Netanyahu’s alarm at the possibility that one or more will fall under the electoral threshold, and the precious votes in his camp will be wasted.

"Netanyahu is begging the right wing not to fragment the parties. He's warning the right wing: If you do the wrong thing, the entire world explodes," Scheindlin said, ahead of the September 8 deadline for merging with other parties and submitting final lists.

On the podcast, Maltz shares what she’s found as she visits cities and towns around Israel taking the pulse of voters. Kiryat Shmona – Israel’s most targeted city, devastated by three years of war – is still grappling with the 2023 evacuation that is proving to be somewhat permanent, Maltz says. “People are pretty angry and often talk about themselves being abandoned, unseen and forgotten.”

Still, like the Likud strongholds along the Gaza border that she has visited, Maltz found many clinging to party loyalties despite their disappointment with Netanyahu and his government. Some favor non-Netanyahu right-wingers, but others remain loyal to the prime minister despite the devastating events that happened on his watch. 

"Many of them subscribe to these conspiracy theories about the army in cahoots with Hamas together orchestrating October 7 to make Netanyahu look bad," Maltz explained.

Read more:

Ex-IDF General and Far-right Hardliner Ofer Winter Reveals New Party Ahead of Israel's Election

Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin | Two Months Out, Netanyahu's Bloc Is Stuck in Polls. But All the Rest Is a Mystery

By Smashing a Palestinian Monument, an Israeli Far-right Lawmaker Brought West Bank Reality to Light

Reality Check: As the Election Nears, Haaretz Debunks Israeli Politicians' Biggest Lies

'Israel on Steroids': Arad Foreshadows What Another Netanyahu Victory Might Look Like

'People Here Like Ben-Gvir's Tough-guy Approach': Will This Netanyahu Stronghold Near Gaza Go Further Right?

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Israel's controversial strike on an airbase in northern Syria close to Turkey was "first and foremost a message to the United States" that Turkish military penetration deeper into Syrian territory "can be turned into a real and total war," and any U.S. policy that tolerates it is "not sustainable," according to Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.

The attack has been criticized as an election ploy by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Yanarocak said such considerations may have played a role in its timing, he stressed that Turkey's ambitions in post-Assad Syria are a legitimate source of deep concern for Israel. Israel's military establishment sees them as a substantial threat and pushed for the attack after Turkey ignored warnings.

The past three years of war have shifted the balance of power in Turkey's favor with the weakening of both Iran and the Gulf states, he explained in a conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer. He discussed the bold ambitions of the country led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the key role Syria plays in them.

"The public discourse in Turkey is neo-Ottomanism," Yanarocak said. "Putting it more familiar to the American ears: 'Make Turkey Great Again' … Turkey is thinking very big."

Read more:

From Iran to Turkey, Netanyahu Is on the Hunt for New Fronts to Ignite

Netanyahu Warns Turkey's Erdogan Against Military Expansion in Syria, but Hopes a Warning Is Enough

Attacking Erdogan or Clinging to the Status Quo? Israel's Turkey Paradox

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The glut of new small parties throwing their hats in the ring is increasing the chances that after the voters have their say, there will not be a decisive win either for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition nor the opposition parties determined to topple him. 

"All of these new little parties are headed by individuals who are placing their ego above the political outcome. They can't possibly join an existing party – they have to try to start their own," said Haaretz columnist Dahlia Scheindlinon the Haaretz Election Podcast.  

As a result, the voters may not end up determining who will be prime minister, and instead a “little gang” of “six, seven or eight male party leaders” will meet and decide the make-up of the coalition, Scheindlin said. 

Scheindlin joined fellow columnist Esther Solomonand host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss the results of the Likud primaries, opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot’s declaration that there will be no Palestinian state on his watch, what appears to be a politicized decision by Israel’s internal security service not to officially protect Eisenkot, and how Netanyahu, stuck in the polls, appears to be dangerously “firing in all directions” in order to find a way to victory. 

"He has the capacity to aggravate, or provoke, or exploit any number of crises that are happening in this region,” Solomon said.

Little, however, Scheindlin pointed out, appears to be moving the needle for the prime minister. He has shown that "you can attack Iran and attack Iran again. You can bomb Lebanon. You can kill Hassan Nasrallah, and nothing has changed the polls."

Read more:

The U.S. Peace Plan Is Grave for Gaza and Great for Netanyahu

Netanyahu Rival Eisenkot Vows No Palestinian State: 'Not Now, Not in Next Government'

Reality Check: As the Election Nears, Haaretz Debunks Israeli Politicians' Biggest Lies

The Petty Politics Destroying Israel's Opposition

Likud's Casualty List: The Netanyahu Loyalists Headed Home After a Brutal Primary

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Longtime editor-in-chief of The New Yorker David Remnick joins the Haaretz podcast and guest host Joshua Leifer for a wide-ranging conversation about his more than three decades of reporting on Israel and Palestine, the role of the journalist in a populist age, and the future of U.S.-Israel relations.

"The only way to tell this story is to try to tell it truthfully and to know that you will fail," Remnick wrote in his report on the aftermath of October 7, 2023, published just two weeks after the attacks. In this episode, Remnick recalls what it was like to walk through the ruins of Kibbutz Be'eri and what was then the great trepidation of the nature of Israel's impending response.

Remnick returned to report on Israel and Palestine four more times over the last three years, and in July, The New Yorker published Remnick's profile of Gadi Eisenkot, currently the frontrunner among the candidates challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Remnick and Leifer discuss whether Eisenkot has what it takes, and what an Eisenkot-led government might do differently. Can the damage wrought by the current government be undone?

After Israel's destruction of Gaza, and amid spiraling settler violence in the West Bank, what remains of the prospects for a just resolution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians?

Read more: 

Netanyahu's Biggest Challenger: Who Is Gadi Eisenkot and What Does He Stand For?

Inside Likud Territory, Eisenkot Is Quietly Gaining Ground. Will It Be Enough to Defeat Netanyahu?

The American Jewish Establishment Is Defending an Israel That No Longer Exists

Bibi Cried Wolf? Americans' Trust in Israeli Intelligence Is Stooping to Irreparable Lows

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The battle over the Likud Party primaries this week was a clear example of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserting his dominance over his political kingdom, Haaretz senior analyst Esther Solomon told the Haaretz Election Podcast. 

Netanyahu had unsuccessfully tried to cancel the always robust Likud primaries altogether – ultimately compromising by pushing through a measure where he chose the candidates for nine key spots on the top of the list. He included a spot for Oren Dobronsky, an Israeli high-tech entrepreneur and hummus chain owner in Silicon Valley who has not lived in Israel for years, has no political experience and made headlines recently for calling U.S. President Donald Trump a “morally corrupt piece of shit” in the recent past. 

The prime minister’s message was clear, Solomon said: "This is no longer about the Likud party. This is about me."

Solomon joined Haaretz correspondent Judy Maltz and host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss the top stories from the last week week, which included controversy over efforts by expat Israelis to travel en masse to vote to replace the current government, and a proposal by opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot to form a minority government even if he doesn’t have a decisive election victory. 

Also on the podcast, Maltz described her encounters as she travels across Israeli cities to take their pulse ahead of the election, including Kfar Chabad, where, she quipped “only the Messiah is more popular” than far-right extremist Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Arab city of Umm-al-Fahm, where she said it was “very sad” that many young well-educated Palestinian citizens of Israel said they were so alienated that they were not planning to vote.

Read more:

Netanyahu's New Election Ploy Smells of Desperation and Elon Musk

In Monday's Likud Party Primary, Netanyahu Hopes to Get Rid of Lawmakers Whom He Had Nurtured in the Past

Netanyahu Changes Likud Rules to Let Far-right Politician Run in Primary

'People Here Like Ben-Gvir's Tough-guy Approach': Will This Netanyahu Stronghold Near Gaza Go Further Right?

'We Need to Finish the Job': The Israeli Town Where Itamar Ben-Gvir Ranks Second Only to the Messiah

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Nearly three years since Israel’s war in Gaza began, and despite a lengthy case brought before the High Court of Israel, journalists remain unable to enter the Strip to report independently on the widespread destruction, the ongoing humanitarian crisis and the IDF’s occupation of more than half of the Strip. 

Histadrut national union officialPeter Lerner, who served as the IDF’s Spokesperson to International Media until 2024, says the IDF’s reluctance to allow journalists in is a symptom of the war being drawn out and Israel’s increasing isolation from the global community. 

“The time passed two years ago,” to let journalists enter Gaza, Lerner said. “I recommended it to my superiors, that holding out this long is not beneficial to Israel; it just superimposes the fact that people will say that you're hiding something. …The fact is that there will be negative stories about the negative consequences of war.” 

Lerner and host Amir Tibon also discussed the reasons why Israeli soldiers passively watch – or even partake – in settler-led attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, and the ways in which the government fuels the total lack of accountability. “When I watch the attacks of these families in their homes, and they’re so helpless – as someone who experienced October 7 very, very close, it’s traumatic to watch," shared Tibon, a longtime resident of Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

State-backed settler violence has also accelerated against journalists in the West Bank, where Haaretz correspondent Matan Golan and photographer Itai Ron were attacked this week by settlers that have besieged homes in Qusra, near Nablus, as IDF soldiers looked on. 

Abby Seitz, a features editor at Haaretz, joins the podcast to recount the threats, illegal orders from soldiers and right-out lies that she and reporter Nagham Zbeedat encountered in a single day in the southern West Bank last month. Zbeedat and Seitz reported from Umm al-Khair as the community marked one year since Awdah Hathaleen recorded his own death at the hands of internationally sanctioned settler leader Yinon Levi.

When asked for comment on why Border Police, with the army, dispersed the village’s memorial ceremony, a police spokesperson told Haaretz that it was an “unlawful gathering, which was intended to serve as a demonstration of support for a terrorist who was neutralized” – a statement that contradicts the state’s own stance, as prosecutors filed reckless manslaughter charges against Levi last week. 

“This is not uncommon, and it’s increasingly happening against international and Israeli journalists, but it's also been happening against Palestinian journalists for a long time. There are Palestinian journalists right now in administrative detention, held for months and months and months without charges, simply for filming what's been going on” in the West Bank, Seitz said. 

Read more: 

Taghreed El-Khodary: International Media Is Failing Palestinian Journalists in Gaza

West Bank correspondent Matan Golan: I Was Attacked by Settlers as a Journalist. What the IDF Lets Them Do Will Get Palestinians Killed

IDF Removes Palestinian Families in Qusra as Israeli Settlers Resist Army Operation to End Siege

'Lords of the Land': Israeli Soldiers Describe How Settlers Manage Military Reality in the West Bank

One Year Later: Israel Issues Rare Indictment Against Settler Who Killed Palestinian Activist

A Year After a Settler Shot Awdah Hathaleen, His Village Still Can't Mourn in Peace

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While the polls in Israel have been relatively stagnant, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal standing has faltered. “The minute that Netanyahu's stock seems weak, people will start selling it, and that has begun to happen,” said Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.

Joining Leifer on the podcast, Haaretz correspondent Linda Dayan observed that in her conversations with mainstream Israelis who “don’t identify as leftists,” they see a real alternative leader in challenger Gadi Eisenkot. 

“People have said of Netanyahu in the past that there's no one who can replace him, who has the experience and the gravitas that we need. Now, for the first time in a very long time, people are saying it looks like there's someone who can actually do it.”

The two panelists joined host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss the debut of new right-wing parties who eschew Netanyahu and their “machinations” attempting to engineer a government coalition that would include the anti-Netanyahu center-right – while excluding Yair Golan’s Democrats Party, and, of course the Arab parties. 

"There is maybe a hope or a fantasy of finding some way of creating a government that excludes Yair Golan and the Democrats, and that closes the door definitively on having a potential Arab party in the coalition,” said Leifer, referring to the right’s growing fear of the prospect of an Eisenkot-led government that includes Mansour Abbas’ United Arab List.

Read more: 

How to Actually Read the Israeli Election Polls

Israel's Opposition Parties Are Courting New Immigrants With a New Set of Priorities

In Haifa, the 'Putin Aliyah' and Despairing Arab Citizens Warn of A Dire Future

Analysis by Joshua Leifer | Eisenkot Keeps Running Away From What Everyone Knows He Believes

Most Israelis Fear Upcoming Election Could Be Compromised, New Poll Finds

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Haaretz senior defense columnist Amos Harel joins the Haaretz Podcast to discuss Trump's latest U-turn on Iran, from threatening to bomb the country's infrastructure to once again negotiating with the Islamic Republic over reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Does the president have a plan, or is he just responding to pressure from different directions? How likely is a resumption of full-scale war between Tehran and Jerusalem? And is there truly a lack of interceptors protecting Israel from Iranian missiles? Amos answers all these questions, as we await the president's next step.

Meanwhile in Gaza, a new agreement has been announced by the Board of Peace, the international body overseeing the coastal enclave's painfully slow recovery. On paper, it looks great: Hamas will voluntarily disarm, Israel will then withdraw from the areas it occupied after October 7, and reconstruction will move ahead at a faster pace. There's just one problem: No one believes the deal will actually be implemented, and the two sides are already disagreeing over its content and interpretation.

Harel and guest host Amir Tibon will discuss the chances for success there, and also the growing danger of escalation in the West Bank after another wave of violent attacks by extremist settlers against Palestinian villages. At what point will the Palestinian population, and perhaps some of the Palestinian Authority's security forces, respond in kind to those attacks and throw the whole region into another round of fighting? And is such a scenario a foregone conclusion, or can it still be avoided?

Read more on Haaretz.com

The Art of the Deal – or the Art of Bullshit? Trump's Wariness of Another Iran War

Hormuz Deal Would Hand Iran an Unprecedented Geopolitical Victory

How Much Longer Can Lebanon Withstand Israeli and Hezbollah Obstruction?

How Netanyahu Convinced Trump's Board of Peace to Rewrite Its Gaza Deal With Hamas

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Gadi Eisenkot "hasn't finished his rise" in the polls after his party, Yashar, has overtaken Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party for several weeks in a row, while the potential coalition of opposition parties is soaring past that of the current government, said Haaretz columnist Dahlia Scheindlin, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.

Scheindlin, a veteran political strategist and analyst, noted that even the right-wing pollsters, who are heavily biased in favor of Netanyahu's coalition, are showing numbers that point to "a decline ever since the ceasefire and the war with Iran," reflecting perceptions among supporters who once "saw him as a great global statesperson."

The podcast panel, including Haaretz correspondent Nagham Zbeedat and host Allison Kaplan Sommer, reviewed the noteworthy political events of the past week, most prominently the intriguing news that could shake up the coalition mathematics: the Arab Islamist Ra'am Party's plans to invite a former senior police officer and centrist Jewish politician to claim the number two position on its list.

"Having a Jewish Israeli politician join an Arab party, especially an Islamist political party," would represent a "significant milestone," Zbeedat said, predicting that the move would boost support for Ra'am and increase the chances that an anti-Netanyahu coalition would invite the party into a coalition, which could well be its key to winning power.

Zbeedat herself, however, is not lending her vote to Ra'am or any other political party. She explained on the podcast why, like many other Palestinian citizens of Israel, she chooses not to participate in elections. She does not believe, she said, in taking part in a "performance" of democracy and granting "legitimacy" to a government that "enables the daily occupation struggles" and "doesn't accept my existence."

Read more: 

Game Changer? What if This Jewish Lawmaker Joins an Israeli Arab Party

Why I, a Palestinian Citizen, Don't Vote in Israeli Elections

Arab Parties Are Talking Unity. Their Voters Have Much Bigger Issues

With Confidence, Conviction and Even Talking Occupation: The Democrats Are a New Sight in Israeli Politics

How Arab Party Leader Mansour Abbas Changed Israel's Political Game

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On this week’s Haaretz Podcast, guest host Joshua Leifer talks to Pnina Pfeuffer, a liberal, feminist ultra-Orthodox social activist. The Jerusalem-based Pfeuffer, CEO of the New Haredim, recently petitioned against a Knesset bill that would permit gender-segregated study tracks for master's and doctoral degrees in Israeli academic institutions.

Pfeuffer represents a growing minority inside the Israeli ultra-Orthodox public that is interested in “full citizenship, with full obligations and rights” in the Jewish State. This is a public that wants the Israeli government to enforce the military draft on Haredim and teach math and English in Haredi schools, instead of continuing the de facto Haredi autonomy in which many Israeli rules and norms are absent.  

According to Pfeuffer, the Haredi community reflects Israel as a whole, and younger Haredim - like their secular and religious Zionist counterparts - are radicalizing, and are more right wing than their parents. Some, as Leifer notes, are part of a “far-right Haredi street movement that is in the Ben-Gvir camp or even more right wing.”

Addressing the American Jewish community, Pfeuffer asks that those giving money to Israeli causes “educate themselves” about who they are supporting, “because a lot of liberal funding and good intentions” end up promoting gender segregation and far-right politics. 

Read more:

Can Israel's New One-line Law Shield Haredim From IDF Service?

Israel Advances Bill Legalizing Gender Segregation in Universities

Gender Segregation in Academia Is the Government's Divide and Conquer Strategy

The Israeli Town Where Itamar Ben-Gvir Ranks Second Only to the Messiah

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on traveling to the White House three months before the Israeli election signals his desperation to boost his sinking fortunes at the polls, Haaretz senior columnistEsther Solomontold the Haaretz Election Podcast. 

Despite his unpopularity with major portions of both American political parties and his turbulent relationship with President Donald Trump regarding the ongoing conflict with Iran, the Israeli leader “does still think that a photo op with Trump is going to play well for him, even though it's not entirely clear if Trump is going to provide exactly the kind of celebratory hugs” he wishes for, Solomon said. 

But in his current political situation, the Israeli leader “has to pull out every single stop, and he is doing that across the board. Whether it's in terms of military operations, every kind of political manipulation or strategy that he has, in order to pull every last possible vote for the bloc of parties that would support him to be prime minister.”

Fellow Haaretz columnist Joshua Leiferadded that over the past year, “when Netanyahu flies to the United States, it has been to convince President Trump to jump back into the war, and I think that that's probably what he wants to do under the pretense of going to mourn the late Senator Lindsey Graham." 

On the podcast, Solomon and Leifer joined host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss the rising fortunes of Netanyahu’s opposition and the growing signs of concern in the ruling coalition camp, illustrated by an AI-generated video of rival Gadi Eisenkot featuring an image of his slain son, that was widely condemned as offensive. 

The panelists also discussed how escalating settler violence in the West Bank is making the months until the election more volatile and dangerous.

Leifer said that Israelis must “take seriously” statements by Netanyahu’s extremist right-wing partners that “this is the last chance that the settler right is going to have for a long time to stake its claim in the ground and end the possibility of a two-state solution. We should not be naïve about the lengths to which they are willing to go to prevent that possibility from happening."

Read more:

In D.C., Netanyahu Will Bid Farewell Both to Lindsey Graham and Unconditional U.S. Support

Analysis by Joshua Leifer | Will Israel's Opposition Be Able to Undo Netanyahu's Damage?

'People Here Like Ben-Gvir's Tough-guy Approach': Will This Netanyahu Stronghold Near Gaza Go Further Right?

'Not a One-man Party': Likud Blocks Netanyahu Bid to Scrap Primaries

'The Israeli Government Has an Interest in Disrupting the Elections, Giving Free Rein to Thugs'

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Both Israeli leaders and the Israeli public – lulled by both President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden’s backing of Israel – are utterly unprepared for the generational tsunami taking place when it comes to American support for the Jewish state, Haaretz’s opinions editor Amir Tibon told the Haaretz Podcast

"Approximately 60 percent of Americans have a negative view of Israel, and the younger you go, the worse it gets – we're close to 80 percent," said Tibon, who previously served as Haaretz’s Washington and diplomatic correspondent. "Israelis are looking at the top line, which is what does Trump have to say about us? And they're ignoring the iceberg, which is hidden underneath the daily Trump noise, of negative views of the country." 

"We’re going to have a lot of problems once this older generation leaves the American political scene, and most Israelis don't understand it yet," he said. 

