If you asked Yaakov Katz, the world should be lining the streets to applaud the IDF's military campaign in Gaza. The decades-long journalist and political thinker is emphatic that the IDF fights in the most humane and moral way possible. A senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and former editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post, Katz has his pulse on many sectors of Israeli society today—from the government to civil society. Katz authored three books on Israel's military prowess...

Uri Zaki supported Israel's war against Hamas from the getgo—but the killing of six hostages and Sinwar's assassination were a turning point. Now, he thinks it needs to end. Uri Zaki is a left-wing political thinker and activist. He founded the New Israel Fund’s The Front for the Protection of Democracy and was previously the chairperson of the Meretz (Israel’s left-wing party) executive board and has worked at and with several Zionist and human rights organizations. In 2010, he was the...

As a Haredi woman of the Israeli left, Nechumi Yaffe lives between a few different worlds—and she feels at home in Israel's new "Religious Left" movement. A professor of public policy at Tel Aviv University, Nechumi is a political and social psychologist focused on the Haredi communities in America and Israel (of which she is a part). She is a leading expert guiding the Israeli government on Haredi affairs—from COVID-19 to the education system. Since Oct. 7, Nechumi has coordinated over...

Israel's multi-front war changes by the day—but Lahav Harkov thinks Israel is winning. A long-time journalist covering Israel's domestic and international affairs, Lahav speaks with an insider's investigation and knowledge about Israel's issues today: military strategy, hostage negotiations, international relations, and more. Previously the Senior Contributing Editor, Diplomatic Reporter and Knesset Reporter for The Jerusalem Post, Lahav is now the Senior Political Correspondent for Jewish...

Israel is facing several existential crises—at least three, by Netta Barak-Corren's account. The legal scholar and law professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is intimately concerned with Israel's future and current threats. During the judicial reform, Netta authored a 45-page document (later translated into English) breaking down the problems and proper courses of action as she saw them, and most recently, she co-wrote a 28-page recommendation for the Israeli government's plan for...

How do Israeli thinkers feel after October 7? Israelis have lived in a new reality over the last year—one haunted by the horrors of the day Hamas terrorists massacred 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped 251 others, and dragged the country into an existential war. To feel October 7 one year later, we bring voices and perspectives from the Israeli thinkers we interviewed thus far to connect to their pain and their hope.

Rivka Ravitz may be a long-time Haredi political thinker, but that doesn't mean she thinks politics is always the answer. Since her father-in-law first employed her in the Knesset at age 18, Rivka has spend decades working in Israeli politics. She was chief of staff to President Reuven Rivlin and a senior fellow at the Jewish Public Policy Institute; now she is chief of staff to the mayor of Bet Shemesh. Rivka is intimately involved in the personal and political sphere of Haredi life—a focus...

Israel should not be a religious state, Rabbi David Stav says, and then its citizens could more freely welcome religion into their lives. The Chief Rabbi of Shoham, an Israeli town with a large secular populace, Rabbi Stav has long dedicated his life to bridging the social divides between religious and secular life. After the Rabin assassination, he and other rabbis founded Tzohar—an organization that "makes Jewish life accessible to secular Israelis—which received the 2009 Presidential Award...

Until Hamas is gone, Haviv Rettig Gur says, Gaza will be unable to recover after the war. The Times of Israel journalist and political analyst has emerged as a leading voice for the Israeli public and the Jewish world for deeper understandings of the war's developments. Haviv has covered Israeli politics — domestic and foreign — for nearly two decades and speaks internationally about Zionism, the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, and Israel's future. Haviv was previously the director of...

What began on Oct. 7, Yossi Klein Halevi says, is not the Israel-Hamas War but the Israel-Iran War. A senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, the journalist and author has been intimately invested in Israel since he was a boy. Two of his books in particular—Like Dreamers and Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor—capture the tensions he embraces in Israel, and his own dedication to the Zionist dream.  At Hartman, Yossi co-directs the Institute’s Muslim Leadership Initiative and is a...

Rabbanit Rachelle Fraenkel has expectations from humanity. It made October 7's horror all the more terrifying. The religious figure and educator has been a voice of faith, hope, and strength for Israel and the Jewish People since her own teenaged son, Naftali, Hashem yikkom damo, was abducted and killed with Eyal Yifrach and Gilad Shaer by Hamas terrorists in 2014. Rachelle has lived, grappled, taught, and faced some of life's most haunting questions. She is a co-founder of The Jerusalem...

