
Is a Jewish Democracy a Contradiction in Terms?
From The Beinart Notebook by Peter Beinart
June 10, 2026 · 12 min
About this episode
Peter Beinart interviews Dan Shapiro about differing views on the Israel-Palestine conflict and related political issues.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit peterbeinart.substack.com Dan Shapiro served as ambassador to Israel under the Obama administration. He’s currently Distinguished Fellow at the Scrowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council. Shapiro and I hold very different views about what needs to happen in Israel-Palestine, so I invited him to discuss them. Topics include: Why there has been no two-state solution Should the US have conditioned aid on an end to settlement growth? Does Israel practice apartheid? Why should a Palestinian state be demilitarized but not Israel? Why should Hamas be excluded from Palestinians elections but Ben Gvir be allowed to run in Israeli ones? How power affects what is considered realistic and fair
People in this episode
Host: Peter Beinart
Guest: Dan Shapiro
Topics covered
- Israel-Palestine conflict
- two-state solution
- US foreign policy
- settlement growth
- demilitarization
- elections
- apartheid
Keywords
- Jewish democracy
- two-state solution
- settlements
- apartheid
- Hamas
- Ben Gvir
- demilitarization
- US aid
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Obama administration, Atlantic Council
Places: Israel, Palestine
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