In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Tibon also addressed the topic engaging most Israelis: whether or not Israel will be pulled into the continuing military confrontation between Iran and the United States, either at the request of the U.S. president or in response to a potential strike by the Iranians. 

He also addressed Gaza, both as a journalist and as a Gaza border resident. If Trump’s plan for rebuilding Gaza remains stagnant, he said, the situation is a “ticking-time bomb” with the “continuation of war” being inevitable. Tibon, who survived the October 7 attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz, as detailed in his book, said that the ghosts of that day are ever present in daily life.

"The memory is still there, and the fear is still there, and the trauma. And I think what is most lacking is a sense of optimism that we will have a better reality a year from today." 

Read more:

Americans Souring on Israel – but Not Warming to Palestinians, Pew Poll Finds

Haaretz Found Israel's U.S. Influence-op Accounts. No One Actually Follows Them

Half of Jewish Americans Don't Think Protesting Israel Is Antisemitic, Poll Finds

103 House Democrats Vote to Cut U.S. Aid to Israel in Landmark Symbolic Vote

The Constant Campaigner: Netanyahu Has Been Running for Reelection Since October 7

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be even more unpopular than the current polling demonstrates, Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer said on this week’s edition of the Haaretz Election Podcast.

“I have begun to think the polling is not telling the whole story,” he said, in a discussion on how voters who believe Netanyahu is causing irreversible damage to Israeli democracy and want him removed are currently ping-ponging between “optimism and apocalyptic thinking.”

The “apocalyptic thinking,” Leifer said, involves speculation as to whether Netanyahu, anticipating defeat, somehow uses the precarious security situation to prevent free and fair elections on the scheduled date. 

"After everything we've experienced over the last four years, can we rule out that apocalyptic scenario? We can't rule it out, sadly," he said.

Haaretz correspondent Judy Maltz, who joined Leifer and host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the weekly podcast panel, said she observed much of this disquiet with the country’s leader as she travels the country to speak with voters ahead of the October 27 election, from Arab cities to upscale suburbs to West Bank settlements where the most extreme elements of the government draw their support. 

In the settlement of Alon Shvut, she met people “conflicted” over whether to support Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.  

“On the one hand, they're very angry at Bezalel Smotrich and his party for supporting [Netanyahu’s] draft exemption bill for the ultra-Orthodox,” she said. “It really, really bothers them and angers them that the party that is supposed to represent this community voted in favor of this bill.” 

At the same time, “they tell you there has been nobody in history who has done more for us in preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state than Smotrich. He’s given them more than any other minister. So they don't know whether they should or shouldn’t vote for him.”

Read more:

Haaretz's 2026 Election Poll Tracker: The Latest Projections

Analysis by Joshua Leifer: If Netanyahu Loses the Election, Will He Go Full Trump?

Who Is Gadi Eisenkot, and What Does He Stand For?

Read Judy Maltz's election dispatches from across Israel and the West Bank:

'The Jews Turned Against Us, Even the Leftists': The Bedouin City Poised to Play Kingmaker in Israel's Election

In Haifa, the 'Putin Aliyah' and Despairing Arab Citizens Warn of A Dire Future

Many of the Voters Who Could Swing Israel's Next Election Are Naftali Bennett's Neighbors

'My Party Has Been Stolen': The West Bank Settlers Drifting Away From Israel's Far Right

Why Umm al-Fahm Is Drawing Attention From Both Ends of Israel's Political Spectrum

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In his first interview with an Israeli media outlet since his confrontation with armed settlers and Israeli soldiers in the southern West Bank last week, Representative Ro Khanna spoke with Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer in a wide-ranging conversation about the now-famous incident, the “cruelty” he witnessed in his visit to the West Bank, and how Israel’s “disproportionate and inhumane” behavior in the Gaza war has changed his policy positions and the way that both he – and Americans at large – view the Jewish state.   

"Israel has lost Americans under 50 – not just Democrats but Republicans," he said. “It is one of the most foolish strategies to have antagonized an entire American generation, and that's what Bibi Netanyahu has accomplished."

In the interview, Khanna recounted how Israeli settlers mocked and antagonized his delegation, and parked their vehicle in front of his to block the road to Khirbet Zanuta, a Bedouin village in the South Hebron Hills that has been forcibly displaced by settler violence twice since 2023, despite a High Court ruling that requires Israeli authorities to safeguard the Palestinians’ return. 

"We were quickly told to get into our van, and they blocked our van from exiting,” he said, saying that the settlers and the IDF forces who “took their side” should be investigated and prosecuted. “You can't do that. I've called it detainment. You could call it false imprisonment." 

In reaction to subsequent statements on the incident issued by the Israeli military and top officials, he said that he was “more disturbed” by their “lies” than by “the incident itself.” 

Khanna, a California Democrat who has made it clear that he is interested in a presidential run in 2028 and that he plans to make Palestinian rights a central issue on his platform, added, “the next American president will demand the arrest of violent settlers.”

Reiterating his belief that “Gaza was a genocide,” Khanna also said that anyone who “wants to see the cruelty of humanity” should “spend a day in the occupied West Bank."

He said he had visited Israel three times in the past – including trips with Jewish groups – and today, he is “saddened” and “pained” that Israel’s “contribution to human civilization is being corrupted because of an ugly occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, because of extreme elements that want to see the aspirations for a greater Israel, and because of an unwillingness to recognize the humanity and dignity of the Palestinian people.”

Read more: 

Op-ed by Breaking the Silence's Nadav Weiman: I Joined Rep. Ro Khanna on His West Bank Visit. Here's What I Saw

Israel's Response to Settlers Detaining Ro Khanna? Call J Street's Judaism Into Question

West Bank Palestinians Flee Homes in Zanuta Amid Settler Violence, Failed IDF Protection

Erased: Israeli Settlers' Brutal War on Palestinian Communities in the West Bank

Israel to Fund Settler Group Sanctioned by U.K., France and Canada, Claiming Grant Will 'Reduce Youth Violence'

Israel Pushes Regulations to Legalize West Bank Farm Outposts

An Israeli Shooter Goes Free – and Returns to Terrorize a Grieving Palestinian Village

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With Israeli elections set for October 27, Iran is increasingly pairing its military actions with aggressive online campaigns designed to sow chaos and conflict – alongside ongoing efforts to recruit Israelis as spies, Haaretz cyber and disinformation correspondent Omer Benjakobwarned on the Haaretz Election Podcast, in a roundtable with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer and correspondentLinda Dayan. 

“We’ve let the digital arena fester,” Benjakob said, in a stinging critique of the way in which Israel’s vaunted security services have dropped the ball in online foreign influence that has now been “supercharged” by AI.

One of the reasons the phenomenon has been difficult to combat is because “nine times out of 10, you can’t differentiate between a pro‑Iranian campaign and a pro‑Netanyahu campaign,” he added, noting that Israel’s prime minister and his far-right ruling coalition and the country’s enemies, he noted, have a stake in maximizing extremism and division in the months leading up to Election Day. 

In their review of the week’s political headlines, the Election Podcast panel also discussed U.S. Democratic presidential hopefuls Rahm Emanuel, who addressed Israelis in Tel Aviv last week, and Ro Khanna, who was detained by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the southern West Bank – and the rise of former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot in the polls and the nature of the threat he poses to Netanyahu. 

Eisenkot appeals to voters who identify as right-wing and voted Likud in the past, but are seeking a “sane right” this time around, Dayan observed. “He offers a security‑heavy, ‘big Z’ Zionist party” that, unlike Likud, “isn’t embarrassing itself by unleashing very loud but not very content‑rich people onto the public.”

Read more:

Iran's Other Weapon: How Israel Woke Up Late to the Threat of Election Interference

Gadi Eisenkot Is Quietly Gaining Ground Inside Likud Territory. Will It Be Enough to Defeat Netanyahu?

Latest Poll Shows ex-IDF Chief Eisenkot's Party Maintaining Lead Over Netanyahu's Likud

'The IDF Is Lying': Rep. Ro Khanna Calls for Arrest of IDF Soldiers He Says Were Involved in His West Bank Detention

Op-ed by Nadav Weiman: I Joined Rep. Ro Khanna on His West Bank Visit. Here's What I Saw

Rahm Emanuel's Tough Love Wins Warm Welcome in Tel Aviv

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The far-right religious Netanyahu government is doing its best to “push away” liberal non-Orthodox American Jews from Israel, said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, leader of the U.S. Reform movement, on the Haaretz Podcast.

“We’re not going away. We’re actually leaning in,” he said. “You can’t trade in non‑Orthodox Jews for evangelical Christians. We’re stuck, you’re stuck with us, we’re stuck with you – we’re the Jewish people.” 

During the era of negotiations over the 2016 historic compromise between non-Orthodox movements and the Israeli government over an egalitarian plaza at the Western Wall for mixed-gender prayer, Jacobs said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and the premier’s close advisers – were in regular contact.

Today, he said, “it has been years” since there has been a phone call – let alone a meeting – between the leader of the largest American Jewish membership organization and the Israeli leader – and, nearly a decade after the collapse of the compromise effort, the government is moving legislation through the Knesset that would not only forbid but criminalize egalitarian prayer, as well as women reading Torah and wearing traditionally masculine ritual garments, at the Western Wall. 

“It’s not just that you’re going to get hassled: You could literally spend seven years in jail,” said Jacobs, noting that additional proposed laws regarding the Law of Return and conversion, together with the Western Wall bill, “reflects a demonization – not just a difference, but a demonization – of non-Orthodox Jewry.”

On the podcast, Jacobs confronted the deep political challenges facing liberal and progressive American Jews regarding the “shockwaves” in the U.S.-Israel relationship, the spike in antisemitism since October 7 and Israel’s reaction to it.

“There's this notion I hear it all the time, particularly from officials of the Israeli government, which is: ‘They all hate us … Everybody hates Israel. Everybody hates the Jews. So it doesn't matter what we do here, [with] settler violence in the West Bank – if we eradicate that, they'd still hate us. And issues around pluralism and democracy don’t matter, because they'll always hate us.’ 

“I just would like to bring the view that says actually, it does matter.”

Read more:

Bill Banning Egalitarian Prayer at Western Wall Bound to Face Serious Legal Challenges, Warns Gov't Lawyer

Op-ed by Women of the Wall's Anat Hoffman: Israeli MKs Mull an Evil and Absurd Bill That Promises More Jail Time for Worshippers Than Rapists

Rahm Emanuel's Tough Love Wins Warm Welcome in Tel Aviv

30 Percent of Jewish American Adults Say Israel Committed Genocide in Gaza

Israel's U.S. Envoy Says Minister's Verbal Attack on Reform MK in Knesset Was 'Disgusting'

The Raucous and Roundabout History of Reform Judaism

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Unless something dramatic changes, the upcoming Israeli election will either end in a deadlock or a bold move to “get rid of the foolish self‑imposed arbitrary constraint of not forming coalitions with Arab parties,” political strategist and Haaretz columnist Dr. Dahlia Scheindlinsaid on the Haaretz Podcast.

With neither the pro-Netanyahu bloc nor the opposition parties coming close to the 61 Knesset seats they would need to take power, Scheindlin said that the Jewish Zionist Israeli parties – likely in the opposition – will be pushed to do what she believes is the right thing.

"Of course, there should be Arab parties in a governing coalition. They are 20 percent of the population. There should be no ban on parties that represent citizens of this country," Scheindlin said.

In the roundtable discussion with Haaretz correspondent Linda Dayan and host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Scheindlin discussed the new iterations of veteran parties on the center right and the left, vying for the voters who would like to see Netanyahu replaced – including those who previously voted for the prime minister and hold center-right views

These parties, Dayan said, are branding themselves as the “sane right” or the “non-schmuck right.” Their main differences with Netanyahu and his ruling coalition come down to drafting ultra-Orthodox young men to the army – and the government’s refusal to create a commission of inquiry on the events of October 7. 

Dayan also discussed the phenomenon of family members of former hostages throwing their hats in the ring on “every side of the political spectrum.”

Read more: 

How Israel's Soft Right Could Undo the anti-Netanyahu Opposition

Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin: Can the Most Right-wing Government in Israel's History Lose an Election Over Security?

Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin: In His Own Words: Naftali Bennett Is Committed to Annexing the West Bank

Arab Israelis Aren't Looking for Token MKs. They're Looking for Genuine Change

In Haifa, the 'Putin Aliyah' and Despairing Arab Citizens Warn of A Dire Future

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Brad Landersaid on the Haaretz Podcast that his resounding victory in the race for the Democratic nomination for Congress in a New York City district reflected a desire for a "reset in the U.S. relationship with Israel in the Democratic Party voting base – including in one of the most Jewish districts in the country."

Lander won by more than 30 points in New York's 10th District, covering downtown Manhattan and western Brooklyn. His win over AIPAC-endorsed incumbent Dan Goldman was part of the primaries sweep by candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Like the other Mamdani-backed candidates, Lander campaigned on a platform opposing additional U.S. military aid to Israel and condemning AIPAC as being "dangerous." Lander said on the podcast that, once he is in Congress, he will support "steps I think will help shift away from what I see as a catastrophic 'hug Bibi' policy, which both Joe Biden and Donald Trump essentially adopted."

At the same time, he told podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer that he still considers himself a "liberal Zionist" with ties to Israeli peace groups, and that he opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The former NYC comptroller differentiated himself from Mamdani and other members of his progressive camp who do not recognize Israel as a Jewish state and oppose nearly all 'normalized' contact with Israeli representatives.

"When people hear I will sign on to the Block the Bombs Act, and that I won't vote in favor of additional U.S. military aid to Israel while it is violating Palestinian human rights and international law, people think that's someone who has joined the 'Israel haters.' But I promise you I haven't.

"What I want is a path toward rebuilding Gaza under Palestinian leadership, an end to settler violence and meaningful negotiations toward mutual recognition," he said. "I'm very clear about my politics. You can check my mentions – I get called a 'Zionist baby killer' in my mentions as often as I get called a 'kapo.' So people know who I am."

Read more:

Why Israelis Should Stop Being Afraid of Mamdani-backed Brad Lander

Mamdani-backed Candidates Sweep New York Democratic Primary, With Israel as Fault Line

New York's Primaries Send a Clear Message: Democrats Must Reckon With Israel and AIPAC

Dan Goldman Says Support for Israel Cost Him New York Democratic Primary

Israel Critic Scores Major Democratic Primary Upset as Progressive Wave Reaches Colorado

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In the inaugural episode of Haaretz’s new Election Podcast, host Allison Kaplan Sommer welcomes the first weekly panel of Haaretz analysts who will be examining and explaining developments in the intensifying countdown to the fateful elections this fall. 

This week, senior analyst Esther Solomon and Palestinian affairs correspondent Nagham Zbeedat assess the state of a race in which neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his opposition currently have a path to victory according to the polls. 

At the moment, “Netanyahu is more or less maxed out on however many people will still be loyal to him,” Solomon said. “He cannot crack the numbers to get anywhere near a majority to form a coalition.” 

She discussed the ways in which Netanyahu visibly battled for political survival in a hastily called press conference Saturday night – from his reframing of the ongoing bloodshed in Lebanon to an invitation to his opponents to join him in a unity government. 

Netanyahu’s call for unity and vow to do “everything to diffuse” a “civil war,” Solomon said, showed an extraordinary “degree of chutzpah” given that “there has been no issue he hasn’t tried to divide and inflame and incite within Israeli society.”  

Zbeedat provided an update on ongoing negotiations between Hadash, Ta’al, Balad and United Arab List to run together as the Joint List, as the Arab parties did in previous elections. The four parties – which  have the power to tip the balance when it comes to building a government coalition – remain divided over whether they would be willing to join a coalition led by the winning Jewish Zionist party.  

The Gaza war and the lack of action to tackle the organized crime and gun violence tearing apart Arab society, Zbeedat noted, is likely to drive more Palestinian citizens of Israel to the polls than in years past.

In her reporting, she said, she has spoken to Arab Israelis who have ideologically boycotted elections in the past and “now want to vote – but more out of desperation, out of despair and out of fear, rather than faith in the election and democracy.”

Find the latest projections from Haaretz's 2026 election poll tracker

Read more:

Analysis: A Reality Check for Netanyahu's Delusional Post-Election Unity Ploy

Analysis: For Arabs, the Ballot Box Is the Last Resort to Tackle Israel's Crime Epidemic

Majority of Israel's First-time Voters Believe Their Ballot Can Change the Country, Poll Shows

Arab Parties Mull Partial Joint List as Rifts Over Joining anti-Netanyahu Coalition Continue

Jewish-Arab Movement Standing Together Launches Knesset Run With Party Built on 'Politics of Hope'

'The Jews Turned Against Us, Even the Leftists': The Bedouin City Poised to Play Kingmaker in Israel's Election

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For the Australian Jewish community, the date of December 14 carries as much gut-wrenching trauma as October 7 and September 11 does for Israelis and Americans, Daniel Hochberg, co-chair of the Union for Progressive Judaism's board, told the Haaretz Podcast.

On the six-month anniversary of the terrorist shooting attack on 1,000 Jews celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach that killed 15 members of the tight-knit community, Hochberg and Haaretz editor Noa Levin reviewed the aftermath of the second most deadly attack in Australian history and its ongoing effect on the country’s politics and daily life for Australian Jews. 

“We don't feel safe as we did before,” Hochberg said, describing an increased “closing of spaces” to Jews who once felt part of progressive circles. “It has affected our sense of self-worth, our belief in our contribution to Australia is in question, and we are struggling with that. Our walls are being built higher and higher, so there's this feeling that the Jewish community, by almost default, is being isolated from the rest of Australian society.”

On the podcast, Hochberg and Levin discussed the controversial formation and the ongoing testimony of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, the national inquiry of the Bondi attacks which is focusing on growing antisemitic discourse in Australia, and the political impact of the attack inside and outside the Jewish community.  

The “totally unimaginable” violent attack and the Jewish community’s reaction, Levin noted, has sparked a conversation among young Jews regarding “who gets to speak for us at a national and international level, and what recommendations would all kinds of Jews like to see to ensure their safety in Australia,” while “touching on the intersection between criticism of Israel and antisemitism.”

The Bondi attack, she said “has made the community incredibly sensitive to anything that looked, felt or smelt like something that could harm us, and that they have a right to do that, but I think it created something quite challenging in terms of discourse about Israel.”

Read more: 

'Reckoning Without Consequence Is Performance': Australian Jews Cautiously Welcome Antisemitism Inquiry Findings

Australia's Historic National Inquiry Into Antisemitism, Explained

How a Portrait of an Australian Jewish Leader Humanizes an Anguished Community

The Australian Film About Jewish Fear and Unease Shot in Bondi Before the Massacre

Despite a Moderate Downturn, Antisemitic Incidents in Australia Remained High for Second Year Running

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In a special investigation on a "revolution" that has taken place over the past three years, Haaretz reporters Yarden Michaeli, Matan Golan and Yaniv Kubovich detailed the push to restore and drastically expand Israeli presence in the northern West Bank that was part of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan in 2005.

On the Haaretz Podcast, Michaeli discusses how the settler movement and far-right politicians have spent the 20 years since the disengagement took place planning how to execute their "return" to four West Bank settlements located in the largest contiguous area of Palestinian population in the area.

With the ascent of the most far-right government in history in 2022, members of the movement have used their power and influence in what is essentially "the settlers' government" to "return big time," Michaeli said.

In the newly published Haaretz investigation, "Undoing History," Michaeli and his team reveal how 18 new settlements and eight new army bases are cutting through the largest contiguous Palestinian population in the West Bank.

The comprehensive effort includes military deployments, new bases and checkpoints, road construction, land expropriations, the displacement of more than 32,000 residents from three refugee camps and the terrorizing of daily Palestinian life in what senior military officials warn could destabilize an already volatile region.

Every aspect of the plan, Michaeli warned, is "bad news" and "harmful" to the Palestinians living there, and that the infrastructure in place "will be very hard to remove" – undermining the Oslo Accords and the possibility of a two-state solution.

