Haaretz Podcast

The lesson of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest diplomatic gambit is that in Middle East deal-making, “the devil is in the details, but the most important thing is political willpower,” said Anshel Pfeffer, The Economist’s Israel correspondent and former Haaretz columnist, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.  Trump, he noted, “has supplied that political willpower in bucket loads.”  Hours after Israel and Hamas agreed on a deal to end the war in Gaza and release the hostages, Pfeffer spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer about the long road to the deal, the obstacles that lie ahead and the joyful yet nervous mood among Israelis as they anticipate the long-awaited return of all the hostages.  Pfeffer, a biographer of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also discussed how he expects Israel’s leader to shape the narrative of the cease-fire to serve his political goals ahead of next year’s general election. “We know how hard Donald Trump had to press him to accept this plan, but he is a very pragmatic person," Pfeffer said. "The moment something is forced upon him, he immediately makes it look as if it was his idea all along.” Read more: Analysis by Anshel Pfeffer | Netanyahu's Last Stand: How Rewriting the Gaza War Will Decide the Israeli Leader's Political Destiny Israel, Hamas Reach Gaza Cease-fire Deal; Trump: Hostages Will Be Released Monday 'A Day of Joy': Hundreds of Israelis Stream to Hostage Square to Celebrate Israel-Hamas Deal With Families 'We'll Go Back Home, Rebuild Our Lives': Gaza's Palestinians Celebrate Deal to End Israel-Hamas War Turkey, Egypt and Qatar Will Help Israel and U.S. Recover Bodies of Hostages From GazaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"It is hard to overstate the almost tribal, pathological inability of folks who are pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli to acknowledge the humanity of the other," said filmmaker and Palestinian American activist Mo Husseini on the Haaretz Podcast. "People are operating on the assumption that everyone on the other side is an inhumane, hateful asshole who wants to kill all of us." Husseini said that's the reason he chose to join Jewish American award-winning documentary filmmaker Julie Cohen to create "The Path Forward," which spotlights pairs of Israeli and Palestinian activists who joined forces after October 7.  Cohen, also speaking on the podcast, said she conceived the film as offering an alternative to what she saw as the sole emphasis on violence and hostility when it came to interactions between Israelis and Palestinians. Whenever there is coverage of dialogue, she said, it is framed as "Oh my God, there's an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian, and they're talking to each other. This is nuts, this is insane, this is the craziest thing we've ever seen!" But actually, says Cohen, "it's happening all the time. You're just not seeing it." The film was made in the first year of the war. As the second anniversary of October 7 approaches, Cohen admits that when she re-watches it now, the activists' hope can be "painful to watch in the context of … what is now a genocide in Gaza." Still, Cohen and Husseini said if they had to make a film today, they would strike the same hopeful chord.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The two years that have passed since October 7, 2023 have transformed Israel and its people, its leaders, its status on the world stage and its relationship with Diaspora Jewry. On the Haaretz Podcast, Joshua Leifer, the newest Haaretz columnist, spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer the many dimensions of change the war has wrought - including the changes in his own life and thinking. In their conversation, Leifer noted that while Israelis on the far right can indulge in "a perverse and spectacular kind of denial" regarding the death and suffering in Gaza every day, the situation is more complex and contradictory for the Israeli mainstream and people on the left. "We know that what Israel is doing in Gaza is terrible," Leifer said. And yet, even at times when the war is visibly and audibly present, "we go to the beach, we go to family, we carry on. I think we're only at the beginning of being able to understand what that does to ‌a society, and what that does to people over time, as they acclimate to a reality that should be unbearable but isn't." Regarding his decision to move to Israel at a time when he opposed so much of what its government is doing, Leifer said: "If you want to change a place, I think you have to be there... I didn't want to just be stuck in the meta discourse over Zionism and progressivism. I wanted to try to intervene - if possible - in the reality."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special Haaretz Podcast episode, Haaretz columnist Amir Tibon offers his analysis of the comprehensive 20-point peace plan unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump in a White House press conference on Monday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood beside him.  “What we saw was a plan with big headlines, but a lack of details,” Tibon said in his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer. “We don't know yet if there is actually the political will to carry it forward.” While Netanyahu has officially endorsed and even praised the plan, Tibon added, it will be difficult for the Israeli leader to convince the hard-right wing of his coalition to accept many of the terms – particularly a full withdrawal from the Strip by the IDF. A political crisis over the deal could lead to the collapse of the government and force a new general election.  Hamas has yet to fully weigh in on the plan that requires the massive concession of disarming and ceding power in Gaza to “Palestinians technocrats.”  After two years of the war in Gaza, Tibon said, Trump clearly “hopes he can get a Nobel Peace Prize for ending the war and opening an opportunity for wider peace in the Middle East.” But the U.S. president “still doesn't understand that actually ending the war will require more pressure. The idea that he will simply impose all of these terms on Hamas, I think, is unrealistic. I would love to be wrong on this, but I don't see it happening so quickly.” Read more: Trump's 'New Gaza' Plan Revealed: Hostage Deal, Hamas Disarmament and 'Gaza Deradicalized' Far-right Minister Smotrich Slams Netanyahu's Assent to Trump's Plan: 'Missed Chance to Break Free From Shackles of Oslo' Hamas to Review Trump's 'New Gaza' Cease-fire Plan 'In Good Faith,' Foreign Diplomat Tells Haaretz Amir Tibon: The 'Magic Number' That Could Convince Hamas to Accept the Trump PlanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On a special edition of the Haaretz Podcast – as Israel faces the Jewish High Holidays mired in war and political division, host Allison Kaplan Sommer speaks to Prof. Adam Ferziger about soul-searching and atonement with a focus on the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel and the Diaspora. Ferziger, who is also an ordained rabbi, believes the process of observing Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur “is all about humility.” “Rosh Hashanah comes before Yom Kippur, because in order to be able to go before God and do some sort of atonement, I have to first acknowledge my place in the world,” he said. Following October 7 and over the past two years of war, “so many of the players involved, unfortunately, feel that they know all the right answers, and there is a real lack of humility on many sides.”  Faith and belief in God, he said, should not “be a cause for saying ‘I am more powerful and better, and I know the truth more than you do.’” In his new book, "Agents of Change: American Jews and the Transformation of Israeli Judaism," the Bar-Ilan University professor chronicles the rise of what he calls “moderate Orthodox Judaism” in Israel, the pioneering immigrant Diaspora Jews behind a more liberal and tolerant religious outlook – even as, politically, their presence in Israel strengthened the right and the settler movement.  “Many are right-wing by most standards when it comes to politics, but that does not necessarily go along with their attitude towards Jews who differ from them, or on sexual identity, or the role of women in leadership – and many other subjects.” While it can be “very hard to pull those things apart,” Ferziger sees this dichotomy as an opportunity for “conversation between people in Israel who are moderate in a lot of areas and the broader community in America,” even when there are deep political disagreements.   Read more: Israel's Religious Left Finds New Purpose Amid Gaza War What Future Is There for a Young, Leftist, Secular Family in the Israel of 2026? Opinion | What I Wish Rabbis Would Say About Israel, Gaza and the Palestinians in Their High Holy Day SermonsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a special guest episode of the Haaretz Podcast, German ambassador Steffen Seibert sits down with Guy Rolnik and Anat Georgy, co-hosts of “The Markers” – the Hebrew-language podcast of Haaretz’s sister publication, The Marker.  In the interview, Seibert addressed the increasingly complicated relationship between the two countries since the Gaza war and said he was “not optimistic” about Israel’s future if its government continues in its current direction. “My country is very clearly against the extension and escalation of the war," Seibert said. At the same time, he expressed both affection and sympathy for the “exhausted” citizens of the Jewish state and concerns about growing antisemitism across Europe.  “It's a difficult time to be an Israeli. The idea that when you go abroad as a tourist, you have to worry about your personal safety, and you have to worry if it's okay to speak Hebrew in the street – this is horrible, and it is a challenge to all of us Europeans to make sure that that doesn't become the new reality forever.” Rolnik and Georgy also engaged in an in-depth exchange with Seibert on the nature of German democracy and what Israel might learn from it as it wrestles with the judicial reform crisis and when free speech crosses the line and becomes incitement.  