The Beinart Notebook

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit peterbeinart.substack.comOur guest is Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, the public relations liaison for Chabad Headquarters, as well as the founder of the Jewish Future Alliance and Director of Operation Survival.We discuss:The biblical mandate for human equalityHow West Bank settlements makes a two-state solution less likelyWhy did Chabad host Itamar Ben-Gvir?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit peterbeinart.substack.comOur guest is Rozina Ali, a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and the author of the new book, just released this week, Seasons of Fury: Four Families and the Rise of Islamophobia in America.We discuss:Why anti-Muslim bigotry has become so prominent in AmericaThe various ways American Muslims navigate IslamophobiaThe different Islamophobic strategies employed against Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed, and their different responsesTensions between black and Muslim communitiesThe difficulty of building coalitions between Muslims and Jews, given powerful Jewish organizations’ support of Israel

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit peterbeinart.substack.comOur guest is Rabbi Asher Lopatin, the Director of Community Relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor and the Rabbi of Kehillat Etz Chaim in Oak Park, Michigan.I’ve known Rabbi Lopatin for a long time. He’s not only a great teacher of Torah, he’s also a mensch. Which makes his willingness to support Mike Rogers over Abdul El-Sayed even more distressing to me. Nonetheless, we had a respectful conversation. I’m grateful to him for having it.We discuss:El-Sayed’s condemnation of AIPACEl-Sayed’s views about IsraelThe allegation that El-Sayed is singling Israel outMike Rogers’ refusal to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit peterbeinart.substack.comOur guest is Norman Finkelstein, the longtime critic of Israel, and critic of the way the memory of the Holocaust—which both his parents survived—has been exploited to justify Israel’s actions. He has written a new book, titled Gaza’s Gravediggers.I talked to Norman about what it’s like—after decades as a political outcast—to see his views becoming mainstream. I asked him about his concern, which I share, that legitimate fury at Israel is fueling conspiracy theories that exonerate the United States. And I asked about his friend and mentor, Noam Chomsky, and what he thinks Chomsky might have said in response to October 7 and the Gaza genocide.

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit peterbeinart.substack.comOur guest is Andy Levin, former Democratic congressman who represented Michigan’s 9th District until his 2022 loss to Haley Stevens. Stevens in turn appears to have lost to Abdul El-Sayed in yesterday’s Democratic primary for Senate. I invited Andy to analyze the race thus far and the general election to come.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit peterbeinart.substack.comOur guest is Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and frequent contributor to the Atlantic who served as senior director for strategic planning at the National Security Council during the Biden administration. Thomas is a smart guy who sees Israel-Palestine, and foreign policy more generally, very differently than I do. I think it was a valuable conversation.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit peterbeinart.substack.comOur guests are Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security advisor to Barack Obama, co-host of Pod Save the World, and author of All We Say: A History of the United States in 15 Speeches, and Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine/Israel program at the Arab Center, Washington DC. We discuss the Democratic Party’s rapid transformation on Israel-Palestine.