Read more: 

Undoing History: As the World Watched Gaza, Settlers Charged Ahead in the West Bank. A Clash Is Imminent

Foreign Ministry Rejects Smotrich's Claim He Axed 1997 Hebron Accord With PA, as Israel Takes Municipal Powers From Palestinians

How Israel Is Using Archaeology to Advance West Bank Annexation

Former PM Ehud Olmert: Israel Is Conducting a Systematic Campaign of Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in the West Bank

'Nobody's Born a Soldier': The Israeli Teens Refusing the Military Draft Say They Can Take the Backlash

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As Israelis focused on the life-and-death issues around conflicts with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, the Netanyahu government has slowly but steadily progressed in its campaign to eliminate the gatekeepers of liberal democracy in order to consolidate the power of elected politicians, constitutional law expert Prof. Adam Shinartold the Haaretz Podcast. 

The steps it has taken were “not exactly the package” of radical reforms it proposed in 2023 that brought hundreds of thousands of Israelis into the streets, Shinar said, but they are firmly marching Israel in the direction of a weakened judiciary, civil service and media, by putting more power in the hands of the ruling parties. 

Initially, after October 7, the push for a judicial coup ground to a halt. But as the war continued, explained Shinar, a professor at Reichman University, changes were still made – if not directly through legislation, then by the appointment of Netanyahu loyalists in key positions. 

"The government saw an opening. It said, 'Hey, we can do many, many things. The public is distracted, the public is concerned about other things, and we can do a lot.”

If Netanyahu remains in power after the fall elections, Shinar predicted, the push for a total judicial overhaul will return “on steroids.”

To succeed in moving Israel further from the democracy he emphasized, "You don't have to dismantle everything, it's enough that you dismantle several key components – limiting judicial review and changing the way the attorney general is appointed. … That's 60 to 70 percent of the way.”   

Read more:

Haaretz Explainer: What Are the Judicial Overhaul Bills About, and Can the High Court Strike Them Down?

With the Election Clock Ticking, Netanyahu's Coalition Is Pushing Contentious Judicial Overhaul Bills

Anti-government Protests Take Place Across Israel, Five Arrested

Knesset Grants Likud Lawmaker Immunity After She Exposed Identity of Shin Bet Agent

When Roman Gofman Came to Israel, He Was a 'Stinking Russian.' Now He's Set to Head the Mossad

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Israel is in a strategically weakened position – and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take a hard political hit if reports on the details of U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding are accurate, Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifersaid on the Haaretz Podcast. 

Netanyahu had been “riding high,” planning to face Israel’s upcoming elections in the fall having compensated for his failures that led to October 7 by boldly “reconfiguring the map of the Middle East, and disassembling Iran's proxy network of Hezbollah and Hamas, and taking on the Iranian regime itself,” Leifer said. 

The Israeli leader thought “his legacy [would] be rehabilitated by those wars. Fast forward to where we are now, and that's not the case, and he’s having to confront that,” Leifer added. “Strategically, Israel's in a terrible place, where the Iranian regime is stronger than it was, and it is now able to enforce a new kind of equation where Israeli freedom of movement is limited by the potential threat of ballistic missiles from Iran – which wasn't the case prior to October 7.”

Netanyahu, Leifer said, has been “backed into a corner” on all of Israel’s fronts – Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and now Iran. He must follow Trump’s dictates and has turned Israel into “a total vassal state of the U.S.” and “Trump’s lapdog.” If he were to defy Trump, he runs the risk of losing American support, which could endanger the country even more.

Read more: 

What You Need to Know About the U.S.-Iran Deal – and What It Means for Israel

Report: Billions in Frozen Iranian Assets May Be Released Under U.S.–Iran Deal

Israeli Withdrawal From Lebanon Not Part of U.S.-Iran Deal, White House Official Says

'Don't Bullshit Us, Trump': Netanyahu Loyalists Rage at 'Treacherous' United States Over Iran Deal

Netanyahu Says Israel to Remain in Security Buffer Zones in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria After U.S.-Iran Deal Signed

Amos Harel: The Iran Fiasco Is Netanyahu's Biggest Failure Since October 7

Read more analysis from Haaretz's Joshua Leifer

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When Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to march in New York City’s Israel Day parade - the first mayor of the city to do so in over 60 years – “did not surprise” Rabbi Josh Weinberg, who participated in the parade. But the liberal Zionist Reform rabbi was surprised to discover that he was marching alongside far-right ministers like Bezalel Smotrich and members of the Kahanist Otzma Yehudit party.  

Had he known, said Weinberg, Vice President of the URJ for Israel and Reform Zionism, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, he would’ve held a sign making it clear that “Smotrich’s Zionism does not reflect our ideology at all, and is in fact antithetical to who we are as Jews and Zionists, and even as Americans. His brand of racism, discrimination, xenophobia – everything that he stands for – we want to totally reject while still maintaining our love and support for Israel." 

Weinberg added that a statement by Smotrich that the New York event resembled the Jerusalem Day flag march – an event regularly marked by harassment and violence towards Palestinians in the city – made him “want to throw up.” 

Also speaking on the podcast, Haaretz's New York correspondent Etan Nechin said that the Israeli ministers in the parade presented their presence as an “act of defiance by the Israeli Knesset and by the Israeli government” to “show” Mamdani.

Assessing the mayor’s relationship with the Jewish community over the first six months of his term, Weinberg praised Mamdani’s initiative to increase spending to secure Jewish institutions with the rise of antisemitism, but regretted his boycott of the parade and his high-profile commemoration of Nakba Day online.

Nechin countered with his belief that Mamdani had taken advantage of harnessing his popularity to take advantage of “this sudden historic opportunity to platform and champion Palestinian voices.” Mamdani, he said, “is a symptom of American public opinion – especially young Americans who are having conversations about Israel and Palestine, but not on Israeli or Jewish terms. It’s something that the Jewish community and Israelis will need to contend with.”

Read more:

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'We're Done Apologizing': Inside the Israeli Far Right's Big Weekend Out in New York

Mamdani 'Offended' by Participation of Far-right Israeli MKs in Israel Day Parade

Nearly Half of Young U.S. Jews Want to Replace Israel With Binational State, Poll Finds

How Trump's Second Term Marks the Ascendance of The New Jewish Orthodox Right

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U.S. President Donald Trump has tired of the Israel-Iran conflict, but a solution remains elusive as missile fire renewed Sunday following an Israeli attack on Beirut that provoked the Iranian regime.

“I think he's had enough of us,” said Haaretz senior defense analystAmos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. “He's fed up with this region. This is taking a lot longer than he thought, and it was less successful than he assumed. He’s paying a huge price at home domestically because of the economic effects, and he doesn't seem that tough anymore.”

Joining Harel on the podcast is former Mossad official Sima Shine, an Iran expert at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies, who said that Iran clearly has the advantage in negotiations with the United States towards a long-term cease-fire. 

While she said she doesn’t believe that Tehran wants to prolong the war, she said, they will only end the fighting “on their terms.” 

“They are much more determined, they are willing to pay the price and therefore, they have the upper hand in negotiations” on the key issues – their nuclear capabilities and access to the Strait of Hormuz, despite the fact that their economic situation is “very bad.”

As a result, she said, she believes that ultimately “Iran will dictate the terms” of any agreement.

Read more:

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'I Call the Shots': Trump Urges Netanyahu Not to Retaliate After Iranian Missile Attack

UN Nuclear Watchdog Says It's Been Unable to Inspect Iranian Facilities

Report: Pentagon Officials Suspect Israel Tried to Spy on U.S. Officials Involved in Iran Talks

Analysis by Amos Harel | As Israel Tips Back to War With Iran, Netanyahu Gets His Wish

Israel's New 'Iran Spies': Young, Broke and Mostly Clueless

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For B'Tselem executive director Yuli Novak, the firestorm around the New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof decrying sexual violence by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank and in Israeli prisons has had the wrong focus. 

Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, Novak said the Israeli government’s "propaganda machine" and other critics focused on challenging the facts regarding the abuse described in the piece, which she says are backed up by "dozens of testimonies" collected by her organization. 

"I would say it's much less a question whether these things [sexual abuse of Palestinians] are happening or not happening, and much more about what it means for all of us, and first and foremost for the victims."

In its report on prisons, based on testimonies from Palestinians detained and then released from 16 detention facilities after October 7, B’Tselem documented "ongoing torture, physical and mental" abuse and the use of starvation and denial of medical treatment "as a policy." 

B’Tselem’s conclusion: that these facilities represented "a network of torture camps," which Novak admitted "was hard to grasp as an Israeli. For me – torture camps have been something that happens somewhere else." 

October 7 had been an opportunity and a “catalyst” for right-wing extremists in the government to influence policies in the direction of “their nationalist, racist, and in the case of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the prison system – I would even say their sadistic agenda,” Novak said.

“We can keep telling ourselves that we're a democracy, but if Israel, holding almost half of its population under its control without the right to go and vote for the system that governs them, it's not a democracy.”

Read more: 

B'Tselem Report: Testimonies Describe 'Pattern of Sexual Violence' Against Palestinian Prisoners

UN Secretary-General Report Accuses Israeli Forces of Rape, Sexual Abuse of Palestinian Detainees

Ben-Gvir Is Not Alone: These Are His Collaborators in the Illegal Treatment of Palestinian Prisoners

Op-ed by Yuli Novak: Even if You Call Israel a Democracy, It Is Still Apartheid

Israel Must Let Red Cross Visit Palestinian Security Prisoners, High Court Rules

Read B'Tselem's full report on Israeli prisons as a network of torture camps

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The Gulf countries are spending “enormous amounts of money to try to mask the economic consequences of the Iran war from their population,” Gregg Carlstrom, The Economist’s Middle East correspondent, said on the Haaretz Podcast.

Carlstrom, speaking from Dubai, explained that with the Strait of Hormuz blocked by Iran, Gulf states are flying in consumer goods, food and medicine normally imported by ship “at a huge expense” so their citizens don’t experience shortages or empty shelves in stores. 

However, he warned, by the end of the summer, if the security situation remains precarious and the Strait remains blocked – and especially if active warfare with Iran is renewed – the economic toll will be impossible to avoid, and these countries will worry about their many expat residents packing up and leaving. 

In a conversation with Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Carlstrom described a “roller coaster” of changing attitudes in the Gulf States regarding the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict. 

Initially, in March, he said, when the fighting was at its peak, leaders of most of the Gulf countries were “quietly urging the Trump administration to keep fighting until the Iranian regime was overthrown or severely weakened.” By now, he said, the U.S. president “really has lost the support he had in the Gulf,” as leaders unanimously tell Trump that “this needs to end.”  

The same leaders, he said, are harboring “anger at Israel” for what they see as its “major role in pushing America into this war.” As a result, he said, he is skeptical of an expansion of the Abraham Accords, as promised by Trump, in the near future. 

On the podcast, Carlstrom also discusses the expanding confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the failed negotiations to end it due to what he sees as the “poor job” Lebanon is doing managing its relationship with the United States.

Read more:

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How Israel's Adventures in Lebanon Are Giving Iran a Second Chance

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A 'Stupid, Futile Waste of Lives': The Empty Triumph of Israel's Latest Conquest in Lebanon

Report: UAE Carried Out Dozens of Strikes on Iran in Coordination With Israel and U.S.

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Both of Israel’s wars in Iran have been “strategic failures” and critically damaged the country’s deterrence, Danny Citrinowicz, a former top Iran expert in Israeli military intelligence, told the Haaretz Podcast. 

He cited a long list of missteps and misguided assumptions that led to the failure of the solo military operation in 2025 and the joint U.S. attack in February.

“We overestimated air power and underestimated Iranian resilience,” Citrinowicz said, resulting in the “worst possible strategic reality, with a more extreme, decentralized regime in Tehran,” and heightened tensions with the U.S. – all while highlighting Israel’s dependence on the U.S. as a weakness.

While Iran once feared an attack by Israel, he noted, its leaders have now learned that they can be attacked by the two strongest air forces in the world and emerge with its regime intact, as well as “the capacity to launch missiles and drones, and theoretically has the potential to move to a nuclear bomb.”

Moreover, in a boomerang effect, he noted, wars launched to deter Iran’s nuclear program have likely intensified Tehran’s motivation to acquire nuclear capacity in order to prevent future attacks. 

In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Citrinowicz – a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies – also discussed the intensifying conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued belief that Saudi Arabia will soon join the Abraham Accords, which he called a hope “detached from reality.” 

Read more: 

Iran and U.S. Trade Air Strikes After Trump Dismisses Report of Hormuz Deal

Trump's Iran Deal: Netanyahu's 2018 Dream Is The World's 2026 Nightmare

Analysis | Israel Demands to Disarm Its Regional Enemies, but Refuses to Pay the Price

Trump: Not Sure Iran Deal Possible Unless Saudis, Qatar Join Abraham Accords

U.S. May Need Years to Rebuild Weapons Stockpiles Depleted in Iran War, Report Says

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The first major primary battle in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections resulted in a significant victory for AIPAC and other pro-Israel megadonors, but Haaretz's Washington correspondent Ben Samuels warned that their celebrations could be premature.

The defeat of Representative Thomas Massie – a rare Republican antagonist of U.S. President Donald Trump and harsh critic of Israel whom AIPAC "has wanted to take down for years" – happened after more than $30 million was spent to defeat him in what was the most expensive Congressional primary in American history. Massie was targeted by Trump and his supporters for his disloyalty to the U.S. leader.

"They may have won the battle with Thomas Massie, but it's very clear that the ideology and the agenda and the vision that Thomas Massie embodies is not going anywhere – especially with younger voters and also with voters on the progressive left flank that found themselves to be weird ideological allies with this guy," Samuels told the Haaretz Podcast.

Samuels also discussed the role that Israel and Iran are playing on the campaign trail, and the contradictory messages from the Trump White House on the drawn-out negotiations toward a potential agreement with Iran.

"So little was actually accomplished from the kinetic military campaign that the United States and Israel launched, that any sort of negotiation that Trump is trying to eventually spin as a win wouldn't actually be that much of a win," Samuels said. It would just be moving the goalposts back."

Samuels was skeptical regarding reports that Trump is blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dragging him into the Iran war – and that the U.S. is subsequently not keeping Israel in the loop regarding negotiations – as well as theories that the U.S. leader has soured on Netanyahu after singing his praises early in the war.

"If anything, Trump defies the odds and brings himself closer to Bibi. That being said, there is no doubt that Israel is effectively being sidelined in these current negotiations."

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GOP Rebel Thomas Massie Loses Kentucky Primary After Record-high Spending From pro-Israel Foes

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Texas Candidate's Antisemitic Conspiracies Trigger a National Democratic Backlash

In Unlikely Team-up, Hunter Biden and Candace Owens Trade Conspiracies on Israel and the 'Epstein Class'

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As Israel is fighting enemies on multiple fronts, it can't afford to lose any of its vital strategic assets. And according to Dr. Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis, a researcher at Tel Aviv's Institute for National Security Studies, it is in danger of losing one of those assets: the support of American Jews.

"The loss of the special relationship between Israel and the US will force Israel to reconsider its security priorities and matter greatly to the security and foreign policy of the State of Israel," Sasson-Gordis told the Haaretz Podcast. "Within that, the Jewish community over the decades has been a major pillar of that support."

A new report co-authored by Sasson-Gordis details the data behind the deterioration of support and explains the reasons for the dramatic drop – even as the Trump White House is offering "unprecedented levels of support" for Israel. The report is intended as a wake-up call for Israeli leaders and offers a list of policy recommendations designed to stave off the deterioration.

Polls show that among the U.S. public at large, "Israel is in the red in terms of net public support in every audience except older Republicans – even traditional groups that the current government and previous Israeli governments have seen as stalwart supporters of Israel."

The Jewish community faces a "generational cliff," he said, as American Jews, particularly young Jews, are deeply influenced by the multi-front wars waged by Israel.

"If you're today a young American Jew who is not very strongly affiliated with Israel to begin with, then the experiences that you've had – either on campus or where you work or on social media – cause you to wonder whether supporting Israel is worth it for you socially and morally."

But even older members of the U.S. Jewish establishment, including institutional leaders, he said, "feel like Israel is not listening to them and is not interested in their opinions, even as they are increasingly affected by Israeli actions on the ground."

Read more:

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'A Critical Mass of U.S. Jews Is Now Disgusted With Israel'

Analysis by David Rosenberg: The Future of American Jewry Looks Bleak

Read the full INSS report

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U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his desire not to "get stuck" in Middle East conflict and clearly wants to avoid a renewal of full-on war with Iran – but he may not have a choice, Haaretz senior analyst Amos Hareltold the Haaretz Podcast.

"The Iranians are not playing ball. They're not willing to make the concessions he's demanding," Harel said. "Under these circumstances, he may be pushed into a corner" and resume strikes on Iranian targets.

It is a scenario that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly desires, Harel said, but it isn't clear whether Trump will include Israel directly in the offensive if it returns to striking Iran. The Israeli military is, he notes, on "high alert."

On the podcast, Harel speaks to host Allison Kaplan Sommer about the "fake cease-fires" in Israel's multiple fronts – where agreements exist on paper, but attacks and drone strikes continue – in Gaza, between Iran and the Gulf states, and between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In Lebanon, he noted, the number of IDF and Lebanese casualties – the latter of which recently passed 3,000 – are "massive" considering that there is no full-scale war officially raging and a recently renewed cease-fire agreement is supposed to be in place.

"We're shedding blood there, and this is not going anywhere positive soon," Harel said. "It all goes back to the fact that Netanyahu time and time again insists on not initiating any kind of diplomatic solution after the guns go silent."

"After operational success is achieved, he always refuses because of his political situation and refuses to undertake any kind of serious negotiations with the other side."

Read more:

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Analysis by Amos Harel: As Trump Hesitates With Iran, Israel Acts as if Return of War Inevitable

Unmoved by Trump's Ticking Clock, Iran Forms a New Reality in the Persian Gulf

Israeli Soldiers in Lebanon Complain of Risky, Pointless Missions in Broad Daylight

Israel and Hezbollah Trade Fire Across Lebanon Border Despite Cease-fire Extension

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On a special edition of the Haaretz Podcast celebrating its 500th episode, host Allison Kaplan Sommer speaks to iconic Israeli musician David Broza – the composer of "Things Will Be Better," one of Israel’s best-known peace anthems – on performing in a time of war, chaos and despair in his country.

“There’s no rationale to being Israeli,” Broza, 70, said on the podcast. "My mission is to exist as an artist and to be very much aware of where I come from and not just leave it behind and shy away from it."

Broza describes himself as being “sad but hopeful,” adding that he “would have to stop singing if I wasn’t hopeful.” Having lived in Francoist Spain in his youth, he observed that how "in fascist governments, the artists are the first ones to be burnt, banned, thrown out... And yet you can't erase the art. We need strength now. We need songs. We need art."

Broza’s music crosses cultures and genres – fusing Spanish guitar with contemporary rock and folk music, and emphasizing themes of peace and social justice. He has collaborated widely with top artists including Paul Simon, Sting, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan – and with Palestinian artists.

His belief in art to overcome conflict puts him at odds with advocates of boycotts.

"I am so adamantly anti-boycott that you can't even believe it. BDS is such a lie. It's bullshit," he declared on the podcast. "Boycott will put an end to any hope for future collaboration. If we stop talking to each other, if we do not communicate with each other, we will never step over the threshold."

At the same time, he added, "I don't disregard what's going on. I don't disregard the ultra right-wing government we have here, or the crazy government in America." But his role, he said, is clear – to play the role of the troubadour and sing “to anyone, settlers or leftists.”

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Jews in the United Kingdom watched voters in their country gravitate to parties on the extreme right and left in the country’s local elections – following a campaign where antisemitism was used as a political football, and controversies over the government’s relationship with Israel, pro-Palestinian protests and free speech factored into voting. 

On the Haaretz Podcast, London-based correspondentHagar Shezaf and senior analyst Esther Solomondiscuss the impact of the results, which have been described as an “earthquake” for its rejection of the Labour Party led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

While covering the campaign, Shezaf said, she encountered a voter who told her “I voted for Labour my whole life. I won't be doing that anymore because of Gaza and Iran.”