In Gadi Taub's eyes, Israel is hardly a democracy — "it's a juristocracy." The historian, activist, and public intellectual believes that there are many forces at play that threaten the Jewish state: progressivism, elitism, and Western ideals. Formerly on the left himself, Gadi is one of Israel's most popular conservative thinkers.  Gadi co-hosts Tablet's Israel Update podcast and his own Hebrew podcast, Gatekeeper. Outside of those roles, he is a senior lecturer at the Federmann School of...

Bullying isn't always a bad thing, Efraim Inbar says. In a tough neighborhood like the Middle East, sometimes it's necessary. President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and head of Shalem College’s program on Strategy, Diplomacy, and National Security, he speaks as a veteran Israeli political scientist and national security. In his view, Israel must be tough to stay alive—and it hasn't been tough enough. Efraim authored five books on Israeli national security and politics,...

You cannot separate Israel’s democratic and Jewish identity, Ronit says. The two are interdependent in the Jewish state. Ronit Heyd is an Israeli social leader and activist who spent over 20 years leading initiatives dealing with Israel’s intimate and domestic issues—those outsiders often overlook because of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict’s large shadow. Previously leading the New Israel Fund’s social justice initiative, religious freedom project, and capacity-building arm Shatil, Ronit is...

The Israeli government’s draft of Haredi men is no simple matter—but Yehoshua Pfeffer has some ideas for moving forward. Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer is a Haredi social thinker and activist intimately involved in Haredi affairs. He heads the Iyun Institute—which operates programs and publications in the Haredi space—is the founding editor of Tzarich Iyun journal, and serves on the executive board of Netzah Yehuda, which serves Haredi soldiers in the IDF. While also teaching as a professor at...

After Auschwitz, Anita Shapira says, Jews understood the necessity of power—and the necessity of statehood. A leading Israeli historian and author, she is professor emerita of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University and founder of the Yitzhak Rabin Center. When Anita Shapira speaks, her words are informed by acute expertise of Israeli and Jewish history—as evidenced by her many accolades and awards, including the Israel Prize for research on Jewish history in 2008. Having published...

No news outlet is utterly reliable these days, David Horovitz says. You always need one eyebrow raised. The founding editor of Time of Israel — with tens of millions of monthly readers, and ranked as the world’s fastest-growing news site in October and November — has worked in journalism for over 40 years, previously editing The Jerusalem Post and The Jerusalem Report. His days and nights are consumed by Israel (and he has the bags to prove it) since Hamas’ October 7 attack. David is also the...

Israel's fight against Hamas, Sivan Rahav-Meir says, is preventing another Oct. 7—and another Sept. 11. The Israeli religious journalist — voted Israel’s most popular media personality — grew up secular and part of the Israel left’s “Peace Now” movement, but she’s not quite there anymore. Now a journalist for Israel TV news, a columnist for Yediot Aharonot newspaper, and host of a weekly radio show on the Army Radio, Sivan is a leading figure in Israeli society more broadly — and the...

To Rabbi Yakov Nagen, the Jewish-Muslim fraternity will be the major breakthrough of the 21st century. This Religious Zionist rabbi is at the forefront of interfaith dialogue and peace work in Israel between Judaism, Islam, and Eastern Religions. The director of Ohr Torah Stone’s Blickle Institute for Interfaith Dialogue and its Beit Midrash for Judaism and Humanity, he is a passionate voice for universalist Jewish Messianism, which he says is a “vision for all of humanity.” Rav Nagen...

If you want to understand Israel, then you need to know Benny Morris. Prof. Benny Morris is a leading Israeli historian who revolutionized the field of Israeli history by digging into the government’s declassified archives in the ‘80s, ushering in the era of “New Historians” who challenged traditional views of Israel’s history. After peace talks failed and the Second Intifada began in the early 2000s, his views drastically shifted regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict—specifically its...

18 Questions, 40 Israeli Thinkers is a new podcast by 18Forty interviewing Israel's leading voices to explore critical questions on Zionism, the Israel-Hamas War, democracy, morality, Judaism, peace, Israel’s future, and so much more. Every Monday, we introduce you to fresh perspectives and challenging ideas about Israel that you won’t find anywhere. Join us on our journey as we pose 18 pressing questions to the 40 Israeli thinkers you need to hear from today.  Subscribe wherever you get...