Unholy: Two Jews on the News

Two elections, a week apart — one a blue tsunami, the other far less decisive. Two days after the Democrats swept the midterms, Yonit and Jonathan ask what the result means for an Israel that voted against Netanyahu's government without quite repudiating him. JD Vance names the US relationship with Israel as one of four reasons his party lost, Trump announces an end to aid on election morning, and Yair Lapid and newly-elected Democratic congressman Brad Lander argue it out on X — so is a Netanyahu-free government now a strategic necessity and would a friendlier face even be enough? At home: Herzog's consultations, the 48-seat minority government spoken of in whispers around Gadi Eisenkot, and the Shin Bet chief's bid to question Arab lawmakers without evidence. Plus a Chutzpah award for a serial winner in a hard hat, and a Mensch nominee whose new job has nothing to do with trains.

Two days after Israel voted, Yonit and Jonathan are in the same room in Tel Aviv, working out an election Jonathan calls a win within a loss for Netanyahu and a loss within a win for Gadi Eisenkot — a coalition shrunk from 64 to 53, and still no path to a government without him. Yonit, after her eleventh election night as anchor, on why the exit polls got it wrong and the ten-week clock that starts once the president hands out the mandate. Then the question diaspora callers keep putting to Jonathan: how, three years after 7 October, is Netanyahu still there? The answer runs through Benny Gantz, 11 October 2023 and Neville Chamberlain. Plus the Qatar turnout allegation, the oak in whose shade nothing grows, a Chutzpah from the Michigan Senate race and a Mensch awarded to a few million people at once.

Join us on Unholy Live on YouTube the moment the polls close: https://youtube.com/live/EUhNvryZQSo?feature=share After a dizzying final weekend of campaigning, in which Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israelis that if he were removed from office a 'second Holocaust' would follow, the voters themselves are about to have their say. Jonathan talks to New Yorker editor David Remnick - who recently wrote an in-depth profile of Gadi Eisenkot - all about the man trying to topple Netanyahu. What brought Eisenkot to this moment - and what it would mean for Israel and the wider world if he succeeds?

With just a week to go, Israel’s election campaign caught fire at the weekend, thanks to an incendiary intervention by one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s most ardent media supporters. Channel 14’s Yinon Magal re-opened a deep racial divide when he repeatedly referred to Netanyahu’s prime challenger, Gadi Eisenkot - whose family roots are in Morocco - as a “monkey”. What are the origins of the Mizrahi-Ashkenazi divide in Israeli society - and what place does it continue to play in the life and politics of the country? Yonit is joined by journalist and author Matti Friedman for a deep examination of a key Israeli faultline.

Two weeks before Israel votes, the polls seem to be telling two different stories — Channel 14 has the Netanyahu bloc at 63 seats, Channel 12 has it at 49. Dahlia Scheindlin, pollster and senior analyst at Haaretz, who has advised nine Israeli election campaigns, tells Yonit and Jonathan the picture is far less wild than it looks. Why do six of eight pollsters agree while two keep drifting? Who is actually still undecided, and does the much-discussed wave of expats flying in to vote amount to anything? Why have October 7 and everything since barely moved an electorate that has been shifting one way for fifteen years? And what is the iron rule that lets a pollster name your vote before you know it yourself — in an election whose result, she argues, now rests in the minds of six men.

Three years ago this week, Amir Tibon spent ten hours in a safe room in Kibbutz Nahal Oz with his wife and daughters while Hamas gunmen moved from house to house. They stayed there until he was rescued - by his father, a retired general, who had driven down from Tel Aviv with a pistol to get them out. Amir has now moved with his family back to the kibbutz. Jonathan talks to Tibon — Haaretz journalist and author of The Gates of Gaza — about that return, why the third anniversary feels heavier than the first two, and why he lies awake over the election on 27 October as well as over the gunfire still audible from Gaza. Is the coming vote a verdict on the failure of 7 October, or on who can stop the next one? 00:06 Conversations with Survivors: Amir Thibon 01:13 Introduction to Amir Tibon's Story 05:01 The Impact of October 7th on Amir's Family 08:52 Returning to Nahal Oz: A Journey of Resilience 13:42 Reflections on the Third Anniversary of October 7th 18:46 The Political Landscape and Future Concerns

As a wave of euphoria and relief sweeps Israel, following the attempted - and foiled - hijacking of Flight FZ1073, Yonit and Jonathan delve deep into the story and its implications. They discuss the courage and ingenuity of the passengers who took on a co-pilot apparently bent on causing the mass death of a plane full of Israelis, what the episode says about the character of the country - and what its impact might be on this month’s all-important elections. Plus: they assess a failed effort to unite the opposition as they seek to eject Benjamin Netanyahu from office, ongoing violence in the West Bank and a world that increasingly refuses to shake Israel by the hand. Get a free year of SAPIR: http://sapirjournal.org/unholy Get the bonus episodes: Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Unholy-media/join on Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 🌐 https://www.unholy-podcast.com 📸 Instagram: @unholypodcast 🗳 Unholy Elections 2026, every election episode: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLtdPcFD_Urw #Unholy #IsraelElection2026 #Netanyahu

Decision day approaches for the judges who will determine who is - and who is not - allowed to stand in the Israeli elections on 27 October. The supreme court is likely to overturn a move by the government to ban the main Arab parties, but more unpredictable is the fate of one individual politician from the Arab nationalist party, Balad - a man who seemingly wrote in praise of the 7 October attacks. Yonit and Jonathan debate the legal and political aspects of the case - and the wider effort by Benjamin Netanyahu to cast his lead opponent, Gadi Eisenkot, as dependent on Arab support. Plus: have elections in Germany made the country newly unsafe for Jews? And who is the soccer legend who could soon be known as Roo the Jew?

With Yonit feeling a little under the weather, Jonathan is joined by friend of the podcast, Haaretz military affairs analyst Amos Harel. They discuss a new poll showing Benjamin Netanyahu gaining ground in his contest against former general Gady Eisenkot - with nearly six weeks to go till Israelis vote, is this a blip or did Eisenkot peak too early? Plus: the Israeli right declares war on a film almost no one has seen, what exactly is happening on the ground in the West Bank - and rapper Macklemore wins a chutzpah award for a past episode many seem all too keen to forget.