The surge in support for the far-right anti-immigrant Reform U.K. party, Solomon observed, “leaves Jews in a very, very difficult position” as the party and its leader, Brexit architect Nigel Farage, made multiple bids for Jewish support during the campaign – including in the aftermath of the stabbing attacks in the Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green on April 29.

“Reform really wanted to put over the message that it was there to ‘look after’ the Jews – by cracking down on what it calls an invasion of migrants … and on the Muslim community of the U.K. … but it’s not just about protecting the Jews. It's putting them up on a pedestal in order to stamp on all sorts of other minorities.” 

On the left, Solomon said the newly resurgent Green Party – led by leader Zack Polanski – “were not willing to really confront the issue of antisemitism, and constantly tried and deflect to the idea that is all about their criticism of Israel, and that they refuse to be silenced.”

Read more:

Analysis by Esther Solomon on Britain's Nationalist Surge: It's Not Only Reform's Farage That Disunites the Kingdom

How Antisemitism Can Push British Jews Into the Arms of Farage and the Far Right

Cheers for Reform, Boos for Labour: 5,000 U.K. Jews and Allies Rally in London Against 'Poisonous' Antisemitism

'No Longer Safe to Be Visibly Jewish': After Stabbing Spree, Some British Jews Say It's a Matter of When They Leave, Not If

U.K. Greens' Zack Polanski Discourages 'Globalize the Intifada' Phrase but Opposes Policing It

U.K. Greens' Polanski Slams Starmer for 'Weaponizing' Antisemitism After PM's Rebuke

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October 7 and the Gaza war radically changed the way many people around the world, including Diaspora Jews, viewed Israel. 

For Toronto-based journalist Jesse Brown, the turning point came not with Hamas' massacre itself, but with the domestic backlash that followed.

“Canadians got angry with Jews after October 7, and the entire national discourse seemed to just turn against Jews in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined possible,” he told the Haaretz Podcast. 

Using police-reported hate crime statistics from Canada and the United States, Brown argues that a Jew in Canada is now about nine times more likely to be the victim of a hate crime than a Jew in the United States.

Ironically, he explained to podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, the progressive political atmosphere in Canada has made things worse for Jews, not better. 

Brown’s podcast series “What is Happening Here” documents the skyrocketing antisemitism targeting Jewish institutions and neighborhoods in Canada, including synagogues being shot at, firebombed or vandalized, and Jewish-owned businesses and individuals singled out for harassment campaigns.

Brown contends that debates over whether specific chants or actions are “anti-Israel,” “anti-Zionist” or “antisemitic” obscure the practical impact on Jewish communities. While he stops short of equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, Brown said that contemporary anti-Zionism is “just as dangerous to Jews.” 

Read more:

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Canadian-Jewish Groups Decry Efforts by pro-Palestinian Groups to Strip Jewish Schools of Their Charity Status

Toronto Police Arrest Suspect in Passover Shooting at Jewish-owned Restaurant

Campaign Targeting Jewish Children's Summer Camps in Canada Condemned as Antisemitic

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War-weary Israelis have clearly tired of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, but it is still uncertain as to whether opposition forces will be able to put aside their wide ideological differences to defeat him in the October election, Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin told the Haaretz Podcast. 

Scheindlin, a veteran political analyst and strategist, said the recent announcement that Netanyahu challenger and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will join with Yair Lapid – also a former prime minister – is a harbinger of an opposition seeking to run in a united bloc. 

What is unclear is whether this push for a united opposition is “an extremely sophisticated political strategy based on mathematical calculations, or it's absolutely an arbitrary guess – a finger in the wind.”

Lapid and Bennett are joining forces despite the fact that Bennett’s right-wing pro-occupation positions are firmly in line with Netanyahu’s, “minus the corruption and populism,” said Scheindlin, while Lapid supports a two-state solution. 

Asked if this election is indeed as fateful as it is being framed, Scheindlin replied that in her experience, every election in Israel’s history is expected to “change the course of the country. And every time it was true.”

The difference is, she said, that even if Netanyahu is defeated, “Israel has gone so far in the direction of an undemocratic transformation and becoming a permanent expansionist, occupying undemocratic state – it will be much harder to turn the clock back.”

Read more:

Explained | What to Know About Israel's 2026 Election

Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin | The Problem With Naftali Bennett

Far-right Minister Smotrich Says Forming Government With Arab Party Chairman 'Worse Than October 7'

Top Israeli Elections Official Resigns, Risking Electoral Integrity

Despite the Cascade of Crises, Israeli Politics Remains Stuck

Analysis by Dahila Scheindlin | Israel's Biggest Existential Threat Isn't Iran

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A diplomatic crisis over Israeli import of stolen grain from occupied Ukraine exploded this week following the publication of a Haaretz investigation that documents Ukrainian allegations that Russian ships were bringing the wheat and barley to Israeli ports. 

National Security and Cyber editor Avi Scharfand diplomatic correspondent Liza Rozovsky explain on the Haaretz Podcast how the investigation unfolded, the international fallout, its effect on Israel-Ukraine relations and the harsh war of words between the two countries. 

The story began in mid-April with Ukraine’s announcement that “they had warned the Israeli authorities about a ship arriving with stolen Ukrainian grain, and that they had asked Israel to take necessary actions to seize the ship,” Scharf said. “To their dismay, Israel did not adhere to the warnings and let the ship unload and leave Israel.”

The incident led Scharf to revive an investigation into the import of stolen Ukrainian grain that he had begun in late 2023, but was put on hold after October 7 and the all-encompassing Gaza war. 

His story, documenting the systematic importation of wheat, sparked strong reactions both from Ukraine and the European Union, which threatened sanctions against Israel if such imports continue. 

Rozovsky noted that the Ukrainian reaction was “the most straightforward attack on Israeli policy than we’ve seen since the beginning of the war” between Russian and Ukraine. 

After the story was published – and Haaretz revealed the name of the company importing the grain – the company announced that it was cancelling the purchase.

Read more:

Haaretz investigation: How Ukrainian Wheat Stolen by Russia Is Smuggled to Israel

Zelenskyy Says Israel Broke Own Law by Buying Stolen Ukrainian Wheat From Russia, Vows Sanctions

EU Mulls Sanctions on Israelis Over Stolen Ukrainian Wheat Smuggled by Russia

Israeli Importer Drops Shipment of Allegedly Russian-stolen Ukrainian Grain

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The average American watched the Gaza war from afar as a "dramatic and gruesome humanitarian crisis that Israel was responsible for" – but the U.S.-Israel war in Iran is having a far greater impact on U.S. voters and politicians, Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer said, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. 

"The perception is that this was a war that no one in America wanted," and "that America has been tricked into a war of choice, and that this is Israel’s fault."

This, he said, has fueled the erosion of congressional support for continuing massive military aid to Israel – and in the Democratic Party, growing support for refusing to sell arms to Israel entirely. 

On the podcast, Leifer also discusses the state of the fragile cease-fire with Iran, and the "nightmare scenario" possibility of a prolonged period in which there will be no renewed fighting nor an agreement, leaving the region in dangerous limbo. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to suffer domestic political consequences for a failure to achieve the promised victory in Iran, Leifer added, noting that prior to October 7, Netanyahu had been positively perceived by voters as "a relatively cautious and conflict averse prime minister who chose not to get Israel involved in protracted wars. Here, he has really plunged Israel into quite a mess."

Read more:

Analysis by Joshua Leifer: Presidential Hopeful Rahm Emanuel Made Surprising Remarks on Israel. What He Left Unsaid Is Just as Big

Analysis by Joshua Leifer: Opposing Weapons Sales to Israel is the New Democratic Norm

Trump Not Happy With Latest Iran Proposal to End the War, U.S. Official Says

Former Top Biden Official Says Netanyahu Helped Create a 'Genocide in Gaza'

Iran War Has Depleted U.S. Ammunition Stockpile Significantly, Report Says

U.S. Asked IDF to Curb Gaza Strikes; Source: Israel Agreed, but Failed to Comply

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Fighting antisemitism online was meant to be the focus of the Israeli government’s multimillion-dollar digital PR campaign run by President Donald Trump’s former digital guru, Brad Parscale.

But instead, Haaretz disinformation and cyber correspondentOmer Benjakob said on the Haaretz Podcast, Parscale’s firm has built a network of pro-Israel websites targeting the U.S. evangelical right, stressing the contrast between Western and “Judeo-Christian” values while promoting negative messages regarding Palestinians and Islam.

Among them is “praise for international calls to recognize settlements,” and “articles dedicated to why giving the Palestinian Authority control of Gaza is a terrible idea, and almost worse than letting Hamas take control."

Repeatedly, he added, the websites reflect a “compulsive obsession with perception and narrative,” insisting that all negative content about Israel online is false and manipulated.

On the podcast, Benjakob explained that the multiple new websites created by Parscale's consulting firm are designed to look like research institutes and think tanks in order to optimize them for ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AI chatbots.

He questioned both their efficacy and value. 

“They seem to be fueling a lot of the issues that, you know, led us here – for example, demonizing the Palestinians instead of solving our conflict.”

Read more: 

Fighting the 'Jesus Was a Palestinian Lie': Inside Israel's MAGA Influence Campaigns

Losing the Republican Base, Israel Pours Millions to Target Evangelicals and Churchgoers

Your Car Is Spying on You – and Israeli Firms Are Leading the Surveillance Race

Spyware Firm NSO's Chief Steps Down as U.S. Lifts Sanctions on Intellexa Executives

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The final moments of Vivian Silver’s life were a “pivotal turning point” for her sonYonatan Zeigen, who now dedicates his life to Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation, following in the footsteps of his peace activist mother, who was slain in her home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.

Speaking on the eve of Israel’s Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims, Zeigen recalled his final goodbyes with his mother with the gunshots of Hamas terrorists at her doorstep in the background, and the loss that he described as jolting him out of what he calls a “political coma” and moved him into full-time activism. 

Zeigen is a board member of The Parents Circle-Families Forum that co-sponsors the annual  alternative joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony. 

He attended the ceremony in his youth together with his mother and immediately after her death, he knew that this would be the appropriate place to mourn her and continue her mission. 

He said on the podcast that the alternative ceremony represented “how two peoples share a land: They don't share a land by creating artificial divisions and dehumanizing each other. They do it by looking each other in the eye by celebrating together and also crying together, mourning together.”

Zeigen said he was not comfortable being part of the government-sponsored ceremonies memorializing terror victims like his mother.

“Bereavement is framed in a political manner in Israel. It is utilized to boost morale by diving into our narrative of victimhood and rallying around and making heroes of those who die in the conflict. It’s not the way that I feel comfortable commemorating my mother.”

Read more:

'Swimming Against the Tide, but Swimming': More Israelis and Palestinians Now Choose to Grieve Together

Op-ed by Yonatan Zeigen: Most Israelis Are Willfully Ignorant, Opting to Deny or Justify. But There's an Alternative

Thousands of Israelis Sign Petition Urging TV Networks Not to Broadcast State Independence Day Ceremony

Op-ed by Yonatan Zeigen: When Justice Means Revenge, the Open Wounds of Israelis and Palestinians Won't Heal

'She Knew Peace Was the Only Way': Thousands Attend Funeral of Slain Canadian-Israeli Peace Activist Vivian Silver

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The dramatic landslide election in Hungary toppling authoritarian populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, resonated deeply for Israel in diverse ways, explained Haaretz’s David Issacharoff, who covered the election from Budapest, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. 

For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters, it meant the loss of his “closest ally” in Europe who would no longer stand up for Israel by pulling out of the International Criminal Court when it issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders – and bucking the European Union in defense of the Jewish state. 

For Israelis desperate to rid themselves of Netanyahu’s leadership, the end of Orbán’s 16-year reign offers inspiration. Issacharoff noted that young anti-Orbán voters he interviewed “said exactly the same things that many young Israelis believe too: that he’s been making their country a pariah, and they don’t feel part of the wider world anymore.” 

Although the two countries are very different, there are lessons from the Hungarian campaign of Péter Magyar, and Netanyahu’s opponents must learn them. The biggest lesson? "Turning the anxiety into hope." 

Read more:

Hungary's PM-elect Magyar Signals Shift in Israel Policy With Return to International Criminal Court

'It Won't Get Worse': After 16-years Under Orbán, Hungary's Jews Are Split Over What Comes Next

'We Hope You Can Do It Too': How Israel Echoed in Hungary's Election

Hungry for Hungary: Why Are Netanyahu's Ministers Flocking to Budapest?

Could Orbán's Crushing Defeat Be a Blueprint for Netanyahu's Opponents?

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As diplomatic talks between Iran and the United States continue in an effort to extend the temporary cease-fire due to expire on April 22, public opinion surveys show that while a majority of Israelis oppose the cease-fire, support for the Iran war is declining. 

Alon-Lee Green, the national co-director of Standing Together and one of the main organizers of demonstrations against the joint U.S.-Israel offensive in Iran, told the Haaretz Podcast that he is “encouraged” by the decrease in support among Israelis. 

“I think a lot of people are waking up and joining this protest,” Green said. “It's delusional to believe that the promises that have been made to us at the beginning of the war are still valid somehow, and that we're still fighting to change the regime in Iran or to save Iranians while we're killing them and making them refugees.”

Through the protests, Standing Together “tried to remind the Israeli public that just eight months ago, we ended the first Iran war with big promises, with Netanyahu saying that we scored a historic win, that we annihilated the ballistic missile program of Iran, that we annihilated the nuclear threat of Iran,” Green said. “

Green was among the protesters who, after being detained by police at the April 4 antiwar protest in Tel Aviv, were not permitted to enter a shelter during a missile barrage. Police instead took detainees to the lobby of a nearby building that was enclosed entirely in glass. On the podcast, he also recounts being targeted by right-wing activists who have poured chemicals outside his door and repeatedly tried to break into his private residence.

Op-ed by Alon-Lee Green | I Trusted Israel Police to Protect Me at the anti-Iran War Protest. I Was Wrong

Israel's Top Court Orders Police to Allow Tel Aviv Anti-gov't Protests Despite IDF Gathering Limit

Most Israelis Disapprove of Government's Handling of Iran War, Survey Shows

Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin | Chained to Netanyahu's Wars, Israelis Don't Know What to Do When They Are Over

At Israel's Anti-war Protests, You're Safer as a Horse Than a Human

Majority of Israelis Oppose Iran Cease-fire and Expect War to Resume, Poll Shows

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "extremely disappointed" by the terms of the temporary cease-fire hammered out between Donald Trump's White House and Iran, but has little choice but to accept it and try to spin it as a victory, said Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.

With none of Israel's declared goals of the war achieved - defeat of the regime and elimination of Iran's missile and nuclear threat, Netanyahu still "has to keep up appearances," said Harel. "He has to tell his public, his voters, that this was an enormous success. But this is not the way things actually happened. What we have is massive operational success, which - as we knew in advance - did not translate into a strategic victory."

Israel's leadership is concerned the clock may be ticking, Harel predicted, on Trump's position allowing Israel to continue fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, which is why Israel hit targets intensively immediately following the cease-fire announcement.

"It's quite clear that Netanyahu wants to keep the Lebanon front open," he noted. "It's beneficial for him to keep striking Hezbollah, to hit them and do damage, and also create the notion among Israelis that the war still goes on."

Read more: 

Israel Botched the Iran War – and Shattered Its Standing in the U.S.

Fragile U.S.–Iran Cease-fire May Collapse Within Days, Even as Tehran Pushes to End War, Israeli Officials Say

As U.S. Retreats, Iran Seeks to Sway Cease-fire to Establish New Regional Order

Iran:SanctionsRelief, Reparation, Control of Hormuz to Be Discussed in Talks With U.S.

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As the war with Iran drags on and the conflict with Hezbollah intensifies, a growing number of Israelis are “losing faith” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promises of a decisive victory, Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harelsaid on the Haaretz Podcast. 

IDF senior officers admitted this week that Israel underestimated Hezbollah’s remaining capabilities following the November 2024 cease-fire, Harel said.

At the moment, he said, “It's clear to anybody watching this carefully that it's hard to reach a final victory again against Hezbollah. Hezbollah may no longer be the army of terror that it was in 2023, but it is capable of launching 100 rockets a day,” while coordinating their attacks with their Iranian sponsors, in a conflict that has now surpassed the length of the second Lebanon war. 

In his conversation on the podcast, Harel noted that Israel’s enemies – Iran, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – now share a common war philosophy: “You win by not losing.” 

“At one point, Hamas assumed that it could defeat Israel. So did Iran. Now, after getting knocked so hard by Israel and the U.S., Iranian ambitions are different. What they're talking about is surviving, suffering blows and remaining on their feet.”

U.S. President Donald Trump fails to understand this, Harel said, which is why he continues to fail to get the deal he seeks to end the conflict. “They're not interested in long-term deals. It's about surviving through chaos; surviving through resistance.”

Read more:

Analysis by Amos Harel: Trump Ramps Up Threats Against Iran, and Braces for Longer War Than Planned

Despite the Netanyahu Government's Promises, the IDF Admits It Can't Disarm Hezbollah

How Hezbollah Turned Into Israel's Main Front in Its War With Iran

Without Evidence, IDF Claims Again That Hezbollah Is Extensively Using Ambulances for Military Purposes

Why Israelis Are Losing Faith in the Iran War

Haaretz Explains: How Does the Israeli Military Censor Work?

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With a high-profile conflict between IDF soldiers and a CNN crew, the establishment of five new Israeli settler outposts on territory meant to be under Palestinian Authority control in a single night, and skyrocketing settler violence aimed at erasing Palestinians from their land, the situation in the West Bank has “definitely worsened” during the Iran war, Haaretz West Bank correspondent Matan Golan told the Haaretz Podcast.

Golan joined her colleague, Yarden Michaeli, for a podcast conversation focused on what is unfolding in the West Bank and Gaza while the world’s attention is diverted to the major regional conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States. 

“It’s hard to count how many incidents of cars set on fire, and raids of settlers on Palestinian villages” have occurred over the past month, Golan said. 

What the West Bank and Gaza have in common, Michaeli noted, is a situation in which steps designed to be interim measures – such as the Yellow Line separating Gaza – don’t appear to be temporary. 

Since last autumn’s cease-fire, the IDF has maintained control of more than half of the Gaza Strip, and, as Michaeli explained, a Haaretz investigation has revealed the construction of military outposts and infrastructure that point to plans for an entrenched long-term presence. 

“All of this is happening in the context of the government pushing in a certain direction,” he explained, “and what makes us so concerned about it is the experience we have from the West Bank.”

In the rest of the Strip, which remains under Hamas’ control, he said, the humanitarian crisis continues. 

“We have 2.1 million people now in Gaza that are crammed to less than half the size of the land that they had prior to the war” with hundreds of thousands living in tents or makeshift shelters amid destroyed buildings with no access to power, fuel or running water – and over 18,000 severely ill people who have been denied entry to the West Bank and Jerusalem to receive medical care by Israeli authorities, Michaeli explained. 

Read more:

32 Outposts, 10 Miles of Ground Barrier: IDF Builds New Border Line Inside Gaza. Here's How It Looks

Gaza Aid Reduced by 80 Percent Since Start of Iran War as Food Prices Surge

IDF Suspends Reserve Battalion Whose Soldiers Detained CNN Crew in West Bank

Palestinian Man Shot Dead, 14 Wounded in West Bank Settler Raids as Five New Outposts Established in One Night

Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin | Don't Buy the Israeli Right's Sudden Concern for Settler Violence

Who Gets to Decide What Counts as an Accident in the West Bank?

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As Israelis continue to run to bomb shelters for protection from deadly Iranian missile attacks, the prospect of hosting Passover meals has felt overwhelming.

On the Haaretz Podcast, acclaimed food writer and cookbook author Adeena Sussman offers her best advice and coping tips and shares recipes that are easy and fun to execute, even in wartime. Cooking for the holidays can be stressful, she said, but in challenging times, becoming immersed in what is happening in the kitchen “can be a little bit of an escape”

“This year, let’s focus on what is meaningful and what will keep us sane,” she suggested.

