Episodes
With the Supreme Court delivering a landmark ruling that could spell the end of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, new polling shows who might take his place. Plus, as a leading Israel critic loses an election in New York, and Jews at a Los Angeles synagogue come under attack from Gaza protesters, Yonit and Jonathan talk to Van Jones - CNN commentator, former Obama official and one of Black America's leading voices. They discuss rising antisemitism, the rift between Jews and the progressive left...
Published 06/28/24
As rifts widen within Israel’s ruling coalition - and between Benjamin Netanyahu and both the White House and his own military, Yonit and Jonathan discuss whether the current government can hold together till the crucial deadline of July 28. And they talk to Rivka Ravitz, former chief of staff to an Israeli president and one of the ultra-orthodox community’s leading voices about the Haredi exemption from military service - and why the rest of Israel should accept it. Plus: an especially...
Published 06/21/24
The week began with a daring hostage rescue operation that brought four Israeli captives home, but the relief did not last long. Hezbollah rocket fire from the north is growing ever more intense, while Israel’s war cabinet saw the long-awaited exit of Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot – and all while Benjamin Netanyahu and the Supreme Court remain on a collision course over the ultra-orthodox exemption from military service. Yonit and Jonathan break it all down with award-winning Haaretz military...
Published 06/14/24
With the war in Gaza now eight months old, fears turn to the possibility of an all-out confrontation in the north - against a Hezbollah force far mightier than Hamas. Plus: Yonit and Jonathan talk to the man behind Nas Daily, the YouTuber with an audience of 70 million - on why he now defines himself not as a Palestinian-Israeli but an Israeli-Palestinian. And a conversation on how the literary world is increasingly shutting the door on Israel - and anyone connected to it. All that, plus a...
Published 06/07/24
In a week that saw international fury over an air strike on Rafah that led to the deaths of dozens of civilians - and which came just days after an order from The Hague for Israel to halt its operations in the city - Yonit and Jonathan talk to one of America’s foremost analysts of geopolitics and CNN host: Fareed Zakaria. How might this war end? Is Israel’s isolation becoming permanent? And what difference would a returned President Trump make? Plus: a new poll dismays opponents of Benjamin...
Published 05/31/24
With the International Criminal Court considering arrest warrants declaring Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant wanted on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Yonit and Jonathan talk to one of Israel’s foremost scholars of international law, Yuval Shany. Plus: heartbreaking new footage from October 7 adds to the pressure on the Israeli government to agree a ceasefire deal that would bring the hostages back home, why elections in Israel seem as distant as ever - and the...
Published 05/24/24
There’s a lot for Yonit and Jonathan to unpack this week, following two especially intense ceremonial days in Israel. They discuss a split-screen Independence Day, a pointed Memorial Day address - and the prime minister who was nowhere to be seen. Plus: what exactly is Benny Gantz doing in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government- and a highly charged week in the information war. And there’s a bumper crop of awards nominees: a singer, a comedian and a guitarist with an unlikely day job.
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Published 05/17/24
As Joe Biden withholds a crucial arms shipment, Yonit and Jonathan discuss a new low in Israel’s relationship with its most important ally. They talk to Israel’s foremost Hamas watcher, Dr. Michael Milshtein, about Rafah, the ceasefire that never was and who - if anyone - will be able to claim victory when the fighting finally stops. Plus: Eurovision - and a chutzpah award winner who really needs to read more.
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Published 05/10/24
In a week when the Gaza conflict seemed to be relocated to the lawns of America’s Ivy League campuses, Yonit and Jonathan talk to Columbia student Noa Fay and to Maya Ilany of Harvard - followed by a conversation with award-winning columnist Hadley Freeman about her new essay on October 7 and the left. Plus: an update on renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire deal and hostage release, and the perennial indecision of Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Published 05/03/24
During the Passover break, another chance to hear one of our most forceful conversations - one that, in many ways, has only become more timely. Yonit and Jonathan talk to the entrepreneur, scholar and podcaster Professor Scott Galloway about the war that is waged not through bombs and rockets, but in the media, online - and especially on campus.
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Published 04/26/24
In an episode recorded before Israel’s reported targeting of Iranian sites in the early hours of Friday morning, Yonit and Jonathan discuss the ongoing fallout from Iran’s attack on Israel six days earlier — assessing the arguments and dilemmas that have gripped Israel’s policymakers. Plus: a conversation about the future for Israelis and Palestinians when the current war in Gaza is finally over, with Israeli scholar and thinker Fania Oz-Salzberger and Palestinian writer and analyst Ahmed...
Published 04/19/24
Yonit and Jonathan talk through an unprecedented night in which Iran launched a direct attack on Israeli territory for the first time - and in which a series of Arab nations joined the US, UK, France and Israel itself in protecting the country from a sustained Iranian drone and missile attack. How will - and how should - Benjamin Netanyahu respond? Is there a way to retaliate without triggering a wider regional war? And what are the implications for both Israel's battle against Hamas and its...
Published 04/14/24
Israeli writer and satirist Etgar Keret and US broadcasting legend Ira Glass have been friends for two decades - but October 7 put that friendship under strain. They found themselves seeing the same events differently. Like Yonit and Jonathan, one was inside, the other outside. The four of them talk about that, about grief, friendship - and much else. Plus an update on the looming threat from Iran and the state of the war in Gaza — and there are some choice nominees for the chutzpah and...