Ultimately, he said, despite Germany’s “serious disagreements” regarding both Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank, “the fact remains that we consider ourselves forever friends of Israel and supporters of the right of Israel to be here, to be safe and to have this Jewish and democratic state. This is not a fashion in German politics. This is one of the pillars of our political identity.” Read more: EU Proposes Sanctions on Israel: Suspending Trade Benefits, Targeting Far-right Ministers Germany Will Not Join Western Allies in Recognizing Palestine, Chancellor Merz Says 'Some Artists Blur Their Identity,' as the World Turns a Deaf Ear to Israeli MusiciansSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New York University professor Lila Corwin Berman has a warning for her colleagues. Corwin Berman, along with two fellow academics, recently penned a provocative piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education headlined "Jewish Studies Scholars, Beware: Trump's Deal Will Corrupt You." On the Haaretz Podcast, Corwin Berman explains how, in her view, the agreements that the Trump White House has hammered out with Ivy League universities, making their federal grant money dependent on investing in Judaic Studies and developing cooperation with Israeli universities, will result in turning them into "court Jews." What the White House is doing, she said "is not about free academic scholarship or inquiry, but is really about serving a particular kind of master. And I think that that is deeply, deeply dangerous for universities for Jewish Studies and for American Jews." Corwin Berman and host Allison Kaplan Sommer also discussed the atmosphere on campuses under the shadow of the Gaza War, and what Hannah Einbinder's remarks at the Emmy Awards says about the young generation of American Jews.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This special episode of the Haaretz Podcast features voices from the September 14 conference held in Toronto jointly sponsored by the New Israel Fund of Canada and JSpace Canada. The event brought together current and former Israeli and Canadian politicians, journalists, academics with Israeli and Palestinian peace advocates to assess the current troubling conflict in Gaza. Speakers also explore a roadmap for peace, Palestinian sovereignty, the crisis of democracy and growing authoritarianism in Israel and around the world.  Among those included in the podcast: MKs Ayman Odeh and Naama Lazimi; former Justice Minister Dan Meridor; and Julie Dabrusin, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change. In her remarks, Democrats MK Lazimi said the “profound humanitarian disaster” playing out in Gaza is “not only a Palestinian tragedy; it is also a moral stain and a security risk for Israel.”  Calling for an end to the bloodshed in Gaza, Lazimi said that the only "alternative to terror and war are secure peace agreements.”  Meridor paired his harsh critique of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s autocratic direction with a call to fight the government’s assault on the Supreme Court and other gatekeepers of democracy.  All Israelis and those who care about the Jewish state, he said, “should ask himself, as I try to do every day, not only what's going to be the future, but what do I do today to stop it.”  Read more: Watch the full conference from Toronto on YouTube Haaretz conference in New York explores Israel's fractured democracy during Gaza war IDF says ground incursion into Gaza City has begun; Defense Chief: Gaza is burningSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Israeli decision to bomb Doha, targeting Hamas leadership as they met to consider a cease-fire proposal, made little sense if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is truly concerned with the fate of Israel’s hostages, said Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.  While it may “work against our basic instincts of assuming that the government is looking out for our collective good,” Harel concluded with an air of regret: “That's not the situation we're in. My sense is that Netanyahu gave up on them long ago, and what he's doing right now is about his political survival, nothing else.”  While U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his “unhappiness” with the bold Israeli move to attack the country housing the largest American military base in the region, he has yet to chastise Netanyahu publicly the way he has chastised other foreign leaders, Harel said in his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer.  “Unlike his relationships with every other world leader except [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, we haven't seen Trump ever confronting Netanyahu directly, demanding answers or changes in positions,” Harel said. “It is early to tell, but this may be a watershed moment. Trump is losing patience, and he may be close to the edge.”  