Sussman is the author of three cookbooks – the first was published as the COVID-19 epidemic was sweeping the world, the second on the eve of October 7. Now her upcoming cookbook is due to be published this month in the shadow of the war with Iran. 

This makes her, she says, experienced with “simple cooking for complicated times,” which is the theme of her new book, "Zariz," the Hebrew word for “speedy.” 

Also complicated: being one of the most prominent representatives of Israeli cuisine in the U.S. at a time when Israel is such a hot-button issue that mainstream media outlets balk at writing about her work. Despite that, she said, her audience continues to grow, particularly online.

As she prepares to tour to promote her new book, she said, “I'm not trying to hide where I live or who I am, and I'm neither trying to defend nor indict a political situation for which I personally have no control.” 

On the podcast, Sussman shares her tales of running an informal “WarBnB” where she cooks for friends and family camped out at their home because of the lack of a bomb shelter where they live, plus the most popular bomb shelter snacks, and how the war has transformed the atmosphere of Tel Aviv's Carmel Market near her home.

Read more:
Adeena Sussman Offers You Something for the Weekend in Her New ‘Shabbat’ Cookbook

This Love Letter to a Tel Aviv Food Market Is Getting a Lot of Love in America

Only the Shelves Remain: Inside Tel Aviv Wine Bar Shattered by Missiles

Tel Aviv-born Top Chef in London: 'It's Best Not to Say the Word 'Israel' Right Now'

Sex, Wine and Sacrifice: Jewish Holidays Used to Be Wild, Dramatic Affairs

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While at war with Iran and a civilian population under missile attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “has been working relentlessly towards the goal of making the public sphere of Israel more religious, its governance more autocratic, and the chances of replacing its leader slimmer,” Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

The push for the anti-democratic judicial coup and empowerment of ultra-Orthodox autonomy “hasn't changed despite October 7,” Benn said. He observed that it had slowed significantly on that date, but today, the massacre and ensuing war has given Netanyahu “even more motivation” to “escape any responsibility and accountability for October” as he looks ahead to the election scheduled for this fall. 

In Benn’s wide-ranging conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the four-week-old war and its impact on Israeli politics and society, Benn pointed out that the effort was not unusual, with many examples of wartime leaders taking advantage of “less public resistance” to consolidate their power. 

“Governments at war use it to limit civil liberties. We see it in Russia in the past four years, very visibly, where the last remaining bastions of some sort of opposition to President Putin have been wiped out.” 

Read more:

Netanyahu Says Israel 'Expanding' Lebanon Buffer Zone as Country's Death Toll Crosses 1,000

Stand-in Justice Minister Formally Recommends That President Herzog Pardon Netanyahu

Israel Preparing to Shift Pace, Targets of Iran Strikes if Trump Announces Cease-fire

Op-ed by Aluf Benn: The Strange Case of Dr. Bibi and Mr. Benjamin

Analysis by Anshel Pfeffer: In Iran, the Netanyahu Doctrine Is Now Facing Its Ultimate Test

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The U.S.-Israeli goal of initiating war in order to prevent Iran from going nuclear may result in a boomerang effect, according to former senior Mossad official Sima Shine, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. 

After the war, “if the regime stays in power, and there are good chances that it will,” Shine said, it will be far weaker, but it will possess “high emotional revenge” for what it has suffered and reinforce a belief that “only nuclear capability will deter future attacks, and I think they will do anything they can do to get to a nuclear bomb.”

Shine says that Western countries and Israel both fail to understand that “Iran is a system” – not driven by individual leaders, which is why the targeted assassinations of the country’s top officials have not harmed the country as much as expected. 

While Iran would surely like the war to end sooner or later, she said, they have staying power and will only do so if they can exact a “high price,” and Tehran’s threats to disrupt world energy markets must be taken seriously.

In her conversation on the podcast, Shine categorized Iran’s hold on Lebanon through Hezbollah as a “tragedy” for Israel’s neighbor. She said it appeared that the strength of Hezbollah when it joined the war in Iran came as a “surprise to Israel. They have more capabilities than we saw before.”

The group, she said, will fight with all they have to preserve their political and military position in Lebanon. A buffer zone in southern Lebanon may be the only way to keep residents of northern Israel safe, “not from rockets and missiles, but from special forces of Hezbollah invading kibbutzim and cities” as Hamas did on October 7. 

Read more:

Trump: U.S. in Truce Talks With Iran Aimed at 'Long-term, Guaranteed Peace for Israel'

Tehran's Next Top Leader? The Rise of Iran's Hardline Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf

Despite Iran's Denials, Israeli Officials Believe the U.S. Is Talking to Tehran Directly

Survivors of the Iranian strike in Arad: 'We Came Out of the Shelter and Saw Everything Destroyed. Like What We Do in Lebanon'

Israel to Hold Southern Lebanon, Block Residents' Return, Defense Minister Says

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is getting high marks from the Israeli public regarding his performance leading the country in its war against Iran – but for now, these sentiments are not giving his coalition a significant boost in political polling, according to Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. 

Scheindlin, a Haaretz columnist and political analyst, noted the war’s “overwhelming support” among Israeli Jews – reaching over 92 percent. 

Despite the “near consensus” supporting the war and high personal approval of Netanyahu as a war leader, she points out, “poll ratings for the Likud and for the coalition government have been flat and stuck at 40 percent, and Netanyahu does not have a majority,” which does not bode well for the election scheduled for October. 

While support for the war cuts across partisan lines in Israel, despite attitudes towards Netanyahu, Scheindlin says that surveys in the United States paint a different picture.

"If you look at the results of the question: ‘Do you approve or disapprove of Trump's handling of Iran?’ Scheindlin said, “it basically mirrors his approval ratings in general.”

She added that poll numbers point to the fact that the talk of a split among Trump’s base – especially “America First” Republicans – may be overly “hyped.”

Instead, she observed that U.S. opinion surveys reflected “overwhelming support from Republican voters… close to 80 percent."

Read more:

Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin: Why Israelis Aren't Giving Netanyahu an Iran Bump in the Polls

Most Israelis Back Iran War but Support Low Among Arab Citizens, Poll Shows

Just One in Four Americans Supports U.S. Strikes on Iran, Poll Finds

Analysis by Joshua Leifer: The post-October 7 Wars in Iran and Lebanon Are Turning Into Netanyahu's Vietnam

Netanyahu's Likud Party Makes No Gains Amid Iran War, Poll Finds

A Billion Shekels a Day: The Number That May Decide When Israel's War With Iran Ends

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U.S. President Donald Trump “needs to find an off ramp” from the war with Iran as soon as possible, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said on the Haaretz Podcast.

While Shapiro said the military results of the war – the decimation of Iranian military assets and elimination of top leaders – are “incredibly impressive,” the United States must recognize that “the weaker party has cards to play, and their cards grow more influential as this conflict drags on,” pointing to the choking of world oil supply in the Strait of Hormuz, draining of U.S. and Israeli anti-missile resources, and attacks by proxies and terrorist groups. 

Shapiro, who was ambassador from 2011–2017, said he wants regime change in Iran, but “not through a military campaign. That's not really something we're capable of at any acceptable cost.”

Additionally, he warns, a fall of the Iranian regime will spark “a great deal of chaos, a great deal of spillover of instability to neighboring countries, perhaps a civil war, waves of terror outside of Iran” and more.

“All of that has the potential to suck the United States in much further to the whole region. I could imagine that this is not a high concern for Israelis. Israelis could live with that set of concerns in ways that the United States and the American people will maybe feel differently about and certainly have not been prepared for.” 

Read more:

What a Difference 12 Days Make: Why This Israel-Iran War Is Different From the Last One

Trump 'Shocked' That Iran Attacked Gulf Neighbors in Retaliatory Strikes

House Democrats Urge Congressional Testimony by Trump Administration Officials on Iran War

Analysis by Amos Harel | IDF's Grandiose Plans for South Lebanon Ground Offensive Won't Topple Hezbollah

Netanyahu Isn't Dead. But Even His 'Proof of Life' Video Is Being Derided as AI

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Under the shadow of the Gaza war, even before the current conflict with Iran, Israeli filmmaker Hilla Medalia found it “very surprising” that her short film “Children No More: Were and Are Gone” was nominated for an Academy Award – but she was thrilled. 

Despite the atmosphere in Hollywood even before the U.S.-Israel military attack in Iran, with petitions to boycott Israeli filmmakers circulated, two Israelis are nominated to take home golden statues at the March 16 ceremony: Medalia's film, in the category of Best Documentary Short, along with Meyer Levinson-Blount’s “Butcher’s Stain,” which is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film. 

The nominations are “an incredible achievement of course for both Meyer and I, but also for the entire Israeli film community,” she said, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. 

Medalia’s film follows a group of Israeli activists who in March 2025, after the second cease-fire between Israel and Hamas collapsed, learned that 139 Palestinian children had been killed in a single day by IDF attacks in Gaza. 

The small group decided to print out photographs of the children, and stand holding the images silently as an accompaniment to the raucous demonstrations taking place in Tel Aviv calling for a cease-fire that would bring back the Israeli hostages. 

Over time their action, Medalia explained, “slowly grew into this bigger vigil that had more than 1,000 people. On each poster there is a picture of a child, their name, their age, where they're from, the day that they were killed. That's it. No political slogans. And they stood in silence.”

She was inspired and impressed by the group’s commitment to remaining silent – even as passersby insulted and cursed them. 

Unlike the other films Medalia is competing against, “Children No More” did not make the rounds of the prestigious film festivals to increase its Oscar chances – its path from conception to filming to release was unusually rapid.  

“We felt that we could not wait to share with the local Israeli audience and the world.”

Read more:

Oscar-nominated Israeli Filmmaker on Gaza: 'Focusing on Dead Children Does Not Diminish Our Pain'

Why Israel Fears the Faces of Dead Palestinian Children on Its Streets

It Looks Like a Memorial Day Ceremony: The Israelis Protesting With Photos of Dead Gazan Children
Student Oscar-winning Film 'Mirrors the Experiences of Palestinians in Israel'

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Reports of U.S. anger with Israel for targeting Iran’s oil fields in the intensifying conflict have been “massively exaggerated,” said Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harelon the Haaretz Podcast.

While the American president “probably felt that Israel took this a step too far,” Harel said, “the truth of the matter is that the Israelis and the U.S. military are deeply coordinated.”

Regarding the entrance of Hezbollah into the expanding war, Harel said that the Lebanese group is “still quite capable of creating damage” to Israel, which is why the IDF has deployed large-scale force against them with airstrikes across Lebanon. Still, he said, “most of the effort and most of the focus remains on Iran.”

Despite the disruption to life in Israel, he pointed out that in the first 12 days of this war, there has been far less actual damage and loss of life in Israel during the two weeks of war last June.

Also on the podcast, Haaretz Jewish World Editor Judy Maltz visits an underground parking lot tent city populated by Tel Aviv residents without adequate overnight protection from missiles - many of whom were second-time refugees.

“Most of the people I met had been there in June” she said. “When Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran, they just packed their bags and came back. They knew the drill already.” 

Read more:

Israel Focuses on Hitting Iran's Regime After Exceeding Military Target Expectations

Trump Signals Iran War Nearing End Amid Oil Fears as Hezbollah Surprises Israel

'Priciest Real Estate in Town': Tel Avivians Ride Out the War Deep Underground

Sleepless in Tel Aviv: Iranian Missile Barrages Trigger All-night Sirens in Central Israel

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Recalling the first day of the war with Iran is still traumatic for journalist and activist Anat Saragusti, whose apartment building in central Tel Aviv began to shake as she ran to seek shelter from Iranian missiles targeting the city following the U.S.-Israel attack that morning. 

"I didn't believe my eyes," she says of what awaited her when she returned. "The whole living room was covered with broken glass - the carpets, the sofa, the chairs - all over. It was really so scary."

Matching the shattering of the glass in her home, said Saragusti, who monitors press freedom at the Union of Journalists in Israel, is the ongoing shattering of her trust in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government as the war continues, and her dissatisfaction with what she views as an overly-compliant media. 

Most Israelis, Saragusti said on the Haaretz Podcast, are "glued to television screens" where retired IDF generals spout military facts and statistics. "There is no room for alternative voices, questions or doubts" regarding the war and "what the end game will be."

"They promised us in the last war in Iran in June that we destroyed the majority of the infrastructure for the ballistic missiles and the nuclear plan of Iran. Then in nine months, [Iran rebuilt] everything from scratch? I don't understand that. I feel that they are lying to us."

Read more:

Op-ed by Anat Sargusti: Israeli Broadcasters Don Uniforms as the Media Becomes an Arm of the Military

Follow the latest updates from Haaretz on the U.S.-Israel war on Iran

One Killed, Two Wounded in Central Israel Following Iranian Missile Barrage, Emergency Services Say

'You Can't Live by the Sword': Israeli TV's Tel Aviv Street Interview Backfires

Iran's Cluster Missiles: What You Need to Know About the Controversial Weapon Targeting Israel

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While the Iranian regime “by and large, needed to be punished” and “did not deserve any mercy,” according to former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, it is possible that “a little bit more flexibility” in the negotiations for a nuclear agreement leading up to the U.S.-Israel assault might have meant they “would have resulted in a different way.” 

Olmert made his remarks in a dialogue with Haaretz Global Editor Noa Landau, featured in a plenary at the J Street Convention in Washington D.C. – and coinciding with the initial days of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran. 

Olmert expressed satisfaction that U.S. President Donald Trump pushed back on remarks from prominent Republicans that Israel pushed the US into the war and “did not pretend to say that he was fighting for us. He said in the most explicit manner: ‘They are American enemies. This is an American war. I'm fighting for America, and I had to do it for America.’ No one saved Israel, or no one got mixed up in a war in order to save Israel.”

In his dialogue with Landau, Olmert also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative he is pursuing with former Palestinian Authority foreign minister Dr. Nasser al-Kidwa to “move forward into entirely new realities on the basis of cooperation and mutual respect and compromise and compassion.” He harshly condemned the ongoing and record-setting settler violence in the West Bank as “obnoxious” and “heartbreaking.” 

Speaking out against such actions, he added, "is essential if you want, as a Jew, not to be linked to these actions. You have to speak up.”

Read more:

'I Might Have Forced Israel's Hand': Trump Denies Israel Dragged U.S. Into Iran War After Rubio Comments Draw Ire

As Israeli Defense Officials Push for a Long Offensive, Trump Still Has Doubts

'Both Sides Are Tired of War': Former PM Ehud Olmert Makes Two-state Proposal With Former Palestinian Minister

Police Report Average of Four Daily Incidents of West Bank Settler Violence in Early 2026

The latest reporting on West Bank settler violence

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“It is a time of fear and worry, but also a time of hope” in Iran after the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the early days of the U.S.-Israel assault on the regime in Tehran, said Iranian-American scholar and journalist Arash Azizi.

“The first thing [my family in Iran] told me was that they called me to say they were alive after Tehran was hit, and there are hundreds of civilian casualties,” said Azizi, speaking on a wartime edition of the Haaretz Podcast. Of Khamenei, he said “most Iranians are happy to see him gone.” 

Azizi was sharply critical of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s calls for Iranian civilians to rise up and overthrow their regime. 

“It's absolutely bonkers,” he said. “If you had a population that had organized networks ready to take over, you could imagine perhaps something like that happening. But we don’t. So both Trump and Netanyahu keep saying this, and it makes me wonder, do they really believe it?”

He also had harsh words for Iranian exiles like himself, who he said were unprepared for this moment. “We have not done the work, we have not built organizations, we did not get our act together in a way that would be ready to make a successful transition to democracy.” 

Also on the podcast: Gregg Carlstrom, The Economist’s Dubai-based Middle East correspondent, reports on the growing anger in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sparked by the intensity of the Iranian assault that could fuel support among everyday people to pick sides in this conflict.  

“The question is, what does that mean? Is it allowing America to use bases and Gulf countries to carry out attacks against Iran, or is it going a step further and militarily getting involved with their own warplanes and troops? I think it's more likely that they're willing to do the former than the latter.”

Read more:

Trump: U.S. Ahead of Schedule in Iran but Can Extend Fighting Beyond Projected 4-5 Weeks

Three Israeli Teenage Siblings Among Nine Killed in Iranian Missile Strike on Bomb Shelter

Analysis by Amos Harel | As Israeli Defense Officials Push for a Long Offensive, Trump Still Has Doubts

Analysis by Zvi Bar'el | Khamenei's Chosen Successor Could Offer Trump a 'Dream Deal' to End the Iran War

'Fire-Starter' or 'Historical Justice'? How Middle Eastern Media Frames the Iran War

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In this special edition of the Haaretz Podcast, recorded during the first hours of the dramatic joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, and as Tehran began its retaliatory strikes on Israel and on U.S. targets across the Middle East, Haaretz senior analyst Amos Harel joins host Allison Kaplan Sommer for a real-time update and discussion.

"The stakes are much higher than last time," Harel said, referring to the 12 day Israel-Iran war in June 2025. For Israelis, "there is a certain amount of danger," although it is impossible to say at this point how hard the country will be hit by Iran and its proxies. For Iranians, "this is going to get messy and bloody," not only because of the military strikes, but also because of growing clashes between government forces and those hoping to throw over the regime. 

Read more on the escalating situation:

How the First Day of the Israel and U.S. War with Iran Unfolded

War for Regime Change in Iran: U.S. and Israel Have Ambitious Aims, but Will Trump Stay the Course? / Amos Harel

'Unnecessary, Idiotic, and Illegal' | After Strikes on Iran: U.S. Lawmakers Split on Party Lines As Congress Left in the Dark

Larnaca or Sharm el-Sheikh: Can Israelis Stuck Abroad Amid Iran War Get Back Home?

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For Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, the financial support and professional opportunities afforded by her fellowship at the Wexner Foundation, which plugged her into a network of the “the most powerful Jewish professionals in the country,” were substantial. 

But as a feminist rabbi whose most recent book is titled “On Repentance and Repair,” she felt she could not ignore the disturbing reality of the close personal and financial ties between Leslie Wexner, the benefactor of the foundation, and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, she tells the Haaretz Podcast.

In a personal act of accountability and repentance, in 2019, Ruttenberg – “shocked, disturbed and unsettled” by the early revelations regarding Epstein and Wexner – donated the funds she took from the foundation to an organization confronting sexual violence and challenged others to take similar steps. 

There was little reaction to her call at the time. Now, with new details revealed in the Department of Justice release of the Epstein files, she says “my only regret is not speaking out earlier and more forcefully, no matter the cost.” 

She warned that “when we try to pretend that none of this is happening, we feed every conspiracy theory. And when we say that who matters are raped children, and when we center the people who are harmed, and when we live the values of our Torah and of every other teaching that we claim is holy, then we dispel those theories, because we become the people who we are supposed to be … the people who are living our values.”

Read more: 

Island Visit, NYC Flat and 'Belarusian Girls': Ex-Israel PM Ehud Barak Addresses Jeffrey Epstein Ties

The Ferrari, the Meetings and 'The Redhead': Latest Jeffrey Epstein Files Reveal Ties With Popular Israeli-American Researcher Dan Ariely

Memorializing Jeffrey Epstein? Pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 Confuses Convicted Sex Offender With Beloved Israeli Singer

Life After Harvard: What's in Store for Wexner Foundation's Israeli Leaders Program?

From 2020: Wexner Foundation Named After Billionaire Philanthropist Distancing Itself From Founder

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When an ultra-Orthodox mob attacked two women soldiers in the city of Bnei Brak earlier this week, Israelis were shocked and horrified. 

But for Uri Keidar, CEO of Free Israel, this violent expression of ultra-Orthodox opposition to being drafted into the military did not come as a surprise. 

“It’s not the first violent occurrence we have seen, and unfortunately, it probably also won't be the last incident. But it's definitely a sad moment for us as a country,” Keidar said, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. 

As the Netanyahu government continues to seek a way to pass legislation exempting tens of thousands of able-bodied ultra-Orthodox men from mandatory military service in order to preserve their political coalition, Keidar sees the country at a “historic” crossroads in which Israelis will stand up and refuse to let it happen. 

