Haaretz Podcast

Just as money from conservative American organizations promoted the ideas that led to Israel’s judicial overhaul, some of the same billionaire-backed funds are now being used to cultivate a "new elite" of right-wing ideologues within Israel's security establishment, promoting a vision of West Bank annexation and mass Palestinian emigration.  Haaretz correspondents Yarden Michaeli and Nettanel Slyomovics discuss their in-depth investigation into this ambitious “long-term project,” which involves a complex network of organizations founded and funded by conservative American Jews.  A new group at the center of this network presented its 274-page vision document to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year, which recommends Palestinian “voluntary emigration” from the West Bank be encouraged. The plan stipulates that half a million Palestinians would leave within the first decade, and another 250,000 in the following.  Slyomovics noted that many of the people and organizations involved in this “new ecosystem” also played key roles in promoting the judicial overhaul that sparked mass protests across Israel, and have ties to conservative ideological movements in the U.S. Alumni of the program, he added, include Shin Bet chief David Zini and Yoram Halevi, the official responsible for coordinating government activities in the West Bank, both of whom were appointed to their positions after participating in the program. Also on the podcast, Haaretz correspondent Linda Dayan joins host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss Israeli reactions to the U.S. midterm elections and the results’ implications for coalition negotiations amid a political deadlock following Israel’s election last week. They also look at the continuing efforts by Netanyahu's right-wing allies to delegitimize the election results with allegations of foreign interference. Read more on haaretz.com: U.S. Midterms Will Usher in a Radically Different Israel Policy. Israelis Aren't Ready Netanyahu Is Plotting a Final Power Grab. His Loyalist Shin Bet Chief Is the Key America's Right Is Tired of Israel and Jews. NatCon Jerusalem Confirms ItSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The main lesson of Israel’s election on Tuesday was that “the October 7 war did not change Israeli society,” said Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn, speaking on a special post-election edition of the Haaretz Podcast. Despite the turbulence of the past four years, he said, “at the moment of truth, people clung to the tribal loyalties, to the feeling of identity, of belonging” rather than reacting critically to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s many missteps and failures, he explained. Together with Haaretz senior analyst Esther Solomon and podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Benn analyzed the complicated coalition wrangling that will determine who steers Israel into the future, after a vote in which there was a clear majority of Israeli citizens voting against Netanyahu, but with an opposition divided between Jewish Zionist parties and Arab majority parties.  Solomon hailed the record turnout in Arab communities, noting that “the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who have had an internal debate for many, many years about whether to participate in Israeli politics or not, made a historic decision this time around to participate, and in incredible numbers, and that has changed the complexion of the Knesset.”  Benn and Solomon weighed post-election scenarios, assuming the Jewish opposition parties would reject partnering with the Arab parties, which could lead to new elections or a unity government including both coalition and opposition Jewish parties. Both are, in Benn’s words, “very bad options” for the bloc headed by former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot. Another election is unlikely to improve the opposition’s position and could well leave it worse off, while Netanyahu has a problematic track record when it comes to reaching out across the political divide. “The idea of Netanyahu in a national unity government where there is some kind of equal division of power and labor is just absolutely ludicrous,” noted Solomon. The prime minister, she emphasized, “is a person who won't share, as they say in playgroup. He made agreements for rotating prime ministerships in the past, and then just threw it all into the trash can. This is not the kind of person that he is, and his agenda does not work cohabiting with anyone who would call themselves, you know, a liberal Democrat.” This leaves some “very bad options, because in both cases, Netanyahu is in power, regardless of how you call it.” Read the latest developments and analysis on haaretz.com  Israeli Democracy Has Been Given a Chance. It May Not Get Another Israel's Worst Election Outcome: No Clear Winner, No Certainty, No Chance for Change Ignoring the Historic Arab Turnout Is a Self-Inflicted Wound for Israel's Liberal BlocSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Haaretz podcast, Rahm Emanuel – former White House chief-of-staff, veteran Democratic party insider, and potential presidential hopeful – speaks with guest host Joshua Leifer about the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship, the potential consequences of the upcoming elections in Israel, and the politics of Jewish identity in the current moment. In July, Emanuel delivered a speech at Tel Aviv University in which he strongly criticized Israel's government, called for sanctions against violent settlers and companies building settlements, and proposed ending U.S. military assistance to Israel, all as part of a larger vision encompassing Israel's regional normalization and the creation of a Palestinian state. On the podcast this week, he elaborated on the rationale behind the speech and what he calls the 23-three-state solution, based on the 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative. "I think lining up the Arabs' desire for stability with Israel's desire for security, with the Palestinians' desire for sovereignty – you can actually make the politics and policy work together," he said. But to get there, he stressed, will require a change in Israeli leadership. Netanyahu, Emanuel added, "undermined any ability to have a partner in the purpose of building up Hamas." Still, in the wake of the wars in Gaza and Iran, Emanuel stressed, the U.S.