The Promised Podcast

The “Small Screen, Big Government” Edition

We discuss: our new and biggest gov’ in history; whether broadcasting live Supreme Court hearings will add to the stature of the court, or diminish it; whether or not an Evangelical cable TV station broadcasting in Hebrew should keep its license.

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The “A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma Tucked in a Virus” Edition

We discuss the Supreme Court’s earth-shaking verdict, why Israel is suddenly racing to undo coronavirus restrictions, and a crowdsource campaign to pay the legal fees for a British woman assaulted by Israeli young men in Cyprus

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The “Pandemic & Patriarchy” Edition

Who killed the Labor Party? Is art an essential need, and should artists receive priority governmental support? How might the coronavirus be a feminist issue, and is it time for “feminist civil disobedience?”

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The “What is Israeli?” Edition

What do we need to know about the just signed coalition agreement? Do Israelis have less of a stomach for COVID-19 deaths than people in other countries? On this independence day we ask, what is Israeli?

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The “Still Wandering the Desert” Edition

Are negotiation of an “emergency government” failing? Will Israel’s “Exit Strategy” committee miss important things because it lacks diversity? Does Israel’s militarist, masculinist, xenophobizing reaction to coronavirus in need of a good “queering”?

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The “Dialectics of Dayenu” Edition

We discuss: 1) Labor’s plan to merge into Blue & White 2) why most COVID-19 victims are Ultra-Orthodox 3) whether the song Dayenu says something profound about Israeli politics

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The “What Gantz Wants” Edition

We discuss: 1) what the hell is behind Gantz’s decision to abandon his allies in the center and join Bibi as his deputy 2) whether the Coronavirus is going to kill off Reagan-Thatcherite neoliberal economics, drawing us back to being a social democracy

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The “Chair Today, Gone Tomorrow” Edition

We discuss: 1) the near-miss constitutional crisis we survived this week, as the Chairperson of the Knesset pondered ignoring a ruling of the Supreme Court 2) whether or not we all ought to withhold criticism and rally behind the PM and support his efforts to fight the virus

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The “Don’t Kiss the Wailing Wall!” Edition

We discuss: 1) the deputization of Blue & White’s Benny Gantz to form a new coalition government 2) the decision to deputize the Shin Bet to track COVID-19 sufferers and, along the way, the rest of us, too 3) the decision of a revered rabbi to keep ultra-Orthodox schools open, in defiance of the Prime Minister and Health Minister

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The “Love in the Time of Corona” Edition

We discuss: 1) What Israel’s hyper-vigilant, forceful response to the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19 tells us about our political culture 2) Blue & White’s apparently ill-fated plan to form a minority government

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