“It's a very basic idea, I think, that the law applies to everyone,” he said on the podcast. In a post-October 7 reality alongside the IDF in a manpower crisis, he said, “the Israeli public just will not accept the fact” that “there are tens of thousands of young haredi men who are totally healthy, who can join the IDF at any given moment, and are refusing to do so.”

That refusal, he said, represents the country’s “biggest civil disobedience movement since its history” and Israelis “from the right, left and center” are uniting to oppose it.

Read more:

Explained: The Military Conscription Bill Driving Riots in Haredi Cities

Overturned Cars, Motorcycles on Fire: Police Arrest 26 in Haredi Riot Sparked When Two IDF Soldiers Visit Bnei Brak

Bnei Brak Riots Break From Ideology and Become an Outlet for Aimless Rage

Israel Police Tells IDF They Will Not Assist in Arrest of ultra-Orthodox Draft Dodgers

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Even by the most extreme “Romeo and Juliet” standards, Sari Bashi’s romance and marriage to her partner, Osama, has overcome impossible odds. 

When the two met in 2006, she related on the Haaretz Podcast, “It was very confusing for both of us, both because of the overwhelming social taboos, and the fact that it was also literally illegal for us to meet up together.”

The two met after he had been “trapped” for six years in the city of Ramallah, where he was pursuing a career in academia. Registered as a resident of Gaza, where he was born, travelling elsewhere in the West Bank – or abroad – meant that the authorities would send him back to Gaza. Bashi had recently founded the human rights organization Gisha, and was assisting him gain permission from the Israeli authorities to study for his doctorate abroad. 

Bashi’s new book “Upside-Down Love” – written diary-style from both Bashi’s and Osama’s perspective – chronicles the story of the logistics of their courtship, like a date in which they took a hike in a West Bank countryside and “as we encountered more and more settlers with guns, it became apparent that I had an identity and a language that was common with the people who terrified him.”

But despite the ongoing identity and security challenges, their love persevered. Bashi, who is also the newly appointed executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, talks about their life as a family in the West Bank – and the evolving complicated identities of their two Palestinian Jewish children, as she watches them “engage more in a process of trying to assert who they are. I think it'll change probably a million times before they become adults.”

Read more:

A Jewish Mom and a Palestinian Dad Raise a Family Full of Endless Contradictions

Browse the Umm Forat column (2019-2022) in Haaretz

Israeli Human Rights Groups Tell UN That Israel Increased Use of Torture During Gaza War

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Following the hastily arranged three-hour meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, it still remains unclear whether a military attack on Iran is in the cards, but the two leaders appear “more aligned than not” on their positions, Haaretz’s Washington D.C. correspondent Ben Samuels said on the Haaretz Podcast.

“Whether or not that turns into a world war remains to be seen,” he added, in view of the “Armada in the Middle East and more military assets on their way” that the United States has positioned around Iran to keep the option of a military move on the table. 

Netanyahu rushed to Washington to lobby Trump to hold firm in his negotiations with Iran to include demands beyond a halt to their nuclear program. The Israeli position is that in order to forestall an attack, Iran must be forced to limit their ballistic missile capabilities and support for regional proxy organizations – in addition to a commitment from Tehran to improve its treatment of protesters, who have been killed in the tens of thousands by the regime in since late December.

“What you're seeing from Israel is a very articulated view that any sort of negotiation at any deal has to be all inclusive,” Samuels said.

The Trump administration’s position, by contrast, he said, is far from clear. 

“Part of this is intentional misdirection on Trump's part, but part of it is also very unintentional. Trump is doing diplomacy by the seat of his pants and by whatever whims are taking over him at that very moment.”

Read more:

Analysis by Ben Samuels | Trump and Netanyahu Prioritize a United Front Over Rocking the Boat on Iran

Trump Says He 'Insisted' That Negotiations With Iran Continue in Meeting With Netanyahu

Netanyahu Joins Trump's Board of Peace Set to Discuss Gaza Reconstruction, Hamas Disarmament Sidelined

Why This Iranian Revolution Scholar Won't Encourage Iranians to Topple the Regime

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The Netanyahu government may not have officially annexed the West Bank, but the ongoing settler violence expelling Palestinian communities from their land – plus the changes in regulation imposing Israeli authority and areas meant for Palestinian self-rule – is driving momentum in that direction, Haaretz West Bank correspondent Matan Golan said on the Haaretz Podcast.

Golan described the ongoing ordeal in the Bedouin community of Mukhmas on the podcast, a case study which illustrates the settlers' use of daily harassment and ongoing attacks on both residents and their property to force Palestinians to relocate into an increasingly small portion of the territory.

The settler outpost of Kol Mevaser terrorizing Mukhmas "has been depopulated and destroyed at least nine times," by Israeli authorities since its establishment in late October, when the young settlers living there engaged in their first spree of beatings, assaults and arson. "Each time, the settlers just escape to the hills below – and despite the fact that it's a closed military zone," she said, they return – and later brag of their destructive acts against Palestinians on social media.

The IDF has consistently failed to provide enough protection for Palestinian residents to remain in their homes, she said. The Israeli and international activists try to provide a protective presence, which helps prolong the Palestinians' struggles to remain, but it has proven unsuccessful: Nearly 50 communities have been forcibly displaced since summer 2023, according to B'Tselem.

On the podcast, Golan also discusses the recent announcement by Netanyahu government officials declaring that it is taking authority in areas meant to be controlled by the Palestinian Authority, in violation of the Oslo Accords. The fact that such measures are being taken to weaken the Palestinian Authority and prevent a two-state solution, she said, "are no secret."

Read more:

Out-of-control Hooded Settlers: Jewish Outpost Was Evacuated 9 Times – and Rebuilt Immediately

How Israeli Settlers Destroyed Mukhmas In Four Minutes

Israeli Settler Violence Against Palestinians in West Bank Rose 25 Percent in 2025, IDF Finds

'How Can a Father Tell Their Child That Settlers Burned Down Their House?'

Israel to Expand Law Enforcement in Palestinian-controlled West Bank Areas, Defying Oslo Accords

Israel Claims It Can't Protect Palestinians From Settler Attacks Due to IDF Personnel Shortage

Investigation: Netanyahu's Government Not Only Permits Jewish Terror in the West Bank, but Also Finances It

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This week, President Isaac Herzog declared that the record-high homicide rate in Israel’s Arab sector constitutes a “national emergency.” But according to Knesset member Aida Touma-Sliman, the organized crime groups behind the violence in Israel thrive because “this is a policy conducted by the government.” 

“Crime groups are their subcontractor for the destruction of our society, making us terrorized individuals looking only to live their lives quietly. When you are struggling for the basic right to live, you forget all about struggling for other political, economic and social rights,” Touma-Sliman said.

She noted that only 10 percent of the murders of Arabs are solved – down from 40 percent under past governments – and in stark contrast with the Jewish sector, in which a vast majority of cases are closed. “A very bad message is being sent by the police to the murderers and criminals: that you can do whatever you want and nobody will touch you as long as it remains among the Arabs,” she said.

Touma-Sliman said she was convinced that if National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir believed that the stashes of deadly weapons in the hands of Arab crime organizations were to be used against Jews, “he would know exactly how to smash them down. But he is not willing to do it, as long as they are only committing crimes among the Arabs. He is enjoying the scene.”

Touma-Sliman also discussed the reunion of the Joint List, the reasons behind her decision not to run in the coming election, and her deep disappointment with Israel’s opposition parties and “so-called left.” 

Opposition leaders “are not supposed to personally replace Netanyahu,” she said. “If you want to be an alternative, be courageous enough to create a different vision for how the citizens of Israel should be living and how Israel should be as a state.”

Read more:

Netanyahu Moves to Pass Off Arab Crime Task Force From PM's Office to Ben-Gvir

MK Aida Touma-Sliman: 'The Knesset Symbolizes Everything I've Fought Against. I Don't Want to Be There. I Want to Fight It'

Analysis: Israeli Arab Leaders at a Crossroads: Will Escalating Protests Fuel Right-wing Incitement?

Explained: What Part Israel's Arab Parties Can Play in Toppling Netanyahu in the 2026 Vote

Poll: Coalition Remains Stable at 51 Seats as Reunited Joint Arab List Surges to 12

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With U.S. warships in place positioned around Iran, Israelis are bracing for the regime-toppling attack that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened against Tehran and the government that cracked down so brutally on protesters last month. In response, Iranian leaders warned they would “hit the heart of Tel Aviv” in retaliation to any American offensive. 

However, noted Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, it seems that Trump “has lost a little bit of his appetite for destruction” in recent days, angling to push a weakened Iran to the negotiating table.

Not only is Trump encouraging a diplomatic solution, Harel said, but “when we talk about negotiations, then there's a difference between what was on the table about a month ago, which was an American demand for more or less destroying the regime, or for the regime to step down and for the democracy to be installed in Iran. Now we're talking about something completely different” – a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities instead. 

“What the president is trying to do is to force the Iranians to agree to major concessions regarding their nuclear project. But it doesn't solve the number one issue for most Iranians: getting rid of the regime.” Harel said. 

Will the Iranian leadership take the deal? Judging from their statements, Harel said, “they are in panic.” 

On the podcast, Harel also assesses the situation in Gaza as the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal enters its second phase, which took a step forward this week with the opening of the Rafah crossing. The real test of the deal, however, depends on whether the international coalition Trump has built is enough to pressure Hamas to lay down its arms. 

If Hamas’s military capabilities “aren’t dismantled,” Harel said, “it will be hard to proceed.”

Read more:

Report: U.S.-Iran Talks Could Begin Soon; Witkoff to Meet With Netanyahu

Iran's Supreme Leader Warns of Regional Conflict if U.S. Attacks After IDF Chief Visits Washington

Trump 'Hopeful' for Iran Deal, but Warns of 'Very Big, Powerful Ships Heading That Way'

Iran-U.S. Negotiations Are 'Fruitful', Iranian Foreign Minister Tells CNN

Analysis by Amos Harel | Trump Is Determined to Launch Phase Two of His Gaza Plan. The Israeli Government's Last Hope Is That He Fails

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For the right-wing populist political leaders who gathered in Jerusalem for the Netanyahu government’s second International Conference on Combating Antisemitism this week, the formula for fighting Jew hatred is simple, according to Haaretz correspondent Linda Dayan, who attended and reported on the two-day event. 

Organized by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry led by far-right Likud MK Amichai Chikli, Dayan tells the Haaretz Podcast that the message of the majority of prominent speakers at the conference is that Jews “have one enemy” – radical Islam –  “and that enemy is propped up by the woke left” with a shared agenda of destroying the West. 

Later on the podcast, Dayan – who has covered the protest movement in Israel for the return of the hostages led by their families since October 7 – reflected on the end of the struggle following the return of the final hostage’s remains earlier this week and the end of the vigil in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square. 

The movement, she said, transcended politics; it was a deeper fight to preserve the national ethos of never leaving anyone behind. Dayan explained: “From the very beginning, you would hear in the speeches in the square that this isn't just a battle to return our daughters and sons and parents and grandparents. This is a battle for the values of the country – a battle for the version of the country we want our children to grow up in and we want the next generation to inherit.” 

Read more: 

Global Far Right Flocks to Jerusalem to Bash Muslims and Migration at Israel's Antisemitism Confab

Netanyahu Claims There Is a Progressive/Muslim Plot to 'Destroy the West' at Israeli Government's Antisemitism Conference

Why Charlie Kirk, Fan of Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories, Is Loved by Israel's Government

Tel Aviv Clock Counting Hostages' Captivity Stopped Following Retrieval of Ran Gvili's Body

Ran Gvili, Last Hostage to Be Returned From Gaza, Laid to Rest in Israel

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The brutal crackdown on protesters killing tens of thousands has been a "sledgehammer" to Iranians everywhere, saidDr. Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli-Iranian expert on the government led by Ayatollah Ali Khameini.

"The people of Iran have just gone through their own Babi Yar massacre," Javedanfar said on the Haaretz Podcast, referring to the largest single mass-killing during the Holocaust. "The Nazis killed 30,000 people in the space of two days. The Iranian regime – if we accept the 30,000 number – has done the same in less than a month. … The level of cruelty is unlike anything Iranians have seen before. The people of Iran are being massacred in unprecedented and historic numbers."

The killings in the decade-long Syrian civil war was a laboratory for Iranian techniques of repression, he said, noting that Iranian leaders were often "disappointed when Bashar al-Assad was not violent enough against the people of Syria when they rose up." In Syria, he said, the Iranians "honed their skills" of deadly repression and are now using them "against their own people on the streets of Iran."

On the question of whether a U.S. attack on Iran could be averted by a change of heart by the regime, bringing them to the negotiating table, Javedanfar said he sees no chance of concessions unless Khamenei believes that "the Americans could kill him and his family."

If the U.S. attacks and Iran retaliates against Israel, he noted, the Israeli military will quickly join in the attack. 

"If the Iranian regime makes a mistake of attacking us, we have very genuine targets in Iran to attack, especially Iran's missile program," Javedanfar said, adding "I also hope Israel targets regime officials who are taking part in the oppression and suppression of the people of Iran in such a violent manner, I think that would hold Israel in very good stead in future history books of Iran."

Read more: 

Some 30,000 Iranian Protesters May Have Been Killed in Two Days, Officials Reportedly Say

U.S. Central Command Head to Coordinate With Israeli Defense Chiefs Ahead of Possible Iran Strike

Trump Says 'Armada' Heading Toward Iran: 'Maybe We Won't Have to Use It'; Officials Confirm Warships en Route to Mideast

UN Probe Condemns Iran Protest Deaths as Regime Provides Conflicting Casualty Reports

Iran Will Treat Any Attack as 'All-out War Against Us,' Says Senior Iran Official

Why the pro-Israel Right Is Suddenly Committed to Human Rights – for Iranians, Not Palestinians

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Palestinians in Gaza view a future of rule by U.S. President Donald Trump’s newly inaugurated Board of Peace as representing “another form of occupation” said Haaretz correspondent Nagham Zbeedat, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.

Zbeedat, who covers Palestinian affairs and the Arab world, said that Trump’s vision of an American-led international stabilization force – intended to replace Hamas after it disarms – is likely to be problematic. 

American “complicity and cooperation with the Israeli army” during the war means that for Palestinians, “the U.S. is the same as Israel. So any government or group that comes from the U.S. will not be welcomed with open arms.”

In the short-term, Zbeedat said, the desperate humanitarian situation means that Gazans will “accept the circumstances that they are put in, as long as there are no more airstrikes, as long as food is on the shelves, and as long as there is water, shelter, clothes coming in, and medical care.” 

But overall, Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere are “not excited” about the Trump plan because of the lack of “any Palestinian presence or voice” at the decision-making level. 

Also on the podcast: Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Liza Rozovsky discusses the challenges ahead for the new Board of Peace – most prominently, the disinterest of major Western European countries in signing on. 

“When you are being squeezed and threatened by the U.S. over Greenland, it is pretty bad timing to be joining a Board of Peace chaired by Trump,” Rozovsky noted. For these countries, “giving up your veto power in the United Nations Security Council and just bowing to Trump is not a very attractive offer.”

Read more: 

Trump's Board of Peace Finds Few Enthusiasts Among Palestinians in Gaza

Israel's Netanyahu to Join Trump's Board of Peace Alongside Saudis, Qatar and Turkey

Trump's Board of Peace Has European States Worried, but Most Refrain From Direct Criticism

Trump's Gaza Board of Peace Aims to Rival UN, Charter Shows

'It Never Ended': As the World Moves On, For Gazans It's War as Usual

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California State Senator Scott Wiener, the frontrunner for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat, insisted on the Haaretz Podcast that his change of heart regarding whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide did not represent a political flip-flop.

In early January, Wiener faced an angry audience at a candidate’s forum, in which he debated his two rivals in the California Democratic primary to replace retiring Representative Pelosi. In a lightning round question, Wiener was asked to answer “yes” or “no” to the question of whether Israel was "committing genocide in Gaza." His rivals answered “yes” while Wiener refused to respond, prompting boos and jeers. Shortly afterwards, he released a video in which he clarified that he did believe Israel’s actions in Gaza should be defined as genocide. 

On the podcast, Wiener said that in the past, “I've used very, very stark language that, frankly, has not been particularly different from genocide. I chose not to use the word genocide for a variety of reasons, because, it has been weaponized against Israel and against Jews over time.”

Wiener also responded to the harsh backlash from the Jewish community following the release of the video. Wiener, the co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, said he “respects and honors” why the Jewish community feels “hurt and betrayed” by his word choice. “I also believe that we have a responsibility to call this what I believe it is,” he said.

He pointed to the Quinnipiac poll published in August in which half of Americans defined Israel’s actions as a genocide and noted that it will likely be officially declared as such by the International Court of Justice. “The institutional Jewish community in this country has not grappled with that reality.”

Read more:

Jewish California Congressional Hopeful Says Israel Committed Genocide in Gaza, After Earlier Refusal to Do So

Half of Registered U.S. Voters Say Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza, Poll Finds

California Governor Gavin Newsom Says Israel's War in Gaza Was Not Genocide, but 'Destruction Broke My Heart'

Analysis | Is It Important to Call Israel's Carnage in Gaza 'Genocide'?

Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza, Genocide Scholars' Association Says

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Birthright Israel is celebrating 25 years of offering a free 10-day trip to Israel to every young Diaspora Jew with the hope of fighting assimilation. The celebrations include a $900 million fundraising campaign.

But, as Haaretz Jewish World editor Judy Maltz told the Haaretz Podcast, their traditional mission and "fun in the sun" marketing campaign have become deeply problematic, given the battering of the image of the Jewish state in the eyes of many young people around the world.

Instead of unaffiliated Jews, Maltz said, the programs are increasingly filled with participants who are "presumably already very much in touch with their Jewish identity," begging the question as to whether this is where hundreds of millions in Jewish philanthropic dollars and funding by the state of Israel should be going.

On the podcast, Maltz discusses the reasons behind the shift, based on more than 30 interviews with Birthright participants, and those who chose not to go.

Many of those interviewees, she reports "feel very distant from Israel. They feel very uncomfortable with its actions, especially over the past two years with what's happened in Gaza."

Maltz also discusses a new and different trend she has reported on: trips to Israel by young leftist Jews who choose to spend their time off providing "protective presence" in West Bank Palestinian villages menaced by violent settlers. "Being on the ground is really the only way to bear witness," she was told by the young Americans camping out in the villages.

Read more:

Has Birthright Become a Toxic Brand?

Not Masada or the Dead Sea: Young Diaspora Jews Provide Protective Presence in the West Bank

Birthright Is Resuming Its Free Trips to Israel for the First Time Since October 7

Haaretz Editorial: Birthright Israel: The Problem Is Reality, Not Money

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dropped a bombshell in a recent interview when he declared he had told U.S. President Donald Trump that Israel no longer needed a long-term commitment from the U.S. for military aid, and that he planned to “taper off” the $3.8 billion Israel now receives to “zero” within ten years. 

On the Haaretz Podcast, Washington correspondent Ben Samuels and senior defense analyst Amos Harel discuss the implications of Netanyahu’s announcement and the circumstances behind it. 

Both say it is clear that Trump had signaled that aid would be significantly reduced, and that Netanyahu’s announcement was intended to avoid the appearance that the cuts were being forced on Israel. 

“Netanyahu did not have much choice. I think this is something that Trump expected him to do,” Harel said. “It was bound to happen, and it was better for Netanyahu to appear as if he's the one who initiated it.” 

Samuels noted that both Republicans and Democrats – for different reasons – were questioning the level of aid Israel receives, despite the fact that the majority of the billions in assistance are spent on weapons purchased from U.S. manufacturers.

Looking ahead, Samuels discussed potential “cognitive dissonance” for pro-Israel lobbying organizations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as they grapple with a future in which substantial military aid will no longer be part of the equation of when it comes to U.S. support for the Jewish state.

“Supporters of AIPAC have treated military aid as this sacrosanct thing - saying that if you dare question it, then you are not only in support of endangering Israeli lives, but it makes you borderline antisemitic,” Samuels said. “How are they now going to just turn around and flip the script and say: ‘You know what? You're right. We don't need U.S. military assistance to Israel.’” 