–Israel relationship "is not going to be the same relationship it was in the past, it can't be." "We are at a tipping point," he said. "There is no reset button here." Read more: Rahm Emanuel Wants to Save Israel. But Are Israelis Listening? This Month, Israelis Will Vote on Palestine. There's Only One Choice on the Ballot The Week the Democrats Defined the Israel-Palestine Debate for 2028See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Iran war, like so many that came before it, centers on energy’s crucial role in geopolitics, according to Hebrew University historian Dr. Guy Laron, though international leaders often downplay or ignore it. “Time and again, leaders speak in the language of values, security, justice, freedom, while chasing oil behind the scenes,” Laron said, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast in a discussion of the increasingly complicated geopolitics of the ongoing regional conflict in the wake of February’s U.S.-Israel attack on Iran and its effect on energy markets. Historically, he added, even wars that don’t begin with energy at the center of the conflict often evolve into ‘oil wars’ once countries fighting for domination and influence are impacted by the necessity of access to tremendous levels of fuel to power both land and naval military forces. Speaking on the podcast, Laron, the author of the new book "Oil Wars: The Struggle for Control that has Shaped the Modern World," (Yale University Press) noted how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used “energy calculus” to sell President Donald Trump on the attack and discussed the missteps that have left the White House mired in the region after Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz - something that the U.S. president “was told that this is exactly what would happen, and he still took the risk,” Laron said. “Trump was dumb enough to think that what he did in Venezuela - in America’s backyard - he can do in the Middle East in the same way.” Read more: Houthis Claim Another Attack on Riyadh Airport, Threaten Saudi Oil Sites As the Election Clock Ticks Down, Netanyahu Is Running Out of Wars to Win Will Trump Defend Saudi Arabia From Houthi Attacks – and How Far Will He Go? Trump's Iran War: Without Strategy, There Is No Path to VictorySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The decision by Israel’s top generals and intelligence chiefs not to put the IDF on high alert in the hours before October 7 was “the worst gamble in Israeli military history,” according to senior defense analyst Amos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast on the third anniversary of the attack by Hamas on southern Israel.  “They terribly, tragically underestimated both Hamas’ capabilities and its actual intentions that night,” Harel said.  Harel is the author of “6:29: Anatomy of a Failure,” the first and most complete account of the chain of mistakes by the country’s top military and political echelons leading up to the devastating events of that day. On the podcast, Harel recounts the military and political mistakes that were made, pinning them on “arrogance” and a “condescending” misreading of Hamas’ capabilities and determination – and how their failures have shaken Israeli citizen’s belief that they are “in safe hands.”  “We have the best air force in the region, one of the best in the world. We have the technology. We have the operational understanding, and so on, and yet we were taken by complete surprise,” he noted.  Harel also discusses the legacy of October 7, including how it is shaping Israel’s upcoming election, and the narrative crafted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that has allowed him to maintain political viability as he runs a campaign that exploits fears of a repeat of the disaster, all while  blocking the formation of an October 7 commission of inquiry or any other comprehensive investigation, and fanning the flames of conspiracy theories. Netanyahu, he said, is “fighting for his life by any means necessary. Everything is worth it in order to maintain power and stay out of jail.” Read more: Analysis by Amos Harel | Three Years After Hamas Attacked on October 7, Israel Has Yet to Start Reckoning With Its Failures October 7: How Hamas Attacked Israel, Minute by Minute Protests Across Israel Mark Third Anniversary of October 7 Israel's October 7 Leaders Mourned the Dead – and Celebrated Their Own Survival Op-ed | My Mother Was a Peace Activist Killed on October 7. Don't Use Her Name to Justify Mass KillingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The most recent attempt at a show of unity by the Jewish Zionist parties opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was only partially successful. With the election less than a month away, their leaders may have agreed not to campaign against each other and save their fire for Netanyahu – but they failed to explicitly commit to backing whichever party leader garners the most votes to head the bloc, said Haaretz correspondent Judy Maltz, speaking on the Haaretz Election Podcast. "For most of the people who support the parties in the opposition bloc, it was a big disappointment