Harel warned that “if indeed we did kill somebody important in Doha, there could be retaliation. I hope it doesn't get to anybody torturing or killing hostages. In the end, live hostages are an asset to Hamas, but there's a danger there. We're playing with fire.” Read more: IDF Strikes Hamas Leaders in Doha; White House: Strike Won't Advance Israeli Goals Analysis from Amos Harel | Netanyahu Is Taking Ever-greater Risks to Keep the Gaza War Going Analysis from Amos Harel | With Doha Strike, Israel Signals a Strategic Shift and an Indifference to Consequences Who Died? Did Trump Know? What About the Hostages? Five Key Questions on Israel's Strike in DohaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Israel’s Gaza City offensive intensifies, the lack of a “fully articulated policy” on the part of Donald Trump’s White House means that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can move ahead with a “blank check” from the U.S., said Haaretz Washington correspondent Ben Samuels, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. The message from Trump officials to Israel is “do what you need to do, just get it over with fast,” while in public statements, they have shifted to align with Israel’s “all-or-nothing” approach to a hostage deal. “Trump is not giving Israel a red light,” Samuels said. “To Israel, that means a green light.”  On the podcast, Samuels analyzed the dramatic shifts in both the Republican and Democratic parties regarding Israel ahead of the 2026 midterms, predicting that the upcoming election will “be the one where Israel becomes a top-tier front-of-mind issue that could really divide voters and could really sway races one way or another” in both of the parties.  With the GOP in particular, he noted, “a growing number of mainstream Republicans, along with the isolationist MAGA wing are openly asking, ‘Why are our dollars going to funding a foreign war rather than making the lives better for Americans at home?’” Democrats, he added, “are just not going to take what Israel's saying at face value anymore.” All of this contributes, he said, to the “inflection point” at which American Jews find themselves nearly two years into the Gaza war.  “I think we are going to look at this as a foundational shift in how this generation and the next views the U.S.-Israel relationship, as well as the relationship of American Jews to Israel.” Read more: 'They Tend to Die': Trump Says Israel, Hamas May Sign Gaza Cease-fire Deal 'Very Soon,' and Repeated That Some of the Living Hostages May Have Died Trump Says Israel Has Lost Its 'Total Control' of Congress, Is Losing PR War Over Gaza The Dam Has Broken. For Mainstream Democrats, Israel Is Now a Pariah The Next Generation of Republicans Is Turning Away From IsraelSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami invested substantial time and effort into shaping a two-state solution during his political career – and ultimately came to the conclusion that it was not viable. On the Haaretz Podcast, Ben-Ami cast a critical eye on the current push by French President Emmanuel Macron and a long list of countries including the U.K., Australia and Canada to recognize a Palestinian state at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly. He sees the move more as "a sign of despair" over the leaders' powerlessness to end the Gaza war rather than "a practical solution" that lacks a roadmap for turning the concept into reality. Calling the two-state formula on the table "utterly irrelevant," Ben-Ami expressed "surprise that statesmen such as Macron and the others were pulling it out of the attic of lost causes." In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Ben-Ami spoke on the podcast of the deterioration of the Gaza conflict from a "legitimate war of self-defense" one of "merciless, cruel vengeance." He also explained why "total victory" over Hamas remains impossible. Whatever the outcome in Gaza, he noted, the war will be framed as a success and "will remain in the collective memory of the Palestinian nation that they forced Israel into a war that lasted more than two years, that Hamas pulled the two-state solution out of oblivion, emptied Israeli prisons of Palestinian prisoners, blocked the Israel-Saudi normalization and Israel's dream of regional peace." Read more: Shlomo Ben Ami: A Total Victory in Gaza Is a Dangerous Delusion. Just Ask Kissinger Israel Facing Mounting International Pressure as Belgium Says Will Recognize Palestine at UN Trump's Ban on Mahmoud Abbas Is Bad News for Palestine. But It's Dangerous for the UNSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rabbi Yosef Blau has been the focus of both fury and admiration over the past week, called both a hero and a traitor, and garnered attention at a level that has astonished him, he said on the Haaretz Podcast.  The pushback comes after Blau spearheaded an open letter signed by 80 Orthodox rabbis that called the humanitarian crisis in Gaza “one of the most severe in recent history” and called on Israel to assume “its share of the responsibility” for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The letter also condemned settler violence in the West Bank. As a pillar of the mainstream modern Orthodox world, Blau is an unlikely political maverick. The 86-year-old was a leader at Yeshiva University for 48 years and led the Religious Zionists of America for more than a decade.  