Read more: 

Top GOP Senator Urges Halt to U.S. Military Aid After Netanyahu Says Israel Aims to End Reliance Within Decade

On Ending U.S. Military Aid to Israel, Netanyahu Is Trying to Spin His Failure as Success

Today Marks the End of an Era for pro-Israel Democrats – and for AIPAC

It Didn't End Well for Sparta, and It Won't for Israel Either

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Once again, Iranians have taken to the streets. Starting in late December, the plummeting value of the national currency, along with the soaring cost of living, were the catalyst for a fresh wave of protest – and one that soon turned political. 

Although the government has been quick to crack down on the demonstrations, the regime has been dealt some heavy blows in the past year, and analysts are pondering whether this could be the movement that ends the ayatollahs’ reign for good. 

Haaretz reporter Linda Dayan was joined by Arash Azizi, lecturer at Yale University and author of "What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom" and "The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the U.S., and Iran's Global Ambitions” to talk about these protests, and what they mean for Iran, for Israel, for the region and for the world. 

“In some of the previous protests, there was always a mix of hope and anger,” explains Azizi. “This time, there’s a lot more anger, because people know that they want an end to this regime, but they can’t find an easy path… there’s a lot more despondency and desperation.” 

Azizi explains that one of the key obstacles in realizing this aspiration is Iran’s fractured would-be opposition, including the ousted Shah’s son Reza Pahlavi, who’s found support from some Israeli lawmakers. The protesters “don’t have a disciplined political leadership that you need to bring about that kind of change,” Azizi says. Iran’s developments will likely “have the color of a coup, perhaps even more than a revolution” – and be led by figures currently inside the regime. 

U.S. President Donald Trump has also warned the Iranian regime against violently repressing the protests. The ouster of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela – a key Iranian ally – by U.S. forces “was a reminder to the Iranians that Trump is not bluffing, and that he could take action against them,” notes Azizi.

 “The idea that Trump would assassinate Khamenei, let’s say, with the help of Israel would have been unthinkable a few years ago… now, it’s really a possibility.” 

Read more:

At Least 35 Killed, 1,200 Detained in Iran Protests as Threat of U.S. Intervention Looms

Analysis by Zvi Bar'el | Why Trump's Venezuela Playbook Won't Work in Iran

Israeli Officials Warn Iran May Strike Across the Middle East to Quell Protests

Analysis by Ben Samuels | What Trump's Attack on Venezuela Means for Iran and MAGA Isolationists

The Israeli Influence Operation Aiming to Install Reza Pahlavi as Shah of Iran

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It was a challenging year to be a Diaspora Jew. 

The war in Gaza and growing hostility to Israel had an undeniable impact on Jewish life across the world in 2025. Events in Israel became a focus in local and national politics around the world – and served as a catalyst in a global surge in antisemitism. The year was punctuated by horrific and deadly attacks against Jews from Washington D.C. to Manchester to Australia’s Bondi Beach.

On this special episode of the Haaretz Podcast, we revisit episodes from the past year featuring the voices of Diaspora Jews, along with Haaretz journalists covering the Jewish world.

The conversations include Brooklyn Rabbi Rachel Timoner on the impact of Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy for New York City mayor, Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur on the complexity of advocating for the hostages and a cease-fire agreement. Also on the podcast: American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutsch following the terror attack at his organization’s event, and Lynda Ben Menashe, a Jewish leader in Sydney Australia after the Bondi Beach massacre, and many more. Among the featured Haaretz journalists: English edition editor-in-chief Esther Solomon, Washington D.C. correspondent Ben Samuels and Jewish world correspondent Judy Maltz.

Read more: 

How Antisemitism Haunts Jewish Communities Around the World

Fire, Fear and Freedom: Israel in 2025, Through the Eyes of Haaretz Photographers

From Mamdani to Bondi, Trump to War Crimes: Top Haaretz Opinions of 2025

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For Israel, 2025 was a year in which war turned the unimaginable into reality: from the terrifying exchange of missiles with Iran to the horrors of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to the joy and relief when U.S. President Donald Trump secured a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas to bring the painful hostage ordeal to an end.

This special year-end episode highlights the reporting and analysis on the Haaretz Podcast that accompanied the year's dramatic events: from the Gaza war, hostage crisis, the 12-day war with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial and the emergence of the shocking Qatargate scandal. 

The episode features conversations with Israeli and Palestinians who experienced it all, along with the many Haaretz journalists who offered their insights throughout the year, including editor-in-chief Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Dahlia Scheindlin, Nir Hasson, Bar Peleg and Nagham Zbeedat.  

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France’s ambassador to Israel Frédéric Journèssaid on the Haaretz Podcast that any postwar Gaza plan must acknowledge that completely disarming and ridding the Strip of Hamas militia members is not an achievable goal. 

“You're not going to eliminate all of those people, so you basically need to find them a job in local police, find them a little job in society and de-radicalize them to the greatest extent possible,” he contended. This is possible, he said, because over the course of the war, Israel “got rid of the leadership."

Journès, who has been France’s envoy to Israel since July 2023, sat down for a wide-ranging interview with host Allison Kaplan Sommer and Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Liza Rozovsky, discussing Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and antisemitism in France. The ambassador also explains why he believes the four countries strengthened by the past two years of war are Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. 

Pressed on the podcast as to whether he supports renewing strikes on Iran aimed at its ballistic missile program, which Israel reportedly desires, Journès replied, “I'm not saying that. I will see what will happen.”

Read more:

Opinion by Frédéric Journès | Declaring a Palestinian State Is a Blow to Terror

Opinion by Frédéric Journès | Israel, Help Us Protect Our Seas and Oceans

U.S. Leaning Toward Setting Up Palestinian-run Regime for Gaza Before International Forces

Saudi, French and U.S. Officials Discuss Hezbollah Disarmament With Lebanese Army Chief

France Demands Heightened Security Measures at French Consulate in Jerusalem After Israeli MKs Harass Staffer

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Before October 7th, Trump’s second term and the election of Zohran Mamdani rocked New York’s Jewish community, Manhattan’s famed 92nd Street Y – like most mainstream Jewish institutions – played it relatively safe when it came to programs about Israel.

Susan Engel, executive producer of the 92nd St. Y Talks, tells the Haaretz Podcast that the famed Manhattan cultural center has undergone “a soul-searching since October 7 around our own Jewish identity and around who we are as a Jewish institution. And I think we've had to double down on our values and what it means to present different views, sometimes critical of Israel – because it's important to hear what someone else who thinks differently” has to say.

Her audiences – in-person and the millions who watch her events online – she believes, greatly “appreciate” the fact that she can bring together people who “really disagree strongly” yet can “have a conversation and be civil.” 

At the same time, she said, the Y – founded as a center for Jewish life and culture in 1874 – experienced a boycott and staff walkouts after October 7 – maintains “red lines.” They will not platform those who have expressed “homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic” views or “if we feel that someone believes that Israel should be destroyed.”

On the podcast, Engel also discusses the big-name cultural, political and Hollywood figures who have taken to the 92nd St. Y stage, including a recent appearance by Rob Reiner, who died tragically earlier this month, the art of creating an intimate space for interviews when millions are watching, and her experience as a judge at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival. 

Read more:

How October 7 Is Impacting Jewish Cultural Life in America

ADL Accuses Mamdani Transition Members of Engaging in 'Antisemitic, anti-Zionist' Activities

Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival coverage: From NYC to Jerusalem, This Radical Artist Asks 'After the Revolution, Who's Going to Pick Up the Garbage?'

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Over the past two years, many filmmakers have hesitated or refrained from bringing their films to Israeli film festivals as part of cultural boycott of Israel over the Gaza war.

But for Joshua Zeman, the decision to bring his powerful new documentary “Checkpoint Zoo” to the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival was “merely part and parcel of the whole experience of making a film about something that's been politicized that shouldn’t be politicized.”

Zeman’s film tells the dramatic story of the 2022 rescue of nearly 5,000 animals from the Feldman Ecopark zoo in Ukraine located on the Russian border outside the city of Kharkiv – on the front lines of the war – lovingly built and maintained by an animal-loving Orthodox Jewish oligarch, Oleksandr Feldman.

“There has been a lot of backlash against Ukraine here in the States, even though the film is just about people rescuing animals, so the film was already complicated for me in terms of getting distribution,” Zeman said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

“Checkpoint Zoo” chronicles the efforts of Feldman, a handful of zoo workers who did not flee Kharkiv during the war and four idealistic volunteers as they risked their lives under fire from drones and bombs to remove lions, tigers, monkeys, ostriches and other animals out of from harm’s way in a modern-day Noah’s Ark. 

“War by definition is brutality created to strip away your humanity. But in rescuing these animals, these volunteers not only refound their humanity, but found this unbelievable well of courage.”

Zeman sees Feldman – who allowed his luxurious mansion to be taken over by the rescued animals  – as “a Schindler-esque character.” 

After Feldman’s businesses in Kharkiv were destroyed by the war, he was forced to “basically sell everything to care for these animals,” Zeman recounted. “Whenever we talked about the animals, he immediately cried. He's a big crier – he is a fascinating character who espouses a lot of values from the Torah.”

Read more:

Meet Oleksander Feldman, the Lonely Ukrainian Jew Fighting His Country’s New Fondness for Nazis

'It Is a Fascist Project': The Ukrainian Filmmaker Who Withdrew From a Prestigious Amsterdam Film Festival Because of the Israel Boycott

Read all of Haaretz's film coverage

Russian Strikes Destroy Centers of Jewish Life in Kharkiv as Community Members Flee

The Tragic End of the Ukrainian Community in Gaza

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Australian Jews are “shocked but not surprised” by the “horrific” mass shooting on Bondi Beach, which turned a Hanukkah celebration into a tragic massacre, Australian Jewish leader Lynda Ben-Menashe said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

In the two years since the October 7 attack in Israel, the Australian Jewish community “begged” their government officials to enforce laws against incitement and hate speech, which has led to an unprecedented spike in antisemitic violence. But, she said, the government’s response has been “lip service” but “no real consequences.”

“Our prime minister has said that he was distressed and shocked,” said Ben-Menashe, the head of Australia’s National Council of Jewish Women. “The Jewish community has been distressed for the past two years at the lack of action from the government, and also at the growing lack of safety that we have felt. And so we weren't shocked that this happened.”

Also on the podcast, Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harelreports on the numerous warnings passed by Israeli intelligence agencies to the Australian government, warning of the growing terrorist threats in their country. 

Harel also commented on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s reaction to the Bondi Beach attack – namely blaming Australia’s leaders for their failure to prevent it. 

Harel said it was “hard to resist noticing [the] paradox regarding the fact that Israeli ministers were so quick to blame the Australian government for its failures and note their responsibility for what has happened, while they're insisting that Netanyahu holds no blame whatsoever for what happened two years ago” on October 7.

Read more:

Analysis by Amos Harel | After the Deadly Attack at Bondi Beach, Israel Warns: Sydney Won't Be the Last Target

The First Deadly Attack Against Jews in Australia Follows Two Years of Unprecedented Antisemitism

Albanese Rejects Netanyahu Linking Palestinian State to Deadly Bondi Beach Attack

The Victims of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah Celebration Shooting

From March 2025: 'It Will Only Get Worse': Why These Australian Jews Are Leaving Down Under

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When it comes to liberal American Jews and President Donald Trump, the “cognitive dissonance is real,” said award-winning journalist Dahlia Lithwick on the Haaretz Podcast. 

While Lithwick “doesn’t dispute for a minute" the fact that the U.S. president and his envoys “did yeoman’s work” negotiating a cease-fire deal, it is not enough for her to soften her perception of the level of danger that Trump represents. 

With democracy and rule of law being challenged, “You have to ask yourself, am I transactional enough to say that I will subordinate all of that to parochial interests?” she said in her conversation with Haaretz columnistJoshua Leiferand podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer. 

“If you say you can pick and choose which authoritarian you want to align yourself with, cross your fingers and hope you know this time, being a court Jew is going to work out – history suggests otherwise.”

In their in-depth discussion, Lithwick and Leifer also consider the trends in U.S. politics on the right and left, which are upending the long-held assumptions of American Jewish life and the urgent need to confront the new “transactional” reality and abandon “magical thinking.”

“American Jewish organizations sold the idea to American Jews that they were more powerful than they were. And I think Israel sold to American Jews – and also Israelis – that Israel is more powerful than it is,” Leifer said. 

For U.S. Jews to effectively fight for their interests, including the battle against antisemitism, he said, they must leave behind “the old rhetoric and strategies – because no one cares anymore.”

Read more from Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer:

In Blood-soaked Israel-Palestine, the Dangerous Status Quo of Before October 7 Has Returned

It's Clear What Defendant Netanyahu Gets Out of a Pardon. But What's in It for Trump?

The Ultra-hawkish Right and anti-Zionist Left Have Drowned the American Jewish Majority

Why Netanyahu Is Sharing Leftist Conspiracy Theories About a Mossad Sex Cabal

Israel's Right Wing Bet the Country's Future on American Christian Nationalists. That Has Backfired

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After Russian-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov was freed from captivity in Iraq in September following two and a half years of imprisonment and torture, she returned to a very different Israel, she said in a wide-ranging interview on the Haaretz Podcast. 

Israelis “have changed in very fundamental ways,” she said. “After October 7, the circle of people towards whom Israelis feel compassion shrunk very significantly.”

As she returns to public life as a researcher and commentator on Middle East affairs, while undergoing physical rehabilitation from injuries she suffered as the prisoner of Kata’ib Hezbollah, she has already been attacked by the Israeli right for social media posts in support of human rights and critical of Israel’s policies in Gaza. 

Despite being held in captivity, she said, her political views “have not substantially changed: I still see Arabs as human beings, which is an unpopular opinion, it seems.” 

In her conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Tsurkov discusses the politics of Iraq – the country where she was kidnapped and held – following their recent elections, calling it a “failed oil state” driven by the behavior of Iranian-backed militias with “no clear path for reform and change.” 

She also analyzes the impact of the new regime in Syria, praising the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump towards the year-old government. 

She also credits the president with her release. “Trump is the reason I'm free. This is not an interpretation, this is a fact. I know exactly how I came to be released: It was because of threats that were made on his behalf.”

Read more:

Right-wing Pundit Amit Segal: Tsurkov 'Should Do Some Soul-searching About the Price Her Stupid Adventures Cost Israel'

'Strung Up and Tortured': Elizabeth Tsurkov Recounts Over Two Years of Captivity in Iraq

'Things Weren't Easy': After Iraq Captivity, Elizabeth Tsurkov Tells Netanyahu She Was Tortured

What Is Kata'ib Hezbollah?

Opinion | Through My Friend Elizabeth Tsurkov, I Learned That Syrians and Israelis Desire the Same Thing

Elizabeth Tsurkov's past writing for Haaretz

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In his first interview since his release, former hostage Alon Ohel called the International Committee of the Red Cross a “disgraceful organization.” His anger reflects a general bitterness among Israelis who believe ICRC failed to ensure the Israeli hostages’ received humanitarian treatment in captivity and their silence in the face of Hamas’ refusal to grant them access. 

On the Haaretz Podcast, the head of ICRC’s Israel sub-delegation, Yuval Arie Nevo, admitted in an interview that the hostility on the part of the Israeli public was “totally understandable” given the group’s persistent but ultimately “unsuccessful” efforts to gain access to the hostages to assess their condition and offer medical and humanitarian assistance. 

While acknowledging the failures, “we are very proud of our work,” said Nevo, referring to the implementation of the transfer of the hostages from Hamas to Israel under the cease-fire agreement in October, coordinated with the release and exchange of Palestinian prisoners – and ICRC’s role in returning the remains of slain hostages as well. 

The “reputation crisis” the ICRC is suffering in Israel, he said, is due in large part to the constraints of the organization’s commitment to “impartiality” and the use of “bilateral confidential dialogue,” or refraining from taking sides in public statements. Without such a policy, he argued, ICRC would not be able to effectively conduct humanitarian operations and return prisoners and hostages anywhere in the world.

Still, “I know it is a source of great frustration in the Israeli public,” he said. “Neutrality is not a sexy choice to make.”

Read more:

Sexual Assault, Starvation, Stitches Without Anesthesia: Alon Ohel Details Hamas Captivity

Opinion | For the Hostages in Gaza, the Red Cross Is Neutral. But We Are Not Bystanders

Far-right MKs Cite Classified Report on Red Cross Visits to Israeli Prisons, Refuse to Share It With Arab Lawmaker

Israeli Defense Ministry Renews Its Ban on Red Cross Visits to Palestinian Security Prisoners Before High Court

Israel Allows Hamas to Join Red Cross in IDF-held Gaza Areas to Recover Hostage Bodies

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There was a clear “threat” delivered in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s formal letter to the President Isaac Herzog requesting a pardon in his corruption case, senior Haaretz columnist Dahlia Scheindlinsaid on the Haaretz Podcast. 

Netanyahu’s government continues to conduct a “campaign of vicious political incitement against the Israeli judiciary,” Scheindlin noted. “And what he's basically saying in the request is: ‘You see how bad I can make things. This is what will happen and continue to happen if you don't end this.’ It’s a very severe statement.’’

On Sunday, Netanyahu formally submitted a pardon request to the Israeli president. He has been on trial for three separate criminal cases – charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust – since 2020 and is currently being cross-examined by prosecutors in court. 

On the podcast, Scheindlin discusses the impact a pardon would have on a future election and the U.S.-led efforts to pursue the goals laid out in the Gaza cease-fire agreement, as well as what she believes Israel’s opposition needs to do to seize this moment ahead of next October’s election in order to formulate a “winning strategy” to defeat Netanyahu. 

Read more from Dahlia Scheindlin:

The Visionary Palestinian Peace Plan for Israel and Gaza That You've Never Heard Of

Nobody Wants This? Netanyahu Is Gaslighting Israelis Over October 7 Investigation

What Israel's Opposition Should Learn From Mamdani

Read more on Netanyahu's pardon request:

What You Need to Know About Netanyahu's Bid for a Presidential Pardon in His Corruption Trial

43 Percent of Israelis Oppose Pardoning Netanyahu in Corruption Trials, Polls Show

It's Clear What Defendant Netanyahu Gets Out of a Pardon. But What's in It for Trump?

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The feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and MAGA congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene may not be exclusively about Israel, “but Israel is one of the pillars of the narrative” that fueled Greene’s decision to resign earlier this week, Haaretz’s Washington correspondent Ben Samuels told the Haaretz Podcast. 

Until recently, the right was viewed as an unshakeable mainstay of American support for Israel. Schisms within the Republican Party have ruptured over Israel’s compatibility with MAGA-style isolationism, critiques of Israel’s wartime conduct and commentator Tucker Carlson’s embrace of Nick Fuentes.

Greene’s departure, which also comes amid a swirl of conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein and the Mossad, is a red flag regarding the “deep realignment” taking place in the GOP and among evangelical Christians, Samuels said – and Israeli leaders are worried. 

Omer Benjakob, Haaretz’s cyber and disinformation correspondent, joined the podcast to discuss his recent investigation into a major multi-platform online campaign by the Israeli government that seeks to rehabilitate its image among the American Christian right. 

Benjakob said the multimillion-dollar campaign  seems to be “less about pro- or anti- Israel arguments and more about trying to quell a growing wave of antisemitism.”

He noted that the “rapid decline of this ‘unshakable bond’ points to a dependency on a population that progressive voices have warned Israel for years against getting in bed with.”

Read more:

Losing the Republican Base, Israel Pours Millions to Target Evangelicals and Churchgoers

Between Mamdani and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Netanyahu's Allies in Washington Have Cause to Be Alarmed

Why Netanyahu Is Sharing Leftist Conspiracy Theories About a Mossad Sex Cabal

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Resigns From Office, After Trump's Support Withdrawal Last Week

Israel's Right Wing Bet the Country's Future on American Christian Nationalists. That Has Backfired

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Now that all of Israel’s living hostages are home and the vast majority of the bodies of deceased hostages have been returned, the “line of thinking” among many Israeli military and political leaders is “we have nothing to lose” and “we can continue our fight against Hamas,” says Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel.

Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, he believes, are clearly “looking for an excuse” to return to full-fledged war. 

Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, Harel discussed the challenges of ensuring security on Israel’s southern and northern borders and rebuilding and rehabilitating Gaza, given the “vague” nature of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for an international stabilization force and a ruling Board of Peace. In the meantime, Hamas remains fully armed and in control of nearly half of Gaza.

The Americans “have some vague ideas about how to solve things, but nothing ever moves ahead,” Harel observed. “Will there be an international force? Will any country in the world risk the lives of its soldiers and put them in harm's way trying to restrain Hamas? These are big challenges for the Americans.”

On the podcast, Harel also discussed the fragile cease-fire with Hezbollah on its northern border and the firestorm in Israel's military and political arenas over accountability for the October 7 attacks.

Read more:

Analysis by Amos Harel | Latest Lebanon Escalation Is an Israeli Initiative That Serves Netanyahu's Interests – and Has Trump's Blessing

Israel Kills Hezbollah Military Chief in Beirut Airstrike, IDF Confirms

Lebanese Sources Worry That Israeli Escalation Will Weaken Gov't, Thwart Hezbollah Disarmament

Analysis by Amos Harel | As It Prepares for Multifront Wars of Attrition, the IDF Faces a Manpower Crunch and Spiraling Costs

U.S. to Pull Troops Out of Command Center in Israel, Try to Relocate Gazans to Israeli-held Areas

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Haaretz held its first-ever conference in Berlin, “Fault Lines and Futures: Israel, Gaza and Germany in Wartime and After," to explore the dynamic between Israelis, Palestinians and Germans at this charged moment; this special edition of the Haaretz Podcast features highlights of those conversations. 

Among the conference speakers was Hadash MK Ayman Odeh, who called on German politicians to follow other European leaders in recognizing a Palestinian state and acknowledge that “there are two peoples in our shared homeland, both with the right to self-determination.”

John Philipp Albrecht, president of the Heinrich Boell Foundation – a co-sponsor of the Haaretz conference – took the stage to denounce the attempts of the Netanyahu government's “attacks and intimidation” against European NGOs that promote democracy and Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, noting that “alienating friends and partners of Israel is a strange strategy to strengthen Israel's security.”

Also speaking was Prof. Meron Mendel, director of the Anne Frank Center in Frankfurt, who warned against the way in which German and other European far-right anti-immigration parties misleadingly present themselves as defenders of Israel and opponents of antisemitism, as they enjoy the embrace of Israel’s current right-wing coalition. 

These extremist politicians do not “love Jews,” said Mendel. “They hate Jews, but they hate Muslims more.” So they say, “we are for Israel” to  “justify discriminating against Muslims for a ‘good cause’ – the cause of fighting antisemitism.”

This episode also features Berliner festival director Matthias Pees and Dr. Ofer Waldman, who heads the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s Tel Aviv office. Watch a recording of the full conference here.

Read more:

Haaretz Conference in Berlin: What Lies Ahead for Israel and Germany After the Gaza War

Germany's Antisemitism Czar Braces for Backlash Over Move to Rein in pro-Palestinian Protests

Angela Merkel's Visit to My Gaza-border Kibbutz: A Lesson in Leadership That Israel Lacks

Two Israeli DJs in Berlin Renounced Their Israeliness. It Didn't Stop the Boycott Calls

The Far-right German Party AfD Says It Has Nothing Against Jews. This Book Proves Otherwise

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Iran remains a major threat to Israel and the United States – with clear ambitions to expand its influence and terror activity into the Western hemisphere, said Danny Citrinowicz, a former IDF military intelligence officer and Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.  

Those ambitions were recently highlighted when a U.S. official revealed an advanced plan by Iran to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Mexico, using a base of operations in Venezuela. The official said the plot was foiled earlier this year. 

“Venezuela is the hub” of Iran’s activity in the region, Citrinowicz said, adding that Tehran is developing relationships with other South American countries with a sizable Shi’ite Muslim population and “controlled by the left” in the hope of uniting against a common enemy: the United States and its allies. “Iran can find a mutual language with every country that opposes the West,” he said.  

In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Citriowicz also discussed Iran’s renewal of its nuclear capabilities, as reported by the New York Times, and the potential Israeli response to the prospect that they appear to be increasing their missile capabilities to the point where they can rain thousands more explosives on Israel than they did in June’s 12-day war. 

“We’re in a very risky and unstable situation, and I don't think we’ve seen the last of the clashes between Israel and Iran.”

Read more:

What the Next Israel-Iran Missile War Will Look Like

The Israeli Influence Operation Aiming to Install Reza Pahlavi as Shah of Iran

Israeli FM: Iran Tried to Attack Multiple Israeli Embassies and Diplomats, Not Only Envoy in Mexico

Paradox of Success: Israelis Fail to See That the Next Iran War Will Be Worse

Opinion by Danny Citrinowicz | How a Historic Israel-Iran Non-aggression Pact Could Change the Middle East

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Olive harvest season has become a flashpoint in the West Bank in recent years as extremist Israeli settlers regularly threaten and physically harm Palestinian harvesters, but this year, “the situation on the ground is out of control,” Anton Goodman of Rabbis for Human Rights said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

“We have never seen anything like this,” Goodman emphasized, noting that in the past, “We've seen settler attacks, and we've seen unnecessary army aggression and restrictions, but we've never seen such a peak moment of violence affecting so many communities.”

Goodman described the situation as a “perfect storm” with “extremists at the heart of the Israeli government, who have sent clear policy recommendations to the police” to refrain from arresting violent settlers so that “the rule of law is totally diminished.”

He also outlined the ways in which mainstream Religious Zionist institutions and their leaders are complicit – such as when the prominent rabbi Yaakov Medan encouraged his yeshiva students to spend the High Holidays at outposts that are illegal even under Israeli law.

Also on the podcast, Leila Stillman-Utterback recounts her experience as an 18-year-old Jewish American volunteer who was recently arrested at an olive harvest and then deported and banned from Israel for 10 years. While Israel has deported non-Jewish solidarity volunteers for years, Stillman-Utterback’s case is believed to be the first time Israel has deported a Diaspora Jew from the West Bank. 

Speaking from the United States, Stillman-Utterback said a court challenge to banning her entry to Israel is underway. 

Maintaining her connection to Israel, she said, is “incredibly important to me, even though I am extremely frustrated with the actions of the Israeli government, both in terms of the impunity for settler violence and their actions in Gaza.”

Read more:

Erased: Israeli Settlers' Brutal War on Palestinian Communities in the West Bank

IDF Reports Surge in West Bank Settler Attacks Against Palestinians, Says Police and Shin Bet Looking Away Amid Political Pressure

'We May Have Reached the Point Where Settlers Try to Kill Jews'

Analysis | There Will Be No Middle East Peace if Trump Turns a Blind Eye to Wild Settler Violence in the West Bank

Op-ed by Anton Goodman: How Israel's Violent West Bank Settlers Place Minors in the Line of Fire

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After October 7, actor, singer and writer Jonah Platt pivoted away from his entertainment career and poured all of his energy into what until then had been his “side hustle” – advocating for more “joyful” portrayals of Jews in Hollywood, and broadening his focus to include pro-Israel advocacy and fighting antisemitism. 

Platt joins the Haaretz Podcast where he discusses his own top-ranked Jewish podcast aimed at what he calls the “middle majority” of American Jews – engaging in pro-Israel advocacy while not hiding his misgivings and ambivalence about both U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This, he tells podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, has drawn both admiration and attacks from across the political spectrum in the Jewish community and beyond.  

Platt notes that the criticism he gets from the Jewish left “mimics the hate that I get from non-Jews on the left, which is that I'm a nepo baby genocidal baby killer” while the attacks from the MAGA Jewish right “feels more like getting it from my own team.”

On the podcast, Platt also shares his views on conflicts within Jewish families over the Gaza war – including his own – and why he believes so many young New York Jews voted for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Read more:

Paramount Studios Reportedly Keeps Internal Blacklist of Antisemitic Industry Figures

Pledge to Boycott Israeli Film Institutions Grows to Over 4,000 Signatories Since Monday

Israeli Artists React to Filmmakers' Boycott: 'We Aren't Doing Enough'

Uncanceled Nation: The Artists Who Perform in Israel, Despite Everything

Debra Messing, Liev Schreiber Among 1,200 Hollywood Figures Opposing Israeli Film Boycott

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The scandal rocking Israel’s military justice system has “serious ramifications” that could undermine the country both internally and in its ability to address accusations of war crimes overseas, Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

Shamir-Borer, who served for over 20 years in the IDF Military Advocate General's Corps, and currently heads the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for National Security and Democracy, said he was “personally and professionally shocked” by the admission of now-former Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.

She was arrested and is now in detention after she admitted to leaking video documentation from July 2024 of IDF soldiers physically and sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention camp. Tomer-Yerushalmi is likely facing charges of participating in a cover-up of the leak, which involved misleading both the State Prosecutor’s office and the Supreme Court. 

On the podcast, Shamir-Borer, with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, lays out the dramatic events behind what’s being called the Sde Teiman Affair – and how the affair that “shocked him on so many levels” unfolded in his former military unit.

The affair, he fears, will both boost the power of those in the Netanyahu government working “trying to undermine the independence and professionalism of the justice system,” as well as “undermine the credibility of the IDF justice system overseas with serious repercussions for Israel and for those in its military service.”

Read more: 

Haaretz Explains | Two Leaks, Two Tales: Why the Prisoner Abuse Video Leak and the Bild Hamas Document Are Different

How the IDF Legal Chief Drama Overshadows the Abuse of Palestinian Prisoners

IDF Probe Into Sde Teiman Video Leak May Disrupt Abuse Investigation, Legal Sources Say

Ex-IDF Top Lawyer Sticks to Story in Initial Police Interrogation on Leaked Abuse Video

Israel Released Palestinian Detainee Allegedly Seen in Leaked Abuse Video Back to Gaza

We Served on Israel's Sde Teiman Base. Here's What We Did to Gazans Detained There

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The prospect of a New York City mayor who “won’t march in the Israel Day Parade, will not travel to Israel, who will divest from Israel” with a history of pro-Palestinian advocacy has brought many Jews to a place of “caution and worry” as they choose the city’s next leader, New York political reporter Jacob Kornbluh said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

At the same time, he stressed, despite the “fear campaign” that Jewish leaders and rabbis pursued against the 34-year-old Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a large number of Jewish New Yorkers were casting their ballots for the man poised to make history as the city’s first Muslim mayor. 

Leading up to Election Day, Kornbluh noted “a changing mood among Jewish voters who say they disagree with Mamdani” and were “worried” about his positions on Israel – but “since they hate [Independent candidate] Andrew Cuomo, since they are Democrats, and since they want to participate in this election, they will hold their nose and vote for Mamdani.”

University administrator Dov Scheindlin, who is voting for Mamdani, also spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the podcast and explained the reasons for his choice despite disagreeing with the candidate on issues related to Israel. 

“On a personal level, I feel Mamdani’s demonstrated a tremendous commitment to the Jews of New York City,” Scheindlin said, attributing the candidate’s stated position as a reflection of his “sympathy with the Palestinians and a sense that the cause of Palestinian self-determination has been inhibited by the unfettered support for Israel the United States has offered.”

Join Haaretz and meet our journalists at the Other Israel Film Festival, running from November 6-13 in New York City. Use the code haaretz25at checkout for 20 percent off admission. View the event schedule and buy tickets here.

Read more:

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl Slams Zohran Mamdani's Past Remarks as Antisemitic, 'Demonizing' Israelis

NYC Candidates Court Final Endorsements as Hasidic Leaders Criticize 'Scare Campaign' Against Mamdani

Cuomo Faces Backlash in New York Mayoral Race After 'Racist' Attack on Rival Mamdani

Opinion | I Oppose Mamdani's Stance on Israel. This Is Why I Am Voting for Him

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Throughout the Gaza war, the tremendous difference between international coverage and Israeli media coverage was obvious to anyone exposed to both. 

In a new report, media scholar Dr. Ayala Panievsky’s research quantifies precisely how pronounced that difference was. On the Haaretz Podcast, she said the silencing of dissent in Israel’s mainstream media was unprecedented. 

“The professional journalists, people who Israelis spend their entire lives trusting to tell them the truth, rallied around the military in many ways – any criticism of what our soldiers were doing was just out of bounds. It wasn't part of the conversation.”

In past coverage of war and conflict, she stressed, “there was no such silencing of any criticism and alternative voices,” attributing the difference to the tremendous amount of pressure by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on media outlets in recent years.

"The Netanyahu camp declared war on the media a decade ago. And when the war in Gaza broke, the mainstream media was already very much undermined, intimidated and exhausted.” 

In her conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Panievsky, author of “The New Censorship: How the War on the Media is Taking Us Down,” also discussed how the phenomenon of self-censorship is plaguing journalism worldwide.

In many countries, she said, authoritarian leaders “claim to speak on behalf of democracy” while “doing everything to undermine journalism and its role in society. … This is something very, very confusing, and difficult to tackle.

Join Haaretz and meet our journalists at the Other Israel Film Festival, running from November 6-13 in New York City. Use the code haaretz25at checkout for 20 percent off admission. View the event schedule and buy tickets here.

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The turmoil around the Gaza war has transformed French Jews into “different people” than they were two years ago, pioneering rabbi Delphine Horvilleur said on the Haaretz Podcast.

“I don't know any of any Jewish family in France who hasn’t had a conversation around the Shabbat table,” Horvilleur said, contemplating possible emigration and wondering what will remain of Jews in France a decade from now. 

In her discussion with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Horvilleur talks about inspiring the hit HBO show "Reformed" and the books she's penned herself: "Living with Our Dead" and "How Isn't It Going? Conversations After October 7." 

The rabbi also addressed the hate mail and death threats she received after writing a column in a French Jewish magazine last spring that was critical of far-right members of the Israeli government who justified denying humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza as legitimate acts of war. She noted the “really harsh” threats she received were smaller in number than the amount of support. 

“Even today, I walk in the streets of Paris, and Jews stop me and say, ‘thank you for speaking out, because we believe exactly what you said, but we cannot say it anymore.’ Somehow the crisis and the war and the pain and the trauma created an inability to talk.

"And for me, the real threat today lies in not being able to say what we think, to talk and re-engage in the Jewish conversation” in which, Horvilleur said, it is possible to be “both supportive of and critical of” Israel. 

Join Haaretz and meet our journalists at the Other Israel Film Festival, running from November 6-13 in New York City. Use the code haaretz25at checkout for 20 percent off admission. View the event schedule and buy tickets here.

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The flow of high-level Trump administration officials to Israel in the wake of the Gaza cease-fire agreement has sent a clear signal to Israel’s prime minister and his government, columnist Joshua Leifer said on the Haaretz Podcast.

In a single week, envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived for an extended stay, followed by the first state visit of Vice President JD Vance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio followed on Thursday evening. 

For Leifer, “the bottom-line message to the world that the Trump administration is sending with these visits is ‘We don't trust Netanyahu to follow through on what he's agreed to,’ and they have a good reason to think that. At every opportunity, Netanyahu has made it clear that he is unhappy with the Gaza deal.”

Trump’s close supervision of Israel during the war – and afterwards, Leifer added, has been so unrelenting and it feels as if “in some sense, Israel has been put under a U.S. mandate.”

In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Leifer also discussed the way in which Trump “has completely scrambled American Jewish politics.” On one hand, he said, “American Jewish liberals loathe him and experience him and his followers as racist, sexist, homophobic and antisemitic” while “on the other hand, it's true that he managed to do what Joe Biden couldn’t: end the war and bring the hostages home.” 

Read more:

Hamas Disarmament and Turkey's Role: Vance's Israel Visit Aims to Address Key Postwar Gaza Questions

Vance Spotlights Hamas Violence on Israel Visit, but Netanyahu Is on a Short Leash

From Bear-hug to Bibi-sitting: Marco Rubio Flies Into a Tense Moment in U.S.-Israel Relations

Analysis | With One Eye on Reconstruction, U.S. Won't Let Fragile Gaza Cease-fire Go Up in Smoke

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From the international success of “Fauda” to Academy Award nominations and prestigious festival awards, the Israeli film and television industry was at a high point before the October 7 attacks.

Throughout the two-year Gaza war, the industry has struggled as international funding and festival invitations dried up, and Hollywood A-listers circulated petitions to boycott any association with the Israeli industry. Domestically, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been hostile, especially when infuriated by films they view as too sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

Assaf Amir, chairman of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, joins host Allison Kaplan Sommer to talk about the threat by Culture Minister Miki Zohar’s extreme reaction to the fact that the film winning this year’s Academy for Israel’s Best Picture was “The Sea” – about a Palestinian boy’s journey from the West Bank to Tel Aviv – which is now poised for submission in the Best Foreign Language film category at the Oscars. 

As a result, Zohar said he will defund the Academy prize and set up an alternative government award ceremony to choose a different Best Picture. Amir said on the podcast that he was unimpressed by the threat. 

“We'll see who submits their films to his prize and who he chooses to decide which of the films should win,” Amir said. 

As for the Hollywood boycotts, Amir said he would point to Israel’s Best Picture this year and ask the professionals signing the petitions where they stand on it. 

“Will they watch this Arabic-language film that was made by an Israeli and a Palestinian about a Palestinian boy from the West Bank trying to go to Tel Aviv – or would they boycott it? I think that's the question they should ask themselves, and I'm wondering what the answer is – because I would definitely urge them to watch this film.”

Read more:

Israel's Best Film Award Goes to 'The Sea,' Chosen to Represent Country at the Oscars

Government Says It Will Cut Israel Film Academy Funding After Film 'Depicting Israel Negatively' Wins

'If We Stop Deteriorating': Head of Israel's Film Academy Still Sees a Bright Future, Despite Political Pressures

1,300 International Actors and Filmmakers Pledge to Avoid Israeli Film Institutions 'Implicated in Gaza Genocide'

Debra Messing, Liev Schreiber Among 1,200 Hollywood Figures Opposing Israeli Film Boycott

Opinion | As an Israeli Filmmaker, Thank You to Everyone Who Is Boycotting My Works

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The miraculous release of Israel’s remaining 20 living hostages in Gaza may have been “the best news we’ve had for the last two years,” Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel said on the Haaretz Podcast. Yet a great deal remains to be resolved before anything resembling security is in place for Palestinians in Gaza or for Israelis.

Inside Gaza, Harel noted, “Hamas is already making its intentions clear – to remain by any means necessary. They're not going anywhere. They do not intend to dismantle their weapons.” He points to their recent violent execution of suspected Israeli collaborators and aggressive attacks on clans and factions who challenge their authority. 

With host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Harel breaks down the various complications regarding a postwar Gaza: Hamas’  failure to return a significant number of the bodies of the deceased hostages, the possible involvement of international forces to reign in Hamas after the IDF withdraws, the flow of humanitarian aid and how the Strip will be governed.

He also reflected on Donald Trump’s boldly frank speech in the Knesset in which the U.S. leader openly called on Israel’s president to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his corruption trial. 

“Netanyahu’s crowd has been complaining and whining for the last two days that he's not getting enough respect and not enough ‘thank you’s’ for bringing the hostages back,” Harel said. “Well, there's a simple reason for that. ...It was not thanks to Netanyahu. It was because Trump finally pulled weight and forced Netanyahu’s hand. This is what happened.” 

Read more:

Analysis by Amos Harel | End of Gaza War Could Open Door to Major Diplomatic Shifts in the Middle East

Trump: I Spoke to Hamas; They Said They Will Disarm. If They Don't, We Will, 'Perhaps Violently'

This Isn't Over': Families of Deceased Israeli Hostages Warn of Government Neglect, Public Fatigue

Trump Urges Pardon for Netanyahu in Knesset Address: 'Give Him a Pardon, Come On'

'The Color Is Returning to His Face': Parents of Freed Hostages Share Details From Gaza Captivity

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