Haaretz Podcast

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 haaretz25 at checkout for 20 percent off admission. View the event schedule and buy tickets here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 OtherwiseSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 EastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 FireSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 BoycottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 ThereSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 haaretz25 at 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 HimSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 haaretz25 at checkout for 20 percent off admission. View the event schedule and buy tickets here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 SmokeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 WorksSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 CaptivitySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Gaza war may be finally coming to an end, but it has made a long-term impact on Israel and the way the world views the Jewish state – including Diaspora Jews – especially those who spent the war on turbulent university campuses.  Judy Maltz, Haaretz's Jewish World Editor, surveyed the effect of the two-year conflict on a group of young Jews from around the world, seeking to understand how their evolving views on Israel, antisemitism and Jewish identity changed since October 7.  She found that a “vast majority of them” were “very, very troubled and distressed” after the October 7 attacks and were initially fully supportive of the Israeli incursion into Gaza. But two years into the war, “I did not find even one who could say wholeheartedly that they supported its continuation.” For some of the students, their changing sentiments propelled them into activism supporting protests to end the war. Others were motivated to step up their involvement in fighting campus antisemitism, which many experienced for the first time in their lives.  Sometimes, students in the same country had completely contradictory experiences, Maltz reported. In Australia, she found one student who said they had encountered no hostility whatsoever, even as she was out demonstrating for the hostages with an Israeli flag.  Yet another “had such a horrific experience that he's moving to Israel at the end of the year. He says Australia is no longer his home.” Read more: 'I Was Defending Something I No Longer Believed In': How Two Years of the Gaza War Changed Jewish Students Around the WorldSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.