On the podcast, Blau – who moved from New York to Israel five months ago – describes a "shift in the world of religious Zionism” – a change he describes as transforming from “the most moderate force in the Israeli government that reflected a large variety of views on pretty much every issue outside of religion, to become more and more associated with the extreme right.”  Addressing critics who say the letter he wrote could fuel antisemitism outside Israel, Blau says such thinking is “a mistake in judgment,” adding “I think not taking a stand increases antisemitism.” Read more: Over 80 Orthodox Rabbis Urge Israel to Address Gaza Humanitarian Situation, Condemn Settler Violence Leftist? This U.S. Orthodox Rabbi Speaking Against the Israeli Government Prefers 'Realist' Explore Haaretz's coverage of the humanitarian crisis in GazaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the world has been focused on the devastation in Gaza, "the annexation of the West Bank has become reality," Hagar Shezaf, Haaretz's West Bank correspondent, said on the Haaretz Podcast. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Shezaf explained, has created a system "that is accelerating" the process of integrating the West Bank into state institutions "while keeping the empty shell of the Civil Administration that represents military rule." Shezaf is stepping down from her beat for a year of studies after six years of covering what she describes as a "deteriorating" situation in the territories, that is generally neglected by the Israeli media. Despite settlement expansion continuing apace, violent extremist settlers becoming increasingly bold, and the direct and indirect displacement of Palestinian civilians from their homes by the Israeli military, "the West Bank is totally uncovered by Israeli news journalists," Shezaf said. Most recently, her reporting called attention to the uprooting of 3,100 trees by the IDF alongside a village after an attempted terror attack by one of its residents. Shezaf described it as an "outrageous" act, and the army's attempts to justify it, she said, "cannot convince me that this is not collective punishment."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly challenged the assertion that starvation is rampant in Gaza, most recently when he slammed a UN report on famine as “blood libel.”  On the Haaretz Podcast, Yarden Michaeli takes listeners behind the scenes of his in-depth reporting with Nir Hasson on the scale of severe acute malnutrition in Gaza. As Israel continues to bar journalists from entering the Strip, Michaeli and Hasson virtually “toured” clinics and hospitals in Gaza – including the pediatric ward of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. Israel struck the hospital on Monday, killing multiple healthcare and media workers, including Moaz Abu Taha, the photographer who guided the Haaretz reporters through Nasser. As Michaeli “toured” the wards of Nasser, he saw children who were “very thin, with weak, glazed eyes, clearly severely malnourished with markers of starvation, like changes to their hair color, missing spots of hair on their head, missing teeth and rashes on their skin.”  The condition of children, he was told by experts, are the earliest signs of large-scale famine in a population.  “The fact that the marks of starvation are already visible on adults in Gaza shows that this whole situation is in an advanced stage,” said Michaeli. “We're not at the beginning. We're far and deep into the process.” Read more: 'Starvation Is Everywhere': Virtual Tours of Gaza Clinics Expose the Scale of the Horror UN Says Over Half a Million Palestinians in Gaza Suffering From Famine; Netanyahu: 'Outright Lie' Alex de Waal: 'Pasta Won't Help. Gaza Is on the Brink of an Exponential Surge in Starvation Deaths'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israel is approaching the “horrifying” position of becoming a pariah state due to the Gaza war, former MK and Middle East expert Ksenia Svetlova said on the Haaretz Podcast, expressing deep worry that it was dangerously close to following in the footsteps of her native Russia.  Western nations' refusal to cooperate with Russia due to its aggression in Ukraine, she noted, means Moscow is now lagging behind in the fields of technology, science and beyond “by decades” –  and Israel could easily share that status soon. “A crackdown on civil society in a way that it happened in Russia will indeed deem Israel to the same level, and will impose on it the very unwanted and frankly horrifying status of a pariah," she said. Svetlova believes that without any “real pressure” from U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House, she is doubtful Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reject any agreement that would end the conflict and halt the current Gaza City offensive.  Ongoing war, she noted, “is in the classic authoritarian playbook.”  Before that conversation, Haaretz’s Linda Dayan reports on last Sunday’s massive anti-war strike and demonstrations in support of a hostage deal/cease-fire.  