The Promised Podcast

The “Songs of Experience” Edition

We discuss: 1) The new “Zionist Spirit” party 2) A judge’s order to force a woman into protective custody when her ex and his family threatens her life 3) A study that says the average weight of IDF inductees has gone up 10 kg in 4 decades

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The “Stuck in the Middle With Who?” Edition

We discuss: 1) Whether or not PM Lapid’s “No Extremists!” election campaign has bigoted “dog-whistles” 2) Whether or not there is a “joy disparity” between the happy-go-lucky right and the bummed-out left

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The “Where Would We Be Without Camil Fuchs?” Edition

We discuss: 1) The surprising rise in popularity of far-right MK Itamar Ben-Gvir 2) The sudden auto-defenestration of the leaders of the liberal-left Meretz Party 3) Whether video-wedding from Utah finally offer a solution to the religious control of weddings in Israel

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The “Let’s Get Together & Feel Alright!” Edition

We discuss: 1) Biden’s visit and what, if anything, it really means 2) the merger of the centrist Blue & White party and the right-wing New Hope party 3) How the rather 19th century institution of the Maccabiah has survived into the 21st century

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The “There Will Be Blood” Edition

We discuss: 1) PM Yair Lapid’s long strange journey from Tel Aviv clubs to the Premier’s resident 2) Why everyone is suddenly up-in-arms over menstruation and Jewish ritual impurity!

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The “People” Edition

A moment before raucous and contentious elections get underway, we take a moment to think about people who made and make our lives worth living

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The “Going to the Polls!/Not Going to the Poles!” Edition

We discuss: 1) Bennett’s decision to throw in the towel and take the country to new elections 2) Lapid’s decision to cancel all high-school trips to concentration camps in Poland

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The “Illin’?” Edition

We discuss: 1) Whether the time has come for the heads of Israel’s decomposing gov’t to say, “when” 2) Why one ex-PM is suing another ex-PM for defamation of character, and what it says about the character of Israeli politics

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The “Normativities & Their Discontents” Edition

We discuss: 1) The failure of the government to renew the “temporary provisional regulations” that allow settlers to live across the Green Line under Israeli law 2) Israel’s biggest reality show, “Marriage at First Sight,” which just betrothed two hunky, dreamy guys

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The “Jerusalems” Edition

We discuss: 1) A plan to set up Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine by 2030, with schools, hospitals, trains, sewage plants and all the rest 2) How Jerusalem alienates people in Tel Aviv-Jaffa and elsewhere around the country

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