Published 04/12/24
The war that began on October 7 is six months old: to mark the occasion, a special episode with three unique voices. Yonit and Jonathan hear from Israel's pre-eminent military analyst, Amos Harel, on the state of the conflict in Gaza - what's happened, what might come next and the prospects for a wider clash with Iran and Hizbullah. They speak with Rabbi Angela Buchdal of New York about how October 7 shook the Jewish diaspora, and how Judaism might serve as a consolation in these dark days....
Published 04/05/24
In a week when the US withheld its protective veto at the UN Security Council, leaving Israel isolated, Yonit and Jonathan discuss the deteriorating state of the US-Israel relationship - and what logic might be steering Benjamin Netanyahu to risk such a rupture with Washington. Plus: the looming battle over the ultra-orthodox and military service, and a farewell to two pioneers - one a groundbreaking economist, the other the Jewish vice president who never was.
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Published 03/29/24
Two legends of American politics – the hosts of Hacks on Tap, David Axelrod and Mike Murphy - join Yonit and Jonathan for a podcast double date as they talk about the Biden-Netanyahu rift over arms and aid, why Chuck Schumer might have accidentally helped rather than hurt the Israeli prime minister – and how Donald Trump could be the beneficiary. Plus: Purim, a landmark court decision and why 007 might soon be a Jewish number.
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Published 03/22/24
In an exclusive interview, Zone of Interest executive producer Danny Cohen tells Yonit and Jonathan why he believes the film’s director Jonathan Glazer got his Oscars speech so badly wrong. Plus: an update on the war, aid and the widening rift between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu - and a conversation with Rachel Cockerell, author of an acclaimed new book about a long forgotten alternative Zion, deep in the heart of Texas.
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Published 03/15/24
Yossi Cohen is the former head of the Mossad, a former national security adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu - and often talked about as a future prime minister of Israel. In a rare interview in English, he tells Yonit and Jonathan how he sees the intelligence failures that led to 7 October, his thoughts on the nature of responsibility and on the case for a Palestinian state - and how he is contemplating an entry into politics. Plus: the denialism that surrounds Hamas and sexual violence - and...
Published 03/08/24
Five months after 7 October, and with talk of an imminent hostage deal receding thanks to deadly events on the ground in Gaza, Yonit and Jonathan take stock of what the war has done to life in Israel - and to Jews in the diaspora. They’re joined by writer and comedian David Baddiel as his landmark book, Jews Don’t Count, is published in Hebrew and ask if the attitudes he laid bare when the book was first published have changed - or only hardened.
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Published 03/01/24
Not a brand new episode this week - instead, another chance to hear one of the most impactful episodes we’ve ever aired. Back in November, as tensions emerged between Israeli and diaspora views of the war, Yonit and Jonathan had a frank, heartfelt conversation about they saw things, one month after 7 October.
We'll be back with a new episode next week.
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Published 02/23/24
It's become rare to hear Israelis and Palestinians in conversation with each other during these last, painful months. Yonit and Jonathan bring together Israeli former intelligence analyst Dr Michael Milshtein and the Palestinian activist and commentator Samer Sinijlawi for a candid discussion of what happens to Gaza and Israel 'the day after' - and ask if that day is ever coming. Plus: Benjamin Netanyahu resists pressure from inside and out to agree a hostage deal - while his son Yair picks...
Published 02/16/24
As talks aimed at a release of hostages and a pause in fighting grind on, Yonit and Jonathan look at what both Israel and Hamas stand to gain - and lose - from any deal. And they take a fresh round of listener questions that have come in from all over the world - on Gaza the day after, new leadership in Israel and how Jews and Israelis who disagree can keep talking. Plus: Australian chutzpah and a French mensch.
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Published 02/09/24
As hopes rise and fall of a breakthrough that would bring the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and a pause in fighting in Gaza, Yonit and Jonathan speak to Zohar Palti, former head of the Mossad intelligence directorate about how the key decisions are being made - and whether those in charge are getting it right. Plus: UNRWA, the meaning of the ICJ’s decision and is the Israeli far right serious about resettling Gaza?
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Published 02/02/24
More grim landmarks in the war between Israel and Hamas - as all eyes turn to The Hague for the first pronouncement of the International Court of Justice on Israel’s conduct of its operations in Gaza. Plus: Yonit and Jonathan discuss the increasing tension between Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden - and a Holocaust Memorial Day like no other. Finally, stiff competition for this week’s chutzpah and mensch awards - and we discover a new name for at least one of our co-hosts.
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Published 01/26/24
The war between Israel and Hamas is not fought out only through bombs and rockets - it’s also waged in the media, on campus, online, and even in the corporate world. Few have a better grasp of where those worlds meet than Profesor Scott Galloway. Yonit and Jonathan ask him if we’re witnessing a permanent shift in the perception of brand Israel - and hear how his own stand has cost him dear. Plus: the battle to bring Israel’s hostages home gets ever more political - and Jonathan braves the...
Published 01/19/24