Although the protest had no apparent effect on the Netanyahu government’s policies, she said, organizers “felt it was successful in that it showed that no matter what the country’s leadership says, the people are behind them, the people are united in what they want. To see a literal big percentage of the national population come out to make sure that people here and abroad know that this is what they believe – that really bolstered people.” Read more: Analysis by Ksenia Svetlova | Beyond Trump-Putin Optics, Zelenskyy Finds Ukraine's Opportunity in What Went Awry in Alaska Hundreds of Thousands of Israelis Flood Tel Aviv Demanding a Hostage Deal to End Gaza War Marching on the Gaza Border, Hostage Families Say: Gaza Takeover Plan Is a Death SentenceSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israeli musicians are learning the hard way that speaking out against the war in Gaza comes at a price, Haaretz culture reporter Shay Ringel explained on the Haaretz Podcast. The letter, signed by 1,200 members of the cultural and artistic community, was unusually outspoken regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calling on Israeli soldiers to disobey "unlawful orders" and to refrain from "committing war crimes." "Talking about the horrific things that are happening in Gaza – the killing of children, the expulsion of population – this is something new," Ringel explains. Ringel recounted how at least one artist had a concert cancelled as a result of signing the letter. He retracted his signature, and his concert was restored "all within the course of two hours." Other artists took their name off the petition due to pressure by right-wing activists. In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Ringel noted that most of the signatories are older and more established musicians, while younger artists are "completely absent" from the petition. Read more: Israeli Mayors Ban Artists Who Signed 'Criminal' anti-Gaza War Petition as Some Retract Signatures 'Fake News': Israeli Singer and 'Fauda' Star Idan Amedi Slams Artists Petitioning Against Gaza War Unthinkable Today – but in 1988, Israel's Biggest Singers United Against the OccupationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Israeli public is “exhausted” by the nearly two-year conflict in Gaza, and the vast majority of IDF military leaders believe it should end.  Yet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is forging ahead with his plan to invade Gaza City and expand the war because “he will do whatever he can to stay in power,” said Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.  IDF brass, led by chief of staff Eyal Zamir, is attempting to convince Netanyahu for a more limited siege on Gaza City. Still, the message from Netanyahu has been that “he is calling the shots, and the army’s job is to follow orders and prepare to invade Gaza City,” despite the danger that would pose to Israeli hostages being held in the area.  Whether or not a full-on operation will eventually happen primarily depends on U.S. President Donald Trump, who, Harel says, is the only one who could push Netanyahu off course, but does not appear to be doing so – for now. “At one point or another, I think the president will be fed up, because there's no victory in sight in Gaza. The suffering continues, and he keeps facing questions from within, including from Republicans, regarding where this is going and why Americans are contributing to this suffering. I don't think that Netanyahu has all the time in the world.”  Regarding the hostages, Harel confessed that he struggles to believe that “an Israeli prime minister would just desert them to their death and leave them to die in the tunnels. And yet the signs are there.”  Read more from Amos Harel: First Eyal Zamir, Then Gaza City: Defense Minister Katz Targets IDF Chief of Staff Amid Unpopular Offensive Netanyahu Struggles to Sell His Plan to Conquer Gaza as Allies Openly Call for Sacrificing Hostages Despite What Netanyahu Wants You to Think, an Israeli Conquest of Gaza Remains Far OffSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israel is swimming in unprecedented diplomatic waters. Last week, Germany announced it will restrict arms exports to Israel, and a growing number of world leaders – led by France and the U.K. – are declaring their intention to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.  “We are hearing things that we never heard from great friends of Israel,” said Nadav Tamir, the executive director of J Street Israel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.  Tamir, a former Israeli consul-general in Boston and aide to Israel’s late president Shimon Peres, noted that these allies “were working tirelessly for the release of hostages” and continue to declare “time and time again that Israel has a full right to protect itself after the horrible massacre of October 7 and against Iran and Hezbollah. But they cannot support this war any longer, because it is so clear to them, just like it's clear to most Israelis, that this war has no purpose and is only continuing for political reasons.”  