that they couldn't say what seems so obvious to most people," Maltz said of the meeting between the four major parties opposed to Netanyahu. "There was a lot of hope that they would emerge ... and say, 'We have a leader. It will be Eisenkot against Netanyahu,' but they could not reach an agreement on that." Maltz was joined on the podcast by fellow Haaretz journalist Linda Dayan and host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss the fallout of the Central Elections Committee's decision to disqualify Arab parties along with individual members of the party, and the controversial decision by left-wing Democrats leader Yair Golan to support barring Balad party head Sami Abu Shehadah, who made comments following October 7 that were interpreted as supporting the Hamas attack. "What he wrote is disgusting," Dayan said. "The question is whether it's actually illegal, and there are a lot of figures saying that it isn't," and noted that such votes to disqualify candidates is an "Israeli election tradition." Maltz, who has been traveling across the country over the past months, reporting on the mood of Israeli voters, spoke on the podcast about her visit to Kibbutz Be'eri, where 132 people were massacred and 35 taken hostage on October 7, to find out how that trauma has affected their politics. "Overall, most of them have moved to the right. But they will not vote for any parties in the current coalition, because much as they hate Hamas, they hate the current Israeli government even more, and blame them for October 7." Read more:  Opposition Leaders Agree to Decide Who Will Lead Next Government Only After Elections Banned Arab Party Leader to Challenge Knesset Disqualification in Court Despite Internal Opposition Israel's AG Urges Court to Disqualify Arab Party Leader Over Post-Oct. 7 Remarks Eisenkot Says No Arab Party Meets Demands to Join Government Led by Him 'Not Once Did You Use the Word Peace': In English, Yair Golan Strikes a Centrist Tone Did Kibbutz Be'eri Lose Faith in the Left?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After rapper Macklemore cried "Free Palestine!" as he took the stage as the opening act for music superstar Ed Sheeran, opened a Pandora's box of controversy over free speech and the place of politics at a music concert "that is not dying down any time soon," said Philissa Cramer on the Haaretz Podcast. Cramer, recently appointed senior Jewish Life correspondent for Haaretz, recounted on the podcast how, when Gillette Stadium and New England Patriots billionaire owner Robert Kraft refused to have Macklemore at his venue later in the Sheeran tour, and the rapper was removed as an opening act for Sheeran, the incident "turned from a story about was Macklemore doing something that his audience found objectionable - to a story about cancel culture." In addition to telling the story of the war of words and promises of donations, Cramer discussed with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer whether the episode carried lessons for the embattled organized U.S. Jewish community as the list of prominent celebrities speaking out publicly Palestinian rights continues to grow. Read more: Pro-Israel Group Petitions Ed Sheeran to Drop Macklemore for Saying 'Free Palestine' Ed Sheeran Apologizes for Macklemore Controversy, Says Gaza Devastation Is 'Unjustifiable' Robert Kraft vs. Macklemore Reveals New Reality in 'Free Palestine' DebateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The intensifying Israeli election campaign encompasses a long list of issues, but at its heart, the results of the vote on October 27 will be “about the transition out of the Netanyahu era,” contended Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent for The Economist, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast.  Pfeffer said that many have done their best “to be the next Netanyahu,” attempting to project his confidence, authority and leadership, while consciously or unconsciously replicating the current prime minister’s style. The front-runner, former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, he noted, has a “big advantage is that he’s the first ‘wannabe Bibi’ who is not a ‘wannabe Bibi’” in looks and behavior.  Pfeffer returned to Haaretz for the podcast, where he worked as a correspondent and columnist for over 25 years and continues to contribute, for a reunion with columnist Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, with whom he co-hosted the “Election Overdose” podcast during the run-up to the 2022 elections.  In the first Haaretz Election Podcast since the party lists were finalized on September 8, Scheindlin and Pfeffer assessed the chances of each party and bloc, as well as grappling with the larger issues: most importantly, the legacy of October 7.  Netanyahu’s newest challenge from the far-right former general Ofer Winter “is saying this election is about October 7, and that’s something that Netanyahu really doesn’t want the election to be about. For him, October 7 is kryptonite,” Pfeffer said.  But, Scheindlin said, it is inescapable.  “The sense that there has been no accountability for what happened on October 7 is not a marginal issue,” she emphasized. Israelis whose lives were upended by the events on that day and their aftermath “feel betrayed not only by the government, but by the state itself.”  Read more: Israeli Elections Poll Projects Tie Between Blocs as Eisenkot Bloc Slips Poll: Most Israeli Voters Say October 7 Will Be Main Consideration at Ballot Box Netanyahu's Likud Seeks to Disqualify Arab Party From 2026 Knesset Election Run Analysis | Netanyahu's Terrible Tuesday Left Him Almost Unscathed in Election Polls – for Now Analysis | The Quiet Radicalism of Mansour Abbas and Yoav SegalovitzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.