Tamir says that recognizing a Palestinian state nor limiting arms exports is not a punishment against the Israeli people. “Maybe they see it as punishment for Netanyahu, but as a Zionist Israeli, I see it as a big prize for us,” Tamir said. “I think that a Palestinian state is first and foremost an Israeli interest. There is no way Israel could remain the homeland of the Jewish people and a democracy if there will be no Palestinian state." In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Tamir also discussed the controversial remarks by J Street President Jeremy Ben Ami regarding the use of the term genocide, whether Israelis should give up on the idea of President Donald Trump restraining Netanyahu, and what Tamir’s former boss Shimon Peres would think of Israel’s current predicament. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is often portrayed as a political improviser who seizes opportunities and dodges land mines as they occur to preserve his hold on power, he is in fact guided by a clear and consistent mission, Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn tells the Haaretz Podcast.  “Netanyahu’s strategy, since the inception of his career, and even before he became a professional politician, has been to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and diminish the Palestinian national movement,” said Benn. As the war has worn on and with Netanyahu’s latest decision to escalate the conflict in Gaza instead of working to end it, Benn says the contention that the argument that Netanyahu does not really share the ideology of his farthest-right coalition partners – National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – does not hold up.  “I've yet to see one area of disagreement between Netanyahu and Smotrich and Ben-Gvir,” Benn said.  While the premier may “hide behind” excuses of being pushed and pulled by outside forces, Benn believes he has a firm grip on power and knows exactly what he is doing.  In his wide-ranging conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Benn also discusses the 20th anniversary of the Gaza disengagement – which Israel’s right blames for the events of October 7, his brewing confrontation with the IDF Chief of Staff over Gaza, and whether Netanyahu can face the voters after essentially abandoning the remaining Gaza hostages. Read more from Aluf Benn: Opinion | Why Did the Self-righteous Opponents of Israel's Gaza Disengagement Ignore Security Warnings Before October 7? Opinion | Don't Give Netanyahu a Free Pass. He Knows Exactly What He Is Doing in Gaza Opinion | Can You Fight for Israel's Democracy but Collaborate With Its Persecution of Palestinians?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The "last thing" Rabbi Rachel Timoner says she wanted to do was block the street in front of New York's Israeli consulate as part of a protest calling on Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza – let alone get arrested for doing so. The Brooklyn rabbi said on the Haaretz Podcast that when she was asked to take part in the demonstration, she found it impossible to say no. "As a leader of the Jewish community here, as a rabbi, I feel that when Israel is acting in a way that they are claiming is representing Judaism, it's part of my job to show my understanding of what Judaism stands for. We feed the hungry, and we care for the sick, and we free the captives, and we care for the human dignity of every life, of every human life." Timoner, the senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, spoke on the podcast about the unease among New York Jews since October 7, and the crisis ignited by Zohran Mamdani's victory in the city's Democratic primary. Mamdani, who will once again face voters in the November general election, has been embroiled in controversy over his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and his shifting stance on others on the left calling to “globalize the intifada.”  While the city of New York "does not have a foreign policy," Timoner said, it is a "big deal symbolically and in terms of identity to think about the mayor being an anti-Zionist." Timoner says Mamdani must address the question of "how will Zionist New Yorkers know that they are welcome in this city, safe in this city, and know that they are part of his vision for this city." The fact that despite his views, Mamdani received the most primary votes of any candidate, she added, points to the fact "a lot of Jews are feeling profoundly alienated from the behavior and the speech of this Israeli government, feel that it does not represent our values at all, and that it is a shameful degradation of Judaism. I don't know that you could explain the Jewish support for Mamdani without that factor." Read more: 'It Is Impossible to Watch and Stay Silent' | Dozens Arrested as U.S. Jews Ramp Up Protests Against Gaza Starvation Zohran Mamdani Officially Wins Democratic Primary for New York City Mayor Mamdani Distances Himself From 'Globalize the Intifada' Slogan in Closed-door Meeting With Business LeadersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.